and in constant touch with the religious communities of Southold, Easthampton, Bridgehampton and Southampton-it is more than probable that the people enjoyed the privileges of the gospel and the ordinances of God's house fully equal to their ability. No doubt the Revolutionary war led to the suspension of the outward means of grace, as it drove some of the inhabitants, among them the more prominent, into exile. And this brings us to a highly important period in the history of Shelter Island, the period of the Revolution. Some of the incidents that happened here have already been touched upon in the review of Mr. Thomas Dering's life. But only some. For there were other patriots here who played an important part in that mighty struggle. Indeed, Shelter Island was not behind any other place in its loyalty and devotion to the cause of liberty. Not only "not behind," but way ahead of many another community, as the paper here inserted fully proves. This paper, which is a pledge to support the Colonies in resisting British oppression, was circulated upon Shelter Island shortly after the battle of Lexington, which was the signal for war with Great Britain. It was signed with but one or perhaps two exceptions, by every man on Shelter Island. What a record is this! What a display of patriotism! Does it not lift the inhabitants of Shelter Island into the very front rank of noble citizens, ardent patriots and lovers of freedom? That paper is a crown of glory to Shelter Island that shall not fade away so long as history is true in its record and just in its meed of praise. Let the present and future generations of this place enshrine it in undying affection, for what the Declaration of Independence is to the nation, this instrument is to Shelter Island, namely, its Magna Charta.

Besides Mr. Thomas Dering, who, as we have already seen, was a member of the Provincial Convention of New York that unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, upon which the Convention assumed the title of "The Representatives of the State of New York," besides Mr. Dering, Shelter Island was represented by Capt. James Havens, who kept a store in the house now occupied by his great grandson, Mr. Henry P. Havens, and known as "Hearts-Ease." Still a third member was sent from here in the person of Capt. Daniel Brown, so that our little island furnished three members of the various Provisional Congresses that met in 1775 and 1776. I doubt whether another community in all Suffolk County did as much. As early as the summer of 1775, the British

navy appeared in these waters, prowling around this island, to the number of thirteen ships of war, and during the progress of the war as many as twenty-one vessels lay at one time in Gardiner's Bay. That body of water became the rendezvous of the enemy's ships of war. The names of some of the vessels were as follows: The London, 120 guns; Grand Duke, 120 guns; Royal Oak, 100 guns; Bedford, 100 guns; Centurion, 80 Guns; Robust, 74 guns; Royal George, 74 guns, and the Culloden, 74 guns. Upon the disastrous result of the battle of Long Island to the American side, in August, 1776, the British took possession of the whole of Long Island, with its adjacent islands, and continued their sway of martial law throughout the war from 1776 to 1783.

During these years the inhabitants of Shelter Island suffered terribly for their loyalty to the cause of the Colonists. The officers. of the enemy's vessels anchored in these waters would come ashore and compel the inhabitants to provide whatever they demanded. They forced every one at the point of the bayonet to swear allegiance to the king. Nothing was safe from the hands of the enemy, and not only from the enemy, but from some of their neighbors who were Tories.

Thompson in his history tells us that "the Tory inhabitants, whether natives or refugees (by which he means those who sympathized with the British) that the Tory inhabitants were the constant dread of those on the other side, who had anything to lose, or who had by their patriotism rendered themselves obnoxious to their despicable malice. Even the more inoffensive, who remained at home with their suffering families, were often harassed, and perpetually exposed to the predatory disposition of the worst men, and could hardly be said to have anything which they could call their own. In some instances the lives of peaceable citizens were sacrificed in the most unprovoked and wanton manner, disgraceful even to barbarians, because they would not discover their money and other valuables to the robbers. The property of those who had fled from their homes, and especially those engaged in the American service, was particularly the object of rapine, and in many instances the damages were immense. Woods and fences were lavishly used for fuel, and in any other way which served the purposes of those stationed in the neighborhood as well as for the garrisons of Brooklyn and New York."

During this time the administration of justice, according to

historian Woods, was suspended and the British army became a sanctuary for crimes and robbery, the grossest offences being atoned for by enlistment therein. Those who had served in any wise in the cause of liberty had to fly into the American lines for safety, while those who remained at home were harassed and plundered of their property, the inhabitants of Suffolk County being perpetually exposed to the grossest insult and abuse. They had no property of a movable kind that they could, properly speaking, call their own; they were oftentimes deprived of the stock necessary to the management of their farms, and were deterred from endeavoring to produce more than a bare subsistence by the apprehension that a surplus would be wrested from them either by the military authority of the purveyor or the ruffian hand of the plunderer. The officers seized and occupied the best rooms in the houses of the inhabitants; they compelled them to furnish blankets and fuel for the soldiers, and hay and grain for their horses; they took away their cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry, and seized without ceremony and without any compensation whatever they desired to gratify their wants and wishes."

But these pecuniary losses were not the sorest trials that the inhabitants of Long Island endured under the tyranny of their oppressors. Besides these violations of the rights of person and property, the British officers did many acts of barbarity, for which there could be no apology. They made garrisons, storehouses or stables of the houses of public worship in several towns, and particularly of such as belonged to the Presbyterians. Among the Presbyterian churches that were thus pillaged was the one of Newtown, from which "they actually sawed off the steeple in derision, smashed its pews, tore off its siding and turned the sacred place into a prison, guard house, hospital and stable, and as a parting indignity demolished the whole."

The Presbyterian church of Islip was literally carried off by piecemeal to Jamaica to be used as barracks for the British soldiers. The church at Southold, our next of kin ecclesiastically, and the mother of this church, had no services in it during the whole eight years of the war. Its pastor, the Rev. John Storrs, went into the army as chaplain. Our Presbytery, the Presbytery of Long Island, could not gather during this time of trial, persecution and blood. One of its members, the Rev. Joshua Hart, languished for two years in the awful prison ships of the enemy anchored in the Wallabout.