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 7
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 7
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 7
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 7
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
sleepless night in common with the affrighted families of Goshen, on that momentous night of the 20th of July, 1779. The dawn of the next morning witnessed the departure of many of the bravest citizens cast of the Shawangunk mountain, numbers of them heads of families, eager to revenge the massacre of their friend's by coping with the dreaded foe, but little aware that the direful visions of disaster and woe that had flitted before their wakeful eyes during the long hours of the previous night were soon to be realized ; little aware that the tearful "good-bye" of the dear ones at home, was a farewell that would last till they met beyond the veil that conceals the confines of eternity from our view.
"Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Blush'd at the praise of their own loveliness ; And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs
Which ne'er might be repeated-who could guess If ever more should meet, those mutual eyes, Since upon night so sweet, such awful morn could rise."
At a seasonable hour that morning, one hundred and forty-nine men assembled at Minisink and placed then- selves under command of Col. Tusten. A council was immediately held to decide upon a plan of action. The majority were in favor of instant pursuit. But here the good sense of Col. Tusten interposed for the success of his little army. He reminded them that the enemy far
. outnumbered them, was accompanied by Tories who were better acquainted with the ground than they, and commanded by Col. Brandt, whose previous expeditions . had proved his cunning and generalship-while they lacked ammunition, and were few in number compared with the foc. He proposed that they should wait where
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they were for reinforcements and ammuniton which would be with them in a short time. The majority were deaf to these proposals. They affected to consider the Indians cowardly, and were for pursuing them at once and retaking their plunder. In the midst of the debate, one Major Meeker mounted his horse, and flourishing his sword with a braggadocio air, cried out, "Let the" brave men follow me; the cowards may stay behind." The effect may well be imagined, for this is not the only instance where bravado has drowned the voice of judgment and sense. The question was decided, and the entire party took its line of march over the old Kathleghton path, the trail of the retreating savages. Seventeen miles was accomplished the same afternoon, and the pursuers then encamped for the night at a place known as Skinner's Saw Mills. The next morning (the 22d) they were joined by Col. Hathorn of the Warwick regiment, with a small reinforcement. The command was then taken by Col. Hathorn, he being an older officer than Col. Tusten. They then marched a few miles to Half-way Brook, and there came across the place where the Indians had encamped the preceding night. Another council was then held, and though Col. Tusten proved to them that they were outnumbered, by the number and extent of the camp fires that had dotted the enemy's camping ground, the same bravado that had ruled the day previous gained the decision, and the line of march was again taken up. Col. Tyler, who was best informed of the forest, was sent ahead with a small scouting party, as it was evident the foe was but a short distance in advance. He had gone but a little way however, before he fell into an ambuscade and was killed. This timely warning, says Dawson, fell unnoticed upon the reckless mass that followed.
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
After the alarm had subsided, the advice of their abler officers was again disregarded, and the settlers madly rushed forward.
About nine o'clock in the morning as they were marching over the high hills east of the Delaware, they spied the Indians about three-quarters of a mile ahead, leisurely proceeding along the bank of the river toward the fording place at the mouth of the Lackawaxen. Col. Hathorn, supposing his troops had been unnoticed by the enemy, and wishing to intercept them before they reached the ford, moved off the trail toward the right and soon lost sight of them, owing to the inter- vening hills. Brandt had observed the Americans and anticipated their movement. As soon as they disap- peared he at once wheeled his columns to the right, and passed up a deep ravine directly in the rear of the pursuers, thus choosing his own ground for the coming battle. By this maneuver about fifty of Hathorn's men became separated from the main body, and were not in the engagement. The Americans reached the fording place about ten o'clock, and discovered some of Brandt's men crossing the Delaware with the plunder. One Indian was behind the others, riding a horse which was recognized by the settlers as having been stolen from Minisink the day before. He was pursued to the river and shot while crossing. (Stone's Life of Brandt.) At the same instant another Indian appeared directly on the path over which they had just passed, while to add to the surprise of the Americans it was found that Brandt was not on the path he had been following when last seen. Brandt afterwards said that he arose from his hiding place at this juncture and addressed the officer in command of the settlers, demanding their sur- render, and telling them his force far outnumbered
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theirs ; but while engaged in parleying, a ball from their ranks passed through his belt, and he then retired to his men. About eleven o'clock the action became general. The settlers found themselves in a complete ambuscade. Every rock, tree and bush that surrounded them, seemed to furnish shelter for an enemy. Only about ninety in number, they found them- selves almost overwhelmed, but forming into a hollow square on the summit of a small hill, occupying about an acre, they hid behind trees and rocks, and "fought like brave men long and well." Suddenly the voice of Brandt was heard above the shouts and yells and roar of musketry, commanding the Indians who had crossed the Delaware with the plunder, to return. It was said that those who survived the battle never forgot the trumpet-tones of that deep, powerful voice. The Indi- ans at once obeyed their chief, and crossing the river, fell with fury upon the rear of the Americans, who now beheld themselves completely surrounded. Their access to water being cut off, thirst was added to their torments. To increase their dismay, their ammunition began to be exhausted, and the sun was rapidly going down in the west, betokening the close of the day.
