"Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru the house, not a creature was
stirring not even a mouse."
Well, not quite, there has been a stir of
late, and an unfortunate one at that.The controversy in question is over the authorship of the 18th Century
children’s poem, "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" or as it
is more popularly known, “The Night before Christmas.”
Originally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) of New York City, the
origin of the poem is being challenged by the descendants of Major Henry
Livingston.
Mary Van Deusen from Boston, MA, with much media fanfare has resurrected long
dormant claims that her ancestor, Livingston, (1748-1828) of Poughkeepsie, NY
wrote the poem around 1808.
Van Deusen brought in English Professor Don Foster of Vassar College, a self
described literary sleuth, to authenticate her aspersions to Moore's authorship
of the poem. Foster, whose book "Author Unknown" also unmasked Joe
Klein, as the heretofore anonymous writer of the novel: "Primary
Colors".
Van Duesen claims the original copy of the poem was destroyed by fire in
Livingston’s daughter’s home in Kaskaskia, Wisconsin in 1859. Van Deusen
contends that an early draft; or a version of the poem, made its way to the
Moore homestead. Dr. Moore, a renowned literati, could have come across it and
at some point touched it up a bit, making it his own
Livingston was the father of 12 children. He fought in the Revolutionary War,
was a surveyor, justice of the peace and a farmer. Most of his poetry was
lighthearted and fun loving in its nature. The fact is, that with all the
clamor and fanfare over the release of the poem “Night before Christmas” in
1823; he never acknowledged the work was his. Poughkeepsie is just a stone’s
throw away from Troy in upstate New York. Livingston died in 1828.
Moore was the only son of the Reverend Benjamin and Charity Clarke Moore. At
the age of 19, Clement graduated at the top of his class from Columbia
University. While there he studied oriental languages and enjoyed playing the
violin. As a young man he compiled the first English translation of the Hebrew
Lexicon; edited notes on John Deur’s scholarly work “Third Satire of the
Juvenal” and organized drawings for the construction of St. Peter’s Church.
He was quite politically active in New York, writing an inflammatory article
entitled "Observations" in which he reacted to Thomas Jefferson's
"Notes on Virginia" accusing him of "subverting religion and establishing
a false philosophy". Moore donated land from his Chelsea Homestead in 1821
for the construction of the General Theological Seminary. At the seminary, he
was a professor of Greek & Oriental literature.
In addition to being a prominent biblical scholar, he was meticulous in
planning the design for the Chelsea neighborhood. His intent was to break up
New York City’s rapidly developing urban sprawl with parks, tree-lined avenues and ample
green space. Dr.Moore also submitted the sixty page outline which became the
blueprint for Greenwich Village.
According to Moore ‘lore, legend has it, that on a bitter cold and snowy
Christmas Eve in 1822, Dr. Moore rode out from Chelsea on a sleigh driven by an
older, jolly Hessian (German) gentleman. He was going to pick up some turkeys
for a local church for distribution on Christmas Day for the poor and
unfortunate.
Heading towards Jefferson's Market in the Bowery District, Dr. Moore was struck
by the humor and lightheartedness of rotund, pot-bellied driver. As they
galloped thru the snowline streets towards the lower Eastside Dr. Moore began
to compose some lines of verse to what would become the famous poem.
Arriving home he gathered his children together and recited his new poem.
Undoubtedly, their warm faces were fire-lit as they listened with joy in front
a roaring blaze in the family’s living room. The poem was especially composed
for Dr. Moore's little girl Charity then age 6, who suffered from tuberculosis
and was not expected to live long.
The following year while visiting the family, Dr. Moore's cousin Harriet
Butler, heard the poem and wrote down the words. She then sent a copy to the
editor of the Troy, NY Sentinel, who published the anonymous poem on December
23, 1823.
Dr. Moore had asked that the Christmas Eve story be kept within the
household and was adamant that the poem was a "mere trifle" and was
only meant for his family.
Moore had transformed the dour Saint Nicholas or as he was known in Dutch
“Sinter Klaus”, from the mythical saint who rewarded the good children with
presents and beat the bad kids with a cane, into a jolly, bi-speckled Santa
Claus. He respectfully orchestrated St. Nick’s arrival on the night before
Christmas, deflecting any potential furor over the Christian observance of
Jesus’ birth.
