Several British and Hessian soldiers were at one time prisoners in the old stone church. The former were captured by stratagem at Teller's Point, near the mouth of the Croton River; the latter were stragglers, who fell in with a party of Loyalists near Yonkers, on the Neutral Ground. The British soldiers were captured by Crosby and a few men who composed part of a detachment under Colonel Van Cortlandt, then stationed on the east side of the Hudson to watch operations upon the Neutral Ground. While they were near Teller's Point, a British sloop of war sailed up the river and cast anchor in the channel opposite. Crosby and six others proceeded to the Point, five of whom, with himself, concealed themselves in the bushes; the other, dressed in infantry uniform, paraded the beach. The officers on the vessel observed him, and eleven men were dispatched in a boat to capture him. When the Englishmen landed, the American took to his heels. Unsuspicious of danger, they followed, when Crosby and his five men, making a noise in the bushes as if half a regiment was there, rushed out and bade the enemy surrender. Deceived and alarmed, they complied without firing a shot. The next day they were prisoners in the stone church in Fishkill.
Before visiting the Wharton House, I called upon the Reverend Mr. Kip, the pastor of the old church. He kindly allowed me to examine the records of the society, which, until a late period, were made in the Dutch language. They extend back to 1730, at whieh time, and for many years afterward, the church at Fishkill and another at Poughkeepsie were united, with the title of "The Parish Church at Fishkill and Poughkeepsie." I could find no account of the building of the church, but there is reason to believe that it was erected about the year 1725. Mr. Kip showed me a silver tankard, belonging to the communion-service of the church, which was presented to the society by Samuel Verplanek, Esq., chiefly for the purpose of commemorating, by an inscription upon it, a resident Norwegian, who died at the extraordinary age of six score and eight years. *
I passed half an hour at the Wharton House, and, returning to the village, sketched the old English church (now called Trinity) by the way. It stands upon the west side of the road, in the suburbs of the village, and in form is about the same as it was when it was used as an hospital for the
* The following is a copy of the inscription: "Presented by Samuel Verplanek, Esq., to the First Reformed Dutch Church in the town of Fishkill, to commemorate Mr. Englebert Huff, by birth a Norwegian, in his lifetime attached to the life guards of the Prince of Orange, afterward King William III. of England. He resided for a number of years in this country, and died, with unblemished reputation, at Fishkill, 21st of March, 1765, aged 128 years." It is related of Huff, that when he was a hundred and twenty years old he made love to a pretty girl of twenty. She already had an accepted lover of her own age, and of course rejected the suit of the Nestor. The old suitor was indignant at the refusal. He thought he had the best right to claim the heart and hand of the maiden, for he had a hundred years more experience than "the foolish boy," and knew better how to treat a wife than the interfering stripling.
** This picture is also from a pencil sketch by Miss Newlin.
Printing of the first Constitution of the State of New York.—Head quarters of Baron Steuben.—Anecdote of the Baron.
sick, and as a meeting-place of the flying Legislature of New York, when it adjourned from White Plains to Fishkill. According to the records, the session here commenced on the 3d of September, 1776. A few years since, while digging a grave in the yard, the sexton discovered a skeleton, with bits of scarlet cloth and a brass button, the remains, doubtless, of a British soldier, who was buried in his uniform.