108 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



Chester guides were of invaluable service to Washington and his 

 troops. 



The foremost of these patriotic-spirited guides were Abraham 

 and Michael Dyckman, whose old homestead at King's Bridge Road 

 (Broadway) and Hawthorne Street, rebuilt at the close of the 

 Revolution, is still pointed out as the only remaining Dutch farm- 

 house on the road. 



In May, 1780, Michael Dyckman acted as guide to Captain 

 Cushing of the Massachusetts Line in his attack upon De Lancey's 

 Corps. The Americans captured more than forty prisoners. 



Michael Dyckman figured in an exploit on the 26th of March, 

 1782, when, with thirteen volunteer horsemen he made an excur- 

 sion to Morrisania, and took five of De Lancey's corps and five 

 horses. On their return they were pursued by a party of the 

 enemy's horse, but when the British came near, the gallant West- 

 chester Volunteers faced right about, charged vigorously, took 

 one man prisoner with his horse, and put the rest to flight. The 

 enemy again appeared on the old Eastchester Road but dared not 

 renew the attack. 



Abraham Dyckman was mortally wounded on March 4th, 

 1782, while piloting a body of volunteer horse under Captain 

 Hunnewell (after whom Honeywell Avenue in West Farms was 

 subsequently named) . The Americans made the attack on the 

 cantonment of De Lancey's corps just before sunrise, taking the 

 enemy completely by surprise, killing and wounding many, and 

 capturing twenty prisoners. De Lancey himself would perhaps 

 have been taken prisoner had not the British loyalists fired the 

 alarm guns and thus caused the Americans to retire. The enemy 

 quickly started in pursuit but soon fell into an ambuscade set by 

 Major Woodbridge, who with a party of light infantry had ac- 

 companied Captain Hunnewell. 



The State of New York has erected a granite monument at 

 Yorktown in memory of the patriotic services of Abraham 

 Dyckman. 



The headquarters of De Lancey's corps was the De Lancey 

 Block House, which had stood on the site of the Peabody House 

 (One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Street), and which was destroyed 

 in a midnight attack by Aaron Burr in 1779. The De Lancey Pine, 

 150 feet high, is still one of the historic landmarks of West 

 Farms. 



