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History of Orange County
Town of Newburgh
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We have previously mentioned that the old Glebe school house was situated in the old town. We have no means of ascertaining the exact time this building was erected, but am it was put up by the Lutheran inhabitants of the German patent for a church and school house, both objects being contemplated and provided for by the patent,—it must have been at an early day, and previous to 1752, when the patent was altered in favor of the Episcopal church, as previously stated. As all the present generation recollect, it stood in the old grave yard in Liberty street, a long, low, narrow, unsightly building—old, patched up, disjointed and weatherbeaten. It is thought, independent of its being for many years a church and school room, to have some Revolutionary associations connected with it, as being the booms in which the officers of the army met from time to time, sad consulted upon the affairs of the army and nation; the mot interesting of which, were connected with the publication of the celebrated Newburgh Letters, which we think is founded in error. If the reader will indulge us, we will make a remark on this point. Marshall, in his life of Washington, speaking of the Newburgh Letters, and the call made upon the officers of the army to meet and consider what measure, should be adopted to obtain a redress of their grievances, in relation to their pay, says the meeting was appointed to he held on the 11th of March, 1783, at the Public Building, and that Washington, in order to supercede and prevent that meeting, by a general order for the purpose, appointed one to be held by the same officers on the 15th of March, at the New Building. In the local history of the village, it is uncertain what buildings these were, some supposing as a matter of course, the “Public Building” mentioned in the call by the Letters, was the old Glebe School House; while others, in like manner, believe the New Building mentioned in Washington’s order, was the old Hasbrouck House, then Headquarters. When the historian Bancroft was here in 1844, he made an address in the Court House to his political friends, and many out of curiosity to see the great historian, the Hume or Gibbon of America, went to hear him. On this occasion, as was very proper, he referred to Revolutionary times, when the army was stationed here—to Headquarters at the old stone house—to the Newburgh Letters—to Washington’s answer—and to the old Glebe School House, etc., and seemed to take it for granted that these meetings—at least the one called by the Letters—were held in the Glebe School House. And, as if it were so, and to prove it, by his own conduct and belief, he actually visited and inspected the house, the locality and grounds about it. For such beliefs and present impression made upon our citizens, Mr. Bancroft has been, in some measure, instrumental; but as he received his information from what he believed a reliable source, he is not, perhaps, to be chided therefor. We have been told by a gentleman of this village, who has had a correspondence with Mr. Bancroft upon the subject, that he received his information in relation to the place where the meetings were held, or proposed to be held, from the Life of Alexander Hamilton, written recently by his son. This certainly ought to be good authority. This opinion will no doubt be stated by him in his history, when he comes to treat of these events, and others, which transpired here and in the vicinity. Our belief is, that Mr. Bancroft, and all others who think that these meetings, or either of them, were held, or intended to be held, either at the old Stone House or Glebe School House, are mistaken, and hold an opinion without any facts to support it, not even a faint tradition. Our first remark is, the Glebe School House, though in one sense a public building, having been erected by the inhabitants of the Patent to comply with the terms of the Charter; yet it was not a building public to the army or its officers. Besides; the building during the war was not over twenty feet square, and a very unfit place in which to hold either of the meetings referred to. The east half of the building, as seen by Bancroft, was erected by the Trustees of the Glebe 35 or 40 years ago, and twenty years or more after the war. The age, magnitude, and reputed public nature of the house—being no other of the kind—may have misled him and others on the point.— And besides all this, the house was entirely out of the way, and not convenient for such a purpose, as the army and officers were at Snake Hill, the square and back of the village of New Windsor, and not in the vicinity of this building.—But what is conclusive, we have the testimony of a living witness, that it was worn out and in a dilapidated state in the Revolution, and scarcely fit to stable horses in at that time, to which purpose it was devoted by the officers of the army. This was no desecration of the building erected for church purposes; for it was unfit for that, and had been abandoned as a place of worship for years, in consequence of its worn out and ruined condition. Gen. W. had too great respect for a building of that character, to permit it to be used by his officers for such a purpose, if it were not in the condition stated, unless in absolute necessity which did not exist at the time. A Mr. Sears, we are told, was the last clergyman that preached in it before the Revolution. Originally it was a small affair, only some 20 feet square, with a square roof, little cupola and a bell hung in it. After the war it was repaired by Benjamin Wygant and Brothers, by residing it with pine boards, (the original being shingles,) splicing the posts, which were decayed, and putting in new flooring, etc. After this period, and for some years, perhaps till the close of the 18th century, it was occasionally used by the Methodists as a place of worship; the Presbyterians having a church of their own and the Episcopalians having abandoned it before the war. Town Meeting was held in it in 1791, and the election for Trustees of the Glebe in 1805.