At about noon on the 10th of October,1777 a horseman, apparently in great haste, approached the disordered camp. The sentinel on duty challenged him, when he replied, I am a friend, and wish to see General Clinton." The horseman was a messenger, bearing a secret dispatch from Sir Henry Clinton to Burgoyne, the latter being then hedged round by the Americans at Saratoga. The messenger supposed the American forces in the Highlands to be utterly broken and destroyed, and having never heard of a general Clinton ** in the patriot army, he believed himself to be among his friends. He was conducted to Clinton's quarters, and, when ushered into his presence, he perceived his mistake. "I am lost!" he exclaimed, in a half subdued voice, and immediately cast something into his mouth and swallowed it. Suspicion was aroused, and he was arrested. Dr. Moses Higby, who was then residing near Mrs. Falls's, was summoned. He administered to the prisoner a powerful dose of tartar emetic, which soon brought from his stomach a silver bullet of an oval form. Though closely watched, the prisoner succeeded in swallowing it a second time. He now refused the emetic, but yielded when Governor Clinton threatened to hang him upon a tree and search his stomach by the aid of the surgeon's knife. The bullet again appeared. It was a curiously-wrought hollow sphere, fastened together in the center by a compound screw. Within it was found a piece of thin paper, on which was written the following note: ***
"Fort Montgomery, October 8,1777.
"Nous y voici, **** and nothing now between us and Gates. I sincerely hope this little success of ours may facilitate your operations. In answer to your letter of the 28th of September, by C. C., (v) I shall only say, I can not presume to order, or even advise, for reasons obvious. I heartily wish you success.
"Faithfully yours, H. Clinton.
"Gen. Burgoyne."
The prisoner's guilt was clear; out of his own mouth he was condemned. Governor Clinton soon afterward marched to Esopus, or Kingston, taking the spy with him. At Hurley, a few miles from Kingston, he was tried, condemned, and hanged upon an apple-tree near the old church, while the village of Esopus was in flames, lighted by the marauding enemy. (vi)
* This house, now (1850) owned by Mr. Samuel Moore, is a frame building*, and stands on the right side of the New Windsor road, at the southeastern angle of "The Square." It is surrounded by locust and large balm-of-Gilead trees. There Major Armstrong wrote the famous Newburgh Addresses, and there those in the secret held their private conferences.
** The British officers in this country adhered pertinaciously to the resolution of not dignifying the rebel officers with their assumed titles. They were called Mr. Washington, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Greene, &c. It is amusing to look over the Tory newspapers of the day, particularly Rivington's Gazette, and observe the flippant and attempted witty manner in which the American generalissimo was styled Mister Washington.
*** Letter of Governor Clinton to the Council of Safety, dated "Head-quarters, Mrs. Falls's, 11th October, 1777."
**** "Here we are." I copied this note from a transcript in the handwriting of Governor Clinton, which is among the manuscripts of General Gates in the library of the New York Historical Society. It is endorsed "Sir Henry Clinton to J. Burgoyne, 8th of October, 1777, found in a silver bullet." That identical bullet was, a few years ago, in the possession of the late General James Tallmadge, executor of the will of Governor George Clinton. It is now the property of one of Clinton's descendants.