USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 26
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Fort Niagara, the British captured 300 men, an im- mense quantity of commissarat stores, 3,000 stands of arms, several pieces of ordnance and a large number of rifles. Sixty-five of our men were put to death with the bayonet, and the British had reason to feel that they had amply revenged McClure's cruel course.
Turner, in speaking of this event, says: "The citi- zens commenced their flight soon after the first repulse of our troops at Black Rock ; bat few lingered until after daylight. After putting in requisition all the available means of conveyance-even to the last yoke of oxen and sted-many of the women and children were under the necessity of fleeing on foot, wading in the snow at an inclement season, illy prepared for the vicissitudes they encountered. In all the distance from Buffalo to Batavia, during the day, there was upon the road an almost unbroken procession of citi- zens, panic stricken soldiers, pressing on in the retreat as if they were hotly pursued ; and the wounded and sick, in sleighs or upon litters. Other avenues of flight, especially the south road, through what is now Aurora, Sheldon, Warsaw, &c., to the Genesee river, presented similar scenes. The taverns were soon exhausted of their means of feeding the hungry throng, private houses yielded to the importunities of the famishing stinted supplies of provisions that had been stored for the winter's use. From the start upon the frontier, the first and second day, the throngs were constantly increasing by the addition of families along the roads that would hastily pile a few of their house- hold goods upon sleighs, horse and hand sleds, and join in the flight. After the first day's flight, those who were considerate enough to realize that they were
treal he was urged forward, on the march, at the point of the bayonet. While in prison he was nearly starved to death. Joseph Richardson, Jr., son of the Joseph named above, made his escape before Buffalo was taken.
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out of danger, would take quiet possession of de- serted houses without the formality of a lease. Upon the old Buffalo road, Batavia was the first stopping place, and the small village was soon filled to over- flowing; private houses, offices, out-houses, were thrown open to shelter the wearied and suffering who had been driven from the frontier. As a measure of precaution, the books and papers of the Holland Company's Land Office, were removed over the river to Lima.". * * * * *
* "West of a north and south line that would pass through the village of Le Roy, more than one-half of the entire population had been driven from their homes by the enemy, or had left them in fear of extended invasion. Entire back- woods neighborhoods were deserted, hundreds of log cabins were desolate, and the signs and sounds of life were mostly the deserted cattle and sheep, lowing and bleating, famishing for the lack of fodder there were none left to deal out to them. Between the boundary that has been named and the Genesee river, there had been less of flight ; the tide flowing eastward had been partially arrested ; many wishing to stop as near their deserted homes as their ideas of safety would allow, found friendly shelter for the winter among those who remained undisturbed. The largest portion of the refugees, however, were hospitably provided for east of the Genesee river."
In the spring of 1814, Captain Enos Stone of Roch- ester, Lieutenant Claudius V. Boughton of Pittsford and Abell Parkhurst of Lima, ensign, raised a com- pany of cavalry for short service. Governor Tomp- kins had received permission from President Madison to organize a few thousand six months men, and this company was accepted under that authority. The enlistment roll was opened in March and the company was full in April. The men were drawn mainly from
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Lima, Bloomfield and Pittsford, with a few from Lei- cester. They rendezvoused at Rochester and were there mustered into Porter's Volunteer Dragoons. This force was ordered to the mouth of the Genesee river, where a command of 2,500 men was collected and stationed along the side-hill facing the lake, to prevent the British troops from moving up the river, as they were then threatening to do. Scarcely had the dragoons reached Charlotte before several of the enemy's vessels entered the harbor and commenced throwing shot and shell into our lines. Temporary earthworks were thrown up and fire opened on the ships, which soon hauled away.
Soon after this affair, General Porter and several of his officers, among whom was Dr. Bissell, now of Gen- eseo, took a trip on horseback through Ontario and Cayuga counties for the sake of drill and to encourage enlistments. At Aurora, General Porter, Colonel Stone and Captain Boughton plunged into the lake, and the company officers rode in after them and mis- . chieveously crowded them farther from shore, to the great merriment of the male spectators, but to the annoyance of their superiors and the consternation of the ladies who had assembled.
