Chapter XII…

Chapter XII

ARK and threatening was the aspect of affairs for the people of the Mohawk Valley, in the spring of 1778, the year succeeding the dispersion of St. Leger's motley force at Fort Schuyler. Brant, with his warriors, retired to Fort Niagara after that event, and during the autumn and winter he and the British and Tory leaders made extensive preparations for war the ensuing spring. Colonel Hamilton was in command at Detroit, engaged actively in endeavors to induce the tribes along the southern shores of the western lakes and the head waters of the Mississippi to join the four divisions of the Six Nations of New York who were in alliance with the crown against the patriots. He was aided by three malignant Tories, M'Kee, Elliot, and Simon Girty. ** They had been confined at Pittsburgh, but, escaping, they traversed the country thence to Detroit, and by proclaiming that the Americans had resolved on the destruction of the Indians, and that their only safety consisted in the immediate alliance of the Delawares and Shawnees with the soldiers of the king, aroused these tribes to a desire for war. Already they had been excited against the whites in general by the irruption into their county of Daniel Boon and others (of which I shall hereafter write), and they listened favorably to the appeal of the refugees. The expedition of McIntosh into the Ohio Valley gave apparent confirmation to the assertions of the Tories, and Captain Pipe (the rival chief of White Eyes of the Delawares, a fast friend of the Americans) at once assembled his warriors, and urged them to follow him immediately upon the war- path. He proclaimed every one an enemy who should speak against his proposition. But White Eyes, the beloved of all, persuaded his people to desist, and sent a message *** to the Shawnees, which had the effect to keep them in check for a time. We shall consider the Indian wars in the Ohio country in detail in a future chapter.

The Johnsons and Colonel John Butler were also active at this juncture upon the St. Lawrence, recruiting Tory refugees, and inducing the Caughnawagas and other tribes to take up the hatchet; and at the dawn of the year a powerful combination was in progress, which threatened the destruction of all the settlements in the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys.

Two of the Six Nations, the Oneidas and the Tuscaroras, were still faithful to their pledge of neutrality, nor were the tribes of the other four yet generally in arms. Congress, therefore, resolved to make another effort to secure their neutrality, if not a defensive alliance. ****

* The Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, and Cayugas.

** Girty was an unmitigated scoundrel, and was far more savage in his feelings than the Indians. He was present when Colonel Crawford was tortured by the Indians in 1782, and looked upon his agonies with demoniac pleasure. The same year he caused the expulsion of the peaceful Moravians, who were laboring usefully among the Wyandots; and he personally ill treated them when driven away. He instigated an Indian warrior, at the defeat of St. Clair in 1791, to tomahawk the American General Butler, who lay wounded on the field, and to scalp him, and take out his heart for distribution among the tribes. There were some Tories, even active ones, whom we can respect; but miscreants like Girty and Walter Butler, of the Mohawk Valley, present no redeeming quality to plead for excuse.

*** The message was as follows: "Grandchildren, ye Shawnees: Some days ago a flock of birds [M'Kec, Elliot, and Girty], that had come on from the east, lit at Gaschochking, imposing a song of theirs upon us, which song had nigh proved our ruin. Should these birds, which, on leaving us, took their flight toward Scioto, endeavor to impose a song on you likewise, do not listen to them, for they lie."

**** A resolution to this effect was adopted by Congress on the 2d of February, 1778. They instructed the commissioners to "Speak to the Indians in language becoming the representatives of free, sovereign, and independent states, and in such a tone as to convince them that they felt themselves so."--Journals of Congress, iv., 63.

Council at Johnstown.--Disposition of the Different Notions.--Colonel Campbell and La Fayette.--Forts strengthened.

265A council was called, and the chiefs of all the Six Nations were invited to attend. General Schuyler and Volkert P. Douw were appointed commissioners to attend the meeting and act in behalf of Congress. They requested Governor Clinton to send a special commissioner to be present at the council, and James Duane was accordingly appointed. The council met at Johnstown on the 9th of March. More than seven hundred Indians were present, consisting of Tuscaroras, Oneidas, and Onondagas, a small number of Mohawks, 1777 three Cayugas, but not one of the Senecas, the most powerful and warlike tribe of the confederacy. The latter not only refused to attend, but sent a message affecting great surprise that they were invited to such a council. * It is not certainly known that General Schuyler was present at the meeting. La Fayette accompanied Duane, and the latter seems to have conducted the proceedings on the part of Congress. They were opened by an address from that body, charging the Indians with perfidy, cruelty, and treachery, while the conduct of the United States had been true and magnanimous toward them. An old Onondaga hypocritically acknowledged and bewailed the sins of his tribe, but charged them upon the young and headstrong warriors who had been seduced by the Tory leaders. The Mohawks and Cayugas were sullen and silent, while an Oneida chief, conscious of the faithfulness of his own tribe and of the Tuscaroras, spoke eloquently in behalf of both, concluding with a solemn assurance that the United States might rely upon their abiding friendship. Those two tribes were applauded by the commissioners, while the others were dismissed with an admonition to look well to their ways, as the arm of the United States was powerful, and vengeance might penetrate the remotest settlements of the Senecas. The council, on the whole, was unsatisfactory, for it was evident that the most warlike and important tribes, with Brant at their head, still brooded over their loss at Oriskany, and were determined on revenge.

While La Fayette was at Johnstown, Colonel Samuel Campbell, of Cherry Valley, waited upon him and directed his attention to the exposed condition of that settlement and of those upon the Schoharie Creek. The people had built three slight fortifications the preceding year, but they were quite insufficient for sure protection. They were merely embankments of earth thrown up around strong stone houses, and stockaded, into which the women and children might flee for safety in the event of an invasion. They were respectively known as the Upper, Middle, and Lower Forts. ** By direction of La Fayette, these were each manned by a company of soldiers, with a small brass field piece. He also directed a fort to be erected in the Oneida country, and Forts Schuyler and Dayton to be strengthened; and, as we have already noticed, Fort Plain was afterward enlarged and more strongly fortified. These and far more efficient preparations for defense were necessary; for the recovery of the Mohawk-Valley, where their property was situated, was an object too important to the Johnsons, Butlers, and the large number of refugees who accompanied them to Canada, not to induce extraordinary efforts for its attainment. Their spies and scouts were out in every direction, and, at the very time of the council at Johnstown, Colonel Guy Carleton, a nephew of the Governor of Canada of the same name, was lurking in the neighborhood, to watch the actions and to report upon the dispositions of the chiefs in conclave. His employers at the same time were upon the frontiers, preparing for invasion.

* "It is strange," said the messenger, "that while your tomahawks are sticking in our heads [referring to the battle of Oriskany], our wounds bleeding, and our eyes streaming with tears for the loss ol our friends at German Flats [Oriskany], the commissioners should think of inviting us to a treaty."--From a MS. Letter of James Duane, cited by Stone.

** These were situated in the Schoharie Valley. The Upper Fort was near the margin of Schoharie Creek, about five miles southeast of Middleburgh village, and within the limits of the present town of Fulton. The remains of the Middle Fort are still visible, near Middleburgh, on the plain east of the road lending to Schoharie. The Lower Fort was five miles north of Middleburgh, at the village of Schoharie. An old stone church (yet standing, but much altered from the original), one mile northward of the court-house, was within the intrenchments, and formed the citadel of the fort. The ramparts inclosed the two story stone house of John Becker, the kitchen part of which was, until recently, well preserved. Temporary dwellings were erected within the inclosure, and in these the inhabitants kept their most valuable things. See Simms's Schoharie, &c., p. 269.

Settlers of Tryon County.--Destruction of Springfield.--M'Kean and Brant

266Early in the spring, Brant and his warriors, with a large number of Tories, appeared 1778 at Oghkwaga, his headquarters the previous year. There he organized scalping parties and sent them out upon the borderers.

The settlers were cut off in detail. Marauding parties fell upon isolated families like bolts from the clouds, and the blaze of dwellings upon the hills and in the valleys nightly warned the yet secure inhabitant to be on the alert. Their dwellings were transformed into block-houses. The women were taught the use of weapons, and stood sentinels when the men were at work. Half-grown children were educated for scouts, and taught to discern the Indian trail, and every man worked armed in his field. Such was the condition of the dwellers of Tryon county during almost the whole time of the war.

Brant's first hostile movement of consequence, after his return to Oghkwaga, was the destruction of a small settlement at Springfield, at the head of Otsego lake, ten miles west of Cherry Valley. It was in the month of May. Every house was burned but one, into which the women and children were collected and kept unharmed. The absence of Tories in that expedition, and the freedom to act as he pleased on the part of Brant, may account for this humanity. Several men were made captive, and, with considerable property, were carried off to Oghkwaga.

In June, Captain McKean, at the head of some volunteers, was sent to reconnoiter Brant's encampment at Oghkwaga. M'Kean's headquarters were at Cherry Valley. On his way down the valley of the Charlotte River, he learned that large war-parties were out, and, fearing a surprise, thought it prudent to return. He halted an hour to refresh, and wrote a letter to Brant, censuring him for his predatory warfare; he intimating that he was too cowardly to show himself in open and honorable conflict, M'Kean challenged him to meet him in single combat, or with an equal number of men, to try their skill, courage, and strength; and concluded by telling him that if he would come to Cherry Valley, they would change him from a Brant to a goose. * This was an injudicious movement, and, doubtless, incited

* This letter was fastened to a stick and placed in an Indian path. It soon reached Brant, and irritated him exceedingly. In a letter written soon afterward to a Tory named Cass, he said, 'Who people of Cherry Valley, though bold in words, will find themselves mistaken in calling me a goose.

Battle in the Schoharie Country.--Arrival of Regulars.--Escape of Walter Butler.--Treachery of Great Tree

267the sachem, in some degree, to join Butler, a few months later, in desolating that settlement.

There was an engagement on the 2d of July, on the upper branch of the Cobelskill, between a party of regular troops and Schoharie militia, fifty-two in number, and an Indian force four hundred and fifty strong. The Americans, commanded by Captain Christian Brown, were overpowered. Fourteen were killed, eight wounded, two were missing, and the remainder escaped. The dwellings were burned, and the horses and cattle, which the victors could not take with them, were slaughtered in the fields. At the same time, Colonel John Butler, who had penetrated the country from Niagara with a body of Indians and Tories, eleven hundred strong, broke into the Valley of Wyoming and laid it waste. July 3-4, 1778 Of this I shall write in detail hereafter. We have already considered the destruction of the settlement at German Flats, toward the close of this summer. Scalping parties continued to infest the Schoharie and neighboring settlements until quite late in September, when troops from the main army checked their depredations for a while. A few days after the battle of Monmouth, a Colonel William Butler, with a Pennsylvania regimentJune 23, 1778 and a detachment of Morgan's rifle corps, * was ordered to Tryon county, and took post at Schoharie, whence parties were sent out to chastise the white and red savages, and to protect threatened settlements. They accomplished but little, however, except in intercepting bands of Tories that were making their way from the Hudson River settlements to join Johnson at Niagara. One of these parties, collected in the vicinity of Catskill, under a Captain Smith, was dispersed, the Commander killed, and several of the men made prisoners. This, and a few other exploits of a similar character, inspired the people with confidence, and they anticipated a season of repose. But it was of short duration, for already a cloud was gathering in the west, full charged with desolation.

We have noticed the fact that Walter Butler, a son of Colonel John Butler, was arrested near Fort Dayton in August, 1777, tried, and condemned to death as a spy, but reprieved and sent a prisoner to Albany. He was closely confined in the jail there until the spring of 1778, when, through the interposition of his father's friends, some of them of the highest respectability, he was liberated from prison, and allowed to reside with a private family, having a single sentinel to guard him. This family proved to be Tories in disguise. The sentinel was made drunk, and young Butler, mounting a fleet horse, escaped, and joined his father at Niagara, just after the massacre of Wyoming. On his way through the Seneca country he excited the Indians, by tales of the extensive preparations which the Americans were making to penetrate and lay waste their country, and they were soon ripe for invading the white settlements.

About this time a Seneca chief, called Great Tree, who was with Washington during the summer, left for his own country and nation, with the strongest professions of friendship for the Americans. He promised to use his influence in keeping the Senecas neutral, and, if unsuccessful, he was to return with his personal adherents and join the friendly Oneidas. According to his own account, he found his people in arms, and uttering loud defiance against the whites. The chiefs and principal warriors were collected at Kanadaseago and Genesee; and Great Tree, believing the stories of Butler, and finding his people very united, resolved to join his nation in chastising any whites that might penetrate their county. He was a popular orator and warrior, and his adherence gave the Senecas much joy. The Indians west of the Oneidas "were thus prepared to follow a leader upon the war-path.

Walter Butler obtained from his father the command of a detachment of his Rangers, and permission to employ them, with the forces of Captain Brant, in an expedition against the

* Timothy Murphy, the man who shot General Fraser at Bemis's Heights, was in this detachment, and became the terror of the Indians and Tories in the Schoharie country. He used a double-barreled rifle, and the Indians, seeing him fire twice without stopping to load, supposed that he could fire as often as he pleased in the same manner.

Butler and Brant march toward Cherry Valley.--Colonel Alden warned.-- Capture of American Scouts

268settlements in Tryon county. It was late in the season, but he thirsted for revenge because of his imprisonment, and departed eastward early in October. While on his way, and near

1778 Genesee, he met Brant, with his warriors, going from his camp upon the Susquehanna to his winter-quarters at Niagara. Brant felt a deep personal hatred toward young Butler, and this feeling was greatly increased on finding himself made subordinate to the latter. But the difficulty, which threatened, at first, to be serious, was soon adjusted. Thayendanegea had thought much of the insulting letter of Captain M'Kean, and more willingly turned his face back toward the settlements. The united forces amounted to about seven hundred men.

This movement was known to Mr. Dean, an Indian interpreter in the Oneida country, early in October, and he communicated the information to Major Cochran, then in command at Fort Schuyler. That officer sent a messenger with the intelligence to Colonel Alden, at Cherry Valley, and also to the garrisons of the Schoharie forts; but the presence of the Pennsylvania troops and riflemen had lulled the people into fancied security, and the report of the oncoming invasion was treated as an idle Indian tale.

Cherry Valley, the wealthiest and most important settlement near the head waters of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, was the enemy's chosen point of attack. Colonel Ichabod Alden, of Massachusetts, was in command of the fort there, with about two hundred and fifty Continental troops. * On the 8th of November the commandant received a dispatch from Fort Schuyler, informing him that his post was about to be attacked by a large force of Indians and Tories, then assembled upon the Tioga River. Colonel Alden treated the information with unconcern, but the inhabitants were greatly alarmed. They asked permission to move into the fort or to deposit their most valuable articles there, but the colonel, regarding the alarm as really groundless, refused his consent. He assured them, at the same time, that he would be vigilant in keeping scouts upon the look-out and the garrison in preparation, and, accordingly, on the 9th parties were sent out in various directions. One of these, which went down toward the Susquehanna, built a fire at their encampment, fell asleep, and awoke prisoners in the hands of Butler and Brant. All necessary information concerning the settlement was extorted from them, and the next day the enemy moved forward and encamped upon a lofty hill covered with evergreens, about a mile southwest of the village, and overlooking the whole settlement. From that observatory they could see almost every house in the village; and from the prisoners they learned that the officers were quartered out of the fort, and that Colonel Alden and Lieutenant-colonel Stacia were at the house of Robert Wells, recently judge of the county, and formerly an intimate friend of Sir William Johnson and Colonel John Butler.

November 10, 1778 Early in the morning the enemy marched slowly toward the village. Snow had fallen during the night, and the morning was dark and misty. When near the village, the Tories halted to examine their muskets, for the dampness had injured their powder. The Indians, and particularly the ferocious Senecas, eager for blood and plunder, pushed forward in the van during the halt. A settler, on horseback, going toward the village, was shot, but, being slightly wounded, escaped and gave the alarm. Colonel Alden could not yet believe that the enemy was near in force, but he was soon convinced by the sound of the war-whoop that broke upon the settlement, and the girdle of fierce savages, with gleaming hatchets, that surrounded the house of Mr. Wells. They rushed in and murdered the whole family. ** Colonel Alden escaped from a window, but was pursued, tomahawked, and scalped.

* While Brant was collecting his troops at Oghkwaga the previous year, the strong stone mansion of Colonel Samuel Campbell, at Cherry Valley, was fortified, to be used as a place of retreat for the women and children in the event of an attack. An embankment of earth and logs was thrown up around it, and included two barns. Small block-houses were erected within the inclosure. This was the only fort at Cherry Valley at the time in question.

** The family of Mr. Wells consisted of himself and wife, mother, brother and sister (John and Jane), and a daughter. His son John (the late eminent counselor of New York) was then at school in Schenectady, and was the only survivor of the family. They had all been living at Schenectady for some months, for security, but the alarm in the region of Cherry Valley having subsided, they had just returned. The destruction of the Wells family was marked by circumstances of peculiar ferocity, and I mention them to exhibit the infernal character which the passions of men assume when influenced by the horrid teachings in the school of war. One of the Tories boasted that he cleft open the head of Mr. Wells while on his knees in prayer. His sister Jane was distinguished for her beauty, virtues, and accomplishments. When the enemy burst into the house, she fled to a pile of wood and endeavored to conceal herself. An Indian pursued and caught her. He then wiped his knife, dripping with the blood of her relatives, sheathed it, and deliberately took his tomahawk from his girdle. At that moment a Tory, who had been a domestic in the family of Mr. Wells, relented, and, springing forward, claimed her as his sister. The savage thrust him aside and buried his hatchet in her temple. It is said that Colonel John Butler, professedly grieved at the conduct of his son at Cherry Valley, remarked, on one occasion, "I would have gone miles on my knees to save that family, and why my son did not do it, God only knows."

Mr. Dunlap.--Mr. Mitchell.--Destruction of the Settlement.--Treatment of Prisoners.--Butler's Savageism and Brant's Humanity

269The house of the venerable minister, Mr. Dunlap (whose wife was the mother of Mrs. Wells), and that of a Mr. Mitchell, were next attacked, and most of the inmates murdered. Mr. Dunlap and his daughter at home were protected by Little Aaron, a Mohawk chief, who led him to his door and there stood by his side, and preserved his life and property. But the good old man sank under the terrible calamity of that day, and joined his lost ones in the spirit land within a year thereafter. Many other families of less note were cut off. Thirty-two of the inhabitants, mostly women and children, and sixteen soldiers of the garrison, were killed. The whole settlement was plundered after the massacre had ceased, and every building in the village was fired when the enemy left with their prisoners and booty. Among the prisoners were the wife and children of Colonel Campbell, who was absent at the time. He returned to find his property laid waste and his family carried into captivity.

