, "History of Dutchess
County," by James H. Smith.

[20] See pp. 20 and 21.

[21] See "New York Mercury," July 28, 1766, August 18 and 25,
1766, September 15, 1766. See also "Dutchess County," by Alfred T.
Ackert, 1899, p. 5.

[22] See Appendix B.

[23] Thacher's "Military Journal of the Revolution."

[24] The narrative of Vaughn is gleaned from old residents,
Almira Briggs Treadwell, Archibald Dodge, Jane Crane, and others.

[25] "Washington Headquarters at Fredricksburgh," by L. S.
Patrick; Quaker Hill Series, 1907.

[26] This matter is very fully treated in "Washington's
Headquarters at Fredericksburgh," by Lewis S. Patrick. Quaker Hill
Conference Local History Series, XVI. 1907.

[27] See No. III, Quaker Hill Series, pp. 12, 42, and No. VIII,
pp. 16, 17.

[28] "Letters of Governor George Clinton," New York State
Library.

[29] "Washington Headquarters at Fredricksburgh," by L. S.
Patrick, 1907.

PART II.

The Transition.

CHAPTER I.

COMMUNICATION--THE ROADS.

The roads were originally bridle paths, and to this day many a stretch
of road testifies in its steep grade to its use in the days of the pack
saddle. No driver of a wheeled vehicle would have selected so abrupt a
slope.

In the early days the roads had a north and south direction. In the
Period of Transition, with the diversion of commerce to the railroad in
Pawling, the roads of an east and west direction became the principal
roads, though the one great Quaker Hill highway north and south is still
the avenue of communication on the Hill.

As the years passed wagons were used; indeed, by the time of the
Revolution, in the second generation, they were bearing all the
transportation. The state of the roads is shown, however, by the fact
that Daniel Merritt was accustomed to pay, in 1772, L1, or $5, for
carting four barrels of beef to the river; that is, about 1,000 lbs.
constituted a load. At the present state of the country roads, a Quaker
Hill employer would expect 2,000 lbs. to make a load. The state of the
roads before the turnpikes were made, that is, before 1800 to 1825, is
described by a resident as follows: "The road was so full of stones,
large and small, that people of to-day would consider impassable for an
empty wagon, to say nothing of drawing a load over it. In the fall of
the year it is said that toward evening one could hear the hammering of
the wheels of the wagons on the stones of the road a distance of