Captain Stone, soon after entering the service, was promoted to a colonelcy, and Lieutenant Boughton took command of the company. Colonel Stone was afterwards suspended from command, for permitting, as officer of the day, his soldiers to burn the village of St. Davids, opposite Lewiston, in retaliation of some feuds between them and the Canadians. He was indignantly disarmed by the commanding officer and discharged, and while on his way home from the army, , died at Le Roy of a broken heart. He felt that he had been greatly wronged, and doubtless was innocent of any intentional impropriety. The burning of this
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village occurred just after the battle of Chippewa had been won, and while General Brown was resting in doubt whether to attack Fort George, or to follow up and attack Riall. It was the only wrong of the cam- paign, and was promptly punished, though a worthy officer suffered disgrace thereby.
Captain Boughton afterward resided in Victor, Ontario county, and represented that county in the Assembly. Lieutenant Parkhurst died in Lima about the year 1832.
The company entered the service 162 strong, and when mustered out numbered only 48 men. The oth- ers had either been killed in battle, died of wounds or camp disease, or been taken prisoners. But very few had deserted.
On the 15th of July, 1814, General Porter, with his brigade of volunteers, Major Wood of the Engineers, and Captain Ritchie with two pieces of artillery, drove in the British pickets at Fort George and formed the brigade within a mile of the fort, in full view of the enemy, with little opposition. Colonel Wilcocke with his American Canadians, Captains Hall, Harding and Freeman, of the New York Volunteers, and a company of Indian warriors, advanced under cover of a copse of trees to within musket shot of the fort, and gave Major Wood, with hardly any loss, an op- . portunity to examine the works ; only a few of Cap- tain Boughton's New York Cavalry being surprised and captured.
After the battle of Lundy's Lane, which occurred on the 25th of July, in which the British General Drummond was so badly worsted, a whole week elapsed before he was able to move forward. On the 3d of August he stationed 4,000 troops two miles east of Fort Erie, with a wood between 'the fort and his encampment. Finding the fort too strong for assault,
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he determined to besiege it. The following day he made an unsuccessful attempt on the American mag- azines, which General Brown had transferred to Buf- falo, prudently guarded by Major Morgan, with part of the rifle regiment taken from Fort Erie.
During several days Drummond was busy with preparations to take Fort Erie, while Gaines, who had command of the fort, was equally active in prepara- tions for defense. Both sides were reinforced, and at sunrise of August 13th, Drummond's arrangements being completed, the engagement commenced with a severe cannonading. About sunset of the 14th a British shell burst in the magazine of the battery com- manded by Captain Williams, and blew it up with a tremendous explosion, but without doing any material damage.
At 2 o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the British troops, in three columns of about 1,500 men each, moved in obscurity and silence to the assault. Their watchward was "steel," and General Drummond's written orders of attack recommended a free use of the bayonet. Afterward, when the two armies were in deadly conflict, his voice was often heard shouting, with profane brutality, to give the "damned Yankees no quarter." Several instances of revolting cruelty on the part of the British soldiers occurred. To repulse Drummond's attack, the American forces had been well disposed. General Gaines' position was on the margin of the lake, where the Niagara river empties into it. The ground was a level plain, a few feet above the water, and was strengthened by breast- works in front, entrenchments and batteries. Fort Erie, small and unfinished, was defended by Captain Williams, supported by Major Trimble's infantry. General Porter, with his brigade of New York and Pennsylvania volunteers, occupied the center. The
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left was defended by Major McRae, with the 9th Regi- ment under Captain Foster, and New York and Penn- sylvania volunteers under Captains Boughton and Harding. The fight continued until nearly dawn, when the enemy fled in complete disorder and dismay, and our victory was a decided and glorious one.
