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LIKE most of the _landings_ on the Hudson, Peekskill is a sort of
outstretched hand from the interior of the country. It is about eighty
miles from New York, and the produce from the country behind is here
handed over to the trading sloops, who return into the waiting palm the
equivalent in goods from the city. A sort of town naturally springs up
at such a spot, and as a river-side is a great provocative of idleness,
all the Dolph Heyligers of the country about seem to be collected at the
landing.
The neighborhood of this spot is interesting from its association with
the history of the Revolution. The headquarters of General Washington
were just below, at Verplank’s Point; and the town of Peekskill, half a
mile back from the river, was the depot of military stores, which were
burned by General Howe in 1777.
“On my return southward in 1782,” says the translator of Chastellux, who
has not given his name, “I spent a day or two at the American camp at
Verplank’s Point, where I had the honor of dining with General
Washington. I had suffered severely from an ague, which I could not get
quit of, though I had taken the exercise of a hard-trotting horse, and
got thus far to the north in the month of October. The General observing
it, told me he was sure I had not met with a good glass of wine for some
time,—an article then very rare,—but that my disorder must be
frightened away. He made me drink three or four of his silver camp-cups
of excellent Madeira at noon, and recommended to me to take a generous
glass of claret after dinner,—a prescription by no means repugnant to
my feelings, and which I most religiously followed. I mounted my horse
the next morning, and continued my journey to Massachusetts, without
ever experiencing the slightest return of my disorder.
“The American camp here presented the most beautiful and picturesque
appearance. It extended along the plain, on the neck of land formed by
the winding of the Hudson, and had a view of this river to the south.
Behind it, the lofty mountains, covered with wood, formed the most
sublime background that painting could express. In the front of the
tents was a regular continued portico, formed by the boughs of the trees
in full verdure, decorated with much taste and fancy. Opposite the camp,
and on distinct eminences, stood the tents of some of the general
officers, over which towered predominant that of Washington. I had seen
all the camps in England, from many of which drawings and engravings
have been taken; but this was truly a subject worthy the pencil of the
first artist. The French camp, during their stay in Baltimore, was
decorated in the same manner. At the camp at Verplank’s Point we
distinctly heard the morning and evening gun of the British at
Knightsbridge.”
The curiosity seizes with avidity upon any accidental information which
fills up the bare outline of history. The personal history of Washington
more particularly, wherever it has been traced by those who were in
contact with him, is full of interest. Some of the sketches given by the
Marquis of Chastellux, who passed this point of the Hudson on his way to
Washington’s headquarters below, are very graphic.
“The weather being fair on the 26th,” he says, “I got on horseback,
after breakfasting with the General. He was so attentive as to give me
the horse I rode on the day of my arrival. I found him as good as he is
handsome; but, above all, perfectly well broke and well trained, having
a good mouth, easy in hand, and stopping short in a gallop without
bearing the bit. I mention these minute particulars because it is the
General himself who breaks all his own horses. He is an excellent and
bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick
without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting
his horse run wild,—circumstances which our young men look upon as so
essential a part of English horsemanship, that they would rather break a
leg or an arm than renounce them.”
After passing some days at headquarters, this young nobleman thus
admirably sums up his observations on Washington:—
“The strongest characteristic of this great man is the perfect union
which reigns between his physical and moral qualities. Brave without
temerity, laborious without ambition, generous without prodigality,
noble without pride, virtuous without severity,—he seems always to have
confined himself within those limits beyond which the virtues, by
clothing themselves in more lively but more changeable colors, may be
mistaken for faults. It will be said of him hereafter, that _at the end
of a long civil war he had nothing with which he could reproach
himself_. His stature is noble and lofty; he is well made and exactly
proportioned; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to render
it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features,—so that on
quitting him, you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has
neither a grave nor a familiar air; his brow is sometimes marked with
thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect he inspires
confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence.”
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