Morris died on November 6, 1816, in the room in which he was born. Almost the last letter he wrote was to plead with the Federal Party to “forget party and think of our country. That country embraces both parties. We must endeavor therefore to save and benefit both.” What statesman to-day would put forth such a sentiment?[60]
The property on which the house stands belonged in the seventeenth century to the Hon. Frederick Philipse and was sold by him in the year 1699 to his son-in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who had married his daughter Eva. The house was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, only son of Jacobus, who married Frances Jay, daughter of Augustus Jay, the Huguenot. His will, dated October 2, 1749, states: “Whereas I am now finishing a large stone dwelling house on the plantation in which I now live, which with the same plantation will, by virtue of my deceased father’s will, devolve, after my decease, upon my eldest son, James,” etc.[61]
During the Revolutionary War the neighborhood was constantly the scene of conflicts. Washington visited the house in 1781, and on the hill to the north disposed part of his army, which lighted camp fires while he was quietly withdrawing the rest of his troops to join Lafayette before Yorktown. There was a bloody engagement near the house on August 31, 1778, between the British, under Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, and a body of Stockbridge Indians. The Indians fought with great bravery and desperation, dragging the cavalrymen from their horses, but were ultimately dispersed, their chief being killed.[62]
Washington slept here the night before the evacuation of the city by the British, November 25, 1785. The estate has been bought by the city and is now known as Van Cortlandt Park. It contains 1,070 acres. There is a lake covering sixty acres and a parade ground for the National Guard on a level meadow of 120 acres.
The house is used as a museum and is crowded with interesting relics.
This house was built in 1661 by John Bowne, a native of Matlock, Derbyshire, England, in whose church he was baptized in the year 1627. About 1672 George Fox, founder of the sect of Quakers or Friends, visited Flushing and held meetings there. Bowne’s wife[63] frequently attended the meetings, and after a time joined the sect. As a result of this, Quakers were often entertained at the house. Governor Stuyvesant had Bowne arrested for “harboring Quakers,” and he was thrown into jail. Prior to this Henry Townsend, of Oyster Bay, had been subjected to the same treatment. Bowne, being a man of considerable independence, remained obdurate. He was then banished to Holland. He presented his case to the Dutch West India Company in such a manner that he was returned in a special ship with the following rebuke to the Governor and Councils of the New Netherlands, 1663: “We finally did see from your last letter you had exiled and transported hither a certain Quaker named John Bowne, and although it is our cordial desire that similar and other sectarians might not be found there, yet, as the contrary seems to be the fact, we doubt very much if vigorous proceedings against them ought not to be discontinued, except you intend to check and destroy your population, which, however, in the youth of your existence ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means, wherefore it is our opinion that some connivance would be useful that the conscience of men, at least, ought ever to remain free and unshackled.