his tenants—and afterwards Yonkers. Subsequently the tract passed largely into the hands of Frederick Philipse and became part of the manor of Philipsburgh. Early in the War of Independence Yonkers was occupied for a time by part of Washington's army, and was the scene of several skirmishes. The town of Yonkers was incorporated in 1788 and the village in 1855. In 1872 Yonkers became a city; at the same time the southern part was separately incorporated as Kingsbridge, which in 1874 was annexed to New York.
See Frederic Shonnard and W. W. Spooner, History of Westchester County (New York, 1900); J. T . Scharf, History of Westchester County (New York, 1886); and Allison, History of Yonkers (New York, 1896).
YONNE, a department of central France, formed partly from the province of Champagne proper (with its dependencies, Sénonais and Tonnerrois), partly from Burgundy proper (with its dependencies, the county of Auxerre and Avallonnais) and partly from Gâtinais (Orléanais and Île-de-France). It is bounded by Aube on the N.E., Côte-d'Or on the S.E., Nièvre on the S., Loiret on the W. and Seine-et-Marne on the N.W. Pop. (1906) 315,199. Area, 2880 sq. m. The highest elevation (2000 ft.) is in the granitic highlands of Morvan, in the S.E., where other peaks range from 1300 to 1600 ft. The department belongs to the basin of the Seine, except a small district in the S.W. (Puisaye), which belongs to that of the Loire. The river Yonne flows through it from S. to N.N.W., receiving on the right bank the Cure, the Serein and the Armançon, which water the S.E. of the department. Farther N. it is joined by the Vanne, between which and the Armançon lies the forest-clad plateau of the Pays d'Othe. To the W. of the Yonne, in the Puisaye, are the sources of the Loing, another tributary of the Seine, and of its affluents, the Ouanne and the Lunain. The Yonne is navigable throughout the department, and is connected with the Loire by the canal of Nivernais, which in turn is connected with that of Briare, which connects the Seine and the Loire. The climate is temperate, except in the Morvan, where the extremes of heat and cold are greater, and where the rainfall is most abundant. The prevailing winds are S.W. and W.
The department is essentially agricultural. Wheat and oats are the chief cereals; potatoes, sugar-beet, lucerne, mangoldwurzel and other forage plants are also cultivated, and there is much good pasture.
The vineyards of the Tonnerrois and Auxerrois produce the finest red wines of lower Burgundy, and those of Chablis the finest white. The wine of the Côte St Jacques (Joigny) is also highly esteemed. Cider-apples arc the chief fruit. Charny is a centre for the rearing of horses. Forests cover considerable areas of the department and consist chiefly of oak, beech, hornbeam, elm, ash, birch and pine. Quarry products include building-stone, ochre and cement. Among the industrial establishments are tanneries, tile-works, saw-mills and breweries, but there is little manufacturing activity. Cereals, wines, firewood, charcoal, ochre and bark are exported.
The department is served chiefly by the Paris-Lyon railway. The canal of Burgundy, which follows the valley of the Armançon, has a length of 57 m. in the department, that of Nivernais, following the valley of the Yonne, a length of 33 m. The department constitutes the archiepiscopal diocese of Sens, has its court of appeal in Paris, its educational centre at Dijon, and belongs to the district of the V. army corps. It is divided into five arrondissements (37 cantons, 486 communes), of which the capitals are Auxerre, also capital of the department, Avallon, Sens, Joigny and Tonnerre, which with those of Chablis, St Florentin and Vézelay are its most noteworthy towns and are treated separately. Yonne is rich in objects of antiquarian and architectural interest. At Pontigny there is a Cistercian abbey, where Thomas Becket spent two years of his exile. Its church is an excellent type of the Cistercian architecture of the 12th century. The fine 12th-century château of Druyes, which stands on a hill overlooking the village, once belonged to the counts of Auxerre and Nevers. Villeneuve-sur-Yonne has a medieval keep and gateways and a church of the 13th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance châteaux of Fleurigny, Ancy-le-France and Tanlay, the last-named for some time the property of the Coligny family, and the château of St Fargeau, of the 13th century, rebuilt by Mademoiselle de Montpensier under Louis XIV., are all architecturally remarkable. At St Moré there are remains of the Roman road from Lyons to Gallia Belgica and of a Roman fortified post.
