The event of the most importance which occurred at Tappan was the trial and execution of Major Andre. He was confined, while there, in the old stone mansion, now 1850 occupied as a tavern, and called the "76 Stone House." Its whole appearance has been materially changed. The room wherein the unfortunate prisoner was confined, and which was kept with care in its original condition more than half a century, has been enlarged and improved for the purposes of a ball-room! I was there a few years ago, when the then owner was committing the sacrilege, and he boasted, with great satisfaction, that he had received a "whole dollar for the old lock that fastened up Major Andrew!" Sentiment does not obey the laws of trade—it seems to cheapen with a decrease of supply. The sign-board is now the only evidence that there is any on hand at the "76 Stone House." The trial took place in the old Dutch church, which was torn down in 1836. Upon its site another and larger one of brick has been erected. It stands within a few yards of the house where Andre was confined. Washington's head-quarters were in the old stone building now occupied by Samuel S Verbryck, situated near the road from Sneeden's Landing, within a few rods of its junction with the main street
* Gordon, ii., 391.
** The encampment, on the night in question, was about two and a half miles southwest of Tappan village, near the Hackensack River.
*** General Grey, on account of his common practice of ordering the men under his command to take the flints out of their muskets, that they might be confined to the use of the bayonet, acquired the name of the no-flint general.
**** This view is from the yard, near the well. The date of its erection (1700) is made by a peculiar arrangement of the bricks in the front wall. In the large room called "Washington's quarters" the fireplace is surrounded by Dutch pictorial tiles illustrative of Scripture scenes. Indeed, the whole house remains in precisely the same condition, except what the elements have changed externally, as it was when the chief occupied it. When I visited it, Mrs. Verbryck's sister, an old lady of eighty, was there. She said she remembered sitting often upon Washington's knee. She was then ten years old.
Court of Inquiry in Andre's Case.—The Prisoner's Conduct.—Names of those who composed the Court.—Judge Laurence.
1760.of the village. It was then owned by John de Windt, a native of St. Thomas's, West Indies, and grandfather of Mrs. Verbryck, who now resides there.
