USA > New York > Orange County > Deerpark > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 5
USA > New York > Orange County > Mount Hope > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 5
USA > New York > Orange County > Minisink > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 5
USA > New York > Orange County > Greenville > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 5
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There was an incident connected with the capture of this fort, that for a long time was held by the super- stitious people of the neighborhood as a singular fatality. Two women from Gumaer's fort had been there visiting on the day of the attack. During their visit the soldiers had been telling stories and jokes, and getting the " rig" on different ones as usual. Among other things they told the colored woman they were going to be attacked by the Indians soon, and that she need not expect to
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
escape for she was too fat to run fast. The result was altogether different from their prophecy. The attack came sooner than they dreamt of, and she was the only one that did escape.
Whenever one of the settlers wished to visit his relatives at Goshen, or in Napanoch, it was always necessary to take along an escort of soldiers, or to travel in companies, so beset were the roads with lurking savages. Abraham Low and William Cuddeback, on one occasion undertook a journey to Rochester, Ulster county, alone in a wagon. On the return route, near home, they were shot at by Indians concealed near the roadside. Low was wounded in the shoulder, but by applying the whip vigorously, the horse soon carried them out of danger.
A man named Owens, was soon after killed while at work in the meadow of Asa Dolsen, by a strolling band of Indians. Dolsen immediately removed his family to Goshen for safety. The scene of this incident was in what is known as Dolsentown, in the north-eastern part of the present town of Wawayanda.
Near the same place, three Indians, on another occa- sion, chased a man for a long distance. At last he crept under some weeds and brush at the foot of a tree which had blown down. The Indians came and stood upon the body of the tree, and after looking around for some time gave two or three yells and departed, without dis- covering the object of their search who was so near them.
Two brothers, Daniel and David Cooley, had located on farms near Mr. Dolsen's. In those days it was cus- tomary to build ovens separate from the houses. David Cooley's wife one day was going from the oven to the house, just as a party of Indians were passing. With-
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK. REGION.
out a word one of them leveled his rifle and shot her dead. This cold-blooded deed was perpetrated on the farm now owned by the heirs of Capt. John Cummings.
East of this the Indians seldom ventured; though one Sunday morning a man by the name of Webb was killed by them, just over the outlet in the town of Goshen. This they boasted of a great deal, but their operations were mostly confined to petty thefts in that quarter, owing to the thickness of the settlements.
During this war an incident occurred in the Minisink settlement that forms a striking illustration of the force of attachment to the savage mode of life. A straggling band of Indians captured a little son of Mr. Westfall's, near the fort at the north-west end of the Peenpack settlement, in the commencement of the war. Nothing more was heard of him for years. The French and Indian war with its train of horrors and barbarities be- came a thing of the past. Still no tidings came to the parents of the absent one, whom they had long mourned as dead. The Revolutionary war with its red waves of savage desolation swept over the land, and still nought came to tell the parents of a different fate for the loved and lost. Finally the father died. By some means the son, who was still living in a far off Indian home, obtained intelligence of his death, and came back to the settle- ment with an interpreter to get possession of his inheri- tance. He was taken to the farm where his father had lived and where he had been taken prisoner, but had no recollection of the premises, except a small pond of water near the house where he was playing when cap- tured. His mother recognized him in spite of his Indian garb and broad Indian tongue. She endeavored by maternal feelings, pecuniary considerations, and personal appeals, to induce him to remain and live with her
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
during the few remaining years of her life. But so attached was he to his life in the wilderness that he refused to listen to any project of the kind. He ob- tained his share of his father's estate, bade his mother good bye, turned his back on everything that could con- duce to the enjoyment of civilized life, and was soon trudging away in the forest to his Indian home and bride.
The contest between England and France that gave rise to such horrible atrocities as those recorded in this chapter, and which may be considered a fair sample of similar occurrences everywhere along the border of the American provinces, was finally ended by the triumph of the British Colonial armies; and the fall of Montreal and Quebec reduced the French Canadian possessions to complete submission to the authority of the British crown.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PLEDGE OF 1775 AND ITS SIGNERS.
The conclusion of the old " French and Indian war " as it was termed, gave to the settlers a number of years of peace, excepting an occasional petty theft or outrage by a wandering party of Indians. The work of reclaim- ing the fertile land to a state of cultivation again went forward. The wives and children of the inhabitants ventured to return again to their old homes, from the distant villages whither they had fled to escape the Indian's hate. New comers began to flock to the fertile hills and vales of the Minisink Region and of western Orange, and prosperity again smiled upon the efforts of the hardy pioneer.
