Boscobel is a neoclassical style mansion (built 1804-1808) located on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River about fifty miles north of New York City. This is where the river cuts through the

States and Elizabeth Dyckman.

Appalachian chain of mountains, creating the Hudson Highlands. The mountains on both sides rise up more than 1000 feet from the water's edge at what is the narrowest, deepest and most treacherous stretch of the river. From the front lawn at Boscobel, one can see the Constitution Marsh Sanctuary and Constitution Island immediately below, the Bear Mountain Bridge to the south, the United States Military Academy at West Point across the river, and Storm King Mountain to the north.

Boscobel was originally located in Montrose, New York, about fifteen miles south of the present site, with views overlooking the Hudson River at Haverstraw Bay. It was built by States Morris Dyckman (1755-1806), a descendant of one of the early Dutch families of New Amsterdam. As a Loyalist during the American Revolution, States became a clerk for the British Army's Quartermaster Department in New York. The quartermasters were responsible for providing all of the necessary provisions and supplies to the British army. States was in charge of keeping their accounts. When the Quartermaster General, Sir William Erskine, was recalled to London in 1779 for a government audit of his accounts, he asked States to accompany him. Dyckman ended up spending ten years in London, 1779-1789, working for Erskine and several other quartermasters who were under investigation by the British government for profiteering during the Revolutionary War. They were cleared of the charges and, as a reward for his services, States was paid very well by Sir William and other members of the Quartermaster Department. After his return to New York in early 1789, States Dyckman moved to his farm at Kings Ferry that overlooked the Hudson at the Haverstraw Bay. With the interest from an annuity set up by Sir William Erskine and the income from other investments, States expected, in the words of his biographer James Flexner, to live as a "conspicuously well-fixed farmer, surrounded with objects of taste...who did not farm too seriously."

Peter Corne Dyckman.

States was married in 1794 to Elizabeth Corne, the granddaughter of a rich Loyalist neighbor. He fathered two children, Peter Corne born in 1797 and Letitia Catalina born in 1799. Although there was a twenty-one-year age difference, he was thirty-nine and the bride was eighteen at the time of their marriage, surviving correspondence reveals that it was a love match. Although things seemed to be going very well for States Dyckman, in actuality he was facing mounting financial difficulties. His tendency to be extravagant and his overly generous gifts to various family members who had suffered losses during the war had seriously reduced his resources. Before getting married he sold his prized library of 1,400 leather-bound books acquired while in London to Chancellor Robert R. Livingston for an undisclosed sum, presumably to raise money to cover the costs of making improvements to his home and purchasing furnishings prior to his marriage. With the death of his benefactor Sir William Erskine in 1795, the situation got worse. Erskine's heirs refused to continue to pay his annuity, so it became necessary for him to return to England to reclaim the lost income.

When States sailed for England in late 1799, he thought he would be able to complete his business and return within the year. But the matter dragged on. He was also called upon to assist General John Dalrymple, the last of the quartermasters under investigation for wartime profiteering. He ended up spending three years in London, from 1800-1803. But during his

Wedgwood set acquired by States Dyckman during his time in London.

extended stay he managed to not only have his annuity resumed by the Erskine family, including reimbursements for delinquent payments, but he received a large settlement from Dalrymple and the other quartermasters he had previously aided. These funds were not provided willingly and voluntarily. States was forced to threaten his noble clients with exposure. Above the annuity and other financial considerations, he received an additional 12,000 pounds in payments which, in today's money, would equal about $1,200,000. In return for these payments, States agreed to destroy all of the records he had used to document and defend the quartermasters' accounts before the Treasury Department's Committee of Investigation, documents that could conceivably have been used to incriminate the quartermasters if the investigation was reopened.


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