[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] A curious old journal tells of their exodus, and the catalogue of the flocks and herds, man-ser-vant-and maid-servants that were sent to RhinebecH reads like a biblical story of the journcyings of the Patriarchs. Cornelia Van Cortlandt, the oldest daughter and wife of Gerard G. Beekman, had left New York for the Peekskill mansion, hut this was too near the neutral ground to be a safe refuge for her 1 Manuscript letter of Pierre Vnn Cortland! to his son Philip, ilated I " Manor of Cortlandt, Nov. 13, 1775." CORTLANDT. 431 father, and it behooved that ardent patriot to keep out of reach of his enemies, many of whom were his own tenantry, now ranged against their country. When it was judged sale to do so, Mrs. Beekman risited the Manor House. She writes to her father from Peekskill, in 1777, of the taking away of the slaves and of the hiding of a faithful few in the garret; when the " row galley-men " came for them and they heard from their hiding-place of the plot to burn the old house, a design probably frustrated by the " galley-men " hearing the news that Mrs. Beek-man tells in the postscript of her letter: " 1 bear general Greene and General Knox are arrived here to reconnoitre." Stephen, a promising young man, had died in 177"> from an attack of sore throat. This great loss, with She uncertainty that hung over the prospects of the country, and the continued absence of the husband and father, cast a gloom over the household.