USA > New York > Cortland County > Pioneer history; or, Cortland County and the border wars of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 1
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Gc 974.701 C81g 1136758
M.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01147 7921
1
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/pioneerhistoryor00good_0
1
ENDICOTT & CO. LITH. N. Y
Very Sincerely tily yours S. nelson
PIONEER HISTORY;
ok,
CORTLAND COUNTY
New Yor
AND THE
BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
From the Carliest Period to the Present Time.
BY H. C. GOODWIN,
AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF " JOHN JACOB ASTOR," " LEGENDS OF POLAND," " THE ROSE OF PROVINCE," ITHACA AS IT WAS, AND ITHACA AS IT IS," " EDGAR WENT- WORTH ; A PRIZE STORY OF THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLU- TION," " CORRESPONDING MEM. OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF HAVANA, DE LA CUBA," " HON. MEM. OF MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY," " CORRESPONDING MEM. STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN."
NEW YORK:
A. B. BURDICK, PUBLISHER, No. 8 SPRUCE STREET. 1859.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by DIXON & CASE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of New York.
EDWARD O. JENKINS, Printer & Stereotyper, No. 26 FRANKFORT STREET.
DEDICATION.
1136758
TO THE
SURVIVING PIONEERS
AND THE
DESCENDANTS OF PIONEERS OF CORTLAND COUNTY ;
AND ESPECIALLY TO THE
VENERABLE DR. JOHN MILLER, AND MAJOR - GEN'L SAMUEL G. HATHEWAY,
This Volume is Respectfully Dedicated.
That their future days may be happy and pleasurable as those of the past have been arduous, honorable, and useful ; and that the evening of their lives may draw on, gently as fades the light of day, is the sincere and devoted wish of their friend, THE AUTHOR.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE following letter, addressed by Hon. Joseph Rey- nolds, Prof. Hyde and others to the author of this vol- ume, precludes the necessity of any additional prefatory remarks :
CORTLAND, May 22d, 1858.
H. C. GOODWIN, EsQ .- Dear Sir,-The undersigned are informed that you are now engaged in writing the history of "Central New York," a work which will, doubtless, be highly valued, and read with pleasure by those familiar with the efforts you put forth to obtain facts relative to the early history of localities, and the graphic manner in which you record important events.
A notice of the fact that you are still employed in writing upon subjects which interest the public gene- rally, induces us to hope that you will revise and pub- lish in book form the history of "Cortland County and the Border Wars of New York," in order that our citi-
vi
CORRESPONDENCE.
zens may be able to preserve the matter which you pre- sented to them in one of our county papers two years 'since, and which proved to be highly interesting and instructive.
We are of opinion that the work would meet with a ready sale, and that you could not fail to secure a worthy compensation for your labor. It is with the hope that you may be induced to publish the history in a more desirable form that we address you, believing that by so doing you will perform a service ever to be remembered by the citizens of our county.
· We are, sir, yours respectfully,
JOSEPH REYNOLDS, HORATIO BALLARD, FREDERICK HYDE, HIRAM CRANDALL, EDWIN F. GOULD.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Aboriginal, French, and English History,
Page.
-
9
CHAPTER II.
Lindesay's Patent-Cherry Valley-British Oppression,
-
24
CHAPTER III.
Border Wars-British Influence-Battle of Oriskany-Siege of Fort Schuyler, - - - - 36
CHAPTER IV.
Flight of St. Leger-Brant gathering his Forces-The Massacre, 44
CHAPTER V.
Sullivan's Campaign-Interesting Incidents, -
-
51
CHAPTER VI.
Pioneer Movements-Indian Reflections-Revenge-Destruc- tion of the Mohawk Valley-Incidents, - 72
CHAPTER VII.
The Revolution-Its Effects Upon Emigration-Settlements- Incidents-The Three Points from which Emigrants pene- trated Central New York, - - - 87
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
-
Page. - 94
Organization of Cortland County, -
CHAPTER IX.
Military Tract, -
- - 103
CHAPTER X.
Geology, Mineralogy and Meteorology, - -
- 112
CHAPTER XI.
Legend of Tioughnioga Valley, - - - - - 122
CHAPTER XII.
Early Settlements and Organization of Towns, - - - 132
CHAPTER XIII.
