58
the sordid owner of 1848 making a ballroom of them, and boasting to Lossing of
having received " a whole dollar " for the lock of the door.
The street door of the building is the same as opened to admit the man
whose brief sojourn within was to make the house famous; but the window-
shutters are modern, or the modernity of about 1830. The piazza was originally
the orthodox Dutch stoop, of just sufficient length for a seat on each side, and
six steps1 to the ground. No other building can boast of more historic interest
for the same period than can this plain, heavy Dutch tavern. Almost, if not
quite, every general officer of the left wing of the army (and possibly Washington
also) was a visitor to it while it was Greene's headquarters, during the autumn of
1780. The Commander in Chief was the only exception during the momentous
five days we are considering.
It is greatly to be regretted that neither our
patriotic societies nor the Rockland County Historical
Society feel able to buy and maintain it. A few
more years, at most, will reduce it to ruins.2 The
old Dutch church, in which both prisoners were
tried, stood at the head of the street, but was de-
molished in 1786, to make way for a larger, which
in turn gave place (1836) to a third, the present
structure, which is on the original site. The only
known representation of the first church is on a seal,
from which was made the cut given here.
The worthy Dutchmen of 1780s knew not the
fame their sleepy village was to acquire from that
September week, or surely the quaint old sanctuary would have been carefully
preserved.
The order, issued by Colonel Alexander Scammell,4 Adjutant General, to
The Old Dutch Church, Tappan, N. Y.
(Demolished 1786.)
The prison of Joshua Hett Smith, and place
of trial of Major Andre.
1 Van Dyk.
* Just as this was -written (November, 1897,) the news arrived that a heavy gale had blown down part of it.
Shortly afterwards it was sold to a "purchaser who repaired the damage, but proposes to degrade the
building by opening it as a saloon. Sic transit gloria—revolutionensis!
8 Tappan is still very Dutch. Hundreds who speak the tongue still live within a radius of five miles from the
church. To my great regret I have been unable to trace a painting—known to exist in 1897—of the trial
itself. It is the only one of the scene, to my knowledge, and I will be grateful to any reader who can put
me on its track.
* Alexander Scammell was born in Mendon (now Milford) Massachusetts, in 1744, and died at Williamsburg,
Virginia, October 6, 1781. Graduated from Harvard in 1769, he taught school, surveyed land, and studied
law until the battle of Bunker Hill, where he served with credit. His patriotism had before this been
manifested by his participation in Sullivan's capture of Fort William and Mary, at Newcastle, N. H.,
December 14, 1774, where he personally pulled down the British flag. He accompanied Sullivan on the
Canada expedition, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island, but soon exchanged. He crossed
the Delaware in the same boat with Washington, on the expedition to Trenton, was with him at Princeton,
and was in command of the First New Hampshire battalion when ordered to raise another regiment, the
Third, of which he was commissioned Colonel. He served with credit at Saratoga, though wounded a few
days before. In 1778 he was promoted to be Adjutant General of the army, and of his conduct At the
battle of Monmouth Washington said afterwards: '' he was the man who inspired us all to do our full duty.''