The poem draws inspiration from his good friend Washington Irving's book,
"A Knickerbockers History" which was published in 1809 and the 1821
poem "The Children's Friend” by William B. Gilley.
In 1997 Seth Kaller bought one of the four known manuscripts penned by Dr.
Moore for $211,000 at an auction. He brought in his own detective Dr. Joseph
Nickell of the University of Kentucky. In analyzing the poems, Nickell found
“unequivocally” that Moore was the author.
Controversy aside, the poem stands on its own accord, but it was the drawings
of cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1908) that sent Santa into super-stardom. Nast's portrayal of St.
Nicholas was drawn specifically from the poem, as his wife read it to him,
constantly, because Nast, a German immigrant, could not read English.
Nast’s different caricatures of St. Nick appeared regularly in Harper's Weekly.
History unfairly, portrays Dr. Moore as a bit of a prude, a stodgy, moralistic
curmudgeon, who lectured against the perils of wine drinking. In fact, he kept
impressive collections of wines in the cellar of his home and had a benevolent
generous nature.
He worked tirelessly to the benefit of others that had less then he, in
addition to his numerous duties he also served on the board of directors of the
first school for the blind in NYC. With his young, loving wife, Catherine
Elizabeth, (1794-1830) and eventually nine children he most assuredly, loosened
up a bit.
Unfortunately, sad times befell Chelsea in 1830 when Clement’s beloved wife
Catherine Elizabeth died at a very young age and later that year his daughter
Charity passed away at 14.
Dr. Moore was finally acknowledged as the author
of “The Night Before Christmas” in the "New York Book of Poetry in 1837.
The book's editor was Charles Fenno-Hoffman. He finally included "The
Visit" in his own book of poetry in 1844 along with a beautiful prose
dedicated to his late wife entitled "To Southy".
Moore wrote another poem about St. Nicholas in 1821 called "Old Santa
Klaus" and edited the highly revered book, “Scanderbeg, King of Albania”
in 1852. It was within this passion and love that Dr. Moore cherished in his
family that he drew the inspiration from his mother for his own “mere trifle”.
In the midst of the British occupation
in a city ravaged by years of war that Benjamin Moore married Charity Clarke on
April 30, 1778. She was the beautiful and elegant daughter of Captain Thomas
Clarke and; as it turned out, quite the closet Yankee.
In letters to her cousin in London, Joseph Jekyll, young Charity, a
"Daughter of Liberty", flashed an exuberance for the American cause
by calling on King George's Army; "What care we
for your fleets and armies, we are not going to fight with them unless
driven to it by the last necessity or the highest provocation". She
continues, "The soul is fortified by virtue, and the love of liberty is
cherished within this bosom".
It was during those bitter years that Hessian soldiers were stationed at the
Moore home. The senior officer befriending the family and perhaps it was within
this setting that young Clement may have created his old St. Nick or enlisted
his mother's literary passion.
It was on the property he owned, that Captain Clarke built a lovely estate he
named “Chelsea”. The homestead became the Moore family home until 1854. It
encompassed more than 40
acres of rolling hills and orchards overlooking the
Hudson River.
Unfortunately Dr. Moore’s vision of a tranquil green space within the confines
of the ever encompassing urban sprawl was not shared by the lordly Vanderbilt
family, who drove their burgeoning railroad empire right thru the heart of
Chelsea, regulating it into what is now the transportation and warehouse hub of
west Manhattan.
The senior Moore (1748-1816) was the last acting president of Kings
College before the Revolutionary War and during the British occupation of NYC
was Rector of Trinity Church, which was burned to the ground in 1776. Under his
tutelage at Kings College were three of the principal framers of the United
States Constitution, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris.
After the war and much provocation, he became the third President of Columbia
University and participated in the inauguration of President George Washington.
Washington and his wife Martha were parishioners at Trinity. On September 11,
1801 was consecrated Episcopal Arch-Bishop of New York City.
In "Author Unknown" Foster claims that Moore waited until 1844 to
acknowledge authorship only after he (Moore) first checked with the publisher
at the Troy Sentinel, Norm Tuttle, to find out if he knew who wrote the poem
when he printed it anonymously in 1823.
Foster notes that Moore did this to make sure the "coast was clear".
