The Originalist Case For The Deep State

The Originalist Case For The Deep State

(Essay produced with Grok AI)

The notion of a "deep state"—a clandestine network of elites wielding hidden influence over a nation's governance—often evokes modern conspiracy theories. However, an originalist perspective reveals that such a phenomenon is not a recent aberration but a foundational element of American history, dating back to the Revolutionary era. From the outset, the United States was shaped by a cadre of powerful figures who operated behind the scenes, leveraging secrecy, espionage, and fraternal organizations like the Masonic Lodge to secure their dominance. The Livingston family, led by Robert R. Livingston, exemplifies this elite control, their influence woven into the fabric of the nation's birth through Masonic ties, espionage, and strategic alliances. Alongside them, figures like Egbert Benson, John Jay, and Richard Harison—fellow alumni of Kings College law school—collaborated to obscure this reality, crafting a sanitized historical narrative. Yet, challenges to this secrecy, such as William Seward’s anti-Masonic crusade, highlight the tension between elite control and democratic transparency, underscoring the deep state’s enduring presence.

Robert R. Livingston and the Livingston Family: Architects of Secret Power

Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), known as "The Chancellor," was a towering figure in the American Revolution and early Republic. As a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence and the first Chancellor of New York, his public roles were matched by a less visible but equally potent influence. The Livingston family, rooted in the Hudson River Valley’s landed aristocracy, wielded economic and political power that extended beyond formal offices. Their wealth—derived from vast estates like Clermont and bolstered by tenant rents—provided the resources to shape events discreetly.

Livingston’s ties to Freemasonry amplified this influence. As the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York (1784–1801), he presided over a network that included many of the Revolution’s key players. The Masonic Lodge was more than a social club; it was a nexus of trust and secrecy, ideal for coordinating political and espionage activities. Livingston’s administration of George Washington’s presidential oath in 1789, using a Masonic Bible, symbolized this fusion of public authority and hidden fraternity. The Livingston family’s involvement in espionage further cements their deep state credentials. Edward Livingston, Robert’s brother, navigated covert diplomacy as U.S. Minister to France, securing the Louisiana Purchase through backroom negotiations with Napoleon. This legacy of secrecy suggests that the family’s power rested not just on overt prestige but on a calculated ability to operate in the shadows.

Egbert Benson: Crafting the Narrative

Egbert Benson (1746–1833), a close ally of Livingston, played a pivotal role in concealing this elite influence. A fellow Kings College law school graduate, Benson’s relationship with Livingston was forged through shared revolutionary ideals and legal training. As the first president of the New York Historical Society (1804–1816), Benson wielded significant control over how the Revolutionary War’s history was recorded. His efforts often served to protect the reputations of the elite while suppressing inconvenient truths.

A striking example is Benson’s commissioning of *Vindication of the Captors of Major André* (1817). This work defended three American militiamen who captured British spy John André, countering accusations from Congressman Benjamin Tallmadge that they had wavering loyalties during the war. Tallmadge, head of the Culper Spy Ring—a critical espionage network under George Washington—represented a rival narrative of grassroots heroism. Yet, Benson’s book elevated the captors while sidelining Tallmadge’s contributions, treating the Culper Ring as verboten history. This selective storytelling preserved the image of a unified patriot elite, obscuring the messy realities of espionage and factionalism that figures like Livingston and Benson navigated.

John Jay and the Suppression of Espionage History

John Jay, another Kings College alumnus and a Federalist stalwart, mirrored Benson’s efforts to suppress the history of American espionage. As the first Chief Justice of the United States and a negotiator of the controversial Jay Treaty, he was a public face of the Revolution’s elite. Yet, his discomfort with espionage’s messy legacy—perhaps stemming from his own diplomatic intrigues—led him to downplay its significance. Jay’s correspondence and writings rarely acknowledge the Culper Ring or other covert operations, despite their decisive role in thwarting British plans, such as the 1780 plot to surrender West Point. This omission aligns with the elite’s preference for a narrative of orderly statecraft over the chaotic, morally ambiguous world of spies—a world in which Livingston and his allies thrived.

The Kings College Connection and Richard Harison’s Redemption

The bonds forged at Kings College law school among Livingston, Benson, Jay, and Richard Harison reveal a tight-knit network that weathered even the war’s divisions. Harison, exposed as a Loyalist during the Revolution and banished behind British lines, might have been a pariah. Yet, his classmates orchestrated his rehabilitation. After the war, Livingston, Benson, and Jay—by then influential in New York and federal circles—supported Harison’s appointment as U.S. Attorney for New York under Washington’s administration. This act of clemency reflects not just personal loyalty but a strategic effort to maintain a cohesive elite, capable of governing through shared secrets and mutual protection. Harison’s reintegration underscores how the deep state prioritized its own continuity over ideological purity.

William Seward: A Counterforce to Elite Secrecy

The elite’s grip faced a notable challenge in the 19th century with William Seward, an Orange County native and anti-Masonic advocate. The 1826 Morgan affair—where William Morgan’s disappearance after threatening to expose Masonic secrets sparked a national backlash—galvanized Seward’s political rise. Running as an anti-Masonic candidate, he sought to dismantle the secretive networks that figures like Livingston had nurtured. As New York’s governor (1839–1842) and later Secretary of State, Seward worked to clarify Revolutionary War history, obtaining records from Europe to counter the sanitized accounts crafted by Benson and others. His efforts aimed to expose the elite’s hidden hand, from Masonic influence to espionage, and restore a more transparent narrative. Though Seward’s crusade waned as anti-Masonry lost momentum, it highlights the persistent tension between the deep state and democratic accountability.

Conclusion: An Originalist Deep State

The originalist case for the deep state rests on the undeniable influence of elites like Robert R. Livingston and his circle. Through Masonic ties, espionage, and narrative control, they shaped America’s founding in ways that transcended public office. Livingston’s family leveraged wealth and secrecy, while Benson and Jay obscured the gritty realities of revolution, protecting their cohort—including the redeemed Harison. Seward’s resistance, though valiant, could not fully unravel this entrenched power. Far from a modern anomaly, the deep state is an American tradition, rooted in the Revolution’s clandestine origins—a legacy that challenges the myth of a purely democratic

The Theory of the Case of the Back Lot Archeological Site

 

The Theory of the Case of the Back Lot Archeological Site

Theoretical timeline encompassing the argument the mysterious Back Lot dwelling was the place noted as “Bellomont,” that the site originated as a parsonage for the Church of England built at a separate location upon Fletcher Mathews’ estate than St. David’s Church.

