49
The Captors' Medal.
years it was known as the Odell or Johnson house. It met the fate of most old
frame buildings, in being destroyed by fire, in 1896. While Andr6 was inside,
two sentries were posted at each door and window.1 Phoebe, the infant daughter
of the Major, was asleep in her cradle, but awoke on Andr6's entrance. He
looked at the baby and said,
"Happy childhood—we know its
pleasures but once. I wish I were
as innocent as you."2 He also
surveyed himself in a mirror,
and noticing a hole or rip, under
one arm of his coat, smiled and
said: "I presume General Wash-
ington will give me a new coat."
Like the house, the Mills are
now but a memory. I am fortu-
nately able to give a view of
them,8 showing the building essen-
tially as in 1780.
Resuming its march after a short halt, the squadron passed through Shrub
Oak Plains, over Gray's Hill to St. Peter's Church—not far from the place
whence Allen had been recalled by Jameson's order, the preceding Saturday. The
church is still standing, and in good condition, though seldom used. It is a
frame building, plain to ugliness, with nothing in its exterior to indicate its
character. (Beverly Robinson was one of its wardens in 1780.) Built in 1767, it
is one of the oldest in the State. Near it, in front, is the marble monument to
Paulding.4 At the foot of the hill the road forks, one branch south to Peekskill,
the other northwest over Gallows Hill, past Continental Village, to the present
village of Garrison's.
1 The statement that he spent the night here is clearly absurd—on a par with the story that on the way from
Sands' Mills to South Salem Tallmadge tied him to a tree, at night, to prevent his escape! Such are some
instances of the chaff the historian has to sift out to get the real facts.
2 History of Putnam County, by Wm. J. Blake, 1849. As this book also prints a spurious "Defence," attributed
to Andre, this item may be taken with reservation, as also that about the coat.
3 I am indebted for this to Mr. Charles L. Austin, of Mahopac Falls.
* The inscriptions are:
North side.—Here repose the mortal remains of John Paulding, who died on the 18th day of
February, 1818, in the 60th year of his age.
South.—The Corporation of the City of New York erected this tomb as a memorial sacred to public
gratitude.
West.—On the morning of the 23d of September, 1780, accompanied by two young farmers of the
County of Westchester (whose names will one day be recorded on their own deserved monuments), he
intercepted the British spy, Andr6.
Poor himself, he disdained to acquire wealth by the sacrifice of his country. Rejecting the
temptation of great rewards, he conveyed his prisoner to the American camp; and by this act of noble
self-denial the treason of Arnold was detected; the designs of the Enemy baffled, West Point and the
American Army saved; and these United States, now by the grace of God Free and Independent, rescued
from most imminent peril.
On the Bast side is a representation of the medal presented by Congress to each of the three captors.
Van Wart's monument in the cemetery of the old Presbyterian church, at Elmsford, in the town of Green-
burgh, is similar. In 1876 a monument was erected to Williams at Old Fort, Schoharie County.
