Map of Quaker Hill and Vicinity, 1778-80, showing location of Colonel Ludington’s place at Fredericksburgh

The earliest organization of the Patriots in and about New York was a Committee of Vigilance, the chief functions of which were to watch for oppressive acts of the British Government and incite colonial protests against them. This was in 1774 superseded by a Committee of Fifty-One, and it in turn in the same year gave place to a Committee of Inspection, of sixty members. In both of these latter John Jay, who was a neighbor and friend of Henry Ludington, was conspicuous, and it is to be presumed that Henry Ludington himself was either a member of the committees or at least was in active sympathy with their work. In April, 1775, came a crisis and the turning point in the movement for independence. The old Colonial Assembly of New York went out of existence on April 3. Then came the news of the first clash of arms at Lexington and Concord, acting as a spark in a powder-magazine. “Astonished by accounts of acts of hostility in the moment of expectation of terms of reconciliation,” said the lieutenant-governor of New York in his account of the occurrence, “and now filled with distrust, the inhabitants of the city burst through all restraint on the arrival of the intelligence from Boston, and instantly emptied the vessels laden with provisions for that place, and then seized the city arms and in the course of a few days distributed them among the multitude, formed themselves into companies and trained openly in the streets; increased the number and power of the committee before appointed to execute the association of the Continental Congress, convened themselves by beat of the drum for popular resolutions, have taken the keys of the custom house by military force; shut up the port, drawn a small number of cannon into the country; called all parts of the country to a Provincial Convention; chosen twenty delegates for this city, formed an association now signing by all ranks, engaging submission to committees and congresses, in firm union with the rest of the continent, and openly avow a resolution not only to resist the acts of Parliament complained as grievances, but to withhold succors of all kinds from the troops and to repel every species of force, wherever it may be exerted, for enforcing the taxing claims of Parliament at the risk of their lives and fortunes.” This only half coherent but wholly intelligible and graphic narrative tells admirably how the Patriot sentiment of New York startled into life and action. A year later it was forcibly repressed by the British garrison on Manhattan Island, but in the counties at the north it continued dominant and triumphant.

The “association now signing by all ranks” was promptly entered into by Henry Ludington and his neighbors in Dutchess County, as the following transcript, from the MS. collection of Mr. Patrick, shows, the date of the original being April 29, 1775:

A General Association agreed to and subscribed by the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Dutchess:

Persuaded: That the Salvation of the Rights & Liberties of America depends, under God, on the firm Union of its Inhabitants in a Vigorous Prosecution of the Measures necessary for its Safety; and Convinced of the Necessity of preventing the Anarchy & Confusion which attend the Dissolution of the Powers of Government, We, the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Dutchess, being greatly alarmed at the avowed Design of the Ministry to raise a Revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody Scene now acting in the Massachusetts Bay, Do, in the most solemn Manner, Resolve, never to become Slaves; and do associate under all the Ties of Religion, Honour and Love to our Country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution, whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Conventions, for the Purpose of preserving our Constitution and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive Acts of the British Parliament, until a Reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on Constitutional Principles (which we most ardently desire) can be obtained: And that we will in all things, follow the Advice of our General Committee, respecting the Purposes aforesaid: the Preservation of peace and good Order and the Safety of Individuals, and private property.

One other signature is illegible. Those of the two Ludingtons are clear and firm.

The new Provincial Congress of New York met in the New York City Hall on May 22, 1775, and remained in session until May 29, its most important act being the adoption of the following resolution: