"Ginrale Putnam's compliments to Major Moncrieffe, has made him a present of a fine daughter, if he don't lick her he must send her back again, and he will previde her with a good twig husband.'

"The substitution of twig for whig husband, served as a fund of entertainment to the whole company." +

4

Miss Montcrieffe proceeds in her Memoirs to record the history of her marriage with Mr. Coghlan, who, she says, drove her into the arms of a paramour by the brutality of his conduct. She asserts that she had led a strictly virtuous life until, after being forced into a marriage with a man she loathed, she was subjected by him to harsh and cruel treatment. The statements of a woman in Margaret Moncrieffe's position, in later years, may

not be regarded as positive evidence; BULL'S HEAD TAVERN, HEADQUARTERS yet it seems just to the memory of Aaron Burr for the reader to be informed that the story of her ruination by him finds no corroboration in her own narrative. The man has enough to answer for without having the ruin of this girl of fourteen laid to his charge. Major Burr was, to a considerable extent, his general's general; and if he had really loved Margaret Moncrieffe, and she him, and each had desired marriage, it seems reasonable that General Putnam could have been easily dissuaded from making any serious opposition to it.5

Perhaps if Margaret Moncrieffe had known who it was that caused her removal from the city, she might not have been so easily captivated. According to a story told by the late Colonel W. L. Stone, (author of the Life of Brant), it was no other than Major Burr himself. Before her arrival at General Putnam's, it appears that Burr, though he was delighted with her wit and vivacity, conceived the idea that she might be a British spy; and as he was looking over her shoulder one day, while she was painting a bouquet, the suspicion darted into his mind that she was using the "language of the flowers" for the purpose of conveying intelligence to the enemy. He communicated a suspicion to General Washington, who thought it only prudent to remove her a few miles further inland, to the quarters 4 This dinner was given in the Rose and Crown" farmhouse, which stood on the side of the embankment at the head of New Dorp Cove. Margaret Moncrieffe made her home for some time after that in the old stone house, still standing, on the Richmond road, between the Black Horse Tavern and Egbertville. is known as the "Fountain Homestead." The house at the time was occupied by Major Montresor, (an aide-de-camp to Sir William Howe), and his family. There Margaret remained until she returned to the city, some time before the close of the war. She was on

44

It

board the flag-ship of the British fleet which sailed down the Narrows on the memorable Evacuation Day. She went directly to London with her husband.

5 Upon the written evidence, Burr, be his reputation for intrigue as it may, is to be acquitted of the ruin of Margaret Moncrieffe, since the only direct proof is from her own pen, and she, instead of accusing him as the author of her woes, looked back to her relations with him as the happiest memories of her life.-Sabine's American Loyalists.

of General Mifflin; where, after the evacuation of the city, Major Burr met her again, and, as she says, won her virgin affections. Colonel Stone was very intimate with Major Burr in his latter years, and had long conversations with him about Revolutionary times. He may have derived this pretty tale from Major Burr himself.

The last official act of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, as rector of Trinity Church, in New York City, was to marry this unfortunate maiden to Captain John Coghlan, of the Eighty-ninth Regiment of Foot in the British army, who, she relates, "drove her into the arms of a paramour by the brutality of his conduct." Mrs. Coghlan separated from her husband and became the mistress of the Duke of York and other noblemen. For a period of fifteen years from 1780, " she made no inconsiderable noise in the fashionable circles of Great Britain and France." Alternately, she revelled in wealth and suffered in squalid poverty. Deserted at last, she died a heart-broken woman in London. Captain Coghlan was the son of a London merchant of great wealth, and, in youth, his prospects were without a single cloud. He entered the Navy as a midshipman, and went "round the world" with the celebrated Cook. Disliking the sea, he turned his thoughts successively to the Bar and Church; but finally procured a commission in the army. He served several campaigns in America, and was frequently with his command on Staten Island, where he first met Margaret Moncrieffe in the old Fountain homestead at New Dorp; and, as we have stated, married her in New York. This connection, formed without caution, and against the inclinations of his bride, proved, as he averred, as miserable to himself as to her.

After the close of the Revolution, in 1783, he obtained the King's permission to serve in the Russian army; but his domestic disappointment preyed upon his mind, and he became dissipated. Returning to England, he entered" with avidity into every fashionable vice and folly of the day." His extravagance and relations with women gradually involved him in ruin. Finally, broken down, utterly wretched, and an outcast, he became an inmate of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he died, in 1807, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the most abject and pitiable condition. His relatives, in both England and Wales, were very respectable, and his body was retained in the dead-house eight days, in the hope that some one of them would claim it, and give it decent burial. The charity of a stranger furnished a covering for his remains, and they were deposited in the burial-ground of the hospital. It is said that Captain Coghlan was one of the handsomest men of his time, that he was social and convivial, and in his charities, when in possession of money, liberal to a fault.

One cause of difference between Captain Coghlan and his wife was probably political, for Margaret, as is averred, sympathized with the Americans. She was a brilliant woman, possessed of fine literary ability, and had her life been guided by favorable circumstances, would have proved a blessing to the world.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE NEW DORP DUELLING GROUND.

LMOST directly west of the old Black Horse Tavern, at New Dorp, stands a cluster of venerable trees, and on the south side of which is a graceful knoll, known as Camp Hill.

Behind this hill-or, rather, to the west of it-is a hollow, which was, a century or more ago, surrounded by dense woods. Far more than a score of duels have been fought at this spot.

Camp Hill was so named by the British, during their encampment at New Dorp, and its delightful situation soon made it a resort for the officers of that army. Indeed it soon became a miniature "Monte Carlo," and witnessed the ruin of many a promising member of the King's army.

