15 of 56 · New York
FLOYD
A Long Island Guide
28 lessons. 4 chapters. In his own words.
The British took his house for seven years. He came home to ruin and planted again.
William Floyd · 1734–1821 · Planter · general · exile
01
They Take the House
1 of 4
The house is the receipt.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
You signed in Philadelphia. They collected on Long Island. The manor at Mastic had a dock, four thousand acres, and a name on a parchment. That is how the bill is served: while you are in the other room, doing the work.
Do not wait for the roof to be safe.
“I am going to try to get some of my effects from the island if it is possible and shall be absent from Congress a few days.”
Letter requesting leave from Congress · 1776
A few days. The British had already taken the house for a cavalry post. You do not recover a seized estate on a pass. You recover it after the war, if there is a war left to win.
Hide the silver. Then leave the silver.
“When they were about signing the paper Gen'l Floyd was talking with a man of feeble frame and delicate health. The man said, Floyd if we get our necks in a noose for this — you'll kick half an hour after I'm quiet!”
Recollection of Julia Floyd Delafield · n.d.
His granddaughter kept the joke. The British kept the house. Hannah buried the plate and ran for Connecticut. Iron nerve does not keep cavalry out of the parlor. It keeps you from unsending the letter.
Occupation is a policy, not an accident.
“Thus, for nearly seven years, Mr. Floyd and his family were refugees from their habitation, nor did he, during this long period, derive any benefit from his landed estate.”
Charles A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers · 1829
Seven harvests. Someone else ate them. A signature that costs a season is a gesture. A signature that costs seven is a conversion. They meant to teach Long Island who owned it. They taught Floyd what he had already spent.
A house used as a barracks is still your receipt.
“Nor did he, during this long period, derive any benefit from his landed estate.”
Charles A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers · 1829
Seven years of other men's horses in your hall. That is the tax on a Long Island name. Pay it without surprise.
Do not confuse the parlor with the country.
“We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
Settlement can be reversed by cavalry. The country cannot, if you keep the seat. Let them have the parlor. Keep the roll call.
Hide the plate. Then forget the plate.
“Hannah buried the plate and fled across the Sound.”
Floyd family recollection · 1776
Silver is a Tory's prize. Blood is not. Get the people into Connecticut. Inventory is a later war.
02
Leave in the Night
2 of 4
Leave before the patrol learns the lane.
“I am going to try to get some of my effects from the island if it is possible and shall be absent from Congress a few days.”
Letter requesting leave from Congress · 1776
The family was already gone — Middletown, across the Sound, with what a night could carry. He went back for remnants. Exile is not a mood. It is a packing list written in the dark.
A refugee is still a delegate.
“He was among the good men who never quit their chairs.”
Edmund Rutledge, of Floyd in Congress · 1776
Homeless is not the same as absent. Connecticut held the wife and children. Philadelphia still had his seat. The British could take Mastic. They could not take the roll call unless he let them.
Do not confuse the house with the country.
“We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. … We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
He was of the island. The island was of the king, for seven years. Kindred did not save the fields. After the appeal fails, you live in someone else's town and keep the vote. That is the adult form of patriotism.
Carry the name. Leave the furniture.
“On October 17, 1776, the Governor of Connecticut sent an armed party across the Long Island Sound to retrieve some of Floyd's possessions.”
Contemporary account of the Mastic evacuation · 1776
An armed party for a few effects. That is what a confiscated life looks like in the minutes. You will not get the orchard. Get the people. Furniture is a Tory's prize. Blood is not.
A refugee who still votes is not a refugee in full.
“He was among the good men who never quit their chairs.”
Edmund Rutledge, of Floyd in Congress · 1776
Homeless is not absent. Connecticut can hold the family. Philadelphia must still hold the name.
Pack for a war, not for a weekend.
“I shall be absent from Congress a few days.”
William Floyd, requesting leave · 1776
A few days became seven years. Pack like the second number. Hope is not a suitcase.
Exile is a county you did not elect. Sit it anyway.
“Thus, for nearly seven years, Mr. Floyd and his family were refugees.”
Charles A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers · 1829
Seven harvests in a stranger's town. Plant courtesy. Keep the vote. That is the adult form of homesickness.
03
Plant Again
3 of 4
Ruin is a season. Planting is a reply.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
He came home in '83 to a wrecked manor, stripped timber, ruined fields. Honor had been pledged. The fortune had been collected. The life was still his. He put seed in the same dirt the cavalry had stabled on. That is how you close an account.
Do not wait for the land to apologize.
“I am going to try to get some of my effects from the island if it is possible.”
Letter requesting leave from Congress · 1776
It was not possible then. It became possible when the army left. The island does not say sorry. It says spring. You answer with a plow or you answer with a lawsuit. Floyd answered with a plow.
Start over twice if the first restoration is not the life.
“He was among the good men who never quit their chairs.”
Edmund Rutledge, of Floyd in Congress · 1776
In 1794 he deeded Mastic to his son and walked into the Oneida woods. Built a house that remembered the first one. Sixty years old and clearing frontier. Restoration is not nostalgia. It is another crop.
The orchard you replant is the argument.
“Floyd if we get our necks in a noose for this — you'll kick half an hour after I'm quiet!”
Recollection of Julia Floyd Delafield · n.d.
He outkicked the joke by forty years. Died 1821, still planting upstate. The noose was a theory. The trees were a fact. Outlive the occupation. Then outplant it.
Come home to a stump and plant it.
“He found his buildings destroyed and his lands wasted.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Wasted is a farming word. Answer it with seed. Monuments do not feed a county.
Do not wait for the British to apologize to the orchard.
“He returned after the evacuation and set himself to restore his affairs.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Evacuation is not restitution. Restore is a verb with a hoe. Use it.
The second planting is the real signature.
“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
Fortunes, second word. He spent it in occupation and spent it again in repair. Twice is the point.
04
Hold the Seat
4 of 4
Attendance is the office.
“He was among the good men who never quit their chairs.”
Edmund Rutledge, of Floyd in Congress · 1776
Floyd almost never spoke. He was there. New York's first name on the parchment. Later the state senate, the First Congress, elector for Washington, for Jefferson. Rhetoric is optional. The chair is not.
Hold the seat through the years they take the house.
“I am going to try to get some of my effects from the island if it is possible and shall be absent from Congress a few days.”
Letter requesting leave from Congress · 1776
A few days for the wreckage. Then back. Exile is not a resignation. The British wanted Long Island quiet and its delegate gone. He was quiet. He was not gone.
Vote. Then vote again under the next charter.
“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
He sat the Continental Congress, the New York Senate, and the First Congress under the Constitution. Same man, three rooms, one habit. The country changed its furniture. He did not change his attendance.
A silent vote still counts.
“Floyd if we get our necks in a noose for this — you'll kick half an hour after I'm quiet!”
Recollection of Julia Floyd Delafield · n.d.
The feeble man talked. Floyd signed. History is loud about orators and quiet about the men who never quit their chairs. Be the chair. Let someone else need the noose joke.
Hold the seat until the island is an island again.
“He continued in Congress through the war, and afterward in the legislature of New York.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Through the war. Absence would have taught Long Island the wrong lesson. Presence is a kind of reoccupation.
A ruined manor still sends a man if the man will go.
“He was chosen to the first Congress under the Constitution.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
First Congress. The house was a wreck and the name still traveled. Send the name. Rebuild on Tuesdays.
Die on the land they took. That is collection.
“He died at his seat on Long Island in 1821.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
The seat, again. They had it for seven years. He had it for the rest. Outlast the garrison.