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=Peekskill=, 40 miles from New York, is a pleasant city on the quiet
bay which deeply indents the eastern bank. The property in this
vicinity was known as Rycks Patent in 1665. In Revolutionary times
Fort Independence stood on the point above, where its ruins are still
seen. The Franciscan Convent Academy of "Our Lady of Angels," guards
the point below. In 1797 Peekskill was the headquarters of old Israel
Putnam, who rivaled "Mad Anthony" in brevity as well as courage. It
will be remembered that Palmer was here captured as a spy. A British
officer wrote a letter asking his reprieve, to which Putnam replied,
"Nathan Palmer was taken as a spy, tried as a spy and will be hanged
as a spy. P. S.--He is hanged." This was the birthplace of Paulding,
one of Andre's captors, and he died here in 1818. He is buried in the
old rural cemetery about two miles and a half from the village, and a
monument has been erected to his memory. Near at hand is the "Wayside
Inn," where Andre once "tarried," also the Hillside Cemetery, where on
June 19, 1898, the 123d anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, a
monument was unveiled to General Pomeroy by the Society of the Sons of
Revolution, New York. The church which Washington attended is in good
preservation.

Near Peekskill is the old Van Cortlandt house, the residence of
Washington for a short time during the Revolution. East of the village
was the summer home of the great pulpit orator, Henry Ward Beecher.
Peekskill was known by the Indians as Sackhoes in the territory of the
Kitchawongo, which extended from Croton River to Anthony's Nose.

[Illustration: SOUTHERN GATE OF HIGHLANDS]