But just at this time, when everything bid fair for a long season of quietness, the arbitrary acts of England, under whose banner they had faced death a thousand times in sanguinary struggles with the savage foe, or in fighting the French beneath the walls of Montreal and Quebec, began to arouse within their breasts a desire to be free. Instead of trying to allay this feeling of dis- content by measures calculated to satisfy the public mind, England each succeeding year appeared to be seeking new methods of taxation, and as a consequence the desire for a release from her power became a neces- sity.' This necessity was not long in manifesting its
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THE PLEDGE OF 1775 AND ITS SIGNERS.
resistance to odious acts of the Crown by force. Or- ganized measures for defense were adopted by the prov- inces, and thus began the great Revolutionary struggle. The Continental Congress took possession of the affairs of the colonies, and began to direct the resisting forces. But it was soon found that many persons throughout the provinces were determined to sustain the British gov- ernment. Meetings were held in different places to give the new Congress proof of the people's approval of their acts. The principal of these was held in the city of New York on the 29th of April, 1775.
In order to form a distinction between the friends of liberty and its foes, and to prevent anarchy as far as possible, it was resolved to form an association in each county throughout the thirteen Colonies. This was done by transmitting to each county a pledge which every friend of the new movement was expected to sign. This at. once drew the dividing line between the Whigs and Tories. It embittered the feeling greatly between them, for those that refused to affix their names to it were marked men. All honor to the signers of that document ! Each name, if possible, should be ren- dered imperishable. Every one realizing the benefits of the glorious Temple of Liberty, of the mild and benefi- cent laws, and enduring principles of government reared by their efforts, should ever think of them with grati- tude. Their names are more worthy of immortality than those of Alexander or Cæsar. Many of their de- scendants still reside in Orange county, and well may they point with pride to the glorious record their ances- tors have left behind them. The following is a copy of the pledge, taken from Eager's History;
PLEDGE OF 1775.
" Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liber- 4
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ties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a rigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety; and convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion, which attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the frec- men, freeholders, and inhabitants of Orange County, New York, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in Massachusetts Bay, do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves ; and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor and love to our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention for the purpose of preserving our constitution and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary Acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Brit- tain and America on constitutional principles (which . we most ardently desire,) can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our general com- mittee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preserva- tion of peace and good order, and the safety of individ- uals and property."
NAMES OF THE SIGNERS OF THE ABOVE, FROM THE PRESENT TOWN OF DEER. PARK (THEN A PART OF THIE TOWN OF MAMAKATING, ULSTER CO.,) JUNE 26, 1775.
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John Young, John Stufflebane,
Philip Swartout, Esq.,
John Stufflebane, Jr.,
Benjamin Depue,
James Blizard,
Capt. John Crage,
Thomas Combs,
William Haxton,
James McCivers,
John Mckinstry,
Joseph Hubbard,
Benj. Cuddeback, Jr.,
John Thompson,
Robert Cook,
Ebenezer Halcomb,
in
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THE PLEDGE OF 1775 AND ITS SIGNERS.
