566 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



buildings at the White Plains. He is guilty of the crime of arson, and if he 

 cannot be punished hy the articles of war, ought to he given up to the laws of 

 the land. It' so glaring a violation of every sentiment of humanity should be 

 passed over in silence, if the army is not reasonably restrained front such acts of 

 barbarity, the consequence must be fatal to the cause of a people whose exalted 

 glory it is to be advocates for the rights of mankind, against the tyranny and 

 oppression of lawless power. The resolutions which the committee of safety 

 have passed upon the subject are herewith transmitted. 



"I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most obedient and very 

 humble servant, "By order 



"PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT, 



Vice President." 



"To the Honorable John Hancock, 



President of the Congress of the United States."" 



At a meeting of the committee of safety held Monday morning, 2d 

 December, 1776. It was resolved, "That the laws of the country are 

 not superseded by the military code in the pesence of the army ; " and 

 " That a letter be written to General Washington, requesting that the offi- 

 cer directing the burning of the Court-house and dwelling-houses at the 

 White Plains, be delivered to this committee or the Convention of this 

 State, in order to his being tried by the laws of the States, and, if guilty, 

 punished thereby." 6 



The following account of the military quarters in this town and its 

 vicinity, in October, 1776, is from the address of J. W. Tompkins, Esq., 

 delivered at White Plains on the 28th of October, 1845 : — 



"The County of Westchester, at the commencement of the Revolution, con- 

 tained a multitude of hardy yeomen inured to toil, whose ancestry had fled from 

 oppression abroad, and in the enjoyment of greater freedom in the colony, had 

 imbibed an ardent love of liberty. When the star of Independence arose in the 

 east, they were ready to follow its lead ; and when New York, in 1776, was 

 threatened with invasion, they flocked with alacrity to its defence. When the 

 battle of Long Island turned the tide of war against us, they still adhered to the 

 American army, contending every inch of ground to Harlem, thence to King's 

 Bridge, and through the southern part of Westchester to White Plains, where 

 Gen. Washington again determined to entrench himself and make another stand 

 against an 1 iverwhelniing force of the choicest British troops, flushed with victory 

 and confident of success. A brief account of the movements of the two armies 

 to this place, and of their operations here, it is my purpose to give. 



"The city of New York was selected by the English as the centre of their 

 military operations, with the view of commanding the North river and acting In 

 conjunction with a force from Canada, descending through Lake Champlain, 

 thus securing the Colonies. Their march into Westchester County was designed 



a Journal of N. Y. Prov. Congress, vol. i. 723. 

 b Journal of X. Y. Prov. Congress, vol. i. 729. 



