** The Courtlandts, or Van Courtlandts, are descended from a noble Russian family. The orthography, in the Dutch language, is properly korte-landt, meaning short land, a term expressing the peculiar form of the ancient duchy of Courland in Russia. This domain constituted a portion of Livonia, but was conquered by the Teutonic knights in 1561, and subsequently became a fief of Poland. It remained a short time independent, under its own dukes, after the fall of that power, but in 1795 it was united to Russia. The dukes of Courland were represented in 1610 by the Right Honorable Steven Van Cortlandt, then residing at Cortlandt, in South Holland. He was the father of Oloff Stevenson Van Cortlandt, the first lord of the manor, of that name, on the Hudson.
*** The first settlement at Peekskill commenced one mile north of the present village, near the head waters of the creek. The name is derived from John Peck, one of the early Dutch navigators, who, mistaking the creek for the course of the river, ran his yacht ashore where the first settlement was commenced. The settlement of the present village was commenced in 1764.—Bolton's History of West Chester, i., 63.
The Birdsall House.—An Octogenarian.—Oak Hill.—Van Cortlandt House.—Philip Van Cortlandt
the first owner, and was then eighty years of age. His lady, many years his junior, kindly showed me the different apartments made memorable by the presence and occupancy of distinguished men in the Revolution.
It was occupied by Washington when the head-quarters of the army were there; and the rooms are pointed out which were used by the chief and La Fayette as sleeping apartments. Chairs, a table, and an old clock which has told the hours for more than eighty years, are still there; and in the parlor where Whitefield once preached, I sat and sketched one of the pieces of this venerable furniture. This old mansion, projecting into and marring the regularity of the street, is an eyesore to the villagers, and when the present owner shall depart, no doubt this relic will be removed by the desecrating hand of improvement.
On leaving the Birdsall House, I proceeded to visit another octogenarian named Sparks, whose boyhood and long life have been passed in Peekskill. I found him sitting in the sun, upon his stoop, reading a newspaper without glasses, and his little grandson, a fair-haired child, playing at his feet. For an hour I sat and listened to his tales of the olden times, and of scenes his eyes had witnessed. He had often seen Washington and his suite at the Birdsall House, and well remembers Putnam, Heath, M'Dougall, and other officers whose quarters were at Peekskill. He never became a soldier, and saw only one battle during the war. That occurred near the Van Cortlandt House, two miles east of Peekskill, between some American pickets at the foot of Gallows Hill, and a picket guard of the enemy at the base of the eminences opposite. They were too near each other to keep quiet, and a skirmish at length ensued. "They made a great smoke and noise," said Mr. Sparks, "but nobody was hurt except by fright." Pointing to a huge oak standing near the Peekskill Academy on Oak Hill, and in full view of our resting-place, he related the circumstance of the execution of a British spy, named Daniel Strang, upon that tree. He was a Tory, and was found lurking about the American army at Peekskill with enlisting orders sewed up in his clothes. I left the vigorous old man to enjoy the warm sunlight and his newspaper alone, and procuring a conveyance, rode out to Van Cortlandt's house; the church-yard, where rest the remains of one of Andre's captors; Gallows Hill, famous as the camping-ground of Putnam for a short period during the Revolution, and to Continental Village, the scene of one of Tryon's marauding expeditions.
Van Cortlandt's house is situated in the midst of one of the fine estates of that family.' It is a brick mansion, and was erected in 1773. It stands in the center of a pleasant lawn, shaded by locust trees, on the north side of the post-road. It was occupied by Washington, for a brief space, as head-quarters; and there the Van Cortlandt family resided in safety,