Editing Isaac Van Wart

{{Short description|American militiaman}}
{{Infobox person
|name         = Isaac Van Wart
|image        = Isaac Van Wart grave.jpg
|caption      = The 
Van Wart grave obelisk at the [[Elmsford Reformed Church and Cemetery]]
|birthname    = 
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1762|10|25}}
|birth_place  = [[Greenburgh, New York]]
|death_date   = {{death date|1828|5|23}} (age 65)
|death_place  = [[Elmsford, New York]]
|death_cause  =  
|education    = 
|occupation   = [[Militiaman]]
|alias        =
|title        =
|family       = 
|spouse       = Rachel Storm (1760–1834)
|children     = 
|years_active =
|credits      = 
|URL          = 
}}

'''Isaac Van Wart''' (October 25, 1762{{spaced ndash}}May 23, 1828) was a [[militia]]man from the state of [[New York (state)|New York]] during the [[American Revolution]]. In 1780, he was one of three men who captured British Major [[John André]], who was convicted and executed as a spy for conspiring with treasonous Continental general and commandant of [[West Point]] [[Benedict Arnold]].<ref name="Raymond11-17">Raymond, pp. 11–17</ref><ref name="Cray371-397">Cray, pp. 371–397</ref>

== American Revolution ==
A yeoman farmer, Van Wart joined the volunteer militia when New York was a battle zone of the [[American Revolution]]. Overnight on 22–23 September 1780, he joined [[John Paulding]] and [[David Williams (soldier)|David Williams]] in an armed patrol of the area.<ref name="Raymond11-17">Raymond, pp. 11–17</ref><ref name="Cray371-397">Cray, pp. 371–397</ref> The three men seized a traveling British officer, Major [[John André]], in [[Tarrytown, New York]], at a site now called [[Patriot's Park]]. Holding him in custody, they discovered documents of André's secret communication with [[Benedict Arnold]]. The militiamen, all yeomen farmers, refused André's considerable bribe and delivered him to Continental Army headquarters.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ez1BAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jrcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3667,1477841&dq=andre+benjamin-tallmadge&hl=en]"Vindication." From ''New York Courier''; reprinted in ''American & Commercial Advertiser'', February 22, 1817. Account of capture of Andre, in rebuttal to criticism by Rep. Tallmadge. Depositions by Isaac van Wart and his neighbors, intended to refute allegations he and his companions were bandits or "Cow-boys"; Retrieved July 25, 2011</ref> Arnold's plans to surrender [[West Point]] to the British were revealed and foiled, and André was hanged as a spy.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:FidelityMedallion.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Fidelity Medallion]], the first military decoration of the United States of America.]] -->
With George Washington's personal recommendation, the United States Congress awarded Van Wart, Paulding and Williams the first military decoration of the United States, the silver medal known as the [[Fidelity Medallion]]. Each of the three also received federal pensions of $200 a year, and prestigious farms awarded by [[New York State]].

== Personal life==
Van Wart was born in the farm country of [[Greenburgh, New York]], near the village of [[Elmsford]].  He lived on the frontier and his birthdate is not recorded.

Van Wart married Rachel Storm (1760–1834), a daughter of Elmsford's most prominent family (from whom the settlement's original name, "Storm's Bridge", was derived).  He divided his time between his family, his farm, and his church (he became an elder deacon of the [[Dutch Reformed Church#Americas|Dutch Reformed Church]]).  Van Wart was buried in the cemetery of the [[Elmsford Reformed Church and Cemetery|Elmsford Reformed Church]] in [[Elmsford, New York]].<ref name="nrhpinv_ny">{{cite web|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=10426|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Elmsford Reformed Church and Cemetery|date=August 1983|access-date=2010-12-24|author=Austin O'Brien|publisher=[[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]]|archive-date=2012-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018021522/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=10426|url-status=dead}}</ref> His tombstone said that he died at the age of sixty-nine.

