Van Cortlandt Manor House, Paulding's Monument and St. Peter's Church

   Van Cortlandt's house [Town of Cortlandt] is situated in the midst of the fine estates of that family. It is a brick mansion, and was erected in 1773. It stands in the center of a pleasant lawn, shaded by locust trees, on the north side of the post-road. It was occupied by Washington, for a brief space, as head-quarters; and there the Van Cortlandt family resided in safety, while desolation was rife around them. When I visited the mansion, General Pierre Van Cortlandt, the late owner (brother of *General Philip Van Cortlandt) had been dead but a few months. Many of the family portraits were yet 1848 there, some of them more than one hundred years old. They have since been removed to the old manor house at Croton. The mansion which we are considering was occupied for a while by Gen. McDougall's advance guard, when the British took possession of Peekskill in March, 1777, an event that will be noticed presently.
   The old oak tree is standing in a field a little eastward of the house, which was used for the purpose of a military whipping-post during the encampment there. It is green and vigorous, and so regular are its branches, that, when in full foliage, its form, above the trunk, is a perfect sphere.
   Upon a knoll, a little eastward of Van Cortlandt's house, is an ancient wooden church, erected in 1767 for worship, according to the rituals of the Church of England. The site of this church and the grave yard was a gift of Andrew Johnson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The parish was called St. Peter's; and this and the parish of St. Philip, in the Highlands, were endowed with two hundred acres of land by British Colonel Beverly Robinson. Within its graveyard, which spreads over the knoll westward, is the monument erected to the memory of John Paulding, one of the captors of Andre, by the corporation of the City of New York.

   The monument is constructed of West Chester marble, in the most simple form, consisting of a pedestal surmounted by a cone. It is massive, and is so constructed as to last for ages. The base of the pedestal covers a square of seven feet, and is surrounded by a strong iron railing. The height is about thirteen feet. One side of the monument exhibits a representation, in low relief, of the lace medal voted by Congress to each of the captors of Andre; the other side exhibits the reverse of the medal.
   The main inscription is upon the western panel of the pedestal. The monument was erected in 1827; the cone was placed on the pedestal on the 22d of November of that year, in the presence of a large concourse of citizens, who were addressed by William Paulding, then Mayor of New York.
   The following are the inscriptions on the monument:

NORTH SIDE.--"Here repose the mortal remains of JOHN PAULDING, who died on the 18th day of February, 1818, in the 60th year of his age.

WEST SIDE.--"On the morning of the 23d of September, 1780, accompanied by two young farmers of the county of West Chester (whose names will one day be recorded on their own deserved monuments), he intercepted the British spy, Andre. Poor himself, he disdained to acquire wealth by the sacrifice of his COUNTRY. Rejecting the temptation of great rewards, he conveyed his prisoner to the American camp, and, by this act of noble self-denial, the treason of Arnold was detected; the designs of the enemy baffled; West Point and the American army saved; and these United States, now by the grace of God Free and Independent, rescued from the most imminent peril."

SOUTH SIDE.--"The Corporation of the City of New York erected this tomb as a memorial sacred to PUBLIC GRATITUDE."

*Footnote: General Philip Van Cortlandt was the last possessor of the manor house, near Croton, by entail. He was born in the City of New York on the 1st of September, 1749, and was reared at the manor house. At nineteen, he commenced business as a land surveyor, but when the Revolution broke out, agreeing in sentiment with his father, Honorable Pierre Van Cortlandt, he joined the Republican army. His Tory relatives tried to dissuade him from his purpose, and Britsh Governor Tryon forwarded him a major's commission in the Cortlandt militia. He tore it to pieces, and accepted a lieutenant colonel's commission in the Continental army. He was appointed a colonel in 1776, and in that capacity served at the battle of Stillwater. He also served against the Indians on the New York frontier in 1778, and in 1779-80 was a member of the court martial convened for the trial of Arnold. He commanded a regiment of militia under Lafayette in 1780, and for his gallant conduct at the siege of Yorktown he was promoted to a brigadier's command. The seven hundred British and Hessian prisoners of war were entrusted to his care on their march to Fredericktown. He was for sixteen years a member of Congress, but in 1811 declined a re-election. General Van Cortlandt accompanied Lafayette in his tour through the United States in 1824. He died at the manor house at Croton, November 21st, 1831, at the age of eighty-two. With him expired the property entail. 

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