At midsummer, 1780, an occasion drew from Major André's pen his most notable satirical poem, in imitation, in structure and metre, of the famous old British ballad, "Chevy Chase." It appears to have been written for the twofold purpose of gratifying his own quick perception of the ludicrous and to retaliate in kind the satirical attacks of Whig writers upon him and his friends. The occasion was an expedition in July against a block-house on the west bank of the Hudson, three or four miles below Fort Lee, at the base of the Palisades, which was occupied by a British picket of seventy men--loyal refugees--for the protection of some wood-cutters and the neighboring Tories. On Bergen Neck, not far from the block-house, were a large number of cattle and horses within reach of the British foragers who might go out from the fort at Paulus' Hook (now Jersey City). Washington sent General Wayne with horse and foot--less than two thousand men--to storm the block-house and to drive the cattle within the American lines. Wayne sent the cavalry under Major Henry Lee ("Legion Harry," father of the late General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate army), to perform the latter duty, while he, with three regiments, marched against the block-house with four pieces of light artillery. A brief but sharp skirmish ensued. The assailants were compelled to retire, and Wayne returned to camp with a large number of cattle driven by the dragoons. The failure to capture the block-house was attributed to the ineffectualness of the small cannons. The "Cow-Chase" was published in Rivington's "Gazette," the last canto on the day of the author's arrest as a spy at Tarrytown. He made copies of the poem for his friends. Of one of these, belonging to the late Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, I was permitted, in 1849, to make the following copy of the poem given in the next chapter; also the fac-simile given of the last stanza of the poem in the handwriting of Major André. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 24: This poem, with explanatory notes, may be found in Frank Moore's "Ballads of the Revolution."] [Footnote 25: Beverly Robinson was a gentleman of fortune, a son-in-law of Frederick Phillipse, proprietor of Phillipse Manor on the Hudson, and a very active Tory.] [Footnote 26: See a copy of this letter in the "Life and Career of John André," by Winthrop Sargent, p. 447.] CHAPTER IV. COW-CHASE. BY MAJOR JOHN ANDRÉ. Elizabethtown, _August 1, 1780_. CANTO I. To drive the kine, one summer's morn, The tanner[27] took his way: The calf shall rue that is unborn The jumbling of that day. And Wayne descending steers shall know, And tauntingly deride, And call to mind, in ev'ry low, The tanning of his hide. Let Bergen cows still ruminate Unconscious in the stall, What mighty means were used to get, And lose them after all.