Circa 1769 to circa 1774 - theoretically occupied by Rev. John Sayre and his young family. He identifies his home on multiple occasions as “Bellemont”.  This obscure place known to be “in the country” is purposely selected in theory for security due to threats to Sayre. (Also the section of farmland immediately surrounding the site of St. David’s Church continued to be occupied by the brother of Rev. Hezekiah Watkins, Sayre’s predecessor, during Sayre’s tenure, perhaps creating a need to select a different area for a parsonage and glebe farm.) The location of the Back Lot matches precisely the 20 mile distance Rev. Sayre gives from his home to Warwick. Also supporting this idea, Bellomont is known to be in Ulster County during Sayre’s time, while St. David’s Church (a mile and a half south of the Back Lot and located right on the old county border) is listed as Orange County then. Sayre abruptly moves to Fairfield, Connecticut circa 1774. The dwelling is theoretically too nice to remain vacant and becomes a perceived safe haven for a chain of NYC refugees connected to Fletcher Mathews and/or the Church of England. 

Fall 1775 to June 1776 - theoretically occupied following the Sayres by John Clark, a former school teacher (perhaps teaching at St. David’s Church), turned glazer and painter. He is a loyalist conspirator known to live 8 or 9 miles from Goshen. This matches the distance to the Back Lot site. Both Clark and Fletcher Mathews are arrested following the discovery of the Plot to Assist the 1776 Invasion of New York, however Fletcher is released. Clark and Fletcher’s brother David are jailed together for a time in Connecticut along with numerous others implicated in the plot.

Summer 1776 to December 1776 - theoretically occupied immediately following Clark by the young family of Rev. Charles Inglis, known to have moved back into the countryside near Goshen from the Hudson at New Windsor for safety before returning to New York City following British occupation there. The Back Lot location exactly matches the 70 mile distance from Trinity Church (traveling up the river and then overland from New Windsor village) given for the refuge place in an October 31, 1776 letter. 

1777-1778  - theoretically occupied by the highly respected Dr. John Jones, “the Founder of American Surgery,” Fletcher Mathews’ step-nephew, known to write from both Mathewsfield and Bellemont.

1778-1779 - theoretically occupied by the young family of Richard Nicolls Harison (a loyalist relative by marriage of Fletcher Mathews who later becomes the first Federal attorney of the district of New York under Washington)  known to reside at “Bell Mount, near Goshen” before the family rejoins Harison in NYC (he is banished from Ulster County in 1778) in 1779.

1779-1780 - theoretically occupied by Continental forces together with nearby St. David’s Church as part of Otterkill Hospital. This “large” facility with 112 patients is mysteriously abandoned after a short interval, likely due to the exceptionally fierce 1779-1780 Winter. “Many” sick American soldiers reportedly die at the facility and are buried somewhere in the vicinity. The location is likely cut off from supplies due to deep snow accumulation and prolonged arctic conditions.

Summer 1781 - the theoretical hiding location on Fletcher Mathews’ property for would-be kidnappers from New York City identified by George Washington in an intelligence warning. One suspect named by the commander is Richard Smith, son of Claudius, who is theoretically hanged summarily at the Back Lot upon his capture, possibly by Peter Welsh and Richard Prince, undercover agents from Weissenfels Levies, fulfilling both the original historical account of Richard Smith’s demise by hanging as well as the Back Lot Legend. Theoretically Smith’s hiding location is pinpointed with assistance from Smith’s cousin Captain Henry Brewster Jr., possibly also with assistance with famed Revolutionary War spy, Enoch Crosby, who works undercover in the same area in 1776 (Crosby was recently discovered to be on the payroll of Weissenfels Levies in Summer 1781, however Crosby never reveals this in his pension record or biography for some reason.)

1789- the 63 acre ribbon-shaped parcel, an apparent buffer at the eastern border of the Mathews estate with the McIntosh Patent, theoretically reverts from the church to the ownership of Fletcher Mathews (who is mysteriously not attained nor banished) and is bequeathed to Fletcher Mathews’ youngest daughter Mary upon his death.

1811- the parcel is sold to Sarah Mathews by her mother Mary Mathews for $5 upon Sarah’s marriage to Oliver Thompson.

1820’s- the Back Lot dwelling is discontinued and razed. The main house on the property becomes the current one on Shea Road ½ mile away from the Back Lot. The Back Lot is reverted to a hay field where no sign of a former habitation is left distinguishable on the landscape surface.

1866- the property is sold to Joseph Shea by David Thompson following the death of his father, Oliver Thompson.

1903- the property is purchased by Frank and Agnes Flannery from Agnes’ widowed mother, Mary Shea.

1938-  the property is inherited by Stephen Flannery, who moves his family there the following year. The Back Lot archeological site is soon rediscovered.

1948- the Back Lot Legend is re-acquired by Thomas Aquinas Flannery, Stephen Flannery’s son, a history student.

Account of John Arthur Flannery’s Role in Liberating Nordhausen Work Camp with the 104th Division During World War 2

 

When Lieutenant Bornhofft (crouching in the above photograph) was gravely injured in battle in the German city of Halle in 1945, it soon became apparent he would not be returning to service (as he would need to be evacuated for medical treatment to save his life). At that moment his men signed a captured Nazi flag to give to him before he was whisked off to keep as a memento. One of those who signed his name that day was my Uncle, Sgt. John A. Flannery (I believe he is the clean shaven man seen standing at the very back in the photo). 

After a long, agonizing recovery from his wounds, Bornofft returned to civilian life with his family. At some point the signed flag was handed down to his daughter Lisbeth. Recently she reached out to the Flannerys she discovered still resided on Shea Road in Campbell Hall - the address of the family farm given as John Flannery's address on the flag - seeking to connect. My mother then placed me in touch with her. I almost immediately recognized who Lisbeth's father was as I had interviewed my Uncle John 25 years ago about his experiences fighting in Germany. I knew Lt. Bornhofft’s story well. He was the guy who named his Irish setter "Flanny" after my uncle. I responded to Lisbeth and provided her my notes (see below) from the 1999 interview. In return she provided various material to me that she had collected about this very special platoon within the 104th Division which liberated Nordhausen work camp and helped capture the German rocket scientists who were busily at work there. 

