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Champe foiled.

1780.

Taken by Arnold to Virginia.

Escapes and rejoins his Legion in the Carolinas.

Ramapo Valley. gion was to be employed, and poor Champe, who had enlisted in it to carry out his plans, was in a sad dilemma. Instead of crossing the Hudson that night, with the traitor his prisoner, he found himself on board of a British transport, and that traitor his commander ! The expedition sailed, and Champe was landed on the shores of Virginia. He sought opportunities to escape, but found none, until after the junction with Cornwallis at Petersburg, where he deserted. He passed up toward the mountains, and into the friendly districts of North Carolina. Finally, he joined the legion of Major Lee, just after it had passed the Congaree in pursuit of Lord Rawdon. Great was the surprise of his old comrades when they saw him, and it was increased at the cordial reception which the deserter received at the hands of Lee. His story was soon told, and four-fold greater than before his desertion was the love and admiration of his corps for him. They felt proud of him, and his promotion would have been hailed by general acclamation. Knowing that he would immediately be hanged if caught by the enemy, he was discharged from service. The commander-in-chief munificently rewarded him; and seventeen years afterward, when President Adams appointed Washington to the chief command of the armies of the United States, then preparing to defend the country from the threatened hostility of the French, the chief sent to Colonel Lee for information concerning Champe, being determined to bring him forward in the capacity of a captain of infantry. But the gallant soldier had removed to Kentucky, and was asleep in the soil.'

A few months after my visit to Tappan, I made another tour to the vicinity. I passed two days in the romantic valley of the Ramapo, through which the New York and Erie rail-way courses. Every rocky nook, sparkling water-course, and shaded glen in that wild valley has a legendary charm. It is a ravine sixteen miles in extent, opening wide toward the fertile fields of Orange county. It was a region peculiarly distinguished by wild and daring adventure during the Revolution, and, at times, as important military ground. There the marauding Cow-boys made their rendezvous; and from its dark coverts, Claudius Smith, the merciless freebooter, and his three sons, with their followers, sallied out and plundered the surrounding country. Along the sinuous Ramapo Creek, before the war of the Revolution broke out, and while the ancient tribe of the Ramapaughs yet chased the deer on the

rugged hills which skirt the valley, iron-forges were established, and the hammer-peal of spreading civilization echoed from the neighboring crags. Not far distant from its waters the great chain which was stretched across the Hudson at West Point was wrought; and the remains of one of the Ramapo forges, built at the close of the war, now form a picturesque ruin on the margin of the rail-way. A few miles below it, Ramapo village, with its extensive machinery, sends up a per

ica, lived there till the prime of my life, but alas! I can call no man in America my friend," replied the stranger. That stranger was Arnold.

1 See Lee's Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States, from page 270 to 284 The reader, by observing the dates of his correspondence with Washington, will perceive that Lee has con founded the effort of Ogden to save Andrè by having Arnold given up, and the desertion of his sergeant, with the expedition of Sergeant Champe. In his account of Champe's maneuver, he makes the salvation of Andrè a leading incentive to efforts to capture Arnold; but Andrè was executed on the 2d of October, whereas Champe did not desert until the 20th of the same month.

Claudius Smith was a large, fine-looking man, of strong mind, and a desperado of the darkest dye. Himself and gang were a terror to Orange county for a long time, and tempting rewards were offered for his apprehension. He was finally captured near Oyster Bay, on Long Island, and taken to Goshen, where he was chained to the jail floor, and a strong guard placed over him. He was hung in the village on the 22d of January, 1779, with Gordon and De la Mar-the former convicted of horse-stealing, and the latter of burglary. Smith's residence was in the lower part of the present village of Monroe, on the Erie railway. Several murders were afterward committed by Smith's son Richard, in revenge for the hanging of his father; and for a while the Whigs in that region suffered more from the desperate Cow-boys than before the death of their great leader. For a detailed account of transactions connected with Claudius Smith, see Eager's History of Orange County, p. 550-564. 3 See page 700.

This ruin is situated about half way between the Sloatsburgh station and Monroe works. The forge

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Ramapo Village. Mr. Pierson.

Movements of the two Armies in 1777.

petual hymn of industry from the wilderness.

Washington's Perplexities.

October. 1850.

This village, now containing a population of three hundred,' is owned by the Piersons, the elder having established iron-works there fifty years ago. Jeremiah H. Pierson, the original proprietor, is yet living there at the age of eighty-four, and to the kind hospitality of himself and family I am indebted for much of the pleasures and profit of my visit to the Ramapo Valley. God has taken his eyesight from him, but mercifully vouchsafes good health, sound mind, sunny cheerfulness, and the surroundings of a happy family. I listened with interest to a narrative of his clear recollections of the past, and the traditions gathered from his scattered neighbors when he first sat down there in the almost wilderness. Not twenty years had elapsed since the war closed when he erected his forges, and the sufferers were living in small groups all around him. They have all passed away, and volumes of unwritten traditionary history are buried with them.

