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History of Orange County
Town of New Windsor
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James Clinton, at the commencement of the Revolution, was Col. of a Regiment of Ulster militia, and had married Miss Mary De Witt, of a Dutch family from Holland, and four sons were the fruit of the marriage. Charles, the father, died in 1773. When hostilities broke out, 1775, James Clinton was one of the officers first named by Congress to command the army, he was a Col. in the New York line and at the close of the war a Maj. Gen. He distinguished himself in defending the pass of the Highlands, when stormed by the English in 1777. He then served under the Governor, his brother George. The British forces then in service were commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, son of the old Colonial Governor. When serving with Gen. Sullivan against the Indians, in order to join him, it was necessary to cut a military road from the Mohawk to Lake Otsego. Boats were to be built and floated over the bars and shallows of the upper Susquehannah, and this he accomplished by a happy thought by damming up the outlet of the lake, which raised the waters sufficiently for time purpose. He was at the capture of Cornwallis, and at the end of the war retired upon his farm in Orange.
Dewitt Clinton was born March 2, 1769, at Fort Dewitt, now in the town of Deerpark, at the residence of Capt. Jas. Dewitt. This Fort was both residence and Fort, being a stone-house fortified to an extent to be a protection against the Indians, who for many years before the Revolution were troublesome in that vicinity, being on the outskirts of the white settlements. The birth place of Mr. Clinton is of no moment of itself, but like any other immaterial circumstance, is made material only when misstated. Time and place in legal proceedings are generally immaterial; but if stated at all, they ought to be stated correctly. If the Declaration state a transaction to be at a certain place, the plea may take advantage, deny it and aver another place. In this way a place may become material. In history and biography, if a place is stated, it must he true in point of fact: else truth is violated, and it had better not have been mentioned. Seven cities claimed the birth place of Homer, and half that number of places have claimed the birth of Mr. Clinton. The village of New Windsor long since sat up her pretension for the honor; and Barber in his “Recollections” has awarded it to her.
Others allege that he was born at the first and old residence of Gen. Clinton in Little Britain, near Washingtonville, and where his father resided till about 1800, when he removed and built on the farm, still in Little Britain, on the road from Newburgh to Neelytown, and where he died. Others, supposing that father always resided at the place where he died, think Dewitt was born there, and we, the last pretender, put in a claim for the town of Deerpark as justly entitled to the honor. James Renwick, LL.D., Professor in Columbia college, the biographer of Mr. Clinton, in p. 25 says, “Dewitt Clinton was born March 2, 1769, at Little Britain, the residence of his father, Gen. James Clinton.” In old times, Little Britain was a settlement of large and indefinite extent, reaching in one direction from the village of New Windsor to the town line of Montgomery, and in another, from Washingtonville to the south lines of Newburgh and Montgomery. We recently read in an old paper, printed forty years since, that all the letters which came to the post office in Little Britain that had no particular direction marked on them, the Postmaster marked them “Little Britain.” It will be recollected we are writing local, not general history, and this is our justification for detaining the reader on so small a point.
To the above claims we put in a plea, denying their truth, insisting on the accuracy of ours. Though our proofs are of a traditionary character, yet we think them sufficient to, establish the point, in the absence of all direct proof, establishing a different place. The tradition in that town, and in the immediate vicinity of the Fort, the old residence of the Dewitts, is, that in February, 1769, James Clinton, with his lady, came to the Fort on a visit to see her brother, Capt. Jacob R. Dewitt, that a violent snow storm came on, which lasted some days, and when it abated, Mrs. Clinton was found to be in such an interesting situation, it was deemed imprudent and unsafe for her to return home, and the visitors remained at the fort. They did not reach home in six weeks, and it was during this time Dewitt was born. About fourteen years since, one of the sons of Dewitt Clinton was in that town, surveying the Neversink River, among other things to determine the height of its fall, etc., and requested Mr. William C. Rose of Cuddebackville, to accompany him to the Fort, that he might see the birth place of his father, which Mr. Rose did. For the proofs here made, we are indebted to Mr. Rose, though they are very generally known and credited in that town, and of their truth there can be no doubt.