== Legacy ==
Van Wart died in Elmsford on 23 May 1828 and is buried in the cemetery of the [[Elmsford Reformed Church and Cemetery|Old Dutch Reformed Church]] on [[U.S. Route 9 in New York|Route 9]].<ref>[https://westchester.pastperfectonline.com/photo/BF9F878B-9286-4936-8EB8-976942594686 Westchester County Historical Society]</ref> A marble and granite monument was erected at his grave on 11 June 1829, bears the single emphatic word "FIDELITY", followed by this epitaph, 
{{quote|On the 23rd of September 1780, Isaac Van Wart, accompanied by John Paulding and David Williams, all Farmers of the County of Westchester, intercepted Major André, on his return from the American Lines in the character of a Spy, and notwithstanding the large bribes offered them for his release, nobly disdaining to sacrifice their Country for Gold, Secured and carried him to the Commanding Officer of the district, whereby the dangerous and traitorous Conspiracy of Arnold was brought to light; the insidious designs of the enemy baffled; the American Army saved; and our beloved country now free and Independent, rescued from most imminent peril.}}

The three militiamen were highly celebrated in their lifetimes: commemorations large and small abound in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester]], and can be found in many disparate parts of the early United States. Among other honors, each of the men had his name given to a county in the new state of Ohio (1803), each along its western border: [[Van Wert County, Ohio|Van Wert County]] bears a common alternate spelling of the name. Adjacent [[Paulding_County,_Ohio|Paulding County]] is located north of Van Wert County. [[Williams_County,_Ohio|Williams County]] is in the northwest corner of the state, separated from Paulding County by [[Defiance_County,_Ohio|Defiance County]].

Still, Van Wart and the others did see their reputations impugned by some. André at his trial had insisted the men were mere brigands; sympathy for him remained in some more aristocratic American quarters (and grew to legend in England, where he was buried in [[Westminster Abbey]]). Giving voice to this sympathy, Representative [[Benjamin Tallmadge]] of Connecticut persuaded Congress to deny the men a requested pension increase in 1817, publicly assailing their credibility and motivations. Despite the slight, the men's popular acclaim continued to grow throughout the 19th century to almost mythic status. Some modern scholars have interpreted the episode as a major event in early American cultural development, representing the apotheosis of the common man in the new democratic society.<ref name="White49">White, p. 49</ref>

Van Wart and his companions are honored on the monument erected at the site of the capture in Tarrytown, dedicated on June 11, 1829, by the Revolutionary general and congressman [[Aaron Ward (representative)|Aaron Ward]] of nearby [[Ossining (town), New York|Ossining]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=In Saw Mill River Valley: Elmsford and its Revolutionary Church and Graveyard |newspaper=The New York Times |date=17 November 1895 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/11/17/102481221.pdf |access-date=25 August 2013 }}</ref> A Van Wart Avenue is located on the south side of Tarrytown, near the Tappan Zee Bridge. Three streets in the neighboring village of [[Elmsford]], New York, are named for the militiamen, with Van Wart Street being one of the village's main roads. [[White Plains, New York]], has a Van Wart Avenue in the southwest section of the city, off [[New York State Route 22|NY Route 22]].

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

''' Bibliography'''
*{{Cite book |title=A History of the County of West Chester |last=Bolton |first=Robert |year=1848 |publisher=Gould, Alexander S. |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorycountyw01boltgoog |quote=john paulding peekskill. |access-date=25 August 2013 }}
*{{Cite journal |last=Cray |first=Robert E. Jr. |date=Autumn 1997 |title=Major John André and the Three Captors: Class Dynamics and Revolutionary Memory Wars in the Early Republic, 1780-1831 |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |publisher=Univ. of Pennsylvania Press |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=371–397 |doi=10.2307/3123941|jstor=3123941 }}
*{{Cite book |title=The Builders of the Nation |editor-first=James T.|editor-last=White |editor-link=James Terry White |year=1892 |publisher=Stanley-Bradley Publishing Co. |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SkEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22david+williams%22+1780+andre |access-date=25 August 2013 }}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |title=The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution |last=Lossing |first=Benson John |author-link=Benson John Lossing |year=1852 |publisher=Harper & Bros. |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmQsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22john+paulding%22+1818+grave&pg=RA1-PA173 |access-date=25 August 2013 }}
*{{Cite book |title=David Williams and the capture of André |last=Raymond |first=Marcius Denison |author-link=Marcius D. Raymond |year=1903 |publisher=Argus/Tarrytown Historical Society |location=Tarrytown, NY |ol=23409413M }}
*{{Cite news |title=Old Families of Westchester: The Van Wart Family |author=McKernan, Maureen |newspaper=The Daily Argus |location=Mount Vernon, NY |date=4 September 1951 |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vantasselfamilyhistoryhomepage/oldfamiliesofwestchester/vanwart.html |access-date=25 August 2013 }}
*''Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley'' (1913) Volume II, p.&nbsp;457

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wart, Isaac}}
[[Category:1828 deaths]]
[[Category:Continental Army soldiers]]
[[Category:New York (state) militiamen in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:People from Greenburgh, New York]]
[[Category:American people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:Van Wert County, Ohio]]
[[Category:1762 births]]
[[Category:People from colonial New York]]