Livingston died in 1828 without ever stepping forward as the author of the
poem.
Foster seems to foster much animosity and suspicion towards Moore, referring to
him as "the Grinch". He didn't appear to take heed of the fact that
claims of authorship brought forth by Livingston's own grandchildren were
discounted by experts in 1865.
In 1830 the editors of the Troy Sentinel put some finishing touches of their own
in, titling the poem “The Night before Christmas” and changing some of the
reindeer’s names to make them rhyme. For Van Duesen, at best the wayward prose
made its way into the Moore homestead and Clement finished it up. It seems odd
that Livingston would never acknowledge or recognize “his” poem. The poem, like
us, is a veritable melting pot. It is “Americanized”. It is a hodgepodge of
everything and it has a little bit of everybody in it.
Also worth noting, like Moore who recited the poem for his ill daughter and had
another mentally disabled child, the author of "Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer", Robert Lewis May wrote his poem in 1939 for his little 4 year
old daughter whose legs were crippled. May was an employee of Montgomery Ward’s
Department Store entered his story in a charitable employee contest.
Moore passed away at his summer home in Newport, Rhode Island in July, 1863.
His body was secretly brought back to New York City during the draft riots that
summer and buried anonymously at St. Luke's Cemetery on Hudson Street.
Moore was reburied in 1890 at the Trinity National Cemetery, which was the
former estate of John Audubon on 155th street. It is the site of the yearly
procession, which leaves from the Church of the Immaculate Possession to the
cemetery every Christmas Eve for a candle-light reading of the poem.
It is with a certain irreverence that his father Reverend Benjamin Moore almost
slipped from the pages of history. If not for his intercession at the behest of
a mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton he would have remained rather anonymous
himself.
And no, the National Treasure from the Nicolas Cage movie is not buried beneath
Trinity Church!
A Visit from St.
Nicholas 1822
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru' the
house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donder and Blitzen;
"To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys — and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples: how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donder and Blitzen;
"To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys — and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples: how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Old Santaclaus
1821
|
Old SANTECLAUS with much
delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night, O'er chimney-tops, and tracks of snow, To bring his yearly gifts to you.
The steady friend of
virtuous youth,
The friend of duty, and of truth, Each Christmas eve he joys to come Where love and peace have made their home.
Through many houses he
has been,
And various beds and stockings seen; Some, white as snow, and neatly mended, Others, that seemed for pigs intended.
Where e'er I found good
girls or boys,
That hated quarrels, strife and noise, I left an apple, or a tart, Or wooden gun, or painted cart.
To some I gave a pretty
doll,
To some a peg-top, or a ball; No crackers, cannons, squibs, or rockets, To blow their eyes up, or their pockets. |
|
No drums to stun their
Mother's ear,
Nor swords to make their sisters fear; But pretty books to store their mind With knowledge of each various kind.
But where I found the
children naughty,
In manners rude, in temper haughty, Thankless to parents, liars, swearers, Boxers, or cheats, or base tale-bearers,
I left a long, black,
birchen rod,
Such as the dread command of God Directs a Parent's hand to use When virtue's path his sons refuse. |
Clement Clarke Moore
The
Intercession by Reverend Benjamin Moore
It is with a certain irreverence that the Reverend Benjamin Moore (1748-1816)
almost slipped through the pages of our colonial American history. Like a
canvass of colloquialism the Reverend Moore would play an integral role in the
way religious leaders shaped our young Republic. If not for his intercession at
the behest of the mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton or, with a touch of
irony, being the father of an infamous Christmas poet, Reverend Moore would
have remained a testament to anonymity.
The resume building began in 1776 at the onset of the American Revolution. At
the time he was assistant Rector at Trinity Church and acting President at
Kings College, where he was a professor of philosophies and languages. Under
his tutelage there, would be three of the principal framers of the United
States Constitution; John Jay (who later became the first Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court), Gouverneur Morris and most famously, Alexander
Hamilton
Benjamin Moore participated in the first inauguration in NYC at services that
were held at Trinity Church on April 30th, 1789. (ed note) Trinity Church is
located two blocks from the World Trade Center used to stand. The church become
waylaid in the ashes and soot as a result of that terrible day.
