THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 



153 



whose laconic reply to Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, 

 deserves an enduring record. It appears that Clinton had sent up a flag 

 of truce from New York, demanding the release of Edmund Palmer, his 

 lieutenant, who had been detected as a spy in the American camp. The 

 brief and emphatic answer of Putnam runs thus : 



"Head Quarters, 7th August, 1777. 



" Sir : Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken 

 as a spy lurking within the American lines. He has been tried as a 

 spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy ; and the flag 

 is ordered to depart immediately. Israel Putnam." 



" P. S. — He has been accordingly executed." 



From this circumstance the hill derived its present appellation. The 

 story of Palmer's sad fate is thus graphically described in the republican 

 paper of Peekskill : — 



' ' In the summer of the year 1780, and for some time preceding and following, 

 on the southern and eastern sides of the hill, and along the rich valley which lies 

 at its base, was quartered a division of the American army under the command 

 of Gen. Putnam. Disaffection and treachery prevailed on every side ; men there 

 were who from fear or from other base causes, refused to take part on the side of 

 virtue and patriotism, and remained as neutrals, wavering between each party, 

 and acting as their personal safety seemed most to require. Many, calling them- 

 selves Whigs, were constantly endeavoring by covert means to blast the hopes 

 and discourage the gallant few who were struggling at the side of liberty, by 

 giving to their enemies that information of their situation and prospects which 

 they had obtained by the most abject treachery. To destroy these evils required 

 the greatest vigilance and severity on the part of the American commander. 

 Early one mornimg, in the month of August, a party of the militia, three in 

 number, brought a young man by the name of Palmer, whom they had taken on 

 suspicion of his being a spy and having enlisting orders from Tryon, the British 

 general then commanding in New York. The enormity of his offence was such ; 

 that if proved, it demanded the most vigorous punishment. A court martial was 

 therefore immediately convened, and from the circumstances given to the court 

 by those who arrested him, and the evidence of many of the country people, who 

 gave an unfavorable account of his conduct, he was convicted and sentenced to 

 be executed as a spy. 



"The prisoner was a young man of athletic form, and possessed elegant attain- 

 ments, had a wife and children then residing in Yorktown, the place of his nativity, 

 and was connected with some of the most respectable families of West Chester. 

 The most urgent intercessions were immediately made to obtain his release, but 

 in vain ; the stern justice of Putnam was not to be overcome by any feelings of 

 pity. The British general wrote a letter to the American commander, demand- 

 ing his prisoner, and threatening him with vengeance if a compliance with his 

 demand was not immediately acceded to ; but he received for answer that the 

 prisoner was " taken as a spy, tried as a spy, convicted as a spy, and that he 

 should be hung as a spy." Here the matter rested until the morning previous to 



