"P.S.-- He Has Been Accordingly Executed."

   From the old church-yard I rode to the summit of Gallows Hill, a lofty ridge on the north, and bared of trees by the hand of cultivation. It is famous as a portion of the campground of the division of the American army under Gen. Putnam in 1777, and also as the place where a spy was hanged. It is about one hundred rods west of the road, on the southeastern slope of the hill, and is marked by a huge boulder lying upon the surface, by the side of which is the decayed trunk of a chestnut....
   The name of the spy was Edmund Palmer. He was an athletic young man, connected by nature and affection with some of the most respectable families in West Chester, and had a wife and children. He was arrested on suspicion, and enlisting papers, signed by Governor Tryon, were found upon his person. It was also ascertained that he was a lieutenant in a Tory company. These and other unfavorable circumstances made it clear that he was a spy, and on that charge he was tried and found guilty, and condemned to be hung.
   His young wife pleaded for his life, but the dictates of the stern policy of war made Putnam inexorable.
   Sir Henry Clinton sent a flag to the American commander, claiming Palmer as a British officer, and menacing the Republicans with the severest wrath if he was not delivered up. Putnam's sense of duty was as deaf to the menaces of the one as to the tears of the other, and he sent to Clinton the following laconic reply:

"Sir,--Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy, lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately. ISRAEL PUTNAM.

"P.S.--He has been accordingly executed."

Lossing's footnote: Near this tree and boulder a gallows, rudely constructed of lops, was erected, on which the spy was hung. It remained there for several years afterward, an object of superstitious dread to the country people who were obliged to pass it in the night. Spark's Washington, iv., 359.

The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution...Vol.2 by Benson John Lossing.