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A friend of the Commissary's, and a truly illustrious visitor at the
Hill, was Sir. Jeffrey Amherst, later Lord Amherst. He made Mortier's
house his headquarters at the close of his campaigns waged against
French power in America. He is really not so well known as he should
be, for in those tangled beginnings of our country we can hardly
overestimate the importance of any one determined or strategic move,
and it is due to Amherst, very largely, that half of the State of New
York was not made a part of Canada. Incidentally, Amherst College is
named for him.
The worthy Commissary died, it is believed, at about the time that
trouble started. On April 13th, in the memorable year 1776, General
Washington made "the Hill" his headquarters, and the house built by
the British army official was the scene of some of the most stirring
conferences that marked the beginning of the Revolution.
At the vitally important officers' councils held behind those tall,
white columns, there was one man so unusual, so brilliant, so
incomprehensible, that a certain baffling interest if not actual
romance attaches itself automatically to the bare utterance or
inscription of his name,--Aaron Burr.
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