Craft Masonry in Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York

At another time, in broad day, and in sight of the family, a horse was brought up with baskets fastened on either side, and a
deliberate ransacking of the poultry yard commenced. The baskets were presently filled with the fowls, and the turkeygobbler, a
noisy patriarch, was placed astride the horse, the bridle being thrown over his head. His uneasiness when the whip was used, -
testified by clamorous complaints, made the whole scene so amusing that the depredators were allowed to depart without a word of
remonstrance. One day when the British were in the neighborhood, a soldier entered the house, and walked unceremoniously
towards the closet. Mrs. Beekman asked what he wanted; "Some brandy;" was his reply. When she reproved him for the intrusion,
he presented his bayonet at her breast, and calling her a rebel, with many harsh epithets, swore he would kill her on the spot.
Though alone in the house, except an old black servant, she felt no alarm at the threats of the cowardly assailant; but told him she
would call her husband, and send information to his officer of his conduct. Her resolution triumphed over his audacity; for seeing that
she showed no fear, he was not long in obeying her command to leave the house. Upon another occasion she was writing a letter to
her father when, looking out, she saw the enemy approaching. There was only time to secrete the paper behind the frame-work of
the mantel-piece; where it was discovered when the house was repaired after the war.
The story of Mrs. Beekman's contemptuous repulse of the enemy under Bayard and Fanning is related by herself, in a letter written
in 1777. A party of royalists, commanded by those two colonels, paid a visit to her house, demeaning themselves with the arrogance
and insolence she was accustomed to witness. One of them insultingly said to her: "Are you not the daughter of that old rebel, Pierre
Van Cortlandt ?" She replied with dignity: "I am the daughter of Pierre Van Cortlandt - but it becomes not such as you to call my
father a rebel !" The tory raised his musket, when she, with perfect calmness, reproved him for his insolence and bade him begone.
He finally turned away abashed.
The persecutors of Mrs. Beekman were sometimes disappointed in their plundering expeditions. One day the miller came to her with
the news that the enemy had been taking a dozen barrels of flour from the mill. "But when they arrive at the Point," he added, they
will find their cakes not quite so good as they expect; as they have taken the lime provided for finishing the walls, and left us the
flour." Often, however, the depredators left nothing for those who came after them.
One morning a captain serving in the British army rode up to the house, and asked for Mrs. Beekman. When she appeared, he told
her he was much in want of something to eat. She left the room, and soon returning, brought a loaf of bread and a knife. This, she
assured him, was all she had in the house, the soldiers of his army having taken away every thing else. "But I will divide this," she
said: "you shall have one-half, and I will keep the other for my family." This magnanimity so struck the officer, that he thanked her
cordially, and requested her to let him know if in future any of his men ventured to annoy her, promising that the offence should not
be repeated. It is not known that this promise was of any avail.
In one instance the firmness and prudence displayed by Mrs. Beekman were of essential service. John Webb, familiarly known as
"Lieutenant Jack," who occasionally served as an acting aid in the staff of the Commander-in- chief, was much at her house, as well
as the other officers, during the operations of the army on the banks of the Hudson. On one occasion, passing through Peekskill, he
rode up and requested her to oblige him by taking charge of his valise, which contained his new suit of uniform and a quantity of
gold. He added, "I will send for it whenever I want it; but do not deliver it without a written order from me or brother Sam." He threw
in the valise at the door, from his horse, and rode on to the tavern at Peekskill, where he stopped to dine. A fortnight or so after his
departure, Mrs. Beekman saw an acquaintance - Smith - whose fidelity to the whig cause had been suspected, ride rapidly up to the
house. She heard him ask her husband for "Lieutenant Jack's" valise, Which he directed a servant to bring and hand to Smith. Mrs.
Beekman called out to ask if the messenger had a written order from either of the brothers. Smith replied that he had no written
order, the officer having had no time to write one; but added: "You know me very well, Mrs. Beekman; and when I assure you that
Lieutenant Jack sent me for the valise, you will not refuse to deliver it to me, as he is greatly in want of his uniform." Mrs. Beekman
often said she had an instinctive antipathy to Smith, and, by an intuition for which it is difficult to account, felt convinced that he had
not been authorized to call for the article she had in trust. She answered: "I do know you very well - too well to give you up the valise
without a written order from the owner or the colonel." Smith was angry at her doubts, and appealed to her husband, urging that the
fact of his knowing the valise was there, and that it contained Lieutenant Jack's uniform, should be sufficient evidence that he came
by authority; but his representations had no effect upon her resolution. Although even her husband was displeased at this treatment
of the messenger, she remained firm in her denial, and the disappointed horseman rode away as rapidly as he came. The result
proved that he had no authority to make the application; and it was subsequently ascertained that at the very time of this attempt
Major Andrè was in Smith's house. How he knew that the uniform had been left at Mrs. Beekman's was a matter of uncertainty; but
another account of the incident-given by the accomplished lady who furnished these anecdotes of Mrs. Beekman, states that
Lieutenant Webb, dining at the tavern the same day, had mentioned that she had taken charge of his valise, and what were its
contents. He thanked Mrs. Beekman, on his return, for the prudence that had saved his property, and had also prevented an
occurrence which might have caused a train of disasters. He and Major Andrè were of the same stature and form; "and beyond all
doubt," says one who heard the particulars from the parties interested, "had Smith obtained possession of the uniform, Andrè would
have made his escape through the American lines." The experience that teaches in every page of the world's history what vast
results depend on things apparently trivial, favors the supposition, in dwelling on this simple incident, that under the Providence that
disposes all human events, the fate of a nation may here have been suspended upon a woman's judgment.
Many of Mrs. Beekman's letters written during the war breathe the most ardent spirit of patriotism. The wrongs she was compelled to
suffer in person, and the aggressions she witnessed on every side, roused her just indignation; and her feelings were expressed in
severe reproaches against the enemy, and in frequent prayers for the success of the American arms. But although surrounded by
peril and disaster, she would not consent to leave her home; her zeal for the honor of her family and her country inspiring her with a
courage that never faltered, and causing her to disregard the evils she had so continually to bear.
Years rolled on, and peace came at last to smile upon those who had shed their blood, or sacrificed their possessions for the
achievement of national independence. The lands in the manor of Philipsburgh having become vested in the State of New York by
the attainder of Frederick Philipse, were parcelled out and sold; and Mr. Beekman purchased the tract in the vicinity of Tarrytown, on
which the old manor-house is situated. To this he removed with his family in 1785. Historical recollections, and the classic creations
of genius, combine to shed a romance and a glory around this spot. The manorhouse - Castle Philipse - the ancient residence of the
lords of Philipsburgh - was strongly fortified in the early days of the colony, being built for defence against the Indians. The
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