He assumed the duties as the assistant Rector at Trinity and became professor
of logic & rhetoric at the newly renamed Columbia University. New York City
became the nation’s first capital. President George Washington and his wife
Martha were in attendance at Trinity Church on a regular basis. Martha and
Moore's mother-in-law Mary Stillwell Clarke, were the best of friends.
Reverend Moore would become the 3rd president of Columbia. On 9/11/1801 he was
consecrated as the Episcopal Arch-Bishop. Bishop Moore would assume one of the
most powerful positions within that denomination. The Protestant Episcopal
Church of America had been re-chartered in 1783 from the Tory-controlled
Anglican Church of England.
This leads us to the events of July 11th, 1804 to the tragedy which took place
in the small town of Weehawken, New Jersey. The impact of the event still
resonates today. The sharp political differences that brought Hamilton and
Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States; both members of the
Federalist Party to duel, still divides our nation and almost crushed it in its
infancy.
A group of Northern Separatists led by Massachusetts Senator Timothy Pickering
advocated breaking up the Union and setting up a Confederacy which would
include much of New England, New York, possibly Pennsylvania and part of what
would become Nova Scotia.
The Separatists, fearful of President Thomas Jefferson's expansionist policies
and fervently opposed to many aspects of the Louisiana Purchase, approached
Hamilton to run for Governor of New York.
It was hoped that as a political opponent of Jefferson, that Hamilton as
Governor would lead New York to succeed. Hamilton declined. Burr was then
approached and accepted. Hamilton felt quite strongly that the new Union must
be preserved. Even with his contempt over the Jeffersonian policies he felt it
was imperative to work within the designed political system and its inherent
flaws.
In the bitter campaign that followed Burr was badly beaten by Morgan Lewis and
directed his fury at Hamilton, who had previously thrown his support to the
opposition in the election of 1800 to have Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican
elected President, thereby defeating Burr. That election, a virtual tie ended
up being voted on in the US House of Representatives.
Hamilton, whose son Philip was killed in a duel three years earlier, made it
quite clear in letters written before the duel that; "if our interview is
conducted in the usual manner and it pleases God to give me the opportunity to
reserve and throw away my first fire." In fact Hamilton recognized he had
little if anything to gain by a duel with Burr. "I was certainly desirous
of avoiding this interview for the most cogent reasons.
As the two met that fateful July morning on the banks of the Hudson River,
Hamilton was of the mind that even by reserving his second fire it was hoped it
would give "a double opportunity to Colonel Burr to pause and
reflect."
The duelist were surrounded in a plume of smoke as the shot pierced
through a brilliant early morning sun to find that Burr had taken direct aim at
his opponent. Hamilton, who had not fired, fell to the ground mortally wounded
by a shot in his abdomen which lodged in his spine. Hamilton was nearly
lifeless and in insufferable pain when he was rowed back to Manhattan to the
home of Dr. William Bayard.
Upon his arrival at Bayard’s lavish upper-Eastside home, a messenger was
dispatched to Bishop Moore’s Chelsea home to come at once. After being informed
of the “sad event” and hearing of Hamilton’s desire to receive Holy Communion,
Moore went to the bedside of his former pupil.
Moore had much to risk in his visit and as he recounted the next day in his
infamous letter to the New York Evening Post, "I went, but being desirous
to afford time for serious reflection," and "to avoid every
appearance of precipitously in performing one of the most solemn offices of our
religion, I did not comply with his desire".
Dueling was illegal, but not uncommon. It was though, considered a sin and an
abomination by the church. Hamilton then sent for an old mend, the Reverend
John M. Mason of the Scotch Presbyterian Church. It was the Presbyterians who
had befriended him upon his arrival from Jamaica in 1773 and whose members were
staunch patriots during the war.
Unfortunately, with much apprehension, Mason could not comply with the dying
man's wishes.
Bishop Moore was sent for again and returned in the early afternoon, some six
hours after the fateful shot was fired. At this point Burr was back at his
mansion in Richmond Hill conducting business and trying to appear oblivious to
the events that had transpired earlier in the day.
The order of the day would call for extreme caution to be exercised in this
grave situation. Bishop Moore was a very stem and foreboding character. He was
a man of great morale principle, who in his life had seen his own share of
misery. During the war and the yellow fever epidemic of the 1790's he was one
of the few who risked contagion to minister to the dead and dying.
