and the others also received criticism. The divisions in society continued after the war. At his trial André insisted the men were mere brigands; sympathy for Andre remained among some more elite American quarters, which included some Loyalists. (André's reputation was high in England, where his body was returned and he was buried in Westminster Abbey). Representative Benjamin Tallmadge of Connecticut, who had been present as an American officer in Westchester County in 1780 and had a low opinion of the three common militiamen, had accepted André's account of his capture and search. Tallmadge argued in Congress for the rejection of a requested pension increase in 1817 for Paulding. He assailed the credibility and motivations of the three captors. Despite this slight, the men's popular acclaim generally increased throughout the 19th century, although opinion on their motives and actions remained divided. Some modern scholars have interpreted the episode as a major event in early American cultural development, representing the apotheosis of the "common man" in the new democratic society. Personal life Paulding was born on October 16, 1758, at the Paulding homestead near Tarrytown in Peekskill in the Province of New York in what was then British America. He was the son of Joseph Paulding. Paulding was a self-sufficient yeoman farmer and was described as a strong, sturdy man, standing more than six feet tall, unusual for the era. Paulding married three times in his life, and lost two wives to death. In total he had nineteen children by them. On April 21, 1781, he was married to Sarah Tidd (1767–1789) of Salem, New York. After Sarah's death on October 23, 1789, he remarried to Esther Ward (1768–1804) on November 18, 1790. Esther was the daughter of Caleb Ward and Mary (née Drake) Ward. Together, they were the parents of: Hiram Paulding (1797–1878), a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, who served from the War of 1812 until after the Civil War Esther died in 1804 and in 1806, he married for the third time to Hester Denike (d. 1855), the daughter of Isaac Denike of Peekskill. He died in 1818 at Staatsburg, Dutchess County, New York of natural causes. His last words were reported to be: "I die a true republican." He was buried in the cemetery of Old Saint Peter's Church in Van Cortlandtville, Cortlandt Manor. Descendants Paulding's descendants are numerous but perhaps the best-known of them