Anthony Van Corlaer
Anthony Van Corlaer was a trumpeter for the garrison in New Amsterdam. According to legend, in 1642 Peter Stuyvesant, having learned of an English expedition on its way to seize the colony, ordered Van Corlaer to rouse the villages along the Hudson River with a trumpet call to war. It was a stormy evening when Van Corlaer arrived at the upper end of the island, and as no ferryman was available Van Corlaer vowed to swim across the river "in spite of the devil", but drowned in the attempt. There is also the possibility of Anthony being attacked and eaten by a bull shark. The Spuyten Duyvil, an inlet between Manhattan and The Bronx is named after this incident.[1]
The 1838 painting Dance on the Battery in the Presence of Peter Stuyvesant by Asher B. Durand depicts Van Corlaer with his trumpet.[2] Van Corlaer's prior endeavors on behalf of Stuyvesant are mentioned several times in Washington Irving's book A History of New York.[3] Irving also wrote the most popular account of the trumpeter's last deed, ascribing his death to being grabbed by a huge moss bunker.
References
- Notes
- ↑ Ed Boland Jr. (October 13, 2002). "F.Y.I. – Beating the Devil". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Dance on the Battery in the Presence of Peter Stuyvesant". Museum of the City of New York. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ↑ Irving, Washington (July 29, 2004) [1809]. "X". A History of New York (eBook). Project Gutenberg VII. Chicago: W. B. Conkey. OCLC 8381780. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
- Sources
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land – Volume 1: the Hudson and its hills (at gutenberg.org), Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery), 1852–1907
External links
- "The Last Blast of Anthony the Trumpeter or The Origin of the name of "Spuyten Tyfel Creek"". United States 1. 1856. Retrieved January 23, 2010., a longer, more fanciful version of the story