General Remarks on Early History-Past and Present com.
pared, - - - -
- 273
CHAPTER XIV.
Hunting Incidents,
- 307
CHAPTER XV.
Literary and Benevolent Institutions, -
- - 318
CHAPTER XVI.
Biographical Sketches, -
- . 332
BRIEF NOTICES, - - -
-
-
- - 454
- - 429 CONCLUSION, - - -
CHAPTER I.
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
" First in the race, that won their country's fame."
THE historian is sometimes obliged to record events, over which, if truth could be as well accommodated, he would gladly cast the veil of forgetfulness, nor tor- ture public sympathy with the narration of scenes that pain even while they instruct. We pity even the ban- ditti of Judea whom Herod's soldiers subdued ; for lawless as they were, their women, children, and all- their hopes sank into the same ruin. But the aborigi- nals of America come up in the annals of the past, demanding our strongest sympathy, because their crime was simply the accident of birth ; they were the pos- sessors of this continent ; its untold treasure of wealth invited the cupidity of strangers from the eastern climes, and in their presence the proud sons of the forest of America have withered away. When we contemplate our country as it is, filled with wealth and the most wonderful improvements ; when we consider the almost exhaustless resources, agricultural and mineral, of our land ; and when we look upon our educated, active, and indomitable people, with the Bible for their code, ready to use every available and righteous means to strengthen
2
10
ABORIGINAL, FRENCHI, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
and perpetuate the Republic, and increase its moral, social, intellectual, and political light and liberty, we feel that in the inscrutable providence of God, the red man's period in time has about elapsed, and soon all that will remain to tell that he ever existed will be the imperfect record left by us, his exterminators.
To us, who, from this time, look back upon the events of the past, it does not look strange that the natives should have retired before the more powerful whites, and that they should have made some attempts to expel their invaders. Nor does it appear strange, that, after having seen the graves of their dead desecrated, their homes made desolate, and their ancient forests laid waste- after the apprehension had at last reached their darkened minds that they were to be eventually exter- minated, they should have turned on their persecutors, nerved with destruction, and armed with the desire for " liberty or death." Sympathy for our countrymen who suffered from the chafed, desperate people whose homes we have wrested from them, and whose country we have appropriated to our use, should never mislead us into the supposition that the Indian of America pos- sesses a more vindictive nature than ourselves. Could a people as much more highly cultivated than ourselves, as the early settlers were better informed than Indians, approach our shores, and by friendship at first, and then by fraud, theft, the deceitful use of powerful exhil- erating drinks, and finally by force of arms, get pos- session of all our eastern cities and seaboard, would we quietly relinquish all of our homes, and tamely bend our necks to the conqueror's yoke ? If not, then learn to appreciate the parallel case of the Indians.
11
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
In attempting to narrate any event of Indian warfare, we find the most insurmountable difficulties arising, unless we bring in the combined events that prompted the outrage or action. The truth is, the aborigines have no historians to record and publish to the world the virtues, the sufferings, or the heroism of their race, and from this fact has arisen the difficulty of presenting the red man as he really is. As the night retires leav- ing no trace behind, so the Indian has retired from his country. As the day drives the night away, and then paints a variegated dress for the landscape, so the white man has driven away his feebler neighbor, and left his own history.
The early settlers along the Atlantic coast had many things to retard their progress. The woodland abounded with game, and the rivers and creeks with fish, but the strong desire of most of the early emigrants to become speedily rich, prompted them to search for gold and silver ; and when they failed in this, they commenced a course of fraud,-capturing a native, in some instances, and then demanding a ransom of corn, land, and skins.
As might have been expected, the settlements follow- ing such a course were very soon reduced to abject want. The disaffection thus generated among the In- dians at one settlement, soon spread through nearly the whole, and at a very early date after the settlement of our country commenced by the whites, the Indians be- came their deadly foes. After many lives, together with much time and money, had been needlessly expended, the New World assumed an aspect wholly changed ; people of industry, enterprise, and morality flocked to our shores, anxious to obtain the neces-
12
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
saries of life by hardy toil. The woodman's axe was heard, and soon the busy hum of mills and machinery mingled with the clatter of wagons, the ploughman's song, and the lowing of herds.
