USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 32
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"25th .- I got all the ferry boats and other boats that could be had and passed over the five battalions, and encamped on the other side to be ready to march the next day. I sent forward two-hundred Pioneers with tools and the Light Infantry of Frazier's under the command of Major Clepham. We got boats enough to pass a regiment and all its baggage in an hours time so the whole were over in good time, and encamped about half a mile from the water side. I settled everything for the march and passed over, the wagons not coming in as ordered, I was forced to delay the march for a few hours. Next morning I sent Col. Robertson forward.
"26th .- I received letters from Governour Pownal, Lawrence, Monckton &c. The detachments arrived at Boston from Halifax. I wrote to Gov. Pownal and Brig. Lawrence. Marched at seven o'clock, encamped at Westfield, eight miles from the last camp. A cold day ; weather quite changed, blew hard.
"27th .- I marched at seven o'clock by the right and by half files with flank platoons, the fourth of the right Grenadiers forming the front and flank platoon and the fourth from the left the rear and flank platoon; the two center platoons ready always to march likewise as flank platoons. We marched through woods, bad roads and over steep hills eleven miles to Blandford where we encamped. Blandford was called Glasgow; it is a settlement of twenty-five years, has a great deal of ground cleared round it for that time; twenty families in it, mostly Irish.
"28th .- I marched early, got into the green woods close by Bland- ford, the road extremely bad, but not very mountainous. If the coun- try was cleared it would not appear mountainous, the ground good and the best Weymouth pine and the largest oaks I have seen (in America) but not so good by a great deal as in England. (The Wey-
314
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
mouth pine was the American white pine, largely planted by Lord Weymouth soon after its introduction into England.) The best of all the evergreens are ugly. I marched ten miles and lay on our arms in the middle of the wood on Noble's Hill. Posted my outposts and sent away ten men per company and twenty officers per regiment, to assist in bringing up the baggage to the top of the hill, but the road was so bad I could only get up the wagons of the Royal and some of Lascelle's.
"29th .- At daybreak I began getting up the remainder of the wagons and baggage and beat the general. 'Twas nine o'clock before all could be got up. Seven broken wagons left which we unloaded and brought the baggage away; a horse of Lacelle's killed by a tree fall- ing. At nine the assembly beat and I marched directly to Number One, about nine miles of bad road. There I got out of the green wood and encamped as soon as the wagons got up.
"30th .- I marched again early by the right and half files with flank platoons; the ground would not permit to march by files or platoons. Passed through the woods to Sheffield (Great Barrington) about nine miles and encamped a little beyond the town. Here I changed wagons, Brigadier Dwight assisting us. King Ben, Captain Jacobs, his son and two more Indians came with an interpreter to see me and dined with me. They came from Stockbridge, seven miles, where there is a settlement. Brigadier Dwight lives here.
(Captain Jacobs commanded a company of Indians in the batta- lion of Major Robert Rogers, known as Rogers' Rangers. He was a Mohegan, his Indian name being Nawnawapateoonks.)
"Oct. 1st .- The troops halted. The Stockbridge Indians came; the King, his Queen and daughters and Captain Jacobs dined with me. "Oct. 2nd .- I marched at day break from the right. A messenger met me on the road with a letter from General Abercromby to come to him as soon as I conveniently could. By the badness of the roads, all the wagons could not get up. We marched about fourteen miles where I intended to encamp but the troops were obliged to lay on their arms. It rained most excessively hard.
"Oct. 3d .- I set out in the morning for Albany, fixed on the camp for the troops this night by Kinderhook Mills, fourteen miles from the other camp. I went on twenty-five miles further to Albany, fixed on a camp for the troops for the next day, seven miles from Albany. I passed the Hudson River nearly a mile over. Captain Christie mnet me. I got to Albany in good time. Five hundred houses in this town, reckoning six to a house."
On arrival at the seat of war, General Amherst replaced General Abercrombie as commander-in-chief, and the following year he cap- tured Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga and, later, Montreal, when all Canada was surrendered to Britain. Thus the Indian allies of the French were silenced. For almost the first time in one hundred twenty-four years, the inhabitants of Western Massachusetts could feel quite free from the menace and the terrors of border depreda- tions.
315
THE KNOX TRAIL
For the ensuing sixteen years, Fort Ticonderoga remained almost forgotten and manned only by a skeleton force, from whom it was wrested by Ethan Allen, "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress", on May 10, 1775, just three weeks after the Battle of Lexington.