The prisoners, numbering nearly forty, were marched down the valley that night in a storm of sleet, and were huddled together promiscuously, some of them half naked, with no shelter but the leafless trees, or resting- place but the wet ground. The marauders, finding the women and children cumbersome, sent them all back the next day, except Mrs. Campbell, her aged mother, ** and her children, and a Mrs. Moore, who were kept as hostages for the kind treatment and ultimate exchange of the family of Colonel John Butler. The returning prisoners carried back with them a letter from Walter Butler to General Schuyler, in which he pretended that feelings of mercy for the almost naked and helpless captives were the incentive that caused him to release them; disclaimed all desire to injure the weak and defenseless; and closed by assuring him that, if Colonel John Butler's family were longer detained, he would not restrain the Indians from indulgence in murder and rapine. The "tender mercy" of Butler was that of "the wicked." He was the head and front of all the cruelty at Cherry Valley on that day. He commanded the expedition, and while he saw, unmoved, the murder of his father's friend and family, and of others whose age and sex should have secured his regard, his savage ally, the "monster Brant," hastened to save that very family, but was too late. *** Butler would not allow his Rangers even to warn their friends

* Mr. Mitchell was in the field when the invasion took place, and found safety in the woods. After the enemy had retired, he hastened to the village, when he found his house on fire and the dead bodies of his wife and three children lying within. He extinguished the flames, and discovered his little daughter terribly mangled, but yet alive. He took her to the door, hoping fresh air might revive her, when he discovered a straggling party of the enemy near. He had just time to conceal himself, when a Tory sergeant named Newberry, whose acts in Schoharie entitle him to a seat in the councils of Pandemonium, approached, and, seeing the poor child lying upon the door-stone, dispatched her with a blow of a hatchet. This miscreant was afterward caught and hung by order of General Clinton.

** Mrs. Cannon, the mother of Mrs. Campbell, was quite old. She was an encumbrance, and a savage slew her with his tomahawk, by the side of her daughter, who, with a babe eighteen months old in her arms, was driven with inhuman haste before her captors, while, with uplifted hatchets, they menaced her life. Arriving among the Senecas, she was kindly treated, and installed a member of one of the families. They allowed her to do as she pleased, and her deportment was such that she seemed to engage the real affections of the people. Perceiving that she wore caps, one was presented to her, considerably spotted with blood. On examination, she recognized it as one that had belonged to her friend, Jane Wells. She and her children (from whom she was separated in the Indian country) were afterward exchanged for the wife and family of Colonel John Butler, then in the custody of the Committee of Safety at Albany.

*** There are many well-authenticated instances on record of the humanity of Brant, exercised particularly toward women and children. He was a magnanimous victor, and never took the life of a former friend or acquaintance. He loved a hero because of his heroism, although he might be his enemy, and he was never known to take advantage of a conquered soldier. I have mentioned the challenge which Captain M'Kean sent to Brant. After the affair at Cherry Valley, he inquired of one of the prisoners for Captain M'Kean, who, with his family, had left the settlement. "He sent me a challenge," said Brant. "I came to accept it. He is a fine soldier thus to retreat." It was replied, "Captain M'Kean would not turn his back upon an enemy when there was any probability of success." "I know it," replied Brant. "He is a brave man, and I would have given more to take him than any other man in Cherry Valley; but I would not have hurt a hair of his head."

*** Dr. Timothy Dwight relates that Walter Butler ordered a woman and child to be slain, in bed, at Cherry Valley, when Brant interposed, saying, "What! kill a woman and child! That child is not an enemy to the king nor a friend to Congress. Long before he will be big enough to do any mischief, the dispute will be settled." When, in 1780, Sir John Johnson and Brant led a desolating army through the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys, Brant's humanity was again displayed. On their way to Fort Hunter an infant was carried off. The frantic mother followed them as far as the fort, but could get no tidings of her child. On the morning after the departure of the invaders, and while General Van Rensselaer's officers were at breakfast, a young Indian came bounding into the room, bearing the infant in his arms and a letter from Captain Brant, addressed to "the commander of the rebel army." The letter was as follows: "Sir--I send you, by one of my runners, the child which he will deliver, that, you may know that, whatever others may do, I do not make war upon women and children. I am sorry to say that I have those engaged with me who are more savage than the savages themselves." He named the Butlers and others of the Tory leaders This incident was related to Mr. Stone by the late General Morgan Lewis.

Character of Walter Butler.--The Settlements menaced.--Expedition against the Onondagas.--Destruction of their Towns

270in the settlement of the approaching danger, but friend and foe were left exposed to the terrible storm; he had sworn vengeance, and his bad heart would not be content until its cravings were satisfied.

Tender charity may seek to cloak his crimes with the plea that partisan warfare justified his deeds; and lapse of time, which mellows such crimson tints in the picture of a man's character, may temper the asperity with which shocked humanity views his conduct; yet a just judgment, founded upon observation of his brief career, must pronounce it a stain upon the generation in which he lived. After the destruction of Cherry Valley his course was short, but bold, cruel, and bloody. British officers of respectability viewed him with horror and disgust; and when, in 1781, he was slain by the Oneidas on the banks of the West Canada Creek, his body was left to decay, while his fallen companions were buried with respect.

With the destruction of Cherry Valley all hostile movements ceased in Tryon county, and were not resumed until the following spring, when an expedition was sent against the Onondagas by General Clinton. Frequent messages had been sent by the Oneidas during the winter, all reporting that Brant and his Tory colleagues were preparing for some decisive blow. The Onondagas, in the mean while, were making peaceful professions, expressing a desire to remain neutral, while they were in league and in secret correspondence with the leaders in the hostile camp at Niagara. Policy, and even the necessity born of the law of self- preservation, seemed to demand the infliction of summary and severe chastisement upon the savages who menaced and desolated the Tryon county settlements. Early in the winter General Schuyler had assured Congress that, unless something of the kind was speedily done, Schenectady must soon become the boundary of settlement in that direction.

The arrangement of an expedition against the Indians was intrusted to General Clinton. April 18,1779 In April he dispatched a portion of the regiments of Colonels Gansevoort and Van Schaick, under the latter officer, against the Onondagas., The party consisted of five hundred and fifty-eight strong men. Van Schaick was instructed to burn their castle and villages in the Onondaga Valley, destroy all their cattle and other effects, and make as many prisoners as possible. He was further instructed to treat the women that might fall into his hands with all the respect due to chastity. The expedition went down Wood Creek and Oneida Lake, and thence up the Oswego River to the point on Onondaga Lake where Salina now is. A thick fog concealed their movements, and they had approached to within four or five miles of the valley before they were discovered. As soon as the first village was attacked, the alarm spread to the others. The people fled to the forests, leaving every thing, even their arms, behind them. Three villages, consisting of about fifty houses, were destroyed; twelve Indians were killed, and thirty-three were made prisoners. A large quantity of

Alarm of the Oneidas.--Expedition against Oswegatchle.--Attack on Cobelskill.--Scalping Parties.

271provisions, consisting chiefly of beans and corn, was consumed. The council-house, or castle, was not burned, but the swivel in it was spiked. All the horses and cattle in the vicinity were slaughtered; and, when the work of destruction was ended, the expedition returned to Fort Schuyler, after an absence of only six days, and without the loss of a man.

This expedition, cruel and of doubtful policy, alarmed the neutral Oneidas. * They were faithful to the Americans, yet, having intermarried freely with the Onondagas, their relations had been slain or impoverished, and this distressed them. They sent a deputation to Fort Schuyler to inquire into the matter. Colonel Van Schaick pacified, if he did not satisfy, them, and they returned-to their people. But the ire of the Onondagas was fiercely kindled, not only on account of the destruction of their property, but because of the extinguishment of their council fire. Three hundred braves were immediately sent upon the war-path, charged with the vengeance of the nation. Guided by a Tory, they came down fiercely upon the settlement at Cobelskill, ** murdering, plundering, and burning. The militia turned out to repulse them, but, being led into an ambuscade, a number of them were killed. They fought desperately, and while the militia was thus contending, and beating back the savages, the people fled in safety to Schoharie. Seven of the militia took post in a strong house, which the savages set fire to, and these brave young men all perished in the flames. The whole settlement was then plundered and burned. The patriots lost twenty-two killed, and forty-two who were made prisoners.

While this expedition was in progress, scalping parties appeared at the different points in the lower section of the Mohawk, and the settlements were menaced with the fate of Cherry Valley. On the south side of the Mohawk a party fell upon the Canajoharie settlement, took three prisoners, captured some horses, and drove the people to Fort Plain. On the same day another party attacked a small settlement at Stone Arabia, *** burned some April 18, 1779 houses, and killed several people. A party of Senecas appeared at Schoharie on the same day, drove the people to the fort, plundered the houses, and carried away two men prisoners. These simultaneous attacks were part of a plan for cutting off the settlement in detail. The Indians on the south of the Mohawk were from the Seneca country, and those on the north from Canada, both, doubtless, the advanced parties of larger forces. The settlements were thoroughly alarmed. The Palatine **** Committee wrote immediately to General Clinton, at Albany, for succor. That efficient officer afforded immediate aid, and, by the timely check thus given to the invaders, the settlers of the valley were prevented from being driven into Schenectady. (v) Other settlements near the Delaware and on the frontiers of Ulster county were visited by the Indians# in May and the early part of June; and in July the battle of Minisink occurred, the particulars of which will be hereafter July 20, 1779 related.

In the spring of thig year it was determined to send a formidable force into the Indian country of Western New York, for the purpose of chastising the savages and their Tory allies so thoroughly that the settlements upon the Mohawk and the upper branches of the Susquehanna might enjoy a season of repose. The tribes of the Six Nations were then populous. They had many villages, vast corn-fields, and fruitful orchards and gardens in the

* At the time of this expedition there were about forty Oneida warriors at Fort Schuyler. These were sent, with a party of regulars, under Lieutenants M'Lellan and Hardonburgh, northward to attack the fort at Oswegatchie. This expedition was unsuccessful in its ostensible object, the garrison having been apprised of their approach. It is supposed that the employment of the Oneidas so far away that they could not notify their kinsmen, the Onondagas, of the invasion, was the principal object of this northern movement, and in that it was successful. The Oneidas were really friendly to the patriots, but to their credit it was said by General Clinton (who knew them well), in a letter to General Sullivan, "Their attachment to one another is too strong to admit of their being of any service when employed against their fellows."

** Cobelskill was taken from Schoharie. The little village is about ten miles west of the former.

*** Stone Arabia is about three miles north of the Mohawk, in the rear of Palatine, and thirteen west of Johnstown.

**** Palatine is on the north side of the Mohawk, opposite Cannjoharie, with which it is connected by a bridge

(v) Campbell's Annals; Stone's Brant.

Preparations to invade the Indian Country.--General Sullivan, Commander- in-chief.--General James Clinton

272fertile country westward of Otsego Lake.

It was supposed that the most effectual method to subdue or weaken them would be to destroy their homes and lay waste their fields, and thus drive them further back into the wilderness toward Lake Erie.

Already the Mohawks had been thrust out of the valley of their name, and their families were upon the domains of the Ca-yugas and Senecas. It was, therefore, determined to make a combined movement upon them of two strong divisions of military, one from Pennsylvania and the other from the north, at a season when their fields and orchards were fully laden with grain and fruits. It was a part of the plan of the expedition to penetrate the country to Niagara, and break up the nest of vipers there.

General Sullivan * was placed in the chief command, and led in person the division that ascended the Susquehanna from Wyoming, while General Clinton ** commanded the forces that penetrated the country from the mouth of the Canajoharie. It was arranged to unite the two divisions at Tioga.

Clinton's troops, fifteen hundred strong, were mustered at Canajoharie on the 15th of June, and on the 17th he commenced the transportation of his bateaux and provisions across the hilly country to Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, a distance of more than twenty

* John Sullivan was born in Berwick, Maine, on the 17th of February, 1740. His family emigrated to Ameriea from Ireland in 1723. He was a farmer in his youth, and, after arriving at maturity, he studied law, and established himself in practice in Durham, New Hampshire. He was chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress. After retiring from that body, he and John Langdon, the speaker of the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire, commanded a small force which seized Fort William and Mary, at Portsmouth, and carried off all the cannon. He was appointed one of the eight brigadiers when the Continental army was organized in 1775, and early in the following year he was made a major general. He superseded Arnold in the command of the American army in Canada in 1776. When General Greene became in on Long Island, he took command of his division, and was made prisoner at the battle fought there in August, 1776. He was exchanged, and took command of General Charles Lee's division in New Jersey after the capture of that officer. In the autumn of 1777 he was engaged in the battles at the Brandywine and Germantown, and in the winter following he took command of the troops on Rhode Island. He besieged Newport in August, 1778, was unsuccessful, and retreated from the island after a severe battle near the north end. He commanded the expedition against the Indians in 1779, and this was the last of his military career. Having offended some of the members of the Board of War, and believing himself ill treated, he resigned his commission in 1779. He was afterward a member of Congress, and, for three years from 1786, was President of New Hampshire. In 1789 he was appointed district judge, whieh office he held until his death, whieh occurred January 23d, 1795.

** James Clinton was born in Ulster county, New York, August 9th, 1736. At the age of twenty (1756) he was captain, under Bradstreet, in the attack on Fort Frontenac. In 1763 he was intrusted with the command of four companies in Ulster and Orange, raised for defense against the inroads of the savages. He, with his brother George (the Governor of New York during the Revolution), early espoused the patriot cause. He was appointed a colonel in 1775, and accompanied Montgomery to Canada. In August, 1776, he was made a brigadier; and he was in command, under Governor Clinton, at Forts Montgomery and Clinton when they fell into the hands of the enemy in 1777. He escaped, and made his way to his residence in safety. Conjointly with Sullivan, he led the expedition against the Indians in 1779. During the remainder of the war he was connected with the Northern Department, having his quarters at Albany. He retired to his estate, near Newburgh, Orange county, New York, after the Revolution, where he died December 22d, 1812, aged 75 years. He was the father of De Witt Clinton, the eminent Governor of New York in 1826- 7.

Capture of Hare and Newberry.--Information from General Schuyler.--Mr. Denne.--Damming of Otsego Lake.--Its Effects.

273miles. It was an arduous duty, for his boats numbered two hundred and twenty, and he had provisions sufficient for three months. He reached Springfield, with all his luggage, on the 30th. On his way he captured Hare and Newberry, two notorious spies, the former a lieutenant in the British service, and the latter the miscreant whom we have already noticed as the murderer of Mr. Mitchell's wounded child at Cherry Valley. They were tried, and hanged "pursuant to the sentence of the court, and to the entire satisfaction of the inhabitants of the county." *

Clinton, with his division, proceeded to the foot of Otsego Lake, and there awaited July 1,1779 orders from Sullivan. A day or two after his arrival, General Schuyler communicated to him the important information that the purpose of the expedition was known to the enemy, and that four hundred and fifty regular troops, one hundred Tories, and thirty Indians had been sent from Montreal to re-enforce the tribes against whom it was destined. This information General Schuyler received from a spy whom he had sent into Canada. The spy had also informed him that they were to be joined by one half of Sir John Johnson's regiment and a portion of the garrison at Niagara. On the 5th, Mr. Deane, ** the Indian interpreter, arrived with thirty-five Oneida warriors, who came to explain the absence of their tribe, whom Clinton, by direction of Sullivan, had solicited to join him. *** They confirmed the intelligence sent by Schuyler, and added that a party of Cayugas and Tories, three hundred in number, were then upon the war-path, and intended to hang upon the outskirts of Clinton's army on its march to Tioga.

Clinton remained at the south end of Otsego Lake, awaiting the tardy movements of Sullivan, until the first week in August. His troops became impatient, yet he was not idle. He performed a feat which exhibited much ingenuity and forecast. He discovered that, in consequence of a long drought, the outlet of the lake was too inconsiderable to allow his boats to pass down upon its waters. He therefore raised a dam across it at the foot of the lake, by which the waters would be so accumulated that, when it should be removed, the bed of the outlet would be filled to the brim, and bear his boats upon the flood. The work was soon accomplished, and, in addition to the advantages which it promised to the expedition, the damming of the lake caused great destruction of grain upon its borders, for its banks were overflowed, and vast corn- fields belonging to the Indians were deluged and destroyed. The event also greatly alarmed the savages. It was a very dry season, and they regarded the sudden rising of the lake, without any apparent cause, as an evidence that the Great Spirit was displeased with them. And when Clinton moved down the stream with his large flotilla upon its swollen flood, the Indians along its banks were amazed, and retreated into the depths of the forest.

Sullivan and Clinton formed a junction at Tioga on the 22d of August, the entire force amounting to five thousand men, consisting of the brigades of Generals Clinton, 1779

* So said General Clinton in a letter to General Schuyler. The latter remarked, in reply, "In executing Hare you have rid the state of the greatest villain in it. I hope his abettors in the country will meet with a similar exaltation."

** James Deane was the first settler in the town of Westmoreland, Oneida eounty. He was the son of pious New England parents, and at the age of eleven years was sent among the Indians upon the Susquehanna to learn their language, for the purpose of becoming a missionary among them. He was afterward a student in Dartmouth College. On the breaking out of the war, he was appointed Indian agent, with the rank of major in the army, and during the contest he was most of the time among the Oneidas. At the close of hostilities the Oneidas granted him a tract of land two miles square, near Rome, in Oneida county, which he afterward exchanged for a tract in Westmoreland, where he removed in 1786, and resided until his death in 1832.

*** General Clinton was averse to the employment of the Oneidas or any other Indians; but such being the orders of his superior, he engaged Mr. Deane to negotiate with them. The Oneidas, to a man, volunteered to accompany the expedition, and the few Onondagas who still adhered to the Americans were also ready to join Clinton. But on the 23d the Oneidas received an address at Fort Schuyler, from General Haldimand, written in the Iroquois language; and so alarming were the menaces it contained, that they suddenly changed their minds, and determined to stay at home and defend their own castles and dwellings.

March of Sullivan's Expedition.--Fortifications of the Enemy.--General Edward Hand.--The Battle

274Hand, Maxwell, and Poor, together with Proctor's artillery and a corps of riflemen. The movement of the expedition had been so slow that the enemy was prepared to receive them. Near Conewawah * (Newtown in the histories of the battle), a considerable Indian village at the junction of the Newtown Creek with the Chemung River, they had thrown up breastworks half a mile in length, where they had determined to make a bold stand against the invaders.