What completely astonished me was the war diary Lisbeth had acquired from a soldier within my uncle's platoon named Don Talley, who described Uncle John coming under fire in several close calls on the battlefield.

5/1/99-- From notes taken during an interview with Uncle John Arthur Flannery at his Beattie Road home in Rock Tavern, NY  this bright, warm Saturday

Uncle John said that before the war he owned a 1936 Chevy ragtop which had previously been used as a state trooper car. He said that he had a gas heater installed in the car for warmth in the winter. He said that the car was nicknamed “The Junk”.  He said that he once took a trip to New York City with the car before the war with his brother Rotz, and that the two had to change a flat tire along the way in Paramus, New Jersey. He said that his sister Catherine drove the car throughout the war years to and from her work.

Uncle John confirmed that soldiers were encamped near the farm to guard the railroad bridge soon after Pearl Harbor. He said that his brother Fig was home on furlough from Fort Jackson at the time and was reportedly unhappy to find soldiers sleeping on the floor of his family’s living room.

Uncle John also confirmed that pilots based out of Stewart Field frequently performed dogfighting training maneuvers over the skies of Orange County, and that two military planes collided over the farm in Burnside. He said eventually these training missions were transferred out of New York to Texas due to safety reasoning.

Uncle John said he was drafted into World War II on February 15, 1942. He said that he had originally registered for the draft in Schenectady, NY, but that he later transferred his registration to Goshen, NY. He said that this act probably bought him a few months from being taken into service, as the way the draft operated, men were being taken in proportion to the quota imposed for whatever region they were registered, and that Goshen was a better place to be registered due to the large number of men being taken out of the Schenectady area at that time.

Uncle John was attached to the 104th Division, or the “FightingTimberwolves,” which was then based out of Camp Adair in Oregon. He said that the 104th also did a lot of training at Camp Carson in Colorado, where his division trained alongside the 10th Mountain Division, which later went on to fight in Italy. (He said Senator Bob Dole was a member of the 10th.) The 10th was said to have trained with mules, and this caused a great amount of tension between the 10th and the 104th, as the men from the104th were reportedly fond of taunting members of their rival division on the training grounds by asking,  “Which ones are the mules?”

Uncle John said that countless fights occurred between men from the 104th and the 10th during those times, and that it was hardly worth going into town from Camp Carson when off duty due to the occurrence of drunken brawls between soldiers of the rival divisions.

Uncle John said that New York governor Hugh Carey, and New York City mayor Ed Koch were both members of the 104th Division, along with a future governor of Iowa.

Uncle John said that the 104th was comprised of soldiers from all over the United States, and not just from the Northwest. He said that many soldiers were stationed for training in the West because it was uncertain in those early years whether Japan would ever attempt an attack or invasion of the West Coast. Uncle John said that some of his training maneuvers entailed coastline defense.

Uncle John said that the training was hard but thorough. He thought General Terry Allen was determined to lead a well-trained Division. He said that Allen had been stripped of his command in North Africa early in the war, and that upon being reassigned to command the 104th, he approached the job with much zeal, seeking to redeem himself from past humiliation and defeat. He said his training went on for two years, which he thought was significant in comparison to the 18 and 19 year-olds who came over into battle at the end of the war with little military training whatsoever.

Uncle John said that Uncle Fig and Rowland Mc Bride were two of the earliest draftees from the area. He said that in that particular earlier draft, determining numbers were drawn from a fish bowl. He said that the drafted group was known by the slogan “Goodbye Dear, I’ll be Back in a Year,” due to the misconception that their involvement in war would be short-lived. Uncle John said that Uncle Fig served in the 8th Division, 13th Battalion along with Rowland Mc Bride, and that the two trained in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

Uncle John said that the 8th Division landed at Normandy about a month and a half before his 104th division. He said the 8th was given orders at that time to take the Port of Brest. It was at some point during this campaign that Rowland Mc Bride was shot. It was apparently the case that Rowland and the men around him were captured and then liberated again. Uncle John said that Rowland claimed that at some point he was shot for a second time, and that he claimed to have recognize the shooter as the same one who shot him the first time. Rowland reportedly suffered a debilitating injury to his arm. 

Uncle John said that there was a famous exchange of statements at Brest between the surrendering German commander and the American troops who seized him. Being so trained, the German commander expected only to be taken into custody by a commander of equivalent rank, and asked to see the Americans’ credentials, to which he was reportedly referred to the rifles the American were holding in their hands. 

Uncle John said that he had gone to see the movie Saving Private Ryan and found it to be historically authentic in its presentation for the most part. However he said that one small detail he did notice which he thought wasn’t at all true to his experience was seeing soldiers in the film without their rifles either strapped to their shoulders or within arm’s reach. He said he saw in the movie rifles leaning up against walls, and soldiers relaxing apart from their weapons, which he thought was aninaccuracy, because it was his experience that soldiers hardly ever separated themselves from their arms.

Uncle John said that he finished training on June 6, 1944, and that he was soon after sent on a train with his compatriots to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey for overseas staging. From there, he boarded the USS George Washington where he was assigned to quarters on G-deck, which was below the waterline of the ship, posing a serious danger to him and others at that level in the event of a torpedo attack, as it was almost certain he would perish under those circumstances. Uncle John said that drills were performed to test the readiness of the troops in the event of a torpedo attack against the ship, and that the tests revealed that he was unable to reach the deck from his quarters in the time allotted for the drill, seeming to confirm his fear that he would have likely drowned had a torpedo attack on the ship really happened.

Uncle John said that the USS George Washington was part of a large convoy of ships which crossed the Atlantic at the same time. He said that the merchant ships in the convoy left their military escorts off the coast of Portugal. The George Washington then continued into the English Channel as part of a purely military convoy. Uncle John said that soon afterward he was using the facilities or head on G-deck of the ship when he heard a loud explosion which seemed to shake and rattle the entire vessel. He said he scrambled upward to the deck to find that the Americans were setting off depth charges from accompanying ships to fight off an apparent German submarine threat.

