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their steward, its location in the heart of the neutral ground, bringing it within the lines of one army and then the other as the frontier of hostilities oscillated back and forth, rendered it too insecure to become a permanent headquarters for either side.*

The Manor Hall was the witness, however, of exciting events near by. It will be remembered that at that time the Hudson river shore was only about 300 feet from the house on one side, while the old Post road, crossing Philipse's bridge over the Neperhan, was about 300 feet on the other. The widened mouth of the Neperhan formed a little harbor which extended well up toward the base of the hill on which the mansion stood.

The first exciting event to startle the occupants of the Hall was the first exclusively aquatic engagement of the Revolution on the Hudson river. On Saturday, July 13, 1776, the British warships Phoenix, 44 guns, and Rose, 36 guns, Tryal armed schooner, and two tenders Charlotta and Shuldham, came up the river and for over a month lay in the Tappan sea and Haverstraw bay, annoying both shores. The counter movements of the Americans, however, forced them down to a point near Yonkers. The log of the Phoenix of August 14th says: "Weighed, and with the Rose, Tryal sch. & 2 Tenders anchored in 61⁄2 f. abreast of Colonel Phillips, distd. from each shore 4 mile." Here on the night of Friday, August 16th, they were surprised by two American fireships - a sloop of 100 tons and another smaller one, filled with combustibles - commanded by Captains Thomas and Bass. In the face of a terrific cannonade from the British warships, Thomas grappled the Phoenix, and Bass the Charlotta, set fire to their combustibles, and then tried to escape by their rowboats,

* Mrs. Lamb, the historian, in her article in Appleton's Journal (Vol. X, p. 385), says that Washington and his generals stayed several nights in the Manor Hall, and that the southwestern room in the south front was the scene of several important councils of war. Although this is not impossible, the present writer has been unable to find documentary authority for a more precise statement than Mrs. Lamb's.

but six of them perished. The British lost several lives. The Charlotta was totally consumed, and the Phoenix was badly damaged, before the latter, with the Rose, Tryal and Shuldham escaped. Lossing says that the vessels took refuge in the little Neperhan haven. General Heath, General Clinton, and others witnessed the engagement. Ruttenber says that they stood on high ground at Yonkers. One can readily imagine the excitement of Colonel Philipse and family on the night of the 16th, as, awakened by the firing of cannon, they beheld the conflagration on the river and watched the desperate efforts of the British to disentangle themselves and escape. On the 18th, the British vessels discreetly dropped down the river and rejoined the fleet in New York harbor.

Early on the morning of October 9, 1776, occurred another event, similar in kind but of a different complexion. The Phoenix, Roebuck, Tartar, Tryal and two tenders from the British fleet again stood up the river, while before them fled some American galleys, small craft, and two large ships. The latter were beached by the Americans just below the Manor House and two of the galleys near Dobbs Ferry. General Heath, who was stationed at King's Bridge, instantly dispatched Colonel Sargent and 500 infantry, 40 light horse, Capt. Jotham Horton of Knox's artillery with two 12-pounders and Capt. Edward Crafts with a howitzer to Philipse's and Dobbs Ferry and soon the tramp of their feet and the rumble of their wheels were heard on the Neperhan bridge. Part of the force kept on to Dobbs Ferry and part stopped at the Manor House to succor the American ships. One of the latter was successfully floated by the Americans, and the next day, most of the detachment returned to King's Bridge.

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"A View of Phillipp's Manor and the Rocks on the Hudson, or North River, in N. America, June 18th, 1784." From a sepia drawing in possession of Hon. D. McN. K. Stauffer.

On October 26, 1776, a party of American light horse and infantry took possession of Philipse Manor and stayed there all night but retired the next morning, on the eve of the battle of White Plains.

After the battle of White Plains, while Washington threw his army over into New Jersey, Howe extended his to Dobbs Ferry. The Manor Hall was now within the British lines. From Dobbs Ferry the British marched down the Post road past the Hall, camping on the south side of the Neperhan on November 13th, After the capture of Fort Washington on the 16th, Howe, on the night of the 19th, landed 5,000 men at the foot of the crooked little defile at Closter on the west bank of the Hudson, nearly opposite the Manor Hall, a part of the force embarking just to the southward of the mansion. It was this force that captured Fort Lee on the 20th.

Two months later, on January 17, 1777, the Manor Hall came back within the American lines, when Lincoln's Division marched down past the house to join in the brisk fighting from the 18th to the 29th near King's Bridge. On the latter date, Lincoln's Division tramped back up the river road over Philipse's bridge and withdrew to Dobbs Ferry, above.

The Manor Hall is particularly a monument to the forbearance and humanity of the American generals, in the face of great provocation, as is illustrated by the following incident. On November 18, 1777, General Tryon sent out a small force of Hessians to burn some houses in Philipse Manor and the work was done with savage barbarity. Women and children, stripped of their clothing, were turned out of their homes on a severely cold night, and men, in no other clothes than shirts and breeches, were led with halters around their necks to the enemy's lines as prisoners. Gen. Samuel H. Parsons, who commanded the American troops at White

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