The Order of the Society. The successive Presidents General. Departure for West Point. forever to the use of the state society. The interest only of which, if necessary, to be appropriated to the relief of the unfortunate. "The society shall have an order, by which its members shall be known and distinguished, which shall be a medal of gold, of a proper size to receive the emblems, and be suspended by a deep blue ribbon, two inches wide, edged with white, descriptive of the union of America with France." I am indebted to the kindness of Colonel Joseph Warren Scott, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, now (1850) the president of the society of that state, for the following information respecting the successive presidents general of the institution. General Washington was the first president general, and continued in office until his death, in December, 1799. In May, 1800, General Alexander Hamilton was elected as his successor. He was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804, and, at the next general meeting, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, was elected as his successor. He died in August, 1825. At a special meeting of the society, held at Philadelphia in November, 1826, Major-general Thomas Pinckney was elected president general. At his death, Colonel Aaron Ogden, of New Jersey, was elected to fill his place. He held the office until his decease in April, 1838, when General Morgan Lewis, of New York, became his successor. General Lewis died on the 7th of May, 1844, in his ninetieth year, and the venerable Major Popham, also of New York, was elected as his successor at the general meeting in November following. Major Popham died in the summer of 1848, and at the meeting in November of that year, General Dearborn, the present incumbent, was elected to supply the vacancy. Such is the brief history of a society over which the venerated Washington first presided. I left the interesting mansion wherein the society was organized at noon, and reached Newburgh in time to dine and embark at half past one for West Point, eight miles below. ORDER OF THE CINCINNATI.? 1 "At that meeting," says Colonel Scott, in a letter to me dated July 9, 1850, "delegates attended from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and South Carolina. Colonel Ogden and myself were delegates from New Jersey. At that meeting it was ascertained that all the officers of the society, but one, had departed this life. The survivor was Major Jackson, of Pennsylvania. These communications were given and received in sadness, and a respectful and affectionate notice was taken of those who had left us forever." This was drawn from an original in the possession of Edward Phalon, Esq., of New York. The engraving is the exact size of the original. The leaves of the sprigs of laurel are of gold, and green enamel ; the head and tail of the eagle gold, and white enamel; and the sky in the center device blue enamel. The device and motto are the same as upon the medallion on the right of the certificate. West Point and its Associations. Mrs. Faugeres. Sufferings of Mrs. Bleecker. CHAPTER VI. "What though no cloister gray nor ivyed column What though that moldering fort's fast-crumbling walls "Its sinking arches once gave back as proud C. F. HOFFMAN. "Low sunk between the Alleghanian hills MARGARETTA V. FAUGERES.1 N the midst of wild mountain scenery, picturesque but not magnificent when compared with the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Adirondack and Catskill range in New York, or the Alleghanies in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, is a bold promontory called West Point, rising more than one hundred and fifty feet above the waters of the Hudson, its top a perfectly level and fertile plateau, and every rood hallowed by associations of the deepest interest. West Point! What a world of thrilling reminis cences has the utterance of that name brought to ten thousand memories in times past, now, alas! nearly all slumbering in the dreamless sleep of the dead! How does it awaken the generous emotions of patriotic reverence for the men, and things, and times of the Revolution, in the bosoms of the present generation! Nor is it by the associations alone that the traveler is moved with strong emotions when approaching West Point; the stranger, indifferent to our history and of all but the present, feels a glow of admira 1 Mrs. Faugeres was the grand-daughter of Brandt Schuyler, and daughter of Mrs. Anne Eliza Bleecker, one of the notable sufferers from the invasion of Burgoyne in 1777. Mrs. Bleecker was then living, with her husband, about eighteen miles from Albany. Mr. Bleecker went to that city to make arrangements for moving his family thither. While absent, Mrs. Bleecker heard of the approach of Burgoyne and his horde of savages, and, leading her eldest child by the hand, and bearing her youngest in her arms, she started on foot for Albany. After a wearisome journey of a day, and a night passed in a wretched garret, she started forward with her precious charge, and soon met her husband, with whom she returned to the city. Her babe died a few days afterward, and within a month her mother