During the month following this engagement, very little was done by either army. At the end of that time General Brown, who had again assumed com- mand of the American forces, determined upon a sortie from Fort Erie. The British army, consisting of three infantry brigades of 1,200 or 1,500 men each, besides artillery, were encamped in a field surrounded by woods, nearly two miles from their batteries and entrenchments, in order to avoid the American fire. A brigade of infantry attended the artillerists when at work. Two batteries were completed, and a third was in rapid course of construction, all mounted with heavy guns, one of them a 68 pounder, and all well supplied with ammunition. These works General Brown determined to attack. For seven days pre- ceding the sortie there was a continual equinoctial storm of rain, which did not, however, prevent fre- quent skirmishes, and favored many desertions from the English camp. General Brown decided to attack the enemy's works by day, as being then least guarded, and an attack least expected. He had made himself carefully acquainted with the topography of the vicinity, and had had his soldiers cut roads through the woods, unperceived, close to the enemy. Colonel Jessup, with the 25th Regiment, remained in charge of the fort, and soon after noon of the 17th of Sep- tember, the men were paraded and got ready for the attack. The left column, destined for Drummond's right, was placed under General Porter, to penetrate circuitously between the British batteries and camp,
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thus to surprise and overpower the one-third at work before the other two-thirds off duty in camp could come to their help. Of Porter's three columns, Colo- nel Gibson, with two hundred of his rifle regiment and some Indians, led the advance. Lieutenant Colonel Wood, with 400 infantry headed by Major Brooke of the 23d, with that and the 1st regiments, had the right, supported by 500 militia of the regiments of Colonels Dobbin, McBurney and Fleming, which force was to attack the batteries. The rain fell in torrents, hence the free use of firearms was rendered impossible. Porter led his column close up to the enemy's entrench- ments, turned their right without being perceived by their pickets, and soon carried by storm battery No. 3, together with a strong blockhouse.
In half an hour after the first shot, the three batter- ies and two blockhouses were taken, the magazine blown up, all the guns rendered useless, and every object of the sortie accomplished, with considerable loss, indeed, but with a success beyond General Brown's most sanguine expectations.
The Americans retired with 385 prisoners, many of them officers, and the total British loss was reckoned at 1,000. General Brown's loss was about half that number. Owing to the rain, which, as has been remarked, prevented the free use of rifles and muskets, the most of the battle was fought hand to hand.
This sortie was by far the most splendid achieve- ment of the campaign, whether we consider the bold- ness of the conception, the excellence of the plan, or the ability with which it was executed. To General Brown the whole credit is due, although he had the enthusiastic support of Porter and several of the younger field officers. Brown was advised not to make the sortie, and at a council of officers held the evening before, they decided against it, but he did not
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·give up. In his emphatic manner he said, " As sure as there is a God in heaven, the enemy shall be attacked in his works, and beaten too, so soon as all the volunteers shall have passed over."
General Izard joined Brown and Gaines in October, 1814. At Washington and everywhere the belief pre- vailed that Izard would capture Drummond. On the 18th of October, 900 men of Izard's second brigade, under Colonel Bissell, the 5th Infantry under Colonel Pickney, a battalion of the 14th under Major Barnard, the 15th under Major Griedage, the 16th under Colonel Pearce, with rifle companies commanded by Captains Irvin and Darman, and a small body of dragoons, were sent to Cook's mill, twelve miles north of Chip- pewa, to capture some flour there. The next day the Marquis of Tweedale, with a select corps of 1,200 men from the British entrenchments, attacked Bissell, who defeated and put them to precipitate flight in great confusion.
The Americans abandoned and destroyed Fort Erie November 5th, 1814, and crossing the river, went into winter quarters at Buffalo, Black Rock and Batavia.