The English claimed the earliest possession of this territory, but the French, no less willing to extend their possessions and increase their power, began a settle- ment in the north. This led to much unpleasant feel- ing, and at length to open collision between the settle- ments and nations. These difficulties were all appa- rently settled by the treaty of Utrecht, in April, 1713. The apparent peace would have continued a permanent adjustment undoubtedly, but for the ever restless Jesuits. These zealots imagined that the Indians would gladly embrace their religious dogmas, and that the introduction of missionaries among them would eventuate in fixing Jesuitism on a firmer and more hon- orable basis. Prompted by such motives, this privileged sect of the Roman See commenced their missionary efforts among the Indians with a zeal peculiar to pro- pagandists. The French, and especially the French colonists, lent aid to these missionaries and their abet- tors, who, in turn, explored the wilds, and greatly pro- moted the interests of the French in America, and by their glowing descriptions stimulated the desire of the French colonists to become masters of the trade, and if possible of the continent itself.
The fur trade presented inducements to both parties ; and to reap a rich return from it, it became necessary to win and retain the friendship of the Indians. The French, prompted by their subtlety, won many Indians in the west to their cause, and then commenced a series
13
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND. ENGLISH HISTORY.
of encroachments upon Nova Scotia in the east ; Crown Point in the north and west ; attempted to establish a line of fortifications, extending from the head of the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, and were encroaching far upon Virginia, while the English colonists had the un- pleasant prospect before them of being surrounded by a belt of hostile French and Indians, closing rapidly upon them. With this prospect clearly in view, they commenced the most active measures to counteract the ruin that seemed about to hurry them swiftly along the way of the banished aborigines. Indian agents were appointed, whose duty it was to treat with them; to make them valuable presents ; to redress their griev- ances, and to act at all times as the friend of the red man. These efforts of the English to establish amicable relations with the Indians, were crowned with happy results ; many individual Indians became firm friends of the English, and eventually a majority of the tribes were found warmly attached to the ever-conquering English side.
Among the Indian agents, Sir William Johnson's name stands first among those with whom we need trace any definite connection with the incidental Indian history of which we shall treat in future chapters. This gentleman was for many years the Superintendent- General of the Indians, and by his friendship and wis- dom attached the Five Nations so closely to him, that he exercised an almost unlimited control over them. After the death of his amiable wife, he received to his home "Mary Brant," sister of "Joseph Brant,*" the
" Thayendanegea.
14
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
celebrated captain and governor of the Six Nations, and lived with her in the full enjoyment of that affec- tion and fidelity consequent upon a union of minds con- genial, and love devoutly pure. This union, so far from being an insult to the Indians, was doubtless looked upon as a mark of real esteem. When an Indian be- comes a warm friend of a white man, it is no uncommon thing for him to bring his wife, as a present, thinking, unquestionably, that as she is most valuable to him, so she will be most acceptable to his friend. Whether this relationship had any tendency to tighten the cords of confidence between him and the red men or not, we leave the reader to judge, barely remarking, that the influence he exerted over them was so powerful, that it gave the controlling motion to all the subsequent events of Indian history in this region of country.
Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland, in the year 1714. In 1734 he came to this country to superintend the estate of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren. His resi- dence was located on the banks of the Mohawk river. He soon ingratiated himself into the esteem and confi- dence of the Six Nations. He studied the Indian char- acter, became master of their language, and at particu- lar seasons assumed their dress, invited them to his house, and labored on all suitable occasions to extend to them that attention and courtesy so well calculated to impress them with peculiar reverence. He was stern and unyielding in his disposition, yet possessed the superior faculty of controlling his passions, and when occasion required was conciliatory and courteous to the unlettered aborigines of the forest.
During the French war, which broke out in 1754, he
15
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
rendered very great assistance to the provincial army. At Lake George, where he held the post of Commander- in-Chief, he gained a most brilliant victory over the French and Indian forces of Baron Dieskau. In honor of this achievement, the House of Commons voted him a bequest of £5,000 sterling. The king most graciously favored him with the title of "Baronet, and Superin- tendent of Indian Affairs." Brigadier Gen. Prideaux fell at the siege of Fort Niagara, when Sir William assumed the office of Commander-in-Chief of the com- bined English forces. He conducted the siege with gallantry, compelled the Fort to surrender, and took the garrison prisoners. Under his command were 1000 Iroquois. With these well-trained warriors, he united with the forces of Gen. Amherst, at Oswego, in 1760, preparatory to his expedition into Canada, closing his distinguished military career at Montreal.