Uncle John said that it was in that particular area under similar circumstances that the USS Leopoldville later went down. The Leopoldville was said to have gone down to German submarines about 6 miles off Cherbourg. The sinking was later covered up by the Allied command. Uncle John confirmed that the 104th Division was the first to arrive onto French soil directly from America without first stopping in England. He said that there was joke at the time that the island of England was so crowded with soldiers prior to the Normandy Invasion, that it would have sunk if they tried to put on any more.

Uncle John said that his ship entered into an extremely crowded English channel, where he described seeing ships as far as the eye could see. Uncle John recalled seeing an aircraft carrier cut in the path of his ship under tight navigation paths. The George Washington was anchored off the port of Cherbourg on the Normandy coast South of Utah Beach. He said that Cherbourg was a wreck and all the piers were demolished, but that military engineers had figured out some way of making use of the port nonetheless. He said that troops from the George Washington were brought ashore in small transport boats which were called “Scows”. 

Uncle John said that he believed that Uncle Rotz may have docked in Cherbourg some months later when his unit entered the war.

Onshore in Normandy, Uncle John was assigned to a field called J-42 where he and other members of the 104th set up camp. He said that he remained camped at the J-42 field for two weeks as the men of 104th debarked from four separate ships, and as the division’s equipment was unloaded andorganized at the site.

Uncle John said at that time General Patton was streaking across France toward Germany at rates and ease that no one really anticipated, and that there was even some lament heard by soldiers in the 104th that the war might be over before they even had a chance to fight. There was also a rumor that circulated among the camp that Patton had been snubbing the 104th in his demand for reinforcements, purportedly saying,  “send me any division but the 104th.” With this it was believed that Patton still bore a grudge against Terry Allen for Allen’s defeat in North Africa.

Nevertheless, whether the rumor was true or not, the 26th Yankee Division, which arrived in Normandy at about the same time as the 104th, was sent to reinforce Patton’s 3rd Army, while the 104th remained. Uncle John said there was an exception to this in that drivers from the 104th were taken out of the division to assist the effort to supply Patton’s troops on the Red Ball Express, which was a secured route to the front, which was marked with signs along the roadside bearing red circles. 

Uncle John said that the 104th was moved off the J-24 location to an area called “Hay Le Depuis (?)” where it was said a great many paratroopers rained down on D-day. The 104th was then further broken down at that point with its “walking” infantry transported to Paris and then North to Belgium. The mechanized division, of which Uncle John was a part, was thenordered to drive its equipment to the Dutch boarder. He said the soldiers were given a strip map, which listed a series of towns and villages which the convoy was expected to sequentially follow in order to arrive to its proper destination. He said he remembered stopping at a town called Mecklen near the Dutch boarder, where his unit camped. He was soon afterward attached to the 1st Canadian Army in relief of the British 49th Division, which had been fighting under Canadian command. Uncle John said that along with the American 104th Division, that the 1st Canadian Army had a Polish division under its command at the time. With the 1st Canadian Army, the 104th continued on toward a town called Wuustwezel, Belgium near the Dutch border where fighting began. He said his first day of combat was on October 23, 1944.

Uncle John explained that the allied forces veered away from Holland eastward toward Germany. He said for this reason the Dutch people suffered a miserable winter in 1944-45 because of the Allied decision not to immediately try to liberate the country from German control. John Leyen, a Dutch native who would later immigrate to America and farm in Rock Tavern, was caught by the Germans that winter trying to sell a pig on the black market. He was said to have been imprisoned just three weeks after his marriage. Uncle John said that he knew that John Leyen had always felt bad about those circumstances. 

Uncle John said that a bridge was dropped into the Maas River in front of the 104th Division on the path to Antwerp. (Later research shows that the 104th was reassigned at this juncture on the banks of the Maas from the 1st Canadian Army to join the seventh Corps of the First US Army, moving toward Aachen, Germany.) Uncle John said that it was the objective of the 1st Canadian Army to secure the Port of Antwerp .

Uncle John said that he read statements made by author, Stephen Ambrose in historical text regarding Holland in World War II which Uncle John considered to be false. Ambrose reportedly made the statement that “no Americans fought in Holland” during that time. Uncle John said that in reality he had witnessed the dead bodies of American soldiers being “stacked like cordwood” there. 

Uncle John also rejected the historical assertion that the 3rd Army took Colon. He said, “the 3rd Army was part of it, but not all of it,” as he believed his 104th played a significant role in that victory.

Uncle John said he remembered a Father Murray celebrating Christmas Mass, 1944 in a small village in the (Huertgen) forest of the Aachen Salient surrounded by destruction, with the priest telling the troops, “the Christ Child didn’t have anything on us.”

 Uncle John said the worst fighting he saw in the war occurred there in the forests of the Aachen Salient during the time frame of the Battle of the Bulge. He said that the Germans had used a series of dams on the Roer River to manipulate the water level of the river to go higher than normal as a protective measure in their last big offensive plan. Uncle John said that the high water would ultimately inhibit the allies from using its strength within the Aachen Salient to thwart the adjacent German offensive being waged in the Battle of the Bulge.

Uncle John said that there was many incidences of friendly fire within the forests of the Aachen Salient of which he was aware. He said he was aware that the lead soldiers of the 104th got fired upon by the division’s own canon company. He said the 30th Division also fought in the Aachen Salient forest at that time and that “they got hell beat on them by their own troops also”due to the confusing terrain. Uncle John described the 30th Division fighting on the 104th’s “left” within the forest and the 8th Division fighting on the 104th’s “right”.

Uncle John said that by the time the 104th crossed the Roer, the River was back within its banks. 

Uncle John said that Uncle Fig “was next door” on the Roer as part of the Aachen Salient. Uncle John said that Uncle Fig came to visit him while his unit was stationed outside Duren. This visit was to take place at the relatively safe Company Headquarters of the 104th, which was set back from the front, but then Uncle John’s lieutenant got sick and his presence was required back near the front at Platoon Headquarters. Uncle Fig was reportedly nervous about going along with his brother toward the front, but Uncle John assured him that things were quiet there at that time. He said that he had spent weeks driving back and forth from the front to Company Headquarters transporting mail and rations, and knew the trail well, even as it included many detours through fields and around obstacles. Still, Uncle Fig reportedly questioned whether Uncle John really knew where he was going.