expired in her arms, at Red Hook, in Dutchess county. Her husband was afterward captured by a party of Tories. This event, and his sudden restoration when she thought him dead, so overpowered her, that her constitution sunk beneath the shocks, and she died in the autumn of 1783. Margaretta (afterward Mrs. Faugeres) was the "sweet sister" alluded to in the following lines, extracted from a poem written by Mrs. Bleecker on the death of her child : Scenery around West Point. The Military Establishment. Wood's Monument. Interesting Relics. tion as he courses along the sinuous channel of the river or climbs the rough hills that embosom it. The inspiration of nature then takes possession of his heart and mind, and "When he treads The rock-encumbered crest, and feels the strange And wild tumultuous throbbings of his heart, Of the high power that reigns supreme o'er all, That fills his o'erfraught heart." BAYARD TAYLOR. The high plain is reached by a carriage-way that winds up the bank from the landing; the visitor overlooking, in the passage, on the right, the little village of Camptown, which comprises the barracks of United States soldiers and a few dwellings of persons not immediately connected with the military works. On the left, near the summit, is "the Artillery Laboratory," and near by, upon a little hillock, is an obelisk erected to the memory of Lieutenant-colonel Wood.' On the edge of the cliff, overlooking the steam boat landing, is a spacious hotel, where I booked myself as a boarder for a day or two. A more delightful spot, particularly in summer, for a weary traveler or a professed lounger, can not easily be found, than the broad piazza of that public dwelling presents. Breezy in the hottest weather, and always enlivened by pleasant company, the sojourner need not step from beneath its shadow to view a most wonderful variety of pleasing objects in nature and art. Upon the grassy plain before him are buildings of the military establishment-the Academic Halls, the Philosophical and Library buildings, the Observatory, the Chapel, the Hospital, the Barracks and Mess Hall of the cadets, and the beautifully shaded dwellings of the officers and professors that skirt the western side of the plateau at the base of the hills. On the parade, the cadets, in neat uniform, exhibit their various exercises, and an excellent band of music delights the ear. Lifting the eyes to the westward, the lofty summit of Mount Independence, crested by the gray ruins of Fort Putnam, and beyond it the loftier apex of Redoubt Hill, are seen. Turning a little northward, Old Cro' Nest and Butter Hill break the horizon nearly half way to the zenith; and directly north, over Martelaer's Rock or Constitution Island, through the magnificent cleft in the chain of hills through which the Hudson flows, is seen the bright waters of Newburgh Bay, the village glittering in the sunbeams, and the beautiful, cultivated slopes of Dutchess and Orange. The scenery at the eastward is better comprehended and more extensive as seen from Fort Putnam, whither we shall presently climb. 1848. I passed the remainder of the afternoon among the celebrities clustered around October 26, the plain. I first visited the Artillery Laboratory, where are deposited several interesting trophies and relics of the Revolution. In the center of the court is a group of great interest, consisting of a large brass mortar, mounted, which was taken from the English when Wayne captured Stony Point; two small brass mortars, taken from Burgoyne at Saratoga, and a portion of the famous chain which the Americans stretched across the river at West Point to obstruct the passage of the vessels of the enemy. The large mortar "Rich in my children, on my arms I bore My living treasures from the scalper's power. The following is the inscription on this monument : "To the memory of Lieutenant-colonel E. D. WOOD, of the corps of engineers, who fell while leading a charge at the sortie of Fort Erie, Upper Canada, 17th of September, 1814, in the 31st year of his age. He was exemplary as a Christian, and distinguished as a soldier. A pupil of this institution, he died an honor to his country. This memorial was erected by his friend and commander, Major-general JACOB BROWN." * Military Academy at West Point. Size of the Mortars and Chain. Position of the Chain in the River. Other Relics. Kosciuszko's Monument. has a caliber of ten and a half inches; the smaller ones, of four inches and three quarters. The former is emblazoned with the English coat of arms, beneath which is engraved "Aschaleh, fecit, 1741." There are twelve links, two clevises, and a portion of a link of the great chain remaining. The links are made of iron bars, two and a half inches square, average in length a little over two feet, and weigh about one hundred and forty pounds each. The chain was stretched across the river at the narrowest point between the rocks just below the steam-boat landing, and Constitution Island opposite. It was fixed to huge blocks on each shore, and under the cover of batteries on both sides of the river. The remains of these are still visible. "It is buoyed up," says Doctor Thacher, writing in 1780, " by very large logs