The Americans moved cautiously up the Tioga and Chemung, having large flanking par ties on either side, and p. strong advanced and rear guard, for they were told that detachments of the enemy were hovering around, ready to strike when an opportunity should offer. On their march they destroyed a small Indian settlement August 29, 1779 and the next day Major Parr, of the advanced guard, discovered the enemy's works. These were about a mile in advance of Conewawah, and were so covered by a bend in the river, that only the front and one flank were exposed to the fire of the assailants. That flank rested upon a steep hill or ridge running nearly parallel with the river.

Further to the left was another ridge, running in the same direction, and passing in the rear of the American army. Detachments of the enemy were stationed on both hills, having a line of communication; and they were so disposed that they might fall upon the assailants, flank and rear, as soon as the action should commence. The Tories and Indians were further protected by the pine-trees and shrub oaks that covered the ground. Hoping that the Americans might not discover their concealed fortification, they had arranged it in such a relative position to the road along which the invaders must pass, that the whole flank of the army would be exposed to an enfilading fire. Happily for the Americans, their preparations were discovered in time.

General Hand *** formed the light infantry about four hundred yards from the breast-works, and, while thus waiting for the main body to come up, was several times attacked by small parties of Indians, who sallied out, raised the war-whoop, and then retreated within the works. The hill upon the right swarmed with savages, and Sullivan ordered Poor to sweep it with his brigade. He immediately commenced the ascent, and the action became warm His progress was bravely disputed for two hours, when the enemy slowly gave way. They darted from tree to tree as they yielded inch by inch; and from behind rocks, and bushes, and trees they galled the Americans terribly with a scattering fire. Brant was at the head of the savages, and Sir John Johnson, aided by the Butlers and Captain M'Donald, one of

* Conewawah was upon the site of the present village of Elmira. The name is an Iroquois word, signifying a head on a pole. It was beautifully situated in-the midst of a fertile valley, and, at the time of the invasion, was surrounded by fruitful orchards and broad fields of flowering corn. The place became a white settlement, and was incorporated by the name of Newtown in 1815, which was changed to Elmira in 1825. There are no vestiges to be seen here of the battle of Chemung, as the engagement that took plaee there is sometimes called. The spot where Sullivan landed is a few rods below the "Sullivan Mill," which stands upon the Conewawah or Newtown Creek, near its junction with the Chemung. The works thrown up by Sullivan, and destroyed when he returned from the Genesee country, were a little south of the mill.

** Explanation of the Plan.--The advanced guard, composed of light infantry, one mile in advance, a a, flanking corps, b b, the main body. Clinton's and Hand's brigades were on the right, and Poor's and Maxwell's were on the left, c, Proctor's artillery and the pack horses. The rifle corps composed a portion of the strong rear-guard.

*** General Edward Hand was a native of Leinster province, Ireland, and was born at the close of 1744. His amiable disposition and urbanity of manner endeared him to his men, and he maintained, throughout the war, the unlimited confidence and respect of his superior officers. After the war he was much engaged in civil offices of trust, and his name is attached to the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790. So highly did Washington esteem him, that when, during Adams's administration, he consented to take the chief command of the American army to be raised to resist the threatened and actual aggressions of France, he desired the appointment of General Hand as adjutant general. He died in 1803.

The Effect of the Artillery.--Retreat of the Enemy.--Destruction of Catharlnestown and other Villages and Plantations.

275the Scotch refugees from Johnstown, commanded the Tories. It is believed that Guy Johnson was also in the battle, but this is not certainly known. They fought skillfully and courageously, and, but for the artillery that was brought into play as speedily as possible, the victory would doubtless have been on their side. The cannonade produced a great panic among the Indians, yet their leader, who was seen at all points, and in the hottest of the fight, kept them long from retreating. Poor at length gained the summit of the ridge, outflanked the enemy, and decided the fortunes of the day. Brant, perceiving that all was lost, raised the loud, retreating cry, Oonah! Oonah! and savages and Tories, in great confusion, abandoned their works and fled across the river, pursued by the victors. Thus ended the battle of Chemung. The force of the enemy was estimated by Sullivan at fifteen hundred, including five companies of British troops and Rangers. The Americans numbered between four and five thousand, a considerable portion of whom were not brought into action at all. Considering the length of time occupied in the battle, and the numbers engaged, the loss was very inconsiderable. Only five or six of the Americans were killed, and about fifty wounded. The loss of the enemy was much greater. In their flight eight Indians were slain and scalped by their pursuers. Ay, scalped! for the Americans had been apt scholars in learning the Indian art of war that had been so terribly taught them in Tryon county for three years.

Sullivan's army rested upon the battle-ground that night, and the next morning pushed onward toward Catharinestown, an Indian settlement northwest from Conewawah, and about three miles from the head of Seneca Lake. The march was difficult and dangerous. The route lay through narrow defiles and a deep valley traversed by a stream so sinuous that they had to ford it several times, the water often waist high. At night they bivouacked in a dark and tangled cedar swamp, without blankets or food, and in continual fear of an enemy in ambush. * The whole army reached Catharinestown in safety, and encamped before it on the 2d of September. The people fled, and the next day the village and surrounding corn-fields and orchards were destroyed.

The flying campaign, charged with destruction, had now fairly begun. "The Indians shall see," said Sullivan, "that there is malice enough in our hearts to destroy every thing that contributes to their support," and cruelly was that menace executed. The Indians fled before him like frightened deer to cover, and the wail of desolation was heard throughout their pleasant land, from the Susquehanna to the Genesee. Village after village was laid waste, and fields and orchards were desolated. Kendaia was swept from September 6, 1779 existence; (a) other and smaller villages were annihilated; and on the 7th of September the conquerors sat down before Kanadaseagea, the capital of the Senecas, near the head of the beautiful lake of that name. Sixty indifferent cabins, surrounded by fine orchards of apple, peach, and pear trees, became a prey to the army. Not a roof was left to shelter the sorrowing inhabitants on their return--not a fruit-tree to shade them or to give them sustenance---not an ear of corn of all the abundance that lay before the invaders when they approached, was saved from the devouring flames.

While the chief portion of the army was engaged in this work, detachments went out and wrought equal devastation elsewhere. Four hundred men went down the west side of the lake and destroyed Gotheseunquean, or Gaghsiungua, and the plantations around it, and another party, under Colonel Harper, marched to Schoyere, near Cayuga Lake, and utterly destroyed it and its fields of grain.

Taking breath at Kanadaseagea, the invaders marched on to Kanandaigua, at the head of the little lake of that name, and in a few hours after their arrival the "twenty-September 10three very elegant houses, mostly framed, and, in general, large," ** with the extensive fields of corn and beans, and orchards of heavily-laden fruit-trees, were destroyed.

* The enemy might have rallied upon the hills along this perilous route, and greatly thinned, if not quite destroyed or captured, the invading army. But, as Brant afterward said, they did not believe that Sullivan would commence a march so soon over so bad a route; and the Indians were so terrified by the cannons, and disheartened by the result of the battle, that they could not be readily induced to attempt another.

** See General Sullivan's official account of this expedition.

Approach to Genesee.--Council of the Indian Villages.--A Battle.-- Capture and Torture of Lieutenant Boyd.

276Honeoye, or Anyeaya, a village lying in the path of the invading army in its march toward the Valley of the Genesee, was next swept away, and Sullivan prepared to desolate the broad valley in whose bosom nestled the great capital of the Western tribes, and the most important of all the Indian settlements.

Thus far the enemy had fled in terror before the invading army, and the villages of the Indians were destroyed without an effort being made to defend them. The beautiful Valley of the Genesee, the earthly paradise of the Six Nations, was now menaced. A council of the villages of the plain was held, and they resolved to turn and strike another blow in defense of their homes. Their women and children were removed to the deep shelter of the forest, and the warriors prepared for battle upon a plain between Honeyoe and the head of Connissius Lake, now known as Henderson's Flats. There they waited in ambush the approach of Sullivan's army, and rose upon the advanced guard with the desperation of wounded panthers. The battle was short, the savages were routed, and all that they had gained was the capture of two Oneida chiefs. *

On the 12th, Kanaghsaws and its plantations were laid in ashes. Here the progress of the army was temporarily checked by a deep stream, which it was necessary to bridge in order to pass over with the baggage and stores. Before them lay the village of Little Beard's Town, and, while the army was delayed in constructing a bridge, Lieutenant Boyd, of the rifle corps, with a detachment of twenty-six men, went to reconnoiter the town. He found it deserted, except by two Indians, whom he killed and scalped. Returning, his route lay near the party who had captured the two Oneidas. One of them, as we have seen, was killed, the other was spared for torture. He broke loose from his captors, and fled in the direction of Sullivan's camp. Many Indians started in pursuit, and these were joined by Brant and a large body of warriors, who had lain in ambush to cut off Boyd on his return. September 13, 1779 The pursuing Indians came upon Boyd and his party. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers, he saw no way to escape but by cutting his way through the fierce circle. Three times he made the attempt; almost all his men were killed, and himself and a soldier named Parker were made prisoners and carried in triumph to Little Beard's Town. ** Brant treated them humanely, but, having business elsewhere, the chief left them in the custody of Colonel John Butler, who, with his Rangers, was there. The unfeeling Tory handed them over to the tender mercies of the Indians. By them Boyd was tortured in the most cruel manner, and then beheaded. Parker was beheaded without being tortured. Among the few who escaped was Timothy Murphy, the slayer of Fraser at Bemis's Heights. The Americans found the bodies of the two victims at Little Beard's Town, and buried them upon the bank of Little Beard's Creek, under a clump of wild plum-trees on the road now running from Moscow to Genesee.

The Tories and Indians now held another council, and it was concluded that further attempts to oppose such an army as Sullivan's was futile. They therefore resolved to leave their beautiful country; and their women and children were hurried off toward Niagara,

* One of these was General Sullivan's guide, and had rendered the Americans very important services. He had an elder brother engaged with the enemy, and here they met for the first time since their separation at the Oneida Castle. Fierce was the anger of the elder chief when he recognized his brother in the prisoner. Approaching him with violent gestures, he said, "Brother! you have merited death! The hatchet or the war-club shall finish your career!" He then reproached him for aiding the rebellion, for driving the Indians from their fields, and for butchering their children. "No crime can be greater," he said. "But though you have merited death, and shall die on this spot, my hands shall not be stained with the blood of a brother! Who will strike?" Instantly a hatchet gleamed in the hand of Little Beard, the sachem of a village near by, * and the next moment the young Oneida was dead at the feet of his brother.--See Campbell's Annals.

** Han Yerry, an Oneida sachem, was with Lieutenant Boyd, serving him as guide. He fought with signal courage. The Indians knew him, and, several springing upon him, he was literally hacked in pieces by their hatchets. Han Yerry lived at Oriskany at the time of the battle there, and joined the Americans. He was a powerful man, and did great execution. For this the Indians defeated in that battle entertained toward him feelings of the most implacable hatred.

* Little Beard's Town, now Leicester, in Livingston county.

Destruction of Genesee and the surrounding Country.--Picture of the Desolation.--Name given to Washington.--Corn Planter.

277while the warriors hovered around the conquering army, to watch its movements and strike a blow if opportunity should occur.

Sullivan proceeded to the Genesee Valley. Gathtsegwarohare and Little Beard's Town were destroyed, and on the 14th he crossed the river, and the army encamped september, 1779 around Genesee, the Indian capital. Here every thing indicated the presence of civilization. There was not a wilderness feature in the scene. The rich intervales presented the appearance of cultivation for many generations, * and the farms, and orchards, and gardens bespoke a degree of comfort and refinement that would be creditable to any civilized community. But a terrible doom hung over the smiling country. The Genesee Castle was destroyed, and the capital was laid in ashes. "The town" [Genesee], said Sullivan, in his dispatch to Washington, "contained one hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly large and very elegant. It was beautifully situated, almost encircled with a clear flat, extending a number of miles, over which extensive fields of corn were waving, together with every kind of vegetable that could be conceived." Yet the contemplation of this scene could not stay the destroyer's hand; and over the whole valley and the surrounding country the troops swept with the besom of desolation. Forty Indian towns were burned; one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn in the fields and in granaries were destroyed; a vast number of the finest fruit-trees, ** the product of years of tardy growth, were cut down; hundreds of gardens covered with edible vegetables were desolated; the inhabitants were driven into the forests to starve, and were hunted like wild beasts; their altars were overturned, and their graves trampled upon by strangers; and a beautiful, well-watered country, teeming with a prosperous people, and just rising from a wilderness state, by the aid of cultivation, to a level with the productive regions of civilization, was desolated and cast back a century within the space of a fortnight. *** To us, looking upon the scene from a point so remote, it is difficult to perceive the necessity that called for a chastisement so cruel and terrible. But that such necessity seemed to exist we should not doubt, for it was the judicious and benevolent mind of Washington that conceived and planned the campaign, and ordered its rigid execution in the manner in which it was accomplished. It awed the Indians for the moment, but did not crush them. In the reaction they had greater strength. It kindled the fires of deep hatred, which spread far among the tribes upon the lakes and in the valley of the Ohio. Washington, like Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, received from the savages the name of An-na-ta-kau-les, which signifies a taker of towns, or Town Destroyer. ****

* The race of Indians that then inhabited the Valley of the Genesee had no knowledge of the earlier cultivators of the soil. They asserted, according to Mary Jemison, that another race, of which they had no knowledge, had cultivated the land long before their ancestors came into the valley; and she saw the disentombment of skeletons much larger than those of the race she was among.

** Many of the orchards were uncommonly large. One that was destroyed by the axe contained fifteen hundred trees.

*** Stone says (Life of Brant, ii., 25), "It is apprehended that few of the present generation are thoroughly aware of the advances which the Indians, in the wide and beautiful country of the Cayugas and Senecas, had made in the march of civilization. They had several towns and many large villages, laid out with a considerable degree of regularity. They had framed houses, some of them well finished, having chimneys, and painted. They had broad and productive fields; and, in addition to an abundance of apples, were the enjoyment of the pear and the more luscious peach."

**** At a council held in Philadelphia in 1792, Corn Planter, the distinguished Seneca chief, thus addressed the President: "Father--The voice of the Seneca nation speaks to you, the great counselor, in whose heart the wise men of all the thirteen fires have placed their wisdom. It may be very small in your cars, and, therefore, we entreat you to hearken with attention, for we are about to speak to you of things which to us are very great. When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you The Town Destroyer; and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. Our counselors and warriors are men, and can not be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep that it may be heard no more." Corn Planter was one of the earliest lecturers upon temperance in this country. While speaking upon this subject in 1822, he said, "The Great Spirit first made the world, next the flying animals, and formed all things good and prosperous. He is immortal and everlasting. Alter finishing the flying animals, he came down to earth and there stood. Then he made different kinds of trees, and woods of all sorts, and people of every kind. He made the spring and other seasons, and the weather suitable for planting. These he did make. But stills to make whisky to give to the Indians he did not make.... The Great Spirit has ordered me to stop drinking, and he wishes me to inform the people that they should quit drinking intoxicating drinks."

Return of the invading Army.--A Celebration.--Arrival of the Expedition at Wyoming.--The Oneidas driven from Home.

278From causes not clearly understood, Sullivan did not extend his victorious march to Niagara, the head-quarters of the Tories and Indians, the breaking up of which would have been far more efficient in bringing repose to the white settlements than the achievements just accomplished; but, having desolated the Genesee Valley, he crossed the river and re-September 20, 1779 traced his steps. When the army recrossed the outlet of Seneca Lake, Colonel Zebulon Butler, of Wyoming, was sent with a detachment of five hundred men, to pass round the foot of Cayuga Lake and destroy the Indian towns on its eastern shore. Lieutenant Dearborn was dispatched upon similar service along its western shore; and both corps, having accomplished their mission, joined the main body on the Chemung. * September 28. Butler had burned three towns and the capital of the Cayugas, and Dearborn had destroyed six towns and a great quantity of grain and fruit-trees. The army reached Tioga, its starting-place, on the 3d of October, where it was joined by the garrison left in charge of Fort Sullivan. Destroying that stockade, they took up their line of march on the 4th for Wyoming, where they arrived on the 7th, and pitched their tents on the former campground near Wilkesbarre. The next day a large portion of the troops left for Easton, on the Delaware, at which place they were dismissed. Thus ended a campaign before which we would gladly draw the vail of forgetfulness.

Although beaten back into the wilderness, and their beautiful country laid waste, the Indians were not conquered, and in the spring of the following year Brant and some of his followers were again upon the war- path. During the winter the threat of Sir Frederic Haldimand against the Oneidas was executed. Their castle, church, and villages were destroyed, and the inhabitants were driven down upon the white settlements for protection. They collected together near Schenectady, where they remained until after the war. ** These, too, were particular objects for the vengeance of the hostile savages. They regarded the Oneidas as double traitors, and determined to punish them accordingly, should an opportunity offer to do so.

In April, in connection with a band of Tories, the savages destroyed Harpersfield, and then marched to the attack of the Upper Schoharie Fort. On their way they captured Captain Alexander Harper and a small company who were with him, engaged in making maple sugar. Three of the yeomanry were killed, and ten made prisoners and taken to Niagara. With difficulty Brant kept his Indians from murdering them by the way. At Niagara Harper met with his niece, the daughter of Mr. Moore, of Cherry Valley, whose family, with that of Colonel Campbell, was carried into captivity in 1778. She had married a British officer named Powell, and through his exertions Captain Harper and his associates were kindly treated at Niagara. But they were doomed to a long absence from home, for they were not released until the peace in 1783 opened all the prison doors. *** The borders of Wyoming, and the Dutch settlements along the western frontiers of the

* Lieutenant-colonel Hubley, an officer of the Pennsylvania line, has left an interesting account of this expedition in his Journal. He says that, on the 25th of September, the army held a celebration in testimony of their pleasure "in consequence of the accession of the King of Spain to the American alliance, and the generous proceedings of Congress in augmenting the subsistence of the officers and men." General Sullivan ordered five of his fattest bullocks to be slaughtered, one for the officers of each brigade. In the evening, after the discharge of thirteen cannons, the whole army performed a feu de joie. Thirteen appropriate toasts were drunk. The last was as follows: "May the enemies of America be metamorphosed into pack horses, and sent on a western expedition against the Indians."

** A remnant of this tribe now occupies land in the vicinity of Rome, Oneida county, New York.

*** Among the Tory captors of Harper and his associates was a brute named Becraft, who boasted of having assisted in the murder of the Vrooman family in Schoharie. He had the audacity to return to Schoharie after the war. The returned prisoners, who had heard his boast, and others, informed of his presence, caught him, stripped him naked, and, tying him to a tree, gave him a severe castigation with hickory whips. They enumerated his several crimes, and then gave him a goodly number of stripes for each. On releasing him, they charged him never to come to the county again. Of course he did not.

Johnson's Incursions into the Schoharie Country.--Attack on the Schoharie Forts.--Boldness of Murphy.

