Dame Arthur, her sisters and an enslaved African woman fortified the house using tongs, pokers, spits, and broomsticks. After negotiation, the besiegers accepted Arthur's promise to sell them tea. They received "a large quantity of the much-loved Bohea" throughout that difficult winter.

The area became known as Teatown. Source: Paper presented to the New-York Historical Society, October 7, 1862, by James MacLean MacDonald.