USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 31
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A few incidents of special local interest are, however, saved from this generally unmarked period; and it was distinguished by the sad but not inglorious fight in which many of the sons of Pittsfield participated, and the most illustrious soldier which she furnished to the armies of the Revolution fell.
But, even concerning an event so conspicuous as the Battle of Stone Arabia, one is compelled to rely very much upon tradition, both for the events of the day and their immediate causes. Fortu- nately, however, the story comes to us through so many trust- worthy sources which corroborate each other, and was so minutely
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related many times by the chief actor who survived the slaughter, to gentlemen from whom we have received it directly.1
In the autumn of 1779, Gen. Sullivan, by the orders of Gen. Washington, had inflicted a terrible chastisement upon the Mo- hawks, and other hostile tribes of the Six Nations; burning their villages, destroying their orchards, and laying waste their fields, - a devastation whose record shows that these tribes had sufficiently advanced in civilization to feel keenly the severity of their punish- ment.
During the ensuing winter, this visitation was bitterly retaliated upon the friendly Oneidas, whose homes were desolated, and their families driven in upon the Americans for protection and support. Not content with this, the Indians and the Tories, impelled by a common resentment, banded together under Sir John Johnson and the chiefs Brant and Corn-Planter, prepared to pursue their schemes of vengeance in the valley of the Mohawk, a luxuriant farming-country, in whose population there was a convenient infu- sion of Tories, although the great majority of its inhabitants were ardently patriotic.
The hostile league was formidable; and the alarm was general, although, until fall, apprehension of its nature and designs was vague. The horrors of Indian warfare, under British instigation, had exceeded the atrocities incited by the French foe. The mas- sacre at Wyoming in 1778 was still fresh in the memory of the people; and, in the summer of 1780, the danger became apparent, that similar scenes, and even more dreadful, might be witnessed in the valley of the Mohawk, - the fair home from which Sir John Johnson and many Tories had been driven, and where, moreover, a harvest of unusual abundance was ripening, upon which Wash- ington's commissariat was known to place much dependence. Policy and exasperated feeling alike devoted this lovely region.
Prominent among the troops which rallied to its defence was a Berkshire regiment, commanded by Col. John Brown; in which there was a company of seventy-nine Pittsfield and Richmond men under Capt. William Ford, the same who, as lieutenant, had led the Pittsfield detachment at Bennington.
1 Dr. O. S. Root and Franklin Root, Esq., grandsons of Major Oliver Root. We have also consulted the accounts of Lossing and Stone, and valuable papers in Mr. Henry C. Van Schaack's collection; but tradition is the foundation of all these reports.
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The regiment was composed of levies from the three, into which the militia of Berkshire was divided. John Ashley, who com- manded in the southern part of the county, was the senior officer. John Brown had commanded the middle regiment until 1778, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Lieut .- Col. Rossiter. In 1780, the new State Constitution went into operation; and, in accordance with it, the choice of regimental officers was intrusted to the captains and subalterns, who, in their turn, were elected by the privates of their respective companies. At the first election under this law, Col. Brown was restored to his old position.
About the same time, the levy for the Mohawk was made, and Ashley was assigned to the command, and proceeded to Albany. There he was seized with an illness which afterwards proved fatal ; and Col. Brown, being in the city upon private business, consented to relieve him, being assured by his senior and friend, that the Berkshire troops, especially since his recent success at Lake George, would follow him more readily than any other man.1
Col. Brown accepted the position probably with the more readi- ness, because his old home, Caughnawaga, where he commenced the practice of the law, was in the district he was called to defend. The other regimental officers were Major Oliver Root, Adjutant James Easton, son of the colonel of the same name, Quartermaster Elias Willard, and Surgeon Oliver Brewster. All were from Pittsfield, except Dr. Brewster, who was from Partridgefield, now Peru, but was the ancestor of two prominent Pittsfield physicians.2
Col. Brown assumed the command on the 14th of July. We learn nothing more of the regiment, until, on the 18th of October, we find it posted at Fort Paris, a small blockhouse about three miles north of the Mohawk River, and in that part of the district of Stone Arabia which now forms the town of Palatine. Four days previous, Sir John Johnson's hordes had set out upon a grand mission of destruction through the fine valleys of the Schoharie and
1 It is related in connection with this change of commanders, that Col. Brown. being without his pistols, borrowed, and gave his receipt for, those of Ashley ; which, when he fell, became the booty of some plundering savage. Ashley dying soon after, the receipt was found among his papers, and his administrators collected payment from the cstate of the man who was killed in his place.
