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SKETCHES 
 
 NORTH RIVER 
 
 ** The River nobly foams and flows, 
 
 The charm of this enchanted ground ; 
 And all its thousand turns disclose 
 
 Some fresher beauty varying round. 
 The haughtiest breast, its wish might bound 
 
 Through life to dwell delighted here ; 
 Nor could a spot on earth be found 
 
 To nature and to me so dear." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 WM. H. COLYER, 104 BEEKMAN-STREET. 
 
 1S39 
 
-He 
 
 %(. 
 
 [Entered according to Act of Congress, on the 30th day of 
 July, in the year 1838, by WILLIAM H. COLYER, in the 
 Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
 New-York.] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In our voyages upon the North River, we 
 have observed the solicitude evinced by travel- 
 lers, to gain information concerning it, and have 
 regretted they were enabled to glean so little. 
 The guide books in general use, deal more in 
 dull statistics and commonplace matters of faet, 
 and less in that kind of information best calcu- 
 lated to instruct and amuse, and still less in 
 those storied reminiscenses that so often throw 
 a charm around natural scenery. It is not to be 
 expected, however intelligent, or disposed to 
 oblige, that the officers in command of Steam- 
 boats have it in their power, without interfer- 
 ing with their customary duties, to answer 
 a tithe of the questions that travellers would wii>h 
 to put to them on these subjects, and the conse- 
 quence is, that many go and return unsatisfied. 
 To obviate these difficulties, has been the object 
 of thi^ little work ; how far it may answer the 
 purpose intended^ is for the travelling public to 
 decide. 
 
 New York, 1838. 
 
THE 
 
 NORTH RIVER 
 
 Among the many noble streams that flow- 
 through our widely extended country, there are 
 none more celebrated for rich and varied scenery, 
 than the North or Hudson River, the affluence of 
 its waters, the picturesque, the wild, the savage 
 features of its shores, its dark forests, and beet- 
 ling cliffs and green meadows, the hundred 
 towns upon its banks, the thousand sails upon 
 its bosom, and the historic associations that 
 twine around its localities, render a voyage upon 
 it one of absorbing interest. 
 
 On the third of September, 1609, Hendrick 
 Hudson, in his "Jacht the Halve Mane," (a small 
 vessel of not more than sixty or seventy tons 
 burthen,) sent under his command by the Dutch 
 East India Company, to seek for a northwest 
 passage to India, entered the southern waters of 
 New York. On the morrow he brought his vessel 
 to anchor in the Horse Shoe, and observing Sal- 
 mon, Mullet, and Ray in the bay, he sent his men 
 on shore with a net ; the landing, according to tra- 
 1* 
 
dition, was upon Coney Island ; and here quoting 
 his journal, they caught ten great Mullet, a foot 
 and a half long, and a Ray as great as four men 
 could haul into the ship. 
 
 On the fifth he commenced sounding the bay, 
 and his men again landed ; the shores were lined 
 with the Indians, who gave our voyagers many 
 presents, among them " sweet dried currants," 
 most probably whortleberries, in which the 
 neighbourhood now abounds. 
 
 Hudson, perceiving that a large river emptied 
 itself into the bay, sent his boat with five men, 
 who passed the Narrows and discovered the kills 
 between Staten Island and Bergen Neck : the 
 ground, he observes, " was covered with grass, 
 flowers, and trees, as fine as they ever saw, and 
 the air was filled with fragrance. 
 
 In this expedition was John Colman, who had 
 shared with Hudson the perils of a former 
 voyage to the polar seas. While the boat was 
 returning they were attacked by twenty-six 
 Indians in two canoes, and Colman was killed and 
 two others wounded ; after their return to the 
 ship their slain comrade was interred on Sandy 
 Hook, and the point named Colman's Point. 
 
 Having spent a week south of the Narrows, 
 Hudson passed through them into New York 
 Bay. " Here the people of the country came on 
 board making great show of love, giving tobacco 
 and Indian wheat, but we could not trust them." 
 On the twelfth they " rode up into the mouth of 
 the great river, and in the afternoon went two 
 leagues up and anchored." He had been sur- 
 
rounded during the day by great numbers of the 
 savages, but suspecting treachery suffered none 
 to come on board. 
 
 Hudson gave the name of the De Groote 
 Riviere to the magnificent stream he was about 
 ascending, but it has had many appellations : 
 Manhattan River, from a neighbouring tribe of 
 Indians, Mohegan from another, by which name it 
 was called univ ersally by the New England people 
 in early days. Its Indian name was tShatemuck, 
 the Iroquois nation termed it the Cohohatatea. 
 In the days of the Dutch settlements it went by 
 the name of the Noordt or North River, which 
 it still retains in some measure, although it is 
 fast giving place to that of the Hudson. This 
 is to be regretted, as the great navigator has an 
 enduring memorial in the great northern bay, 
 and the city that bears his name. If v/e cannot 
 retain one of its beautiful Indian appellations, 
 let us cling to that of the North River, as more 
 dignified and more in consonance with its mag- 
 nitude and wild beauties. 
 
 Hudson now pursued his way slowly up the 
 river finding much to admire, and trading with 
 innumerable tribes of Indians upon its banks, 
 finding them to be " very loving people, and 
 many very old men, by whom he and his crew 
 were well used." 
 
 Passing the majestic pallisade rocks, the Tap- 
 pan Sea, and the lofty Mattewan mountains, he 
 casts anchor in the bay of Newburgh and makes 
 the following remark : " This is a very pleasant I 
 place to build a town on, the road is very neere V 
 
8 
 
 ^nd very good for all winds, save an east north- 
 east wind." Hudson was not mistaken ; his 
 prophetic anticipation has been fully realized in 
 the rich and flourishing town of Newburgh. 
 
 Still working slowly upward Hudson arrives 
 opposite to where now stands the city that bears 
 his name ; here they went on land and *' gathered 
 good store of chestnuts," and on the following 
 day took a walk on the west side, where now is 
 the village of Athens, and " found good ground 
 for corne and other garden herbs, with good 
 store of goodly oakes, and walnut trees and 
 chestnut trees, ewe trees and trees of sweet 
 wood in great abundance, and great store of 
 •slate for houses, and other good stones." Be- 
 yond this point the river became so shallow and 
 filled with islands that the voyage was more 
 arduous than hitherto. Quoting his journal, 
 *' on the seventeenth they ran up six leagues 
 higher, and found shoals in the middle of the 
 channell and small islands, but seven fathoms 
 water on both sides ; toward nighte we bor- 
 rowed so neere the shore that we grounded, so 
 we laid out our small anchor and heaved off 
 again, then we borrowed on the banks in the 
 channell and came a ground again, while the 
 flood ran we heaved off again and anchored all 
 nighte." 
 
 On the nineteenth he worked up opposite to 
 where now stands the city of Albany, many of 
 the natives visited them, but fearing treachery, 
 the master and mate hit upon the following 
 novel experiment to test their sincerity ; they 
 
9 
 
 took them into the cabin and gave them so much 
 ** wine and aqua vitae that they were all merrie, 
 and one of them had his wife with him which 
 sate so modestly as any of our country women 
 would doe in a strange place." The denoue- 
 ment was, that one of them became intoxicated. 
 *' On beholding him stagger and fall, the natives 
 became dumb with utter astonishment ; they 
 could only say by their looks and gestures that 
 it was strange to them, for they could not tell 
 how to take it." It is memorable as the first 
 introduction of the fire waters of the whites to 
 the noble Iroquois, which in after time became 
 more fatal to their race than famine or the 
 sword. 
 
 Albany was the highest point reached by the 
 Half Moon, but Hudson sent a boat, probably as 
 far as Troy or Lansingburgh to make dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 On the return of the Half Moon down the 
 river nothing particular occurred, until within 
 the vicinity of Peekskill, where the natives be- 
 came troublesome, and finally one of them 
 clambered in at the cabin windov/ and made ofi* 
 with a pillow ; the mate, Ivet, (whose conduct 
 toward Hudson in the succeeding voyage has 
 stamped him as a blood-thirsty villain) perceiving 
 it, seized a musket and shot the culprit. This 
 was the first Indian blood that was shed, and is 
 to be remembered as the opening of a tragedy 
 that has swept the race of the red men from their 
 native hills. Pursuing their way down the river 
 they reached Fort Washington, where in conse- 
 
10 
 
 iquence of an affront received by the Indians in 
 the upward passage, they had assembled in large 
 numbers, and on the approach of the Half Moon 
 commenced discharging their arrows. Hudson 
 ordered the great guns to be fired and killed two 
 of his opponents, but nowise intimidated, many 
 put off in canoes to renew the contest as the 
 vessel receded, when eight more of the Indians 
 fell, this cooled their ardour, and Hudson pursued 
 his way to the ocean without further molestation. 
 
 The character of the great navigator was that 
 of a humane man — one that would not commit an 
 injury wantonly. The death of the savage at 
 Peekskill was by the hand of the mate, who 
 committed the act hastily and rashly, and pro- 
 bably before Hudson could have interfered to 
 prevent it ; the last catastrophe occurred in self- 
 defence. 
 
 What may we now suppose would be the 
 feelings of Hudson if at this day he could revisit 
 the scenes of his early exploits ? — instead of the 
 "wildness of nature, and the still wilder savage, 
 four fair cities, (one of them the largest in the 
 western hemisphere,) more than fifty towns and 
 numberless abodes of wealth and civilization, 
 would greet his wondering eyes. But where are 
 the countless hordes that lined the banks, 
 
 " Thick, as autumnal leares that strew the brooks 
 In Valambrosa," 
 
 to gaze at the white stranger and his winged 
 barque, *' Echo answers where," there is not a 
 ^solitary descendant to be seen in the home of 
 
11 
 
 his fathers, and not a memorial left of their ex- 
 istence upon their own bright river, save a few 
 names of the lost tribes given to its localities, 
 and many of those are so distorted as to bear 
 little affinity to the originals. "Who would sup- 
 pose that Tuphann, the Delaware word for cold 
 stream, was the origin of Tappan Sea ? Would 
 he not conclude it was given in honour of some 
 ancestor of the worthy merchant, who an- 
 swers to that cognomen? or who, on passing the 
 creek of the Wapingi, now Wappinger's creek 
 would not deem it called after some portly 
 Burgomaster of New Amsterdam or Beaver- 
 wyck ? but Manhattan and Mattewan, and the 
 Mohawk, still linger in pristime purity, and let 
 us be thankful. Happily the wretched taste that 
 dictated the names for most localities on the 
 river, is not in fashion in all sections of our 
 county. Though the sonorous Mohegan has 
 given place to the Hudson, and the musical 
 Horican to that of Lake George ; the mighty 
 lakes and rivers of the west still retain their 
 beautiful Indian appellations, and in them shall 
 the memory of the red man live — 
 
 '* Ye say they all have perished, 
 
 That noble race and brave ; 
 That their light canoes have vanished 
 
 From off the crested wave. 
 That, 'mid the forest, where they roamed, 
 
 There rings no hunter's shout — 
 But their names are on your waters — 
 
 Ye may not wash them out. 
 
12 
 
 Ve saj' their cone like cabins 
 
 That clustered o'er the vale, 
 Have fled away like withered leaves 
 
 Before the autumn gale ; 
 But their memory liveth on your hills — 
 
 Their baptism on your shore ; 
 Your everlasting rivers speak 
 
 Their dialect^f yore." 
 
 The approach from the ocean to the city of 
 New York presents some of the most beautiful 
 scenery imaginable ; and we can suppose noth- 
 ing more exhilarating to the senses of the way- 
 worn voyager on the broad Atlantic than the 
 first burst upon his vision of the magnificent bay, 
 and the commerciarl queen of the western world. 
 On either side are the green shores of Staten 
 and Long Islands ; on his left is the Lazaretto 
 with its picturesque buildings, backed by the 
 verdant hills, and, if in the summer season, a 
 fleet of vessels riding at quarantine ; beyond 
 are the indented shores of New Jersey, with the 
 lofty pallisade rocks melting away in the dis- 
 tance ; on the right stretch the shores of Long 
 Islaad, with its finely wooded heights, and the 
 domes and steeples of Brooklyn rising above the 
 foliage. In front is the bay studded with green 
 islets crowned with castles and frowning batter- 
 ies, and gleaming with the white sails of count- 
 less water-craft, drawn by the cords of com- 
 merce from every clime, with the city in the 
 distance, encircled by its forest of masts, 
 washed by a mighty river and an arm of the sea, 
 and springing from the waves like the fabled 
 Cytherea, in all her pride and beauty. 
 
New York, as is well known, is situated at ih6 
 confluence of the North and East Rivers, on 
 the southern point of Manhattan Island, and forms 
 nearly a triangle, the base of which isr about 
 two and a half miles. Its site was forw^erly un- 
 equal in surface, but its painstakinjjr authorities 
 have cut down the hills, filled up i^ swamps and 
 valleys, and rendered it nearly a^^evel plain, with 
 hardly enough of elevation to-arry off the water. 
 One-fourth of the city plot^^^ay be estimated to 
 have been gained from tl>^ rivers, comprising on 
 the west, nearly thp whole of Greenwich, 
 Washington, and We't streets, and on the south, 
 Water, Front, anc* South streets, with their 
 numerous piers j^id wharves. 
 
 To a resident of forty or fifty years, (and fifty 
 years is an a.s^ in America,) it is interesting to 
 recur to tl^ strange mutations that the city 
 has undeT^one in that lapse of time — the hills 
 from wKch, when a boy, he had sent off his kite ; 
 the sheets of water lying deep in the valleys 
 whc^e he had launched his tiny boat ; the dells 
 wh^re he had sought nuts and berries ; the peb- 
 bH beach on which his footsteps loved to linger; 
 ^'e woods, the hills, all, all, have vanished, and 
 like the lost pleiad are numbered among the 
 things that have been. There is scarcely a 
 street in the ancient part of the town, but has 
 been widened or remodelled — not a house stand- 
 ing that has sheltered the heads of our fathers. 
 It is modern in its buildings, modern in its em- 
 bellishments, modern in all things, and in this 
 age of improvement, or more properly this 
 2 
 
14 
 
 levelling age, it would require a seer to predict 
 what may be its appearance in the lapse of 
 aooiher half century. It is not our intention 
 to dwoll upon the beauty of its public build- 
 ings> its many worthy institutions, its splendid 
 prospects in future, presuming that all are 
 familiar to most of our readers, and shall 
 now proceed to give a rapid sketch of its early 
 history. 
 
 New York was ^ounded by a small body of 
 adventurers, sent out Ly a company of merchants 
 at Amsterdam in 161^, under a Captain Chris- 
 tianse. In the following year the feeble settle- 
 ment was broke up by Arga?., with a small squa- 
 dron from Virginia, but was speedily resumed 
 under Peter Minuit, who held thtreins of govern- 
 ment, until the Dutch West Indu Company, in 
 1629, despatched Wouter Van TwiJer to super- 
 cede him — under his guidance New Amsterdam, 
 (the name given to the town by the Dutch,) 
 steadily increased in wealth and population. In 
 1637 Wilhelmus Kieft succeeded Van TvtiHer. 
 The character of this man was choleric and 
 imperious, and during his administration \he 
 colony suffered much from Indian aggressions, 
 and became involved in constant contentions, 
 with the English settlements of Hartford and 
 New Haven. The Dutch claimed as the 
 boundary of the colony, the Connecticut River 
 on the east, and the Delaware on the south, and 
 had built for the purpose of Indian trade, a small 
 fort near the site of the present Hartford 
 called Fort Good Hope, which brought them in 
 
15 
 
 close contact with the English, and many were 
 the grievances they had to endure from their 
 neighbours, and of which a circumstantial record 
 is in existence — from it we extract the foJlow^ng 
 ludicrous and graphic expositions. 
 
 " Twenty-fifth April, 1640. Those of Hartford 
 have not only usurped and take^ i'^ the lands 
 of Connecticut, &c., but have «ilso beaten the 
 servants of the high and m-ghty and honour- 
 ed company with sticks a-'id plough staves in 
 hostile manner, laming -^iiem, and among the 
 rest struck Evert DucHngs, a hole in his head 
 with a stick so that t^e blood ran very strongly 
 down his body." ' Twenth-fourth June, 1641. 
 Some of HartforJ have taken a hog out of the 
 common, and s-hut him up, out of mere hate or 
 other prejud-'ce, causing it to starve for hunger 
 in the sty." '* Twenty-ninth May, 1642. The 
 English Qt Hartford have violently cut loose a 
 horse of the honoured company, that stood 
 bounc? upon the common." " Twenty-third. 
 The said English did again drive the company 
 hogs from the common into the village, and 
 pounded them."— Hazard, Vol. 2. p. 264. 
 / Peter Stuy vesant, a hardy old veteran, nursed 
 in the schools of Van Tromp and De Ruyter, 
 was the last of the Dutch governors, and suc- 
 ceeded Kieft in 1647. His prudence and vigour 
 were the means of restoring peace with the 
 Indians, and of preserving it during his adminis- 
 tration — he also brought the Swedish colony on 
 the Delaware, which had long defied the power 
 and threats of Kieft, under subjection, and de- 
 
16 
 
 stroyed their fort at New Castle. Uijder his 
 energetic rule New Amsterdam became a thri- 
 ving and prosperous settlement, and all the early 
 wrUers agree in describing the metropolis as a 
 well built town. Josselyn asserts that the 
 meanest house in it was worth one hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 But a storm ^vas gathering, that the patriotic 
 old governor was unable to resist : Charles the 
 Second, forgetful o^ the debt of gratitude due to 
 Holland, that had sheltered him in his deepest 
 distress, and a willing Uol in the hands of the 
 French King, had set up a claim to the sove- 
 reignty of the territory — nfi^de a grant of it to 
 his brother James, Duke of Yoik, and despatched 
 a body of troops and a fleet under Colonel 
 Nichols, to compel submission, ^tuyvesant in 
 the mean while had exerted himseK to put the 
 city and fort in the best attitude of defence, 
 but found it impossible to instil a portion of his 
 own indomitable spirit into the breast of its 
 defenders. It must, however, be confessed, that 
 the overwhelming force brought against them, 
 rendered resistance utterly hopeless, and to add 
 unnecessary bloodshed to unavoidable defeat 
 appeared to them a wanton waste of life. Not 
 so reasoned the Governor ; for several days he 
 upheld the honour, and prolonged the dominion 
 of his country, in despite both of the desertion of 
 her unwarlike children and impending danger 
 from a stronger foe. On the arrival of the English, 
 he sent a deputation with a courteous letter, de- 
 siring to know the reason and purpose of this 
 
17 
 
 hostile approach. Nichols answered with equal 
 politeness that he was ordered by his royal 
 master to take possession of the British territory, 
 which had been usurped by the Dutch, and that 
 he must therefore demand the instant surrender 
 of the place, promising life, liberty, and the 
 security of property to all who should submit, 
 and threatening the extremity of war to all who 
 should oppose. 
 
 Stuyvesant on receiving the summons was 
 sensible of no other consideration than the in- 
 solence and injustice with which his country was 
 treated, and earnestly hoping that her honour 
 would be preserved, even if her power was over- 
 turned, called a council of the burgomasters^ and 
 earnestly laboured to impart to them a portion 
 of his own feelings, but in vain. They coolly 
 asked of him a copy of the letter of Nichols, 
 which Stuyvesant felt no inclination to grant, 
 as he deemed the easy terms proffered would 
 effectually cool what little military ardour might 
 linger about them — and on a second requisition 
 indignantly tore the letter in pieces, and took 
 the sole responsibility of the measures he might 
 adopt. He now made an afl'ecting appeal to the 
 generosity and justice of a gallant enemy, and 
 concluded it with this undaunted and pathetic 
 reply to the threats of military execution in case 
 of resistance. "As touching your threats in 
 your conclusion, we have nothing to answer, 
 only that we fear nothing but what God, whjp is 
 as just as merciful, shall lay upon us, all thi'ngs 
 being in his gracious disposal ; and we mav as 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 Weil be pieseived by hitn with small torces, ad 
 by a great army, which makes us to wish you 
 all happiness and prosperity, and recommend 
 you to his protection." 
 
 After the English had inv%sted the place, 
 Stuyvesant still clung to the hope that his fellow- 
 citizens would rally to the rescue and defend the 
 the rights of their country ; but Nichols, who 
 had learned how little the inhabitants partici- 
 pated in the military ardour of the Governor, 
 found means to circulate in the town, a pro- 
 clamation, reiterating his original offers ; a 
 measure which completely disarmed the spirits 
 of the besieged and extinguished the authority 
 of Stuyvesant, who now felt himself obliged to 
 open a capitulation to prevent the town from 
 being surrendered without that formality. The 
 most favourable terms were granted by Nichols, 
 but it was three days after they were agreed 
 upon before the resolute old Governor could 
 be persuaded to affix his name to the haled 
 document. The amusing historian of the 
 Dutch dynasty, (Knickerbocker) affirms that the 
 cowardly burgomasters sent a deputation to 
 implore his signature, but he had barricaded 
 his doors and denied them admittance ; they, 
 however, parleyed with him as he sat at an attic 
 window, watching the motion of tke British 
 fleet, and eying with a look of scorn the re- 
 creants below him. They finally sent up by 
 means of a long pole the necessary document, 
 and Stuyvesant hastily and tremulously attaching 
 his signature, hurled the paper back in surly 
 
l\* 
 
 deiiaaee. Tlie rest ol the pioviiice loUovvetl ih*^ 
 •iate of the capital, and thus, by an act of the 
 most flagrant injustice, in a time of peace be- 
 tween the parent governments, was overthrown, 
 in 1664, the Dutch dominion in North America. 
 