David Shute, chaplain in Joseph Williams' regiment, came in the saddle from Albany in 1758. On October 11th, at sunset, he crossed the Hudson and lodged at Mr. Whitebeak's. The next noon he set out for Kinderhook, resting en route at Half Way House, and reached "the Mills" at Kinderhook, after traveling twenty miles. On the 13th he made an early start, breakfasted at Stone House, nine miles away and lodged with Brigadier Dwight at Sheffield (Great Barring- ton), twenty-eight miles from Kinderhook. The next morning was rainy and he did not resume his journey until three in the afternoon, but after going five miles was compelled by recurrence of rain, to discontinue and spend the night at Mr. Dana's. On the 15th, he breakfasted at Chadwick's, four and a half miles beyond, and entered the Greenwoods at nine o'clock, but found the roads so bad on account of the rain that he did not get through the eighteen miles of woods until two in the afternoon. He had dinner at Root's, thirty and a half miles from Sheffield, and arrived at Springfield, twenty-one miles beyond, at seven in the evening.
In reverse order this would be:
Springfield, to Root's, in Blandford, 21.
To Chadwick's, in Number One, 21 . . .42
To Sheffield (Great Barrington), 91/5 511%
To Stone House,
19. 701/2
To Kinderhook, 9. 791/2
To Albany,
20 991/2
Lemuel Wood, of Willard's regiment, went westward in 1759. On Saturday, June 2d, he left Springfield and went as far as Taylor's in Westfield, which was ten and three-quarter miles. On Sunday he went eleven miles to Glasgow, "over the mountains, pushing over the rocks and hills and holes of water and lodged that night at Knox's". On the 4th he "traveled through the Green woods which is exceeding bad traveling and came to Chadwick's in Number One and lodged, which is nineteen miles". The next day he traveled to Sheldon's, a private house in Sheffield (Great Barrington). There, he and his companions acquired a quantity of wine, in consequence of which they were delayed a couple of days and then it rained for a day, so that they did not start out again until the 9th, when they went twenty-two miles "through Noble Town to Canterhook to the Stone house" where they lodged. The following day they went to Canterhook Town, which was three miles. On the 11th they went ten miles to Half Way house and ten miles more to Green Bush, "and lodged at the mills", and went on to Albany the next day.
316
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Sergeant David Holden went to Albany in 1760. Leaving Spring- field on May 8th, he "marched about ten miles to Landlord Captain Clap's in Westfield". The next day they "marched four miles and a half to the foot of the mount of Glasgow, where their teams left them and they were obliged to carry their packs on their backs to Sheffield (Great Barrington), so they marched seven miles to landlord Pease's in Glasgow". On May 10th they marched "through the Green Woods to Number One to Mr. Jackson's, which was about twenty miles". The
Huntington House, Hadley
11th they went ten miles to Burghardt's in Sheffield (Great Barring- ton), and on the 12th eleven miles to Lovejoy's. On the 13th they reached Follicumburrers, in Kinderhook. On the 14th they went ten miles to the Half Way house, and the next day went seven miles to a Dutch tavern in Greenbush and reached Albany on the 16th.
In 1764 Governor Bernard of Massachusetts was requested to have an actual survey made of this post road, as it was then called, and Ensign Francis Miller, then on duty in Newfoundland, was loaned to the Province by General Gage, for this work. The resultant map, now in the Massachusetts Archives in Boston, is a mine of informa- tion. Each mile is pricked off and shown. Notable mountains are indicated, as are the streams crossed. The towns of Springfield, West- field, Blandford, Tyringham, Great Barrington and Kinderhook are designated. This was called the South Road. On the Boston to
317
THE KNOX TRAIL
Springfield section, at a point west of Brookfield, the road branched and the north road ran through Belchertown, Hadley, Northampton and Pittsfield to the Hudson. After crossing the Connecticut at Had- ley, two westerly routes were shown,-one from Northampton and one from Hatfield,-but these again became one road shortly after crossing the Westfield River, that is in the vicinity of West Chester- field. Pittsfield is laid down one hundred thirty-six miles west of Boston. This section of the road was marked out as a bridle path in 1753, from fifteen miles east of Albany through Pontoosuck to North- ampton. This is the earliest map to show it in detail.