Gambling and duelling in those days were practised to such an extent as to threaten general demoralization to the royal troops. Sir William Howe repeatedly summoned his generals in council in the "Rose and Crown," his headquarters, with a hope that means could be effected to break up these nefarious practices. Nearly fifty officers were court-martialed and dishonorably dismissed during the encampment of the British army at New Dorp, in consequence of gambling and duelling.

The fact became notorious at one time that even general officers so far lost their dignity and their regard for military discipline that they sat down to the gambling table with private soldiers, and even servants, so great was their greed for money; while, once beyond the shadow of Camp Hill, they would exact the severest discipline and all the bowing and saluting and mimicry that military etiquette demands.

The story has been told of a young Scotch officer who, after losing all his money on Camp Hill, requested a loan from his rival at the gambling table, in order that he might meet an obligation on the following day, and, on being refused, went alone to the secluded ravine beyond and gave up his life in disgrace.

In this ravine General Robertson, of the British army, settled an old account with a French naval officer, named Vollogne, who had resigned his commission and come to this country for that express purpose. It is said that General Robertson's fellow officers attempted to arrange an amicable settlement, but without avail. The General escaped unharmed; but his adversary received a wound in his breast,

from the effects of which he died a few months afterward in Quebec. Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe was challenged and met his adversary here, in the person of Colonel Mawhood, who based his grievance upon the belief that Simcoe had exercised undue influence to succeed him as commandant of the Queen's Rangers. Colonel Simcoe was a fine swordsman, and being the challenged party, naturally had the choice of weapons. He selected" officers' swords " (presum

ably those carried by the officers of the Grenadiers), and he proved too skillful a manipulator of cold steel for his adversary, who gave up the contest with a broken arm.

Colonel Illig, a dashing young officer on Sir William Howe's staff, who was afterward killed at Prince's Bay, while carrying or

ders to General Vaughan, here settled an "affair of honor" with Colonel Pentman. From what we have been able to learn from descendants of Colonel Pentman, there was an "old grudge," which had been continued from their school days at home; and this was the first time they had ever met with an opportunity to effect a settlement. Major André,

TORY QUARTERS AT WOODROW, DURING THE
REVOLUTION; RECENTLY RECONSTRUCTED.

then a captain in the Twenty-second Regiment of Foot, acted as second for Colonel Illig.

These officers fought with cavalry sabres, in the handling of which they were both said to have been experts. They were mounted on blooded horses, the protection and management of which called into requisition triple the amount of skill required for ordinary ground fencing. According to our informant, the combat continued steadily for more than one hour, and men and horses were almost exhausted from fatigue. The combatants were both badly cut, but not seriously, while their innocent beasts were lacerated so as to render them unfit for further military service. The " affair" was a drawn battle, as neither was able to continue. They were carried to their quartersColonel Illig to the Rose and Crown, and Colonel Pentman to his regiment, which was encamped near by. A second attempt was made to "settle the account"; but Sir William Howe prevented it by a personal appeal to the duellists, both of whom were his intimate friends. It is said to have been a great relief to Colonel Pentman's friends when Colonel Illig was "out of the way." Colonel Pentman, however, remained in the army until the close of the Revolution, and finally died from the effects of a wound received in a duel with an Austrian cavalry officer, with whom he was serving, near the close of the last century.

General Skinner was challenged to fight on this ground, by a Hessian nobleman named Von Locht, who had sought the position that was given to Skinner-that of commandant of the Native Loyalists, or "Skinner's Greens," as they were familiarly called. The Count believed that he would be able to remove General Skinner in this manner, and then not only have his rival out of the way, but prove his bravery and skill so forcibly to the commander-in-chief, that he would be immediately appointed. Sir William, however, informed General Skinner that he was determined to break up duelling among the officers of his army, then so popular, and if he (Skinner) went on with his determination to meet the Count, he would certainly be court-martialed and disgraced. General Skinner presented his resignation, but Sir William would not accept it. Count Von Locht was requested to leave the country, lest he should get into serious difficulty with the military authorities, and so he drifted off to Nova Scotia, and finally back to his native land.

Colonel Christopher Billopp is said to have had an "honorable encounter" with General Erskine on this ground, neither of whom were injured. Afterward they became the warmest of friends.

The only duel known to have been fought by "plain citizens," on the New Dorp ground, was "between young Hamilton and Lathrop." It is presumed that this was the son of Alexander Hamilton, who finally died in a duel at Weehawken, on the identical spot, but prior to, where his father was shot in 1804. Lathrop was an English lawyer, who had come to this country in the interest of Tory claimants.

The romance of this dark spot is told of two line officers belonging to a Highland regiment, encamped at New Dorp. They had learned to love a fair Staten Island girl, who had become a belle among the officers at the post, as her father was a volunteer aide-de-camp on the staff of Sir William Howe. They had learned to hate each other with the same intensity that they loved the girl. Friends interceded, after it was learned that a challenge had been given; but neither would give way. They met, with so much anger in their hearts, that they could not be persuaded to clasp each other's hand before the fatal moment to fire arrived. Their seconds, two fellow officers, paced off the ground and then placed a heavy duelling pistol in the hand of each. When all was in readiness each second stood in front of his principal and pleaded for a reconciliation. "We are determined to fight!" was the only response. Then the seconds stepped aside and the fatal word was given. Both fell, mortally wounded; both died in the course of a few days and their remains were laid away in the old Dutch cemetery at Richmond. Their graves, which were side by side, were never marked; but they were long kept green by the same hand the two nameless duellists had died to gain. An aged Staten Islander, who knew this lady well when she had grown