 Colonel Nichols was a fine old soldier, and 
 administered on behalf of the proprietor the 
 government of the province, (which with the 
 town now took the name of New York) with 
 singular prudence and moderation. If at any 
 time, by the decrees of his arbitrary master, he 
 was compelled to act contrary to his inclinations 
 or disposition, his urbanity and kindness dis- 
 armed all hostility to himself, and when he left 
 the colony, he carried with him the respect and 
 esteem of the inhabitants. From an inscription 
 upon his monument in Ampthill Church, Bed- 
 fordshire, it appears that he was killed in a sea 
 fight with the Dutch in 1G72. Within the pedi- 
 ment is affixed the cannon ball that killed him, 
 surmounted by this inscription, " Instrumentum 
 mortis et immortalitatis." 
 
 In the mean time, by the treaty of peace con- 
 cluded at Breda, Holland had ceded her claims 
 to the New Netherlands in exchange for the 
 colony of Surinam, which had been conquered 
 by the Dutch ; this exchange being expressed 
 by a stipulation that each of the two nations 
 should retain what its arms had gaioed since 
 hostilities began. 
 
 On the departure of Nichols, the government 
 was invested in Lovelace, an honourable and 
 inoffensive man, and during tlie six years 
 
it lasted the colony was prosperous and con- 
 tented. 
 
 In 1677 during the second war with the Dutch, 
 a small squadron under Binkes and Evertson 
 was fitted out by Holland to destroy the com- 
 merce of the British dependencies, and having 
 ravaged the coast of Virginia, the commanders 
 were induced to attempt the capture of New 
 York by intelligence of the negligent security of 
 the Governor. It arrived at a time when Love- 
 lace was absent at a distance, and the command 
 had devolved upon Colonel Manning, whose 
 conduct upon the occasion, and subsequent 
 avowals, have stamped upon him the character 
 of a coward and traitor. The English prepared 
 to defend themselves, and offered their services 
 to Manning, but he obstructed their purposes, 
 forbade a gun to be fired on pain of death, and 
 struck his flag before the enemy's vessels had 
 appeared in sight. 
 
 The moderation of the conquerors were 
 evinced by their hastening to assure the citizens 
 of the security of their rights and possessions, 
 and left the English with no cause of resent- 
 ment, except against their own pusillanimous 
 Governor. 
 
 Manning had the impudence to repair to Eng- 
 land, whence he returned or was sent back, when 
 the province reverted to England in the follow- 
 ing year, and underwent a trial before a Court 
 Martial on a charge of treachery and cowardice ; 
 he confessed the truth of both charges, and re- 
 ceived a sentence as extraordinary as his con- 
 
21 
 
 duct, " That though he deserved death, yet 
 because he had been in England since the sur- 
 render, and seen the King and the Duke^ it was 
 adjudged that his sword should be broke over 
 his head in public, and himself rendered in- 
 capable of serving his majesty in any future 
 trust." 
 
 By the treaty of peace, signed in London 
 1674, New York was restored to the English, 
 and Edmund Andros was despatched by the 
 duke to assume the government. The exactions 
 and tyranny of this unprincipled man, rendered 
 his name odious, and for a length of time 
 raised a flame of opposition throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land, that more politic 
 governors found diflicult to subdue. In 1680, 
 James found it necessary to recall him for a time, 
 and appointed Colonel Dongan to fill his place. 
 The most interesting document connected with 
 the administration of Andros, is a reply by him 
 to interrogations made by the English Commit- 
 tee of Colonies in 1678 — from it we learn that 
 New York contained in that year 3430 in- 
 habitants, and owned a navy of three ships, eight 
 sloops, and seven boats. The imports amounted 
 to 50,0O0Z., and the exports consisted of beef, 
 peas, lumber, tobacco, peltry, and 60,000 bushels 
 of wheat. Of servants the number were small, 
 and they were much wanted ; some importations 
 of slaves had been made from Barbadoes, but 
 there were but few as yet of that unfortunate 
 class in the country. Agriculture was more 
 generally followed than trade. A tradesman 
 
22 
 
 Worth lOOOZ. was Considered a substantial mer- 
 chant, and a planter worth a fourth of that sum in 
 moveable goods was accounted rich. All the 
 estates in the province were valued at 50,000/. 
 Ministers, says Andros, are scarce, and religions 
 many. There were no beggars in the province, 
 and the poor, who were few, were well provided 
 for. ' 
 
 Colonel Dongan (afterward Earl of Limerick) 
 was a man of integrity ; his solicitations in aid 
 of the inhabitants induced the proprietor to 
 grant a charter for a limited period to the Colony, 
 somewhat similar to those enjoyed by the ad- 
 jacent provinces, and during Dongan's adminis- 
 tration,tthe first assembly was convoked. 
 
 In 1685 James succeeded his brother Charles 
 on the throne of England, and the province 
 devolved upon the crown. Its inhabitants had 
 looked to this event with anxiety and hope, as 
 they had been for some time soliciting a formal 
 grant of the Constitution under which they were 
 then living. The Duke had promised to gratify 
 their wishes, and had actually proceeded so far 
 as to sign a patent in conformity therewith, 
 which at his accession to the throne only re- 
 quired some trivial act on his part to render 
 valid ; but they were doomed to be disappointed. 
 James, with that duplicity so characteristic of 
 the man, was not ashamed as King of England 
 to violate the pledge given when Duke of York, 
 and now unblushingly refused to grant the 
 boon, and proceeded to revoke the former orders 
 on the subject given to Dongan. In the second 
 
23 
 
 year of his reign he issued to him a new Com* 
 missionj empowering him, with the consent of a 
 council, to enact the laws, and to impose the 
 taxes ; and commanding him not to allow a 
 printing press to exist. 
 
 In the mean time, Andros was despatched to 
 New-England, but James paused before he re- 
 stored the authority of that obnoxious governor 
 in New-York. This manifestation of the in- 
 tentions of the King caused a great ferment 
 among the populace, who now endured with 
 impatience the yoke they felt themselves unable 
 to break. Dongan continued to administer 
 the government, but the arbitrary decrees he 
 was obliged to enforce rendered him unpopular, 
 though his moderation and regard for the public 
 weal continued unabated. His zeal, in the cause 
 of his master, became at last to be questioned, 
 and in 1688 his commission was recalled, and 
 the colony again given in the charge of its old 
 tyrant Andros, who no<v became governor of 
 both New-England and New-York. He still, 
 however, continued to reside in Boston, and de- 
 puted one Nicholson to act as his lieutenant. 
 
 In 1689, news arrived of the accession of 
 William and Mary. Nicholson not only refused 
 to acknowledge them, but wrote an angry letter 
 to governor Bradstreet, at Boston, demanding 
 the instant release of Andros, and the punish- 
 ment of the rebels, who had dared to place him 
 in durance. In this posture of affairs, a portion 
 of the people placed themselves under the com- 
 mand of Jacob Lcislcr ; a man of headstrong 
 
34 
 
 passions and shallow capacity, and a captain of 
 one of the trained bands. He immediately led 
 them to the fort, made good his entrance, and 
 hoisted the standard of William and Mary. 
 
 On assuming the command, Leisler issued a 
 proclamation, asserting that he had taken the 
 step in defence of the protestant religion, and 
 held the fort in attendance upon the orders of 
 their majesties. He also despatched a mes- 
 senger to court, who was graciously received, 
 and had the honour of kissing the hand of the 
 King ; but while the zeal of the people was 
 applauded, not a word was uttered in favour of 
 Leisler. William was a worshipper of the divine 
 right of kings, equally with his predecessor ; 
 and he considered the assumption of power on 
 the part of a subject, (though in this case assert- 
 ed in his own cause,) of a dangerous tendency, 
 and calculated lo bring the attributes of sove- 
 reignty into disrepute. 
 
 In this posture of affairs, a violent party had 
 sprung up in New-York, composed of the gentry 
 and leading men, who looked upon Leisler as a 
 person beneath them, and refused to submit to 
 his authority ; the majority of the people, how- 
 ever, continued his friends. 
 
 In 1691, Colonel Sloughter arrived to assume 
 the command ; but Leisler, who had long en- 
 joyed the sweets of power, hesitated to sur- 
 render it on the summons of Sloughter ; he 
 answered in the language of folly, that he would 
 not give up the fort, except on an order from 
 the King, and thus furnished his enemies with a 
 
25 
 
 legal pretext for destroying him, which they 
 were too ready to avail themselves of. Colonel 
 Sloughter soon established his authority, and 
 Leisler and his son-in-law, Milbourne, were 
 brought to trial, and vainly pleading their meri- 
 torious services in originating the revolution of 
 the province, were adjudged to suffer death; 
 Sloughter long hesitated to inflict the penalty, 
 and tradition informs us that when no other 
 measures could prevail with the governor, a 
 sumptuous banquet was prepared, to which he 
 was invited, and when under the influence of 
 the intoxicating cup, the entreaties of the com- 
 pany prevailed upon him, to afiix his signature 
 to the death warrant, and before he recovered 
 his reason, the prisoners were executed. " Put 
 not your trust in princes," is the advice of the 
 sacred writer, and its soundness is admirably 
 exemplified in the case of Leisler. The exe- 
 cution of Leisler and Milbourne filled the ma- 
 jority of the people with horror, and in after 
 years, when the passions of their opponents 
 began to cool, efforts were made with the King 
 to reverse the iniquitous bill of attainder, which 
 happily succeeded, and the remains of the vic- 
 tims were taken up and reinterred with much 
 solemnity in Garden street Church. The as- 
 sembly also passed a bill, granting to their heirs 
 the sum of 1000/. sterling. 
 
 Colonel Fletcher succeeded Sloughter, but 
 
 there was little about his administration worthy 
 
 of note. He was a man of irascible temper, 
 
 sordid dispositions, and narrow capacity, and his 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 time was principally occupied in contentiori^ 
 with the House of Assembly. 
 
 In 1(598, Richard, Earl of Bellamont, was ap- 
 pointed to succeed Fletcher ; and was one of 
 the most popular of the English Governors. 
 During his administration flourished the noted 
 pirate Kidd. Previous to the arrival of Bellamont 
 the American seas were much infested with 
 privateers, sailing under licenses from James II, 
 granted in his exile, and who were looked upon 
 by the English as no better than pirates. To 
 abate the nuisance became an object of impor- 
 tance with the government; and William Ridd, 
 an inhabitant of New-York, celebrated for his 
 prowess as a privateersman in the West- 
 Indies, being in England at the time, was 
 recommended to Bellamont by Col. Livingston, 
 as a person well qualified, from his knowledge 
 of the pirates and their haunts, to aid in their 
 suppression and apprehension. Kidd was not 
 averse to the enterprise, and proposed that the 
 King should grant him a commission and the 
 command of a frigate for the purpose. This 
 plan, from some cause or other, fell through, and 
 unfortunately for the character ol those con- 
 cerned ; a private association was formed in the 
 shape of a joint stock company, for the purchase 
 of a cruiser ; the King himself was concerned, 
 and held a tenth share. The Lord Chancellor^ 
 (Somers), the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earls 
 of Romney and Oxford, and other persons of 
 distinction, were also shareholders. 
 
37 
 
 Kidd received an ordinary commission from 
 the Crown, as a priv^ateer with special directions 
 from the noble owners of his vessel to hold him- 
 self responsible to Lord Bellamont, and sailed 
 to effect the objects of the proprietors in the 
 Adventure galley. Two years after, the Earl 
 .arrived in New-York, to assume the functions 
 of his office, and found to his dismay that by hi§ 
 patronage of Kidd, he had been accessary to an 
 aggravation of the evil he had hoped to extir- 
 pate. Kidd had already rendered himself more 
 infamous and formidable than any other pirate 
 that infested the seas by the extent of his naval 
 robberies and murders; Bellamont exerted him- 
 self to repair, by better agency, the consequences 
 of his error ; and fortunately succeeded in ap- 
 prehending Kidd in the streets of Boston, where 
 he had the audacity to repair on a trafficking 
 expedition, under the belief that he should not 
 be recognised. From Boston, he was transferred 
 to England, and wais brought twice to the bar 
 of the House of Commons, by the opponents of 
 the ministry, and examined touching the conduct 
 and interests of his associates in the expedition, 
 but without eliciting any thing to their prejudice. 
 From the House of Commons, he was sent to 
 the Old Bailey, where he stood his trial, and was 
 convicted of piracy and murder, and soon after 
 underwent the punishment awarded to his crimes. 
 The actions of this bold outlaw caused a great 
 sensation in the colonies, where it was the ge- 
 neral opinion that he had many confederates, 
 who furthered his views, and shared in the 
 
28 
 
 plunder. Previous to his last visit to Boston, 
 and on his return from a successful cruise on 
 the Spanish Main, he landed on Gardiner's 
 Island, at the head of Long Island Sound, and 
 placed a large amount of property in the hands 
 of Mr. Gardiner, who, probably, was not aware 
 of the manner in which it was obtained. This 
 deposit came to the ears of Lord Bellamont, by 
 whom it was demanded and received. A schedule 
 of the gold and jewels in the handwriting of 
 Kidd is still in possession of the Gardiner 
 family. There are many places in Long Island 
 Sound, that common fame asserts to be the de- 
 positories of Kidd's hidden treasures, and ever 
 since they have been occasionally ransacked by 
 money diggers. 
 
 Lord Bellamont, after an arduous administra- 
 tion, and many futile attempts to reconcile the 
 contending factions, growing principally out of 
 the Leisler affair, died suddenly in New York, 
 and was interred (as was also his Countess soon 
 after him) in the Garden-street Church. Since 
 the great fire in December, 1835, this Church, 
 which was then burnt within the walls, and the 
 cementery attached, have been sold and appro- 
 priated to mercantile purposes, and the remains 
 of the illustrious dead scattered to the winds. 
 Among the discovered relics, were the silver 
 coffin plates, designating the names and titles of 
 the Earl and his Countess. 
 
 Lord Cornbury, grandson to t^ie Lord Chan- 
 cellor Clarendon, and a near relation to Queen 
 Anne, succeeded Bellamont. He was young, 
 
^9 
 
 profligate, and a spendthrift. Unable to subsist 
 on his lawful emoluments, even with the addition 
 of enormous peculation, he contracted debts with 
 every tradesman who would trust him, and em- 
 ployed the powers of his office to set his creditors 
 at defiance ; his exactions and petty tyranny 
 were not soon forgotten. On his removal from 
 office by Queen Anne, he was thrown into prison 
 for private debts contracted while governor, and 
 was not released until by the death of his father, 
 his succession to the peerage withdrew him from 
 the grasp of the law. 
 
 During- his administration an epidemic, (pro- 
 bably the yellow fever) swept over the city, and 
 Cornbury in a message he transmitted to the 
 assembly, ascribed it to the burning of oyster 
 shells into lime, within the precincts of the town. 
 It is worthy of notice, merely as showing the 
 state of medical science in that day. Lime is 
 now considered as one of the best of disinfecting 
 agents. Among his acts is one granting for a 
 term of years to Garret De Graw, the exclusive 
 right to the fishery of porpoises within the 
 waters of the province. This employment is now 
 unknown. At the close of Cornbury's career, 
 1709, the population of New York had increased 
 to about 7000, and the shipping and commerce 
 in a much greater ratio. 
 
 The mistaken policy of Britain in sending to 
 her colonies the sweepings of her jails, coupled 
 with the debasing evils of the slave trade, rendered 
 the seaports and large towns (where the vicious 
 are most sure to cluster) a heterogeneous corn- 
 s' 
 
30 
 
 pound, as to morals, and it is not to be supposed 
 that New York was exempt from the evils at- 
 tending upon such a mixed state of society. 
 Piracy was frequent in the adjacent seas, and 
 men of wealth and influence were aiding and 
 abetting. The people consisted of various races, 
 but chiefly Dutch, and the Presbyterian was the 
 prevailing religion. The Dutch congregations 
 acknowledged subjection to the ecclesiastical 
 authorities of Holland, and from them the min- 
 isters derived their ordination and authority. 
 The services of the church were performed in 
 the Dutch language, which was more in general 
 use than the English. In the courts of Judica- 
 ture, the law required that the latter should be 
 solely used, and in the neighbouring towns it 
 was often found difficult to collect twelve men, 
 sufficiently conversant with it to perform the 
 functions of jurors. 
 
 Lord Lovelace succeeded Cornl)ury in 1709, 
 but his administration was cut short by death. 
 From the date of his decease to the commence- 
 ment of the revolution, a succession of governors 
 arrived to administer the affairs of the province, 
 and the names of Ingoldsby, Colonel Hunter, 
 Colonel Schuyler, Burnet, Montgomery, Van 
 Dam, Clark, Cosby, Clinton, Sir Danvers Os- 
 born, Delancy, Hardy, Colden, General Monck- 
 ton, Sir Henry Moore, Lord Dunmore, and 
 Tryon, follow each other in due order; but 
 there are few incidents connected with their 
 reigns that would properly come within the 
 scope of this work. The history of the province 
 
31 
 
 during the period is principally made up of con- 
 tentions and squabbles between the rulers and 
 the ruled, and accounts of border frays with the 
 French and Indians. 
 
 The English governors, with few exceptions, 
 were men of broken fortune, cadets of noble 
 families, or mere adventurers, who were to be 
 provided for by the crown, and their end and 
 aim v/as the amassing of wealth in the least pos- 
 sible time, and return and enjoy it in their 
 mother country. To effect the object they were 
 not scrupulous about the means ; and their ex- 
 actions and tyranny opened a well spring of hate 
 that flowed on with increasing volume until the 
 province was severed from the British Empire. 
 
 In 1741, during the government of Clark, 
 occurred the famous negro plot ; and from the 
 nature of the evidence and the testimony of 
 Horsmanden, the Recorder and historian of the 
 plot, we are led to believe, that this affair, so 
 terrific to the inhabitants at the time, and so 
 tragical in its results to the sufferers, rested 
 upon a fabric " as baseless as a vision." It ap- 
 pears that some fires had occurred in the city, 
 which many imputed to design ; and several 
 robberies had taken place and the stolen property 
 found in the possession of one Hughson and his 
 wife, who had probably purchased it Irom the 
 thieves. This in a town of limited population, 
 naturally caused some excitement, and to add to 
 it, a woman of low character, a female Ti(us 
 Oates, from malevolent motives, or the love of 
 notoriety, or the hopes of reward, or all com- 
 
32 
 
 bined, went before the magistrates with a plausi- 
 ble story, and accused Hughson and others of 
 having conspired with the negroes, to burn the 
 the town and rob and murder the inhabitants. 
 The credence given to the statements of this 
 woman, (whose name was Mary Burton,) and the 
 rewards she received, soon induced others, as 
 depraved as herself, to come forward ; among 
 whom were a dissolute soldier, by the name of 
 Kane, and a woman called Peggy Carey, who pre- 
 tended to corroborate the stories of their senior 
 in iniquity. The populace, ever ready for the 
 marvellous, greedily swallowed the bait and a 
 scene of terror ensued that beggars description; 
 all that could get away from the devoted city, 
 hurried off; the magistrates ordered a general 
 search ; the militia were called out ; sentries 
 posted at every avenue, and a scene of judicial 
 investigation and murder ensued that can only 
 be paralleled with the witch tragedies of Salem. 
 The general search amounted to nothing. A 
 sapient alderman discovered in the hands of 
 Robin, and Cuba his wife, slaves of Mr. Cham- 
 bers, some few articles which in the plenitude of 
 his wisdom he thought unbecoming their condition 
 in life, but what they were he has not deigned 
 to inform us, and thus ended the first move ; but 
 the magistrates and people were resolved that a 
 conspiracy had taken place, and every stranger 
 and strange-looking negro, and every slave, who 
 like poor Robin, was in possession of things un- 
 fitted to his situation, were forthwith hurried to 
 prison. Proclamations were also made, oflfering 
 
33 
 
 pardons to the free who should make discoveries 
 or accuse others, and liberty to the slaves who 
 should do the same, and money to both. The 
 consequence was, that many of the slaves con- 
 fined in jail, accused themselves and others, 
 hoping to receive the promised boon ; what one 
 invented was heard and repeated by another, 
 until by degrees the whole assumed the shape 
 and consistency of a regular plot. 
 
