"On a Picture of Harvey Birch.
"I know not if thy noble worth
My country's annals enliven,
For in her brief, bright history,
I have not read thy name.
"I know not if thou e'er didst live,
Save in the vivid thought
Of him who chronicled thy life,
With silent suffering fraught.
"Yet in thy history I see
Full many a great soul's lot.
Who joins the martyr-army's ranks.
That the world knoweth not."
Exploits of Enoch Crosby.—Incidents of his Life.—Ancient Dutch Church. Fishkill Village.
New York and join the British army. He became excessively loyal, and, agreeing to enlist with them, he obtained the unbounded confidence of the captain, who revealed to him all his plans. That night, when all was quiet, Crosby left his bed stealthily, hastened to "White Plains, where the Committee of Safety resided, * communicated the secrets of the expedition to them, and was back to his lodgings, unobserved, before daylight.
At Crosby's suggestion, a meeting of the company was held the following evening, and while in session, the house was surrounded by a band of Whigs, sent for the purpose by the Committee of Safety, and the inmates were all made prisoners. They were conveyed to Fishkill, and confined in manacles in the old stone church, one of the relies of the Revolution yet remaining. The Committee of Safety, who had come up to try them, were at the Wharton House. After an examination, the prisoners were all remanded to prison, Crosby among the
* The Committee of Safety then consisted of Messrs. Jay, Platt, Duer, and Sackett, distinguished patriots during the Revolution.
** This is from a pencil sketch by Miss Newlin, taken from the yard, looking southwest, the same point of view from whence I made a drawing, less pleasing to myself than the one kindly furnished me by the fail artist. The church is built of rough-hewn stone, stuccoed on three sides.
* In a monthly historical work, published at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1823, by Jacob B. Moore, Esq., late librarian of the Mew York Historical Society, is a brief biographical sketch of David Gray, who was a "spy" of the "Neutral Ground." The writer says, "The incidents of his life correspond in many particulars with the character of Harvey Birch, in the popular novel of the 'Spy.'" This was written six years before the publication of "The Spy Unmasked."