The English evacuated Paulus Hook November 22, 1783. It is said that
during the Revolution there were only fourteen families in Bergen whose
sympathies were with the Colonies. Among these were some very devoted
patriots whose memory should be cherished. Prominent among them are
the names of Mrs. Jane Van Reypen Tuers and her brother Daniel Van
Reypen. Mrs. Tuers lived at the old Tuers house, the site of which is
now occupied by the Armory on the corner of Mercer street and Bergen
avenue. During the time the British occupied New York the American
prisoners in their hands suffered for food and Mrs. Tuers carried to
them sacks of provisions every week. From the weight of the heavy
burthens she injured her shoulder and arm so seriously that she was
crippled for the remainder of her life.
Upon these occasions she used to go to "Black Sam's" Tavern, which was
a rendezvous for the English officers. One day, under pledges to not
reveal the source of her information, Black Sam told her that he had
overheard British officers talking of a conspiracy in the American
Camp. She told her brother, Daniel Van Reypen, who went to Hackensack
ostensibly to visit relatives; he saw General Wayne, and saying that he
could trust him, advised him to mark every tent in the camp as there
was a conspiracy. General Wayne sent the warning to Washington; thus
was Arnold's treason learned three days before the capture of Andre.
General Washington offered Mr. Van Reypen a reward in money to which
he replied, "No, I do not serve my country for money; but in case I am
taken prisoner by the English I would like to be released," upon which
Washington said "that the best hostages should be given for him." Mr.
Van Reypen built and lived in the house still standing on Fairmount
avenue, No. 320, a little west from Bergen avenue. Mrs. Tuers died
in 1834, and her remains lie in an unmarked grave in lot 136 of the
cemetery on Bergen avenue, east of the church.
General Bayard, who owned an estate at Hoboken called Castile--since
known as Castle Point--was at one time friendly to the Americans, but
later he became a very pronounced Tory and very vindictive towards
all who sympathized with them. At one time Mr. Daniel Van Reypen was
arrested and taken before him, when General Bayard greeted him with
the question, "Old man, where is your rebel coat?" Mr. Van Reypen
responded, "The coat does not make the man, it is the heart." Later,
Mr. Van Reypen met General Bayard in New York, near the river, when
General Bayard threatened to strike him with his riding whip, to which
Mr. Van Reypen coolly replied that if he did, he would throw him off
the dock, and the angry General passed on.
Another sister of Mr. Van Reypen's had an amusing encounter with a
loyalist friend, a Mrs. Outhout, who was constantly assuring her that
the rebels would be defeated and that "there would be a devil of a
stroke very soon." When Cornwallis surrendered, Mrs. Van Horn quietly
reminded her of her prophesies and asked "if this was the stroke?"
Catherine Van Winkle and her younger sister Maria were very heroic
girls whose names should not be forgotten. They often carried messages
from Lafayette to Washington at Belleville; on one occasion they
walked there in the night to warn Washington of a plot of the English
to surround and capture him. To their quick wit an American soldier
owned his life. He was at their father's house, an old stone house a
little south of Colonel Spier's burying ground, near where Highland and
Idaho avenues now cross, when a party of English soldiers surrounded
the house in search of him. The girls hid him between the feather and
straw beds of their bed, and then retired, and when the English entered
the room to search for him were seemingly sound asleep. The English
prodded with their bayonets under the bed and searched every closet and
corner but failed to find him. Catherine married a Mr. Sheppard and
was a well-known and beloved character on the Hill until comparatively
recent times; born in June, 1763, she lived to be one hundred years and
six months old, and was bright, cheerful and active to the last. Her
remains lie in an unmarked grave in the cemetery opposite the Dutch
Reformed Church. Washington appreciated the loyalty of the family and
was a guest of their father's, sometimes dining there. One branch of
the Van Winkle family still have in their possession a handkerchief
left by Washington upon an occasion of his staying over night at the
Stuyvesant Tavern.