On the 15th of February, 1815, the war ended, and the settlers were once more permitted to lay down their arms and return to their homes, and the peaceful avocations of their rural life. It will be noticed that no attempt has been made, in this chapter, to give a detailed account of this struggle, and nothing has been said of the operations our armies in other parts of the country than the Niagara frontier, the writer's aim being simply to give some account of those military operations in which the settlers of the Genesee coun- try were directly interested, and in which they partic- ipated. The complete history of the war has already been written by historians with whose works the reader is presumably familiar, and it is neither within
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the province of this work or the desire of the writer to again review it. Conscious that the details of this disjointed narative are very meager, enough has been told to show that the early settlers of this region responded readily when their country was in danger, as they and their fathers had done in the Revolution- ary war ; and it is seen that the service they were called upon to perform, was of the most arduous and dan- gerous character. In it some gave their all, their lives, while others returned to their homes, to enjoy for many years, the fruits of their dearly bought vic- tory. And some we still have with us, aged but hon- ored and useful citizens, to whom it is a pleasure to listen as they recount the trials and sufferings, the reverses and victories of this second war with Great Britain.
The result of this struggle was highly beneficial to the Genesee country. Many of the difficulties with which the early settlers had had to contend were removed, and life and property became more secure. The jurisdictional limits of Great Britain were defined and established, and thenceforth there was no inter- ference with the progress of the settlements, as there had been previously with Sodus and other places.
Little mention has been made here of individual . settlers who participated in the war, but the names of others will appear in the town sketches. Livingston furnished her full quota of troops when men were needed, and her record is one of which we have just reason to be proud. It is said that one town alone (Avon) lost more men in defense of the frontier than the entire county of Niagara. Of the patriotic devo- tion of the early settlers, no more need be said than this.
After the close of the war the tide of emigration set strongly in the direction of the Genesee country, and
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the growth of the settlements was exceedingly rapid. The "cold summer" of 1816, indeed, acted as a check for a time, but subsequent favorable seasons, with their abundant crops, gave a new impulse to emigra- tion, and in spite of the great drawback of a lack of markets for their surplus grain, settlers came in a steady stream. The wild forests disappeared, well- tilled fields began to dot the landscape, and flourish- ing villages sprang up here and there, where a few years previous only dense forests, with the red men as their only inhabitants, had existed.
About the 1st of October, 1814, Jerediah Horsford settled in Mount Morris. This good old man who has but recently (1875) passed away, was born in the town of Charlotte, Chittendon county, Vermont, on the 8th of March, 1791. His parents lived in a sparsely settled part of the State, and all about them was a dense for- est. At the age of 6 years he was sent to the district school, two miles distant. The following winter a school was opened about sixty rods from his father's house, but it was not intended by his parents that he should attend, and it had not, probably, occurred to them that he could go, during the winter season, when the ground was covered with snow, as he had not, up to that period of his life, known the luxury of shoes. But he urged his parents to allow him to attend school, and actually did, for several winters, attend the school barefooted. His method of surmounting this diffi- culty was both original and ingenious. Procuring a thick pine board, large enough for him to place both feet upon it, he heated it thoroughly before the fire. Taking this in his hand he would start at the top of his speed through the snow, until his feet began to suffer from cold. He would then stop, stand upon the board until his feet were warmed, and then start again, and after two or three such stoppages would
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reach the coveted goal. It may be imagined that one who evinced such zeal and determination in his efforts to acquire an education, would make the most of his opportunities. This was true of young Horsford, who, although working on his father's farm every summer, and often in winter being required to assist in chopping and preparing the year's supply of wood, kept up his studies, and made such good progress that at the age of 18 he was employed at $10 a month to teach a district school, a vocation he pursued for four consecutive winters. With the opening of his first school he united with a dozen young men in his native village in the formation of a debating society, which for several years held its regular meetings and proved an efficient aid to Horsford in his intellectual advancement.
In the spring of 1814 Mr. Horsford resolved to seek his fortune in a new country at the west. With this object in view he gathered together all the little prop- erty he was worth, consisting of an old horse and a very cheap lumber wagon and single harness, all worth about $70, and $200 in cash, and on the 29th of March started for the Genesee Valley. He located at Mount Morris, and commenced farming, a pursuit he followed until late in life. In 1816 he was married to Maria C. Norton, daughter of Ebenezer Norton of Goshen, Conn. Soon after settling here he was hon- ored by Governor DeWitt Clinton with a lieutenant's commission in the militia. This was soon followed by a captain's commission which he held for six years, when he was promoted to a colonelcy. Holding this commission for two years he asked for and obtained an honorable discharge.
