Historic Shrines of America Part 41

The Daughters of the War of 1812 have placed a suitable tablet on the Old Castle, and are interested in the proposition that has been made to turn the venerable edifice into an international museum, which shall commemorate the one hundred years of peace between Great Britain and America.

In 1917 the eyes of the nation were once more turned on the fort by Lake Ontario, for it was made a training ground for officers who were to be sent to the battle front in France and Belgium. The castle, nearly two hundred years old, and strong as ever, again witnessed the gathering of patriots, and the spot that had echoed to the tread of French who had yielded to the English, of English who had driven out the French, and of Americans who had driven out the English, became the parade ground of Americans who were making ready to stand side by side with French and English for the freedom of the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SCHUYLER MANSION, ALBANY, N. Y.

_Photo furnished by Hon. Martin H. Glynn, Albany_ See page 391]

Lx.x.xIX

THE SCHUYLER MANSION, ALBANY, NEW YORK

THE RALLYING PLACE OF THE CONSt.i.tUTIONALISTS

When Catherine Van Rensselaer married Philip Schuyler, on September 17, 1755, he was a soldier who had been engaged in the campaign against the French at Crown Point. She was glad when he resigned, in 1756, but he returned to army life in 1758 and at intervals for more than twenty years he continued his military service. Two days after the Battle of Bunker Hill Congress made him a major-general. During his three years in the army of the Colonies, he was the subject of continual abuse on the part of those who felt that he had conducted carelessly his expedition to Canada and the campaign against Burgoyne.

He was able to stand up against the public clamor because Was.h.i.+ngton had confidence in him and because he was twice given a clean bill of health by a court of inquiry.

During this season of misunderstanding he was sustained by his wife, who was a remarkable a.s.sistant both in his home and in public affairs.

During the years when he was frequently incapacitated by gout she carried on much of his work for him, and so enabled him to maintain his place in the councils of the nation.

It was in 1760 that Mrs. Schuyler first showed her great executive ability. While her husband was absent in England, where he had been sent by General Bradstreet, she superintended the erection of a new house, a s.p.a.cious mansion of yellow brick that is to-day as staunch as when it was built.

From the beginning the Schuyler mansion, the home of the first citizen of Albany, was noted because of the boundless hospitality of its mistress. All were welcomed who sought its doors. One notable company was made up of nine Catawba warriors from South Carolina, who were on their way to ratify a covenant with the Six Nations at the close of the Cherokee War. They were met at the wharf by Major Schuyler and taken directly to the house.

Among the visitors to Albany in 1776 were three Commissioners appointed by Congress to visit the Army of the North, one of whom, Benjamin Franklin, was so wearied by the journey from Philadelphia that he was sincerely grateful for Mrs. Schuyler's care. One of the Commissioners said later of General Schuyler, "He lives in pretty style, and has two daughters, Betsey and Peggy, lively, agreeable gals." He was delighted to learn that the motto of Philip Schuyler and his household was, "As for me and my house, we will serve our country."

Another of the fortunate men who were privileged to be in the house for a season was Tench Tilghman, an aide-de-camp of General Was.h.i.+ngton. He wrote in his journal of "Miss Ann Schuyler, a very Pretty Young Lady. A brunette with dark eyes, and a countenance animated and sparkling, as I am told she is." Later he met "Miss Betsey, the General's 2nd Daughter." "I was prepossessed in favor of the Young Lady the moment I saw her," he said. "A Brunette with the most good natured dark lovely eyes I ever saw, which threw a beam of good temper and Benevolence over her entire countenance. Mr.

Livingstone informed me that I was not mistaken in my Conjecture for she was the finest tempered Girl in the World."

Tench Tilghman was to renew the acquaintance in 1779, when Betsey and her parents spent a few months in Morristown, New Jersey. Alexander Hamilton also was there, and he secured Betsey's promise to be his bride.

The marriage took place at the Albany homestead on December 14, 1780.

A few months later the young husband, having resigned from the army, was studying law in Albany and was a welcome addition to the Schuyler household.