YORCK VON WARTENBURG, HANS DAVID LUDWIG, Count (1759–1830), Prussian general field-marshal, was of English ancestry. He entered the Prussian army in 1772, but after seven years' service was cashiered for disobedience. Entering the Dutch service three years later he took part in the operations of 1783–84 in the East Indies as captain. Returning to Prussia in 1785 he was, on the death of Frederick the Great, reinstated in his old service, and in 1794 took part in the operations in Poland, distinguishing himself especially at Szekoczyn. Five years afterwards Yorck began to make a name for himself as commander of a light infantry regiment, being one of the first to give prominence to the training of skirmishers. In 1805 he was appointed to the command of an infantry brigade, and in the disastrous Jena campaign he played a conspicuous and successful part as a rearguard commander, especially at Altenzaun. He was taken prisoner, severely wounded, in the last stand of Blücher's corps at Lübeck. In the reorganization of the Prussian army which followed the peace of Tilsit, Yorck was one of the leading figures. At first major-general commanding the West Prussian brigade, afterwards inspector general of light infantry, he was finally appointed second in command to General Grawert, the leader of the auxiliary corps which Prussia was compelled to send to the Russian War of 1812. The two generals did not agree, Grawert being an open partisan of the French alliance, and Yorck an ardent patriot; but before long Grawert retired, and Yorck assumed the command. Opposed in his advance on Riga by the Russian General Steingell, he displayed great skill in a series of combats which ended in the retirement of the enemy to Riga. Throughout the campaign he had been the object of many overtures from the enemy's generals, and though he had hitherto rejected them, it was soon borne in upon him that the Grand Army was doomed. Marshal Macdonald, his immediate French superior, retreated before the corps of Diebitsch, and Yorck found himself isolated. As a soldier his duty was to break through, but as a Prussian patriot his position was more difficult. He had to judge whether the moment was favourable for the war of liberation; and, whatever might be the enthusiasm of his junior staff-officers, Yorck had no illusions as to the safety of his own head. On December 30th the general made up his mind. The Convention of Tauroggen “neutralized” the Prussian corps. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm, but the Prussian Court dared not yet throw off the mask, and an order was dispatched suspending Yorck from his command pending a court-martial. Diebitsch refused to let the bearer pass through his lines, and the general was finally absolved when the treaty of Kalisch definitely ranged Prussia on the side of the Allies. Yorck's act was nothing less than the turning-point of Prussian history. His veterans formed the nucleus of the forces of East Prussia, and Yorck himself in public took the final step by declaring war as the commander of those forces. On March 17th, 1813, he made his entry into Berlin in the midst of the wildest exuberance of patriotic joy. On the same day the king declared war. During 1813–14 Yorck led his veterans with conspicuous success. He covered Blücher's retreat after Bautzen and took a decisive part in the battles on the Katzbach. In the advance on Leipzig his corps won the action of Wartenburg (October 4) and took part in the crowning victory of October 18th. In the campaign in France Yorck drew off the shattered remnants of Sacken's corps at Montmirail, and decided the day at Laon. The storm of Paris was his last fight. In the campaign of 1815 none of the older men were employed in Blücher's army, in order that Gneisenau (the ablest of the Prussian generals) might be free to assume command in case of the old prince's death. Yorck was appointed to a reserve corps in Prussia, and, feeling that his services were no longer required, he retired from the army. His master would not accept his resignation for a considerable time, and in 1821 made him general field marshal. He had been made Count Yorck von Wartenburg in 1814. The remainder of his life was spent on his estate of Klein Öls, the gift of the king. He died there on the 4th of