 Among the whites who were apprehended was 
 a person by the name of Ury, and from the nature 
 of the evidence on which he was condemned 
 and hung, we may draw some conclusions as to 
 the weight of the testimony given in the cases 
 of others. 
 
 Ury was a nonjuring clergyman, and was 
 obliged to leave England for refusing to take the 
 oaths required by law. It appears by his diary, 
 and by irreproachable witnesses, that he had 
 taught school in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 
 and came to New York for the purpose of fol- 
 lowing his vocation, and finally entered into a 
 partnership with another schoolmaster, one 
 Campbell, and they hired the house which 
 Hughson and his wife had been removed from, 
 when accused of receiving stolen goods, but 
 found the daughter there, and they reproved her 
 for her profanity. This girl appeared as a wit- 
 ness, and desbribed Ury as making a circle on 
 the floor with chalk, placing the negroes on the 
 chalk, and standing in the middle with a crucifix 
 and baptizing and swearing them. This story 
 was too palpably absurd, and a fresh charge was 
 
34 
 
 trumped up against him, that of being a Jesuit in 
 disguise. A confectioner by the name of Des- 
 brosses deposed, that Ury came to his shop with 
 one Webb, a carpenter, and wanted sugar bits, 
 or wafers ; and he asked him " whether a 
 minister had not his wafers of him, or whether 
 that paste, which the deponent showed, was not 
 made of the same ingredients as the Lutheran 
 ministers, or something to that purpose," and 
 he asked Ury if he had a congregation, but Ury 
 waived giving him an answer. Webb, the car- 
 penter, was also examined, and his testimony 
 amounted to Ury having told him that he had 
 written a book in England which was called 
 treason, although he did not mean it so, and that 
 a friend, a great man, got him off; that on 
 religious subjects he (the carpenter,) could not 
 understand him ; that, as to negroes, he (Ury) 
 had a despicable opinion of them, and that after 
 Campbell removed to the house which Hughson 
 had occupied, Ury went thither, and the depo- 
 nent likewise went to the place three times, and 
 heard Ury read prayers in the manner of the 
 Church of England ; but in the prayer for the 
 king, he did not mention the name — that he 
 preached against drunkenness, debauchery, and 
 deists, admonishing every one to keep to his 
 own minister, and said, "he only gave a word 
 of admonition at the request of the family where 
 he was." He has heard him say, that such a 
 day was his sacrament day," and thinks he has 
 heard him say that he must administer the sacra- 
 ment, but cannot be positive." On such testis 
 
36 
 
 mony was this poor creature, after a masterly 
 defence, made by himself, convicted and hung. 
 Before the excitement subsided thirteen blacks 
 suffered at the stake, nineteen were hung, and 
 seventy transported to the West Indies. Hugh- 
 son and his wife, and Peggy Carey, also paid 
 the forfeit of their lives. During the time of the 
 trials, the wretch Mary Burton lived and feasted 
 at the expense of the town, and finally received 
 one hundred pounds as a reward for her dis- 
 closures. 
 
 In 1753, Sir Danvers Osborn arrived to as- 
 sume the reins of government. His predecessor 
 Mr. Clinton, was absent at Flushing, and he put 
 up at the house of Mr. Murray, a member of the 
 council. It was observed by those in communi- 
 cation with him, that he was much depressed in 
 spirits, which was attributed to th'cf recent loss 
 of his wife, and to the arduous prospect that 
 opened before him in governing and reconciling 
 a discontented people ; the situation of his mind 
 caused no particular alarm, but on the morning 
 of the 12th, (five days after his arrival) he was 
 found dead, suspended by his handkerchief to 
 the garden fence of his host. He was succeeded 
 by Mr. Delancy, but the history of his adminis- 
 tration, as also those of the royal governors, 
 his successors in office, offer little, save accounts 
 of their contentions with the populace, arising 
 out of efforts to sustain the arbitrary measures 
 of the Crown in opposition to those of the 
 citizens ; those local incidents, though interesting 
 to an inhabitant, would not be particularly so to 
 a stranger. 
 
3ti 
 
 After the battle of Long Island and the evacua- 
 tion of the city by General Washington, it was 
 taken possession of by the Britisk, and was the 
 head quarters of their commanders during the 
 momentous struggle that ensued. Its capture 
 was the first trophy won by their arms in the 
 contest, as it was also their last foothold in the 
 desenthralled and emancipated colonies. 
 
 Since the days of English rule, New York has 
 increased in wealth and population with astonish- 
 ing rapidity, having doubled the number of its 
 inhabitants in about every fifteen years. The 
 general appearance of the city has also much 
 improved, and some of its public buildings are 
 now truly magnificent. Of late years the taste 
 for architectural ornament has been cultivated 
 with success, and the classic proportions of many 
 edifices erected in the period, bear honourable 
 evidence of the fact. Among a number may be 
 named, the House of Detention, in Elm street, 
 modelled after the time-worn temples of Egypt; 
 and the University in Washington Square, pre- 
 senting a pure and chaste specimen of the Gothic 
 style of the middle ages. — Its Chapel, with its 
 ponderous pendants and rich tracery, its ex- 
 quisite carved work and beautiful window, with 
 the subdued and mellow light streaoling through 
 the stained glass, carries the mind- of the be^ 
 holder to those Halls and Chapels of Oxford, 
 
 " Where mystic learning still adores 
 Her holy Henry's shade. 
 
 Though snpiall in comparison with those noble 
 
37 
 
 piles on which the wealth of kingdoms have been 
 lavished, it is nevertheless a real bijou, and we 
 know of no building in the city more worthy of 
 a stranger's visit. 
 
 The Custom House in Wall street, now build- 
 ing of white marble, is designed after the Temple 
 of the Winds at Athens, and will, when com- 
 pleted, offer an enduring specimen of the 
 architecture of Greece in her proudest days. 
 
 On leaving the wharf at the foot of Courtlandt 
 or Barclay street, and heading up stream, from 
 the promenade deck of the steamboat a splendid 
 panorama is opened before the traveller. In the 
 language of Halleck. 
 
 " Tall spire and glittering roof, and battlement, 
 
 And banners floating in the sunny air, 
 And white sails o'er the calm blue waters bent ; 
 
 Green isle and circling shore are blending there 
 In wild reality ; when life is old 
 And many a scene forgot, the heart will hold " 
 
 Its memory of this." 
 
 To the south lies the beautiful bay, backed by 
 the hills of New Jersey and Staten Island, on 
 the left, is Paulus Hook, (now Jersey City,) near 
 it is the genuine Dutch settlement of Horsimus ; 
 and farther on is Hoboken, with its pleasure 
 grounds, groves, and green lawns, the resort of 
 the bourgeois of the city on a holyday afternoon. 
 
 Of Paulus Hook, [sold, as old records tell us, 
 by governor Kieft to Abraham Isaacs Plank, 
 for 450 guilders,] there are some interesting re- 
 miniscences, connected with the revolutionary 
 war. It was here that Major Lee, with his re- 
 giment of horse, made a dash upon a British 
 4 
 
38 
 
 regiment, under colonel Sutherland, capturing^ 
 many, and driving the remainder into the river, 
 where they were picked up by the boats of the 
 men of war, at anchor in the stream. The 
 surprise was so complete, that resistance was of 
 no avail, and the major and his men returned ta 
 the American encampment at Newark, with 
 but little loss. 
 
 Hoboken is changed from what it was of yore. 
 The speculators have cut up a large portion of 
 its pleasure grounds into town lots — but there 
 is still a shady walk, winding along the beach, 
 and at the foot of the hilJs to what are termed 
 " the Elysian I'ields,'* a beautiful expanse of 
 green sward planted with trees, and extending 
 down to the river's brink. On the green, and 
 surrounded with foliage, is a rural auberge, 
 looking upon the river, city, and bay, and is a 
 delightful retreat from the noise and bustle of a 
 great commercial mart, near enough 
 
 " To see the stir 
 Of the great Babel, and not feel- the crowd, 
 To hear the roar she sends through all her gates. 
 At a safe distance, where the dying sound 
 Falls a soft murmur on the uninjured ear." 
 
 As the traveller ascends the river, he will see 
 New-York, spread before him as on a map, and 
 if he has a friend at his elbow, acquainted with 
 its localities, many objects of interest may be 
 pointed out. Above the old State Prison dock, 
 and standing, amid a wilderness of brick and 
 mortar, is still to be seen the old country 
 house of the late William Bayard, long one of 
 
39 
 
 our most estimable merchants ; it is remem- 
 bered as the building- in which General Hamil- 
 ton breathed his last ; he was brought in a barge 
 from the battle field of Hoboken, or rather 
 VVeehawk, to die under the roof of his friend. 
 A little distance farther, with its Gothic turrets 
 and pinnacles, stands the Episcopal College, on 
 ground devised by the late Bishop Moore. 
 
 Weehawk is on the opposite shore, and is 
 celebrated for its wild and beautiful scenery ; 
 about a mile above the hamlet, is a small spot of 
 green sward on the river side, covering about 
 an acre, and overhung by dark overshadowing 
 cliffs ; it is the celebrated duelling ground, 
 where so many valuable lives have been sacri- 
 ficed at the false shrine of honour. 
 
 The shores, from here to Fort Lee, are 
 vild and savage; the impending cliUs rising to 
 Lhe height of three or four hundred feet ; be- 
 vveen their base and the water are often seen 
 many little sheltered nooks and patches of arable 
 land with cottages \ipon them. From the top 
 of the clifls, the ground descends in a gradual 
 slope to the Hackensack river, about five miles 
 distant, and is a rich farming district, occupied 
 by a genuine Dutch population, where the lan- 
 guage of the father land is still the vernacular. 
 
 As we recede from the city, the island of 
 Manhattan presents a highly picturesque shore, 
 with a gradual ascent, and adorned by the 
 villas of wealthy citizens. About five miles on 
 our way is the Orphan Asylum, a large Gothic 
 looking- edifice, and two miles to the north of 
 
40 
 
 it, on some of the highest land on the island, is 
 the one for Lunatics, connected with the New- 
 York Hospital, and partially endowed by the 
 State ; it is a large building of Newark free 
 stone, and the grounds around are laid out 
 and embellished with much taste ; the view 
 from the top embraces a wide extent of the 
 river and Long Island Sound, with ten or a 
 dozen counties, in this and the neighbouring 
 States. 
 
 On the hill, overlooking the river and the 
 valley of Manhattanville, is Clermont, one of the 
 most charming residences upon the island, and 
 in times past the abode of men who have figured 
 in the annals of the age. Joseph Bonaparte, 
 ex-king of Spain, Viscount Courtney, since Earl 
 of Devon, and Mr. Jackson, the British minister, 
 (Copenhagen Jackson as he was termed,) all 
 adopted this spot as a residence for a longer or 
 shorter period. 
 
 Manhattanville, nestled among the hills, opens 
 prettily from the water. Some years since, in 
 excavating at the mouth of the cove for the 
 Haerlem Canal, (since abandoned,) large quanti- 
 ties of timber were laid bare, lying several feet 
 below the water of the river ; the wood was sound, 
 though dark coloured, and universally cedar; they 
 lay as if a hurricane had passed over the forest 
 and levelled it with the earth. It argues that the 
 river has increased in elevation during a long 
 lapse of years, or that those trees were the 
 remains of an antediluvian wo^rld. From Man- 
 hattanville to Fort Washington are a range of 
 
41 
 
 finely wooded heights sweeping gracefully down 
 to the shore. 
 
 Fort Washington is a spot of some celebrity 
 in the revolutionary annals. When the army 
 retreated to White Plains, it was decided to leave 
 a large garrison here under Colonel Magaw ; the 
 site commanding the river, and preventing the 
 enemy from ascending into the heart of the 
 country by that channel. While in the possession 
 of the Americans the British ship of war Mer- 
 cury attempted it, but a iew well-directed shot 
 caused a speedy retreat, and to save the lives of 
 her crew she was run on shore opposite to where 
 now stands the seventh mile stone on the Bloom- 
 ingdale road, but soon after fell off and sunk in 
 deep water ; several attempts have been made of 
 late years, by means of a diving bell, to recover 
 her armament and what valuables she contained, 
 but with^little success. 
 
 The attack upon the fort was made from 
 four different points — the Hessians, one of the 
 attacking parties, under Knyphausen, marched 
 up through the gorge where now runs the 
 Kingsbridge road, as mechanically and coolly as 
 if at a review, while from the wooded heights 
 above a murderous fire was poured down hy 
 the sharp shooters of the garrison — the loss 
 of the British amounted to about twelve hundred 
 men ; but the spirited defence, in consequence 
 of a deficiency in ammunition, availed nothing. 
 Fort Washington, and its garrison of near three 
 thousand men, surrendered, and the captives were 
 
 crammed the first night for safe keeping into a 
 
 4# 
 
42 
 
 barn on the Morris Farm, now Jumel's. The 
 night was warm, and the foetid air engender- 
 ed by so many lungs became insupportable. 
 There was a constant cry for water, which was 
 not withheld, but the pressure prevented those 
 in the centre from reaching it, and they had to 
 endure the most agonizing thirst. Captain Gray- 
 don, of the Pennsylvania line, who was one of 
 the prisoners, informs us in his memoirs, *' that 
 he could liken the scene to no other than the 
 black hole of Calcutta." To add to their dis- 
 tress they had to endure the jeers and taunts of 
 their enemy, without the power of resenting it. 
 There was one comical little fellow among the 
 officers, a captain, who was not overstocked 
 with learning or a knowledge of the graces, and 
 who had lost his hat in the melee, and mounted 
 an old tattered beaver in its place, that he had 
 managed somehow or other to pick up ; his 
 clothes too were the worse for wear, having had 
 sundry rents added to their former forlorn con- 
 dition, during the day's hard service ; this man 
 was selected as a butt, and the shafts of the 
 English officers were showered plentifully upon 
 him — he was made to march and countermarch 
 before them, and they frequently questioned him 
 as to his rank in the rebel army; his answer was 
 — a Keppun^ which brought forth torrents of 
 laughter. 
 
 The prisoners were marched the next day to 
 the prisons and prison ships of New York, where 
 a large portion of them perished from want and 
 disease. In those days they were looked upon 
 
43 
 
 as rebels, and the English commanders resorted 
 to starvation and cruelty as the most likely 
 means to bring about a recantation of error. 
 
 The loss of Fort Washington spread a gloom 
 over the American cause, and many of its waver- 
 ing friends deemed it a mark of prudence to 
 make their peace with England. 
 
 The mounds of the old ft)rt are distinguishable 
 from the deck of the steamboat, and the view 
 from them is one of the finest in the vicinity of 
 New York, embracing a reach of fifty miles of 
 the river, and a distant view of the Sound and 
 Long Island. 
 
 Spiking Devil Creek opens upon us about two 
 miles above Fort Washington and is a classic 
 spot to the lovers of mirth ; here Irving has laid 
 the death of Antony Van Corlaer, the trumpeter 
 of the chivalrous Governor Stuyvesant. 
 
 The governor, on the approach of the English 
 under Colonel Nichols, had made an appeal to 
 the patriotism of the burghers of New Amster- 
 dam, which they had answered by playing 
 craven. *' Resolutely bent, however, upon defend- 
 ing his beloved city in despite even of itself, he 
 called unto him his trusty Van Corlaer, who was 
 his right hand man in all times of emergency. 
 Him did he adjure to take his war denouncing 
 trumpet and mounting his horse to beat up the 
 country night and day. Sounding the alarm 
 along the pastoral borders of the Bronx, startling 
 the wild solitudes of Croton, arousing the rugged 
 yeomanry of Weehawk and Hoboken, the 
 mighty men of battle of Tappan Bay, and the 
 
u 
 
 brave boys of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, 
 together with all the warriors of the country 
 round about, charging them one and all to sling 
 their powder horns, shoulder their fowling pieces, 
 
 and march merrily down to the Manhattoes. 
 
 # * # * « « # 
 
 *' It was a dark and stormy night when the 
 good Antony arrived at the famous creek (sage- 
 ly denominated Haerlem river) which separates 
 the island of Manhatta from the main land. The 
 wind was high ; the elements were in a roar, and 
 no Charon could be found to ferry the adventu- 
 rous sounder of brass across the water. For a 
 short time, he vapoured like an impatient ghost 
 upon the brink, and then bethinking himself of 
 the urgency of his errand, took a hasty embrace 
 of his stone bottle, swore most valorously he- 
 would swim across en spijt den Duyvel (in spite 
 of the Devil), and daringly plunged into the 
 stream. Luckless Antony! scarce had he buffet- 
 ed half-way over, when he was observed to 
 struggle violently as if battling with the spirit 
 of the waters ; instinctively, he put his trumpet 
 to his mouth and giving a vehement blast, sunk 
 for ever to the bottom. 
 
 " The potent clangour of his trumpet, like the 
 ivory horn of the renowned Paladin Orlando ex- 
 piring in the field of Roncesvalles, rung far and 
 wide through the country round, alarming the 
 neighbours, who hurried in amazement to the spot. 
 Here an old Dutch burgher, famed for his vera- 
 city, and who had been a witness to the fact, re- 
 lated to them the melancholy affair, with the fear- 
 
46 
 
 ful addition (to which I am slow of giving be- 
 lief) that he saw the Duyvel in the shape of a 
 huge Mossbonker, seize the sturdy Antony by 
 the leg and drag him beneath the waves. Certain 
 it is, that the place, with the adjoining promonto- 
 ry Avhich projects into the Hudson, has been call- 
 ed Spijt den Duyvel, or Spiking Devil, ever 
 since. The restless ghost of the unfortunate 
 Antony still haunts the surrounding solitudes, 
 and his trumpet has often been heard by the 
 neighbours of a stormy night mingling with the 
 howling of the blast. Nobody ever attempts to 
 swim over the creek after dark ; on the contrary, 
 a bridge has been built to guard against such 
 melancholy accidents in future, and as to Moss- 
 bonkers, they are held in such abhorrence, that 
 no true Dutchman will admit them to his table 
 who loves good fish and hates the devil." 
 
 Fort Lee is on the western shore and opposite 
 to Fort Washington. To the small hamlet at the 
 foot of the hill, a steamboat from the city plies 
 several times a day. It is a great resort for fami- 
 lies of children, who spend a few hours here in 
 the healthy exercise of rambling over the hills. 
 The site of the old fort was upon the bluff above, 
 where commences the Palliaade range. It was 
 hastily evacuated by its garrison after the fall of 
 Fort Washington, and its artillery and stores fell 
 into the hands of the British. 
 
 There is a good road from the shore to the top 
 of the mountain, the only one to be found for 
 several miles along the river, and extending to 
 the town of Hackensack, Many persons prefer 
 
48 
 
 this route to Passaic Falls, as it leads ovei' 
 a rich and interesting country, and avoids the 
 tedious marshes filled with mosquitoes that we 
 have to pass in going fromPaulus Hook or Ho- 
 boken. 
 
 The Pallisades, rising for the most part in a 
 perpendicular wall to the height of five or six 
 hundred feet, and extending to the Tappan sea, 
 present some of the most wild and magnificent 
 scenery on the river; soaring in all their naked- 
 ness and savage grandeur into the blue heavens, 
 they contrast finely with the luxurious landscape 
 on the opposite shore, and are a source of de- 
 light to the lovers of nature. A few miles back 
 of this columnar wall, lies the fertile plain of 
 Paramus, through which meander the Hacken- 
 sack and Saddle rivers. It is a tract of several 
 thousand acres, of surprising fertility, tilled 
 like a garden by its Dutch proprietors. Around 
 the old romantic looking church in the village 
 of Paramus, were long clustered the tents of the 
 American army in 1776. 
 
 The county of Bergen is almost exclusively 
 Dutch in its population, and the farms have de- 
 scended from sire to son since the days of Wou- 
 ter Van Twiller ; their houses are generally of 
 stone, one story high, with projecting eaves, and 
 cover much ground. We seldom see here any of 
 those tall and rickety shingle palaces that their 
 eastern neijjhbours are so fond of erecting. The 
 inhabitants are a frugal race, and by a long 
 course of industry have become wealthy. Many 
 an old stocking, if it could be brought forth from 
 
47 
 
 its hiding place, would be found to contain good 
 honest likenesses of the Spanish Charleses and 
 Ferdinands. 
 
 Philipshurgh on te eastern shore, eighteen 
 miles trom the city, is a pretty little village, and 
 v'as formerly a manor belonging to the family 
 from whom it derives its name ; the spire of its 
 church, rising above the trees, and the fine old 
 stone mansion surrounded by a grove of horse 
 chestnuts, the residence of the early proprietors, 
 are in view from the river. 
 
 The family of the Philipses, was one of the 
 wealthiest in the then colony of New York, and 
 like most of that class clung to the mother coun- 
 try in the struggle for independence. In conse- 
 quence, this manor, almost equal to a German 
 principality in extent, becam^, confiscated, and 
 since those days, has been divided and subdivided 
 among many proprietors. 
 
