He was born in New York City in He was named after George Washington He was the youngest of 11 children. He was the first American to make a living entirely from writing. He used many pen names, but the most famous was Diedrich Knickerbocker. A “Knickerbocker” eventually meant anyone from New York, and it became the name of the New York basketball team, today known as the New York Knicks.

He lived in Europe for many years and knew some famous literary people Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein Charles Dickens, the author of ATale of Two Cities He is most famous for two American stories: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” “Rip Van Winkle He died on November 28, 1859 He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.

Hudson River Valley

A Hessian trooper was a German soldier who was paid to fight for England during the Revolutionary War. King George III of England was from Germany. The colonists hated them.

Cotton Mather was an influential Puritan minister in New England during the early 1700’s. He was involved in the Salem witch trials.

Saint Vitus lived in Sicily and died in 303 A.D. We know little about him. In the 16 th century, Germans would dance in front of his statue on his feast day (June 15), and this became a mania. St. Vitus is the patron saint for dancers. St. Vius Dance is a the name of a disease characterized by jerky, uncontrolled movements.

Major André was a traitor in the Revolutionary War who helped Benedict Arnold. He was arrested and hanged.