•South o(the Iflfjountaind published by The Historical Society of Rockland County Orangeburg, New York Vol. 16, No. 1 January - March, 1972 ROCKLAND COUNTY IN WASHINGTON’S DAY From an address by the late Dr. LcRoy E. Kimball of Tomkins Cove at the Washington Bi-Centennial Celebration at West Haverstraw on June 14, 1932 as reported in the Rockland County Evening Journal. Dr. Kimball was comptroller of New Yor\ University until his retirement. He also served as president of the New Yorl{ Historical Society and of The American Scenic and Historical Preserva­ tion Society. We are gathered here today as friends and residents of the Haverstraw com­ munity, in this beautiful setting of the Highlands of the Hudson, to celebrate, if only for a brief moment, the memory of that man whose achievements and life will be a perpetual inspiration to Americans, George Washington. You are all familiar with the events of this great and good man’s career and the brief references which we have time for at this time will allude largely to Revolutionary happenings in this section of the Hudson Valley. It is fitting indeed that we should celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of George Washington’s birth and his service to our country in this particular spot. Whether it was in the minds of the Committee or not when they chose this location, the historical records show that we are standing within what we might call a stone’s throw of the corners where the Military Highway leading from King’s Ferry split, one road wending easterly down through West Haverstraw, Haverstraw, the old Long Clove, Tappan and to New Jersey, and the other westerly through what is now Garnerville, Ladentown, Kakiat and Suffern, to northwestern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. These historic West Haverstraw corners where the traffic light is now located frequently saw Washington, his staff, and his army, during the eight years of the Revolutionary War, marching determinedly to and from King’s Ferry, which was the principle means of communication between the Southern and Middle States and New England, because the British held New York City and therefore made crossing below impossible. The first record we find of Washington’s actual presence in this vicinity was after the Battle of White Plains, which took place October 28, 1776. There is re­ corded a dispatch from Peekskill, dated November 11, 1776, which says: “The Commander-in-Chief and five of his generals made an inspection tour of the High­ lands this day, examining Forts Constitution and Montgomery. From Constitution Island they viewed West Point which was not yet taken possession of. Today’s attention to the Highlands is in preparation for next summer’s campaign for the enemy army in Canada will assuredly advance into the Hudson Valley as soon as the spring season permits.” At this time Washington shifted his army to the west side of the river, and in so doing he must have turned either east or west through these West Haverstraw corners which are plainly shown on the military maps made for George Washington by his official geographer, Robert Erskine. Again early in 1777, we find Washington officially located at Smith’s Clove, over the mountains to our west, and also at Galloway’s in the Clove. In July, 1778, Washington journeyed with the troops from Monmouth, New Jersey, to White Plains, New York, and spent a night and issued headquarters orders in the Haver­ straw country before he crossed the ferry to Verplank’s Point. We must remember that when Washington dated his dispatches from Haverstraw his stopping point 2 may have been located anywhere from the present Bear Mountain Bridge to the Long Clove, for all of the Doodletown, Tomkins Cove, Stony Point, West Haver- straw, Garnerville and Haverstraw sections were known generally and collectively as Haverstraw. The name Stony Point was only used as it applied to the crude fort at the Point. We do know, however, that in Washington’s expense account books which have been made available, there appears to have been distributed to Mrs. Provost’s servants, near Haverstraw, on July 14, 1778, four pounds and ten shillings for services, and also at Haverstraw, on July 15, 1778, Jacob Hardin’s bill amounted to three pounds, eight shillings. A boatman who took the Commander-in-Chief from King’s Ferry to West Point, the following day, received two pounds eight shillings. The following July, on the 17th, in 1779, the day after Wayne and his American Light Infantry captured the fortress at Stony Point by his midnight surprise attack, General Washington came down from his headquarters at Moore’s House, West Point, and established for the day, the official headquarters of the Continental Army, at the fort at Stony Point. Shortly after his return to West Point he wrote a rare description of a dinner at his West Point Headquarters in a letter to Surgeon General John Cochran. In this letter Washington says: “I have asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to dine with me tomorrow; but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fare? As I hate deception even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is needless to premise that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered is more essential; and this is the happy purport of my letter. Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham (sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the head of the table; a piece of roast beef adorns the foot; and a dish of beans, or greens (almost imperceptible) decorate the center. When the cook had a mind to cut a figure (which I presume will be the case tomorrow) we have two beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side the center dish, dividing the space and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about 6 feet, which would without them be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover that apples will make pyes; and it is a question, if, in the violence of his effort, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit to partake of it on plates, once Tin but now Iron—(not become so by scouring), I shall be happy to see them. I remain your most obedient and humble servant, George Washington.” In the campaign of 1780, during July, the Commander-in-Chief had his head­ quarters at Kakiat, again at Stony Point, and at the DeWint House in Tappan. In August, 1781, General George Washington was in the town of Haverstraw for nearly a week, supervising the crossing of the French and American armies at King’s Ferry. The Allied Forces were on their way from Westchester to Yorktown, Virginia, and the crossing of troops and equipment took the Continental Army August 20th and 21st, and the French Army the four following days, August 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th. The last of the French troops moved southwestward from King’s Ferry, down the lowland hill, past the home of the British sympathizer, Smith, who lived in what is familiarly known as Treason House, and turned west at West Haverstraw corners on the 26th on their way to Kakiat, Suffern, Pompton, Pennsylvania and Yorktown in Virginia. There were some 3000 French troops in this crossing and during these days of supervision Washington is known to have stayed at a neighboring house, possibly with the family of Colonel Ann Hawk Hay, 3 who commanded the Haverstraw defense troops, and lived on the land approxi­ mately across from Treason House. Again at the very close of the war, in November, 1783, Washington went through these corners to West Point and from there with about 1000 troops marched into New York City on the 25th of November, the nation’s hero. History records a number of interesting naval incidents which took place in Haverstraw Bay. On August 18, 1776 there appeared a dispatch in a New York paper which testified to the hot time the naval defense units in the neighborhood of Haverstraw gave the enemy ships. It says: “The British warships Phoenix and Rose, which five weeks ago passed the American batteries and sailed up Hudson’s River to Haverstraw Bay returned this day and joined their fleet off Staten Island. They came back because our people made it too hot for them up the river. They did not find the Highlands of the Hudson a pleasant summer resort. “On the night of the sixteenth two fire vessels, commanded by Captain Fosdyke and Thomas, tried to set fire to the two Britishers. Fosdyke grappled with the Phoenix, but the fire did not spread to the warship as soon as expected and she disentangled herself after twenty minutes, with some damage to her rigging. Captain Thomas did no damage to the Rose, but burned her tender. He has been missing since engagement, and it is feared that he was either burned to death or drowned. “The attempt was bravely made and the enemy was badly frightened. Not wishing to repeat the experience, the Phoenix and Rose decided to go away. The Phoenix was three times hulled by shot from Fort Washington, and one of her tenders was hit once. The Rose was hit by a shot from Burdett’s Ferry. Riflemen along the river gave proper attention to the ships as they passed by, but the sailors were kept so close under cover that it is not known how many rifle shots took effect.