The Tomahawk., 1917-05-10

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RESIDENCE OF Gu
- INCE the squatter days it has
been called Mount Tom-that
pile of rocks on Riverside drive
~ at E;ghty-fourth street, New
York, from the slippery summit of
which there is a free sweep Of the
liver below. Riverside park was
once named, and appropriately
Bloomingdale-a region Of great
farms and flower-hung lanes. Here
old KnickerbOcker families settled
down to dreamy contemplation Of the
Hudson. Until 1903 there was no road
from the city to this loveliest of
suburbs, and communication was by
water. The Bloomingdale road, which
ran approximately along the line of
Broadway, was later trampled by the
feet of Washington's retreating army
fleeing northward in the fall Of 177G.
An interesting group Of French ref
ugees from the Reign Of Terror made
their headquarters in the region
around Seventy-secOnd street. In the
chalet of Nine. D'Auliffe, one-time lady
in waiting to Marie AntOinette, aristo-
cratic heads were laid together plan
ming return to their beloved France
Here came Louis Philippe Wearied by
his long exile. The man who one day
was to wear the crown Of France was
at that time teaching in Dutch home
on the river at what is now Seventy
fifth street. Joseph BOnaparte was
also visitor at Nine. D'Auliffe's dur
ing his stay in this country, and the
great Talleyrand walked among the
trees that ran down to the rivers edge
Stephen Jumel used to drive dowI
from his home on the heights.
Old Landmark on the Drive.
Where the residence of Charles M
SchwcG now fronts the Hudson, be-
tween Seventy-third and Seventy
fourth streets, the Bloomingdale Or
phan asylum was once q landmark
Among the directresses Of the institu'
ton appears the name of Mrs. AlcXan'
der Hamilton, daughter Of Gen. PHILIP
Schuyler.
Barnard college girls are hurryins
TO recitatiOns across the famous buck
wheat field where the hot little out
post engagement that historians dig
nifty by the name of the battle OF
Harlem Heights was fought on Sep
TENDER 16, 1776.
Washington had snatched his raw
militiamen from under the guns OF
Howes victorious army in Brooklyn
and marched them through the city
and on through BlOOmingdale and tho
quaint Dutch village of Harlem above
Howe, stung by realization Of the op
portunity he had lost, was pressing
close behind. Then came the episode
at the Murray home, the delay there
Of the hot and weary British officers
beside the alluring Murray Madeira
and the chance that Washington hat
been praying for-the chance for {
breathing space and reorganization.
Washington sent out Gen. Thomas
Knowlton, who had smelled powder al
Bunker Hill, at the head Of company
of rangers to make reconnaissance
In the neighborhood Of Horns Hook
now dominated by Grants tomb
Knowlton's lean deer stalkers came
upon a company Of Hessians in thu
buckwheat and the fight that followed
ragged all the way from the Hudson tt
the Manhattan Hollow Way. Knowl
ton was killed, but his rangers sho
true and the brisk skirmish ended will
ITO British dead and q loss to tn
Americans Of but 30.
Victory Cheered Washington.
Harlem Heights was a silver linin'
in the dark cloud that hung owe
Washington. He wrote of the en-
counter that it cheered his men "pro
digiously." ''The success Of the bat
tle," says one historian, put new
courage into the army and exerted :
wide influence over subseGuen
events"
When the last of Washington
army had drawn sullenly away from
the city, loyalists from all parts Of tn
state poured into New York. The!
had not been happy, these Tories, de
spised of their neighbOrs, and the.
were glad Of refuge. Then gold lac
on red coats danced in the sun on tn
lawns of the Apthorpe estate between
Ninety-first and Ninety-second streets
where Generals Howe, Clinton ant
CORVALLIS at successive stages of tn
British occupation made their head
quarters.
The line along which the Harlem
Heights engagement was fought wa
selected as a site for chain of forts t
defend the city from invasion in tn
War of 1872. Maj. De Witt Clinton
| headed q committee Of defense CT 800