I -jd WINTER SKE TCHES. 



tured, West Point would have fallen, British 

 communication with Canada would have been 

 opened, the war would have been brought to a 

 close, and these United States might have re- 

 mained till this day the colonies of Great Brit- 

 ain. All this was prevented by two musket 

 shots fired from a cider-mill. 



On the morning of September 22, Moses 

 Sherwood and Jack Peterson, a mulatto who 

 afterwards enlisted in the army and received a 

 pension for his services, were working their 

 cider-press at Croton Point, on the farm which 

 of late has been known as Underbill's vineyard. 

 As was customary in those stirring days, the 

 men carried with them their muskets to their 

 places of work or of worship. These two had 

 watched the movements of the English man- 

 o'-war with suspicion, wondering what her 

 errand could be, so far from her usual anchor- 

 age. 



Their suspicions were increased when they 

 saw a boat put off from the Vulture, possibly 

 with the purpose of communicating with the 

 western shore to discover the cause of Maj. 

 Andre's delay. Each took up his musket, and 

 one after the other fired upon the boat, the 

 last shot splintering an oar, and causing an im- 