279present Ulster and Orange comities, suffered from scalping parties during the spring and summer of 1780. We have already noticed the destruction of the settlement and mills at Little Falls, on the Mohawk; also the devastation of the Canajoharie settlements and the hamlet at Fort Plain, which occurred in August of that year. The irruption of Sir John Johnson into the valley in the neighborhood of Johnstown will be considered when writing of my visit to Johnson Hall.

1780 During the autumn an extensive expedition was planned against the Mohawk and Schoharie settlements. The Indians were thirsting for revenge for the wrongs and misery inflicted by Sullivan. The leaders were Sir John Johnson, Brant, and the famous half-breed Seneca warrior, Corn Planter. * The Indians rendezvoused at Tioga Point, and, ascending the Susquehanna, formed a junction at Unadilla with Sir John Johnson and his forces, which consisted of three companies of his Greens, one company of German Yagers, two hundred of Butler's Rangers, one company of British regulars, under Captain Duncan, and a number of Mohawks. They came from Montreal by way of Oswego, bringing with them two small mortars, a brass three pounder, and a piece called a grasshopper.

The plan agreed upon by the invaders was, to proceed along the Charlotte River, the east branch of the Susquehanna, to its source, thence across to the head of the Schoharie, sweep all the settlements along its course to its junction with the Mohawk, and then devastate that beautiful valley down to Schenectady. They began their march at nightfall, and before morning they had passed the Upper Fort unobserved, and October 15 were applying the torch to dwellings near the Middle Fort (Middleburgh). At daylight signal guns at the Upper Fort announced the discovery of the enemy there, but it was too late to save the property, already in flames. The proceeds of a bountiful harvest were in the barns, and stacks of hay and grain were abundant.

Major Woolsey, who seems to have been a poltroon, ** was the commander of the garrison at the Middle Fort, and sent out a detachment against the foe, under Lieutenant Spencer, who was repulsed, but returned to the fort without losing a man. That post was now formally invested by the enemy, and Sir John Johnson sent a flag, with a summons to surrender. The bearer was fired upon by Murphy, the rifleman already mentioned, but was unhurt; and, on his return to the camp, Johnson commenced a siege. The feeble garrison had but little ammunition, while the enemy, though well supplied, did very little execution with his own. The siege was a singular, and even ridiculous, military display. While a party of the besiegers were awkwardly trying to cast bomb-shells into the apology for a fort, the rest were valiantly attacking deserted houses and stacks of grain. Failing to make any impression, Sir John sent another flag toward noon. Murphy again fired upon the bearer, and again missed his mark. Woolsey had ordered him to desist, but Murphy plainly told his commanding officer that he was a coward, and meant to surrender the fort; and excused his breach of the rules of war in firing upon a flag by the plea that the enemy, in all his conduct, paid no regard whatever to military courtesy.

The siege continued, and again a flag was sent, and was fired upon a third time by Murphy. The officers and regulars in the fort had menaced him with death if he should again thus violate the rules of war. But the militia, among whom he was a great favorite, rallied around him, and Woolsey and his men were set at defiance. At length Johnson, suspecting the garrison to be much stronger than it really was, or fearing re- enforcements might arrive from Albany, abandoned the siege, and marched rapidly down the valley, destroying

* Corn Planter now first became conspicuous. According to Stone, this chief, and the afterward more famous Red Jacket, were among the Indians at the battle of Chemung. They became rivals, and Red Jacket finally supplanted Corn Planter. Brant always despised Red Jacket, for he declared him to have acted the part of a coward during Sullivan's expedition, in trying to get the chiefs to sue for peace upon the most ignominious terms.

** Campbell, in his Annals, says, "Woolsey's presence of mind forsook him in the hour of danger. He concealed himself at first with the women and children in the house, and, when driven out by the ridicule of his new associates, he crawled around the intrenchments on his hands and knees, amid the jeers and bravos of the militia, who felt their courage revive as their laughter was excited by the cowardice of the major."

Johnson's March to Fort Hunter.--Destruction of Property.--Expedition of General Van Rensselaer.--Death of Colonel Brown.

280with fire every thing combustible in his way. He attacked the Lower Fort, but, being repulsed by a shower of grape-shot and musket-balls from the garrison in the church, he continued his march down the river to Fort Hunter, * at its junction with the Mohawk. Not a house, barn, or grain-stack, known to belong to a Whig, was left standing, and it was estimated that one hundred thousand bushels of grain were destroyed by the invaders in that one day's march. The houses and other property of the Tories were spared, but the exasperated Whigs set them on fire as soon as the enemy had gone, and all shared a common fate. Only two persons in the besieged fort were killed, but about one hundred of the inhabitants were murdered during the day. The Vroomans, a numerous family in Schoharie, suffered much, many of them being among the slain.

October, 1780 Sir John remained at Fort Hunter on the 17th, and destroyed every thing belonging to the Whigs in the neighborhood. On the 18th he began a devastating march up the Mohawk Valley. Caughnawaga was laid in ashes, and every dwelling on both sides of the river, as far up as Fort Plain, was destroyed. ** On the night of the 18th Sir John encamped with his forces near "The Nose," and the following morning he crossed the Mohawk at Keder's Rifts, *** sending a detachment of fifty men to attack a small stockade called Fort Paris, in Stone Arabia, about three miles north of the river. The main body kept in motion at the same time, and continued the work of destruction along the wide line of its march.

As soon as the irruption of Johnson into the Schoharie settlement was made known at Albany, Governor George Clinton, accompanied by General Robert Van Rensselaer, of Claverack, at the head of a strong body of militia, marched to the succor of the people in Tryon county. They arrived at Caughnawaga on the 18th, while it was yet in flames; and, ascertaining that Fort Paris was to be attacked the next day, Van Rensselaer dispatched orders to Colonel Brown, then stationed there, to march out and meet the enemy. Brown promptly obeyed, and near a ruined military work, called Fort Keyser, confronted the invaders. A sharp action ensued, and the overwhelming numbers of the enemy bore down the gallant little band of Brown, who, with forty of his soldiers, was slain. **** The remainder of his troops found safety in flight.

* Fort Hunter was built at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek during the French-and Indian war. It inclosed an edifice called Queen Anne's Chapel, to which a parsonage, built of stone, was attached. The old fort was torn down at the commencement of the Revolution, but it was afterward partially restored and often garrisoned. The chapel was demolished in 1820, to make room for the Erie Canal. The parsonage is still standing in the town of Florida, half a mile below the Schoharie, and a few rods south of the canal.

** Among the many sufferers at this time was Major Jelles Fonda, from whom the present village of Fonda, near old Caughnawaga, derives its name. He was absent from home at the time, attending a meeting of the state Legislature, of which he was a member, then in session at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county. His mansion was at a place called "The Nose," in the town of Palatine. His wife escaped under cover of a thick fog, and on foot made her way to Schenectady. The house was burned, together with property valued at $60,000.--Antiquarian Researches, by Giles F. Yates, Esq.

*** Rifts are short, shallow rapids, the frequent occurrence of which in the Mohawk River makes navigation of that stream, even with bateaux, quite difficult.

**** Colonel Brown was a distinguished soldier in former campaigns of the Revolution in the Northern Department, as the reader has already noticed, he was born in Sandersfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, October 19th, 1744. He graduated at Yale College in 1771, and studied law with Oliver Arnold (a cousin of the traitor), at Providence, Rhode Island. He commenced practice at Caughnawaga, New York, and was appointed king's attorney. He soon went to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he became active in the patriot cause. He was chosen by the State Committee of Correspondence, in 1774, to go to Canada to excite rebellion, in which perilous duty he had many adventures. He was elected to Congress in 1775, but before the meeting of that body he had joined the expedition under Allen and Arnold against Ticonderoga. He assisted in the capture of Fort Chambly in the autumn of that year, and planned the attack on Montreal, which resulted so disastrously to Colonel Ethan Allen. He was at the storming of Quebec at the close of the year. The following year Congress gave him the commission of lieutenant colonel. In 1777 he conducted the expedition that attacked Ticonderoga and other posts in its vicinity, released one hundred American prisoners at Lake George, and captured quite a large quantity of provisions and stores belonging to the enemy. Soon after this he retired from the service on account of his detestation of Arnold. Three years before the latter became a traitor, Brown published a hand-bill, in which he denounced him as an avaricious and unprincipled man, charged him with "selling many a life for gain," and predicted that he would prove a traitor, in the remarkable words with which the hand-bill closed: "Money is this man's God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country!" This was published at Albany in the winter of 1776-7, while Arnold was quartered there. Arnold was greatly excited when told of it, called Brown a scoundrel, and declared that he would kick him whensoever and wheresoever they might meet. This declaration was communicated to Brown. The next day, Brown, by invitation, went to a dinner where he would meet Arnold. The latter was standing with his back to the fire when the former entered the door, and he and Brown thus met each other face to face. Brown walked boldly up to Arnold, and, looking him sternly in the face, said, "I understand, sir, that you have said you would kick me. I now present myself to give you an opportunity to put your threat into execution." Arnold made no reply. Brown then said, "Sir, you are a dirty scoundrel." Arnold was still silent, and Brown left the room, after apologizing to the gentlemen present for his intrusion. *

* Colonel Brown, after he left the army, was occasionally employed in the Massachusetts service. In the fall of 1780, with many of the Berkshire militia, he marched up the Mohawk Valley, to aet as circumstances might require. He was slain at Stone Arabia on his birth- day (October 19th, 1780), nged 35 years. On his way to the Mohawk country, he called upon Ann Lee, the founder of the sect of Shaking Quakers in this country, then established near Albany. He assured her, by way of pleasantry, that on his return he should join her society. A fortnight after his death two members of the society waited upon his widow, told her that her husband, in spirit, had joined "Mother Ann," and that he had given express orders for her to become a member. She was not to be duped, and bade them begone. On the anniversary of Colonel Brown's death (as well as of his birth), in 1836, a monument was reared to his memory by his son, the late Henry Brown, Esq., of Berkshire, Massachusetts, near the place where he fell, in the town of Palatine. Upon the monument is the following inscription: In memory of Colonel John Brown, who was killed in battle on the 19th day of October, 1780, at Palatine, in the county of Montgomery.

Pursuit of Johnson by Van Rensselaer.--Inaction of the latter.--Battle of Klock's Field.--Capture of some Tories.

281Sir John now dispersed his forces in small bands to the distance of five or six miles in each direction, to pillage the county. He desolated Stone Arabia, and, proceeding to a place called Kloek's Field, halted to rest. General Van Rensselaer, with a considerable force, was in close pursuit. He had been joined by Captain M'Kean, with a corps of volunteers, and a strong body of Oneida warriors, led by their principal chief, Louis Atyataronghta, whom Congress had commissioned a colonel. * His whole force was now fifteen hundred strong. Van Rensselaer's pursuit was on the south side of the Mohawk, while Johnson was ravaging the country on the north side. Johnson took care to guard the ford while his halting army was resting, and the pursuers were there kept at bay. The tardy movements of Van Rensselaer, who, instead of pushing across to attack the wearied troops of the invader, rode off to Fort Plain to dine with Governor Clinton, were justly censured; and the Oneida chief even denounced him as a Tory. This accusation, and the remonstrances of some of his officers, quickened his movements, and toward evening his forces crossed the river and were arrayed for battle. The whites of the enemy were upon a small plain partially guarded by a bend in the river, while Brant, with his Indians, occupied, in secret, a thicket of shrub oaks in the vicinity. The van of the attack was led by the late General Morgan Lewis, then a colonel. Colonel Dubois commanded the extreme right, and the left was led by Colonel Cuyler, of Albany. Captain M'Kean and the Oneidas were near the right. Johnson's right was composed of regular troops; the center, of his Greens; and his left was the Indian ambuscade. When the patriots approached, Brant raised the war-whoop, and in a few moments a general battle ensued. The charge of the Americans was so impetuous that the enemy soon gave way and fled. Brant was wounded in the heel, but escaped. Van Rensselaer's troops wished to pursue the enemy, but it was then twilight, and he would not allow it. They were ordered to fall back and encamp for the night, a movement which caused much dissatisfaction. **

* He was a representative of three nations, for in his veins ran the blood of the French, Indian, and negro

** While some of M'Kean's volunteers were strolling about, waiting for the main army to cress, they came upon a small block-house, where nine of the enemy were in custody, having surrendered during the night. On one of them being asked how he came there, his answer was a sharp commentary upon the criminal inaction of General Van Rensselaer. "Last night, after the battle," he said, "we crossed the river; it was dark; we heard the word 'lay down your arms some of us did so. We were taken, nine of us, and marched into this little fort by seven militia men. We formed the rear of three hundred of Johnson's Greens, who were running promiscuously through and over one another. I thought General Van Rensselaer's whole army was upon us. Why did you not take us prisoners yesterday, after Sir John ran off with the Indians and left us? We wanted to surrender." The man was a Tory of the valley.--See Life of Brant, ii., 123.

* Stone's Life of Brant, ii., 117.

Pursuit of Johnson and Brant.--Conduct of Van Rensselaer.--Capture of Vrooman and his Party.--Threatened Invasion.

282Louis and M'Kean did not strictly obey orders, and early in the morning they started off with their forces in pursuit. Johnson, with the Indians and Yagers, fled toward Onondaga Lake, where they had left their boats concealed. His Greens and the Rangers followed. Van Rensselaer and his whole force pursued them as far as Fort Herkimer, at the German Flats, and there M'Kean and Louis were ordered to press on in advance after the fugitives. They struck the trail of Johnson the next morning, and soon afterward came upon his deserted camp while the fires were yet burning. Van Rensselaer had promised to push forward to their support; but, having little confidence in the celerity of his movements, and fearing an ambuscade, Louis refused to advance any further until assured that the main body of the Americans was near. The advanced party halted, and were soon informed by a messenger that Van Rensselaer had actually abandoned the pursuit, and was then on his return march! It was a shameful neglect of advantage, for, with proper skill and action, Johnson might have been captured at the Nose, * before Stone Arabia was desolated, or else overtaken and secured in his flight.

When Van Rensselaer heard of the concealment of Johnson's boats on the Onondaga, he dispatched a messenger to Captain Vrooman, then in command at Fort Schuyler, ordering him to go with a strong detachment and destroy them. Vrooman instantly obeyed. One of his men feigned sickness at Oneida, and was left behind. He was there when Johnson arrived, and informed him of Vrooman's expedition. Brant and a body of Indians hastened forward, came upon Vrooman and his party while at dinner, and captured the whole of them without firing a gun. Johnson had no further impediments in his way, and easily escaped to Canada by way of Oswego, taking with him Captain Vrooman and his party prisoners, but leaving behind him a great number of his own men. ** Tryon county enjoyed comparative repose through the remainder of the autumn and part of the winter.

In January, 1781, Brant was again upon the war-path in the neighborhood of Fort Schuyler. The slender barrier of the Oneida nation had been broken the previous year by driving that people upon the white settlements, and the warriors from Niagara had an unimpeded way to the Mohawk Valley. They were separated into small parties, and cut off load after load of supplies on their way to Forts Plain, Dayton, and Schuyler. During the month of March two detachments of soldiers near Fort Schuyler were made prisoners, and the provisions they were guarding were captured. All the information that could be got respecting the movements of the enemy strengthened the belief that it was his determination to make another invasion of the valley, and penetrate, if possible, as far as the settlement at Schenectady, to destroy the Oneidas who had found shelter there.

Already the scarcity of provisions at Forts Schuyler and Dayton warned the people that, if supplies were not speedily obtained, those posts must be abandoned, and the whole county would thus be left open to the savages. The distress at Fort Schuyler was greatly increased by a flood early in May, which overflowed the works and destroyed considerable provisions. The damage was so great, that it was decided, at a council of officers, that the strength of May 12, 1781 the garrison was totally inadequate to make proper repairs. A few days afterward the destruction of the fort was completed by fire, the work, it was supposed, of an incendiary. The post was then necessarily abandoned, and the garrison was marched down to Forts Dayton and Plain.

* The Nose, or Anthony's Nose, as it is sometimes called, is a bluff at a narrow part of the Mohawk, in the town of Palatine, and derives its name from the circumstance that its form is something like that of the human nose. Here a ridge evidently once crossed the valley and kept the waters in check above, for the effects of the action of running streams and eddies are very prominent in the rocks. At the upper end of the plain below are bowlders and large gravel stones, which diminish to sand at the lower end.

** Campbell's Annals.

Gloomy Prospect in the Mohawk Country.--Patriotism of Colonel Willett.-- His Command of the Tryon County Militia

283At this period every thing combined to cast gloom over the Mohawk country. Vermont, as we have noticed in a former chapter, had assumed an equivocal position, amounting almost, in appearance, to a treasonable rebellion against Congress. General Haldimand, with a large regular force, was menacing the northern country from his post upon Lake Champlain; the Johnsons, Butlers, and Brant were laying plans for an extensive invasion of Tryon county and the settlements near the Delaware; the forts that served for a defense for the people were weak from lack of provisions, ammunition, and men; the principal one, the key to the Mohawk Valley from the west, was destroyed; and, worse than all, a spirit of discontent and despondency was rife in that quarter, induced by the inefficiency of Congress in furnishing supplies, and the seeming hopelessness of the patriot cause. General Schuyler and others expressed their conviction that, if another invading army should come upon the settlements during the existing state of things, large numbers of the people would join the royal standard. The undisciplined militia, necessarily engaged in farm labor, and often insubordinate, were a weak reliance, and nothing but an efficient military force, either of paid levies or soldiers of the regular army, could give confidence and real protection.

The expectation of such aid was but a feeble ray of hope at the beginning of the summer, for Washington and the French commander (De Rochambeau) were concocting plans far more important than the defense of a single frontier section of the vast extent of the colonies. Governor Clinton was greatly pained and embarrassed by the gloomy prospect in his department. In this dilemma, his thoughts turned to Colonel Willett, who had just been appointed to the command of one of the two regiments formed by the consolidation of five New York regiments. His name was a "tower of strength" among the people of the Mohawk Valley, and Clinton implored him to take command of all the militia levies and state troops that might be raised for the summer campaigns. He consented, left the main army, and established his head-quarters at Fort Rensselaer * (Canajoharie), toward the close of June.

The spirits of the people were revived, although the forces of Willett consisted of mere fragments of companies hastily collected from the ruins of the last campaign. "I confess myself," he said, in a letter to Governor Clinton, "not a little disappointed in having such a trifling force for such extensive business as I have now on my hands; and, also, that nothing is done to enable me to avail myself of the militia. The prospect of a suffering country hurts me. Upon my own account I am not uneasy. Every thing I can do shall be done; and more can not be looked for. If it is, the reflection that I have done my duly must fix my tranquillity." **

While the enemy is threatening invasion and Willett is preparing to repel him, let us turn from the exciting chronicle, and resume our quiet journey, in the course of which some of the stirring incidents of the subsequent strife between the patriots and the enemy, in Tryon county, will come up in review.