Harmanus Van Inwegen, T. K. Westbrook,
William Rose,
Samuel Depue,
William Johnston,
James Williams,
Adam Rivenburg,
Eli Strickland,
Mathew Neely,
David Gillaspy,
Samuel Dealy, . William Smith,
Stephen Larney,
Capt. J. R. Dewitt,
John Harding,
Abr. Cuddeback, Jr.,
Samuel King,
Nathan Cook, Jep. Fuller,
Abna Skinner,
Fred. Benaer,
Valentine Wheeler,
Eph. Thomas, Henry Elsworth, Joseph Thomas, Abr. M'Quin, John Seybolt,
Thomas Kytte,
Jonathan Brooks,
John Wallis,
Joseph Skinner,
Joseph Drake,
Joseph Arthur, David Wheeler,
Ebenezer Parks,
Jacobus Swartout,
John Travis,
Gerardus Swartout,
John Travis, Jr.,
Phil. Swartout, Jr.,
Daniel Decker,
Isaac Van Twill,
Petrus Cuddeback,
Joseph Westfork, Petrus Gumaer,
John Brooks,
J. De Witt Gumaer,
Elisha Barber,
Jonathan Davis,
Robert Comfort,
David Daly,
Gershom Simpson,
Eph. Forgisson, Jacob Comfort,
Daniel Van Fleet, Jr., Ezekiel Gumore, Jacob Van Inaway, Moses Depue, Jr., Jacobus Cuddeback, Rufus Stanton,
Elias Gumore,
G. Van Inwegen, Wm. Cuddeback, Abr. Cuddeback, Eliphalet Stevens, Elisha Travis, Albert Rosa,
Charles Gillets,
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
Reuben Babbett,
Jacob Stanton,
Jonathan Wheeler,
Moses Miller, . 5
Asa Kimball,
Jonah Parks,
Robert Milliken,
John Gillaspy,
Thomas Lake,
Jno. Barber,
Zeh. Holcomb,
Samuel Patterson,
John Williams,
Abraham Smedes,
John Stry,
Nathaniel Travis,
Joel Adams,
Ezekiel Travis,
Joseph Shaw,
Joseph Travis,
George Gillaspy,
Thos. Gillaspy,
James Cumen,
Jeremiah Shaver,
Abraham Rosa,
Joseph Ogden,
Jacob Rosa,
Daniel Walling,
Henry Newkirk,
Daniel Walling, Jr.,
Peter Simpson,
Elias Miller,
Stephen Holcomb,
Isaac Roosa,
Johannes Miller,
Abr. Smith,
Daniel Woodworth,
George G. Denniston,
Moses Roberts,
Mathew Terwilleger,
Daniel Roberts,
Leonard Hefinessy,
John Douglass,
Jonathan Strickland,
Joseph Randall,
Johannes Wash.
NAMES OF THE SIGNERS FROM THE OLD TOWN OF MINISINK, (NOW DIVIDED INTO MINISINK, MOUNT HOPE, WAWAYANDA AND GREENVILLE.)
J. Westbrook, Jr.,
Nicholas Slyter,
Wilhelmus Westfall,
James Carpenter,
Johannes Decker, Jr.,
Reuben Jones,
Benjamin Cox,
Daniel St. John,
Moses Cortright,
Esee Bronson,
Jacob Quick, John Prys,
Petrus Cole,
Aldert Osterhoudt,
Jacobus Harraken, Timothy Wood,
Isaac Uptegrove, A. Van Etten,
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THE FLEDGE OF 1775 AND ITS SIGNERS.
Benjamin Wood,
Levi Decker,
· Johannes Westbrook, Solomon Cuykendal, John Bennet,
G. Braddock,
Samuel Davis,
Simon Westfall,
Martinas Decker,
Arthur Van Tile,
Petrus Cuykendal,
Jacobus Vanfliet, Jr.,
Isaac Davis,
Jacobus Vanfliet,
Benjamin Boorman,
Wilhelmus Cole,
Sylvester Cortright,
Thomas Hart,
George Quick,
Levi Van Etten,
Nehemiah Patterson,
Petrus Decker,
Jacobus Schoonhoven,
John Van Tuyle,
Jacobus Davis,
Daniel Cole,
Asa Astley,
Benjamin Corsan,
Martinas Decker, Jr.,
Ephraim Middaugh,
S. Cuykendal, Jr., Daniel Kortright, Joel Westbrook, A. C. Van Akin.
The names of those who did not sign the pledge are not recorded, and it is as well that they should be suf- fered to rest in oblivion; for mankind at the present day can form but very imperfect decisions on the motives which may have influenced the actions of men a hun- dred years ago. The number of non-signers, or Tories, as they were called, was far greater in the eastern than in the western part of Orange county. The present town of Deerpark (then a part of Mamakating, Ulster county,) was unanimous in support of the measure; John Young, chairman of the committee, reporting it to have been signed by every householder within the limits of the town.
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CHAPTER VII.
