Warwick Historical Papers Volume 6 Part 2

REVOLUTIONARY REMINISCENCE

A Baptist Preacher of Warwick was Son of one of Washington's Compatriots

EDITOR OF THE ADVERTISER:
I read in the Orange County Recordof April 3d, an article on Claudius Smith, from a Southfield correspondent. Anything regarding that noted highwayman will always be interesting reading to people of Orange county, but that which most interested me with his allusion to the horse-back rider in the Ramapo valley. Historians have made slight mention of the fact that a Baptist minister was arrested in that section, named "Montagne," having on his person important dispatches from Washington, and there they drop it. In my view a very important page in the history of the Revolutionary War has been omitted.

Doubtless there are some people still living in Warwick who will remember Rev. Thomas Montayne, who preached in the Baptist church here some 70 or more years ago, and was greatly beloved by all. He was the eldest son of the "Baptist preacher" mentioned in history (Elder Benjamin Montayne) as the bearer of secret dispatches from Washington. Mr. Montanye and my father were quite intimate though the former was much older. He would relate to my father the facts and incidents referred to as he had it from the lips of his father. The narrative may be strictly relied upon as true:

"My father was born in the city of New York and was preaching there at the outbreak of the war. He being a zealous patriot, brought him in close fellowship with Washington while his army was lying there. When the army left the city on the approach of the British forces, father followed them to Long Island, preaching to the army on Sundays. He continued with the army after it had recrossed the East River on the ice, and followed it through all its varying fortunes up the Hudson River to Newburg, where Washington made a stand and established his headquarters. Father, after consulting with Washington, stopped on the opposite of the river at Fishkill. Here he preached regularly to the people there, and on Sundays to the army on the Newburg side of the river, crossing in a rowboat. Washington never failed to be a close listener.