* This was upon the Canajoharie Creek, near the junction of its two branches, in the town of Root.

** Willett's Narrative.

Changes in the Mohawk Country.--Present Aspect of the Mohawk Valley.-- Fultonville.--Fonda

284

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Chapter XIII

The earth all light and loveliness, in summer's golden hours,

Smiles, in her bridal vesture clad, and crown'd with festal flowers;

So radiantly beautiful, so like to heaven above,

We scarce can deem more fair that world of perfect bliss and love.

Anonymous.

Look now abroad--another race has fill'd

These populous borders--wide the wood recedes,

And towns shoot up, and fertile plains are till'd;

The land is full of harvests and green meads;

Streams numberless, that many a fountain feeds,

Shine, disembower'd, and give to sun and breeze

Their virgin waters; the full region leads

New colonies forth, that toward the western seas

Spread, like a rapid flame among the autumnal leaves.

Bryant.

HO that has passed along the Valley of the Mohawk, near the close of a day in summer, has not been deeply impressed with the singular beauty of the scene? or who, that has traversed the uplands that skirt this fruit- ml garden, and stretch away to other valleys, and mingle with the loftier hills or fertile intervales within the borders of ancient Tryon county, is not filled with wonder while contemplating the changes that have been wrought there within a life-span? When the terrible drama which we have been considering was performed, almost the whole country was covered with the primeval forest. Clearings were frequent along the Mohawk River, and cultivation was assiduous in producing the blessings of abundance and general prosperity; but the southern portions of Herkimer and Montgomery, and all of Schoharie and Otsego, down to the remote settlement of Unadilla, were a wilderness, except where a few thriving settlements were growing upon the water courses. The traveler, as he views the "field joined to field" in the Mohawk Valley, all covered with waving grain, green pastures, or bending fruit-trees, inclosing, in their arms of plenty, elegant mansions; or watches the vast stream of inland commerce that rolls by upon the Erie Canal; or the villages of people that almost hourly sweep along its margin after the vapor steed; or rides over the adjacent hill-country north and south, enlivened by villages and rich in cultivation, can hardly realize the fact that here, seventy years ago, the wild Indian was joint possessor of the soil with the hardy settlers, and that the light of civilization was as scattered and feeble, and for a while as evanescent and fleeting in these broad solitudes, as is the sparkle of the fire-fly on a summer evening. Yet such is the wonderful truth; and as I passed down the canal at the close of the day, from Fort Plain to Fultonville, surrounded with the activity, opulence, and beauty of the Mohawk Valley, I could not, while contrasting this peacefulness and progress with the discord and social inertia of other lands, repress the feelings of the Pharisee.

Fultonville is sixteen miles below Fort Plain, and it was long after dark when I arrived August 24, 1848 there. Early on the following morning I procured a conveyance to visit old Caughnawaga and Johnstown, north of the Mohawk. A gentleman of leisure and intelligence, residing at Fultonville, kindly offered to accompany me, and his familiarity with the history and localities of the neighborhood, and freedom of communication, made my morning's ride pleasant and profitable. Fultonville is upon the canal, and may be called the port of the village of Fonda, whieh lies upon the rail-road, on the northern verge of the valley.

Caughnawaga.--John Butler's Residence.--Johnstown.--An Octogenarian.-- Biography of Butler

285The Mohawk cleaves the center of the plain between the two villages, and is spanned by a fine covered bridge. Fonda and Caughnawaga (now Mohawk) lie in close embrace. The former has all the freshness of infancy, while the latter, with its gray old church, * has a matronly gravity in its appearance.

It is only about half a mile eastward from its blooming daughter, at the foot of the hills over which winds the eastern fork of the road from Johnstown. On a commanding eminence, about a mile north of Fonda, we came to the house where Colonel John Butler resided,' which is believed to be the oldest dwelling in that section, and coeval with Caughnawaga Church. It overlooks the Mohawk Valley on the south, and commands an extensive prospect of a fine agricultural country in every direction. It is now owned by a Mr. Wilson, and is often visited by the curious, who are as frequently attracted by the eminently infamous as by the eminently good. It is a fair specimen of the middling class of houses of that period. The posts stand directly upon the stone foundation, without sleepers, and there are no plaster walls or ceilings in the house, the sides of the rooms being lined with pine boards. The bricks of the chimney are the small, imported kind which distinguished many of the edifices in the old states, that were constructed about a century ago.

The village of Johnstown, which was included in the town of Caughnawaga, organized in 1798, lies pleasantly in the bosom and along the slope of an intervale, about four miles north of Fonda. *** I met there a venerable citizen, John Yost, eighty years of age, who had been a resident of the vicinity from his birth. He was often dandled on the knee of Sir William Johnson, and has a clear recollection of the appearance of the baronet and the circumstances of his death.

His father was an adherent of the Whig cause, and instructed him early in the principles of the Revolution. He was several times employed by Colonel Willett as an express to carry dispatches from Fort Plain to Tripe's Hill and other points in the valley, his extreme youth guarding him from suspicion. He was still an active August, 1848 man when I saw him, and his bodily health promised him the honors of a centenarian. Johnson Hall, the residence of Sir William and Sir John Johnson, **** is situated upon a

* See page 263.

** John Butler was one of the leading Tories of Tryon county during the whole war of the Revolution. Before the war he was in close official connection with Sir William Johnson, and, after his death, with his son and nephew, Sir John and Guy Johnson. When he fled with the Johnsons to Canada, his family were left behind, and were subsequently held as hostages by the Americans, and finally exchanged for the wife and children of Colonel Samuel Campbell, of Cherry Valley. He was active in the predatory warfare that so long distressed Tryon county, and commanded the eleven hundred men who desolated Wyoming in 1778. He was among those who opposed the progress of Sullivan in the Indian country in 1779, and accompanied Sir John Johnson in his destructive mareh through the Schoharie and Mohawk settlements in 1780. After the war he went to Canada, where he resided until his death, whieh occurred about the year 1800. His property upon the Mohawk, by an aet of the Legislature of New York, was confiscated; but he was amply rewarded by the British government for his infamous services in its behalf. He succeeded Guy Johnson as Indian agent, with a salary of $2000 per annum, and was granted a pension, as a military officer, of $1000 more. Like his son Walter, he was detested for his cruelties by the more honorable British officers; and, after the massacre at Wyoming, Sir Frederic Haldimand, then Governor of Canada, sent word to him that he did not wish to see him. It is but justice to Colonel Butler to say, that he was far more humane than his son Walter, and that his personal deeds at Wyoming were not so heinous as the common accounts have made them. These will be considered when the attack upon that settlement shall receive a more particular notice.

*** The old jail in the village was standing when I was there, in August, 1848. It was built in 1762, and was consumed by fire on the 8th of September, 1849.

**** John Johnson was the son of Sir William Johnson by his first wife. He was born in 1742, and succeeded his father in his title and estates in 1774. He was not as popular as his father, being less social and less acquainted with human nature. His official relations to the parent government, and his known opposition to the rebellious movements of the colonies, caused him to be strictly watched, and, as we have noted in the text, not without just cause. Expelled from his estate, his property confiscated, his family in exile, he became an uncompromising enemy of the republicans, and until the close of the war his influence was exerted against the patriots. Soon after the close of the war Sir John went to England, and, on returning in 1785, settled in Canada. He was appointed superintendent and inspector general of Indian affairs in North America, and for several years he was a member of the legislative council of Canada. To compensate him for his losses, the British government made him several grants of lands. He died at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Bowes, at Montreal, in 1830, aged 88 years. His son, Sir Adam Gordon Johnson, succeeded him in his title.

Johnson Hall.--Its Staircase and Brant's Hatchet Marks.--Progress of Western New York.

286gentle eminence, about three fourths of a mile northward of the court-house in the village, and near the state road to Black River. This was probably the finest mansion in the province, out of the city of New York, at the time of its erection, about the year 1760.

The nail, or main building, is of wood, and double clap-boarded in a manner to represent blocks of stone. Its exterior dimensions are forty feet wide, sixty feet long, and two stories high. The detached wings, built for flanking block-houses, are of stone. The walls of these are very thick, and near the eaves they are pierced for musketry. The entrance passage, which extends entirely through the house, is fifteen feet wide, from which rises a broad stair-case, with heavy mahogany balustrades, to the second story. The rail of this balustrade is scarred by hatchet blows at regular intervals of about a foot, from the top to the bottom, and tradition avers that it was done by the hands of Brant when he fled from the hall with Sir John Johnson, in 1776, to protect the house from the torch of marauding savages, for he asserted that such a token would be understood and respected by them.

The rooms in both stories are large and lofty, and the sides are handsomely wainscoted with pine panels and carved work, all of which is carefully preserved in its original form by Mr. Eleazer Wells, the present proprietor. He has been acquainted with the house for fifty years, and within that time one of the rooms has been neither painted nor papered. * The

* In that room Mr. Wells was married in 1807, the house then belonging to his mother-in-law. Mr. Wells related to me a fact which illustrates the wonderful progress of Western New York in population and wealth within half a century. About the time of his marriage he went west, with the intention of purchasing a farm in the Genesee country, always so celebrated for its fertility. Among other places, he visited the site of the present large city of Rochester. Then a solitary cabin was there. The land was offered to him for two dollars an acre, but it seemed too wet for his purpose, and he refused to buy. "Had I purchased then," said Mr. Wells, "it might have made me a millionaire, although such a result is by no means certain, for the original owner of all the land where Utica now stands was a tenant, and his descendants still are tenants, of other proprietors of the soil there." The prize within the reach of the person to whom he alluded was allowed, through lack of prudence and forecast, to slip through his fingers, and not a rood of all the acres of Utica is now his own.

Only Baronial Hall in the United Slates.--Sir William Johnson and his Wives.--The Dutch Girl.--Molly Brant.

287paper hangings upon it have been there that length of time, and are doubtless the same that were first put upon the wall by the baronet. Every thing of the kind is well preserved, and the visitor is gratified by a view, in its original aspect, of the only baronial hall in the United States.

Here Sir William lived in all the elegance and comparative power of an English baron of the Middle Ages. He had many servants and retainers, "wives and concubines, sons and daughters of different colors." * His hall was his castle, and around it, beyond the wings, a heavy stone breast-work, about twelve feet high, was thrown up. Invested with the power and influence of an Indian agent of his government in its transactions with the confederated Six Nations, possessed of a fine person and dignity of manners, and of a certain style of oratory that pleased the Indians, he acquired an ascendency over the tribes never before held by a white man. When, in 1760, General Amherst embarked at Oswego on his expedition to Canada, Sir William brought to him, at that place, one thousand Indian warriors of the Six Nations, which was the largest number that had ever been seen in arms at one time in the cause of England. He made confidants of many of the chiefs, and to them he

* Sir William is said to have been the father of a hundred children, chiefly by native mothers, who were young squaws, or the wives of Indians who thought it an honor to have them intimate with the distinguished king's agent. He availed himself of a custom which Colden says was then prevalent among the Six Nations. "They carried their hospitality so far as to allow distinguished strangers," he says, "the choice of a young squaw from among the prettiest in the neighborhood, washed clean and dressed in her best apparel, as a companion during his sojourn with them." Sir William had two wives, although they were not made so until they had lived long with the baronet. Simms says, on the authority of well-authenticated tradition, that his first wife was a young German girl, who, according to the custom of the times, had been sold to a man named Phillips, living in the Mohawk Valley, to pay her passage money to the captain of the emigrant ship in which she came to this country. She was a handsome girl, and attracted considerable attention. A neighbor of Sir William, who had heard him express a determination never to marry, asked him why he did not get the pretty German girl for a housekeeper. He replied, "I will." Not long afterward the neighbor called at Phillips's, and inquired where the High Dutch girl was. Phillips replied, "Johnson, that tamned Irishman, came tother day and offered me five pounds for her, threatening to horsewhip me and steal her if I would not sell her. I thought five pounds petter than a flogging, and took it, and he's got the gal." She was the mother of Sir John Johnson, and of two daughters, who became the wives respectively of Guy Johnson and Daniel Claus. * When she was upon her death-bed, Sir William was married to her in order to legitimate her children. After her death her place was supplied by Molly Brant, sister of the Mohawk sachem, by whom he had several children. Toward the close of his life, Sir William married her in order to legitimate her children also, and her descendants are now some of the most respectable people in Upper Canada. Sir William's first interview and acquaintance with her, as related by Mr. Stone (Note, Life of Brant, i., 387), have considerable romance. She was a very sprightly and beautiful girl, about sixteen, when he first saw her at a militia muster. One of the field officers, riding upon a fine horse, came near her, and, "by way of banter, she asked permission to mount behind. Not supposing she could perform the exploit, he said she might. At the word, she leaped upon the crupper with the agility of a gazelle. The horse sprang off at full speed, and, clinging to the officer, her blanket flying and her dark hair streaming in the wind, she flew about the parade-ground as swift as an arrow. The baronet, who was a witness of the spectacle, admiring the spirit of the young squaw, and becoming enamored of her person, took her home as his wife." According to Indian customs, this act made her really his wife, and in all her relations of wife and mother she was very exemplary.

* These two daughters, who were left by their dying mother to the care of a friend, were educated almost in solitude. That friend was the widow of an officer who was killed in battle, and, retiring from the world, devoted her whole time to the care of these children. They were carefully instructed in religious duties, and in various kinds of needle-work, but were themselves kept entirely from society. At the age of sixteen they had never seen a lady, except their mother and her friend, or a gentleman, except Sir William, who visited their room daily. Their dress was not conformed to the fashions, but always consisted of wrappers of finest chintz over green silk petticoats. Their hair, which was long and beautiful, was tied behind with a simple band of ribbon. After their marriage they soon acquired the habits of society, and made excellent wires.

Sir William Johnson's Diploma.--His Amusements and sudden Death.--Flight of Sir John.--His Invasion of the Valley in 1780.

288was in the habit of giving a diploma, testifying to their good conduct. One of these is in the possession of the New York Historical Society, a copy of which, with the vignette, is given in the note. * His house was the resort of the sachems of the Six Nations for counsel and for trade, and there the presents sent out by his government were annually distributed to the Indians. On these occasions he amused himself and gratified his guests by fêtes and games, many of which were highly ludicrous. ** Young Indians and squaws were often seen running foot-races or wrestling for trinkets, and feats of astonishing agility were frequently performed by the Indians of both sexes.

Sir William's death was sudden, and was by some ascribed to poison, voluntarily 1774 taken by him, and by others to apoplexy, induced by over-excitement. His possessions, which, with his offices and titles, passed into the hands of his son, did not long remain undisturbed, but were abandoned, as we have seen, in 1776, and were afterward sold to strangers under an act of attainder and confiscation passed by the Legislature of New York.

Sir John, as we have already noted, fled to Canada, where he received a colonel's commission. The sequestration of his immense landed property inspired him with feelings of implacable revenge, which were manifested by his terrible visitations to the settlements in Tryon county. One of these was chiefly for the purpose of recovering the plate and other valuables belonging to the baronet, which had been buried near Johnson Hall. The events of this incursion were as follows:

About midnight on Sunday, the 21st of May, 1780, Sir John, with a force of five hundred Tories and Indians, who had penetrated the country from Crown Point to the Sacondaga River, appeared at Johnson Hall without being seen by any but his friends. His forces were divided into two detachments, and between midnight and dawn he began to devastate the settlement by burning every building, except those which belonged to Tories. One division was sent around in an easterly course, so as to strike the Mohawk at Tripes Hill, *** below Caughnawaga, whence it was ordered to proceed up the valley, destroy Caughnawaga, and form a junction with the other division at the mouth of Cayudutta Creek. This march was performed; many dwellings were burned and several lives were sacrificed. Sir John, in the mean while, at the head of one division, proceeded through the village of Johnstown unobserved by the sentinels at the small picketed fort there, and before daylight was at the Hall, once his Own, where he secured two prisoners.

On his way to join the other division upon the Cayudutta, he came to the residence of Sampson Sammons, who was, with his

* By the Honorable Sir William Johnson, Bart., His Majesty's sole Agent and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department of North America, Colonel of the Six United Nations, their Allies and Dependants, &c., &c.

* "To------------Whereas, I have received repeated proofs of your attachment to his Britannic Majesty's Interests and Zeal for his service, upon sundry occasions, more particularly............I do therefor give you this public Testimonial thereof, as a proof of his Majesty's Esteem and Approbation, Declaring you, the said......, to be a.........of your........., and recommending it to all his Majesty's Subjects and faithful Indian Allies to Treat and Consider you upon all occasions agreeable to your character, station, and services......Given under my hand and seal at Arms, at Johnson Hall, the.........day of........, 17..

* "By command of Sir W. Johnson."

** Among the amusements invented by Sir William were foot-races, in which the competitors had meal-bags drawn up over their legs and tied under their arms; a hog, with its tail greased, would be offered as a prize to the one that should catch it by that extremity; a half pound of tea was a prize offered to the one who could make the wryest face; a bladder of Scotch snuff to the greatest scold of two old women; and children might be seen exploring pools of muddy water, into which the baronet had cast several pennies.--Simms, 121.

*** At this place lived Garret Putnam, a very active Whig, and his house was the first one assailed. Unknown to the invaders, Putnam had rented his house to two Englishmen named Gort and Platto, stanch Tories. The assailants broke into the house, scalped the two men, who had not time to reveal their characters, and it was not until daylight that they discovered their victims to be their own friends instead of Putnam and his son, as they had supposed.

Capture of the Sammons Family.--Cruelties and Crimes of the Invaders.-- Johnson's Retreat--Recovery of his Negro and Plate

289whole family, among the most active and intrepid patriots in Tryon county. Sir John had always respected Mr. Sammons, and still held him in high estimation, but he was determined to carry him and his family away prisoners, if possible, and thus lessen the number of his more influential enemies in the Mohawk Valley. It was not yet light when a Tory, named Sunderland, with a resolute band, surrounded the house of Sammons, and the first intimation the family had of danger was the arrest of Thomas, the younger of three sons, as he stepped out of the door to observe the weather. * The father and three sons were made prisoners, but the females of the family were left undisturbed, after the house was plundered of every thing valuable. The marauders then marched with their prisoners to the mouth of the Cayudutta, and both divisions went up the valley, burning, plundering, and murdering. A venerable old man, named David Fonda, was killed and scalped by an Indian party attached to the expedition, and in its march of a few miles nine aged men, four of them upward of eighty years old, were murdered. Returning to Caughnawaga, the torch was applied, and every building, except the church, was laid in ashes. From Caughnawaga they proceeded to Johnstown ** by way of the Sammonses, on whose premises every building was burned, and the females, bereft of their protectors and helpers, were left houseless and almost naked. Seven horses that were in the stables were taken away, and that happy family of the morning were utterly destitute at evening.