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
The commencement of the Revolutionary struggle at once opened to the view of the colonists the magnitude of the great undertaking upon which they had entered. They saw that in addition to the armies and munitions of war it would be necessary to oppose to the power and discipline of Great Britain, that an enemy lurked upon their own soil that required full as much energy and watchfulness to circumvent as the troopers of old King George. They saw many of their neighbors openly espouse the cause of royalty, some of whom departed at once and sought a place in the ranks of the king's myr- midons as open foes, while others, less honorable, remained behind to furnish information to the invaders of their country, and to stimulate the scattering Indians to deeds of atrocity against their former friends that have sullied the otherwise fair page of American his- tory, and associated the names of the Indian and Tory with the blackest scenes of horror and cruelty that the world has ever seen. The eastern part of Orange county was more infected with Tory principles than the western; and it was fortunate that it was so, for the mountain ravines and straggling Indian parties that in- fested them in the Minisink Region, furnished the mate-
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INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
rial which, with a little more Royalist help, would have turned the settlement into barren ruins, and which as it was, made it the theatre of the bloodiest acts of the war. The Indians, during the struggles that had taken place previously, had imbibed a hatred of the whites that required but a few presents and assurances of help to at once enlist on the Royalist's side against the rebels. This they did in violation of a treaty which General Schuyler on the part of Congress had concluded with the Six Nations of western New York, in July, 1775, by which they were to observe strict neutrality between the Americans and British. This, however, was opposed to Indian philosophy; and it was not long before the British induced them to break their pledges. At first the Indians singled out persons as the objects of attack against whom they had some particular animosity or whom they feared; but during the progress of the war they collected together in large bodies, and in conjunc- tion with the Tories carried on a more wholesale scheme of murder. The father of the famous Tom Quick fell a victim to Indian ferocity in the south of the Minisink Region, during the old French war, and the circumstan- ces of his death aroused such a feeling of animosity against the Indians in the breast of Tom Quick, that he determined to devote his whole life to purposes of revenge. He led a sort of wandering life, intent on one single object-the killing of every Indian that came in his way, and so well did he fulfill his pledge, that to this day the name of " Tom Quick, the Indian slayer," is a household word in the vicinity of the Minisink Re- gion. He was never married. The history of his ex. ploits how forms the subject of a volume, greatly inter- esting to those who delight to review the light and dark scenes of pioneer life a hundred years ago. His
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greatest exploits took place during and after the Revolu- tion.
The grandfather of Mr. Nathaniel R. Quick, at pres- ent a resident of the town of Greenville, was also much feared by the Indians. On one occasion they laid an ambush for him in a desolate part of the path leading to his house. He had been out hunting, and when he was returning he was suddenly surprised as he came near this place by seeing an Indian spring into the path ahead of him. The Indian at the same instant brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired at him; but being in too great a hurry fortunately missed him, though the bullet passed alarmingly close to his head. Seeing but one Indian he immediately shot him. At the same moment another bullet whistled by his shoulders, and finding it to be getting dangerous he at once darted off on a race for life. The Indians pursued him some distance and fired at him several times. One bullet struck him in the side, inflicting a severe flesh wound, but otherwise he escaped unhurt.
In 1777 they attacked the family of a Mr. Sprague, a resident of the northern part of the settlement, and took some of them prisoners.
The family of a Mr. Brooks was next attacked, and several killed. The rest were taken prisoners.
These deeds awoke the Minisink people to a sense of their situation. Many of their bravest men were absent doing duty in distant parts of the State as soldiers. Capt. Cuddeback, Gerardus Swartout, Cornelius Swart- out and Gerardus Van Inwegen, on whose exertions they had formerly chiefly relied for protection, had been on service at Fort Montgomery, and were there when it was captured by the British, Oct. 6, 1777. At the time of the attack, Capt. Cuddeback was sent across
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the Hudson with a party of men to prevent the British from cutting the chain which was stretched across the river opposite the fort. Thus he escaped being in the battle. Van Inwegen and the Swartouts remained in the fort. The Swartouts escaped during the surrender of the fort, but Van Inwegen was killed in the assault. The absence of these men was severely felt by the peo- ple of Minisink, but they bravely determined to prove themselves possessed of the same spirit. In 1778 a committee of safety was appointed for the settlement. The first committee was Benjamin DuPuy, Philip Swart- out and Thomas Kytte. Harmanus Van Inwegen was admitted as a member afterwards. They at once ordered the erection or repairing of the forts at the houses of Jacob Rutson De Witt, Benjamin DuPuy and Ezekiel Gumaer, in the Peenpack neighborhood; one at the house of Maj. John Decker, and one at the house of Dan- iel Van Auken in the lower neighborhood. They also sent many women and children to the older settlements, as the forts could not accommodate the whole fifty fam- ilies which at that time inhabited what is now the town of Deerpark. Scouting parties were also instituted under command of Capt. Bezaliel Tyler, who scouted the woods as far west as Cochecton, where a few fami- lies resided. Persons suspected of aiding the Indians were imprisoned or banished from the region. Through their intercession small parties of nine months militia were obtained to garrison the forts. These prepara- tions were hardly fairly begun before their wisdom and propriety became apparent by the
MASSACRE OF WYOMING.