Two years after the wedding came one of the incidents that has made the mansion famous. Because of the General's influence with the Indian allies of the British, a number of attempts were made to capture him; the British wished to put him where he could not interfere with their plans. One summer day, when Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Hamilton's sister Margaret, was in the house with her baby Philip, a party of Tories, Canadians, and Indians surrounded the house and forced an entrance.

Mary Gay Humphreys, in "Catherine Schuyler," tells what followed:

"The house was guarded by six men. Their guns were in the hall, the guards being outside and the relief asleep. Lest the small Philip be tempted to play with the guns his mother had them removed. The alarm was given by a servant. The guards rushed for their guns, but they were gone. The family fled upstairs, but Margaret, remembering the baby in the cradle below, ran back, seized the baby, and when she was halfway up the flight, an Indian flung his tomahawk at her head, which, missing her, buried itself in the wood, and left its historic mark to the present time."

After the attack on the mansion Was.h.i.+ngton wrote to General Schuyler, begging him to strengthen his guard. The following year the Commander-in-chief was a guest at the mansion, while in 1784 he spent the night there, after an evening consultation with Schuyler, while Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton visited with her friend Mrs. Schuyler.

Lafayette, Count de Rochambeau, Baron Steuben, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, John Jay, and Aaron Burr had a taste of the delights of life at the mansion. The latter was destined to defeat General Schuyler for reelection to the Senate, as he was to be in turn defeated by the General. The British General Burgoyne and his staff also were entertained in the mansion, after General Schuyler's victory at Saratoga, and this in spite of the fact that much of the General's property had been destroyed by Burgoyne's order.

For many years the house was famous as the meeting place of the friends of the young nation. Frequent conferences were held in the library on the proposed const.i.tution. It is said that many sections of the doc.u.ment were written there by Hamilton, and the steps of the campaign for the ratification of the doc.u.ment were outlined within the historic walls. When, at last, the victory was complete, General Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton walked at the head of the gay procession that hailed the news with joy. The whole town was illuminated, but the most brilliantly lighted building was the old mansion.

During the years that followed General Schuyler's health failed gradually, and he became more than ever dependent on his wife. When she died, in 1803, he did not know what to do without her. To Hamilton he wrote:

"My trial has been severe. I shall attempt to sustain it with fort.i.tude. I hope I have succeeded in a degree, but after giving and receiving for nearly a half a century, a series of mutual evidences of affection and friends.h.i.+p which increased as we advanced in life, the shock was great and sensibly felt, to be thus suddenly deprived of a beloved wife, the Mother of my children, and the soothing companion of my declining years. But I kiss the rod with humility. The Being that inflicted the stroke will enable me to sustain the smart, and progressively restore peace to my wounded heart, and will make you and Eliza and my other children the instruments of my Consolation...."

General Schuyler died in November, 1804, four months after the duel with Burr in which Hamilton was slain.

The mansion in which he spent so many happy years was long an orphan asylum, but in 1911 it was purchased by the State. On October 17, 1917, it was dedicated as a State Monument.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WENTWORTH HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, N. H.

_Photo by Halliday Historic Photograph Company_ See page 395]

XC

THE WENTWORTH HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE

THE SCENE OF THE ROMANCE OF LADY WENTWORTH

When, in 1750, Governor Benning Wentworth began to rebuild for his mansion at Little Harbor, two miles from the business centre of Portsmouth a farm-house which dated from the latter part of the sixteenth century, he thought more of comfort than of architecture.

Evidently those who later added to the house thought as little of architecture as the original builder; the product became such a strange conglomeration of wings and "L's" that it is difficult to see which is the original portion. Once the house contained fifty-two rooms, but a portion has been torn away, and the structure as it stands is not quite so s.p.a.cious, though still large enough for a hotel. Even the cellar is tremendous, for Governor Wentworth provided there a place for his horses, to be used in time of danger. Thirty animals could be accommodated there.

Many of the rooms are small, but some are of impressive size, notably the Council Chamber, where meetings that helped to make history were held, and the billiard room, where the owner and his a.s.sociates were accustomed to go when the strain of business became too great.