Toward sunset Johnson perceived that the militia of the neighborhood were gathering, under the direction of Colonel John Harper, and resolved to decamp. Several Loyalists had joined him, and he succeeded in obtaining possession of twenty negro slaves whom he had left behind at the time of his flight, in the spring of 1776. Among these was the faithful negro who buried his chests of plate. With his prisoners, slaves, and much booty, he directed his course toward the Sacondaga. The inhabitants seemed so completely May 22, 1780 taken by surprise, and were so panic-stricken by the suddenness and fierceness of the invasion, that he was unmolested in his retreating march, and reached St. John's, on the Sorel, in safety. The captives were sent to Chambly, twelve miles distant, and confined in the fortress there. ***

* Thomas Sammons, who was then a lad, lived until within a few years, and furnished much of the interesting matter concerning this irruption of Sir John, to the author of the Life of Brant, from whose pages I have gleaned much of the narrative here given. Mr. Sammons was a representative in Congress from 1803 to 1807, and again from 1809 to 1813.

** I have before mentioned that the silver plate and other valuable articles belonging to Johnson were buried by a faithful slave. When the Hall and other property were taken possession of by the Tryon county Committee, under the aet of sequestration, the elder of Mr. Sammon's sons became the lessee, and the purchaser of the slave William, who had buried the plate. This slave Sir John found at the Hall, and while he tarried there for several hours on the day in question, the negro, assisted by four soldiers, disinterred the plate, which filled two barrels. It was then distributed among forty soldiers, who placed it in their knapsacks, the quarter-master making a memorandum of the name of each with the article of plate intrusted to him, and in this way it was carried safely to Montreal. Johnson Hall, with seven hundred acres of land, had been sold by the commissioners to James Caldwell, of Albany, for $30,000, the payment to be made in public securities. To show the real value of such securities--in other words, the state of public credit of the colonies about 1779, it may be mentioned that Mr. Caldwell immediately resold the property for $7000, $23,000 less on paper than he gave for it, and then made money by the operation. He had bought the securities for a trifle, and received hard cash from the man who purchased from him.

*** While halting on the day after leaving Johnstown, the elder Mr. Sammons requested a personal interview with Sir John, which was granted. He asked to be released, but the baronet hesitated. The old man then recurred to former times, when he and Sir John were friends and neighbors. "See what you have done, Sir John," he said. "You have taken myself and my sons prisoners, burned my dwelling to ashes, and left the helpless members of my family with no covering but the heavens above, and no prospect but desolation around them. Did we treat you in this manner when you were in the power of the Tryon county Committee? Do you remember when we were consulted by General Schuyler, and you agreed to surrender your arms? Do you not remember that you then agreed to remain neutral, and that upon that condition General Schuyler left you at liberty on your parole? Those conditions you violated. You went off to Canada; enrolled yourself in the service of the king; raised a regiment of the disaffected, who abandoned their country with you; and you have now returned to wage a cruel war against us, by burning our dwellings and robbing us of our property. I was your friend in the Committee of Safety, and exerted myself to save your person from injury. And how am I requited? Your Indians have murdered and scalped old Mr. Fonda, at the age of eighty years, a man who, I have heard your father say, was like a father to him when he settled in Johnstown and Kingsborough. You can not succeed, Sir John, in such a warfare, and you will never enjoy your property more!" The appeal had its effect. The baronet made no reply, but the old gentleman was set at liberty, and a span of his horses was restored to him. A Tory, named Doxstader (whom we shall soon meet again at Currytown), was seen upon one of the old man's horses, and refused to give him up. After the war he returned to the neighborhood, when Mr. Sammons had him arrested, and he was obliged to pay the full value of the animal. The two elder sons of Mr. Sammons, Frederic and Jacob, were taken to Canada. At Chambly they concerted a plan for escape by the prisoners rising upon the garrison, but the majority of them were too weak-hearted to attempt it. The brothers, however, succeeded in making their escape a few days afterward, and the narrative of their separate adventures, before they reached their homes, forms a wonderful page in the volume of romance. It may be found in detail in the second volume of Stone's Life of Brant. Jacob, after a toilsome journey from St. John's to Pittstown, in Vermont, through the trackless wilderness, reached Schenectady in safety, a few weeks after his capture, where he found his wife and children. But Frederic was recaptured, and it was nearly two years before he returned. His adventures in making his escape from an island among the St. Lawrence rapids, above Montreal, and his subsequent travel through the wilderness from the St. Lawrence to the Mohawk, with a fellow-prisoner, partake of all the stirring character of the most exciting legendary fiction. Almost naked, and with matted hair, they entered the streets of Schenectady, a wonder and a terror to the inhabitants at first, but, when known, they were the objects of profound regard. A strange but well-attested fact is related in connection with the return of Frederic. After the destruction of his property upon the Mohawk, the elder Sammons and his family returned to Marbletown, in Ulster county, whence they had emigrated. On the morning after his arrival at Schenectady, Frederic dispatched a letter to his father, by the hand of an officer on his way to Philadelphia. He left it at the house of Mr. Levi De Witt, five miles distant from Mr. Sammons's. On the night when the letter was left there, Jacob dreamed that his brother Frederic was living, and that a letter, announcing the fact, was at Mr. De Witt's. The dream was twice repeated, and the next morning he related it to the family. They had long given Frederic up as lost, and laughed at Jacob for his belief in the teachings of dreams. Jacob firmly believed that such a letter was at De Witt's, and thither he repaired and inquired for it. He was told that no such letter was there, but urged a more thorough search, when it was found behind a barrel, where it had accidentally fallen. Jacob requested Mr. De Witt to open the letter and examine it, while he should recite its contents. It was done, and the dreamer repeated it word for word! Frederic lived to a good old age, enjoying the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was chosen an elector of President and Vice-president in 1837.

Pursuit of Johnson.--Incursion of Ross and Butler.--Action of Willett.-- Battle at Johnstown.--Adventures of the Sammonses.

290Governor Clinton was at Kingston, Ulster county, when intelligence of this invasion reached him. He repaired immediately to Albany, and sent such forces, composed of militia and volunteers, as he could raise, to overtake and intercept the invaders. One division, commanded by the governor in person, pushed forward to Lakes George and Champlain, and at Ticonderoga was joined by a body of militia from the New Hampshire Grants. At the same time Colonel Van Schaick, with eight hundred militia, pursued the enemy by way of Johnstown. But Sir John was far beyond the reach of pursuers, and too cautious to take a route so well known as that of the lakes. He kept upon the Indian paths through the wilderness west of the Adirondack Mountains, and escaped. This was the last visit made by Johnson to the Mohawk Valley during the war, but his friends invaded the settlement the following year, and near Johnson Hall a pretty severe battle took place.

On the 24th of October, 1781, Major Ross and Walter Butler, at the head of about one thousand troops, consisting of regulars, Indians, and Tories, approached the settlement so stealthily that they reached Warren Bush (not far from the place where Sir Peter Warren made his first settlement, and the place of residence of Sir William Johnson on his arrival in America) without their approach being suspected. The settlement was broken into so suddenly that the people had no chance for escape. Many were killed, and their houses plundered and destroyed. As soon as Colonel Willett, then stationed at Fort Rensselaer, was informed of this incursion, he marched with about four hundred men for Fort Hunter, on the Mohawk. Colonel Rowley, of Massachusetts, with a part of his force, consisting of Tryon county militia, was sent round to fall upon the enemy in the rear, while Willett should attack them in front. The belligerents met a short distance above Johnson Hall, and a battle immediately ensued. The militia under Willett soon gave way, and fled in great confusion to the stone church in the village; and the enemy would have had an easy victory,

Retreat of Rosa and Butler.--Fight on West Canada Creek.--Death of Walter Butler.--Last Battle near the Mohawk.

291had not Howley emerged from the woods at that moment, and fallen upon their rear. It was then nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, and the fight was kept up with bravery on both sides until dark, when the enemy retreated, or rather fled, in great disorder, to the woods. During the engagement, and while Rowley was keeping the enemy at bay, Willett succeeded in rallying the militia, who returned to the fight. The Americans lost about forty killed and wounded. The enemy had about the same number killed, and fifty made prisoners.

The enemy continued their retreat westward nearly all the night after the battle, and early in the morning Willett started in pursuit. He halted at Stone Arabia, and sent forward a detachment of troops to make forced marches to Oneida Lake, where, he was informed, the enemy had left their boats, for the purpose of destroying them. In the mean while he pressed onward with the main force to the German Flats, where he learned that the advanced party had returned without accomplishing their errand. From a scouting party he also learned that the enemy had taken a northerly course, along the West Canada Creek. With about four hundred of his choicest men, he started in pursuit, in the face of a driving snow-storm. He encamped that night in a thick wood upon the Royal Grant, * and sent out a scouting party, under Jacob Sammons, to search for the enemy. Sammons discovered their forces a few miles in advance of the Americans, and, after reconnoitering their camp, communicated the fact to Willett that they were well armed with bayonets. That officer deferred his meditated night attack upon them, and continued his pursuit early in the morning, but the enemy were as quick on foot as he. In the afternoon he came up with a lagging party of Indians, and a brisk but short skirmish ensued. Some of the Indians were killed, some taken prisoners, and others escaped. Willett kept upon the enemy's trail along the creek, and toward evening came up with the main body at a place called Jerseyfield, on the northeastern side of Canada Creek. A running fight ensued; the Indians became terrified, and retreated across the stream at a ford, where Walter Butler, who was their leader, attempted to rally them. A brisk fire was kept up across the creek by both parties for some time, and Butler, who was watching the fight from behind a tree, was shot in the head by an Oneida, who knew him and took deliberate aim. His troops thereupon fled in confusion. The Oneida bounded across the creek, and found his victim not dead, but writhing in great agony. The Tory cried out, "Save me! Save me! Give me quarters!" while the tomahawk of the warrior glittered over his head. "Me give you Sherry Falley quarters!" shouted the Indian, and buried his hatchet in the head of his enemy. He took his scalp, and, with the rest of the Oneidas, continued the pursuit of the flying host. The body of Butler was left to the beasts and birds, without burial, for charity toward one so blood-stained had no dwelling-place in the bosoms of his foes. The place where he fell is still called Butler's Ford. The pursuit was kept up until evening, when Willett, completely successful by entirely routing and dispersing the enemy, wheeled his victorious little army, and returned to Fort Dayton in triumph. ** This was the closing scene of the bloody drama performed in the Valley of the Mohawk during the Revolution, a tragedy terrible in every aspect; and we, who are dwelling in the midst of peace and abundance, and so far removed, in point of time, from the events, that hardly an actor is living to tell us of scenes that seem almost fabulous, can not properly estimate the degree of moral and physical courage, long suffering, patient endurance, and hopeful vigilance which the people of that day exhibited. It was a terrible ordeal for the patriots. Like the three holy men of Babylon, they passed through a "fiery furnace heated one seven times more than it was wont to

* The Royal Grant, it will be remembered, was the tract of land which Sir William Johnson shrewdly procured from Hendrick, the Mohawk sachem, by outwitting him in a game of dreaming.--See page 106.

** The sufferings of the retreating army must have been many and acute. The weather was cold, and in their hasty flight many of them had cast away their blankets, to make their progress more speedy. The loss of the Americans in this pursuit was only one man; that of the enemy is not known. It must have been very great. Colonel Willett, in his dispatch to Governor Clinton, observed, "The fields of Johnstown the brooks and rivers, the hills and mountains, the deep and gloomy marshes through which they had to pass they only could tell; and perhaps the officers who detached them on the expedition."

Return to Fultonville.--The Sammons House.--Local Historians.--The departed Heroes.--The Kane House.

292be," yet they came out unscathed--"neither were their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them." We are yet to visit Currytown, Sharon Springs, and Cherry Valley, and note some incidents of the civil war, reserved for record here, and then we shall leave old Tryon county, with the pleasant anticipations of the "homeward-hound."

We returned to Fultonville, from our excursion to Johnstown, by the western road, and passed the premises formerly owned by Sampson Sammons, near the winding Cayadutta. The house, which was built upon the foundation of the one destroyed by the miscreants under Johnson, has a venerable appearance; but the trailing vines that cover its porch, and the air of comfort that surrounds it, hide all indications of the desolation of former times. We arrived at Fultonville in time to dine, and there I spent an hour pleasantly and profitably with Jeptha R. Simms, Esq., the author of a "History of Schoharie County and the Border Wars of New York," a work of much local and general interest, and a valuable companion to Campbell's "Annals of Tryon County." It is greatly to be lamented that men like Campbell and Simms, and Miner, of Wyoming, who gathered a large proportion of the facts concerning the Revolution from the lips of those who participated in its trials, have not been found in every section of our old thirteen states equally industrious and patriotic. It is now too late, for the men of the Revolution are mostly in the grave. I have found but few, very few, still alive and sufficiently vigorous to tell the tales of their experience with perspicuity; and a hundred times, in the course of my pilgrimage to the grounds where

Discord raised its trumpet notes

And carnage beat its horrid drum,

have my inquiries for living patriots of that war been answered with "Five years ago Captain A. was living," or "three years ago Major B. died;" or "last autumn Mother C. was buried;" all of whom were full of the unwritten history of the Revolution. But they are gone, and much of the story of our struggle for independence is buried with them. They are gone, but not forgotten:

"They need

No statue or inscription to reveal

Their greatness. It is round them; and the joy

With which their children tread the hallow'd ground

That holds their venerated bones, the peace

That smiles on all they fought for, and the wealth

That clothes the land they rescued--these, though mute,

As feeling ever is when deepest--these

Are monuments more lasting than the fanes

Rear'd to the kings and demi-gods of old."

Percival.

I returned to Fort Plain, by rail-road, toward evening, and the next morning, accompanied by the friend with whom we were sojourning, I started for Currytown. * We went by the way of Canajoharie, a pleasant little village on the canal, opposite Palatine, and thence over the rugged hills southward. A little below Canajoharie we sketched an old stone house which was erected before the Revolution, and was used soon afterward by the brothers Kane, then the most extensive traders west of Albany. An anecdote is related in connection with the Kanes, which illustrates the proverbial shrewdness of Yankees, and the confiding nature of the old stock of Mohawk Valley Dutchmen. A peddler (who was, of course, a Yankee) was arrested for the offense of traveling on the Sabbath, contrary to law, and taken before a Dutch justice near Caughnawaga. The peddler pleaded the urgency of his business. At first the Dutchman was inexorable, but at length, on the payment to him of a small sum, agreed to furnish the Yankee with a written permit to travel on. The justice, not being expert with the pen, requested the peddler to write the "pass." He wrote a draft upon the Kanes for fifty dollars, which the unsus-

* The name is derived from William Curry, the patentee of the lands in that settlement.

Dutch Magistrate and Yankee Peddler.--Currytown.--Jacob Dievendorff.-- Indian Method of Scalping.

293pecting Dutchman signed. The draft was presented and duly honored, and the Yankee went on his way rejoicing. A few days afterward the justice was called upon to pay the amount of the draft. The thing was a mystery, and it was a long time before he could comprehend it. All at once light broke in upon the matter, and the victim exclaimed, vehemently, in broken English, "Eh, yah! I understands it now. Tish mine writin', and dat ish de tam Yankee pass!" He paid the money and resigned his office, feeling that it was safer to deal in corn and butter with honest neighbors, than in law with Yankee interlopers.

We reached Currytown, a small village nearly four miles south of Canajoharie, at about noon. The principal object of my visit there was to see the venerable Jacob Dievendorff, who, with his family, was among the sufferers when that settle ment was destroyed by Indians and Tories in July, 1781. Accompanied by his son-in-law (Dr. Snow, of Currytown), we found the old patriot busily engaged in his barn, threshing grain; and, al though nearly eighty years of age, he seemed almost as vigorous and active as most men are at sixty. His sight and hearing are somewhat defective, but his intellect, as exhibited by his clear remembrance of the circumstances of his early life, had lost but little of its strength. He is one of the largest land-holders in Montgomery county, owning one thousand fertile acres, lying in a single tract where the scenes of his sufferings in early life occurred. In an orchard, 'a short distance from his dwelling August, 1848 was still standing, which was stockaded and used as a fort. It is fast decaying, but the venerable owner allows time alone to work its destruction, and will not suffer a board to be taken from it. The occurrences here have already been recorded, by Campbell and Simms, as related to them long ago by Mr. Dievendorff and others, and from these details I gather the following facts, adding such matters of interest as were communicated me by Mr. Dievendorff himself and his near neighbor, the venerable John Keller.

On the 9th of July, 1781, nearly five hundred Indians, and a few Loyalists, commanded by a Tory named Doxstader, attacked and destroyed the settlement of Currytown, murdered several of the inhabitants, and carried others away prisoners.

The house of Henry Lewis (represented in the engraving) was picketed and used for a fort. ** The

* I here present a portrait of Mr. Dievendorff which he kindly allowed me to make while he sat upon a half bushel in his barn. Also, a sketch of the back of his head, showing its appearance where the scalp was taken off. The building is a view of the one referred to in the text as the Currytown fort, now standing in Mr. Dievendorff's orchard. The method used by the Indians in scalping is probably not generally known. I was told by Mr. Dievendorff and others familiar with the horrid practice that the scalping-knife was a weapon not unlike, in appearance, the bowie-knife of the present day. The victim was usually stunned or killed by a blow from the tomahawk. Sometimes only a portion of the scalp (as was the case with Mr. Dievendorff) was taken from the crown and back part of the head, but more frequently the whole scalp was removed. With the dexterity of a surgeon, the Indian placed the point of his knife at the roots of the hair on the forehead, and made a circular incision around the head. If the hair was short, he would raise a lappet of the skin, take hold with his teeth, and tear it instantly from the skull. If long, such as the hair of females, he would twist it around his hand, and, by a sudden jerk, bare the skull. The scalps were then tanned with the hair on, and often marked in such a manner that the owners could tell when and where they were severally obtained, and whether they belonged to men or women. When Major Rogers, in 1759, destroyed the chief village of the St. Francis Indians, he found there a vast quantity of scalps, many of them comically painted in hieroglyphics. They were all stretched on small hoops.

** Mr. Dievendorff told me that on one occasion the fort was attacked by a party of Indians. There were several women, but only one man, in the fort. The savages approached stealthily along a ravine, a little north of the fort, and were about to make an assault upon the frail fortification, when they were saluted with a warm fire from it. There were several muskets in it, which the women loaded as fast as the man could fire; and so rapid were the discharges, that the Indians, supposing quite a large garrison to be present, fled to the woods. The remains of the building are still scarred by many bullet marks.

