Revolutionary Westchester: John Odell, General Washington’s Westchester Guide, Part 2 of 2
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By Erik Weiselberg, Ph.D.–
In our last installment, we chronicled the early service of John Odell, the first to volunteer in the local militia, and by 1778 serving as a mounted guide to the light infantry troops stationed in the no-man’s land of Westchester County. The year 1781 would see John Odell’s most prestigious appointment, that of guide to General George Washington, in which his contributions set the stage for American victory in the war.
By 1780 the main theater of the Revolutionary War had shifted to the south, but conditions in the contested region between the lines in Westchester County deteriorated as rival bands of local patriots and loyalist militia fought in brutal hit-and-run raids. John Odell’s local knowledge, bravery and quick thinking saved American soldiers many times, and provided valuable assistance to the officers he advised.
Officers and soldiers ignored the sage advice of John Odell at their peril. In February of 1780, Odell served as guide to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Thompson, in charge of 250 men from Massachusetts stationed at the post at Youngs’ House (on Grasslands Road, Route 100C in Valhalla, near Blythedale Children’s Hospital). Odell advised Col. Thompson to retreat in the face of an advancing party of Loyalists backed by regular British troops. When Col. Thompson insisted, “I am ordered to defend this post,” Odell cautioned him, “Not against impossibilities!” Sure enough, the British soon overran the defenders, and Youngs’ House was lost.
After serving in the Mohawk Valley as a Lieutenant during the 1780 campaign, in 1781 John Odell served as the principal guide for General Washington and the Continental Army, which joined with the French army to form a giant encampment of nearly 10,000 soldiers across most of lower Westchester County, from Dobbs Ferry to White Plains (with Alexander Hamilton posted with the artillery at Dobbs Ferry). Odell provided guidance on topography and local conditions, as we can see in a note written on July 6 from “Camp Phillipsburgh,” by Quartermaster General Timothy Pickering to George Washington: “I have asked Odell the guide, the distance between Storm’s bridge [Elmsford] & the one on the Dobbs ferry road.” Odell informed him of the distance (it was “about three miles”), and assisted with clearing the route of fallen trees.
On July 22nd and 23rd, John Odell guided General Washington when the generals led over 5,000 American and French soldiers on a scouting expedition of British-occupied New York City. They found that British fortifications were too strong for an attack on New York City, and by mid-August the generals received word that the French fleet, then in the West Indies, would only come as far north as the southern theater, not to New York. They then abandoned any plan to attack New York City, and decided instead to risk a march of more than 400 miles, from the Hudson River to Virginia, where they ended up successfully trapping and defeating General Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The Franco-American alliance marked a major turning point in the larger war, and it played out right here in Westchester County, with John Odell at the center of events.
Humor, charm and luck attended John Odell’s wartime experiences. One time when Odell visited his sweetheart, Hannah McChain, at her home (in today’s Ardsley, along the Sprain Brook north of Ashford Avenue), some Loyalists of the neighborhood heard of his presence and they raided the house. Hannah, however, had secreted Odell in the attic, where he lay prone upon a plank and thereby escaped their search. Another story is told in which John Odell and some patriots drove out a group of Loyalist militia that had occupied a house in Tarrytown. The next morning when the commander called to attention the patriots who had stayed in the house, Odell could not find his breeches, so the woman of the house offered him one of her petticoats, a type of underskirt worn by women at that time. Clad in the woman’s undergarment, Odell mounted his horse and rode forth to appear before the commander. The road was thereafter called “Petticoat Lane.” (Today the road is Old White Plains Road, and the house still stands, now a private residence. A historical marker in front of the house dating to 1965 refers to the naming of Petticoat Lane).
Even though the victory at Yorktown had effectively ended the war, news travelled slowly, and bitterness continued in Westchester. In January of 1783, an expedition returned from a successful raid, and before the various members of the party went their separate ways, they stopped – against Odell’s advice – at Albert Orser’s house along the Hudson River north of Sing Sing Kill (Ossining), short of the relative safety that would have been afforded by crossing the Croton River to the north. Just then a party of loyalist militia on horseback attacked, and Odell was chased by two of the enemy captains onto the frozen Hudson River. The pursuers cut at Odell with their sabers, and one struck his hat and the bridge of his nose, leaving a mark that would remain for the rest of his life. Odell escaped by pulling up his horse suddenly and striking a blow to one of his pursuers, then rushing toward Teller’s Point (Croton Point Park).
In 1783, the year the war ended, John Odell married Hannah McChain, and 1785 he bought 185 acres and the house where General Rochambeau had made his headquarters in 1781 (along today’s Ridge Road in Hartsdale). John’s brother Abraham, also a soldier in the war, and afterwards serving for almost 20 years as the Supervisor of the Town of Greenburgh, purchased the Joseph Appleby property, which had been Washington’s Headquarters (located along today’s Secor Road, near the Hartsdale-Ardsley border, at radio station WFAS). Thus, brothers John and Abraham Odell acquired the former Philipsburgh Encampment headquarters of Generals Rochambeau and Washington, respectively. John Odell generally avoided further military service, politics and public office. His descendants continued the tradition of military service, each successive generation serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Two historic homes inhabited at one time or another by John Odell still stand: the Odell Tavern in Irvington and the Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters in Hartsdale. Located on the federal Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail, the Odell House Rochambeau’s Headquarters was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and efforts are currently underway to restore and stabilize the structure (Information on the house and how to donate funds can be found at The Friends of Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters, https://www.odellrochambeau.org/ ).
John Odell died on October 26, 1835, and is buried in the Old Dutch Burying Ground at Sleepy Hollow. In his pension application of 1830, John Odell summed up his contributions when he wrote of himself: “At times when the country needed the services of all of its citizens, he embarked with zeal in the cause of his country.”
Our next installment puts the spotlight on an unsung Westchester hero, John Peterson, a patriot of African descent whose keen observation and quick thinking thwarted British spy John André’s passage to safety behind British lines, thus exposing Benedict Arnold’s treachery and saving the Revolution.
Erik Weiselberg, PhD is the Principal Historian, Revolutionary Westchester 250 and Village Historian, Irvington, New York
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