Uncle John said that his lieutenant who was sick that day was a man named Bornhoff. He said that due to his rank, Bornhoff received a regular ration of liquor, which he would typically order Uncle John to dispense to the men of the platoon. Uncle John said that he would sometimes have to grab the bottle out of the hand of certain men who would tend to take more than their fair share of the ration. Uncle John said that Bornhoff’s command later ended in the German city of Halle when he was hit with a bullet which descended through his torso and exited near his hip. Bornhoff recovered, and Uncle John went to visit him after the war, and found that he had an Irish Setter he named  “Flannery”.

Uncle John said that the Germans and Americans at the time of Uncle Fig’s visit were dug in , and the front was stationary, but that each side would launch shells toward their enemy periodically just to remind the other of their presence. Uncle John said one of these types of “reminder” shells landed on the left side of the jeep in which Uncle Fig and Uncle John were riding just as the vehicle neared the Platoon Headquarters. Uncle John said the driver of the jeep panicked and left the vehicle to take cover in the ditch of the road. Uncle John said that he ordered the driver back in the jeep to drive the vehicle onward to safety, but the young man refused. Uncle John said that he then climbed into the driver seat and drove off. He said they were close enough to the Platoon Headquarters at that time that he figured the driver would easily find his way back.

Uncle John said that Terry Allen would often personally visit the front, placing himself in the same danger as the men in his command.

Uncle John said that while driving a jeep through Colon looking for a place to cross the Rhine, that the vehicle came under fire from a sniper position high up in the spire of the Colon Cathedral, which resulted in one of the jeep’s tires being flattened.

Uncle John said that the Ramagden Bridge over the Rhine, which the Germans intentionally tried to destroy without immediate success, collapsed before he reached it. He said he went across the Rhine at Bonn. He said that he crossed on a makeshift bridge comprising of cables stretched across the Rhine supported by whatever boats they could find to strap underneath. He said that tread was installed between the boats for easier crossing.

Uncle John said that his unit liberated the Nordhausen work camp, where the German V2 rockets were being manufactured deep inside a converted salt mine, around which many hundreds of starved corpses of work prisoners were found on the premises. He said that the 104th captured two rocket scientists near the facility. 

Uncle John said that the Germans had tried to destroy a mass of dead bodies of work camp prisoners by putting them in an old barn and lighting the structure on fire, but this reportedly did little to cover up anything as the bodies remained despite the fire.

Uncle John said most of the survivors the 104th found at the camp were women workers.  Uncle John said he thought that the men healthy enough to travel may have been sent away prior to the Allies arrival to the area. Uncle John said that the workers remaining there were of numerous nationalities. Mostof the workers who were found were in poor health, some appearing on the verge of starvation, and an effort was made to further detain the prisoners due to the concern that they might be carrying diseases which could be spread to the surrounding area. This detention caused resentment among the prisoners and they began to riot. An effort was made to seal off the entrance to the cave structures, but the workers apparently escaped anyway through an unknown entrance.

Uncle John said that there were two huge archways which served as the main entrance to the underground factory which were large enough to drive trucks through. Uncle John recalled a soldier nicknamed “Sleepy” being startled awake from his rest when the truck he was riding in accidentally collided with a rocket tail fin lying in its path inside the caves.

Uncle John said that an intricate assembly line was in operation within the old mine system so that the missiles could be entirely built from start to finish underground there. Uncle John said he remembered seeing a hospital facility within the caves and a kitchen facility containing huge kettles used for making soup and gruel.

Uncle John said that a large quantity of booze was found at Nordhausen, apparently to supply the German officers and privileged scientists who worked at the facility. Subsequently, many men of the 104th became intoxicated on this booze only to find themselves rudely awakened when orders came in that roadblocks were to be put into place to contain the fleeing camp workers. Uncle John said he recalled a scene where hungover soldiers were found crawling out of windows of the residences they took up in to plunge down directly into awaiting trucks below which were to take them out to their designated road blocks, which Uncle John described as ineffective.

Uncle John said that old German men from the surrounding area were recruited to dig a mass grave by hand to bury the dead of the work camp. Uncle John said that he spent 3 to 4 days stationed within the vicinity of the Nordhausen work camp, also known as the Dora Mittelbau concentration camp. 

Uncle John said that before the end of the war he led a patrol through a minefield. He said that he didn’t know which side planted the minefield, but someone had already made it through leaving behind a line of white tape as a guide.

Uncle John said that he never saw any Russian soldiers near the end of the war, but that his unit did. He said that he was outside Halle as the war in Europe concluded, where he at one point met up with Paul Ringlehan of Campbell Hall. Joe Ahearn of Campbell Hall was said to be in the same area.

Uncle John said the Orange County County Clerk’s son, Dusenberry was killed on the Czech boarder on nearly the very last day of the war. The Maybrook VFW post is named the Dusenberry-Flannery Memorial post. Uncle John said that memorial services in Town of Hamptonburgh have sometimes excluded Uncle Rotz, perhaps because he wasn’t buried in the township. A man named Sidney Herbert from Campbell Hall was said to have also been excluded. He went down with the WASP when 1,500 were lost. 

Uncle John said his unit was sent back to America to regroup at Fort Dix.There they were to have a month’s worth of R&R before they began preparations for the invasion of Japan, where the 104th would have figured prominently without the Japanese surrender that came soon after the American atomic bombing of August, 1945.

Uncle John said that Grandma Kit was issued a $10,000 insurance check from the government as a result of Uncle Rotz’s death on the battlefield. Grandma Kit never cashed it and it was found by Uncle Fig soon after her death in 1974. 

Uncle John said that Uncle Jimmy consulted with some banking friends who figured out a way to cash the check, considered stale by then, and the proceeds were added to her estate to be divided. 

---Interview and writing by James Robert Flannery. This account was proof-read by Uncle John in the months following the interview in 1999. No requests for changes were made by him except for several spelling errors of names.

A Timeline of Important Events Related to Orange County (as currently defined) During the Revolutionary War.

 

A Timeline of Important Events Related to Orange County (as currently defined) During the Revolutionary War.

1765

Cadwallader Colden Sr. of Coldenham is acting governor of New York tasked by royal authorities with implementing the Stamp Act. Massive protest to the taxation plan erupts in New York and throughout the American colonies. Colden’s coach is smashed to kindling by a mob. His figure is hanged in effigy.

  1775.  

The Continental Congress authorizes fortifications to be erected in the Hudson Highlands. Construction is centered in the vicinity of what became known as Fort Montgomery, several miles south of West Point. 

