Stop “Joshing” me
The Smith family of Coram talks about the legendary “Petticoat”
Isaac Smith. He was taken prisoner in his own home and escaped by
dressing up in woman's clothing. After making his escape he went to
Connecticut with his family where he remained until the end of the
war. Returning to Coram he regained his property and began repairing
the damages done by the Tories. Two of his sons, Joshua and Isaac
are mentioned as being with him.
Isaac married Sarah Rockwell, and Joshua married Lucy Wallace. It
was claimed that when Washington came through Coram in 1890 he
stopped for dinner at the Smith home on his way to Setauket and that
Lucy Wallace Smith entertained the beloved Father of his Country,
and Washington had the table set for himself and his bodyguards in
the same room that “Petticoat” Isaac had been held in by the Tories.
Jacob Longbotham,
still living at the age of 90, has told me recently that he
remembers perfectly well hearing his father tell of the time the
British encamped at the foot of the hill in Coram, where there were
two large ponds. Mr. Longbotham said that Isaac and Joshua were
always playing all sorts of tricks on the British to frighten them
away, so that it became a regular byword among the townspeople to
say “You can’t play Isaac and Josh on me”.
Mr. Longbotham also said that one of the British officers fell in
love with one of our pretty American girls and threatened to carry
her off with him, but when the British broke camp she ran through a
high cornfield and climbed a tree, remaining in it until all the
danger was past. He said his father had pointed out the very tree
she had chosen for her hiding place; and,
as the girl was his grandmother, we have no reason to
doubt his story.
By, Amelia Augusta
Smith Norton
Mrs. Smith was
born in Baiting Hollow in 1839 and was 78 when she wrote the above
article.