More information regarding the South Road was given in Hut- chins' Almanack of 1766. In a description of the post roads of the country is this itinerary :
ROAD TO ALBANY
From Springfield to Westfield
7
Bounds of ditto,
5 12
Blanford,
8. 20
Greenwoods,
12 32
No. 1,
7 39
Sheffield,
4. 43
Sheffield Bounds,
3. 46
Noble-Town,
11 57
Bounds of ditto,
1 61
Stone-House
6 67
Kinderhook,
10.
77
Half-Way House,
10
87
Albany,
7 94
Noble-Town, or Noblestown, was just west of the Massachusetts line, in New York State, and became Hillsdale, New York.
The next readily available itinerary is that of Knox himself, ten years later. It was in the fall of 1775, when Washington's ill-equipped army was besieging Boston, that Colonel Henry Knox conceived the idea of transferring to Cambridge the ordnance lying unused at Ticon- deroga. He had abundant opportunity to know of the arduous road conditions to be overcome, but confidently relied on seasonable snows to facilitate the passage of the stout sleds required for such a project. Washington approved the plan with the proviso that the cost should not exceed $1,000, but in his final instructions he said that the need for cannon was so great that "no trouble or expense must be spared to obtain them". The records show that the actual cost was more than two and one-half times the estimate.
Knox proceeded to New York City and to Albany via the Hudson, arriving at Ticonderoga on December 5, 1775. While in New York he wrote Washington that an establishment for the casting of brass and iron cannon should be provided "where it could be expeditiously and cheaply done", a suggestion that was to result in the establishment of such a project at Springfield.
318
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
At Ticonderoga, Knox secured "fifty-five pieces of iron and brass ordnance, one barrel of flints and twenty-three boxes of lead", which were ferried across Lake George and from Fort George. He wrote to Washington :
"I returned to this place on the 15th and brought with me the cannon. It is not easy to conceive the difficulties we have had in transporting them across the lake, owing to the advanced season of the year and contrary winds; but the danger is now past. Three days ago it was very uncertain whether we should have gotten them until next spring, but now, please God, they must go. I have had made forty-two exceeding stout sleds and have provided eighty yoke of oxen to drag them as far as Springfield, where I shall get fresh cattle to carry them to camp. The route will be from here to Kinderhook, from there to Great Barrington and down to Springfield. I have sent for the sleds and teams to come here, and expect to move them to Saratoga on Wednesday or Thursday, trusting that between this and then we shall have a fine fall of snow, which will enable us to proceed farther and make the carriage easy. If that be the case, I hope in sixteen or seventeen days' time to be able to present to your Excel- lency, a noble train of artillery".
From Albany, on January 5, 1776, Knox advised Washington:
"I was in hopes that we should have been able to have the cannon at Cambridge by this time. The want of snow detained us for some days, and now a cruel thaw hinders us from crossing the Hudson river. The first severe night will make the ice sufficiently strong; till that happens, the cannon and mortars must remain where they are. These inevitable delays pain me exceedingly, as my mind is fully sensible of the importance of the greatest expedition in this case".
The expected freeze materialized and on January 10th, Knox "reached Number One (Monterey) after having climbed mountains from which one might almost have been seen all the kingdoms of the earth". On the following day he "went twelve. miles through the Greenwoods to Blandford. It appears almost a miracle that people should be able to get up and down such hills as we have with any- thing of heavy loads. At Blandford we overtook the first division which had tarried there until we came up and refused to go farther, on account that there was no snow beyond five miles farther, in which space there is the tremendous Glasgow or Westfield mountain to go down. But after three hours persuasion, I hiring two teams of oxen, they agreed to go."
The following receipt shows that at least one local man assisted in the enterprise :
"Blandford, January 13, 1776. Received of Henry Knox, eighteen shillings lawful money for carrying a cannon weighing 240 pounds from this town to Westfield, being eleven miles.
SOLOMON BROWN".
319
THE KNOX TRAIL
In his crossing of Berkshire County Knox followed the present road from Hillsdale to North Egremont, except that just before enter- ing Massachusetts, the old road turned sharply to the north, crossing the state line at a point a half-mile or more north of where the present road crosses, as the road of that day went to the north of an abrupt peak, instead of to the south of it, as it does today. The course of the old road, however, again coincides with the modern road about half a mile farther east of the state line, and so continues through North Egremont and Egremont Plain to Great Barrington, and then turning east to Monterey.
Monterey of today was the Tyringham of Revolutionary days, but the "Old Center" was a mile and a half north of the present town, in a district now practically deserted. The church shown on the older maps was built in 1743, but was replaced by another building on or near the same site in 1796, which in turn was taken down and moved to Housatonic, so that nothing but the cellar-hole remains at this time.
