USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 77
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 77
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
The God of mercy only knows how soon the father may fall a victim to the brutal inhumanity of our enemy, in defending the land, the home of his affection; how soon the infant may be torn from the arms of its mother, and sacrificed to the sanguinary notions of a brutal foe; and how soon the house that shelters them from the stormy tempest, may be laid in ashes, and not a vestige of husbandry or cultivation be left to mark the residence of man.
Why have these calamities happened? Has it been the production of General Hampton's letters to the secretary at war, degrading the frontier settlements as almost improper subjects of protection, that the army should be ordered from their strong positions in this county, to the vil- lages of Plattsburgh and Sacketts Harbor? These are strange move-
-
655
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
ments, at a great sacrifice of public property, which we are unable to account for.
But our situation is too dangerous and degrading for us as American citizens, to have patience to sit peaceably under, and yet to flee our resi- dences would but complete the ruin which is already begun.
We do further represent, that our enemies are continually drawing supplies of provisions from our frontiers, and the majesty of the civil law is trampled under foot, and the arm of the magistrate is put forth with little or no effect.
Our jail has been opened by our enemies, and prisoners set at liberty, and our military force is wholly insufficient to render us secure.
By an act of April 6, 1814, the sheriff of St. Lawrence county was directed to remove the prisoners in the county jail, to the Lewis county jail, for safe keeping.
In the summer of 1814, Capt. Thomas Frazer crossed the St. Lawrence at Hammond, with 60 men, and proceeded to Rossie to apprehend some horse thieves who were said to be lurking in the vicinity. Mr. James Howard was at the time holding a justice's court, which was hastily dis- solved, and the parties sought were not secured. They made inquiries into the operations of the furnace then building, and are said to have exacted a pledge that munitions of war should not be cast there. In returning several persons volunteered to row them down the lake to the narrows, from whence they crossed to Canada. A plan was formed to attack them as they passed down the river, but this was discountenanced as only calculated to excite retaliation. This event occurring at about the time of the taking of Washington, gave rise to the presage, "that since the head and tail of the nation had both been captured, the re-' mainder of the body would follow as a natural consequence."
656
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
CHAPTER X.
THE PATRIOT WAR OF 1837-40.
T HERE had existed for several years in the Canadian provinces, a party which labored to obtain certain reforms in government, among which were the extension of the elective fran- chise and the procuring of a responsible elective council. This aroused a bitter feeling, and late in November, 1837, the press of the reformers was destroyed by a mob, which but increased the excitement, and at length the aid of the military force was called out to, arrest certain prominent leaders of the reform party. The prisons became filled with persons charged with treason; martial law was proclaimed in the lower province, and numerous instances of wanton violence on the part of the soldiery occurred. Numbers fled to the states for an asylum, and the popular riots that ensued were only aggravated by the efforts made to suppress them. It is not our purpose to narrate the details of the causes or merits of the movement, but however much justice there may have been in the demands of the reformers, it will be the duty of the future historian to record the fact, that the pretext was seized by sundry American citi- zens, as a favorable opportunity to push forward their private schemes of personal aggrandizement and pecuniary speculation, and the planning of enterprises which they had neither the honor nor the courage to sus- tain when their support involved personal danger. The masses who acted in these movements, were doubtless actuated by sincere motives, and were blinded and misled by a few designing villians. The sympa- thies of our citizens have ever been on the side of political liberty, and our past history is filled with examples of its expression towards those seeking it, and this was the more sensibly felt from the vicinity of the arena of operations, and the belief that the sentiment of revolution, and aspirations for an independent republican existence were entertained by the masses of Canada. Refugees from the provinces were scattered through the northern states, who related with excited language, their version of the movements, and these causes, with many others concur- ring, led to efforts having for their avowed object the independence of the Canadas. The destruction of the American steamer CAROLINE,* Dec. 29,
* The Caroline was built as a small coasting sail vessel, in South Carolina, and her timber was the live oak of that section. At Troy she was changed into a small steamer, and under the name of Carolina, was run from Troy to Albany for some time. She was then taken through the Erie and Oswego canals to Lake Ontario, and plied as a ferry at Ogdensburgh. From this place she was taken through the Welland canal, and was used as a small ferry boat at Buffalo and vicinity, when she was employed in the patriot service, seized and destroyed by a party of Canadians.