The American army under Washington was encamped in the vicinity of Ramapo for a few days in July, 1777. The head-quarters of Washington had been at Morristown during the previous winter and spring. Believing it prudent to act on the defensive, he had waited anxiously for Sir William Howe, who was quartered in New York city, to make some decided movement. Summer approached, and yet the British commander gåve no intimations respecting his designs for a campaign. It was believed that he would either make a demonstration against the strong posts in the Highlands, or attempt a passage of the Delaware and a seizure of Philadelphia. Washington's position at Morristown was an eligible one for acting promptly and efficiently when Howe should move either way. General Howe had a considerable force stationed at New Brunswick. This force was augmented early in May, and Washington received information that they had begun to build a portable bridge there, so constructed that it might be laid upon flat boats. Believing this to be a preparation for crossing the Delaware, Washington collected the new levies from Virginia and the Middle States, at Morristown, and ordered those from the eastward to assemble at Peekskill. Toward the close of May, the American army moved from 1777. Morristown, and encamped upon the heights of Middlebrook, in a very strong position, and commanding the country from New Brunswick to the Delaware. The maneuvers of detachments of the two armies in this vicinity in Junea are noticed on page 331, a 1777 vol. i. The British finally crossed over to Staten Island from Amboyb on the b June 30. bridge which they had constructed at New Brunswick, and entirely evacuated the Jerseys. The next day Washington received intelligence of the approach of Burgoyne from Canada, and at the same time spies and deserters from New York informed him that a fleet of large vessels and transports were preparing in the harbor of that city. The commanderin-chief was greatly perplexed. At first it appeared probable that Howe was preparing to sail with his army southward, go up the Delaware, and attack Philadelphia by land and by water; but the intelligence that Washington continued to receive from the North made it appear more probable that a junction with Burgoyne, and the consequent possession of the Hudson River, by which the patriots of the Eastern and Middle States would be separated, and a free communication with Canada be established, would engage the efforts of Sir William Howe. The possession of the Hudson River had been a prominent object from the beginning of the war.

was built in 1783-4, by Solomon Townshend, of New York, to make bar-iron and anchors, and was named the Augusta Works. A sketch of the ruin forms a pretty frontispiece to The Salamander (or Hugo, as it is now called), a legend of the Ramapo Valley, by Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith. The historic anecdote related in the introduction to this charming legend I also heard from the lips of the "venerable Mr. P . . . . . .,' through whose kindness I was enabled to visit the "Hopper House." The relics of the Revolution are pleasingly grouped in the introduction referred to.

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When the large cotton factory (the spindles of which are now idle) and the screw factory of Mr. Pierson were in operation here, the village contained about seven hundred inhabitants. The whole valley of the Ramapo has but three or four owners. Many thousand acres belong to the Townsends; the Lorillard family own another immense tract; Mr. M'Farland another; the Sloats have considerable possessions, and the lower part belongs to the Piersons.

March of the American Army toward the Highlands.

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of the fleet of the enemy near Sandy Hook. The Weehawken

Washington remained at Middlebrook with the main division of the army, anxiously awaiting the movements of the enemy, until toward the middle of July. He dispatched two regiments to Peekskill, on the Hudson, and had his whole army in readiness to march in that direction, if circumstances should require. When it was certainly known that the British army had actually embarked on board the fleet, Washington moved slowly toward the Highlands by way of Morristown, Ramapo,' and the Clove. He encamped in the latter place on the 15th, eleven miles above the Ramapo Pass (of which I shall pres July, 1777. ently write), and immediately sent forward Lord Stirling, with a division, to PeeksHe established his head-quarters at Ramapo on the 23d; but so much was that region infested with Cow-boys and other Tories, that it was with great difficulty that he could obtain correct information from a distance." Northward from the present Ramapo village rises a range of lofty hills, upon the highest summit of which is upreared a huge mass of granite, shaped like a mighty dome, the top covered with trees. From this eminence, five hundred feet above the village, a small portion of New York Bay, Staten Island, and the ocean near Sandy Hook, may be distinctly seen on a clear day, the distance being about thirty-five miles. To this observatory, it is said, Washington was piloted, and with his glass saw a portion

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TORN ROCK.4

Hill obstructed a full view of New York Harbor, and the commanderin-chief was uncertain whether the whole fleet had dropped down to the Hook; but, on returning to his quarters at Ramapo, he received positive information that the British fleet had gone to sea. Convinced that Philadelphia was the destination of Howe, Washington recalled Stirling's division from Peekskill, broke up his encampment in the Clove, and the army pursued various routes toward the Delaware. The battle of Brandywine, and other events in the vicinity of Philadelphia, which oc

curred soon afterward, will be noticed in subsequent chapters.

