- ing to the estate and title of his father, Sir
William, adhered to the Crown, under which both became ennobled. Schenectady was again threatened, from the side of Canada, but by its former friends and allies. Aside from its contribution of six companies to the patriot cause, its position made it the base from which those who adhered to the English cause sought to send aid and comfort to the enemy. General Washington came here early in the struggle, and made arrangements for the frontier defence.[1]
The Schenectady patriots appointed a committee of vigilance and safety, who, as the one hundred and sixty-two written pages of their records show, repressed with strong hand and scant ceremony the slightest evasions of the orders of Congress and of the military authorities, and all attempts at treasonable intercourse with the enemy. Finally American independence was won, and Schenectady, after nearly a
- ↑ He came again in 1782, when the struggle was practically over. The authorities and the people did their utmost in his honor. This he suitably acknowledged in a letter addressed "To the magistrates and military authorities of the township of Schenectady," closing in these words: "May the complete blessings of peace soon reward your arduous struggle for the freedom and independence of our common country."