657
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
1837, excited this feeling to an extraordinary degree, and public meetings were held throughout the country to express an honest indignation at the outrage and invoke the executive arm to protect our national rights. In this movement there was no political or sectional feeling. The sub- ject became the absorbing topic of the press, and every mail was eagerly awaited to learn the news from the seat of the disturbances. On the 12th of Feb., 1838, Wm. L. Mckenzie, a prominent leader of the move- ment, addressed the citizens of Ogdensburgh on the Canadian question, and in the evening and following morning a cannon was fired several times with the view of honoring the speaker, but with the effect of as- sembling crowds of excited citizens. In the evening several persons from Prescott crossed to ascertain the cause of the firing, who met a company of the Patriots, (as the friends of the movement were called,) who arrested and detained them till morning. This illegal proceeding irritated the Canadians, and increased the hostility. On the 18th of Feb. 1838, the state arsenal at Watertown was robbed, and a reward of $250 offered for the burglars. Active measures were taken to assemble arms and munitions of war along the frontier, and secret associations styled Hunters' lodges, were soon formed in the large villages, to organize a plan of resistance, and circulate early intelligence of the movements.
On the night between the 29th and 30th of May, 1838, the British steam boat Sir Robert Peel, on her passage from Prescott to the head of the lake, while taking fuel, at Well's Island, in Jefferson county, was boarded by a company of armed men, the crew and passengers driven on shore, and the steamer burned. The details of this infamous trans- action, as collected soon after by several gentlemen from Ogdensburgh, are given below :
" On the 30th of May, the undersigned were informed that the steamer Sir Robert Peel, a British boat, had been boarded by a band of armed men, plundered and burnt, at a place known as Wells island, Jefferson county. We immediately started in the steam boat Oswego for the neighborhood of the outrage, and at Brockville took with us the purser and several of the hands of the steam boat Sir Robert Peel, with a view to obtain their testimony in aid of bringing the offenders to justice. On our arrival at French Creek, we learned that six inen were then under arrest charged with the offence of burning and plundering the boat, and that three had been committed.
From the evidence taken, we think we can not err in saying the fol- lowing is the substance of the facts relative to the destruction of the Sir Robert Peel: On the night of the 29th of May, the steamer on her pass- age up from Prescott to the head of the lake, touched at a wharf on Wells (a United States) island. The wharf was built entirely for selling wood to steam boats. There was no building, except one log shanty, belonging to the woodmen, within half a mile or more of the wharf, and there is not more than an acre of cleared land in sight of the wharf, on the island. When the boat first touched at the wharf, the man furnish- ing wood informed the captain of the boat that he had seen armed men on the island, and he was afraid they might be there with hostile inten- tions against the boat. The captain made light of the woodman's warn- ing, let down the steam, and proceeded to take in wood. The captain, mate, and all the cabin passengers retired from the deck of the boat, and most of them were in bed. The boat touched at the wharf about 1 o'clock in the night, and had lain there about an hour, when a band of men armed with guns and bayonets, painted and dressed in Indian cos- tume, suddenly rushed upon the boat, and by hideous yells and violent
1
658
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
threats, drove all the officers, hands and passengers on shore. There were about ten passengers in the ladies' cabin who were driven on shore without their baggage, and in their night clothes; and the passengers lost a considerable portion of their baggage.
Immediately after the pirates got possession of the boat, they proceed- ed to sack and plunder it. Very soon after they had driven the officers, hands and passengers of the boat on shore, they cut her from the wharf. She floated out some thirty rods, and stopped at a small island or rock. About an hour after the armed band got possession of the boat, they set fire to her in several places, and then took to their boats, which they had in preparation. Most of the witnesses estimate the number of armed men from thirty to forty, who took possession of the boat.
On our arrival at French Creek, we found nine persons had been ar- rested on suspicion of being concerned in burning the boat. At French , Creek we found one Thomas Scott, a surgeon, who had been a passen- ger on board the Sir Robert Peel, having come on board at Brockville. Doctor Scott is a citizen of Brockville, U. C., and his character as a most reputable man has been vouched for by several respectable inhabitants of Brockville. Upon the examination of the prisoners, Dr. Scott was sworn as a witness, and testified that he was a passenger on board the Sir Robert Peel; that after the band of armed men got possession of the boat, and he had been upon the wharf, he returned to the boat for his baggage, invited by one Robinson, another passenger, assuring him of safety, and was taken to the ladies' cabin to dress a wound of Hugh Scanlan, who said he had received a blow from a stick of wood. Scan- lan was one of the prisoners, and identified by Dr. Scott. Dr. Scott states that while he was dressing the wound, the boat was cut from the wharf, and floated so that he could not get ashore, and after the boat was set fire to, to save his life, he went into the boat with the armed band, and they took him away to an island (we have since learned, called Abel's island). The band of men there had a kind of shanty or encampment. He remained with them until after sunrise the next morn- ing. The pirates enjoined, and he promised, not to make any disclos- ures to injure them. They then allowed him to depart, and he got a farmer to take him ashore. He saw and counted all the persons who boarded the boat, and who went to the encampment, and he knows there were no more than twenty-two armed men who boarded the boat. He saw them all washed, and in their natural dresses, after sunrise, on the morning of the 30th of May.