Again, from Bishop Moore's letter; "At one o'clock I (Moore) was again
called on to visit him. Upon entering the room and approaching his bed, with
utmost calmness and composure he (Hamilton) said, "My dear Sir, you
perceive my unfortunate situation and no doubt have been made acquainted with
the circumstances which led to it." "It is my desire to receive
Communion at your hands. I hope you will not conceive there is any impropriety
in my request. "
Hamilton reiterated that it had always been his intention to join the church
"I (Moore) observed to him, that he must be very sensible of the delicate
and trying situation in which I was then placed; that however desirous I might
be to afford consolation to a fellow mortal in distress; still, it was my duty,
as a minister of the gospel, to hold up the law of God as paramount to all
other law; and that, therefore, under the influence of such sentiments, I must
unequivocally condemn the practice which had brought him to his present unhappy
condition."
The gravity of what Bishop Moore was in the midst of doing and the inherent risks
were enormous. Even one of Hamilton's staunchest defenders, Rev. John M. Mason,
a Presbyterian, had refused to grant Holy Communion. He remained in Bayard's
house along with Hamilton's wife and mistress in the next room.
The Federalists were no longer in power, crippled in their attempts to divide
the country. Jefferson was President. Bishop Moore's own son Clement had
written an inflammatory article entitled, "Observations", in which he
reacted to Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia"; "accusing him of subverting
religion and establishing a false philosophy".
Clement Clarke Moore relates that, "he was surprised that a book which
contains so much infidelity, conveyed in such an insidious manner, could have
been circulated in a Christian Country for nearly 20 years without ever having
received a formal answer." If Washington, when he was alive, had any
doubts of Bishop Moore's loyalty to the new America he would never have allowed
him to occupy, even with the dissenters, the positions of power and influence
in the young Republic.
Hamilton
"acknowledged the propriety of these sentiments, and declared that he
viewed the late transaction with sorrow and contrition" I (Moore) then
asked him. "Should it please God, to restore you to health, Sir will you
never be again engaged in a similar transaction?" Hamilton then
replied," That sir is my deliberate intention." Hamilton then
received Holy Communion.
"I
have no ill will against Col. Burr," stated Hamilton, "I met him with
a fixed resolution of doing him no harm. I forgive all that has happened."
Bishop Moore remained with Hamilton until his death at 2 o'clock in the
afternoon.
Moore then went on to close his letter in what Fleming caustically remarks in
his book that," the Bishop's chief purpose seems to have been an
advertisement for the Episcopal Church." "Let the infidel be
persuaded to abandon his opposition to that gospel which the strong,
inquisitive, and comprehensive mind of a Hamilton embraced, in his last
moments, as the truth from heaven”.
"Let
those who are disposed to justify the practice of dueling, be induced, by this
simple narrative, to view with abhorrence that custom which has occasioned an
irreparable loss to a worthy and most afflicted family; which has deprived his
friends of a beloved companion, his profession of one of it's brightest
ornaments, and his country of a great statesman and a real patriot."
Rev.
Mason gave an oration of Hamilton some 3 weeks later in NYC stating, "The
death of Hamilton is no common affliction. The loss of distinguished men at all
times, a calamity; but the loss of such a man, at such a time and in the very
meridian of his usefulness is singularly portentous." "When
Washington was taken, Hamilton was left but Hamilton is taken and we have no
Washington. We have not such another man left to die!"
Hamilton's
funeral in NYC was the largest of its day and the outpouring of grief was
enormous. There was no known reciprocation of Bishop Moore's actions. Hamilton
is buried in Trinity Cemetery. Burr was later tried and acquitted of treason
for attempting to overthrow the American government in Louisiana in 1807.
In
the midst of the British occupation Benjamin Moore married Charity Clarke on
April 30, 1778. She was the beautiful and elegant daughter of Captain Thomas Clarke.
She was quite the closet Yankee and a “Daughter of Liberty”.
In letters to her cousin in London, Joseph Jekyll, young Charity flashed an
exuberance for the American cause by calling on King George's Army, "What
care we for your fleets and armies, we are not going to fight with them unless
driven to it by the last necessity, or the highest provocation". She
continues; "The soul is fortified by virtue, and the love of liberty is
cherished within this bosom".