Attack on Currytown.--The Captives.--Expedition under Captain Gross.-- Battle at New Dorlach, now Sharon Springs.

294settlers, unsuspicious of danger, were generally at work in their fields when the enemy fell upon them. It was toward noon when they emerged stealthily from the forest, and with torch and tomahawk commenced the work of destruction. Among the sufferers were the Dievendorffs, Kellers, Myerses, Bellingers, Tanners, and Lewises. On the first alarm, those nearest the fort fled thitherward, and those more remote sought shelter in the woods. Jacob Dievendorff, the father of the subject of our sketch, escaped. His son Frederic was overtaken, tomahawked, and scalped, on his way to the fort, * and Frederic's brother Jacob, then a lad eleven years old, was made prisoner. A negro named Jacob, two lads named Bellinger, Mary Miller, a little girl ten or twelve years old, Jacob Myers and his son, and two others, were captured. The Indians then plundered and burned all the dwellings but the fort and one belonging to a Tory, in all about twelve, and either killed or drove away most of the cattle and horses in the neighborhood. When the work of destruction was finished, the enemy started off in the direction of New Dorlach, or Turlock (now Sharon) with their prisoners and booty.

Colonel Willett was at Fort Plain when Currytown was attacked. On the previous day he had sent out a scout of thirty or forty men, under Captain Gross, to patrol the country for the two-fold purpose of procuring forage and watching the movements of the enemy. They went in the direction of New Dorlach, and, when near the present Sharon Springs, discovered a portion of the camp of the enemy in a cedar swamp. ** Intelligence of this fact reached Willett at the moment when a dense smoke, indicating the firing of a village, was seen from Fort Plain, in the direction of Currytown. Captain Robert M'Kean, with sixteen levies, was ordered to that place, with instructions to assemble as many of the militia on the way as possible. With his usual celerity, that officer arrived at the settlement in time to assist in extinguishing the flames of some of the buildings yet unconsumed. Colonel Willett, in the mean time, was active in collecting the militia. Presuming that the enemy would occupy the same encampment that night, and being joined during the day by the forces under M'Kean and Gross, he determined to make an attack upon them at midnight, while they were asleep. His whole strength did not exceed one hundred and fifty effective men, while the enemy's force, as he afterward learned, consisted of more than double that number. The night was dark and lowering, and the dense forest that surrounded the swamp encampment of the enemy was penetrated only by a bridle path. His guide became bewildered, and it was six o'clock in the morning before he came in sight of the enemy, who, warned of his approach, had taken a more advantageous position. From this position it was desirable to draw them, and for that purpose Willett sent forward a detachment from the main body, which he had stationed in crescent form on a ridge now seen on the south side of the turnpike, opposite the swamp, who fired upon the Indians and then retreated. The stratagem succeeded, for the Indians pursued them, and were met by Willett, advancing with one hundred men. M'Kean was left with a reserve in the rear, and fell furiously upon the flank of the enemy. A desperate fight for a short time ensued, when the Indians broke and fled, but kept up a fire from behind trees and rocks. Willett and his men, understanding their desultory warfare, pursued them with bullet and bayonet, until they relinquished the fight, and fled precipitately down their war-path toward the Susquehanna, leaving their camp and all their plunder behind. They left forty dead upon the field. The American loss was five killed, and nine wounded and missing. The brave M'Kean was

* He was not killed, but lay several hours insensible, when he was picked up by his uncle, Mr. Keller, who carried him into the fort. He recovered, and lived several years, when he was killed by the falling of a tree.

** A part of this swamp may still be seen on the north side of the western turnpike, about two miles east of the springs.

Death of Captain M'Kean.--The Currytown Prisoners.--Dievendorff.--Sharon Springs.--Analysis of the Waters

295mortally wounded, and died at Fort Plain a few days after the return of the expedition to that post. I was informed by Mr. Lipe, at Fort Plain, that the body of the captain was buried near the block-house, and that the fort was afterward called Fort M'Kean, in honor of the deceased soldier.

At the time of the attack, the Indians had placed most of their prisoners on the horses which they had stolen from Currytown, and each was well guarded. When they were, about to retreat before Willett, fearing the recapture of the prisoners, and the consequent loss of scalps, the savages began to murder and scalp them. Young Dievendorff (my informant) leaped from his horse, and, running toward the swamp, was pursued, knocked down by a blow of a tomahawk upon his shoulder, scalped, and left for dead. Willett did not bury his slain, but a detachment of militia, under Colonel Veeder, who repaired to the field after the battle, entombed them, and fortunately discovered and proceeded to bury the bodies of the prisoners who were murdered and scalped near the camp. Young Dievendorff, who was stunned and insensible, was seen struggling among the leaves; and his bloody face being mistaken for that of an Indian, one of the soldiers leveled his musket to shoot him. A fellow-soldier, perceiving his mistake, knocked up his piece and saved the lad's life. He was taken to Fort Plain, and, being placed under the care of Dr. Faught, a German physician, of Stone Arabia, was restored to health. It was five years, however, before his head was perfectly healed; and when I saw him (August, 1848), it had the tender appearance and feeling of a wound recently healed. He is still living (1849), in the midst of the settlement of Currytown, which soon arose from its ashes, and is a living monument of savage cruelty and the sufferings of the martyrs for American liberty. *

Toward evening we left Currytown for Cherry Valley, by the way of Sharon Springs. The road lay through a beautiful, though very hilly, country. From the summits of some of the eminences over which we passed the views were truly magnificent. Looking down into the Canajoharie Valley from the top of its eastern slope, it appeared like a vast enameled basin, having its concavity garnished with pictures of rolling intervales, broad cultivated fields, green groves, bright streams, villages, and neat farm-houses in abundance; and its distant rim on its northern verge seemed beautifully embossed with wooded hills, rising one above another in profuse outlines far away beyond the Mohawk. We reached the Springs toward sunset, passing the Pavilion on the way. ** They are in a broad ravine, and along the margin of a hill; and near them the little village of Sharon has grown up. ** Our stay was brief---just long enough to have a lost shoe replaced by another upon our horse, and to visit the famous fountains--for, having none of the "ills which flesh is heir to" of sufficient malignity to require the infliction of sulphureted or chalybeate draughts, we were glad to escape to the hills and vales less suggestive of Tophet and the Valley of Hinnom. How any but invalids, who find the waters less nauseous than the allopathic doses of the shops,

* The little girl (Mary Miller) was found scalped, but alive, and was taken, with the lad Dievendorff, toward Fort Plain. She was very weak when found, and on taking a draught of cold water, just before reaching the fort, instantly expired.

** The Pavilion is a very large hotel, situated upon one of the loftiest summits in the neighborhood, and commanding a magnificent view of the country. It was erected in 1836 by a New York company, and is filled with invalids and other visitors during the summer.

*** The Sharon Sulphur Springs have been celebrated for their medical properties many years, and are said to be equal in efficacy to those in Virginia. There is a chalybeate spring in the neighborhood. The whole region abounds in fossils, and is an interesting place for the geologist.

Arrival at Cherry Valley.--Judge Campbell and his Residence.--His Captivity.--Movements of Brant

296and, consequently, are happier than at home, can spend a "season" there, within smelling distance of the gaseous fountains, and call the sojourn pleasure, is a question that can only be solved by Fashion, the shrewd alchemist in whose alembic common miseries are transmuted into conventional happiness. The sulphureted hydrogen does not infect the Pavilion, I believe, and a summer residence there secures the enjoyment of pure air and delightful drives and walks in the midst of a lovely hill country.

It was quite dark when we reached Cherry Valley, eight miles west of Sharon Springs. * This village lies imbosomed within lofty hills, open only on the southwest, in the direction of the Susquehanna, and as we approached it along the margin of the mountain on its eastern border, the lights sparkling below us, like stars reflected from a lake, gave us the first indication of its presence.

In the course of the evening we called upon the Honorable James S. Campbell, who, at the time of the destruction of the settlement in 1778, was a child six years of age. He is the son of Colonel Samuel Campbell, already mentioned, and father of the Honorable William W. Campbell, of New York city, the author of the Annals of Tryon County, so frequently cited. With his mother and family, he was carried into captivity. He has a clear recollection of events in the Indian country while he was a captive, his arrival and stay at Niagara, his subsequent sojourn in Canada, and the final reunion of the family after an absence and separation of two years. ** His residence, a handsome modern structure, is upon the site of the old family mansion, which was stockaded and used as a fort at the time of the invasion. The doors and window-shutters were made bullet-proof, and the two barns that were included within the ramparts were strengthened.

In a former chapter we have noticed that Brant's first hostile movement, after his return from Canada and establishment of his head-quarters at Oghkwaga, was an attempt to cut off the settlement of Cherry Valley, or, at least, to make captive the members of the active Committee of Correspondence. It was a sunny morning, toward the close of May, when Brant and his warriors cautiously moved up to the brow of the lofty hill on the east side of the town, to reconnoiter the settlement at their feet. He was astonished and chagrined on seeing a fortification where he supposed all was weak and defenseless, and greater was his disappointment when quite a large and well-armed garrison appeared upon the esplanade in front of Colonel Campbell's house. These soldiers were not as formidable as the sachem supposed, for they were only half-grown boys, who, full of the martial spirit of the times, had formed themselves into companies, and, armed with wooden guns and swords, had regular drills each day. It was such a display, on the morning in question, that attracted Brant's attention. His vision being somewhat obstructed by the trees and

* Cherry Valley derived its name, according to Campbell, from the following circumstance: "Mr. Dunlop [the venerable pastor whose family suffered at the time of the massacre in 1778], engaged in writing some letters, inquired of Mr. Lindesay [the original proprietor of the soil] where he should date them, who proposed the name of a town in Scotland. Mr. Dunlop, pointing to the fine wild cherry-trees and to the valley, replied, 'Let us give our place an appropriate name, and call it Cherry Valley,' which was readily agreed to."--Annals of Tryon County.

** The children of Mrs. Campbell were all restored to her at Niagara, except this one. In June, 1780, she was sent to Montreal, and there she was joined by her missing boy. He had been with a tribe of the Mohawks, and had forgotten his own language; but he remembered his mother, and expressed his joy at seeing her, in the Indian language. Honorable William Campbell, late surveyor general of New York, was her son. She lived until 1836, being then 93 years of age. She was the last survivor of the Revolutionary women in the region of the head waters of the Susquehanna.

*** This pleasant dwelling is upon the northern verge of the town, on the road leading from Cherry Valley to the Mohawk. The sketch was taken from the road.

Brant deceived by Boys.--Death of Lieutenant Wormwood.--Shrewdness of Sitz.--"Brant's Rock."

297shrubs in which he was concealed, he mistook the boys for full-grown soldiers, and, considering an attack dangerous, moved his party to a hiding-place at the foot of the Tekaharawa Falls, in a deep ravine north of the village, near the road leading to the Mohawk. * In that deep, rocky glen, "where the whole scene was shadowy and almost dark even at mid-day," his warriors were concealed, while Brant and two or three followers hid themselves in ambush behind a large rock by the road side', for the purpose of obtaining such information as might fall in his way.

On the morning of that day, Lieutenant Wormwood, a promising young officer of Palatine, had been sent from Fort Plain to Cherry Valley with the information, for the committee at the latter place, that a military force might be expected there the next day. His noble bearing and rich velvet dress attracted a good deal of attention at the village; and when, toward evening, he started to return, accompanied by Peter Sitz, the bearer of some dispatches, the people, in admiration, looked after him until he disappeared beyond the hill. On leaving, he had cast down his portmanteau, saying, "I shall be back for it in the morning." But he never returned.

As the two patriots galloped along the margin of the Tekaharawa Glen, they were hailed, but, instead of answering, they put spurs to their horses. The warriors in ambush arose and fired a volley upon them. The lieutenant fell, and Brant, rushing out from his concealment, scalped him with his own hands. Sitz was captured, and his dispatches fell into the hands of Brant. Fortunately they were double, and Sitz had the presence of mind to destroy the genuine and deliver the fictitious to the sachem. Deceived by these dispatches concerning the strength of Cherry Valley, Brant withdrew to Cobelskill, and thence to Oghkawaga, and the settlement 'was saved from destruction at that time.' Its subsequent fate is recorded in a previous chapter.

Judge Campbell kindly offered to accompany us in the morning to "Brant's Rock." *** Having engaged to be back at Fort Plain in time the next day to take the cars for Albany at two o'clock, and the distance from the "rock" being twelve miles, over a rough and hilly road, an early start was necessary, for I wished to make a sketch of the village and valley, as also

* The Tekaharawa is the western branch of the Canajoharie or Bowman's Creek, which falls into the Mohawk at Canajoharie, opposite Palatine.

** Campbell's Annals.

*** This rock, which is about four feet high, lies in a field on the left of the road leading from Cherry Valley to the Mohawk, about a mile and a half north of the residence of Judge Campbell. It is a fossiliferous mass, composed chiefly of shells. Behind this rock the body of Lieutenant Wormwood, lifeless and the head scalped, was found by the villagers, who had heard the firing on the previous evening. Judge Campbell, who accompanied us to the spot, pointed out the stump of a large tree by the road side, as the place where Lieutenant Wormwood fell. The tree was pierced by many bullets, and Judge Campbell had extracted several of them when a boy.

Morning Scene near Cherry Valley.--Light--Departure for Albany.-- Woodworth's Battle

298of the rock. At early dawn, the light not being sufficient to perceive the outline of distant objects, I stood upon the high ridge north of the village which divides the head waters of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna from the tributaries of the Mohawk. As the pale light in the east grew ruddy, a magnificent panorama was revealed on every side; and as the stars faded away, and trees, and fields, and hills, and the quiet village arose from the gloom, and the sun's first rays burst over the eastern hills into the valley, lighting it up with sudden splendor, while the swelling chorus of birds and the hum of insects broke the stillness; and the perfumes of flowers arose from the dewy grass like sweet incense, the delighted spirit seemed to hear a voice in the quivering light, saying,

"From the quicken'd womb of the primal gloom

The sun roll'd black and bare,

Till I wove him a vest, for his Ethiop breast,

Of the threads of my golden hair;

And when the broad tent of the firmament

Arose on its airy spars,

I pencil'd the hue of its matchless blue,

And spangled it round with the stars.

I waken the flowers in their dew-spangled bowers,

The birds in their chambers of green,

And mountains and plain glow with beauty again

As they bask in my matinal sheen.

Oh, if such the glad worth of my presence to earth,

. Though fitful and fleeting the while,

What glories must rest on the home of the blest,

Ever bright with the Deity's smile."

William Pitt Palmer.

On the north the Valley of the Canajoharie stretches away to the Mohawk, twelve miles distant, whose course was marked by a white line of mist that skirted the more remote hills; and on the south Cherry Valley extends down among the mountains toward the Susquehanna proper, and formed the easy war-path to the settlement at its head, from Oghkwaga and Unadilla. From the bosom of the ridge whereon I stood spring the head waters of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna and those of Canajoharie. I had finished the sketch here given before the sun was fairly above the tree-tops, and, while the mist yet hovered over the Tehakawara, we were at Brant's Rock, within the sound of the tiny cascades. There we parted from Judge Campbell, and hastened on toward Fort Plain, where we arrived in time to breakfast, and to take the morning train for Albany. Before leaving, let us take a parting glance at the Revolutionary history of the Mohawk Valley, for we may not have another opportunity.

Soon after the irruption of Dockstader, or Doxstader, into the Currytown and New Dor-lach settlements, a party of Tories and Indians made a descent upon Palatine, under the conduct of a son of Colonel Jacob Klock. They were betrayed by one of their number, and fled to the woods for safety, without accomplishing any mischief. At the German Flats and in that vicinity several spirited rencounters took place between the enemy and the patriot militia. One of them was marked by great bravery on the part of Captain Solomon Woodworth, and a small company of rangers which he had organized. He marched from Fort Dayton to the Royal Grant for the purpose of observation. On the way he fell in with an Indian ambush. Without warning, his little band was surrounded by savages, who made the forest ring with the war-whoop. One of the most desperate and bloody engagements of the war ensued. Woodworth and a large number of his rangers were slain, and the victorious Indians took several of them prisoners. Only fifteen escaped.

Another affair occurred at a settlement called Shell's Bush, about five miles north of Herkimer village, which deserves a passing notice. A wealthy German named John Christian Shell, or Schell, had built a block- house of his own, two stories high, the upper one projecting so as to allow the inmates to fire perpendicularly upon the assailants. * One sultry

* At that time there were no less than twenty forts, so called, between Schenectady and Fort Schuyler. They were generally strong dwellings stockaded, and so arranged that fifteen or twenty families might find protection in each.

Descent of Tories upon "Shell's Bush."--Shell's Block-house.--Furious Battle.--Capture of M'Donald.--Luther's Hymn.

299afternoon in August, while the people were generally in their fields, Donald M'Donald, one of the Scotch refugees from Johnstown, with a party of sixty Indians and Tories, made a descent upon Shell's Bush. The inhabitants mostly fled to Fort Dayton, but Shell and his family took refuge in his block-house. He and two of his sons (he had eight in all) were at work in the field. The two sons were captured, but the father and his other boys, who were near, reached the block-house in safety. It was finally besieged, but the assailants were kept at a respectful distance by the garrison. Shell's wife loaded the muskets, while her husband and sons discharged them with sure aim. M'Donald tried to burn the blockhouse, but was unsuccessful. He at length procured a crow-bar, ran up to the door, and attempted to force it. Shell fired upon him, and so wounded him in the leg that he fell. Instantly the beleaguered patriot opened the door and pulled the Scotchman within, a prisoner. He was well supplied with cartridges, and these he was obliged to surrender to his captors. The battle ceased for a time. Shell knew the enemy would not attempt to burn his castle while their leader was a prisoner within it, and, taking advantage of the lull in the battle, he went into the second story, and composedly sang the favorite hymn of Luther amid the perils that surrounded him in his controversies with the pope. * But the respite was short. The enemy, maddened at the loss of several of their number killed, and their commander a prisoner, rushed up to the block- house, and five of them thrust the muzzles of their pieces through the loop-holes. Mrs. Shell seized an ax, and, with well-directed blows, ruined every musket by bending the barrels. At the same time Shell and his sons kept up a brisk fire, which drove the enemy off. At twilight he went to the upper story and called out to his wife, in a loud voice, informing her that Captain Small was approaching from Fort Dayton with succor. In a few minutes, with louder voice, he exclaimed, "Captain Small, march your company round upon this side of the house. Captain Getman, you had better wheel your men off to the left, and come upon that side." This was a successful stratagem. There were no troops approaching, but the enemy, deceived by the trick, fled to the woods. M'Donald was taken to Fort Dayton the next day, where his leg was amputated, but the blood flowed so freely that he died in a few hours. ** The two sons of Shell

* The following is a literal translation of the hymn, made for the author of the Life of Brant by Professor Bokum, of Harvard University. It is from a German hymn book published in 1741.