June 1, 1779.

On the return of Commodore Sir George Collier and General Matthews from a marauding expedition to Virginia, at the close of May, 1779, they sailed up the Hudson River to attack the forts in the Highlands. This expedition, as we have noticed on page 175, was under the command of Sir Henry Clinton. As soon as Washington was advised of this movement, he drew his troops from their cantonments in New Jersey, and, by rapid marches, reached the Clove on the 7th with five brigades and two Carolina regiments. He pressed forward to Smith's Clove, whence there were mountain passes to the forts in the Highlands, and there he encamped. Small detachments for observation and protection to couriers were stationed at different points from the encampment

1 Ramapo, or Romopock, was a small settlement on the Ramapo River, about five miles south of the present Suffern's Station on the New York and Erie rail-way, and within the province of New Jersey. It was nearly seven miles below the present village of Ramapo, founded by Mr. Pierson.

2 The Clove here mentioned was chiefly the Ramapo Valley extending to Smith's Clove, which continues northward from the former, in the vicinity of Turner's Station, on the New York and Erie rail-road, far in the rear of Haverstraw and Stony Point. Through this clove, by the way of Ramapo, was the best route for an army from New Windsor into the upper part of New Jersey. The main division of the Continental army was again encamped in the Clove in 1779, when General Wayne captured Stony Point.

3 "I can not give you any certain account of General Howe's intended operations," wrote Washington to General Schuyler. "His conduct is puzzling and embarrassing beyond measure. So are the informations which I get. At one time the ships are standing up toward the North River; in a little while they are going up the Sound; and in an hour after they are going out of the Hook. I think in a day or two we must know something of his intentions."

4 This view is from the verge of the dam above the Ramapo works, near the rail-way, looking northeast. The eminence is called Torn Rock, from its ragged appearance on its southeastern side. There is a deep fissure in a portion of the bare rock, from which comes up a sound like the ticking of a watch, caused by the water which percolates through the seams in the granite. A tradition was long current that Wash ington lost his watch in the fissure, and that, by some miraculous power, it continued to tick!

The Ramapo Pass.

March of the allied Armies to Virginia.

Clinton Deceived by Washington's Letters.

southward to old Ramapo, and strong intrenchments were thrown up at the Pass, a narrow gorge about half a mile below the present Ramapo village. The passage between the hills here is only wide enough for the stream, the rail-way, a wagon-road, and a narrow strip of meadow-land. The hills on each side

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rise abrupt and rocky. It was a place almost as easy to fortify and guard as the pass of old Thermopylæ. The ditch and bank from the wagon. road eastward are yet quite prominent. Large trees have overgrown them, and with care these mementoes of the past may be long preserved.

While the army was encamped at Smith's Clove, the successful expedition of General Wayne against Stony Point was accomplished. This success, the subsequent evacuation of that post and of Verplanck's Point by the British, and the necessity for sending re-enforcements to General Lincoln at the South, caused the camp in the Clove to be broken up early in the autumn. The main por- 1779 tion of the army went into winter quarters at Morristown, where the commander-inchief established himself, and strong detachments were stationed at different points among the Highlands.

Once again, and for the last time, the Ramapo Valley became the temporary theater of military operations. It was in the summer of 1781, when the allied armies took up their line of march for Virginia to achieve the defeat of Cornwallis. They had conjoined upon the Hudson for the purpose of making an attack upon the head-quarters of the British army in the city of New York. The failure of Count De Grasse, commander of a French fleet then in the West Indies, to co-operate with the land forces, made Washington abandon this project, and turn his attention to the military operations at the South. To prevent obstacles being thrown in his way by Sir Henry Clinton, or re-enforcements being sent to Cornwallis, Washington kept up the appearance of a meditated attack upon New York.

The two armies, which had remained nearly six weeks in the vicinity of Dobbs's Ferry, crossed the Hudson at Verplanck's Point, and marched by different routes to Trenton, under the general command of Lincoln; some passing through the Ramapo Valley and the Pass to Morristown, and others taking the upper route above the Ringwood Iron-works. The French took the river route, by Tappan and the Hackensack Valley, to Newark and Perth Amboy. At the latter place they built ovens, constructed boats, collected forage, and made other movements indicative of preparations to commence an attack, first upon the British posts on Staten Island, and then upon New York. Previous to the passage of the Hudson, Washington had caused deceptive letters to be written and put in the way of being intercepted, all of which deceived Sir Henry Clinton into the belief that an attack upon New

This view is from the road, looking north toward the village of Ramapo. The remains of the intrenchments are seen along the right in the foreground. On the left, in the distance, is seen a glimpse of the hills on the other side of the narrow valley.