of about sixteen feet long, pointed at the ends, to lessen their opposition to the force of the current at flood and ebb tide. The logs are placed at short distances from each other, the chain carried over them, and made fast to each by staples. There are also a number of anchors dropped at proper distances, with cables made fast to the chain, to give it greater stability." The history of this chain will be noted presently. Near this group is a cannon, by the premature discharge of which, in 1817, a cadet named Lowe was killed. There is a beautiful monument erected to his memory in the cemetery of the institution. I observed several long French cannons, inscribed with various dates; and among others, two brass field-pieces, of British manufacture, bearing the monogram of the king, “G. R.," and the inscription "W. Bowen, fecit, 1755." These were presented to General Greene by order of Congress, as an inscription among the military emblems avers.* At the northeast corner of the plain, a little eastward of the hotel, are mounds denoting the ramparts of old Fort Clinton. Among these mounds stands the monument erected to the memory of KOSCIUSZKO. It is made of white marble, and is a conspicuous object to travelers upon the river. On one side of the pedestal, in large letters, is the name Kosci 1 Military Journal, page 211. 2 The inscription is as follows: "Taken from the British army, and presented, by order of the United States in Congress assembled, to Major-general Greene, as a monument* of their high sense of the wisdom, fortitude, and military talents which distinguished his command in the Southern department, and of the eminent services which, amid complicated dangers and difficulties, he performed for his country. October y 18th, 1783." To the dishonor of our country, it must be said that these two brazen cannons form the only "monument" ever made to the memory of that great commander. Savannah, in Georgia, has a ward and a square bearing his name, and in the center of the latter is the foundation-stone of an intended monument to his memory. This and the corner-stone of a monument to Pulaski were laid by La Fayette in 1825. I shall again refer to the matter when noticing my visit at Savannah. Kosciuszko's Garden. Other Localities. Fort Arnold. Fort Putnam. USZKO; and on the other is the brief inscription, "Erected by the Corps of Cadets, 1828." The monument was completed in 1829, at a cost of five thousand dollars. A drawing of it forms a portion of the vignette of the map printed on page 137. From this monument the view of the river and adjacent scenery, especially at the northward, is very fine, and should never be unobserved by the visitor. Emerging from the remains of Fort Clinton, the path, traversing the margin of the cliff, passes the ruins of a battery, and descends, at a narrow gorge between huge rocks, to a flight of wooden steps. These terminate at the bottom upon a grassy terrace a few feet wide, over which hangs a shelving cliff covered with shrubbery. This is called Kosciuszko's Garden, from the circumstance of its having been a favorite resort of that officer while stationed there KOSCIUSZKO'S GARDEN. VIEW FROM FORT CLINTON, LOOKING NORTH. as engineer for a time during the Revolution. In the center of the terrace is a marble basin, from the bottom of which bubbles up a tiny fountain of pure water. It is said that the remains of a fountain constructed by Kosciuszko was discovered in 1802, when it was removed, and the marble bowl which now receives the jet was placed there. It is a beautiful and romantic spot, shaded by a weeping willow and other trees, and having seats provided for those who wish to linger. Upon a smooth spot, high upon the rocks and half overgrown with moss, are slight indications of written characters. Tradition says it is the remains of the name of Kosciuszko, inscribed by his own hand; but I doubt the report, for he possessed too much common sense to be guilty of such folly as the mutilated benches around the fountain ex- let of Polish history, Thad Rosciupko. KOSCIUSZKO'S SIGNATURE. and his then present deeds were marking it deep upon that of our war for independence. The sun had gone down behind the hills when I ascended from the garden to the plain. The cadets were performing their evening parade, and, as the last rays left Bear Hill and the Sugar Loaf, the evening gun and the tattoo summoned them to quarters. During the twilight hour, I strolled down the road along the river bank, half a mile beyond the barracks, to Mr. Kingsley's Classical School, situated upon a commanding eminence above the road leading to Buttermilk Falls. Near his residence was a strong redoubt, called Fort Arnold, one of the outposts of West Point in the Revolution. I was informed that the remains are well preserved; but it was too dark to distinguish an artificial mound from a natural hillock, and I hastened back to my lodgings. Unwilling to wait until the late hour of eight for breakfast the next morning, I arose at dawn, and before sunrise I stood among the ruins of Fort Putnam, on the pinnacle of Mount Independence, nearly five hundred feet above the river. I had waked From a long sleep of many changing dreams, |