Clarke
was a retired officer in the British Army. In 1750 he purchased property on
what now borders 19th Street to 24th Street and from 8th Avenue down to the
Hudson River. He named his estate "Chelsea" after London's Royal
Chelsea Hospital for veteran soldiers.
On the property he built a lovely estate
which became the Chelsea Homestead and the Moore family home until 1854. It
encompassed more than 40
acres of rolling hills and orchards overlooking the
river. In 1774 the original home caught fire severely burning Captain Clarke.
Two
years later he died as a result of his injuries. His widow Mary Stillwell
Clarke went about rebuilding the estate and in her later years recounted a tale
of meeting with General Washington shortly after the house was finished.
In the summer of 1776 shortly after the colonies' independence had been
declared, Yankee troops were dispatched to NYC and had taken up residence in
many of the city's palatial estates. A garrison had quartered at the rebuilt
Chelsea Homestead. By all recounts they had completely trashed the place with
nightly drinking and carousing. An officer, seeing the widow Clarke's distress
over the matter, sent a dispatch to Washington to have him give the current
state of affairs, his personal attention.
Washington
rode up on his great white steed and gave the necessary orders to the soldiers
to immediately shape up. He offered his sincere apologies to the widow Clarke
as they sat down to tea in front of a roaring fire in her living room. As he
rode off in all of his magnificence and splendor nary a word was forthcoming
from the soldiers during the remainder of their stay, which of course was
brief.
Washington
evacuated his army from Manhattan later that summer in a daring maneuver, by
commandeering an entire flotilla of fishing boats to escape the British in the
middle of the night.
During the war, Hessian soldiers were stationed at the home. The senior officer
befriended the family. Perhaps it was within this setting that young Clement
imagined his bi-speckled jolly old St. Nick.
The population of NYC before the Revolution had been some 20,000 to 30,000
people. New York had been a growing and prosperous city. It was full of
commerce and business. With its centralized location in Colonial America and a
bustling seaport, it was a strategic location for both the British and the
Americans. Washington was forced to abandon New York. He retreated with the
remainder of his army to New Jersey, where he, General Nathaniel Greene and
John Jay, implored the Continental Congress to allow them to set fire to the
city to make it as inhospitable as possible for the British and the loyalist
who remained.
His request was denied. Congress felt that it was important for NYC to remain
intact for its use as a center of commerce after the war had ended. But, on the
night of September 21, 1776 Washington had his providence. It has been
suggested over time that arsonist had secretly entered the city and set it
ablaze. Allegedly, the fires started at a tavern called the Fighting Cocks and
was spread quickly by the wind. There are witness accounts of perpetrators
being seen on the rooftop of Trinity Church itself
New York was decimated. More than 500 buildings were destroyed in the fire. For
those who remained it became as unlivable as Washington had hoped it would be.
While surveying the blaze from the balcony of his headquarters, Washington was
said to exclaim, "Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more
for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves."
Unfortunately for one American patriot who was in the wrong place at the wrong
time, it was an opportunity to have his last words immortalized as a beacon of
everlasting freedom. "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for
my country," so said Captain Nathan Hale, who was caught by the British
forces as they began rounding up and hanging suspects.
In the aftermath of the war, when offices were appointed and positions
assigned, there was fervent opposition to those who had remained loyal to the
British Empire. Until the Tories re-asserted control of the city, the wartime
populace had dwindled to about 5,000.
A majority of the Colonial militia prisoners of war were
kept on prison barges or ships, where conditions were so deplorable that
thousands died of starvation and disease.
For the Reverend Benjamin Moore these were difficult years. He had assumed the
presidency of Kings College in 1775 under difficult conditions when President
Myles Cooper was driven out by an angry mob of students, perhaps at the behest
of the patriotic activist group the "Sons of Liberty".
Cooper, a loyal Tory to the end, was appointed as president of Kings in 1763
and as acts of agitation began breaking out he became exceedingly outspoken in
his support for continued British rule.
Cooper was probably one of the authors of a newsletter entitled," A
friendly address to all reasonable Americans." Quote; "On the subject
of our Political Confusions, in which the necessary consequences of violently
opposing the King's troops, and of a general non-importation are fairly
stated." Cooper, along with Moore was a principle member of the faculty
when Hamilton was a student.