It was talked and understood at the pirate's encampment, that all the persons, except two, who were engaged in the capture of the boat, were Canadian refugees, or Canadians who claimed to act in revenge for in- juries. Dr. Scott states that if he could see, he could identify nearly every person engaged in the outrage. Nine of the persons concerned were fully committed for trial, and two or three, yet unarrested, are known, who were concerned in the outrage. Vigorous means have been taken to secure their arrest. The boat is wholly destroyed.
JOHN FINE, B. PERKINS, SMITH STILWELL."
At 5 o'clock in the morning, while the Robert Peel was still burning, the steamer Oneida, on her downward trip, arrived, and took off the passengers on the island to Kingston, the nearest British port, about 30 miles up the river. The cabin passengers, nineteen in number, acknow- ledged in the public papers their gratitude to Capt. Smith, of the Oneida, for thus generously relieving them from their unpleasant condition.
An outrage so flagrant as this, could not pass without the notice of
659
AND FRANLKIN COUNTIES.
government, and the most prompt and decisive measures were adopted by the authorities on both sides of the St. Lawrence, for the arrest of the authors of the act. The leader of the party that boarded and burned this steamer publicly acknowledged the act, with the motives which in- duced him to the attempt, in the following proclamation that was circu- lated through most of the newspapers:
To all whom it may concern : I, William Johnston, a natural born citizen of Upper Canada, certify that I hold a commission in the Patriot service of Upper Canada, as commander-in-chief of the naval forces and flotilla. I commanded the expedition that attacked and destroyed the steamer Sir Robert Peel. The men under my command in that expeditiou were nearly all natural born English subjects; the exceptions were volunteers for the expedition.
My head quarters were on an island in the St. Lawrence, without the ju- risdiction of the United States, at a place named by me Fort Wallace. I am well acquainted with the boundary line, and know which of the islands do, and which do not, belong to the United States, and in the selection of the island I wished to be positive, and not locate within the jurisdic- tion of the United States, and had reference to the decision of the com- missioners, under the 6th article of the treaty of Ghent, done at Utica, in the state of New York, 13th of June, 1822. I know the number of islands, and by that decision, it was British territory.
I yet hold possession of that station, and we also occupy a station some twenty or more miles from the boundary of the United States, in what was his majesty's dominions, until it was occupied by us. I act under orders. The object of my movements, is the independence of the Canadas. I am not at war with the commerce or property of citizens of the United States.
Signed this 10th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
WILLIAM JOHNSTON.
On the 4th of June, 1838, Governor Marcy issued a proclamation, offering a reward for the arrest of certain persons, alleged to be con- cerned in the burning of the Robert Peel, viz: For William Johnston, $500; for Daniel McLeod, Samuel C. Frey and Robert Smith, each $250; and $100 each for the detection and delivery of other offenders. In a letter to the secretary of war, dated Watertown, June 3, 1838, he advised the cooperation of the governments of Canada with the United States, in endeavoring to clear the St. Lawrence of the Patriot forces, said to be lodged among the Thousand islands.
It was estimated that at least five hundred men well armed, and ac- commodated with boats adapted to the object to be accomplished, would be required to effect this purpose. The governor of Canada also offered a reward of £1,000, for the conviction of any person or persons con- cerned in the outrage.
On the morning of the 2d of June, 1838, the American steam boat Telegraph, while leaving Brockville, was hailed by two sentries, belong- ing to the volunteer militia, and fired upon with balls, six shot in all being fired, three of which struck the steamer. About the same time, several shots were fired from another wharf. Upon an examination which ensued, it appeared that the firing was not justified by orders, and it was asserted that no intention to hit the steamer existed. The sentries stated that they fired them as alarm guns. They were discharged, but no further action was taken in relation to the matter.