2 Surgeon Brewster was born in Lebanon, Conn., in 1760. He was reputed an excellent physician, and a man of marked piety. He was grandfather of the late Dr. Oliver E. Brewster, of Pittsfield, surgeon of the Fortieth Massachusetts Regi- ment, in the civil war of 1861-5.
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Mohawk; and, wherever they had passed, the devastation was complete. The destroyers left unburned not one house, barn, or stack of grain, which was known to belong to a Whig; and hun- dreds of the patriotic inhabitants -men, women, and children - were pitilessly murdered while flying, or begging for mercy.
DR. OLIVER BREWSTER.
On the 18th, Gen. Robert Van Rensselaer, an exceedingly slug- gish and incompetent commander, coming tardily, with a consider- able body of militia, to the relief of the distressed region, reached Caughnawaga, which flourishing village he found still in flames. Learning here that Fort Paris, which is about twelve miles distant, was to be attacked the next day, he sent orders to Col. Brown to march out in the morning, and form a junction with his own force at an appointed rendezvous, in order to anticipate the enemy's plans by a joint attack.1
Many of the garrison seem to have considered the movement a dangerous one; and some of the officers even counselled disobe- dience of the order. The same feelings of distrust extended to the
2 The reason assigned for Van Rensselaer's order is not so clear as one could wish ; and it is not bettered by adopting the other version, that it directed Brown to attack the rear while Van Rensselaer assailed the front of the enemy,- which is inconsistent with the story of the ambuscade. The whole account leaves the impression that neither officer supposed that any body of the Indians lay between them.
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men. One of them, -Giles Parker of South Adams, - whose courage had often been tried by the severest tests, came to the colonel in the morning, and warned him to forego his march; relating, at the same time, an ominous dream of the pre- vious night, which depressed his spirits. "What !" exclaimed his commander, "are you afraid to march with me? Then stay behind." The soldier indignantly protested "that he had fought by his side many a time; that it was not for himself he feared, but his colonel." Finding him fully impressed with the belief that evil would attend the march, Col. Brown seriously advised him to remain in the fort; but the noble fellow claimed his right to share the danger of his comrades, and was among the first to fall under the murderous fire of the savages.
The one thing that Col. Brown feared was, that a battle in which he had a right to take part would be fought without himn.
Early on the morning of the 19th of October, - his thirty-fifth birthday, -he therefore left Fort Paris, with about three hundred men, to form a junction, in obedience to his orders, with Gen. Van Rensselaer. The detachment had marched perhaps two miles, when a house was discovered, at a distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile upon the right, before which was a family group, surround- ing a man just mounting his horse. This person rode directly to Major Root, who was in advance, and inquired if he commanded the party ; Col. Brown, who was in the rear, was pointed out ; and, riding up to him, the stranger stated that he was directed by Gen. Van Rensselaer, to inform him, that by proceeding down a road which turned to the left, instead of that he was then pursuing, he would reach the general's army.
The proposed route seemed to be a convenient detour around the region where the presence of the enemy began to be indicated by the smoke of burning buildings; and, the well-arranged family scene doubtless helping to ward off suspicion, unfortunate credence was given to the stranger, without demanding further guaranties, and without detaining him as a surety for his good faith.