In the spring of 1817 Mr. Horsford removed to Mos- cow where he opened a public house. This business he followed for twelve years, using and dealing in
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intoxicating liquors, as was the universal custom in those days. Mature reflection upon the subject, how- ever, convinced him that the traffic in alcoholic drinks was immoral in tendency, productive of a vast amount of suffering in the community, and, in fact, wrong. He therefore abandoned the liquor business, but kept his house open for a few months, until, finding that he could not make any profit except by selling liquor, he took down his sign, fully determined never there- after to engage in business which could not be carried on without the aid of intoxicating drinks.
" When I commenced business in Moscow," says Mr. Horsford, "the travel on the east and west road through the place had become very considerable, especially in the winter season, when emigrants from the east were in great numbers passing to the west and southwest." At this time there were three public houses in Moscow, each of which was doing a fair business. Mr. Horsford says that "in those days it was the custom, and the practice was almost universal, with families that were moving, to take their own beds and provisions along with them, cook and eat at pub- lic houses as they could, and spread their beds, which were not always any too clean, on the floor at night, when they usually seemed to rest quite soundly. This practice was by no means confined to low life. I will cite one instance of the opposite extreme. At the close of the administration of John Quincy Adams, Peter B. Porter, his Secretary of War, on retiring from office at Washington, came across the country from Philadelphia, on his way home, in a heavy lum- ber wagon, described at that time as a 'Pennsylvania wagon,' drawn by two heavy horses. Mr. Porter, his wife, children, servant girl and teamster all passed a night at my house. At the usual hour for retiring beds were brought in from the wagon and spread on
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the floor for Mrs. Porter, the children and domestic. Mrs. Porter, in consequence of her position, was asked and even urged to let the younger portion of the fam- · ily occupy the beds on the floor, and herself retire with her husband. This proposition she very respect- fully declined, saying she had slept on the floor every night since leaving Washington and preferred to do so until she should reach her own home at Black Rock. It was not unusual to have four or five beds spread on the floor at the same time, and occupied by families moving."
During the winter of 1814-15 Mr. Horsford taught the district school at Hunt's Corners, in the town of Groveland ; in the summer of 1815 the district school at Mount Morris ; and during the winter of 1815-16 he taught an Indian school at Squaukie Hill, under an engagement with the Synod of Geneva. At this time the number of Indians, young and old, residing at this place, was about eighty.
The "cold summer" of 1816, before alluded to, was a time of great calamity. Save for the loss of life, Turner says it was as severe in its effects as the war. He says, "June frosts almost entirely destroyed the summer crops ; in the forepart of the month pools of water were covered with ice. Upon one occasion, especially, in a forenoon, after the sun had dissipated the frosts, the fields and gardens looked like prairies that have been scorched with fire. Summer crops, other than the hardier grains, were crisped and black- ened ; the hopes and dependence of the people were destroyed. The wheat harvest was mostly protracted until September, previous to which, in all the more recently settled towns and neighborhoods, there was much suffering for food. Wheat was from $2 to $3 per bushel before harvest, and in the absence of sum- mer crops, the price but slightly declined after harvest.
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The inhabitants of nearly all the Holland Purchase, and all of Allegany depended upon the older settle- ments in Ontario for bread. The Indians upon the Genesee river had a small surplus of corn of the crop of 1815, which the white inhabitants bought, paying as high as $2 per bushel. In the new settlements wheat and rye was shelled out while in the milk, boiled and eaten as a substitute for bread ; while in many instances, the occupants of log cabins in the wilderness, subsisted for months and weeks upon wild roots, herbs and milk. The season of 1816 was the climax of cold seasons ; that of 1817-the commence- ment of a series of fruitful ones; of plenty, and would have been of prosperity if there had been re- munerating markets for produce."
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