The evidence shows that there were then two roads through Tyringham. The older was the direct east and west road which was a development of the early bridle path, passing close to Brewer's Pond and the adjacent brooks. On this road was Brewer's, and this road became the town street of Monterey. The northern road was merely a detour to the north to include the settlement at Tyringham and "Chadwick's".
The southern road was shorter for the through traveler, the grades were easier, water was more accessible. On the northern road was the town life,-a tavern perhaps more appealing to a fastidious traveler than would be Brewer's,-more suited to the rough cam- paigner. The travelers' journals show that the choice of the two routes rested on the mere whim of the individual.
It is self-evident that Knox, with his heavy loads,-with his cattle in need of water,-with his impatience to complete his journey, would avoid the steep grades of the longer road by Chadwick's and choose the road by Brewer's, where his particular needs could be best supplied.
From Brewer's, the road went directly through the Greenwoods to the present East Otis, passing between the two Spectacle Ponds and then through a mountain pass where today there is no road what- ever. Here was a condition such as to appal the stoutest heart. Native sons insist that there never was a road there and that it would be utterly impossible for a road ever to have been in such a jumble of mountains, precipices, chasms and valleys, interspersed with rivers, lakes and swamps. After crossing the Farmington River, the way was equally bad. Some realization of the nature of this dis- trict is gained from the knowledge that the outlet of Thomas Pond falls two hundred fourteen feet in its short passage to the river. The outlet of Rand Pond cascades with a sheer drop of one hundred four feet.
At that period, the course of the road from Blandford to West- field was entirely different from that of today. From the Blandford
320
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
street it passed through what was once the center of the town of Russell, east of Hazard Pond, and down "Glasgow Mountain" to the present Court Street in Westfield, and so to the center of that town. The road is still in use, though even yet it is quite primitive, but for just that reason, it is of great beauty in laurel time and is negotiable by an automobile in favorable seasons.
With the mountains behind, the way was much easier. Westfield was reached January 13th, and Springfield on the 14th. Though handicapped by lack of snow, the extreme cold of that January pro- vided ice for a speedy crossing of the Connecticut River.
At Springfield there was much to be done; eighty oxen to be returned home; drivers to be paid off and sent back; but it was a resourceful community of ardent rebels. Soon the whole outfit was reorganized and in charge of local men and drawn by local oxen, the guns were on their way, and were delivered to Washington in Cam- bridge on January 24th. So effective were they, that two months later Boston was evacuated by the British, releasing Knox for the planning of those activities that resulted in the establishment of the Springfield Armory.
At this time, Henry Knox, Colonel of Artillery, was twenty-six years old. Two years earlier he had married the lovely Lucy Flucker, daughter of that all-time Tory, Thomas Flucker, Secretary of the Province. By the same courier that carried his frequent messages to Washington, Knox often wrote to his wife "a little about my travels". One of these letters, written while on this journey, begins :
"My lovely and dearest friend,-Those people who love as you and I do, oughit never to part. It is with the greatest anxiety that I am forced to date my letter at this distance from my love and at a time when I thought to be happily in her arms".
One may readily picture this young Romeo, sitting by the fireside of a Springfield tavern while penning such a missive to his Juliet.
Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin of Brookfield went over the road to Ticonderoga in 1777. Leaving Brookfield on February 8th, he lodged at Palmer. On the 9th he dined at Mrs. Clapp's in Westfield and lodged at Pease's in Blandford. On the 10th he dined at Brewer's in Tyringham.
The German contingent of Burgoyne's captured army passed over the South Road in 1777, en route from Albany to Boston. Their itinerary, as given by various Hessian officers, is as follows :
After leaving Albany they passed the night of October 22nd and all of the following day at Kinderhook. The 24th they marched seven- teen miles through Claverack, to "the wretched village of Nobletown", where, on account of the scarcity of houses they were forced to encamp in the open. The 25th, after marching thirteen miles they arrived at Great Barrington, where they were quartered in barns. The next day they passed through Tyringham, "across forests and veritable wildernesses and entered a large and wild mountainous dis-
321
THE KNOX TRAIL
trict called the Greenwoods", and encamped in the woods near Spring's house, the day's march being fourteen to seventeen miles, the accounts varying to that extent. On the 27th they marched eleven to fourteen miles (the accounts again vary), and were quartered in twenty houses near Gray's house, three English miles from Bland- ford. On the 28th they covered ten miles and reached Westfield, arriving at West Springfield the 29th.