The route was changed in accordance with his directions, and soon led into a long and narrow clearing, extending to the river, - near a ruined work called Fort Keyzer, - and surrounded by heavy woods. The detachment had well advanced into this treacherous cul-de-sac, - the colonel and major both being at the head of the
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column, - when a sergeant near them exclaimed, "See that damned Indian!" and immediately discharged his musket. At once the woods resounded with savage yells; and a thousand muskets, gleaming from behind sheltering trees, poured in a rapid and murderous cross-fire upon the entrapped and bewildered troops. Col. Brown, who was conspicuous by his fine person and his official sash, was shot through the heart at the first fire, and fell upon his face without a word or a struggle.1
Any attempt to restore order among the panic-stricken troops would have been worse than futile ; and officers, as well as men, fled precipitately towards the fort. There was no lack of vigor in the pursuit ; but the irresistible impulse to tomahawk and scalp the wounded delayed the savages, and enabled a large portion of the fugitives to escape. Major Root saw one man crawl into the woods and conceal himself, while his over-eager pursuers passed on with- out heeding him ; but he thought almost every man of the seriously injured was killed and scalped. Forty were reported slain.
The fort was filled with women and children, who, upon the approach of the savages, had fled to it from the neighboring coun- try ; and their shrieks and moanings added to the confusion, as the flying soldiers crowded in disorder into the gates. Fortunately, Major Root had been trained in a school which rendered him familiar with such scenes, as well as with the character of the enemy with whom he had to deal. The fort, he knew, was not at all competent to sustain an assault from the forces which now thronged into the edges of the clearing around it, and were evidently eager for an attack. But he was well aware of the ter- ror with which " big guns " inspired the savages, and was convinced, by the temerity with which they exposed themselves, that they believed him unsupplied with artillery. The wretched little for- tress, however, was, by chance, supplied with one poor dwarf of a four-pounder ; although its ammunition was limited to a solitary ball and three charges of powder.
With this the major determined to make a demonstration ; and,
I Lossing relates the following anecdote : " On his way to the Mohawk country, Col. Brown called upon Ann Lee, the founder of the sect of Shaking Quakers. 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."
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wheeling his gun to the gateway, he sent the lonely missile bowl- ing among, or at least towards, the astonished groups. A charge of horse-chains next went singing through the air. But in the inean while, by order of the major, a huge old cast-iron dinner-pot had been broken up; and, when its fragments came shrieking and screaming among the besiegers, it completed their dismay, and they withdrew rapidly within the shelter of the woods. Even the Tory officer who commanded them does not seem to have noticed the scarcity of ammunition which the strangeness of the missiles would have indicated to one of more shrewdness or experience ; for he gave over his purposed attack, remarking, that "he had a mind to take that fort by storm ; but it would cost too many lives."
The militia rallied to the support of Gen. Van Rensselaer in such numbers, that, there being no longer need of the services of the Berkshire regiment, it returned home at the expiration of its term of three months, on the 21st of October.
The affair of Stone Arabia was the only occasion, subsequent to 1777, when the Pittsfield militia met the enemy in actual con- flict. It responded promptly, however, when called upon in various alarms.
While Johnson was invading the Mohawk Valley, Lieut. Joel Stevens led a small detachment to Fort Edward, where signs of danger appeared ; and, at the same time, Capt. Rufus Allen, with twenty-six men, "marched forty miles," probably to the same point.
When Connecticut was invaded by Gov. Tryon in the summer of 1779, Lieut. Stevens went with fourteen men to New Haven. In October, 1781, the same officer, having been promoted to a captaincy, repaired, with Lieuts. Lebbeus Backus and Nathan Warner, to Saratoga upon an alarm in that quarter.
There may have been other occasions when the militia of the town were called out in the closing years of the war; but, if so, they were unrecorded, and probably bloodless, campaigns, and with no remembered adventure.
The reader who has followed ns thus far will not attribute it solely to local pride, that we claim for the Pittsfield militia a record of peculiar brilliancy and usefulness. From the spring morning when Capt. Noble's minute-men, with rattling drum and scream of fife, took up their march for Cambridge, until Capt. Stevens's volleying musketry welcomed the return of peace, its able-bodied
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men - with those of all Berkshire as well -had been, and the General Court practically recognized them to be, virtually a frontier garrison posted behind the ramparts of their hills, but ever ready to sally out to any point where danger gathered. Their fame is indissolubly connected with the names of Ticonderoga, Bennington, Lake George, and the fields of Canada, which they helped to make historic; and more sadly, but hardly less gloriously, are they associated with the ambuscade of Fort Keyser.