 Greenshurgh Landing, also a pretty village, 
 looks out upon the Tappan sea, an expansion of 
 the river, where, if we may credit the historian 
 Knickerbocker, the early navigators made an in- 
 vocation to Saint Nicholas, and took in sail, be- 
 fore encountering the perils of the pat sage. In 
 the neighborhood is Sleepy Hollow, with its mur- 
 muring brook. It is a spot rendered famous for 
 the woes and mishaps that in its precincts fell 
 upon the luckless head of Ichabod Crane, in his 
 pursuit after the broad lands and blooming per- 
 son of Katrina Van Tassel ; for aught we know 
 to the contrary, the headless horseman may still 
 awake the sleepy echoes in his nocturnal ram- 
 
43 
 
 bleg ; but where is Brom Bones and his better 
 half? 
 
 " They dwelt beside the waters 
 
 That bathe yon aged pine, 
 And round them grew their sons and daughters ' 
 
 Like wild grapes on the vine." 
 
 They are there no longer. If Brom had been 
 a Yankee, we should say he had placed his house- 
 hold wares in his wagon^ perched Katrina and 
 the children on the top, slung his kettles be- 
 neath, and trundled off to the far west to 
 found a city among the Kickapoos or Potowata- 
 raies; but Brom being a Dutchman, forbids the 
 supposition : all we know is, that the historian 
 of the doughty events we have alluded to, is now 
 in possession of the Van Tassel house, and has 
 modernized it; no, that will not do, he has anti- 
 quated it until it looks like one of those quiet 
 and cozy retreats that a traveller may have seen 
 for the last five hundred years, looking out up- 
 on the great canal of Bruges. Instead of the 
 festoons of dried apples and pumpkins that once 
 adorned the outward walls, the rich creeper 
 clings to the crevices, the fragrant honeysuckle 
 clambers over the porch, and the flaunting rose 
 and modest sweet-brier spring up and flourish 
 and fade beneath the casements. Long may the 
 worthy proprietor of this little paradise which 
 his taste has embellished, live to enjoy it. 
 
 The tract of country extending along the river 
 as far as the Highlands, (the fair county of West 
 Chester,) during the revolutionary war lay be- 
 tween the outposts of the contending armies, and 
 
49 
 
 was a scene of clustering woes to the peaceful in* 
 habitants. It was alternately ravaged by skin-" 
 ners and cowboys, very Ishmaelites, whose hands 
 were against every man, and every man's hand 
 against them. Under the specious guise of pa- 
 triotism or loyalty, they were scouring the coun- 
 try at all times and committing crimes of the 
 most flagrant description, plundering, burning, 
 and often murdering, and none to bring them to 
 an account. Many of the most stirring scenes 
 of Cooper's Spy are laid in this debateable land. 
 On a bright summer morning three young 
 men, Paulding, Williams, and Van Wart started, 
 armed on an expedition below. Near Tarry 
 Town, as the day was growing warm, they se- 
 creted themselves under a hedge, and were en- 
 gaged in the equivocal employment of playing 
 at cards, when the tramp of a horse was heard, 
 and a well-dressed man pursuing his way to- 
 wards the city made his appearance. Springing 
 from their covert they seized hold of the bridle 
 and ordered him to dismount. It was Major 
 Andre travelling under the name of Anderson, 
 with a passport from Arnold, returning from his 
 conference with the traitor. " We took him in- 
 to the bushes," says Williams, "and ordered 
 him to pull off his clothes, which he did ; but on 
 searching him narrowly we could not find any 
 sort of writing. We told him to pull off his 
 boots, which he seemed to be indifterent about, 
 but we got one boot off and searched in that 
 boot and could find nothing. But we found there 
 were some papers in the bottom of his stocking 
 5 
 
so 
 
 next to his foot, on which we made him pull off 
 his stocking and found three papers wrapped up. 
 Mr. Paulding looked at the contents, and said he 
 was a spy. We then made him pull off his other 
 boot, and there we found three more papers 
 at the bottom of his foot within his stocking. 
 
 " Upon this we made him dress himself, and I 
 asked him what he would give us to let him go. 
 He said he would give us any sum of money. 
 I asked him whether he would give us his horse, 
 saddle, bridle, watch, and one hundred guineas. 
 He said yes, and told us he would direct them 
 to any place, even if it was that very spot, so 
 that we could get them. I asked him Avhether 
 he would not give us more. He said he would 
 give us any quantity of dry goods, or any sum of 
 money, and bring it to any place we might pitch 
 upon, so that we might get it. Mr. Paulding 
 answered, no ; if you should give us ten thou- 
 sand guineas, you should not stir one step. I 
 then asked the person who called himself John 
 Anderson, if he would not get away if it lay in 
 his power. He answered Yes, I would. I told 
 him I did not intend he should. While taking 
 him along, we asked him a few questions, and 
 we stopped under a shade, — he begged of us 
 not to ask him, and said when he came to any 
 commander he would reveal all. 
 
 " He was dressed in a blue over-coat and a 
 tight body coat that was of a kind of claret co- 
 lour, though a rather deeper red than claret ; the 
 button holes were laced with gold tinsel, and the 
 buttons drawn over with the same kind of lace. 
 
51 
 
 He had on a I'oiind hat and a nankeen waiscoat, 
 and breeches, with a flannel waistcoat and draw- 
 ers, boots, and thread stockings." 
 
 The nearest military post was North Castle, 
 where Lieutenant Col. Jamison was stationed, 
 with a part of -Shelton's regiment of dragoons. 
 To that place it was resolved to take the prison- 
 er, and within a few hours he was delivered up 
 to Jamison, with all the papers that had been 
 taken from his boots. 
 
 Jamison unaccountably allowed the prisoner 
 to send a communication to Arnold, who, thus 
 made aware of his danger, effected his escape to 
 the sloop of war Vulture then lying oft' Teller's 
 Point. 
 
 Andre, soon after his arrest, was carried 
 across the river, where a court martial was con- 
 vened, under La Fayette as president, for his 
 trial. With a soldier's frankness he avowed his 
 name and character, and was condemned as a spy, 
 to suffer the ignominious death of the gibbet. 
 The final scene was enacted on a hill back of 
 the village of Tappan, and there his remains 
 were interred, where they rested in peace until 
 within a few years, when they were removed 
 under the auspices of the British consul, and 
 transferred to the mausoleum erected to his me- 
 mory in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Young, generous and brave, an inmate of Sir 
 Henry Clinton's family, and beloved and honour- 
 ed by his brother officers, his fate created a sen- 
 sation throughout Britain and America that may 
 be imagined — not described. Every eftbrt that 
 
B2 
 
 could be devised was made by Clinton to avert 
 it ; but Washington, humane and benevolent as 
 he is known to have been, believed that the 
 stern dictates of justice and the good of his 
 country required the sacrifice. During his con- 
 finement every indulgence consistent with his 
 safe keeping was granted, and forms a striking 
 contrast to the haste and malignity with which 
 poor Hale was hurried to his doom, taken on 
 Long Island under similar circumstances. 
 
 Whoever has read Andre's literary compo- 
 sitions, or his playful letters to his sisters, cannot 
 but feel a warm interest in his memory, and re- 
 gret that such a mind, in an unguarded moment, 
 could descend so low as to act the odious part 
 of a spy. 
 
 Arnold received, as the reward of his treach- 
 ery, a handsome sum of money and a brigadier's 
 commission, and as such commanded in two ex- 
 peditions. One into Virginia, where he commit- 
 ted extensive ravages upon the sea coast, — the 
 other into his native state, Connecticut, where 
 he captured Fort Trumbull, burnt New London, 
 and sent Col. Eyre, with a detachment, to the 
 opposite side of the harbor, who took Fort Gris- 
 wold, slaughtering the garrison long after it had 
 ceased to resist. Arnold soon after returned to 
 New York, where he was held in deserved con- 
 tempt by the generous and honourable. After the 
 war, he resided for some time in St. John's, New 
 Brunswick, where he was engaged in trade. He 
 died in Gloucester Place, London, in 1801. 
 
 'JTappan is also remembered for the tragic fate. 
 
5^ 
 
 that there befell Colonel Baylor's regiment. — 
 They occupied a large barn in the village, and 
 in the dead of night, and during their slumbers, 
 through the negligence of an outpost, consisting 
 of militia, and the capture of the patrol, were 
 surprised and massacred without resistance 
 by a British force, led on by General Grey, 
 the no flint General, as he was termed, from 
 his practice of withdrawing the flints from 
 the guns of his soldiers and compelling them 
 to resort to the bayonet alone. 
 
 Nyack and Haverstraw, backed by lofty hills, 
 are old Dutch settlements, and have a pretty ap- 
 pearance, as seen from the river. To the north 
 of Haverstraw, is Grassy Point, a level tract of 
 land, lying at the foot of the hills, which here re- 
 cede from the water. It is a rich and fertile 
 plain and studded with many handsome residen- 
 ces, summer retreats for the citizens of New 
 York. 
 
 Sing Sing^ on the opposite shore, is a thriving 
 village. The State Prison is located here, and 
 looks more like some strong fortress than a re- 
 ceptacle for felons. It is a large building, four 
 hundred and eighty feet in length, forty-four in 
 width, five stories high, and contains one thou- 
 sand solitary cells. It is built of white marble, 
 which abounds in the neighbourhood, and from 
 whence New York draws its supply for most of 
 the ornamental buildings erected of late years. 
 The prison grounds are one hundred and sixty 
 acres, and the average number of prisoners in- 
 carcerated here, is about nine hundred. They 
 6* 
 
64 
 
 are mostly employed in getting out atid dressing 
 stone, which finds a ready sale, and the receipts 
 from this source, and a few others of minor im- 
 portance, have proved to be more than sufficient 
 for the maintenance of the establishment. 
 
 Croton RiveVj a clear and rapid stream flow- 
 ing from the east, falls into the North Rivei about 
 two miles above Sing Sing prison. This stream 
 is destined to supply New York with pure and 
 wholesome water. In 1834, five Commission- 
 ers, styled the Water Commissioners, were ap- 
 pointed by the Governor and Senate to examine 
 into the feasibility of the scheme, form an esti- 
 mate of the cost, and report to the Common 
 Council. Their report was accepted, and the 
 whole subject referred to the people, who voted 
 in the affirmative by a large majority, in the 
 election of 1835. In consequence, the Commis- 
 sioners, under the authority of the city govern- 
 ment, issued proposals for a loan to carry it into 
 effect, which was promptly subscribed, and the 
 work is now in a course of completion. 
 
 The water will be takenf rom the Croton sev- 
 ral miles from its mouth, and carried by means 
 of a covered stone aqueduct, forty-one miles, to 
 Murray's Hill, one mile and a half from the 
 city, where a reservoir is to be constructed to 
 receive it. The reservoir will be seven feet 
 above the top of the highest building in the city, 
 thus allowing sufficient head to force the water 
 to any spot that it can be wanted in. From the 
 reservoir, it will be carried through the different 
 streets by the means of iron pipes. By the re- 
 
55 
 
 port of the Commissioners, this magnificent 
 work will cost, for the forty-one miles of acque- 
 duct and reservoir, rising four millions of dol- 
 lars, and for the iron pipes and placing them, 
 one million 'and a half more. The length of 
 pipe required for the numerous streets, is one 
 hundred and sixty-seven miles, and the time 
 taken for the completion of the whole, they con- 
 clude will be about five years. 
 
 Teller's Point juts out into the river from the 
 mouth of the Croton, and separates Tappan sea 
 from Haverstraw bay. The scenery, as seen 
 from this neck of land, is superb, presenting an 
 endless variety of the beautiful in nature. The 
 country we pass is fertile, well cultivated, and 
 adorned by the fine farms and dwellings of 
 wealthy proprietors. 
 
 Stony Pointy with its light-house, is now'before 
 us, — on it was a fortress of some celebrity in 
 the revolutionary war. It was captured from 
 the British by General Wayne, (mad Antony as 
 he was called from his hair-brained valour) on the 
 15th day of July, 1779. He set out at the head 
 of a detachment, and completed a march of 
 about fourteen miles over bad roads by eight 
 o'clock in the evening. The detachment then 
 being within a mile and a half of its object, was 
 halted and formed into columns. The general, 
 with a few of his officers, advanced and recon- 
 noitred the works. At half past eleven, the 
 whole moved forward to the attack. 
 
 Wayne placed himself at the head of the right 
 column, and gave the most pointed orders not 
 
56 
 
 to fire, but to depend solely upon the bayonet. 
 The two columns directed their attacks to oppo- 
 site points of the works, while a detachment 
 engaged the attention of the garrison by a feint 
 in front. The approaches were more difficult 
 than had been apprehended. The works were 
 defended by a deep morass, which was also at 
 that time overflowed by the tide. Neither the 
 morass, the double row of abbatis, nor the 
 strength of the works damped the ardour of the 
 assailants. In the face of a most tremendous 
 fire of musketry, and of cannon loaded with 
 grape shot, they forced their way at the point of 
 the bayonet through every obstacle, until both 
 columns met in the centre of the works at nearly 
 the same instant. General Wayne, as he passed 
 the last abbatis, was wounded in the head by a 
 musket ball ; but, nevertheless, insisted on being 
 carried forward, adding as a reason, that if he 
 died he wished it might be in the fort. 
 
 The killed and wounded of the Americans 
 amounted to ninety-eight ; the killed of the gar- 
 rison were sixty-three, and the number of pri- 
 soners, five hundred and forty-three. 
 
 Uponthe capture of Stony Point the victors 
 turned their artillery upon Verplank's Point and 
 fired upon it with such efTect that the shipping 
 in its vicinity cut their cables and fell down the 
 river. 
 
 As soon as the news of these events reached 
 New York, preparations were immediately made 
 to relieve the latter post, and to recover the for- 
 mer. It by no means accorded with the can- 
 
S7 
 
 tious prudence of Washington to risk ah en- 
 gagement for either or both of them : he there- 
 fore removed the cannon and stores, destroyed 
 the works, and evacuated the captured posts. — 
 Sir Henry Clinton regained possession of Stony 
 Point on the third day after its capture, and 
 placed in it a strong garrison. 
 
 Verplank^s Point is a superb spot, and embra- 
 ces some of the most enchanting scenery on the 
 river. It has recently been sold to a company, 
 who are making an effort to build a town upon 
 it. 
 
 Gibraltar, or Caldwell's, is the first landing 
 made by the Albany steamboats in their upward 
 passage. It is also the landing for Peekskill ; 
 there not being a sufficient depth of water in the 
 bay for the boats to reach that town. 
 
 Peekskill, lying in the lap of the hills, is a pic- 
 turesque looking town, and looks out upon the 
 lofty Dunderbergh or Thunder Mountain. On 
 the village green is shown the tree whereon 
 Palmer was executed in 1779. He was .1 lieu- 
 tenant in the Tory new levies, and was detected 
 in the American camp. Governor Tryon re- 
 claimed him as a British officer, threatening ven- 
 geance if he was not restored. General Put- 
 nam wrote the following laconic reply : 
 
 "Sir, — Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your 
 king's service, was taken in my camp as a spy ; 
 he was tried as a spy, he was condemned as a 
 spy, and he shall be hanged as a spy. 
 
 Israel Putnam. 
 
 P. S. — Afternoon, — He is hanged. 
 
^8 
 
 The Highlands, the magnificent Matewarl 
 mountains of the Indians are now before us — 
 they rise to the height of from twelve to fifteen 
 hundred feet in bold and rocky precipices that 
 would seem to defy the labour of man to sur- 
 mount, and where the eagle builds her eyrie, and 
 the hawk raises her callow brood, fearless of the 
 stratagems of the spoiler. The mighty river, 
 pent within a narrow channel, struggles around 
 the base of the hills, and lying deep in the sha- 
 dows of the mountains, often appears like some 
 dark lake shut out from the world. Our coun- 
 try offers no scenes more grand and sublime, and 
 we may well doubt whether the far-famed Rhine, 
 the cherished theme of every European tourist, 
 can exceed in those attributes the one we are' 
 now voyaging upon. There is here, it is true, 
 no classify spot to recall the days of the Caesars, 
 *' no castled crag of Drachenfels" encircled with 
 its thousand years of romance, as on the Ger- 
 man river; but to an American it is a land of 
 enduring interest ; every spot of this mountain 
 pass, whereon man could gain a foot hold, is 
 interwoven with the history of a struggle that 
 gave birth to a mighty empire, and, in coming 
 ages, may we not suppose that it will be looked 
 upon with some such feeling of veneration as 
 with which we of the present day now contem- 
 plate the pass of Thermopylae or the plains of 
 Marathon ? 
 
 A short distance above Peekskill, the river 
 takes an abrupt turn to the west, round the base 
 of St. Anthony's nose, a rocky mountain rising 
 
59 
 
 abruptly from the water's edge, to th^ height of 
 eleven hundred feet. The waters are here com- 
 pressed by the rocks on one side, and by Salis- 
 bury Island on the other, into a narrow channel, 
 causing them to rush past with great velocity, 
 and have received from the boatmen on the river 
 the name of the Horse race. 
 
 Fort Montgomery lies opposite to St. Antho- 
 ny's Nose. It was captured by Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton, in 1779, who marched his troops by a long 
 and harassing route over the mountains, and 
 made the attack on the landward side, where the 
 defences were weak. The attack having been 
 made in the night, General George Clinton and 
 the garrison succeeded in making their escape, 
 aided by the darkness. At this spot a boom and 
 chain were carried across the river by the Ame- 
 ricans, which were finally forced by the British ; 
 a portion of the chain was recovered a few years 
 since by some workmen who were employed in 
 raising a sunken vessel. Back of the old fort, 
 rises the Bare Mountain, thirteen hundred and 
 fifty feet in height. The inhabitants of the pre- 
 sent hamlet of Fort Montgomery derive a sup- 
 port by cutting firewood on the hills, and carry- 
 ing it to the New York market. 
 
 Buttermilk Falls are so called from the white 
 and frothy appearance of the water as it leaps 
 from rock to rock, in a descent of some hundred 
 feet. At the mouth of the stream, are large flour- 
 ing mills, and on the opposite shore is the Be- 
 verly House, where Arnold met the emissaries 
 of Clinton, and concocted his treasonable plans. 
 
60 
 
 West Point, with its military school and bar- 
 racks, and the ruins of Fort Putnam, are now in 
 view. After the fall of Fort Montgomery, Wash- 
 ington ordered Gen. Putnam to select a suitable 
 site in the neighbourhood, whereon to erect an- 
 other fort, and to him the honour is due of choos- 
 ing West Point. Fort Putnam, standing several 
 hundred feet above the river, is a fine old ruin, 
 and will ever be remembered as one on the fate 
 of which, more than any other in the land, hung 
 the destinies of America. British force and a 
 traitor's wiles were exerted against it in vain, 
 and in days of despondency and gloom, it was 
 long the rallying point of our fathers. 
 
 The founding of a military school was brought 
 before Congressby President Washington, but it 
 was not until 1802 that the present one came into 
 operation. Since then, notwithstanding a stre- 
 nuous opposition from many members of Con- 
 gress, who look upon the institution as an exclu- 
 sive and anti-republican one, it has steadily in- 
 creased its sphere of action, and furnished from 
 the ranks of the cadets, a corps of w^ll-educated 
 officers for tke army. 
 
 The site of the academy, barracks, offices, and 
 dwellings for the professors and their families, 
 is upon a level tract, lying about fifty feet above 
 the river, and extending back about a quarter of 
 a mile to the foot of the mountains. From this 
 plateau are seen the spurs of the mountain ran- 
 ges hanging over the river in bold and precipitous 
 bluffs, rising oftentimes to the height of twelve 
 
61 
 
 and fifteen hundred feet, and clothed with foliage 
 to their very summits ; while the dark stream 
 lying far below, rolls its deep waters amid sun 
 and shadow, twisting and turning round the 
 rocky headlands, as if eager to escape from its 
 thraldom. There are no scenes in our land more 
 magnificent than those we are now contemplat- 
 ing, and the pencil of the painter and the burin 
 of the engraver have long made them familiar to 
 thousands in distant climes. 
 
 Few tourists for pleasure neglect a visit to 
 West Point: its sublime scenery, its military 
 school, its sheltered walks, its monuments, its 
 rich band of music, with its echoes reverberating 
 from the hills, the summer encampment of the 
 cadets, the historical reminiscences that cling 
 around it — all combine to render it a place of ab- 
 sorbing interest. 
 
 There is a story told of a soldier of Fort Put- 
 nam, exemplifying the eflfects of fear upon the 
 human frame in a remarkable manner. In the 
 neighbourhood, on the face of one of the preci- 
 pitous cliffs, an eagle had built her nest, and a 
 party from the garrison undertook to rob her of 
 her young. To effect, it they suspended a com- 
 rade, from the top of the rock, by a rope tied 
 about his waist, lowering him down until he came 
 within reach of the prize. While thus hanging 
 in mid-air, the mother bird, in defence of her 
 brood, made a furious attack upon him, and he, to 
 defend himself, used his hanger : making an un- 
 lucky stroke, he severed two out of three of the 
 strands of the rope bv which he was suspended, 
 6 
 
62 
 
 and the remaining one began rapidly to untwist : 
 in this horrible situation, expecting every mo- 
 ment to be dashed to pieces, and wild with ter- 
 ror, he called lustily upon his comrades for suc- 
 cour. They had barely time to haul him in over 
 the precipice ere it had been too late. The ex- 
 cessive agony of fear he had endured, caused 
 his hair to change from a dark colour to a pure 
 white, in less than twenty-four hours. 
 