Wyoming was the name of a pleasant settlement on both sides of the Susquehanna river in the northern
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
part of Pennsylvania. The fertility of its soil and its beautiful location in the midst of a smiling valley, invi- ted hundreds from different parts of Orange and Ulster counties and the Minisink Region, to take up a residence within its limits. No where else had they found so de- sirable a spot for a home as on the banks of the noble Susquehanna in that quiet valley. No settlement had been so prosperous, and in 1778 it numbered a popula- tion of eleven hundred families. They were partriotic, too, those settlers of Wyoming, for at roll-call in the morning ten hundred of their sons, and brothers, and husbands, answered to their names in the Continental ; them to treat rather harshly the few Tories in their : army, No wonder was it that this feeling should induce
midst whom they saw plotting with the Indians against their friends in the army. The Tories had long sought for an opportunity of open rupture, and they now allied themselves with the Indians and swore revenge. Their time was favorable, for the flower of the Wyoming youth were in the American army. The settlers, aware of their insecurity, erected four forts upon dif- ferent points of the settlement, among which they dis- tributed about five hundred men; the whole under command of Colonel Zebulon Butler, a cousin of John, the celebrated Tory. (Zebulon was afterward accused of treachery, but capacity was undoubtedly what he most stood in need of.) This done, the settlers wrote to Washington praying for immediate assistance, for a presentiment of their approaching fate seemed to per- vade their minds in spite of the assurances of friendship which the Indians were continually pouring into their ears. Their messages were intercepted by the Penn- sylvania loyalists, but at all events they would have been too late. The savages had already appeared upon
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the frontiers of the settlement, and the cruelties they were perpetrating were frightful; the mournful prelude to those more terrible scenes which were shortly to follow.
About the commencement of the month of July, the Indians suddenly appeared in strong force upon the banks of the Susquehanna. They numbered about 1,600 men, from four to six hundred of them pure Indians, and the rest Tories disguised and painted to resemble them. They were commanded by Col. Brandt, a half-breed, and John Butler ; both renowned for their ferocity in previous expeditions. One of the forts, nearest the border, surrendered at the first approach of the enemy, owing to treachery in the garrison. The next fort was defended successfully for a time, but the enemy assaulted it so vigorously that the garrison was finally forced to surrender at discretion. The victors spared the women and children, but the rest were butchered without mercy. Zebulon then withdrew with his forces into the principal fort, called Kingston. Upon this fortifica- tion the settlers had placed their main reliance, being the largest and strongest of the four. All who were unable to bear arms-the sick, women and children, and old men- repaired thither in throngs, weeping and uttering des- pairing cries, as the last place of refuge which could be defended with any hope of success. On came the long irregular line of the enemy, shouting and yelling like so many demons. Zebulon disposed of the troops in the garrison to the best advantage possible and awaited the coming foe. It was evident the settlers had it in their power if attacked to make the assaulting party pay doarly for their temerity. Brandt saw this, and com- manded his forces to halt before coming within gunshot. The cunning half-breed then sent John Butler to hold a
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parley with his cousin Zebulon, hoping that the ties of relationship might lead Zebulon to place confidence in the artful story of the Tory. Nor was he mistaken. John was lavish of promises, and succeeded in making Zebulon believe that if he would consent to a parley in the open field the matter could easily be settled and the siege raised. The next morning, in accordance with his pledge, John Butler had retired with his forces, and the settlers looked from the walls of the fort over the valley without seeing an Indian. This was a gladsome relief, and they at once proceeded to fulfill their part of the agreement. The place appointed for the conference was some distance from the fort, and thither Zebulon proceeded, taking with him, as a precaution, 400 inen well armed, comprising the main strength of the garri- son. Not a living creature was found on the spot agreed on, and Zebulon, anxious for an interview, advanced farther from the fort toward the foot of the mountain. As he proceeded onward the solitude grew more dismal and the absence of human beings more remarkable. But as if urged onward by an irresistible destiny, he still continued his forward march. The country began to be overshaded by the dense forests, and the tall oaks to twine their branches high in air across the path ; but fate still impelled him to go on. Just then a flag was discovered in the path some distance ahead that seemed to wave him on. The individual who bore it appeared as if afraid of treachery from his side, and retired as he advanced, still making the same signals. He pressed forward still faster in order to assure the traitors that he would not betray them. But the unfortunate Americans had been already betrayed instead. Taking advantage of the dense thickets, Brandt's forces had completely surrounded them, and
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