The reception room, twenty-two by thirty feet and fourteen feet high, was also a paneled room with mirrors set in the wall in the French style. It contained a number of pieces of gilt furniture, originally covered with white silk embroidered in gold, with designs from Boucher which he had brought with him from France. The dining room of peculiar shape (a half octagon) was paneled in dark wood and contained a curious reminder of life during Revolutionary days, a dumbwaiter placed near each guest so that servants need not be admitted to overhear the conversation.[59] Morris died on November 6, 1816, in the room in which he was born. Almost the last letter he wrote was to plead with the Federal Party to “forget party and think of our country. That country embraces both parties. We must endeavor therefore to save and benefit both.” What statesman to-day would put forth such a sentiment?[60] [Illustration] [Illustration] Van Cortlandt House The property on which the house stands belonged in the seventeenth century to the Hon. Frederick Philipse and was sold by him in the year 1699 to his son-in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who had married his daughter Eva. The house was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, only son of Jacobus, who married Frances Jay, daughter of Augustus Jay, the Huguenot. His will, dated October 2, 1749, states: “Whereas I am now finishing a large stone dwelling house on the plantation in which I now live, which with the same plantation will, by virtue of my deceased father’s will, devolve, after my decease, upon my eldest son, James,” etc.[61] During the Revolutionary War the neighborhood was constantly the scene of conflicts. Washington visited the house in 1781, and on the hill to the north disposed part of his army, which lighted camp fires while he was quietly withdrawing the rest of his troops to join Lafayette before Yorktown. There was a bloody engagement near the house on August 31, 1778, between the British, under Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, and a body of Stockbridge Indians. The Indians fought with great bravery and desperation, dragging the cavalrymen from their horses, but were ultimately dispersed, their chief being killed.[62] Washington slept here the night before the evacuation of the city by the British, November 25, 1785. The estate has been bought by the city and is now known as Van Cortlandt Park. It contains 1,070 acres. There is a lake covering sixty acres and a parade ground for the National Guard on a level meadow of 120 acres. The house is used as a museum and is crowded with interesting relics. [Illustration] BOROUGH OF QUEENS The Bowne House--Flushing