 This, to some, may appear an improbable tale ; 
 but we believe there are several well-attested in- 
 cidents of the kind upon record : Byron alludes 
 to such an one in the opening of his poem, the 
 Prisoners of Chillon — 
 
 " My hair is gray, but not with years^ V . 
 
 Nor grew it white in a single night ; 
 As men's have done from sudden fears, 
 But mine has been a dungeon's spoil." 
 
 Opposite to West Point is the Sugarloaf, a sin- 
 gularly shaped mountain, rising to a great height; 
 and two or three miles to the north is Cold 
 Spring, a town situated at the foot of the hills, 
 and celebrated for its iron foundries. To ac- 
 commodate the workmen, a small Catholic cha- 
 pel, of classic proportions, dedicated to Our 
 Lady of Cold Spring, has been erected in a ro- 
 mantic situation upon the river, and shows pret- 
 tily from the water. 
 
 Fronting the chapel, on the west shore, is the 
 Crow's Nest, and to the north is Butter Hill, the 
 highest mountain in the range. On the opposite 
 shore are Bull Hill and Breakneck Hill, alsa 
 
63 
 
 mountains of great elevation. Bull Hill, as seen 
 from a particular situation, shows the profile of 
 a man's face, and is generally pointed out to the 
 traveller as St. Anthony's Nose ; but, like 
 Tassoni's bucket, '' It is not the true one." The 
 last named hills terminate the range upon the 
 river. 
 
 From geological appearances, there is reason 
 to believe, that the giant ramparts we are leaving, 
 were in some age of the world, the southern bar- 
 rier of a lake, enclosed to the west by the Sha- 
 wagunk and Catskill mountains, and to the east 
 by the Fishkill and other high ranges, and ex- 
 tending over most of the river counties ; and that 
 some convulsion of nature has torn the rocks 
 asunder, and allowed the imprisoned waters to 
 escape. 
 
 Cornwall Siud Canterbury break upon the view 
 as we round Butter Hill, and are outlets for the 
 produce of a rich farming country to the west of 
 them. 
 
 New Windsor lies about half way between the 
 last named town and Newburgh. To these three 
 towns steamboats ply regularly, and carry large 
 quantities of fruit and vegetables to the city. 
 
 Newburgh, sixty miles from New York, stands 
 upon the side of a steep hill, and, seen at a dis- 
 tance, has a very imposing appearance — a beau- 
 tiful object in the landscape. It is the county 
 town of Orange, and has a population of about 
 seven thousand inhabitants. From it extends 
 the main road to the southwestern tier of coun- 
 ties in the State, and across the Delaware and 
 
64 
 
 Susquehanna rivers into Pennsylvania ; it is 
 therefore a great thoroughfare for travellers, 
 and much bustle is manifest whenever one of the 
 North River line of steamboats touches the wharf. 
 Orange county is a fine agricultural district, and 
 celebrated for the product of its dairies. In it 
 is the township of Goshen, and, like the tract of 
 the same name granted by the Egyptian Pharaoh 
 to the Jewish patriarch, is a land flowing with 
 milk and honey. There are few housewives in 
 New York unacquainted with the merits of Go- 
 shen butter. Nevvburgh is an old town, having 
 been founded in 1708. On the hill in the south- 
 ern suburb is the Hasbrouck House, the head- 
 quarters of General Washington, while the army 
 lay encamped in the vicinity: it stands unaltered, 
 and Lafayette, when last in America, paid it af 
 visit, and expressed the satisfaction he felt in 
 once more treading the well-known rooms, en- 
 deared to him by the recollection of happy hours 
 spent in the company of the father of his coun- 
 try. May no rude Vandal destroy this relic of 
 other days. 
 
 At Newburgh a spirit of insubordination ma- 
 nifested itself at the close of the war, among the 
 officers of the army, who felt themselves ag- 
 grieved by the neglect of Congress to satisfy 
 their claims upon the country. Inflamed by the 
 celebrated Newburgh letters, a large portion 
 were for taking redress into their own hands, 
 and at one time a civil war was to be apprehend- 
 ed, but the persuasive powers and character of 
 Washington averted the storm, and thus added 
 
66 
 
 another laurel to the brow of the veteran. Much 
 might be said in extenuation of the conduct of 
 those men ; they had served long and faithfully, 
 had been paid in a depreciated currency, arrears 
 were due them that Congress, in the impoverish- 
 ed state of the country, found it impossible to 
 liquidate, and they were now about to be dis- 
 banded, with no provision made for their com- 
 fort, by the land for which they had bled and suf- 
 fered ; many of them too with shattered, consti- 
 tutions, and all more or less unfitted by habits 
 acquired in a camp, to grapple with the ills of 
 poverty. The wonder is that they so soon could 
 be induced to sink the soldier into the suffering 
 citizen. 
 
 Fishkill Landino', in Dutchess county, lies op- 
 posite to Newburgh, and to which a steam ferry- 
 boat plies regularly. On the Fishkill creek 
 are the manufacturing towns of Mattewan and 
 Glenham, where large quantities of machinery, 
 and cotton and woollen goods, are manufactured 
 for the Mew York market. Near them is Beacon 
 hill, seventeen hundred feet high and overlook- 
 ing a large extent of country, embracing the 
 Highlands, the Shawagunk mountains, and adis- 
 tant view of the Kaatsbergs, a spur of the great 
 Alleghany chain. During the revolution, fires 
 were lighted upon the summit of Beacon hill to 
 give warning of the approach of danger, and 
 hence the origin of the name. 
 
 Marlborough and Milton, on the west shore, 
 and Hamburgh and Barnegat, on the eastern, are 
 small hamlets, and drive a large business in lime. 
 
156 
 
 The kilns are on the shore, and in the night have 
 a singular appearance, looking volcano like. 
 The country is a rural and picturesque one, and 
 adorned with many fine villages and farms. 
 
 Poughkeepsie, the county town of Dutchess, is 
 a thriving place, and largely embarked in manu- 
 facturing and the whale fisheries. It has a colle- 
 giate institute situated upon the hill to the north, 
 many churches and public buildings, several 
 banks, and a population of eight or ten thousand. 
 There are few streets any where to be found that 
 present a more business like aspect than does 
 Main street, extending from the river to the 
 eastern suburbs. Many of the private dwellings 
 are tasteful and ornamental, and the society of 
 the place is considered fully equal to that of 
 towns of a much more aspiring character. 
 
 Dutchess is perhaps the richest agricultural 
 district in the state, and presents every variety 
 of soil and surface. Its eastern part is much 
 broken by the Fishkill mountains ; but there are 
 many lovely valleys among them of surprising 
 fertility, and the views from some of the sum- 
 mits present pictures of beauty that a painter 
 would love to study. A portion of the Housa- 
 tonick, as seen from the hills in Dover, cannot 
 be surpassed in bold and beautiful scenery. 
 
 New.Paltz, in the county of Ulster, lies oppo- 
 site to Poughkeepsie. The name of the county 
 was given in honour of the proprietor, James 
 Duke of York, Albany, and Ulster. It is a 
 mountainous region, and the inhabitants of the 
 interior are mostly descendants of the Dutch, 
 
67 
 
 Hyde Park Landing is six miles above 
 Poughkeepsie. The country for two or three 
 miles along the river also bears the same name, 
 given to it, we presume, in honour of the Lady 
 Anne Hyde, Dutchess of York, and afterward 
 Queen of England. Hyde Park is a lovely spot, 
 embellislied by nature and art, and looks forth 
 gloriously upon the bright waters, the green hills 
 of Ulster and the towering summits of the Kaats- 
 bergs. It is a highly fashionable resort from the 
 bustle and heat of the city, and the mansions 
 scattered along the bank (among which may be 
 mentioned the late Judge Pendleton's and Dr. 
 Hosack's), surrounded by extensive parks and 
 noble forest trees, have as aristocratic an appear- 
 ance as any in the land. The bank for several miles 
 above, presents the same rich cultivated prospect, 
 and is dotted with white cottages peeping forth 
 from their leafy coverts, or through the long 
 green avenues that lead to the water's edge. 
 
 Kingston or Esopus^ on the eastern shore, is 
 an old settlement and was burnt by Admiral 
 Wallace and Sir James Vaughan, in 1776, when 
 they attempted to create a diversion from the 
 the northern army in favour of Burgoyne. Near 
 this town, the Del-aware and Hudson canal falls 
 into the river, and leads to the coal regions of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Delaware and Hudson canal was incor- 
 porated in 1823, with a capital of fifteen hundred 
 thousand dollars, five hundred thousand to be 
 employed in banking in the city of New York. 
 The construction of this work cost much more 
 
68 
 
 than the original estimate, and on the applica- 
 tion of the directors to the legislature, the credit 
 of the state was loaned to them to the amount 
 of eight hundred thousand dollars. This ena- 
 bled them to complete the work, which is one 
 hundred and nine miles long, terminat'ng at 
 Honesdale, in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, — 
 from thence there is a railroad sixteen miles to 
 Carbondale, in Luzerne county. The summit 
 level is between five and six hundred feet above 
 the tide water, and is overcome by sixty-one 
 locks of hammered stone, and thirteen construct- 
 ed of timber. There are two aqueducts, one 
 over the Rondout entirely of stone, resting up- 
 on two arches of fifty and sixty feet span. This 
 canal is a work of great magnitude, and runs 
 through a wild and mountainous region. 
 
 Staatsburg and Rhineheck are old German 
 settlements, and are mentioned in the histories 
 of the province as early as 1650. 
 
 The soil for the next twenty miles of the 
 eastern shore, is principally in the possession of 
 the Livingston family or the'r descendants, and 
 their mansions line the bank for most of the 
 distance. 
 
 The ancestor of the American branch of the 
 Livingstons was (according to Watson) of 
 Scotch extraction, and one of the persecuted sect 
 called Brownists that emigrated to Holland, 
 from thence he came to the New Netherlands, 
 and was secretary to the Dutch government and 
 a man of influence. His family settled near 
 where now stands the city of Hudson, and ac- 
 
69 
 
 quired or purchased the manor that bears his 
 name. Robert Livingston, his descendant, took 
 up in 1752, three hundred thousand acres of 
 forest land, extending from Esopus to the Dela- 
 ware river, and proposed to rent it out for ever, 
 at the rate of fifty bushels of wheat for every 
 one hundred acres. 
 
 The family of the Livingstons are still wealthy 
 and respected ; many of its sons have evinced 
 talents of the first order, among whom may be 
 named the late chancellor, whose purse andcoun- 
 sel enabled Fulton to perfect his mighty inven- 
 tion of navigating by steam, and the late Ed- 
 ward Livingston, the accomplished diplomatist 
 and jurist, whose code of laws drawn up by di- 
 rection of the state government of Louisiana, 
 has gained him the applause of the civilized 
 world. In the annals of Scotland, the name of 
 Livingstone (the American family appear to have 
 dropped the final e) is one of honour, and has 
 been borne in early days by many of her proud- 
 est nobles. The Livingston manor house is 
 still in being, and is about six miles below Hud- 
 son, and in view of the river. 
 
 The upper and lower Red Hooks, are landings 
 for the towns of Red Hook, Clermont,and Johns- 
 town ; they lie upon the Albany post road that 
 here runs two or three miles inland. 
 
 Opposite to Itthe northern point of Magdalen 
 Island, situated about midway between the two 
 landings, is the mansion that was forfnerly the 
 residence of General Montgomery, who married 
 into the Livingston family, and fell in the memo- 
 
70 
 
 rable attack upon Quebec, in 1775. His remains 
 were removed from thence within a late period 
 by direction of the State government, andrein- 
 terred below the monument, previously erected 
 to his memory by Congress, in St. Paul's church 
 yard. New York. 
 
 Glasgow^ Saugerties, and BristoU are 
 three villages on the west shore, and situated 
 within a short distance from each other, on a 
 slope of land rising gradually from the water's 
 edge. The country is an undulating one, until 
 it reaches the base of the Kaatskill mountains. 
 Saugerties is a manufacturing town, having within 
 it extensive foundries and paper mills. 
 
 Catskill we get but a partial glimpse of in 
 passing. It is a flourishing town, with two 
 banks, several churches, a population of five 
 thousand, and is a place of considerable business. 
 Green county is celebrated for its extensive tanne- 
 ries. It is generally too mountainous for agri- 
 culture, but many of its valleys are rich in pas- 
 turage, and well adapted to the raising of stock. 
 
 21ie Kaatshergs or Catskill mountains, tra- 
 versing the county of Green, and swelling 
 away to the west, with their blue outlines boldly 
 painted against the sky, are now the prominent 
 objects that arrest the eye of the traveller. Till 
 recently they were believed to be the highest 
 range in the State, but late observations have 
 proved that several peaks rising around the head 
 waters of .the North River, in Franklin county, 
 exceed them in altitude. The Round Top, the 
 highest point of the Catskill, is 3804 feet above 
 
7i 
 
 tide water, and the Mountain-house is about 
 three thousand feet. The road to this de- 
 servedly fashionable resort, for the first half 
 of the distance is moderately ascending, 
 the remaining half steep and toilsome, but safe. 
 The house, built a few years since by an asso- 
 ciation of gentlemen at Catskill, stands upon a 
 platform of a few acres of rock, and looks down 
 from its airy height, upon one of the most en- 
 chanting and lovely landscapes imaginable. The 
 rougher forms of nature are lost in the distance. 
 The country looks like a garden, adorned with 
 shrubbery and hedgerows ; the river, like a blue 
 ribband upon a field of emerald, and the villas; and 
 towns upon its borders, and the white sails upon 
 its bosom diminished into fairy looking objects. 
 Far away stretch the rich counties of Columbia, 
 Rensselaer, and Dutchess, with the high hills of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the green 
 mountains of Vermont, melting into azure. It 
 is a scene not often met with in this every-day 
 world, and well repays the time and toil expend- 
 ed in reaching it. 
 
 In the hot months of July and August, we 
 may here enjoy the bracing air of the mountains, 
 the cool and shady walks among the musical 
 pines, the morning scramble over rock and dell, 
 to - the romantic fall of the Kauterskill, and it 
 will fare hard with us if they do not impart 
 
 'Health to the mind and vigour to the limb." 
 
 Seated on the piazza of the Mountain-house, 
 we may often witness a sea of clouds shutting 
 out the landscape below, and hear the deep 
 
72 
 
 thunder and see the forked lightning, while 
 above and around are the blue sky and the clear 
 sunshine ; but it is not always so ; at times, the 
 tempest howls and sweeps around the lofty 
 peaks as if in madness. There is a grandeur 
 and sublimity about mountain storms, .that the 
 inhabitants of the plain have but little concep- 
 tion of. 
 
 It was our fortune some years since, to be de- 
 tained for some hours in the observatory on the 
 hill at Hudson, v/aiting for the Albany boat that 
 was to convey us to New York, and which we 
 afterward ascertained had been aground on the 
 overslaugh. In the time, a heavy cloud, black 
 as Erebus, arose in the west, gradually over- 
 spreading the lofty mountains, imparting to them 
 its inky hue, throwing them forward in bold re- 
 lief, and depicting every line, and curve, and 
 form, with wonderful exactness, while the light- 
 ning played about their summits, and the "live 
 thunder" rolled and reverberated among their 
 solitudes, peak answering unto peak, in sounds^ 
 that made the earth to tremble, it brought forci- 
 bly to our recollection the glowing description oi 
 a similar scene among the A.lps,in Byron's Childe 
 Harold. Never has it been in our power to wit- 
 ness another such a war of elements, and if any 
 of our readers are desirous of beholding a moun- 
 tain storm in all its grandeur, we should advise 
 them to select the observatory at Hudson as a 
 spot from whence they might probably be grati- 
 fied. 
 
 It is among those wild mountains, a fitting 
 
73 
 
 stage ior scenes of diablerie ^nd wonder, that 
 Irving has laid his inimitable tale of Kip Van 
 Winkle; and it is only in such a region, with the 
 grand and terrible around you, that it can be read 
 with the most zest: seated upon a lonely rock in 
 some dark dell, you become imbued with 
 the spirit of its conceptions, and at every rustling 
 sound turn round in expectation of meeting the 
 little Dutchman with his wonderful keg of liquor, 
 or of seeing the silent group bowling away at 
 their nine pins. 
 
 It is in mountainous regions that the mind is 
 most prone to give credence to supernatural 
 agency. In the Highlands of Scotland, the 
 mountains of Wales, the gloomy Haartsbergs of 
 Germany, we still see the strong man crouch be- 
 fore the spectres of an ideal creation; nor is this 
 to be marvelled at. In the words of an admired 
 author, 
 
 " Walk by yourself over wide black moors, 
 through the driving mists — come suddenly on 
 lonesome and roaring waterfalls — sit by the dash- 
 ing waves of dreary lakes — lose yourself for a 
 wild and stormy day in a savage glen, or a dark 
 pine forest — scale the mountains in company 
 with the sunbeams, the shadows, the clouds, and 
 the red deer — sleep all night by yourself in some 
 shieling, or in the hut of a solitary herdsman — 
 become a man of the mountains — let your eyes 
 be fed on their colours, and your ears filled 
 with their music — till heart, soul, imagination, 
 life, are all melted into and interfused with the 
 awful shapes, hues, and sounds of the earth you 
 7 
 
74 
 
 tread, and of the heavens that overshadow yo«, 
 and you will then know the force and meaning 
 of the word superstition^ and start in those sub- 
 lime solitudes to think how darkly and how ob- 
 scurely meet the boundaries of truth and illusion, 
 and how mangled is the long tumultuous array 
 of real forms and imaginary phantoms. 
 
 Hudson is an incorporated city, governed by 
 a mayor and court of aldermen, and has a popu- 
 lation of about six thousand. Its site is a beau- 
 tiful one, overlooking an extensive reach of the 
 river and the town of Athens, on the opposite 
 shore, the view bounded to the west by the 
 noble Kaatskills. About forty years since, a 
 number of families from Nantucket adopted it as 
 a suitable location from whence to carry on the 
 whale fisheries. For a time, the town and the 
 fisheries flourished ; but embargoes, non-inter- 
 course, and the ferocious wars of Europe, swept 
 their fleets from the ocean, and Hudson seemed 
 doomed to a premature decay. But better times 
 have dawned, manufactures sprung up, whaling 
 companies have been chartered, and again is heard 
 in her streets the hum of industry, and the bustle 
 inseparable trom commercial pursuits. It has, 
 or had lately, about a dozen ships engaged in 
 whaling, the aggregate tonnage of which was 
 about four thousand, and manned by three hun- 
 dred and fifty seamen, the sons of the hardy yeo- 
 manry in the neighbourhood. They receive no 
 stipulated wages, but a per centage of the oil 
 taken, thus becoming adventurers and interested 
 in a proportionable ratio in the success of the 
 voyage. 
 
75 
 
 From Hudson is the direct road, leading 
 through a rich and beautiful country, to the mi- 
 neral springs of New Lebanon. The Lebanon 
 Spring is situated on the side of a high hill, and 
 is a copious one, discharging twenty barrels a 
 minute. The temperature of the water is 73*^ 
 of Fahrenheit, and differs in taste but little, ex- 
 cept in its tepid quality, from the mountain 
 springs in the neighbourhood. It is considered 
 useful in cutaneous affections, and sometimes 
 acts as a cathartic ; but is far behind, in medi- 
 cinal qualities, the Hygeian fountains of Sara- 
 toga. In surrounding scenery, it is every way 
 superior. 
 
 There are few spots that combine the grand 
 and beautiful in a greater degree than does 
 the basin of New Lebanon. Shut out from 
 the world, by an amphitheatre of mountains, 
 their beautiful slopes covered with verdure, 
 and the air pure and delicious, it is a most 
 delightful and healthy retreat for the invalid, the 
 lover of nature, or the man of leisure. The 
 rides in the vicinity, to the Shakertown, to 
 Stockbridge, (the residence of Miss Sedgwick,) 
 to Lenox, one of the most beautiful villages in 
 New England — all comprise scenery of unsur- 
 passed richness and variety- But whither are 
 we v,^andering. 
 
 Athens is a town on the western shore opposite- 
 Hudson. Its situation is low, and there is little 
 about it requiring comment. In its southern envi- 
 rons are two or three handsome private residen- 
 cies. Three miles above Athens, and one hundred 
 
76 
 
 and twenty from New-York, is the termination of 
 ship navigation. The remaining portion of the 
 river is filled with islands and shoals, allowing 
 the passage of vessels of but small draft of water. 
 At this point fall in the united creeks of Clave- 
 rack and Kinderhook. On the former, are some 
 of the most extensive works for the printing of 
 calico upon this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Kinderhook landing, on the eastern shore, 
 is our next stopping place. (The town, a 
 short distance inland, will be noted, as the birth- 
 place of President Van Buren.) It is an old set- 
 tlement, and honourably mentioned by Joost 
 Hartgers, in 1650, and by Vanderdonk, in 1656. 
 
 This town, and many neighbouring ones, suf- 
 fered much about the middle of the last century, 
 from Indian depredations. There is a letter 
 now before us depicting the dangers and difficul- 
 ties the inhabitants underwent, an extract from 
 which may not be altogether uninteresting. 
 
 " Albany, May 6th, 1746. 
 
 " Every letter you will receive fiom me this 
 summer, I fear, will be filled with shocking ac- 
 counts of burnings and murders committed by 
 the Indians. A day or two ago, we heaid from 
 Kinderhook, a 'place twenty miles south of this 
 city, that the Indians had burnt the houses and 
 barns of Tunis Van Slyck and Peter Vosburgh, 
 and killed their cattle ; but happily those fami* 
 lies had removed that day into a small fort which 
 is built in the neighbourhood, at their own ex-- 
 pense, without the least assistance from the pub-* 
 lie that ever I heard.'* 
 
77 
 
 Some years later, near tke close of the French 
 war, a body of Indians burst into the settlement 
 and massacred many of the inhabitants. It is 
 not probable that those depredators belonged to 
 the neighbouring tribes, but a war party from 
 Canada or the borders of Lake Ontario, insti- 
 gated to those deeds by their French allies. 
 The peace of 1765, removed, by the surrender 
 of Canada to the British crown, all danger to the 
 river settlements, and we hear no farther of In- 
 dian depredations in that quarter. 
 
 Coxackit^ New Baltimore, and Coeymans, are 
 small towns upon the western shore, outlets for 
 the products of the farming districts in their 
 neighbourhood. They also supply New-York 
 with large quantities of superior stone flagging 
 for its side-walks, and employ in one way or an- 
 other, many sail of river craft, a class of vessels 
 celebrated for their symetry and beauty, and 
 which are fast disappearing, and giving place to 
 the more profitable, but unsightly tow-boats — 
 Coeymans, pronounced Quemans, is the title 
 given to a large tractor patent of land, granted by 
 the colonial government to a person of that name. 
 
 The river has now lost its character for bold- 
 ness flowing smoothly between low islands and 
 banks gradually ascending into the interior, and 
 presenting many soft and picturesque views. 
 
 Schodack and Castleton are villages on the 
 eastern shore, with but little about them to in- 
 terest the passing traveller. Above them com- 
 mence the Overslaugh bars, which are deposites 
 of sand continually shifting, brought down by 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 the spring floods, and are a serious impediment 
 to navigation. Much labour and money have 
 been expended to obviate the difficulty with but 
 partial success. The general government have 
 now undertaken the business, and are construct- 
 ing long moles and piers to contract the width 
 of the channel, when it is supposed the increased 
 rapidity of the current will prevent the accumu- 
 lation of deposits. 
 
 Castle Island, a long low island, a short dis- 
 tance below Albany, is memorable as the first 
 settlement of Europeans on the upper parts of 
 the river. The skippers, Blok and Christiance, 
 built a block-house here, in 1614, for the pur- 
 poses of Indian trade, choosing it for its isolated 
 position, and as one not likely to be taken by 
 surprise, but in the sequel they found an enemy 
 to contend with that never entered into their 
 calculations. The spring freshet brought down 
 torrents of water, overflowing the island, and 
 drowning them out as effectually as we now and 
 then see a colony of water rats routed from their 
 settlements, under similar circumstances. 
 
 Their next location was at the month of Nor- 
 manskill, where they continued trading with the 
 natives, until the founding of Fort Orange, in 
 1(523, on the site of the city of Albany, when the 
 Dutch West India Company look the Indian 
 trade into their own hands. 
 
 Greene Bush is a beautiful bank, with many 
 pretty dwellings upon it, summer residences of 
 wealthy Albanians. The one owned by Citizen 
 Genet, formerly minister of the French republic 
 
79 
 
 near our government, may be mentioned as one 
 of the number. In times of great political ex- 
 citement, the officious meddling of this gentle- 
 man and his successor in office, with our domes- 
 tic affiiirs, gave great umbrage to the constituted 
 authorities, and was one of the principal causes 
 of the war that ensued with France. 
 
 During the late war with England, this town 
 was a great depot for troops destined for the 
 Canada frontiers, and there are still standing ex- 
 tensive barracks belonging to the general govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Albany, as seen from Greenbush, has an im- 
 posing appearance. It rises rapidly from the 
 river, and the heights, crowned by the principal 
 public buildings, give it quite an air of magnifi- 
 cence. 
 
 It was founded by the Dutch in 1623, who 
 gave it the name of Beaverwyck. The Indians 
 called it Schenectadea, which signified in their 
 language the end of the pine-woods. The name 
 has been transferred, with but little variation in 
 the orthography, to a town fifteen miles to the 
 westward, where the pine barrens that com- 
 mence at Albany, terminate in the valley of the 
 Mohawk. 
 
 The fort at Beaverwyck was called Orange, 
 in honour of the Stadtholder, and was probably 
 a small stockadoed aflfair, for we find a com- 
 plaint made by the commander to Governor 
 Stuyvesant, that it was in a miserable state of 
 decay, and the hogs had destroyed a portion of 
 it. Its armament consisted of eight stone pieces, 
 
80 
 
 so called from their throwing stone, instead of 
 iron ball. They were formed of iron bars, laid 
 longitudinally and bound with hoops of the same 
 metal. 
 
 The town bore the nickname of De Fuyck, 
 the title of a peculiar kind of fishing net, fashion- 
 ed after the mystery of an eel-pot, and still much 
 in use upon the river, and in all genuine Dutch 
 settlements. It is a long net, extended upon 
 hoops, with a funnel-shaped orifice at one end, 
 and is placed in an opening made for the pur- 
 pose in a tight brush fence, carried out some 
 distance into the stream. The fish, not able to 
 force their way through the fence, take the course 
 apparently open, and are thus snugly caged. 
 The term, no doubt, was given in derision of the 
 grasping propensities of the Beaverwyckers, who 
 felt an extreme reluctance in allowing any one 
 to pass their net, or to participate in the profits 
 of the Indian trade. 
 
 This trade was guarded with the utmost vigi- 
 lance by the authorities, and manyl penal laws 
 were enacted to secure the monopoly of it. By 
 an ordinance, passed in 1689, it was declared, 
 *' That if any one without previous license should 
 sell any gunpowder to the Indians, he should 
 suffer death, and the informer was to receive fifty 
 guilders." In 1633, to prevent strangers from 
 embarking in the Indian trade, without the know- 
 ledge of the magistrates, the following order 
 was issued by the Governor and placarded in 
 New Amsterdam: 
 
 " All persons are hereby notified, that hence- 
 
81 
 
 forth, until further orders, on every Monday, 
 two jachts or barges may start from here to Fort 
 Orange, with privilege to take together, or one 
 by one, not more than six passengers, who shall 
 receive due certificates for the purpose, and the 
 skippers and passengers may pursue their jour- 
 ney, having such passports, and which shall be 
 given them by the honourable Arent Van Hat- 
 tern and William Beekman, at the office of Jan 
 de Yonge, on Saturday morning, at 8 o'clock 
 precisely. 
 
 (Signed) Arent Van Hattcm, 
 
 P. L. Vander grist, 
 William Beekman, 
 
 Johannis Willem Van Brug-gen. 
 
 The Beaverwyckers received this order in high 
 dudgeon, seized and dismantled the vessel that 
 brought it, and attempted to inflict a summary 
 chastisement upon the skipper, who fortunately 
 escaped out of their hands. After a smart en- 
 counter with the soldiers of the fort, order was 
 at length restored, and the vessel recaptured and 
 sent back to New-York. 
 
 The choleric Stuyvesant on receiving the in- 
 telligence was mightily enraged. He called his 
 council together, and declared that if ever the 
 Beaverwyckers should repeat the ofience he 
 would put them out of his protection, and they 
 sliould never have another domine sloop or sol- 
 dier from him. The absence of the latter would 
 probably not have been regretted by the inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
82 
 
 According to Dr. Eights (from whose little 
 work entitled " Reminiscences of Albany" we 
 draw a number of our facts), the government of 
 the town was vested in three commissioners ap- 
 pointed by the governor, who exercised their 
 delegated authority as despotically as do east- 
 ern princes. They imposed heavy penalties for 
 infractions of the laws of trade, (and in conse- 
 quence ruined many families, who were obliged 
 to retire to the Schenectady flats, where they in- 
 tercepted a considerable portion of the furs on 
 their way to Beaverwyck, and occasioned for 
 years the most bitter animosities between the 
 two places.) They granted licenses or refused 
 permission as they thought proper, to build 
 houses, carry on trade, buy and sell, to establish 
 manufactories, stores, shops, taverns, &c. They 
 inflicted torture to extort confession of crime, 
 and in short there was no limit to their power. 
 The fines and forfeitures imposed by this junto 
 were distributed in this singular manner, one 
 third to the church, one third to the public, and 
 one third to the attorney general. This gentle- 
 man's office in those days must have been a snug 
 one. 
 
 There are many wealthy families in Albany 
 descendants of the first settlers and among them 
 stand pre-eminent that of Tan Rensselaer. The 
 Dutch West India Company, to induce men of 
 substance to settle in the colony, offered to 
 those who should takeout with them as settlers 
 fifty persons above the age of twenty-one years, 
 9- free passage in their ships and a grant of land 
 
83 
 
 extending four nailes upon the river and as far 
 back as desired. Gillian Van Rensselaer, a 
 merchant of Amsterdam, was the first that 
 availed himself of the offer, and thus became 
 possessed of the immense possessions that have 
 descended unbroken into the hands of the Pa- 
 troon General Stephen Van Rensselaer. 
 
 The old manor house was built upon an isl- 
 and in the river, and it, with the settlements clus- 
 tered around, went by the name of Rensselaer- 
 wych. There are, we believe, no remains left of 
 the early home of the family, but in former days 
 the skippers upon the river were obliged to pay 
 due honours, by vailing their peaks, on passing 
 the residence of the American noble. 
 
 This deference was highly unpalatable to go- 
 vernor Stuyvesant, who wished to centre all the 
 honours of the New Netherlands upon his own 
 person, and he stoutly forbade the practice.— 
 But the agent of Van Rensselaer, Brante Arantse 
 Van Slichtenhorst, claiming absolute authority 
 over the manor, as stoutly insisted upon the 
 performance of homage. He also claimed a por- 
 tion of Beaverwyck, as lying within his ter- 
 ritorial limits ; built a fort on Beeren Island, and 
 fired upon the company's sloops who refused to 
 vail their peaks as formerly. This was too 
 much for the stomach of the fiery Stuyvesant to 
 digest, and an angry war of protests and mani- 
 festoes ensued. But the governor at last pre- 
 vailed ; he entrapped the contemner of his au- 
 thority, and notwithstandina: his humble petitions 
 for release, shipped him off in the first govern- 
 ment vessel that sailed for the Faderland. 
 
84 
 
 Van Slicthtenhorst was not the only person 
 sent out of the colony by the sic volo of the go- 
 vernor. In 1654, Jan E. Bont, for the monstrous 
 crime of refusing the office of a commissary of 
 Beaverwyck, was ordered to hold himself in 
 readiness to leave the country by the next ship, 
 called the King Solomon, and was packed off ac- 
 cordingly, and in 1658 it was decreed by the go- 
 vernor and council, "that for the honour of God" 
 and probably for holding opinions not sanctioned 
 by the synod of Dort, the Rev. Johannis Erasmus 
 Gottewater, a Lutheran minister, should leave 
 the colony forthwith. As for the Quakers, they 
 received no mercy, being looked upon- as a set 
 of obstinate and pestilent heretics. John Bowne, 
 from Flushing, on Long Island, the ancestor of 
 the respectable family of that name, was one of 
 the sect, and made his appearance in the streets 
 of New Amsterdam, in opposition to the decrees 
 of the governor. For this he was seized, whip- 
 ped, and thrown into prison, where he would 
 have lain until he had died, had not the govern- 
 or's sister, moved by compassion, exerted her in^? 
 fluence over her self-willed brother and pro- 
 cured his release. 
 
 Yet Stuyvesant had many sterling qualities. 
 He was chivalrous, brave, and patriotic. His 
 feelings were probably more to be ascribed to 
 the spirit of the age and the difficulties in which 
 he was placed, than to a bad disposition. His 
 memory is still held in veneration by the Dutch 
 population. There is a fine picture of him done 
 
85 
 
 in Holland to be seen in the mansion of his de- 
 scendant in New York, 
 
 Notwithstanding the inordinate love of gain 
 manifested by the inhabitants of Beaverwyck, 
 there was a regard evinced for the observances 
 of religion. Many ordinances were passed for 
 its advancement, and in the spirit of the times, 
 often tyrannical in their requirements, and droll 
 in their provisions. One regulation declares 
 that " no beer shall be bought, drank, or sold on 
 Sunday after the bell has tolled for church," im- 
 pliedly allowing it before. 
 
 There is a lease extant of the old maize lands 
 of Catskill, from the director of Rensselaerwyck, 
 requiring " the tenant to read a sermon, or a por- 
 tion of the scriptures, every Sunday, and high 
 festival, to the Christians in the neighbourhood, 
 and sing one or more psalms before and after 
 prayers, agreeably to the custom of the Church 
 of Holland. 
 
 Regular ministers were sent out from Holland, 
 and ^bout the year 1050, the West India Com- 
 pany wrote a letter, stating that they would soon 
 send a bell and pulpit for the inhabitants of Fort 
 Orange, and of the village of Beaverwyck, for 
 their newly constructed little church. 
 
 Many of the habits of the New Netherlanders 
 were highly praiseworthy ; they were social and 
 hospitable ; enemies to show or extravagance, 
 and utterly escliewed all uncleanliness ; a speck 
 of dirt upon the well-polished floors in their 
 kitchens, or on their utensils, was sure to draw 
 forth the ire of a good vrow of New Amsterdam 
 8 
 
80 
 
 oif Beaverwyck. They were true daughters of 
 the mothers of Haerlem and Rotterdam, of one 
 of whom Sir William Temple gives the follow- 
 ing anecdote : 
 
 *' Dining one day at Monsieur Hoeft's, and 
 having a great cold, I observed every time I spit 
 a tight handsome wench that stood in the room, 
 with a clean cloth in her hand, was presently 
 down to wipe it up and rub the board clean. 
 Somebody at table speaking of my cold, I said 
 the most trouble it gave me was to see the poor 
 wench take so much pains about it. Monsieur 
 Hoeft told me 'twas well I escaped so, and that 
 if his wife had been at home, though I were an 
 Ambassador, she would have turned me out of 
 doors for fouling her house." — Temple's works, 
 vol. I. p. 472. 
 
 If we have treated somewhat largely upon the 
 foibles of our Dutch ancestors, we will make 
 amends by inserting a tribute paid to their worth 
 by Denton, a traveller who published his views 
 on the state of the province, in 1702, a time 
 when the English were but a small minority. 
 
 "I must needs say that if there be a terrestrial 
 Canaan, 'tis surely here. The inhabitants are 
 blest with peace and plenty, blessed in their 
 country, blessed in the fruit of their bodies, and 
 in the fruit of their ground, blessed in basket 
 and in store, in a word blessed in whatever they 
 take in hand or go about, the earth yielding them 
 plentiful increase to all their painful labour; were 
 it not to avoid prolixity, I could say a great 
 deal more, and yet say too little to show how 
 
8? 
 
 free are these parts of the world from that pride 
 and oppression, with their miserable ef!ects,which 
 many, nay, almost all parts of the world are 
 troubled with. There a wagon or a cart gives 
 as good content as a coach, and a piece of their 
 home-made cloth, better than the finest lawns 
 or richest silks ; and though their low-roofed 
 cots may seem to shut their doors against pride 
 and luxury, yet how do they stand wide open to 
 let charity in and out, either to assist each other 
 or to relieve a stranger; and the distance of place 
 from other nations doth secure them from the 
 frowns of ill-affected neighbours, and the troubles 
 which usually arise thence." — Denton, 19, 20. 
 
 There are few remains of ancient Beaverwyck 
 now to be met with : here and there a solitary 
 house, built of Holland brick, with its high-peak- 
 ed roof, and turreted gable turned to the street, 
 meets the eye of the stranger ; but the innovator, 
 Time, will soon lay his hand upon those relics of 
 other days, and the aspiring sons of simple-heart- 
 ed sires, erect gorgeous palaces, and towering 
 warehouses upon the ruins. 
 
 When the New Netherlands passed under the 
 yoke of the English, the authorities, in that spi- 
 rit of adulation and subserviency so characteris- 
 tic of the age, abrogated the names of Beaverwyck 
 and Fort Orange, and adopted in their stead the 
 second honorary title of the Duke, — that of Al- 
 bany. 
 
 Albany, though never captured or besieged by 
 an enemy, has seen more of the " pomp and cir^ 
 cumstance" attending upon war, than any other 
 
towu in our country. In the middle of the last 
 century, northern and western New York was 
 the arena on which was decided the quarrels of 
 Europe, and immense armies were gathered, far 
 surpassing in number of combatants, any that 
 have since been mustered on this side of the At- 
 lantic. 
 
 In 1755 were assembled at Albany a force of 
 five thousand men under General Johnson, to 
 which were added a large body of Mohawk In- 
 dians, under their chief Hendricks. This army 
 marched by the way of Lake George to attack 
 the French fortress of Crown Point. 
 
 In the mean time the Baron Dieskau, with 
 two thousand men, and their Indian allies on 
 their route from Montreal to besiege Fort Ed- 
 ward, met the forces under Johnson, and a san- 
 guinary battleensued, which resulted in the defeat 
 of the French, with the loss of seven hundred 
 killed, and three hundred made prisoners. Among 
 the former was the Baron ; wounded in the leg, he 
 was found leaning against a tree, and began to 
 feel for his watch, in order to deliver it up to the 
 soldier who was approaching him ; but the sol- 
 dier, supposing him to be feeling for a pistol, un- 
 happily fired a charge into his hips, which caused 
 his death. 
 
 The loss of the English was very severe, and 
 amon^ those that fell were Col. Williams and 
 the Mohawk chief, Hendricks, who had long 
 been known as the unwavering friend of the Co- 
 lonists. 
 
 In 1757 the Marquis de Montcalm concenlra- 
 
69 
 
 ied the French forces at Ticonderoga, and then 
 marched with nine thousand men to attack Fort 
 William Henry. An army was mustered at Al- 
 bany under General Webb for its relief, but that 
 inefficient officer marched no farther that Fort 
 Edward, and left- it to its fate. It was defended 
 with spirit by the garrison under Colonel Mon- 
 roe, who solicited aid but in vain. On the sixth 
 day of the siege it was obliged to surrender, and 
 a capitulation was signed by which the garrison 
 was to be allowed the honors of war, and from 
 fear, on occount of the Indians, an escort was to 
 be allowed them tj Fort Edward. 
 
 The savages, who had engaged to serve in the 
 war under the promise of plunder were, irritated 
 at the terms granted to the besieged, and soon 
 began to rob the captives of their baggage. 
 Monroe, feeling the horror of their situation, ap- 
 pealed to Mojritcalm for protection and the pro- 
 mised escort, but in vain. He then attempted 
 to lead his defenceless and dispirited comrades 
 on their route, when their savage and ferocious 
 foes rushed upon them with uplifted toma- 
 hawks, and commenced an indiscriminate mas- 
 sacre. The sick, the wounded, the women 
 and the children were murdered with all the 
 aggravating circumstances that savage cruelty 
 could suggest. A few of the strong and able 
 bodied, rushed through their foes and made 
 good their retreat to Fort Edward, but by far the 
 larger number perished. 
 
 Montcalm soon after left the scene of his per- 
 fidy and returned to Ticonderoga. In the next 
 
90 
 
 year he fell, as is well known, upon the plains of 
 Abraham, while contesting the possession of 
 Quebec with the English under Wolf. ^ 
 
 Cooper has worked up the incidents connected 
 with the tragedy of Fort William Henry, into 
 one of his most interesting novels. 
 
 In 1758, General Abercrombie, with a force of 
 sixteen thousand men, and a well-appointed train 
 of artillery, marched from Albany to besiege 
 Ticonderoga and Crown^Point ; and Albany, a 
 few days after, saw this same army return, dis- 
 comfited and dispirited. One of their most be- 
 loved generals, Lord Howe, (the father of the 
 Howes, who figured in the war of Independence,) 
 had fallen, and the hospitals were filled with sick 
 and wounded soldiery. 
 
 In the next summer. General Lord Amherst, 
 with a force outnumbering that of Abercrombie's, 
 and a horde of Indian allies, left Albany for the 
 same destination, but with better success. Ti- 
 conderoga and Crown Point were abandoned 
 upon his approach, and the long harassed and 
 bleeding frontiers were placed in a state of se- 
 curity. 
 