660
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
In a message from President Van Buren to congress, of June 20, 1838, it is stated that the outrages committed on the steam boat Sir Robert Peel and upon the Telegraph at Brockville, had not been made a subject of formal demand for redress by either government, as these acts were considered criminal offences committed within the jurisdic- tion of tribunals competent to enquire into the facts, and to punish those engaged in their perpetration.'
Directly opposite the present depot at Ogdensburgh, stands a tall but massive stone tower, with a tin covered dome, whose enormous but di- lapidated appendages indicate the purposes of its erection as a wind mill. This has been the theatre of a sanguinary conflict, the details of which were as follows:
Early in November, 1838, the Patriots, who had previously rallied in clubs and secret lodges, which had free and constant communication with each other, began to exhibit an intention of making fresh demnon- strations upon Canada, at some point which was known only by those who were in their confidence. Unusual numbers of strangers were seen about Syracuse, Oswego, Sackett's Harbor, Watertown, &c., and large quantities of arms, many of which were of most beautiful work- manship, were collected and concealed.
About the 10th of November, two schooners named the Charlotte of Oswego and the Charlotte of Toronto, were noticed as being freighted at Oswego, from boats that had arrived from Syracuse, by the Oswego canal, under circumstances that were suspicious. After being laden they left the harbor, taking a northerly course. The steamer United States had been in port from Tuesday, the 6th instant, undergoing some repairs, which were not completed till Saturday the 10th. There had been a pretty heavy gale on the lake on Friday and previous days, which created a heavy swell, and made the navigation of that water unpleasant. The United States left Oswego about 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, the 11th instant, to continue her regular trip down the lake and river. On her leaving Oswego, she took about a hundred and fifty passengers, ac- cording to the testimony of Win. Williams, the first mate. All of these, except one, were men passengers, without any baggage, except small budgets, and two or three trunks. There was a nail keg put on board, which fell in handling, and the head came out, when it was found filled with lead bullets, which rolled over the deck. There was also a number of boxes taken on board, marked for Cape Vincent. The steamer ar -. rived at Sackett's Harbor between 1 or 2 o'clock, and lay there three- fourths of an hour, and here about twenty or thirty passengers came on board, all of whom were men.
The fire room was filled with men, the window of the fire room, in shore, was shut down, and in other respects the men were about the decks as usual. The United States passed the Telegraph (a steamer then in the service of the United States government), about eleven miles from Sackett's Harbor, opposite Point Peninsula. The passengers were on deck, and in open view of those on the government steamer. The mate of the United States testifies, that he heard some of the leaders of the men tell them to keep out of sight. The steamer stopped at Cape Vincent about half an hour, and here some ten or eleven passengers came on board. On arriving near the foot of Long island, below Mil- len's bay, the two schooners that had left Oswego, on the 10th, were discovered, and Capt. James Van Cleve, upon the request of a respect- able looking passenger, who represented that they belonged to him, and were freighted with merchandise for Ogdensburgh, consented to take them in tow. Soon after the wind shifted, and blew more down the
661
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
river, having previously been in such a quarter, that the vessels could not sail down to advantage. These schooners were lashed one on each side of the steamer, and her speed with them in tow was about eight miles an hour. The speed of the Telegraph was about nine miles an hour. The steamer touched at French Creek a few minutes, and seven or eight men came on to the schooners. Soon after leaving this port, the nature of the business of the passengers became evident, and swords and pistols were openly taken from boxes on board the steamer. The passengers being exclusively males, and unencumbered by baggage, and the suspicious character of the little freight which they did take on board with them, rendered it sufficiently evident that they formed a body of men designing some military enterprise against some point on the St. Lawrence. The boxes on board the steamers were here transferred to the schooners, which had not been long in tow before great number's of men came from the latter on board the steamer, the greater part of them from the larger of the two, which was the Charlotte of Oswego. A consultation was now held between the captain and two of the owners of the stamboat present, and Hiram Denio, one of the bank commission- ers, who was on board as a passenger, as to what was best to be done under the circumstances; and it was concluded to stop at the wharf at Morristown (the next American port), and cause information to be given to a magistrate of the character of the passengers on board of the steamer, and of their supposed objects, and of the steam boat liaving towed down the schooners, and also to send an express with like information to Ogdensburgh, with instructions to communicate the same to the marshal, if he should be there (as it was supposed he was), or if not, to a magis- trate; and for the said steamer to remain at Morristown, until the express should have had time to arrive with the intelligence.