The Continental soldiers furnished by the town, so far as we can learn, served with credit; but little has been preserved of their individual record. The story of the demand and supply of men for that service is, however, of curious interest ; and we have a general statement of the several calls, of the bounties paid, and of the other means used to raise the men.
In the spring of 1778, Pittsfield had in the Continental service thirty-two men, all enrolled within the two years immediately preceding, for terms either of three years or during the war. A call for six additional having been made, the town, on the 20th of May, authorized the commissioned officers "to promise to the Continental soldiers now to be raised, the sum of £180; it having been granted to the town by the General Court, provided it procure six able-bodied men to serve in the Continental army for the term of nine months."
The next call was for seven men for nine months' service; and on the 30th of June, 1779, a committee of seven was appointed to hire them, with power "to plight the credit of the town" for whatever sums they might promise as bounty.
On the 2d of July, the committee reported that they had made the following enlistments upon the terms specified : -
John Wright and Ozem Strong, £200 Continental money each, and £ 9 each in neat cattle at the rate at which they were selling in the year 1775.
David Johnson and Samuel Smith, £300 Continental money each, on their passing muster.
Jeffrey Hazzard (colored), £200 Continental money, and nine pounds' worth of merchantable wheat at 4s. 6d. per bushel, to be paid to Nathan Robbins by Dec. 1, 1779, provided Hazzard passes muster.
Isaac Morse, £200 Continental money, and £10 worth of wheat, or eorn at the rate of wheat, by Feb. 1, 1779, at 4s. per bushel, provided he passes muster. Morse entitles the town to his State bounty.
Daniel Bates, £115 Continental, and £13. 10s. worth of wheat at 4s. 6d. per bushel, by Dec. 1, 1779, provided he passes muster.
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The town proceeded to tax itself £2,700 to meet these bounties, and directed the tax to be assessed and collected as soon as pos- sible. It was also provided, " that, if any person is disposed to pay either of the soldiers so raised what said person's rate shall be, on his producing said soldier's receipt to the collector he shall cross the same."
The matter was, however, not yet disposed of; for, in the war- rant for town-meeting on the 2d of the following August, an article was inserted, "To see what measures the town will come into, to recover three of the nine-months' men that have been enlisted, mustered in, and received their bounty, but have since absconded : if not recoverable, to see by what means their places shall be supplied." The town authorized the selectmen to send some person after the runaways, and passed over the article look- ing to the possibility of their absolute loss; but voted, that if Capt. John Strong should deliver Joshua Chapell to the superintendent of this county, and procure a certificate that the said Chapell is received as a nine-months' man, the treasurer of this town shall pay to Lieut. Rufus Allen eight hard dollars." Which of the seven were the deserters is not stated. All finally served in that contingent, except Ozem Strong and Jeffrey Hazzard, whose places were filled by Joshua Chapell and Jonathan Morey. Hazzard's name appears afterwards on the Continental rolls as having been mustered on the 14th of November, 1779, into service "during the war."
In December, 1780, came a more formidable requisition. No less than sixteen men were wanted to serve for three years or during the war; and, at a meeting on the 14th, a committee of nine men, chosen from different parts of the town, was appointed to devise the most eligible mode of procuring them. It consisted of Joshua Robbins, Eli Root, Esq., Joseph Fairfield, Lieut. Wm. Barber, Woodbridge Little, Esq., Capt. Rufus Allen, Capt. David Bush, and Daniel Hubbard, who, on the 20th, reported the follow- ing elaborate plan : -
That the town choose two good and faithful men to hire the said six- teen men, and to obligate themselves, on the credit of the town, to pay each man whom they shall so hire and procure the sum of thirty pounds in hard money, over and above all State and Continental pay and rewards, within three weeks, or otherwise to such person's acceptance and satisfaction.
2d. The officers of the three militia companies into which the town was
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divided, were requested to assemble their companies at the meeting-house at nine o'clock, the next Monday morning, and to use their utmost exertions to obtain a full attendanee of their men.
