Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/249

 PAULDING

PAULDING

contributions to the Morning Chronicle. He was associated with Washington Irving in the pvibli- cation of the humorous fortnightly periodical known as Salmagundi, or the Wliim-tohams and Opinio7is of Launcelot Longstaff, Esq., and Others, Jan. 24, 1807. The paper was discontinued Jan. 25, 1808, after twenty numbers had been issued. He was appointed secretary of the newly-created board of naval commissioners at Washington, D.C., in April, 1815, and served until 1823, when he returned to New York city to accept the ap- pointment of navy agent of the port of New York. He was married in 1818 to Gertrude, sister of Gouverneur Kemble. He was appointed secretary

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of the navy in Martin Van Buren's cabinet, in 1838, and ended his public cai-eer March 4, 1841, retiring to his country home at Hyde Park-on- the-Hudson, where he devoted himself to litera- ture and the care of his estate. He began a second edition of Salmagundi in 1819, which also failed. He is the author of : The Diverting His- tory of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (1812); The Lay of the Scotch Fiddle : a Tale of Havre de Grace (1813) ; The United States and England, a defence against articles in the Quarterly Review (1814); Letters from the South hy a Northern Man (1817); Tiie Backwoodsman (1818) ; A Sketch of Old England by a Neio England 3Ian (1822); Koningsmarke, or the Long Finne (a satirical novel in which the lines "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" occur (1823); John Bull in America, or the Neio Muncliauscn (1824); The Merry Tales of the Three Wise Men of Gotham (1826); Nero 3Iirror for Travellers (1828); Tales of the Good Woman (1829); Chronicles of the City of Gotham (1830) ; The Dutchmaii's Fireside, a novel (1831); The Lion of the West (a drama produced 1831 ) ; Westward Ho ! (1832) ; Life of Washington (1835); Slavery in the United States, in which he defended the institution on social, economical and physiological grounds(1836); The Book of St. Nicholas ({837 ); A Gift from Fairy Land (1838); Tlie Old Continental (1846); American Comedies (1847), and TJie Puritan and His Daughter (1849). See life and works by William Irving Paulding (1867). He died in Hyde Park, N.Y., April 6, 1860.

PAULDING, John, patriot, was born in New- York, probably in Westchester county, in 1758. He was brought up on a farm, and while a scout in the American army under General Arnold, operating in the highlands of the Hudson river, was taken prisoner by the British. He was confined in the old sugar house on Duane street, New York city, whence he escaped. In order to prevent re-cap- ture he exchanged his farmer's garb for a British uniform, and upon reaching the Harlem river swam the stream and crossed the Hudson river in a canoe from Spuyten Duyvil to the west bank. He then journeyed on foot to Stony Point, and there was rowed by friends across the river to Verplank's Point. On his way home he met Isaac Van Wort and David Williams near the present village of Tarrytown, and the three joined in a game of cards. While thus engaged a horseman in civilian's clothes paused at a stream by the wayside to enable his horse to drink. Paulding, whose experience in the army and in prison made him the most alert of the party, approached the stranger and asked him to which party he belonged. The horseman, notic- ing Paulding's uniform and supposing that he was speaking with a friend, replied '' To your party." " How do 5"ou know which party I belong to ? " asked Paulding. " I can tell by your dress," said the horseman. "I suppose, then, that you be- long to the lower party." "Yes," replied the horseman, " 1 am a British officer out on particu- lar business and do not wish to be detained." Paulding ordered him to dismount, and the pris- oner, who afterward proved to be Maj. John Andre, produced Arnold's pass for John Ander- son, saying, "By detaining me you will hinder the general's business." This proceeding, taken in connection with his first assurance that he was a British officer, aroused Paulding's suspi- cions, and he searched his prisoner, but found nothing to identify him. This led Andre to de- clare that he carried no letters, which Paulding disbelieving, they thereupon pulled off his boots and found tliree parcels under each stocking, all of which subsequently proved to be in Arnold's handwriting. Williams then proposed to bar- gain for his release, and asked if he would give his horse and equipments, his watch and 100 guineas if they would let him go. Andre not only agreed to this, but proposed any larger sum of money his captors might name. Paulding then interfered, exclaiming: "No, by God, if you would give us 10,000 guineas you should not stir a step ; " and the three men took Andre to the post at North Castle, delivered him to the lieutenant-colonel in command, and went away claiming no reward, and not even leaving their names. Washington, however, sought them out and presented each with a silver medal, bearing