352 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



head of which, supported upon the arm of a friend, was the venerable widow of 

 the deceased, followed by his surviving sister, also supported; and next came the 

 female children and grand-children of the deceased, a goodly number ; after 

 whom, followed a large train of matrons and misses, amounting to four or five 

 hundred in number. The whole of this interesting group having assembled 

 within the yard, and about the monument, the Rev. David Remington, pastor 

 of the church to which the deceased belonged, addressed the throne of Grace, in 

 a very solemn and appropriate manner ; after which, ' Colonel Ward, » the orator 

 of the day, was conducted to the platform prepared for the occasion, where he 

 delivered the following address. (It was afterwards printed at the request of the 

 committee of arraugements). 



Friends ! Fellow citizens ! 

 and Soldiers ! 



"We have assembled on an interesting occasion, a solemn, not a melancholy 

 one. We have come to this spot, to discharge a part of our duty, to one who 

 has paid the debt of nature — to bring with us, as it were, each a stone from our 

 quarries, fitted and prepared to build a monumental pile, to a departed patriot ; 

 one who fell not in the hour of battle, contending for our liberties, but who lived 

 to see our country prosperous and happy, delivered from all her troubles, and 

 then gathered like a shock of corn ripe for the harvest. It might be asked, if in- 

 sensible dust and ashes can be benefited by monumental honors ? No ! But it 

 is the duty of the living to make and preserve memorials of the virtuous and 

 distinguished dead ; for these memorials contain lessons of instruction that are 

 constantly before our ej^es. 



The man to whose memory we are now erecting a tomb stone, was one of us, a 

 citizen of Westchester county ; his name requires no lineal honors, no armorial 

 bearings, to make it dear and precious with us. We knew him, and that was 

 sufficient; but for those who did not know him personally, (for his circle of ac- 

 quaintance was not a large one,) we put his fame on his character as a patriot, 

 and it gives me pleasure to state that he lived and died a Christian. For his pa- 

 triotism, it is enough to say, that Isaac Van Wart was one of the captors of An- 

 dre. For proofs of his exemplary life, and for his firm belief in our holy reli- 

 gion, to you my friends I appeal as witnesses. Some of you have known him in 

 the noonday and evening of life, have heard him breathe the patriot's prayer, 

 "O God save my country," have seen his practical example of virtuous conduct, 

 his piety, his devotion, and his humble submission to the will of Heaven, 



The capture of Andre, fellow citizens, formed an important epoch in the his- 

 tory of our Revolution. This event took place on the morning of the 28d of 

 Sept., 1780, and what is well worthy of observation, within three miles of the 

 spot where we are now assembled; and within a few miles of the place where the 

 man, whose perishable remains we are now paying the last tribute of respect, 

 was born, brought up and died. It occurred, too, when our country was in the 

 deepest distress. It will be recollected, that Charleston, South Carolina, had 

 then but recently been taken by the enemy, with the loss of our whole army, un- 

 der the command of General Lincoln, amounting to upwards of five thousand 

 men— together with all the magazines of military and naval stores, the shipping 



a The present General Aaron Ward, of Sing Sing. 