 In the revolutionary war, Albany was the 
 gathering place of the troops of the confederacy, 
 called together for the purpose of checkinor the 
 advance of Burgoyne, and which resulted in his 
 capture on the plains of Saratoga ; and here too, 
 in the last war with Britain, were mustered the 
 troops destined for the Canada frontiers. 
 
 Modern Albany is a large and populous city, 
 numbering forty-five thousand inhabitants, and 
 
9t 
 
 is the capital of the State, situated upon the side 
 of a steep hill with the state-house upon the 
 summit ; its many public buildings, the spires 
 and domes of its churches, and the villas in the 
 environs, combine to give it an air of magnificence 
 that is somewhat lost on a closer acquaintance, 
 Many of the streets in the old part of the town are 
 narrow, crooked, and uninviting, similar to most 
 of those of Dutch origin. Of late years the 
 great increase of population has caused a cor- 
 responding increase of streets and avenues, not 
 liable to those objections, and we may anticipate 
 the day when the city will rank among the beau- 
 tiful of the land. 
 
 In the northern suburb of Albany, are the 
 house and grounds of the patroon. General 
 Stephen Van Rensselaer. They stand upon the 
 level land by the river, and look down Market- 
 street, which here terminates abruptly. The 
 building is embowered in shrubbery, with green 
 fields and rural scenes in the rear, and is a vene- 
 rable looking pile, carrying conviction to the 
 beholder, that it is no dwelling of a parvenue of 
 of the present hour. 
 
 There is no man more honoured and beloved, 
 by his acquaintance, than the patroon. His mild 
 and unassuming manners, his excellence in pub- 
 lic and private life, his unostentations benevo- 
 lence, and his princely liberality, have endeared 
 him to the Albanians, and reconciled them to that 
 anomaly in our country, of vast possessions de- 
 scending unbroken through a long line of 
 ancestry. 
 
92 
 
 Here, as is known, are the terminations of the 
 £rie and Charnplain canals ; and the immense 
 basin, filled with the unique and singular look- 
 ing canal-boats, is an object of much interest* 
 The pier forming the basin runs parallel with the 
 city, and has a range of warehouses running 
 through its centre ; from this pier good and sub- 
 stantial bridges communicate with the town. 
 This pier and the lower part of Albany are sub- 
 ject to inundations in the spring, when the 
 swollen waters often rise ten or twelve feet in 
 height, and have caused heavy losses in property 
 exposed to their ravages. It may be asked, why 
 has not the difficulty been obviated by increasing 
 the height of the pier? We can only answer it by 
 suggesting that the increased labour in loading 
 and unloading vessels, in ordinary times, might 
 more than counterbalance the advantage gained. 
 
 The canals have made Albany an immense 
 depot for merchandise and the products of the 
 boundless west. It is also a prodigious tho- 
 roughfare for travellers, and more especially in 
 the summer season, when it is estimated that 
 some thousands pass through it daily, bound for 
 every part of our extended country. Independ- 
 ently of those that arrive and depart by steam- 
 boats, canal boats, and stages, twelve or fifteen 
 hundred are hurried over the Albany and Sche- 
 nectady rail road, which connects at the latter 
 named city with those of Utica and Saratoga. 
 
 The Albany and Schenectady road is the first 
 that was finished in the state, and is perhaps the 
 best and most durable, the rails being laid on stone 
 
93 
 
 blocks at a great expense. It passes over a high 
 pine barren for a large part of the distance, and 
 descends into the valley of the Mohawk, at Sche- 
 nectady, by an inclined plane, the cars ascending 
 and descending by the aid of a stationary steam 
 engine. It is a complete triumph of art, and the 
 ease and rapidity with which the difficulty is 
 overcome strikes the uninitiated traveller with 
 surprise. 
 
 At Albany, passengers bound for the west 
 debark, and those for the north, change steam- 
 boats and proceed to Troy, six miles farther ; but 
 a description of the scenery on the North River, 
 and the reminiscences connected therewith, 
 would be defective, if the shores rendered famous 
 by the capture of Bnrgoyne were not brought into 
 notice. We shall, therefore, proceed to those 
 celebrated battle fields. 
 
 Troy is an incorporated city, with a popu- 
 lation of ten thousand inhabitants, and is the 
 third in magnitude upon the river. It stands 
 prettily upon its eastern margin and is over- 
 looked by the high hills of Mount Ida and Olym- 
 pus, named after the classic mountains of the 
 Dardan kingdom and Greece. It is a town of 
 some forty years growth, and was until the com- 
 pletion of the canals, the principal depot for the 
 trade of northern New-York and Vermont. It 
 still receives a fair proportion ; but at one time, 
 it was supposed that it would take the lead of 
 the sister city, (Albany.) The genius of Clinton 
 and his compeers, have altered the face of things 
 in this region, and Troy must now be content 
 to ofivp nlacc to the elder. 
 
94 
 
 There has been much public spirit manifested 
 in this town ; the streets are wide, and laid out 
 with a regard to comfort and elegance ; the 
 churches and public buildings are many of them 
 magnificent ; the private dwellings of the citi- 
 zens, neat and ornamental, and it would be a 
 want of gallantry to suppose there are no forms 
 and faces within them that would vie with Ar- 
 give Helen's. 
 
 Gihhonsville, on the opposite shore, is a small 
 village, and is the location of a United States 
 arsenal. 
 
 Lansingburg-h, at the bead of sloop navigation, 
 is a long rambling town, but with little about it 
 to interest the traveller. 
 
 Waterford is on the opposite shore, connect- 
 ed with Lansingburgh by a bridge, and stands at 
 the mouth of the Mohawk. It was formerly 
 called Half Moon Point, and is memorable as 
 having been the most southern point, to which 
 the Americans, under Gen. Schuyler, retreated 
 before the then victorious Burgoyne. On the 
 picturesque islands in the vicinity, they entrench- 
 ed themselves, and awaited the approach of the 
 foe. Their sojourn here was of short duration : 
 reinforcements poured in ; and, under Gates, 
 who had superseded Schuyler, the tide of war 
 again rolled north. 
 
 The Mohawk is a lovely and voluminous 
 stream, rolling its clear waters for a course of 
 one hundred and fifty miles, thri)ugh a fertile 
 vale, where 
 
 " Plenty leaps 
 To laughing life with her redundant horn." 
 
95 
 
 The vale of the Mohawk was long the faVoUf" 
 ite dwelling-place and hunting ground of the 
 Mohawk tribe of Indians, one of the confedera- 
 cy of the six nations, celebrated for their prow- 
 ess in the coli)nial wars ; and forty miles from 
 Albany, on the banks of the river, and on the 
 main road, is Johnson Hall, once the residence 
 of Sir William Johnson, whose influence over 
 the confederacy was unbounded. 
 
 The history of Sir William is one of ro- 
 mance. He settled on the Mohawk as an Indian 
 trader, where his conciliating manners won him 
 the confidence of his savage neighbours ; he ac- 
 companied them in many of their war parties, 
 was adopted as a chief, and became almoner of 
 the king to those untutored sons of the forest. 
 Once a year the surrounding tribes assembled 
 at the Hall, to receive the presents that were, 
 from motives of policy, so liberally bestowed ; 
 and at such times the efforts of Johnson were 
 never wanting to enlist ihem in the service of 
 the crown. In 1759, Johnson, by the death of 
 General Prideaux, who was killed by the burst- 
 ing of a cohorn while pressing the siege of Fort 
 Niagara, became possessed of the command of 
 the troops, and succeeded in capturing the fort- 
 ress and in defeating a large body of French and 
 Indians, who w ere advancing to its relief. For 
 these and other services he was created a baro- 
 net by his sovereign, and having acquired large 
 wealth, lived among his numerous dependents 
 in feudal splendour. He had been a man 
 of blood, but closed his eyes in peace at the 
 
hall, and was interred in the church he had built 
 at Johnstown. 
 
 A few years since, from motives of curiosity, 
 the vault was opened. It was found to be filled 
 with water, and the decayed remains of his cof"= 
 fin were flcaling upon the surface ; sic transit 
 gloria mundi. 
 
 In the war of the revolution, his son, Sir John 
 Johnson, espoused the cause of England and 
 with his Indian allies, carried fire and sword 
 through the settlements in Tryon county, then 
 comprehending all that part of the state, lying 
 west of Albany. In 1777 he, in conjunction 
 with Colonel St. Leger, laid siege to Fort Stan- 
 wix, and surprised a bod)'^ of militia under Gen- 
 eral Herkimer advancing to its relief. In this 
 engagement Herkimer and four hundred of 
 his men fell under the tomahawk of the savages. 
 
 At the conclusion of the war Sir John and 
 his family adopted Canada as their home, and 
 his large possessions on the Mohawk became 
 confiscated. 
 
 Three miles from Waterford, are the Cohoes 
 Falls, where the Mohawk plunges over a ledge 
 of rock extending across the stream. Those 
 falls are at all times well worth visiting ; but 
 more especially in the spring, when the melting 
 of the mountain snows, swell the waters to a 
 fearful height, causing them to writhe and foam 
 over the wave-worn precipice, while the boiling 
 caldron below sends up its glittering spray, and 
 the bow of promise, like a spirit of peace, broods 
 in beauty o'er the dark and troubled waters. — 
 
97 
 
 The poet Moore, when in this country, paid a 
 visit to the Cohoes, and the exquisite produc- 
 tion of his muse on the occasion, is probably 
 familiar to our readers. 
 
 A short distance above the falls, the Erie ca- 
 nal, after surmounting a great elevation, by a 
 chain of locks, crosses the Mohawk by an aque- 
 duct, and a few miles farther, recrosses it by 
 another, both of strong and substantial masonry. 
 
 The Charaplain canal follows the banks of the 
 North river, which now runs between compara- 
 tively low shores. Three or four miles above 
 Waterford, upon the canal, is the small village 
 called the Borough, and on the opposite shore, 
 the Hoosic river blends its waters with those of 
 the North. Near its mouth, is the town of 
 Schagticoke, of which, from personal observa- 
 tion, we can say nothing, and the only informa- 
 tion we can glean concerning it is from the Dutch 
 historian Knickerbocker, who remarks that its 
 inhabitants place heavy stones upon the roofs 
 of their houses to prevent them from being 
 blown away in windy weather. 
 
 Stillwater, twenty-two miles from Albany, is 
 memorable ground. On Bemus's heights, two 
 miles west of the river, w^ere fought the memo- 
 rable battles of the 19lh of September, and the. 
 7th of October, 1777. 
 
 The British army under General Burgoyne, 
 had fought their way from Canada, against all 
 opposition, and on the 14th of September cross- 
 ed the Hudson at Fort Millar, upon a bridge of 
 boats and advanced to Stillwater, At this point, 
 9 
 
98 
 
 their advanced guard was within four miles of 
 the Americans, now returning northward. On 
 the 18th, the front of the opposing armies were 
 ahnost in contact, and some skirmishing ensued, 
 but without bringing on a general engagement. 
 On the 19th, the battle commenced by the attack 
 of Colonel Morgan's corps upon a British picket, 
 occupying a small house in advance of the main 
 body. It was soon carried, and the pursuing 
 party, almost immediately fell in with the Brit- 
 ish line, and were in part captured. This inci- 
 dent occurred about noon, and by three o'clock 
 the action became general, when it raged with 
 unabated fury until night. 
 
 According to Wilkinson, the Americans char- 
 ged repeatedly, and were as repeatedly driven 
 back ; a portion of the British artillery falling 
 into their hands at every charge ; but they could 
 neither turn the pieces upon the enemy nor bring 
 them off. The wood in which they were plant- 
 ed prevented the last, and the want of a 
 match the first, as the linstocks were invariably 
 carried off, and no time left to provide others. The 
 slaughter of the brigade of artillerists was re- 
 markable, the captain and thirty-six men being 
 killed or wounded, out of forty-eight. When 
 night closed the scene, the British retained their 
 ground, and the Americans retired to their own 
 camp. General Burgoyne, in his account of the 
 expedition, states that " there was scarcely ever 
 an interval of a minute in the smoke, when 
 some British ojfficer was not shot by the Ameri- 
 can riflemen posted in the trees, or in the rear 
 and on the fiank of their own line." 
 
99 
 
 The interval between the 19th of September 
 and the 7th of October, was one of intense anx" 
 iety to both armies. General Biirgoyne, from 
 whose " State of the Expedition to Canada," 
 we shall quote largely, states that not a night 
 passed without firing, and sometimes concerted 
 attacks upon their pickets." No foraging party 
 could be made without great detachments to 
 cover it. It was the plan of the enemy to harass 
 the army by constant alarms, and their superi- 
 ority of numbers enabled them to attempt it 
 without fatigue to themselves. By being habit- 
 uated to fire, our soldiers became indifferent 
 to it, and were capable of eating or sleeping, 
 when it was very near them ; but I do not be- 
 lieve that either officer or soldier ever slept 
 during that interval without his clothes, or that 
 any general officer or commander of a regiment, 
 passed a single night, without being upon his 
 legs occasionally, at different times, and con- 
 stantly an hour before daylight." 
 
 The battle of the 7th was brought on by 
 General Burgoyne detaching a large body of 
 troops to the left of the American army, to cover 
 a forage that had become indispensably neces- 
 sary. It was late in the afternoon when they 
 were first discovered by the Americans, who lost 
 no time in opening a fire upon them, and the 
 action soon became general. After a sanguinary 
 contest, the British were defeated ; and they had 
 scarcely regained their camp, when the lines 
 were stormed, and a part of the artillery brought 
 off. Night, as in the former battle, closed the 
 scene. 
 
As a faithful picture of a scene, where war 
 was rioting in all its horrors, we give a graphic 
 description from the pen of Wilkinson, who was 
 an actor in the fight. 
 
 '* The ground which had been occupied by the 
 British grenadiers presented a scene of compli- 
 cated horror and exultation. In the square 
 space of twelve or fifteen yards, lay eighteen 
 grenadiers in the agony of death, and their of- 
 ficers propped up against stump sof trees, two of 
 them mortally wounded, bleeding and almost 
 speechless. What a spectacle, for one whose 
 bosom glowed with philanthropy, and how vehe- 
 ment the impulse which can excite men of sensi- 
 bility to seek such scenes of barbarism. Lfound 
 the courageous Colonel Cilley a straddle on 
 a brass twelve pounder, and exulting in the cap- 
 ture, while a surgeon, a man of great worth, 
 who was dressing one of the officers, raising his 
 blood besmeared hands, exclaimed in a frenzy of 
 patriotism, ' Wilkinson, I have dipped my hands 
 in British blood.' He received a sharp rebuke 
 for his brutality, and with the troops I pursued 
 the hard pressed flying enemy, passing over the 
 killed and wounded, until I heard one exclaim, 
 * Protect me, sir, against this boy.' Turning, my 
 eyes, it was my fortune to arrest the purpose of 
 a lad, thirteen or fourteen years old, in the act of 
 taking aim at a wounded officer, who lay in the 
 angle of a worm fence. Inquiring his rank, he 
 answered, ' I had the honor to command the 
 grenadiers.' Of course I knew him to be major 
 Ackland, who had been brought from the field 
 
101 
 
 on the back of a captain Shrimpton, of his owll 
 corps, Under a heavy lire, and was here deposited 
 to save the lives of both. I dismounted, took 
 him by the hand, and expressed hopes, that he 
 was not badly wounded. ' Not badly,' replied 
 this gallant officer and accomplished gentleman, 
 ' but very inconveniently. 1 am shot through 
 both legs ; will you, sir, have the goodness to 
 have me conveyed to your camp.' I directed 
 my servant to alight, and we lifted Ackland into 
 his seat, and ordered him to be conducted to 
 headquarters.".;. 
 
 Among those that fell, was general Frazer, an 
 officer much beloved by the British army. The 
 Baroness Reidesel, whose husband commanded 
 the German Auxiliaries, and whom she had fol- 
 lowed in his campaigns, published at Berlin in 
 1800, a series of letters, giving a narrative of 
 those events, and from them we take the follow- 
 ing account of Frazer's death. 
 
 " Severe trials awaited us, and on the 7th of 
 October, our misfortunes began. I was at break- 
 fast with my husband, and heard that something 
 was intended. On the same day, I expected the 
 Generals Burgoyne, Philips, and Frazer to dine 
 with us. 1 saw a great movement among the 
 troops. My husband told me it was merely a re- 
 connoisance, which gave me no concern, as it 
 often happened. I walked out and met several 
 Indians in their war dresses with guns in their 
 hands. When I asked them where they were 
 going, they cried out, * War, war ;' meaning that 
 they were going to battle. This filled me with 
 9* 
 
^ 102 
 
 apprehensions, and I had scarcely got home 
 before I heard reports of cannon and musketry, 
 which grew louder by degres till the noise be- 
 came excessive. About 4 o'clock in the after- 
 noon, instead of guests, which I expected. Gen. 
 Frazer was brought on a litter mortally wounded. 
 The table, which was already set, was removed, 
 and a bed placed in its stead, for the wounded 
 General. I sat trembling in a corner ; the noise 
 grew louder and the alarm increased. The 
 thought that my husband might perhaps be 
 brought in wounded in the same manner, was 
 terrible to me, and distressed me exceedingly. 
 Frazer said to the surgeon, tell me if my wound 
 is mortal, and do not flatter me. The ball had 
 passed through his body, and unhappily for the 
 General, he had eaten a very hearty breakfast, by 
 which the stomach was much distended, and the 
 ball, as the surgeon said, had passed through it. 
 I heard him often exclaim, with a sigh. Oh ! fatal 
 ambition, poor General Burgoyne, oh, my poor 
 wife.' He was asked if he had any request to 
 make, to which he replied, " If General Bur- 
 goyne would permit it, he should like to be 
 buried at six o'clock in the evening, on the top 
 of a mountain, in a redoubt, which had bren 
 built there." Towards evening I saw my hus- 
 band coming, and then I forgot all my sorrows." 
 
 The Baroness spent the night in comforting 
 her female companions in misfortune, and in 
 taking care of the children. 
 
 " I could not go to sleep, as I had General 
 Frazer and all the other wounded gentlemen in 
 
103 
 
 my own room, and 1 was sadly afraid that my 
 children would awake, and by their crying dis- 
 turb the dying man in his last moments, who 
 often addressed me, and apologized for the 
 trouble he gave me. About three o'clock in the 
 morning, I was told he could not hold out much 
 longer. I had desired to be informed of the near 
 approach of this sad crisis, and I then wrapped 
 up my children in their clothes and went with 
 them into the room below. About eight in the 
 morning he died. After^he was laid out and his 
 corpse wrapped up in a sheet, we came again 
 into the room, and we had this horrible sight 
 before us the whole day, and to add to the me- 
 lancholy scene, almost every moment some 
 officer of my acquaintance was brought in 
 wounded." 
 
 According to the request of General Frazer, 
 he was hurried in the redoubt, the body attended 
 by Burgoyne and the principal officers, and the 
 clergymen. The Rev. Mr. Brudenell went 
 through the service with perfect composure 
 notwithstanding the group was covered with 
 dust from the incessant cannonade kept up by 
 the Americans, who were not aware of the ob- 
 ject fur which they had assembled. The deli- 
 neation of this scene from the pen of Burgoyne 
 is too elegant to be omitted. 
 
 " The incessant cannonade during the solem- 
 nity ; the steady attitude and unaltered voice 
 with which the clergyman officiated, though fre- 
 quently covered with dust, which the shot threw 
 up on all sides of him ; the mute but expressive 
 
104 
 
 mixture of sensibility and indignation upon every 
 countenance ; these objects will remain to the 
 last of life upon the mind of every man who 
 was present. The growing darkness added to 
 the scenery, and the whole marked a character 
 of that juncture, that would make one of the 
 finest subjects for the pencil of a master, that the 
 field has ever exhibited. To a more important 
 historian, gallant friend, I consign thy memory. 
 There may thy talents, thy manly virtues, their 
 progress and their period, find due distinction, 
 and long may they survive, long after the frail 
 record of my pen shall be forgotten." 
 
 The capture of Major Ackland has been men- 
 tioned, and we shall now advert to the devoted- 
 ness, fortitude, and sufferings of*his accomplish- 
 ed wife. Lady Harriet Ackland. 
 
 Born the daughter of an English earl, endow- 
 ed with all the softness of her sex, and accustom- 
 ed to every luxury and comfort that wealth could 
 command, a woman's love induced her to follow 
 and share the fortunes, the fatigue and dangers 
 of her husband, in this hazardous campaign, and 
 among the romantic incidents of real life, we 
 know of none more interesting than the adven- 
 tures of this heroic lady. Burgoyne has sketch- 
 ed them with a more able pen than ours. 
 