It was observed that one of the passengers on board the steamer, had a sword concealed under his cloak, and was looked upon by the others with that deference that indicated that they regarded him as their com- mander. Under his direction, about half of those on board entered the schooners, and the rest remained on board. Just before the steamer reached Morristown, (about eleven o'clock on Sunday night, Nov. 11), the schooners were unifastened, and dropped astern, and were seen no more by those on board the steamer, until their arrival in Ogdensburgh on the next morning. An express was sent on, as had been agreed upon. It is also believed that information was sent over to the village of Brock- ville, to the same effect. It had now become quite certain, that Prescott was the point against which the expedition was to be directed. The United States, after stopping two hours and a half, resumed her course to Ogdensburgh, where she arrived about three o'clock on Monday morn- ing. The fires were put out immediately on entering the port, as usual, and the hands, with the exception of the customary watch, retired. The schooners, after parting company with the United States, proceeded on their way, and the wind being favorable, reached Prescott during the night. They contained, as has been above suggested, and as afterwards appeared, a military armament under the command of General John W. Birge, but which were under the more immediate command of one Von Schoultz, a Polish exile, who had seen much of military operations in his own country, and who doubtless had been induced to join this ex- pedition from sincere motives. to promote a cause which he had been made to believe was just and honorable. Upon their approaching Pres- cott, one of the schooners was made fast to the upper wharf, and Von Schoultz urged his men to land, with bayonets fixed, and muskets un- oaded; march into the village, and take possession of the fort at once.
662
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
A hesitation on the part of some of the leaders, and a difference of opinion as to the mode of attack, arose, which led to a delay, and the schooner was soon after cast off. Those who were conversant with the condition of the town, and the strength of the garrison at Fort Welling- ton at that time, have expressed an opinion, that but little difficulty would have been experienced, at the first moment, in taking effectual possess- ion. Soon after, the Charlotte of Oswego, grounded on the soft slimy delta of mud, which the Oswegatchie has deposited in the St. Lawrence, at its confluence with the Great river. About sunrise, on Monday morn- ing, a crowd assembled on the dock, at which the United States was moored, and from the movements and conduct of those who took a lead- ing part in the proceedings, it was evident they intended to seize that steamer, in order to assist in promoting their enterprise. Early in the morning, an iron six pounder cannon, belonging to the village of Ogdens- burgh, and a brass four pounder, belonging to the state of New York, and in charge of an artillery company under Capt. A. B. James, were seized by the Patriots, and afterwards conveyed across the river in a scow, to the wind mill. Several of the owners of the steamer, upon perceiv- ing that the demonstrations on shore, and the movements of the armed men, threatened the seizure of the boat, endeavored to obtain of the civil and military authorities assistance in preventing it. The marshal of the district was absent; the collector (Mr. Smith Stilwell), as was abundantly proven by evidence taken subsequently, upon a suit growing out of this affair, made strenuous and diligent efforts to prevent the proceedings which ensued, but without effect. Meanwhile the streets were filled with armed men, and it was perceived that the village of Prescott was alive with the bustle of preparation to resist the movements which were in progress against them. The leaders of the patriots in Ogdensburgh pro- ceeded to muster a volunteer company to man the steamer, and openly derided the efforts of the civil authorities in preventing them. Having obtained a crew, partly it is said by volunteers and those whom they hired of the crew, and partly by those from on shore, the fires were kindled, and as soon as steam could be got up, they left the wharf, with loud cheers from the crowd, to go to the assistance of the schooner that had run aground. The schooner Charlotte of Toronto, after casting off from the upper wharf, fell down the stream, and took a position early in the morning, nearly opposite the wind mill, about a mile below. The walls of this were thick and massive, and the interior was divided into several stories. It had been formerly used as a grist mill, but for several years previous to this time, it had been deserted, and its machinery had fallen to ruins. Around it were several massive stone houses, at a short dis- distance, the most or all of which were inhabited by families. The pub- lic road from Prescott down the river, passes immediately by it, and separates it from most of the stone houses. The point on which the wind mill stands, juts for some little distance into the St. Lawrence, and the margin of the river for a considerable distance above and below, as well as opposite, was overgrown by a thicket of cedar. Here from the schooner, and from a number of small boats that crossed the river, a lodgement was made, and a portion of the armament of the schooner was landed. . The steamer United States did not succeed in getting off the grounded schooner, and presently returned to the American shore. The Experiment, a British steam boat, was lying at this time at the wharf at Prescott, and being armed with cannon, fired upon her without effect. Additional hands were now procured to navigate the steamer, which had herself grounded for a short time on her first trip, and she was again worked into the river, near where the schooner Charlotte of Oswego,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.