The Washington times., 1901-08-18
BULLETS FROM A STATUE.
Revolutionary Troops Melted the
Effigy Of King George.
Fragments of Lead with . History
Now In the Possession of . New
York Socicty-The Missiles secured
Were Used to Defeat the Redcoats.

Were Used to Defeat the Redc0ats.
| Tradition records that the gigantic
| equestrian statue of George Ill. erected
| on Bowling Green in the years preceding
the Revolution. was utterly demolished.
| and that the lead of which his Majesty
| was composed was melted into bullets to
be hurled at the red coats by the Conti-
| mental troops. Tradition Is this time am
\ ply supported by history.
The statue was torn down, II Is true.
| and its 4.co0 pounds weight was broken
| up and scattered far and near But not
all that leaden mass found its way into
| bullet molds. Herein lies fact regarding
| the statue. and one but little known In
| the New York Historical Society are four
| huge leaden fragments and the mammoth
marble slab upon which the King s
| charger stood. The four portions con-
| sist of the lower half of the long tail. q
| piece of the saddle. with side ornaments,
! a section of the flank, and a fourth piece
| that may be either from the flank or from
the saddle. They all show traces of the
| original rich gliding, the tail piece being
quite bright. As these pieces weigh about
| Soe pounds. it will be seen that a goodiy
1 supply of bullets was lost by the recruits
who mustered under Washington in the
defence of this city lbs years ago.
| The head of George III and the rem
| nants in the Historical Society are. so
| far known. the only portions that es-
| capped bullet transformation. The head
was stolen by the British from a Yankee
tavern near Kings Bridge and sent to
England. The other four pieces were
| plowed up on the farm Of E. B. Coley at
| Wilton. Conn.,. few miles north of Nor
walk. in 1872. In the correspondence be-
| tween Mr.. Coley and the Historical So
| ciety, the former wrote:
Tradition tells that they (the four
pieces found, were distributed among To-
ries and other loyal subjects to keep the
Wings from using them as bullets. In a
house that stood on the site of the one
in which my father now lives. there liv-
ed a Tory, David Sloane. An old settler
told my father that during the war the
Wings made raid on Sloane to get lead
for bullets. but Sloane. getting wind Of
it. hid the lead in his possession;
Mr. Coley added in another letter that
persons in England had offered to buy
the relics, but being a Yankee he pre-
ferred to give the Historical Society the
first chance A number of members,
therefore, subscribed for their purchase
and the money, a little over 500. was
raised by the following members in 1873:
Frederic c. de Peyster. Benjamin H
Field. Edward +. De Lancey. John Aus
ten Stevens, Henry T. browne. Smith <.
Lane. Edward Cooper, Henry Dolan,
George l. Forrest. William Austen
Charles a. Peabody, r. f. Mount. Z. b.
Sherman. Isaac F. Wood. r. s. Hone.
John Jay Cisco. Charlotte Anne Mount,
Goldsborough Banyer, and J. Bailey My
ers.
The late librarian. William I<elby. made
efforts to trace the head but no salts
factory results were obtained. About all
that the student of history has to rely
upon in regard to it is a statement in the
journal of Capt. John Montresor. who for
many years was chief engineer of the
British Army in America. He came over
with Braddock in 17,5. and was wounded
in that memorable battle in which the
British leader lost his life. Montresor's
journal was published a few years ago
By the New York Historical Society in
it's collections. and among the incidents of
1776 there occurs the following item:
Hearing that the rebels had cut the
Kings head off the equestrian statue
which represented George III in the fig
ure of Marcus Aurelius, and that they
that were wreathed around the head, and
drove a muslxet bullet part of the way
through the head and otherwise disfigured
it. and that it was carried to Morriss
Tavern. adjoining Fort Washington in Or
der to be fixed on a spike on the truck OF
a flagstaff as soon as it could be got
ready l Immediately set Corby through
the rebel camp in the beginning of Sep
TENDER, 1776, to Cox. who kept the tavern
at Kings Bridge. TO steal it and bury it,
which was effected and dug up on our ar
rival 1 rewarded the men. and sent the
head by the Lady Gage to Lord Town
shend, in order to convince them at home
of the infamous disposition of the I'M
grateful people of this distressed coun-
try"
Lord Townshend, who was thus made
custodian. was one OF the strongest sup
porters of the Stamp Act. and his insist
ence in taxing the American colonies
marks him as one of the prime instiga-
tors in bringing on the war.
This Montresor was. by the way, one
of the early owners of Randalrs Island.
He purchased the island in 1772. then call
ed Belle Isle. for his summer home, and
for many years afterward it was known
as Montresor's Island. The English en-
gineer and his family lived there during
part of the time that the British occu-
pied New York. In 177s Montresor went
back to England and did not return to
America.
The marble slab upon which the statue
stood served for several years as the
tombstone of a major in the British
Army A little later, as Charles H. Win
field says, in his history of Hudson coun-
ty. N j.. lit became the stepping stone
of Republican" From that worthy use
it was transferred TO become the chief
step to the kitchen door of the old Van
Worst mansion in Jersey City, when that
building stood at what is now the corner
of WAYNE Street and Jersey Avenue
When the house was torn down in 1854
Cornelius Van Worst took 1t TO his home,
in the vicinity. and retained it in his pos
Sc ssion until 1874. when he presented 1t
to the New York Historical Society. 1t
is an enormous stone. 6Ia feet long, ga
feet wide, and about inches thick. On
one side are three deep. circular holes.
cut halfway through the stone. 1t was
in these that the statue had been firmly
fastened. the opposite side bears the in
scription in memory of the British major.
There is no record Of how the slab
found its way to Jersey City. but in 1873
Ii there or was taken over to serve
as a tombstone During the British
cupancy of New York there was burial
ground in Jersey City in the locality Of
Sussex and Washington Streets, and a
number of British officers and soldiers
were inferred there. Major John Smith
was among these, and an elaborate in
scription on the slab tells the story, as
follows:
In memory of Major John Smith. of