In early May 1775 Hamilton and many of his associates attacked the British Fort
at which is now Battery Park, and destroyed many of the guns that were there.
During their onslaught one of the gang members apparently fell inciting the
riotous mob to take their cause to the steps of the College. Cooper, who was on
the verge of this point Hamilton and his roommate fearing the worst extolled
the crowd to take a leave of their senses; "on the excessive impropriety
of their conduct and the disgrace they were bringing on themselves in the cause
of liberty."
While Hamilton was trying to keep the protesters engaged, Cooper was shouting
out of his window unaware of Hamilton's apparent assistance, "Don't listen
to him, he's crazy"! Somehow Cooper made it out of his residence. He
eventually escaped to the safety of the HMS Kingfisher and sailed back to
England.
So it was under these dire circumstances that Moore assumed the presidency.
Moore graduated from the College in 1768 and, after traveling to England in
1771 was ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church. Upon returning to NYC he
began tutoring in philosophies and languages at the College. He became the
assistant rector (pastor) at Trinity Church and held that position until after
the war.
The university archives recorded that a few students received classes until the
spring of 1776 when the revolutionary committee on safety appropriated the
College buildings for use as an army hospital and the school was closed.
Washington made use of the College's two telescopes. President Moore served as
a chaplain to the British troops during the war. Trinity Church was the tallest
structure in New York and was burned to the ground.
Rev. Moore has been labeled a loyalist and a Tory during the war. Those
sentiments are doubtful at best. First and foremost Moore was a man of God. He
kept his opinions close at hand. To him, his call was to administer to the sick
and dying, no matter to which side they belonged, certainly not warring
countries and governments.
Certainly, the articulate and passionate letters written by his wife, Charity,
would indicate she would not be married to a fervent Tory Loyalist. "If
you English folks won't give us the liberty we ask, I will try to gather a
number of ladies armed with spinning wheels, along with men who shall all learn
to weave & keep sheep, and will retire beyond the reach of arbitrary power,
clothed with the work of our hands, feeding on what the country affords."
"In short we will found a new Arcadia."
At the onset of the war Hamilton enlisted in the New York Militia. Within two
years he became an aide-en-camp to General Washington and later became his most
trusted advisor. It was Hamilton at the conclusion of the war, which was
instrumental in reopening the College.
In 1784 Kings College was renamed Columbia College, a name extolling the
virtues of liberty. The new charter makes Columbia the hallmark of the new
University of the State of New York college system. When the war finally ended
in 1783, tensions between the loyalist Tories and the patriotic Whigs had grown
relentless in their ferocity. Open bitterness and hostility towards those who
remained loyal to the British Crown caused thousands to leave their possessions
behind. Often departing for Canada or back to England.
It was amid this furor that disagreement arose as to who should be appointed to
certain key positions. The Reverend Charles Inglis was the Rector at Trinity
Church during the war left for brighter pastures in Nova Scotia. This left
Benjamin Moore as Rector. Regarded by many a loyal supporter of the British
Crown, it led even former King's College Graduate Robert Livingston to remark
that; "Moore preached and prayed against us during the war."
The Tory Vestry of Trinity chose Moore to be Rector. The trustees of the
church, now a majority of Whigs, called for a new charter, ending the Anglican
Church of England and establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church of American,
no longer binding it's loyalty to England. They installed the Rev. Samuel
Provoost to be the new Rector. When Rev. Moore refused to step down, the
trustees established the new church. Provoost encouraged Moore to remain as the
Assistant Rector. The New York Legislature then ratified the new charter of the
church.
Provoost served as the first chaplain to the US Senate and was elected the 1st
Episcopal Arch Bishop in 1787. Under his leadership a new Trinity Church was
built in 1790 and at the time of his retirement
Moore succeeded him as Rector and then as Arch Bishop in 1801. During this era
New York was flourishing the prosperous city and many influential members of
the new government were members of Trinity Church.
Moore was disabled by a serious stroke and passed away in 1816. And no! The
loot from Nick Cage’s movie, National Treasure was not buried beneath Trinity
Church.
By
Mark Wharton Reid
*
Research compiled in part at General Theological Seminary, Columbia University,
New York City Library
and the Moore family collection at Trinity National Cemetery.