In his retirement from the bloody field of "glorious war," he lived like an eastern lord, supporting much of the dignity of a nobleman.
He died in the sixtieth year of his age, and was in- terred under the "old stone church" at Johnstown. In 1806, his remains were "taken up and re-deposited." He had been rather seriously wounded at Lake George, and the ball, not having been extracted, was found in the mingled dust of the brave old man.
We have deemed it necessary to take this brief review of the early history of our country, that we might be enabled to understand why the Indians of the con- federacy, and many other tribes, adopted the cause of the mother country during the Revolutionary struggle, and that we may be better prepared to present a gene-
16
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
ral sketch of the border wars of New York, waged for the supremacy of soil, for power and plunder.
The most prominent language spoken by the aborigi- nes was the Algonquin.
They believed in one Supreme God-the Great and Good Spirit-the Maker of Heaven and Earth-the Father and Master of life-the Creator of every animate being. They adored him, worshiped him, and regarded him as the author of all good. Different tribes knew him by different names, such as Kiethan, Woonand, Cautanwoit and Mingo Ishto. He lived far away to the warm south-west, amid perennial flowers, golden fruit, and sweet-scented zephyrs. They saw him in the glassy water, foaming surge, sparkling fire, in the daz- zling sun, silvery moon, and radiant stars.
Among them were many gifted and eloquent orators. Tall and majestic in appearance, with graceful attitude and noble bearing, they united in extreme harmony and degree both action and sentiment. Full of electri- fying emotion, thrilling ideas, and pulsating, leaping words, every sentence was instinct with exuberant, all- motioned, panting life. They would fill the ear with music, the mind with fire. Their speeches were like streams of swift-running intellect, charmed and poetized by the sweetest flowers and fairest thoughts.
At a very remote period in the annals of the past, the aborigines had penetrated into different parts of the territory, now embraced within the State ; and as early as 1535 had erected the seat of their empire at Ganen- tuha, or Onondaga.
In 1600, the Five Confederative Nations,-the Mo- hawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas,-
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
had become very numerous and warlike. They had gradually spread over the territory extending from the borders of Vermont and central western New York, from the great northern chain of lakes to the head waters of the Ohio, the Susquehanna, and the Delaware. The French called them the Iroquois, and the English the Five Nations. Their war-paths extended beyond the Connecticut, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico.
The French made their first permanent settlement in Canada during the year 1608. Governor Champlain was the guiding spirit, and under his direction and efficient action, Quebec was founded.
From 1609 to 1759, central and western New York formed a portion of French Canada, or New France. The St. Lawrence river and its shores had been ex- plored by Cartier and portions of his crew, as early as August, 1535 ; but no permanent settlement was made previous to 1608.
The French looked upon the aborigines as a kind of groveling beings, having few wants, desires, or thoughts above the instinct of the brute creation, and labored to locate them in villages, the first of which was founded near the settlements of Montreal and Quebec. But the general habits, customs and sentiments of the whites were so dissimilar to those of the Indians, that the at- tempt proved a failure. The presence of the "pale face " tended rather to corrupt than improve the natives. The plan was therefore abandoned, and another mode adopted to induce them to favor the French, while they should exhibit their hostility to the English.
In 1608, the Iroquois, or Five Nations, were engaged in a bloody and exterminating war with the Adiron-
2*
18
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
dacks, a confederacy of the Algonquins. They had been driven from their possessions and hunting grounds around Montreal, and compelled to fly for safety to the southern coast of Lake Ontario, but in turn they fell upon their invaders with the ferocity of tigers, and forced them to abandon their lands, situated above the Three Rivers, and seek a rampart behind the straits of Quebec.
Governor Champlain, unhappily for the colonists, and unwisely for himself, entered into an alliance with the Adirondacks, furnishing them with men and munitions of war, which tended strongly to turn the current of success. Their pomp, parade, and haughty movements, their glittering armor and polished steel, waving plumes and richly decorated banners, the blaze of musketry and the roar of the deep-mouthed bellowing cannon that flashed lightning and spouted thunder, bewildered their untutored minds, and sent horror and consternation among the combined forces of the Iroquois, and they were as a consequence defeated in several battles, and finally driven from Canada. Undismayed, however, by their reverses, they turned their arms against the Sata- naus or Shawnees, defeated them, and set about a renewal of the contest with their rival foes.