Goshen, NY resident Daniel St. John provides intelligence to Col. Zebulon Butler regarding an imminent attack by an army of loyalists intent on taking over the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. St. John reports the loyalists next intend to make themselves as strong as possible, and attack the Continental army along a secondary front from the frontier when British forces arrive on the coast in later months. Butler makes use of this information to crush a superior body of men when they arrive to the Wyoming Valley as warned. This thwarts the plan to create a secondary front from the Pennsylvania frontier during the 1776 Invasion.

Command of American forces devolves to Campbell Hall’s Donald Campbell at the Battle of Quebec after General Richard Montgomery is killed and Col. Benedict Arnold is wounded. Campbell orders a controversial retreat which leads to his dismissal from active military service. The Americans thus fail in their goal to deny British access to Canada.

1776. 

Orange County native David Mathews is appointed Mayor of New York City.

George Clinton from New Windsor and Henry Wisner from Goshen are sent to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia as delegates from New York to consider American independence, but return to New York before the Declaration of Independence is signed, ostensibly due to the impending invasion of New York. Wisner operates a crucial gunpowder manufacturing facility outside Goshen.

An estimated two hundred men from the vicinity of Goshen are recruited in the Plot to Assist the 1776 Invasion of New York. Thomas Bull’s brother Richard, and son, Absalom (said to possess a Captain’s commission) are implicated in the conspiracy as is Claudius Smith’s brother Julius. Their plan includes an objective to immediately seize the full length of the Hudson upon arrival of the British warships. The plot is exposed by a secret committee headed by John Jay as well by a local committee at Blooming Grove just before the invasion of New York by British forces takes place. Both David and Fletcher Mathews are charged in the plot. David escapes detention. Fletcher is set free.

Invasion plot conspirator  Peter McLean makes his escape from Manhattan to New Jersey via Bulls Ferry which is operated by Absalom and George Bull.

Cadwallader Colden Jr. is arrested at Coldenham on July 4, 1776 after he is suspected to be involved in the invasion assistance plot.

Col. James Clinton is placed in charge of the fortifications in the highlands following his return from the disastrous Battle of Quebec. He is later promoted to General. George Clinton receives a mysterious letter from congressional secretary, John McKesson suggesting that his brother James may be succumbing to the influence of loyalists. Around that same time, which was just after the exposure of the Plot to Assist the British Invasion of New York, George Washington writes to James Clinton seeking to recruit his Little Britain neighbor, Mrs. Thompson as his new housekeeper. Washington makes it known his previous housekeeper had to be let go. (It has long been rumored David Mathews planned to kill George Washington by having someone lace his favorite peas with poison.) Was this a clever way for Washington to ingratiate himself with James Clinton as well as obtain important intelligence on him? Mrs. Thompson was a reliable servant to the commander nevertheless and remained in Washington’s household for the majority of the war.

New York City is invaded as anticipated and occupied by the British military, however British warships are unable to immediately penetrate the Hudson highlands as planned. New York City continues to be occupied for the full duration of the war.

Famed American spy Enoch Crosby goes undercover in Orange County in the neighborhood of Little Britain at the behest of John Jay to disrupt the recruitment of loyalist fighters. 

George Campbell of Campbell Hall, brother to Donald Campbell, is commissioned Lieutenant Colonel in the Kings American Regiment, a loyalist provincial unit headed by William Tryon and Edmund Fanning, two of the leading figures within the Plot to Assist Invasion of New York. Campbell is stationed at Bergen Neck in the vicinity of Bulls Ferry during the winter of 1776-1777.

1777. 

Lady Mary Johnson and her young children are paroled to Barclay relatives in the vicinity of Coldenham. This was after being held at Albany for months as apparent hostages to prevent Iroquois forces under the control of her husband, Sir John Johnson from creating a secondary front along the New York frontier during the British Invasion. Lady Johnson is assisted in an escape to New York City via Bergen Neck by sleigh. An intelligence report implicates a son of Cadwallader Colden Jr. in the deed. There is some indication he may have borrowed a sleigh from his grandfather, Thomas Ellison to carry out the caper.

Engineering continues in the highlands to obstruct shipping on the Hudson. Multiple Hudson Chains are constructed from locally sourced iron.

Orange County native Nathaniel Sackett is selected by George Washington as his top spymaster until Sackett is replaced by Benjamin Tallmadge under mysterious circumstances.

George Clinton accedes to the first governorship of the State of New York.

Alexander Hamilton becomes dangerously ill in New Windsor. Assistance for him is sought from Dr. John Jones, the preeminent surgeon in America, then taking refuge at the estate of his relative, Fletcher Mathews. Dr. Jones explains he cannot assist because he himself is ill. Dr. Jones makes an attempt to instruct James Clinton to cover the medical treatment of Hamilton on his behalf however it appears Hamilton manages to travel outside the county for needed care instead.

Thomas Goldsmith, an Orange County resident from a family whose estate lies between the estate of Fletcher Mathews and that of Vincent Mathews, acts as a loyalist spy. He claims in Canada after the war that he repeatedly crossed enemy lines at great personal danger to himself to deliver messages for Burgoyne. He also describes revolutionists dismantling his mill for iron to be used for the Hudson chain.

Two loyalist military recruiters of Dutch ancestry Jacob Roosa and Jacob Middagh are captured in the vicinity of Schunnemunk Mountain in Orange County as they made their way to New York. They are considered ringleaders and publicly hanged in Kingston to set an example.

Claudius Smith is incarcerated in Ulster County Jail in Kingston on the charge of stealing oxen belonging to the Continental Army. He apparently escapes jail and is later spotted in the local area during the Battle of Fort Montgomery, where he likely assisted in guiding British forces through the mountains during the sneak attack.

Sir Henry Clinton overtakes the highland forts in the Battle of Fort Montgomery. This ends up being a futile effort to aid Burgoyne at Saratoga as Burgoyne has by then surrendered. Thus the British fail to seize the full length of the Hudson for the second time in as many years. About half the American soldiers in the battle—- the majority being from the local area—- were captured or killed. Large numbers of prisoners are held in New York City in harsh conditions. Some are held for years. Many die in captivity.

Following the burning of Kingston and British withdrawal to New York City, West Point is reconsidered. It becomes the main defensive position in the Hudson Highlands over Forts Clinton and Montgomery several miles to the South.