A firm fortress is our God, a good defense and weapon;

He helps us free from all our troubles which have now befallen us.

The old evil enemy, he is now seriously going to work;

Great power and much cunning are his cruel equipments,

There is none like him on the earth.

2.

With our own strength nothing can be done, we are very soon lost:

For us the right man is fighting, whom God himself has chosen.

Do you ask, who is he? His name is Jesus Christ,

The Lord Jehovah, and there is no other God;

He must hold the field.

3.

And if the world were full of devils, ready to devour us,

We are by no means much afraid, for finally we must overcome The prince of this world, however badly he may behave,

He can not injure us, and the reason is, because he is the judge,

A little word can lay him low. '.

4.

That word they shall suffer to remain, and not to be thanked for either;

He is with us in the field, with his spirit and his gifts.

If they take from us body, property, honor, child, and wife,

Let them all be taken away, they have yet no gain from it,

The kingdom of heaven must remain to us.

** M'Donald wore a silver-mounted tomahawk, which Shell took from him. Its handle exhibited thirty-two scalp notches, the tally of horrid deeds in imitation of his Indian associates.

Death of Shell and his Son.--Cessation of Hostilities.--Departure from Fort Plain.--Albany.--Hendrick Hudson.

300 were carried into Canada, and they asserted that nine of the wounded enemy died on the way. Their loss on the ground was eleven killed and six wounded, while not one of the defenders of the block-house was injured. Soon after this event Shell was fired upon by some Indians, while at work in his field with his boys. He was severely wounded, and one of his boys was killed. The old man was taken to the fort, where he died of his wound. *

During this summer the Tories and Indians went down upon Warwasing and other portions of the frontier settlements of Ulster and Orange counties. These expeditions will be elsewhere considered. The irruption of Hoss and Butler into the Johnstown settlement in October, and their repulse by Colonel Willett, have been related. With that transaction closed the hostilities in Tryon county for the year, and the surrender of Cornwallis October 19, 1781 and his whole army at Yorktown, in Virginia, so dispirited the Loyalists that they made no further demonstrations, by armed parties, against the settlements. Attempts, some of them successful, were made to carry off prominent citizens. ** The Indians still hung around the borders of the settlements in small parties during 1782, but they accomplished little beyond producing alarms and causing general uneasiness. Peace ensued, the hostile savages retired to the wilderness, a few of the refugee Tories, tame and submissive, returned, and the Mohawk Valley soon smiled with the abundance produced by peaceful industry.

We left Fort Plain toward noon, and reached Albany in time to depart for New York the same evening. Columns of smoke were yet rising from the smouldering ruins of a large portion of the business part of the city lying near the river, south of State Street; and the piers along the basin, black and bare, exhibited a mournful contrast to the air of busy activity that enlivened them when we passed through the place a few weeks before. I have been in Albany many times; let us take a seat upon the promenade deck of the Isaac Newton, for the evening is pleasant, and, as we glide down the Hudson, chat a while about the Dutch city and its associations, and its sister settlement Schenectady, and thus close our

FIRST TOUR AMONG THE SCENES OF THE REVOLUTION.

The site of Albany was an Indian settlement, chiefly of the Mohawk tribes, long before Hendrick Hudson sailed up the North River. It was called Scagh-negh-ta-da, a word signifying the end of the pine woods, or beyond the pine woods. Such, and equally appropriate, was also the name of a settlement on the Mohawk, at the lower end of the valley, which still retains the appellation, though a little Anglicised in orthography, being spelled Schenectady. From the account given in Juet's Journal, published in the third volume of Purchas's Pilgrimages, of Hudson's voyage up the river, it is supposed that he proceeded in his vessel (the Half Moon) as far as the present site of Albany, and perhaps as high as Troy. *** But he left no colony there, and the principal fruit of his voyage, which he carried back to the Old World, was intelligence of the discovery of a noble river, navigable one hundred and sixty miles, and passing through the most fertile and romantic region imaginable. This

* Stone's Life of Brant.

** The most prominent Tories engaged in this business were Bettys and Waltermeyer. We have noticed in another chapter the attempt of the latter to abduct General Schuyler. Among the prisoners thus made by these two miscreants, from Ballston, were Samuel Nash, Joseph Chaird, Uri Tracy, Samuel Patchin, Epenetus White, John Fulmer, and two brothers named Bontas. They were all taken to Canada, and, after being roughly treated, were either exchanged, or became free at the conclusion of the war.

*** Henry or Hendrick Hudson was a native of England. While seeking a northwest passage to Japan and China, he explored the coasts of Greenland and Labrador in 1607-8. After returning to England from a second voyage, he went to Holland and entered the service of the Dutch East India Company, who fitted out the Half Moon for him to pursue his discoveries. It was during this voyage that he sailed up the river which bears his name. The next year (1610) he was sent out by an association of gentlemen, and in that voyage discovered the great bay at the north called Hudson's Bay, where he wintered. In the spring of 1611 he endeavored to complete his discoveries, but, his provisions failing, he was obliged to relinquish the attempt and make his way homeward. Going out of the straits from the bay, he threatened to set one or two of his mutinous crew on shore. These, joined by others, entered his cabin at night, pinioned his arms behind him, and with his sons, and seven of the sick and most infirm on board, he was put into a shallop and set adrift. He was never heard of afterward.

Early History of Albany.--Fort Orange.--First Stone House.--The Church.- -The Portrait of Hudson.

301discovery was made early in the autumn of 1609.

As soon as the intelligence reached the Dutch East India Company, they sent out men to establish trading posts in the country in 1614, and the place was named, by the Dutch, Beaverwyek, or Beaver town, from the circumstance that great numbers of beavers were found there. A fortification, called Fort Orange, was built in 1623. * The town retained its original name until 1664, when the New Netherlands (as the country upon the Hudson was called) passed into the hands of the English.

1610 These traders ascended the river and built a blockhouse on the north point of Boyd's Island, a little below Albany; and it may be said* that in 1612 Albany was founded, for in that year the first permanent trading post was established there. Next to Jamestown, in Virginia, it was the earliest European settlement within the thirteen original colonies. A temporary fort was erected by the name of Albany, one of the titles of James, duke of York, the brother of Charles II., afterward King James II. of England.

The first permanent settlement that was made at Albany (the traders resorting thither only in the autumn and winter) was in 1626, and from that time until 1736 many respectable Dutch families came over and established themselves there and in the vicinity. Among them occur the names of Quackenboss, Lansing, Bleeeker, Van Ness, Pruyn, Van Wart, Wendell, Van Eps, and Van Rensselaer, names familiar to the readers of our history, and their descendants are numerous among us. The first stone building, except the fort, was erected at Albany in 1647, on which occasion "eight ankers" (one hundred and twenty-eight gallons) of brandy were consumed. *** About this time the little village of Beaverwyek was stockaded with strong wooden pickets or palisades, the remains of which were visible until 1812. The government was a military despotism, and so rigorous were the laws that quite a number of settlers left it and established themselves upon the present site of Schenectady, about one hundred years since. A small church was erected in 1655, and the Dutch East India Company sent a bell and a pulpit for it, about the time when its first pastor, Rev. Gideon Schaats, sailed for Beaverwyek. It became too small for the congregation, and in 1715 a new and larger edifice was erected on its site. This stood about ninety-two years, in the open area formed by the angle of State, Market, and Court Streets.

Albany had become a considerable town when Kalm visited it in 1749. He says the people all spoke Dutch. The houses stood with the gable ends toward the streets, and the water gutters at the eaves, projecting far over the streets, were a great annoyance to the people. The cattle, having free range, kept the streets dirty. The people were very social, 1657.

* Eight curious pieces of ordnance were mounted upon the ramparts of Fort Orange, called by the Dutch, according to Vanderkempt, stiengestucken, or stone pieces, because they were loaded with stone instead of iron balls. These cannon were formed of long stout iron bars laid longitudinally, and bound with iron hoops Their caliber was immense. The fort does not seem to have been a very strong work, for in 1639 a complaint was made to the Dutch governor that the fort was in a state of miserable decay, and that the "hogs had destroyed a part of it."

** This picture is copied from a painting said to be froth life, now in the possession of the Corporation of the city of New York, and hanging in the "Governor's Room," in the City Hall. It was in the old Stadt House, and was in existence in Governor Stuyvesant's time.

*** Letter of the commissary, De la Montagnie, to the Dutch governor of New Amsterdam (New York).

Kalm's Description of Albany.---Its Incorporation.---Destruction of Schenectady.---Colonial Convention.--Walter Wilie.

302and the spacious stoops, or porches, were always filled at evening, in summer, with neighbors mingling in chit-chat. They knew nothing of stoves; their chimneys were almost as broad as their houses; and the people made wampum, a kind of shell on strings, used as money, to sell to Indians and traders. * They were very cleanly in their houses; were frugal in their diet, and integrity was a prevailing virtue. Their servants were chiefly negroes. In 1777, according to Dr. Thatcher (Military Journal, p. 91), Albany contained "three hundred houses, chiefly in the Gothic style, the gable ends to the streets." He mentions the "ancient stone church," and also "a decent edifice called City Hall, which accommodates generally their assembly and courts of justice." It also had "a spacious hospital," erected during the French war. It was incorporated a city in 1686, and was made the capital of the state soon after the Revolution.

Albany was an important place, in a military point of view, from the close of the seventeenth century until the hostilities, then begun between the English and French colonies, ceased in 1763. It was the place where councils with the Indians were held, and whence expeditions took their departure for the wilderness beyond. It never became a prey to French conquest, though often threatened. In the depth of the winter of 1690 a party of two hundred Frenchmen and Canadians, and fifty Indians, chiefly Caughnawaga Mohawks, sent out February 8, 1691 by Frontenac, menaced Albany. They fell upon Schenectady at midnight, massacred and made captive the inhabitants, and laid the town in ashes. Sixty-three persons were murdered and twenty-seven carried into captivity. The church and sixty-three houses were burned. A few persons escaped to Albany, traveling almost twenty miles in the snow, with no other covering than their night-clothes. Twenty-five of them lost their limbs in consequence of their being frozen on the way. Schenectady, like Albany, was stockaded, having two entrance gates. These were forced open by the enemy, and the first intimation the inhabitants had of danger was the bursting in of their doors. ** Informed that Albany was strongly garrisoned, the marauders, thinking it not prudent to attack it, turned their faces toward Canada with their prisoners and booty. The settlement suffered some during the French and Indian war, but it was rather too near the strong post of Albany to invite frequent visits from the enemy. It is said that Schenectady was the principal seat of the Mohawks before the confederacy of the five Iroquois nations was formed.

One of the most prominent events that occurred at Albany, which has a remote connection with our Revolution, was the convention of colonial delegates held there in 1754. For a long time the necessity for a closer political union on the part of the English colonies had been felt. They had a common enemy in the French, who were making encroachments upon every interior frontier, but the sectional feelings of the several colonies often prevented that harmony of action in the raising of money and troops for the general service which proper efficiency required. It was also evident that the Indians, particularly the Six Nations of New York, were becoming alienated from the English, by the influence of French emissaries among them, and a grand council, in which the several English colonies might be represented, was thought not only expedient, but highly necessary. Lord Holderness,

* Wampum is made of the thick and blue part of sea clam-shells. The thin covering of this part being split off, a hole is drilled in it, and the form is produced and the pieces made smooth by a grindstone. The form is that of the cylindrical glass beads called bugles. When finished, they are strung upon small hempen cords about a foot long. In the manufacture of wampum, from six to ten strings are considered a day's work. A considerable quantity is manufactured at the present day in Bergen county, New Jersey.

** Walter Wilie, who was one of a party sent from Albany to Schenectady as soon as the intelligence reached that place of the destruction of the town, wrote a ballad, in the style of Chevy Chase, in which the circumstances are related in detail. He says of his ballad, "The which I did compose last night in the space of one hour, and am now writing, the morning of Friday, June 12th, 1690." He closes it with, "And here I end the long ballad, * The which you just have redde; I wish that it may stay on earth Long after I am dead."

Proceedings of the Colonial Convention.--Names of the Delegates.--Plan of Union submitted by Franklin.

303the English Secretary of State, accordingly addressed a circular letter to all the colonies, proposing a convention, at Albany, of committees from the several colonial assemblies, the chief design of which was proclaimed to be the renewal of treaties with the Six Nations. Seven of the colonies, namely, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, responded to the call, and the convention assembled at Albany, in the old City Hall, on the 19th of June, 1754. James Delaney was chosen president of the convention. The chiefs of the Six Nations were in full attendance, their principal speaker being Hendrick, the sachem afterward killed near Lake George while in the service of the English. The proceedings were opened by a speech to the Indians from Delaney; and while the treaty was in progress, the convention was invited, by the Massachusetts delegates, to consider whether the union of the colonies, for mutual defense, was not, under existing circumstances, desirable. The General Court of Massachusetts had empowered its representatives to enter into articles of union and confederation. The suggestion was favorably received, and a committee, consisting of one member from each colony, was appointed. ** Several plans were proposed. Dr. Franklin, whose fertile mind had conceived the necessity of union, and matured a plan before he went to Albany, now offered an outline in writing, which was adopted in committee, and reported to the convention. The subject was debated "hand in hand," as Franklin observes, "with the Indian business daily," for twelve consecutive days, and finally the report, substantially as drawn by him, was adopted, the Connecticut delegates alone dissenting. *** It was submitted to the Board of Trade, but that body did not approve of it or recommend it to the king, while the colonial assemblies were dissatisfied with it. "The assemblies did not adopt it," says Franklin, "as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it, and in England it was judged to have too much of the democratic." The Board of Trade had already proposed a plan of their own--a grand assembly of colonial governors and certain select members of their several councils, with power to draw on the British treasury, the sums thus drawn to be reimbursed by taxes imposed on the colonies by the British Parliament. This did not suit the colonists at all, and Massachusetts specially instructed her agent in England "to oppose everything that shall have the remotest tendency to raise a revenue in America for any public uses or serv-

* The following are the names of the commissioners from the several states:

New York.--James Delaney, Joseph Murray, William Johnson, John Chambers, William Smith.

Massachusetts.--Samuel Welles, John Chandler, Thomas Hutchinson, Oliver Partridge, John Worthington

New Hampshire.--Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, Mesheck Weare, Henry Sherburne.

Connecticut.--William Pitkin, Roger Wolcott, Elisha Williams.

Rhode Island.--Stephen Hopkins, Martin Howard.

Pennsylvania.--John Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris.

Maryland.--Benjamin Tasker, * Benjamin Barnes. **

** The committee consisted of Hutchinson of Massachusetts, Atkinson of New Hampshire, Pitkin of Connecticut, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of New York, Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Tasker of Maryland.

*** The plan proposed a grand council of forty-eight members--seven from Virginia, seven from Massachusetts, six from Pennsylvania, five from Connecticut, four each from New York, Maryland, and the two Carolinas, three from New Jersey, and two each from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The number of forty-eight was to remain fixed, no colony to have more than seven nor less than two members; but the apportionment to vary within those limits, with the rates of contribution. This council was to have the general management of civil and military affairs. It was to have control of the armies, the apportionment of men and money, and to enact general laws, in conformity with the British Constitution, and not in contravention of statutes passed by the imperial Parliament. It was to have for its head a president general, appointed by the crown, to possess a negative or veto power on all acts of the council, and to have, with the advice of the council, the appointment of all military officers and the entire management of Indian affairs. Civil officers were to be appointed by the council, with the consent of the president.- -Pitkin, i., 143. It is remarkable how near this plan, submitted by Franklin, is the basis of our Federal Constitution. Coxe, of New Jersey, who was Speaker of the Assembly of that province, proposed a similar plan in his "Carolana" in 1722, and William Penn, seeing the advantage of union, made a similar proposition as early as 1700.--Hildreth, ii., 444.

* This name is differently spelled by different writers. Pitkin, in his text (vol. L, p. 142), writes it Trasker, and in the list in in his appendix (429) it is Trasher.

** Williams, in his Statesman's Manual, has it Abraham instead of Benjamin. I have followed Pitkin.

Early Patriotism of Massachusetts.--Albany in the Revolution.--General Schuyler's Mansion.--Return to New York.

304ices of government." This was the first proposition to tax the colonies without their consent, and thus early we find Massachusetts raising her voice as fearlessly against it as she did twenty years afterward, when her boldness drew down upon her the vengeance of the British government.

During the Revolution, and particularly after the British took possession of New York-city, Albany was the focus of revolutionary power in the state. There the Committee of Safety had its sittings; and, after the destruction of the forts in the Highlands, and the burning of Esopus (Kingston), it was generally the head-quarters of the military and civil 1777 officers in the Northern Department. There the captive officers of Burgoyne's invading army were hospitably entertained by General Schuyler and his family at their spacious mansion, then "half a mile below the town."

The house is still standing, at the head of Schuyler Street, a little west of South Pearl Street, upon an eminence some thirty feet high in front, and completely imbosomed in trees and shrubbery. Within it the Baroness Reidesel was entertained, and there occurred those events mentioned by her and Chastellux, which I have noticed in a preceding chapter (pages 91 and 92). It was the scene, also, of the attempted abduction of the general by the Tory, Waltemeyer, when he robbed the patriot of his plate in 1781, mentioned on page 223. There La Fayette, Steuben, Rochambeau, and other foreign officers of eminence were entertained, and there the noblest of the land, as well as distinguished travelers from abroad, were frequent guests during the life of the owner; and its doors were opened as freely when the voice of poverty pleaded for assistance as when the great claimed hospitality and courtesy.

We arrived in New York on the morning of the 1st of September. The air was cool and bracing, the day was fine, and the lately-deserted streets and shops were thronged with mingled citizens and strangers plunged as deeply in the maze of business as if no forgetfulness of the leger and till had occurred while babbling brooks and shady groves wooed them to Nature's worship. There I rested a few days, preparatory to a visit to the beautiful valley "On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming!". *

* This view is from Schuyler Street. The edifice is of brick, having a closed octagonal porch or vestibule in front. It was built by Mrs. Schuyler while her husband was in England in 1760--1. The old family mansion, large and highly ornamented, in the Dutch style, stood nearly upon the site of the present City Hall, between State and Washington Streets. It was taken down in 1800.

Departure for Wyoming.--Newark and its Associations.--The old Academy.-- Trip to Morristown.

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