The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for IndependenceLossing, Benson John
History
The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence
Lossing, Benson John
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
We arrived at Plattsburgh at about two o'clock in the afternoon. The day
was excessively warm, and I felt more like lounging than rambling. In
fact, the spot has no Revolutionary history worth mentioning, for its
existence as a lonely settlement in the wilderness is only coeval with
that of our independence. Count Vredenburgh, a German nobleman, who
married a lady of the household of the queen of George II. of England,
obtained a grant for thirty thousand acres of land on Cumberland Bay,
and just before the Revolution he settled there. When the war broke out
he sent his family to Montreal, and soon afterward his splendid mansion,
which stood where the Plattsburgh Hotel now is, and his mills, three
miles distant, were burned. He had remained to look after his property,
and it is supposed that he was murdered for his riches, and his house
plundered and destroyed. In 1783 some Canadian and Nova Scotia refugees,
under Lieutenant (afterward Major-general) Mooers ** who were stationed
on the Hudson near Newburgh, left Fishkill Landing in a boat, and,
proceeding by the way of Lakes George and Champlain, landed and
commenced the first permanent settlement in that neighborhood, within
seven or eight miles of the present village of Plattsburgh. Judge
Zephaniah Platt and others formed a company, after the war, to purchase
military land-warrants, and they located their lands on Cumberland Bay,
and organized the town of Plattsburgh in 1785. Such is its only
connection with the history
* It is related that while Carleton was at Ticonderoga, Arnold ventured
in the neighborhood in a small boat. He was seen and chased by young
Pellew (afterward Lord Exmouth), and so rapidly did his pursuers gain
upon him, that he ran his boat ashore and leaped on land, leaving his
stock and buckle behind him. It is said that the stock and buckle are
still in possession of the Pellew family.--See Ostler's Life of Admiral
Viscount Exmouth.
** Benjamin Mooers served as a lieutenant and adjutant in the
Revolution. He commanded the militia in the battle of Plattsburgh in
1814. For thirty years he was county treasurer, and often represented
his county in the Assembly and Senate of New York. He died in February,
1838
Battle of Plattsburgh.--Military Remains.--Incidents of the Naval
Battle.--Relic of Washington.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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