One of the bearers of these letters was a young Baptist clergyman, named Montagnie, an ardent Whig, who was directed by Washington to carry a dispatch to Morristown. He directed the messenger to cross the river at King's Ferry, proceed by Haverstraw to the Ramapo Clove, and through the Pass to Morristown. Montagnie, knowing the Ramapo Pass to be in possession of the Cow-boys and other friends of the enemy, ventured to suggest to the commander-in-chief that the upper road would be the safest. "I shall be taken," he said, "if I go through the Clove." "Your duty, young man, is not to talk, but to obey !" replied Washington, sternly, enforcing his words by a vigorous stamp of his foot. Montagnie proceeded as directed, and, near the Ramapo Pass, was caught. A few days afterward he was sent to New York, where he was confined in the Sugar House, one of the famous provost prisons in the city. The day after his arrival, the contents of the dispatches taken from him were published in Rivington's Gazette with great parade, for they indicated a plan of an attack upon the city. The enemy was alarmed thereby, and active preparations were put in motion for receiving the.besiegers. Montagnie now perceived why he was so positively instructed to go through the Ramapo Pass, where himself and dispatches were quite sure to be

The "Hopper House."

Patriotism of the Owner.

Interesting Relics.

Burr's Head-quarters.

York city was the grand object of the Americans.

The allied armies had crossed the Del

aware, and were far on their way toward the head of Elk, before the British commander was fully aware of their destination.

About four miles south of the Ramapo Pass, and three from Suffern's Station, on the road to Morristown, is the "Hopper House," where Washington made his head-quarters from the 2d until the 18th of September, 1780. The mansion was owned by - Hopper, one of the most active Whigs of the day. He was often employed by Washington in the secret service, and frequently visited his friends in New York city while the enemy had possession of it. On such occasions, he obtained much valuable information respecting the strength of the enemy, without incurring suspicion, as he never committed a word to paper. The re

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THE HOPPER HOUSE.'

mains of the patriot rest beneath a small marble monument, in a family cemetery, upon a

grassy knoll by the road side, not far from the mansion. This is the house wherein those letters of Washington, beginning with "Head-quarters, Bergen county," were written; it being in New Jersey, about two miles from the New

York line. It was here that he received the news of the defeat of Gates at the disastrous battle near Camden, on the 16th of August, 1780; and from hence he set out on his journey to Hartford, on Monday, the 18th of September, to meet the French officers in council, the time when Arnold attempted to surrender West Point into the hands of the enemy. The venerable widow of Mr. Hopper resided there until her death in 1849, when she had reached the ninety-ninth year of her life. Her daughter, who was often dandled on the knee of Washington, is still living, but was absent on the day of my visit, and I was denied the gratification of viewing those relics of the Revolution which are preserved in the house with much care.'

1780.

Close by Suffern's Station is an old building coeval with the original Hopper house. It was the head-quarters of Lieutenant-colonel Aaron Burr, while stationed there in command of Malcolm's regiment in September, 1777. It has been sometimes erroneously called the head-quarters of Washington. While encamped here for the purpose of guarding the Ram

seized. When they appeared in Rivington's Gazette, the allied armies were far on their way to the Delaware. Montagnie admired the wisdom of Washington, but disliked himself to be the victim. Mr. Pier son, from whom I obtained the narrative, received it from the lips of Montagnie himself.

Upon this incident Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith (who also received the narrative from Mr. P.) founded her interesting prize tale called the Ramapo Pass. She also mentions it in her introduction to The Salamander.

1 This view is from the road, looking northeast. The low part, on the left, is a portion of the old mansion of the Revolution, which contained the dining-hall. It was a long stone building. A part of it has been taken down, and the present more spacious edifice, of brick, was erected soon after the war.

2 Mrs. Smith, in her introduction to The Salamander, makes mention of the centenarian, and of these relics. "The ancient matron," she says, "has none of the garrulity of old age; on the contrary, as she adverted to past scenes, a quiet stateliness grew upon her, in beautiful harmony with the subject. Rarely will another behold the sight, so pleasing to ourselves, of five generations, each and all in perfect health and intelligence, under the same roof-tree. She spoke of this with evident satisfaction, and of the length of time her ancestors had been upon the soil; in truth, we had never felt more sensibly the honorableness of gray hairs. . . . . We were shown the bed and furniture, remaining as when he [Washington] used them, for the room is kept carefully locked, and only shown as a particular gratification to those interested in all that concerns the man of men. Here were the dark chintz hangings beneath which he had slept; the quaint furniture; old walnut cabinets, dark, massive, and richly carved; a Dutch Bible, mounted with silver, with clasps and chain of same material, each bearing the stamp of antiquity, yet all in perfect preservation; large China bowls; antique mugs; paintings upon glass of cherished members of the Orange family. These and other objects of interest remain as at that day."

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