Spy Daniel Taylor is captured by American forces at New Windsor following the Battle of Fort Montgomery after Taylor becomes confused which camp of General Clinton he entered. He mistook George for Henry. Taylor is subsequently hanged at Hurley.

1778. 

Claudius Smith and his sons are captured by a group of Rangers from the north country who are here in the Spring to repair the forts of the Hudson Highlands, however the Smith gang apparently escapes or is released from Goshen Jail.

The Claudius Smith Gang rampages through Orange County in August in a series of terrifying foraging raids against civilians following its apparent involvement in the Wyoming Massacre in Pennsylvania.

Thomas Bull and Fletcher Mathews are jailed in tandem in Goshen under a new New York State law to prevent mischief. This incarceration apparently continues through 1780. They are mysteriously spared from being banished behind British lines and they are also mysteriously spared from attainment. Cadwallader Colden Jr. is similarly detained for significant periods, however he is sent to Kingston jail, not Goshen, and then later is apparently sent behind British lines in New York in 1779. He is not attained and returns to live out his life at Coldenham. All three of these jailed loyalists, whose immediate relatives inflicted great harm to the American cause, return to live on their estates. They retain possession of their slaves. In the case of Thomas Bull, he has a 700 acre park named in his memory, while Fletcher Mathews’ name is erased.

  Poughkeepsie Sept’r 16th 1778.

   Gentlemen, His Excellency the Governor being informed by the Officer who conducted the last flag, that the Enemy at New York have determined to suffer no more flags to come down by water untill a flag with notice thereof be previously sent in by hand, & their consent for the purpose obtained, supposes the sending down those Persons who refuse to take the Oath is become rather disagreeable to them & that they, therefore, mean to retard this Business as much as possible. He is, therefore, determined for this as well as for other Reasons to detain Messrs. Fletcher Mathews & Thomas Bull for exchange & directed me to inform you of this & to request that you will cause them to be confined in Goal accordingly; where it is his Pleasure they receive similar treatment w’th that of our friends who have been confined in the Provost Goal at New York untill they can effect their Exchange. This letter deliv’d to the Sharif will be a suff’t warr’t to him for receiving the Prisoners into his Custody & confin’g them accordingly. I am &c.

                                            Robt. Benson, P. Secy.

To the Commiss’rs for detect’g Conspiracies &c. Orange County.

The Baylor Massacre in Bergen County, NJ on the New York border is carried out at night against sleeping cavalrymen. It appears to have been part of coordinated foraging operation between British forces in New York City and the Claudius Smith Gang. The cruel slaughter of Baylor’s Dragoons, a unit of light horse from Virginia (tied to George Washington) appears to have cleared the way for stolen livestock collected from the north to be driven down from the Ramapo Mountains through the Hackensack Valley to New York City. A witness describes hundreds of head of livestock passing through the area following the massacre. In a deposition taken afterward quoted in Dr. Thacher’s journal, a Captain Bull is described giving orders to execute the wounded by knocking them on the head. Others have given the name as Captain Bell. A legend of a mass grave associated with the massacre persists for almost 200 years. It is proven true in 1967.

The Smith Gang assassinates Major Strong in his Blooming Grove home at night. Joseph Brant and his band of Mohawk and loyalist fighters make their first raid in the neighborhood of present day Port Jervis nearly at the same time, possibly in an attempt to coordinate with Smith. 

Claudius Smith is hunted down and captured on Long Island after a large reward was posted for his capture and the capture of his surviving sons by Gov. George Clinton. Previous to this, Claudius’s son William is shot dead during a gunfight on Schunnemunk mountain, possibly triggering the assassination of Major Strong in retaliation.

1779. 

Claudius Smith and members of his gang are tried and executed by hanging at Goshen. In retaliation for this Claudius’ son Richard savagely murders a man named John Clark in Warwick and leaves a menacing note at the crime scene. Later in the year Claudius’ son James is captured and hanged publicly in Goshen with other members of the Smith Gang, diminishing its capacity to terrorize.

George Bull is implicated in the Cole Confession as a Claudius Smith gang member. He is accused of an armed robbery against a man named Ackerman.

Sheriff Isaac NIcoll promotes Henry Wisner’s idea to Gov. George Clinton to send Thomas Bull and Fletcher Mathews away from Goshen jail to a jail in Albany apparently without success. Nicolls calls Mathews, his brother-in-law, an “exceading Bad man.”

 Goshen March 5th 1779.

   Dear Governor, I Receved your Faver and should with Pleashure a Took the Conducting of the Flag but I have had a Survear Turn of the Reumatism which Renders me not able to Purform the Jurney. I Understand by Mr. Wisenor that Capt. Fletcher Mathews and Thomas Bull are to be Removed to Albany; if so I am Glad, for I Look on Mathews to be an Exceading Bad man and that he is willing to Do all the hurt he Can, and this I am Confident of, that as long as he Stays in Goshen he never will Try for an Exchange Nor his Friends; and his being a Prisoner to me has Rendered the Office more Disagreeable than any thing Else, as he and Famaly are Continually Teasing of me to Shew him Faver, which is Disagreeable to me; one of his Daughtors has Laid  at the Point of Death this Some Days, and by a Request of his wife I have Purmitted him to go and See his Daughtor, which I hope you will parden me for. I am Sincear Reguard Your Excellency’s most Obedient Humble S’r

                                      Isaac Nicoll

His Excellency George Clinton 

French intellectual Hector St. John DeCrevecour  is banished from his Chester farm to New York City due to spying allegations. He is assisted in New York by Mayor David Mathews before finding his way back to Europe. His writing regarding pastoral American life in the local area before the Revolutionary War is well received and makes him world famous.

