THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 1 93 



where we held a council. Saturday I rode down to Mr. Stuyvesant's (his 

 brother-in-law), stayed there until Tuesday. Then rode triumphant into 

 the city with the commander." 



In this same apartment is a small mahogany writing table at which 

 his excellency DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York, was writing when 

 he expired so suddenly on Monday, i ith of February, 1828. This valua- 

 ble relic was the property of Hendrick Romeyn Beck, who left it to his 

 daughter, Mrs. C. E. Van Cortlandt. A small silver plate inserted un- 

 der the table bears the following inscription: — "At this table DeWitt 

 Clinton was sitting when he died." There is also preserved a desk 

 seal of DeWitt Clinton, given by his sons to Theodrick R. Beck. There 

 is a fine bust of the Hon. Pierre. Van Cortlandt, executed from the 

 original portrait by Jarvis; and a portrait of Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, 

 executed in crayons by Valdenuit in 1797. Also the silver mounted 

 pistols of the Lieut. Governor. The suit of apartments on the principal 

 floor are painted to imitate oak wainscoting. 



"There, too, is still preserved the 'haunted room,' in which from time 

 immemorial, lodgers have heard, in the night, rustling like that pro- 

 duced by the passage through the apartment of a lady in a silk gown. 

 Only occasionally may the rustling be heard. I have listened in that 

 room for the 'ghost' in vain. The shadowy dame or spinster never 

 stoops to gratify idle curiosity. But the rustling has been frequently 

 heard, and the natural causes which produce the sounds have not been 

 discovered. The 'ghost' is harmless, and has never disturbed the re- 

 pose of one of the most channing homes on the borders of the Hud- 

 son."* 



During the Revolutionary War the ancient " Ferry House was occu- 

 pied by a continental guard to protect the ferry and all passes to and 

 from the "neutral ground" which lay south of the Croton. Occasionally 

 it was favored with the presence of Washington and other distinguished 

 military officers. 



The following orders from Baron de Kalb bear date : 



" Camp, near Croton Bridge, 19th July, 1778. 

 " Colonel Malcolm's regiment is ordered to march at 2 o'clock to-morrow morn- 

 ing to the fort at "West Point, on Hudson's River, with the regiment commanded 

 by Lieutenant-Colonel Parker, which is to join on the road near Croton Bridge. 

 The commander of the two regiments (Col. Burr) will make all convenient dis- 

 patch, marching ten miles a day, as water and ground will admit. 

 The Baron De Kalb. " & 



a Much of the foregoing description of the Manor-house is derived from an article in the 

 Republican of Sing-Sing, Thursday, July 31st, 1872. Also, Appleton's Journal, June 21st. 

 1873, No. 222, vol. ix ; Wayside Relics. 



b Burr's Memoirs. voL i., 131. 



