1 88 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



him. The late war became the topic of conversation. The Colonel had 

 once chased Brant, and had been conscious that Indian sharpshooters 

 had attempted to kill him while he was leaning against a tree. When 

 the Colonel spoke of this, Brant replied, "I ordered one of my best 

 marksmen to pick you off but you seemed bullet-proof." 



The eminent George Whitefield once preached eloquently to Van 

 Cortlandt's assembled tennants from the veranda of the manor-house. 

 Dr. Franklin rested there when he was returning from his fatiguing mis- 

 sion to Canada, late in the spring of 1776, journeying from Albany to 

 New York in Gen. Schuyler's post-chaise. Washington was many times 

 at the mansion, while the American army lay on the shores of the Hud- 

 son. There Col. Henry B. Livingston had his quarters while watching 

 the Vulture, off Teller's (now Croton) Point, at the time of the treason 

 of Arnold. There Lafayette, and Rochambeau, and the Duke de Lau- 

 zun, were entertained; and the manor-house was always open as a rest- 

 ing place of some of the most eminent of the Methodist preachers, such 

 as Asbury and Garretson, in the early days of the American branch of 

 that church. 



He who extended these hospitalities for the period of half a century 

 or more, was Pierre Van Cortlandt — who was a member of the New 

 York Provincial Congress, chairman of the New York Committee of 

 Safety, and for eighteen successive years from the organization of the 

 State Government, in 1777, was Lieut. Governor of the Commonwealth. 

 He espoused the cause of the patriots at the beginning. Crown officers 

 in America tried to win him to the Tory side. In 1774, Gov. Tryon 

 essayed to seduce him. The event is best related in the words of his 

 eldest son, Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt, at that time twenty-five years of 

 age: — "I remember," he records in his diary, " Gov. Tryon came in a 

 vessel, bringing his wife and a young lady, who was a daughter of the 

 Hon. John Watts, a relative of my father, and Col. Edmund Fanning, his 

 friend and secretary; and after remaining a night he proposed a walk, 

 and after proceeding to the highest point of land on the farm, being a 

 height which affords a most delightful prospect; when the governor 

 commenced with observing what great favors could be obtained if my 

 father would relinquish his opposition to the views of the King and Par- 

 liament of Great Britain, what grants of land could and would be the 

 consequence, in addition to other favors of eminence, consequence, &c. 

 My father then observed that he was chosen a representative by the 

 unanimous approbation of a people who placed confidence in his integ- 

 rity to use all his ability for their benefit and the good of his country, as 

 a true patriot, which line of conduct he was determined to pursue. The 