Many other local families are banished behind British lines due to their loyalist standing in what becomes a great purge of Orange County area loyalists from the land. Margaret Carscadden or “Skaden” of Campbell Hall is given assistance by David Mathews upon arrival to New York City. On March 22nd Mathews writes, “Sr, I beg leave to intercede in behalf of the bearer Mrs. Margaret Skaden an old faithful friend and Pilot to numbers who have made their Escape from the persecutions of the Rebels, But being at last detected in harbouring and conducting some of the Convention Troops into this City she has been obliged to fly here for shelter and leave her little substance behind, I hope she comes within the description of such as are allowed rations for she really deserves much from Government, She has often fed the Refugees and concealed them, It will be doing an act of benevolence if in your power Sr to allow her rations,”

Colonel William Malcolm is described by Dr. Thacher living in “retirement” on a country estate 14 miles west of river at New Windsor, which appears to have be in close proximity of Fletcher Mathews estate at Campbell Hall. It appears likely Malcolm was being called upon to provide surveillance during this so called retirement period. Malcolm had been the temporary commander at West Point the year before and is found engaged in multiple military assignments following Thacher’s notation from his visit. Gov. Clinton notes in 1779 that it was discovered that the Claudius Smith gang intended to plunder and burn Colonel Malcolm’s house as well as that of sheriff Isaac Nicholl.

General James Clinton joins General Sullivan in a brutal military campaign to destroy the crops and villages of Iroquois tribes throughout upstate New York. This is justified by Continental authorities to reduce the threat posed to farmers living along the New York frontier, who have endured numerous massacres to that point brought upon by Iroquois combatants. The campaign creates wide scale catastrophe. Many Iroquois die of starvation or are forced to flee into Canada as refugees, leaving the land desolate.

Joseph Brant makes a second raid in the area of Western Orange County. The Goshen militia is summoned in response and is lured by Brant into a mountain pass. This culminates in the disastrous Battle of Minisink. The Goshen militia is decimated.

New York State passes a law to attain the property of dozens of wealthy loyalists including David Mathews, some members of the Colden Family and Thomas Barclay from the local area. 

More than a hundred American soldiers are listed as patients at “Otterkill Hospital” set up at St. David’s Church on Fletcher Mathews’ estate before the hospital is abruptly discontinued months later under mysterious circumstances. It appears likely that the hospital was cut off from supplies due to the exceptionally fierce winter of 1779-1780, perhaps creating a catastrophe.

1780. 

 Goshen, March 28th 1780

Dear Governor, The bairer Mrs. Mathews is Extreeme Desirous to get hur Husband home as Every thing is a going to Destruction and the Servents have got so bad as they will do nothing but what they Please; if it tis Consistent with your Duty and Law to Purmit it will grately Oblidge the Distrest Fammely and I Dare say she will Gratefully Acknowledge the Same. I am with Respect your Excellency moste Obedient H’m Servente

     Isaac Nicoll.

N.B. Capt. Mathews is willing to give any Security for his Peasable and good Behavior.

[To:] His Excellency George Clinton.

=

Circa March 1780

     Dear Govenor; Sister Mathews has intreated of me to acquaint your Excellency of the misserable and unhappy State that her family is Redused to, in Consequence of her Husband being Confined So Long from Home; the Negroes have got to be ungovernable and, of Consequence, but very Little Labour Done and no Care Taken. They have Lost a Considerable Part of their Stock this winter, only for the want of Care; the family is a gowing to Destruction Head Long in a most Rappid manner and of Course must be Reduced to a very miserable State in a Short Time, If Something Does not Turn up, which may Prevent. She Humbly Begs your Excellency would be Pleased to make His own House his Prison, on Condition of his giving Sufficient Security for his good Behavior, If it be consistent with the Powers of the State, and will work no Injury to them were he Disposed to do mischeaf and has it in his Power. His Confinement at Goshen or Else where, unless it were Close would be more Dangerous than at his own House, for There, he would not have an oppertunity of Seeing Half So many People; if it might be Consistent for your Excellency to make his own House his Prison, it would be Dowing an Infinite Kindness to the Helpless family and would much ablige your moste Obd. & Very Humb. Serv’t.

         Jesse Woodhull 

[To George Clinton]

Absalom and George Bull defeat a much larger force commanded by Mad Anthony Wayne at the legendary blockhouse battle of Bulls Ferry, NJ. Both brothers are wounded in the fight but survive.

Benedict Arnold commits treason as he tries to surrender West Point to the British. This leads to the hanging of British Major John Andre at Tappen following Andre’s capture. George Bull becomes an assistant to Benedict Arnold post-treason.

Joshua Hett Smith, a native of Orange County and Benedict Arnold’s accomplice in treason (and Gov. George Clinton’s cousin), escapes from Goshen jail and makes his way to the British lines dressed as a woman. He describes being hidden in a home in the vicinity of Goshen in a secret chamber between chimneys (similar to the secret chamber discovered in Fletcher Mathews house during renovations during the 1830’s).

1781. 

Food shortages, particularly of flour, give rise to corruption. Surveillance is implemented to crackdown on trading with the enemy on the Hudson.

Washington keeps his headquarters at Thomas Ellison’s home in New Windsor. A legend remains there was a plot thwarted near there to seize Washington and carry him off by boat. 

Multiple plots emerge to kidnap Gov. George Clinton and other revolutionist leaders.

 A group of American spies attached to Weissenfels Levies goes undercover in the neighborhood of Fletcher Mathews’s estate in search of Claudius Smith’s son Richard and other would-be kidnappers identified in an intelligence report provided by Washington.

James Clinton accompanies George Washington in the secret maneuver to rush south to trap Cornwallis’ army in Virginia. Clinton is at Washington’s side as the British surrender at Yorktown. Also there to witness the surrender is Sarah Mathews Osborn Benjamin, a native of Blooming Grove, NY who accompanies her second husband on the campaign (Her first husband is killed during the war). She later qualifies for a pension in her own name due to the domestic services she provided to the army. She lived to be over a hundred years old and became a celebrity in her new home in Wayne County, PA, however she is left out of early history accounts back home in Orange County. She claimed George Washington once asked her at Yorktown why she wasn’t afraid of flying bullets.

1782.

 Washington keeps his headquarters at the Jonathan Hasbrouck house in Newburgh.

 A large contingent of the Continental Army encamps in New Windsor awaiting the evacuation of British forces from New York. 

Remnants of the Claudius Smith gang attack the Reynolds family living in the Smith’s neighborhood. Teenager Phoebe Reynolds heroically fights off the gang in her home to spare her father’s life.

1783. 

General Washington successfully prevails upon his unpaid officers to desist from rebellion during the Newburgh Conspiracy. 

General Washington delivers a farewell address at Newburgh laying out his vision for the new republic.

—James Robert Flannery. Copyright 2022, 2023, 2024. All rights reserved.