A Dutch ship had entered the Hudson river, having on board the colonists who made a location where we now see the city of Albany. It was an easy task to obtain of them weapons similar to those which had been so successfully used in their defeat and dishonor. Be- ing now fully prepared for a more severe contest for power, they resumed the fight with their old enemies. Their efforts were attended with the fullest success, and
19
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
the Adirondacks were completely annihilated. Gov. Champlain, too late to retrieve his mistake, learned that he and his friends had united their fortunes with the conquered instead of the conquerors. This action on the part of the French originated that bitter enmity and undying hatred which for a long period existed between them and the Five Confederated Nations.
From this time the confederacy rapidly rose to the first power cast of the Mississippi. Their war parties ranged from Hudson's Bay on the north to the moun- tains of Tennessee on the south, from the Connecticut on the east to the Mississippi on the west ; and every nation within these vast boundaries trembled at the name of the Akonoshioni, or united people.
During the reign of the Dutch governor, Peter Stuy- vesant, the province of New York, in 1644, was sur- rendered to the English, who exerted themselves to preserve the friendly feelings which were created be- tween the Five Nations and the Dutch, through the agency of the latter, who were so opportune in lending that species of arms which enabled the former to con- quer the Adirondacks, and regain their former honor, their homes and hunting grounds. This timely aid on the part of the Dutch, enabled the hardy German to penetrate with safety into the Indian settlements, and traffic with the natives. The English were successful. They called conventions at Albany, were liberal, and even extravagant in distributing among the Indians munitions of war, merchandize, and various gaudy tin- selled trappings of fancy. The French, unwilling to see the English reap all the fame and glory derived from Indian friendship, redoubled their exertions to win
20
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
their favor and weaken their alliance with the English. If the confederacy could be dismembered, they presumed it an easy matter to conquer the English.
In 1665, Courcelles, Governor of Canada, dispatched a party of the French to attack the Five Nations ; but being unaccustomed to long and secret expeditions, they lost their way amid the wastes of snow which retarded their progress, benumbed their faculties, and reduced them to a state bordering on starvation, and finally, without knowing where they were, made a stand at Schenectady, then but recently founded. Reduced by cold, starvation, and the consequent results of a rapid march, they resembled an army of beggars over which the buzzard and vulture had hovered, and were ready to descend and devour. The appetite of a hyena would hardly have been satisfied with a meal from their wasted forms. Many Indians were then in the village, and could have easily destroyed them, and perhaps would, had not the friendly aid of a Dutchman interfered, by way of advice and artifice, to spare them, that they might be the more fully prepared to meet and contend with a stronger foe, which he contrived to make them believe was advancing.
The French were not so anxious to instill morality and the more noble lessons of virtue into the minds of the savages, as they were to make allies for France. · That they partially succeeded is evident from the fact that they induced the Caughnawagas, in 1671, to leave the banks of the Mohawk and locate in Canada. French vanity, and their advantages of polite bearing, were better calculated to influence the native, than the stiff, overbearing pride and self-conceit of the English ; and
21
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
although they could not for any great length of time retain the good graces of the Indians, yet it is recorded that one of the French Jesuits so far won their favor as to be adopted into one of the tribes, and was after- wards chosen a sachem.
The Dinodadies, a tribe who were in alliance with France, were at war with the Five Nations in 1688, and by treachery and falsehood contrived to intercept their ambassadors while on their way to hold a conference in Canada, and with a cowardly meanness and savage barbarity peculiar to themselves, killed several of them, pretending to be influenced by the French Governor, thus violating their faith and making their enmity still stronger, and the breach wider. Resolved upon having vengeance, they soon landed 1,200 Iroquois warriors at Montreal, slew 1,000 French, " and carried away twen- ty-six prisoners." These, after being subjected to their scoffs and jeers, were burned alive. The French, no less willing to submit, made stealthy incursions into their country, and during the dark hours of night ap- plied the incendiary torch to the Indians' home, thus reducing several of their villages to ashes.
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