3d. That the aforesaid committee of two attend the above meeting, and use their utmost endeavors to procure the required number of men for the aforementioned sum ; at the same time giving information of the State and Continental pay and rewards.
4th. That a committee of five be chosen from the several parts of the town, for the purpose of dividing the ratable polls and estate into as many classes as there shall be men wanting after the committee of two have made their trial aforesaid.
5th. That the committee of two, immediately after their trial aforesaid, make report to the committee of five, who, thereupon, shall immediately proceed to elass the town.1
6th. That, in forming said classes, the committee shall be governed by the last valuation or list, which was taken by the assessors, having no regard to the dormant lands.2
7th. That the committee shall consult the convenience of the inhabitants by elassing together persons who live in the same neighborhood, so far as is practicable ; and shall transmit to some principal member of each class a list of the persons contained in their respective classes, together with the amount of each person's estate.
Sth. That it shall be the duty of cach class, so made and formed, to pro- cure an able-bodied, effective man, to the acceptance of the muster master, to serve in the Continental Army for three years or during war.
9tlı. That each class, unless they otherwise agree among themselves, shall tax its members to such an amount as shall be found necessary in order to procure such men, one third thereof to be assessed on polls, and the other two-thirds upon estates.
10th. That reference be had to the resolve of the General Court of the 2d of December, 1780, for the compelling the respective classes, or individuals of classes, to comply with their respective duties on the premises.
The report was made by David Bush, and was adopted, with the exception of the clause excluding the dormant lands from a share in the taxation.
It was also resolved that the classes should " exhibit to the town what each soldier cost its respective class, which sums shall be made a town debt."
1 The towns were authorized by the General Court to divide their inhabitants and estates into as many classes as there were men in their quota, and to compel each class to produce its man.
2 Lands of non-resident proprietors, unimproved, and by the old law not sub- ject to town taxation.
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The town selected Capt. James Noble and Mr. Joseph Fairfield for its " committee of two good and faithful men," and the follow- ing five to class the town : Woodbridge Little, Eli Root, Rufus Allen, James D. Colt, and Oliver Root.
The " utmost endeavors " of the first committee did not suffice to persuade any of the militia that thirty pounds, even in hard money, was an adequate bounty ; and the town was divided into sixteen classes, fifteen of which procured their men previous to the first of January. The bounty paid in six cases was £50; in five cases, £55; in one, £55. 7s .; in three, £60, -all of course in specie or its equivalent.
The class nominally delinquent, according to a certificate of the selectmen April 20, 1781, paid to its head their respective assess- ments, sufficient to procure a man, to his full satisfaction; and he undertook to hire a soldier and idemnify the class, but, for some reason unexplained, failed to do so.
The last call upon the town during the Revolution was in July, 1781, when thirteen men were required for the service of the Com- monwealth, not the Continent, for three months. The town was classed by a committee consisting of Woodbridge Little, Eli Root, Lebbeus Backus, and Capts. William Barber, Joel Stevens, and James D. Colt; and the men were promptly raised.
HOSEA MERRILL.
The name of Hosea Merrill is borne on the Revolutionary rolls as having served for Pittsfield in 1780. Mr. Merrill was born at He-
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bron, Conn., in 1761, and removed to Pittsfield at the age of twelve. The family tradition is, that, at the age of nineteen, he and several other boys, providing themselves with old guns, powder-horns, and bullets made by melting down pewter spoons, procceded to Wash- ington's headquarters on the Hudson, and offered their services; and, when asked by the commander-in-chief what they came for, young Merrill replied for them, "To fight the British ;" and to the question, what position they desired, his answer was, " The post of danger." Boys of nineteen were worth too many pounds of " hard money, " in filling quotas, to permit us to accept this story literally ; but it indicates the opinion which prevailed of Mr. Merrill's gal- lantry. It is better authenticated, that he was on patrol on the night when Major Andre was brought in a prisoner; that he was selected as one of his guards, and was afterwards posted in the room with him during his last night on earth, and witnessed the sad spectacle of his execution.1
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