Longfellow thus describes the house:

"It was a pleasant mansion, an abode Near and yet hidden from the great high-road, Sequestered among trees, a n.o.ble pile, Baronial and colonial in its style; Gables and dormer-windows everywhere, And stacks of chimneys rising high in air-- Pandaean pipes, on which all winds that blew Made mournful music the whole winter through.

Within, unwonted splendors met the eye, Panels, and floors of oak, and tapestry; Carved chimney-pieces, where on brazen dogs Revelled and roared the Christmas fire of logs; Doors opening into darkness unawares, Mysterious pa.s.sages, and flights of stairs, And on the walls, in heavy gilded frames, The ancestral Wentworths with Old-Scripture names."

While Governor Wentworth was an important figure during the days preceding the Revolution, the mansion is celebrated not so much because of his political service as because of the romance of his second marriage.

Martha Hilton, the heroine of the romance, was "a careless, laughing, bare-footed girl." One day a neighbor saw her, in a short dress, carrying a pail of water in the street. "You, Pat! You, Pat! Why do you go looking so? You should be ashamed to be seen in the street!"

was the shocked comment. But the answer was not what the neighbor expected. "No matter how I look, I shall ride in my chariot yet, Marm."

The story of what followed is told by Charles W. Brewster, a historian of old Portsmouth:

"Martha Hilton afterwards left home, and went to live in the Governor's mansion at Little Harbor, doing the work of the kitchen, and keeping the house in order, much to the Governor's satisfaction.... The Governor has invited a dinner party, and with many other guests, in his c.o.c.ked hat comes the beloved Rev. Arthur Brown, of the Episcopal church. The dinner is served up in a style becoming the Governor's table.... There is a whisper from the Governor to a messenger, and at his summons Martha Hilton comes in from that door on the west of the parlor, and, with blus.h.i.+ng countenance, stands in front of the fireplace. She seems heedless of the fire--she does not appear to have brought anything in, nor does she seem to be looking for anything to carry out--there she stands! a damsel of twenty summers--for what, no visitor can tell.

"The Governor, bleached by the frosts of sixty winters, rises. 'Mr. Brown, I wish you to marry me.' 'To whom?' asks his pastor, in wondering surprise. 'To this lady,' was the reply. The rector stood confounded. The Governor became imperative. 'As the Governor of New Hamps.h.i.+re I command you to marry me!' The ceremony was then duly performed, and from that time Martha Hilton became Lady Wentworth."

Longfellow's record of the incident is given in the poem, "Lady Wentworth":

"The years came and ... the years went, seven in all, And all these years had Martha Hilton served In the Great House, not wholly un.o.bserved: By day, by night, the silver crescent grew, Though hidden by clouds, the light still s.h.i.+ning through; A maid of all work, whether coa.r.s.e or fine, A servant who made service seem divine!

Through her each room was fair to look upon; The mirrors glistened, and the bra.s.ses shone, The very knocker at the outer door, If she but pa.s.sed, was brighter than before."

Then came the strange marriage scene:

"Can this be Martha Hilton? It must be!

Yes, Martha Hilton, and no other she!

Dowered with the beauty of her twenty years, How ladylike, how queenlike she appears; The pale, thin crescent of the days gone by Is Dian now in all her majesty!

Yet scarce a guest perceived that she was there Until the Governor, rising from his chair, Played slightly with his ruffles, then looked down And said unto the Reverend Arthur Brown: 'This is my birthday: it shall likewise be My wedding-day, and you shall marry me!'"

Governor Wentworth died in 1770, three years after the coming to America of Michael Wentworth, a retired colonel in the British Army.

Mrs. Wentworth married him, and he became the second lord of the mansion. During his residence there Was.h.i.+ngton was welcomed to the house, one day in 1789.

Martha Wentworth, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Wentworth, married Sir John Wentworth, an Englishman, and they lived in the old house until 1816, when the property pa.s.sed to a family of another name.