Joe Herrick House, Conway
Allowing seventeen miles as the distance from Albany to Kinder- hook, their total mileage was thus ninety to ninety-two miles instead of the ninety-four miles shown on the schedule of 1766, their itinerary being as follows:
Albany to Kinderhook, 17. 17
Kinderhook to Nobletown,
17 17
Nobletown to Great Barrington,
13 13
Great Barrington to Spring's,
15. 17
Spring's to Gray's,
14 11
Gray's to Westfield,
10 10
Westfield to West Springfield,
4. 7
90. . .92
W. Mass .- I-21
322
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
This variation in mileage was probably because some divisions of the captured army marched farther than others, being distributed in order to provide sufficient housing, as in Blandford, some were quar- tered in the town and some at Gray's Tavern, three miles beyond.
After a rest at West Springfield, the Hessians proceeded on through the town, to the bank of the river opposite Ferry Lane, now Cypress Street, in "East" Springfield. There the troops were car- ried over on the County Ferry, operated by Gideon Leonard, the Continental Ferry not being established until the following year.
In November, 1778, however, when Burgoyne's army was moved to Virginia, the equipment of the Continental Ferry was employed in carrying the troops over the river at Enfield, Connecticut, the returns of Thomas Hunstable, "overseer", showing that his department ferried one hundred fifty teams, one hundred horses and three thou- sand men, "part of the Convention Troops".
Joshua Pillsbury of Dracut, Massachusetts, was a private in Cap- tain Joseph Bradley's Company, Colonel Jonathan Reid's Regiment, when that regiment was selected to escort the Hessian prisoners to Cambridge. He recorded his experience as follows:
"Oct. 15, 1777. Wednesday. Returned to Fort Edward.
Oct. 16. Heard the agreeable news of General Burgoyne's capitu- lation and the whole regiment was ordered to march immediately to Saratoga.
Oct. 17. Our regiment and the whole army on this side of the river was drawn up and saw our enemies march off their grounds and lay down their arms. Our army that was on that side of the river marched on to their ground and took position. General Burgoyne's army surrendered themselves to the Americans.
British Prisoners, 2242
Foreigners, 2390
Canadian Tories sent to Canada, 1100
5732
Oct. 18. To Stillwater,
Oct. 19. Our regiment being ordered as a guard to the Hessians from thence to Winter Hill, accordingly we took charge of them. Marched to Scaticook.
Oct. 20. New City.
Oct. 21. Greenbush,
Oct. 22. Canterhook.
Oct. 23. Drew provisions,
Oct. 24. Egremont, state of Massachusetts.
Oct. 25. Barrington,
Oct. 26. Number One,
Oct. 27. Through the Greenwoods, Louden and Glasgow mountain to Westfield,
Oct. 28. Lay still by reason of a great rain,
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THE KNOX TRAIL
Oct. 29. West Springfield and crossed Connecticut river to Spring- field,
Oct. 30. Lay still.
Oct. 31. Marched,
Nov. 1. Scott's at Palmer,
Nov. 2. Western and Brookfield,
Nov. 3. Spencer and Leicester,
Nov. 4. Worcester,
Nov. 5. Shrewsbury and Northboro to Marlborough.
Nov. 6. Weston, Framingham, Watertown, Cambridge, Winter Hill. Here we left the prisoners, took our discharge and marched for our respective homes.
Nov. 7. Medford, Woburn, Wilmington, Tewksbury, Andover, Nov. 8. Dracut.".
A bit of confirmatory evidence is found in the diary of Enos Stevens, then in New York City.
"Oct. 20, 1777. News that General Burgoyne is taken and every man is putting on a long face.
Oct. 26, -. The news of the day is that General Burgoyne and his army are made prisoners.
Oct. 28, - -. It has been a very bad storm for two days."
That same year General Heath called attention to the "almost constant passing and repassing of carriages to the northern army with provisions and military stores". A plea for help in repairing the road had been sent in to Great Barrington, by James Ball and twenty- seven others, "representing that the public road, leading from West- field, through that rough and but little cultivated tract of land, well known by the name of Green woods, to Great Barrington, is almost impassable for want of reparation whereby a prodigious expense is incurred in teams and carriages,-dashing in pieces of casks and other vessels, occasioning the great damage or total destruction of their valuable contents".
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