 "Besides the continuation of difficulties and 
 general fatigue, this day (9th of Oct.) was re- 
 markable for a circumstance of private distress, 
 too peculiar and afi'ecting to be omitted. The 
 circumstance to which 1 allude is Lady Harriet 
 Ackland's passage through the enemy's army to 
 
i05 
 
 attend her woiiiuled husband, then their pri- 
 soner. 
 
 " The progress of this lady with the army 
 could hardly be thought abruptly or superfluous- 
 ly introduced, were it only so, for the purpose 
 of authenticating a wonderful story. It would 
 exhibit, if well deleniated an interesting picture 
 of the spirit, the enterprise and distress of ro- 
 mance, realized and regulatedt upon the chaste 
 and sober principles of rational love and con- 
 nubial duty. 
 
 " Lady Harriet Ackland had accompanied 
 her husband to Canada, in the beginning of the 
 year 1776. In the course of that campaign, she 
 had traversed a vast space of country in differ- 
 ent extremities of season, and with difficulties 
 that an European traveller will not easily con- 
 ceive, to attend in a poor hut at Chamb.lee, upon 
 his sick bed. 
 
 " In the opening of the campaign, in 1777, 
 she was restrained from offering herself to a 
 share of the fatigue and hazard, expected before 
 Ticonderoga, by the positive injunctions of her 
 husband. The day after the conquest of the 
 place, he was badly wounded, and she crossed 
 Lake Champlain to join him. 
 
 " As soon as he recovered, Lady Harriet pro- 
 ceeded to follow his fortunes through the cam- 
 paign, and at Fort Edward, or at the next camp, 
 she acquired a two wheel tumbrij, which had 
 been constructed by the artificers of the artil- 
 lery, something similar to the carriage used for 
 rhc mails, upon the great'roJids in England, Ma- 
 
106 
 
 jor Ackland commanded the British grenadiers 
 attached to General Frazer's corps, and conse- 
 quently were always the most advanced post of 
 the army. Their situations were often so alert, 
 that no person slept out of his clothes. In one 
 of these situations, a tent in which the Major 
 and Lady Harriet were asleep, suddenly took 
 fire, kn orderly sergeant of grenadiers, with 
 great hazard of suffocation, dragged out the first 
 person he caught hold of. It proved to be the Ma- 
 jor. It happened, that in the same instant she 
 had, unknowing what she did, and perhaps not 
 perfectly awake, providentially made her es- 
 cape, by creeping under the walls of the back 
 part of the tent. The first object she saw on 
 the recovery of her senses, was the M^jor on 
 the other side, and in the next instant again 
 in the fire in search of her. The sergeant again 
 saved him ; but not without the Major being 
 very severely burned in his face and different 
 parts of his body. Every thing they had with 
 them in the tent was consumed. 
 
 This accident happened a little time before 
 the army crossed the Hudson river (13th Sep- 
 tember). It neither altered the resolution nor 
 the cheerfulness of Lady Harriet, and she con- 
 tinued her progress, a partaker of the fatigues 
 of the advanced corps. The next call upon her 
 fortitude was of a different nature, and more 
 distressing, and of longer suspense. On the 
 njarch of the 19th of September, the grenadiers 
 being liable to action at every step, she had 
 been directed by the Major to follow the route of 
 
lot 
 
 tii€ artillery and baggage, which was not expo* 
 sed. At the time the action began, she found 
 herself near a small uninhabited hut, where she 
 alighted. When it was found the action was 
 becoming general and bloody, the surgeon of 
 the hospital took possession of the same place, 
 as the most convenient for the first care of the 
 wounded. Thus was this lady in hearing of one 
 continued fire of cannon and musketry for four 
 hours together, with the presumption, from the 
 post of her husband at the head of the grena- 
 diers, that he was in the most exposed part of 
 the action. She had three female companions, 
 Baroness of Reidesel and the wives of two Brit- 
 ish officers, major Hanage and lieutenant Rey- 
 nell ; but in the event, their presence served but 
 little for comfort. Major Hanage was brought 
 to the surgeon very badly wounded, and a little 
 time after, came intelligence that lieutenant 
 Reyneli Avas shot dead. Imagination will want 
 no help to figure the state of the whole group. 
 
 *' From the date of that action to the 7th of 
 October, Lady Harriet, with her usual serenity, 
 stood prepared for new trials, and it was her lot 
 that their severity increased with their number. 
 She was again exposed to the hearing of the 
 whole action, and at last received the word of 
 her individual misfortune, mixed with the intel- 
 ligence of the general calamity. The troops 
 were defeated, and Major Ackland desperately 
 wounded, was a prisoner. 
 
 " The day of the 8th, was passed by Lady 
 Harriet and her companions in uncommon anx- 
 
108 
 
 lety ; not a tent, not a shed being standing, ex 
 cept what belonged to the hospital, their refuge 
 was among the wounded and the dying. 
 
 " When the army was upon the point of mov- 
 ing, I received a letter from Lady Harriet, sub- 
 mitting to my decision a proposal (and express- 
 ing an earnest solicitude to execute it, if not in- 
 terfering with my design) of passing to the 
 camp of the enemy, and requesting General 
 Gates's permission to attend her husband. 
 
 ** Though I was ready to believe (for I had 
 experienced) that patience and fortitude in a su- 
 preme degree, were to be found, as well as every 
 other virtue, under the most tender formsy I 
 was astonished at this proposal. After so long 
 an agitation, exhausted not only for want of 
 rest, but absolute want of food, drenched in 
 rain for twelve hours together ; that a woman 
 should be capable of such an undertaking, as 
 delivering herself to the enemy, probably in the 
 night, and uncertain of what hands she might 
 first fall into, appeared an effort above human 
 nature. The assurance I was enabled to give, 
 was small indeed. I had not even a cup of wine 
 to offer ; but I was told she had found from 
 some kind and fortunate hand a little rum, and 
 dirty water. All I could furnish to her was an 
 open boat, and a few lines written upon dirty 
 and wet paper, to General Gates, recommending 
 her to his protection.* 
 
 • General Burgoyne's letter to General Gates. 
 Sir : Lady Harriet Ackland, a lady of the first distinction, by 
 family, rank, and personal virtues, is under such eoncem on ac- 
 
109 
 
 Mr* Brudenell, the chaplain to the artillery, 
 ^the same gentleman who had officiated so sig- 
 nally at General Frazer's funeral) readily under- 
 took to accompany her, and with one female 
 servant, and the major's valet de chambre, (who 
 had a ball, which he had received in the late ac- 
 tion, then in his shoulder) she rowed down the 
 river to meet the enemy. It is due to justice, at 
 the close of this adventure to, say that she was 
 received and accommodated by General Gates 
 with all the humanity and respect, that her rank, 
 her merits, and her fortune deserved. 
 
 *' Let such as are affected by these circum- 
 stances of alarm, hardship, and danger recollect, 
 that the subject of them was a woman of the 
 most tender and delicate frame, of the gentlest 
 manners, habituated to all the soft elegancies, 
 and refined enjoyments that attend high birth 
 and fortune, and far advanced in a state in 
 which the tender cares, always due to the sex, 
 become indispensably necessary. Her mind 
 alone was formed for such a trial." 
 
 Count of Major Ackland, her husband, wounded, a prisoner ift 
 your hands, that I cannot refuse her request to commit her to 
 your protection. 
 
 What general impropriety there may be in persons acting in 
 your situation, and mine to solicit favors. I cannot see the un- 
 common pre-eminence in every female grace, and exaltation of 
 character of this lady, and her very hard fortune, without testi- 
 fying that your attentions to her will lay me under obligations. 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant. 
 October 9, 1777. J. Burgoyne, 
 
 M. G. Gates. 
 The original of this interesting letter, has been deposited by 
 General Wilkinson in the archives of the New York Histori- 
 cal Society. 
 
 10 
 
no 
 
 In consequence of the situation of Lady Har- 
 riet, efforts were made, and with success, to pro- 
 cure the conditional exchange of the major, with 
 permis&ion to remove to New York. There he 
 effected his exchange against Major Otho Wil- 
 liams, at that time a prisoner on Long Island. 
 The sequel of the history of the major and his 
 lady is a tragical one. General Wilkinson has 
 feelingly related it. 
 
 " But unfortunate was the destiny of this gal- 
 lant, generous, high-minded gentleman. Ack- 
 land, after his return to England, procured a regi- 
 ment, and at a dinner of military men, where 
 the courage of the Americans was made a ques- 
 tion, took the negative side with his usual de- 
 cision. He was opposed, warmth ensued, and 
 he gave the lie direct to a lieutenant Lloyd, 
 fought him, and was shot through the head. — 
 Lady Harriet lost her senses, and continued de- 
 ranged two years, after which I have b een in- 
 formed, she married Mr. Brudenell, who accom- 
 panied her from General Burgoyne's camp, 
 when she sought her wounded husband on the 
 Hudson river." 
 
 The situation of the British army aiffer ithe 
 battle of the 7th of October, was distressing in 
 the extreme. Their provisions were exhausted, 
 and the constant cannonade kept upby the Ame^ 
 ricans upon their camp, kept the harassed troops 
 in a continual state of agitation and alarm. 
 
 The General, who in the commencement of 
 the campaign, had uttered, in general orders, 
 th%tf6 ni^morable words — "This array mu«t not 
 
Ill 
 
 retreat" — was now compelled to seek his safety 
 by flight. Numerous fires were lighted, a num- 
 ber of tents left standing, and leaving his hospi- 
 tal, in which were more than three hundred sick 
 and wounded, to the care of General Gates, he 
 commenced his retrograde movement on the 
 evening of the 8th, pursuing the river road 
 through the meadows. The army moved all 
 night, but in consequence of rainy weather, bad 
 roads, and ih<b many encumbrances that weighed 
 upon them, they did not reach Saratoga, (six 
 miles distant,) until the following evening, and 
 the rain had so swollen the Fishkill that they 
 were not able to ford that stream until the 
 morning of the 10th, when, finding the Ameri- 
 cans in possession of the fords of the North 
 River, they took up a strong position- on the 
 heights, which proved their final one. 
 
 The army of Gates soon followed that of Bur- 
 goyne, and took post in front, upon the Fish- 
 kill, while the corps of Morgan lay north and 
 east of the British, and General Fellows, with 
 three thousand men, was on the east of the Hud- 
 son, ready to dispute the passage. Thus hem- 
 med in, the royal camp became exposed not only 
 to cannon balls, but musket shot, and there was 
 no spot to be found where the sick and the 
 wounded, the women and the children, could 
 find a shelter; they were even cut off from a 
 supply of water, as access to the river was ren- 
 doned hazardous by the rifle shot of the Ameri- 
 cans. The Baroness Reidesel and her children, 
 had often to drink wine instead of water, as they 
 
had no way to procure the latter, except that a 
 soldier's wife ventured to the river for them, and 
 the soldiers of Gates, out of respect to her sex, 
 did not fire at her. 
 
 General Reidesel's family took refuge in a 
 house not far from the British encampment ; but 
 they had hardly reached it, before the cannon of 
 the Americans were pointed against it, upon the 
 mistaken idea that it was a rendezvous of the 
 British officers. "Alas," adds the baroness, "it 
 contained none but the wounded and women. 
 We were at last obliged to resort to the cellar 
 for refuge, and in one corner of this I remained 
 the whole day, my children sleeping on the 
 earth, with their heads in my lap, and in the 
 same situation, I passed a sleepless night. Ele- 
 ven cannon balls passed through the house, and 
 we could distinctly hear them roll away. One 
 poor soldier, who was lying on a table for the 
 purpose of having his leg amputated, was struck 
 by a shot, which carried away the other. His 
 comrades had left him, and when we went to his 
 assistance, we found him in a corner of the room, 
 into which he had crept, more dead than alive, 
 scarcely breathing." 
 
 This situation of affairs could not last. A ces- 
 sasion of hostilities was asked, which ended in a 
 convention for the surrender of the army. The 
 treaty was signed on the sixteenth, and on the 
 seventeenth the British army laid down their 
 arms on the banks of the Fishkill. After the 
 officers had gone over to General Gates' camp, 
 General Reidesel sent for the baroness and her 
 
113 
 
 children. She says, in her narrative, "I seated 
 myself once more in my clear calash, and then 
 rode through the American camp. As I passed 
 on I observed (and this was a great consolation 
 to me) that no one eyed me with looks of resent- 
 ment ; but they all greeted us, and even showed 
 compassion in their countenances, at the sight 
 of a woman with small children. I was, I con- 
 fess, afraid to go over to the enemy, as it was a 
 new situation to me. When I drew near the 
 tents, a handsome man approached and met me, 
 took my children from the calash, and hugged 
 and kissed them, which affected me almost to 
 tears. You tremble, said he, addressing himself 
 to me, be not afraid. No, I answered, you 
 seem so kind and tender to my children, it in- 
 spires me with courage. He now led me to the 
 tent of General Gates. All the Generals re- 
 mained to dine with Gates. 
 
 *' The same gentleman who received me so 
 kindly, now came and said to me, ' You will be 
 very muchembarrased to eat with all those gen- 
 tlemen, — come with your children to my tent, 
 where I will prepare for you a frugal dinner, 
 and give it with a free will.' I said, you are cer- 
 tainly a husband, and a father ; you have shown 
 me so much kindness. 
 
 " I now found that he was General Schuyler. 
 He treated me with excellent smoked tongue, 
 beef steaks, potatoes, bread, and butter. Ne- 
 ver could I wish to eat a better dinner. I was 
 content. I saw all around me so likewise, and 
 what was better than all, my husband was out 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 of danger. When we had dined, he told me 
 his residence was at Albany, and that General 
 Burgoyne intended to honour him as his guest, 
 and invited myself and children to do so like- 
 wise. I asked my husband how I should act. 
 He told me to accept the invitation. We were 
 received by the good General Schuyler, his 
 wife and daughters, not as enemies, but as kind 
 friends, and they treated us with the most mark- 
 ed attention and politeness, as they did General 
 Burgoyne, who had caused General Schuyler's 
 beautifully finished house to be burnt. In fact, 
 they behaved like persons of exalted minds, who 
 determined to bury all recollections of their own 
 injuries in the contemplation of our misfor- 
 tunes." 
 
 Of the generous host, his family, and their 
 illustrious guests, how few are left upon the 
 stage of action. The relict of General Hamil- 
 ton, the daughter of General Schuyler, still sur- 
 vives in a green old age, and rich in a retentive 
 memory, often draws upon her well stored gar- 
 ner for anecdotes of Burgoyne and Philips, 
 and the many actors in those eventful times. 
 We remember well a visit she paid at the house 
 of our father in our boyish days, and how we 
 drank in her accents, as she recounted the suf- 
 ferings, the fortitude, the feminine graces of the 
 accomplished Lady Harriet Ackland and of her 
 companion in misfortune, the Baroness Reidesel. 
 In the hospitable mansion of her parents she had 
 shared in their society, and ministered to their 
 comforts ; and who so well able to picture forth 
 
116 
 
 the many interesting traits in their characters. 
 It is their romantic history that to us has thrown 
 an irresistible charm around the scenes of Still- 
 water, and Saratoga ; and if they were a de- 
 sert, we should look upon them with the deepest 
 interest. 
 
 General Schuyler, was one of the few master 
 spirits of the revolution, whose services at the 
 time, were not properly appreciated. He was 
 appointed to the command of the northern ar- 
 my, composed of new levies, hastily collected, 
 unaccustomed to military tactics, deficient in 
 numbers and equipments, and from those causes 
 combined, utterly unable to cope with the well 
 trained veterans of Britain. Schuyler, with 
 high ideas of military discipline, and with some- 
 what of an aristocratic bearing in his manners, 
 commenced the task of drilling the motley band 
 into something like order. To effect it some 
 coercion became necessary ; but the sturdy yeo- 
 manry of New England, nurtured in habits of in- 
 dependence, found it difficult to submit to the 
 stern and arbtitrary rules of a camp, and Schuy- 
 ler became unpopular. Another cause for this 
 feeling was to be found in the abandonment of 
 Ticonderoga, a fortress that the country had 
 been taught to believe would present an insur- 
 mountable barrier to the advance of the enemy. 
 The genius of Burgoyne however effected what* 
 no other commander had ever attempted, or even 
 deemed practicable. He dragged his cannon to 
 the top of Mount Independence, and opening 
 his batteries upon the works now lying below, 
 
m 
 
 they became no longer tenable, and were im- 
 mediately evacuated by the garrison, who cross- 
 ed Lake Champlain, and fought a sanguinary 
 battle at Hubbardton, with a corps of the Brit- 
 ish army sent in pursuit under General Frazer. 
 
 The whole ground traversed by Burgoyne, 
 was gallantly disputed, and the obstacles thrown 
 in his way by the generalship of Schuyler, gave 
 time to collect and discipline a force, that in the 
 sequel overwhelmed him. When the proper 
 time arrived to act upon the offensive, Schuyler 
 was suddenly superseded by Gates, and that of- 
 ficer reaped laurels on the plains of Saratoga, 
 that should have been gathered by another. 
 Those laurels, as is well known, were doomed to 
 wither and fade in the sunny lands of the South. 
 
 On the fields of Saratoga and Stillwater, the 
 shouts of the victors and the groans of the dying 
 are no longer heard. The conquerors and con- 
 quered, have alike passed away, and where the 
 hoof of the war horse went down upon the 
 crushed and bleeding relics of humanity, the 
 wild flowers are springing, and the earth yielding 
 her tribute to the labours of the husbandman ; but 
 cold is that man, who can tread those scenes un- 
 moved by the memory of the past, and feel no 
 honest glow of patriotism as he looks through 
 the long dim twilight of sixty years, upon the 
 ^eeds and sufferings of our fathers, to bequeath 
 a heritage to their children. 
 
 On the remaining portion of the river, it is not 
 our intention to linger, although there is much 
 in its scenery to interest the lover of nature, and 
 
117 
 
 much in its early history calculated to instruct 
 and amuse. It was the great highway in con- 
 nexion with lakes George and Champlain, by 
 which the French made their incursions into the 
 northern colonies, and the remains of numerous 
 fortresses upon its banks, attest the importance 
 in which it was held, in that warlike age, when 
 the ambitious princes, of the house of Bourbon, 
 planted their garrisons from the St. Lawrence 
 to the Mississippi. 
 
 Beyond Saratoga, the stream is often broken 
 by rapids and cascades, and around its sources, 
 the small lakelets of Essex and Franklin coun- 
 ties, is some of the most varied scenery in the 
 United States. The land swells into bold and 
 rugged mountains, their peaks clothed with 
 snow in midsummer. But many are the soft 
 and smiling valleys interspersed among them, 
 with their clear and limpid waters sleeping in 
 the stillness of nature, and glancing in the sun, 
 like molten silver. In coming years this land 
 will be to our country, what Wales is to Eng- 
 land ; the resort of thousands seeking it for 
 its magnificent scenery, and wooing health and 
 gladness in its mountain breezes. 
 
 There is no region that offers stronger induce- 
 ments to the sportsman. The hills abound in 
 deer, the woods are filled with feathered game, 
 and the lakes swarm with pike, pickerel, and 
 trout. We can imagine nothing more delightful 
 in the way of recreation, than to turn our backs 
 upon the city, during the heat of the dog days, 
 pitch our tent upon the bank of one of those 
 
 l4*^.-« 
 
118 
 
 quiet lakes, and spend the time in the invigora- 
 ting exercise of hunting, fowling, and angling. 
 What would not old, honest Izak Walton have 
 given for a chance in the waters of Franklin 
 county, and how his eye would have glistened, 
 when instead of the small trout of the English 
 streams, he had landed upon the bank some 
 speckled rascal, weighing ten or a dozen 
 pounds. 
 
 The love for healthy and invigorating field 
 sports, so characteristic of our English ances- 
 try, is all but lost in this degenerate age. In- 
 stead of " hunting the deer, with hound and 
 horn" as in the ballad of Chevy Chase, or track- 
 ing the streams " with angle rod in hand," like 
 good old Isak Walton, the sons and daughters 
 of wealth and fashion, crowd to the springs of 
 Saratoga ; preferring a broil upon its hot and 
 scorching sands, or a stew in its crowded ball 
 rooms. 
 
 We would also hazard the opinion, and hope 
 it will not be construed as treason, that we, as 
 a people, are far behind the English in the pas- 
 sion and taste they evince for the beauties of 
 nature, their exquisite sensibility to all her 
 lovely forms and harmonious combinations, 
 and in their deep seated love for the charms and, 
 comforts of a rural life. Not a stream, hill, or 
 glen in that classic land, but is ransacked by 
 multitudes in search of some latent beauty, and 
 no sooner found than transferred to the canvass, 
 and sung by her poets until it becomes familiar 
 to the most humble ; whilst our own magnificent 
 
 W9d'*il 
 
119 
 
 scenery is comparatively unknown, and our sons 
 and daughters rush across the Atlantic, to im- 
 bibe at a foreign shrine, that taste which can no- 
 where be so properly cultivated as at home, for-' 
 getful or unconscious that • 
 
 " A thousand streams of loyelier flow, 
 Bathe their own mountain land," 
 
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