The day had passed, how they hardly knew. Repeat- ed attempts of the enemy to break their lines had failed, for they were good marksmen, and Col. Hathorn had ordered them not to fire a single shot till the enemy were near enough to make their aim sure. Just as the sun sank behind the western hills, a man who had guarded the north-east angle of the square, and whose trusty rifle had carried death to the foe more than once during the day, incautiously exposed himself to view while shifting his position behind a rock which sheltered him. A half-dozen or more Indian rifles cracked in
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
unison, and the brave man fell back dead. Brandt's quick eye saw the opening, and followed by his troops he dashed like a resistless deluge into the very midst of the Americans. They ceased to resist and fled in all directions. Some swam the Delaware, and many were drowned while attempting to cross. A horrible massa- cre ensued, and more were killed in the pursuit than in the battle. The yells of the savages, the cries for mercy, the groans of the dying, and the heart-rending supplications of the wounded for their companions not to forsake them, presented a scene that baffles descrip- tion. Col. Tusten, who was a skillful surgeon, was engaged in dressing the wounds of the wounded, seven- teen of whom were under his care behind a cliff of rocks. He remained with them, and died the death of a brave man, while those who had so freely called him a coward previously, were ingloriously running for their lives. Had the fifty men who were cut off from the main body, done their duty by attacking the enemy in the rear, instead of lying in a swamp all day like a parcel of frightened women, the fortunes of the day might have been turned against the foe and many lives saved. Of those actually engaged in the battle, forty-four were killed, according to Dr. Wilson's account, while Dawson says that of the one hundred and forty-nine men who went out, only thirty returned.
NAMES OF THE KILLED AS FAR AS KNOWN.
Col. Benjamin Tusten, Robert Townsend,
Capt. Bezaliel Tyler,
Samuel Knapp,
Capt. Benjamin Vail, James Knapp,
Capt. John Duncan,
Benjamin Bennett,
Capt. Samuel Jones, William Barker,
Capt. John Little, Jacob Dunning,
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THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
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Lieut. John Wood,
Jonathan Pierce,
Adj. Nathaniel Fitch,
James Little,
Ens. Ephraim Masten,
Joseph Norris,
Ens. Ephraim Middaugh, Gabriel Wisner,
Stephen Mead,
Joel Decker, Abram Shepherd, Shepherd,
Nathaniel Terwilliger, Joshua Lockwood, Ephraim Ferguson,
Nathan Wade,
Simon Wait,
Talmadge,
James Mosher,
John Carpenter,
Isaac Ward,
David Barney,
Baltus Niepos,
Gamaliel Bailey,
Eleazer Owens,
Moses Thomas,
Adam Embler,
Jonathan Haskell,
Samuel Little,
Abram Williams,
Benjamin Dunning.
Daniel Reed,
The Moses Thomas who was killed, was a son of Moses Thomas, Sr., one of the first settlers at Cochecton, and who was killed in an Indian attack on that place in 1763. He enlisted early in the war, and was with the army at West Point and Newburgh ; but becoming dis- satisfied with his officers he hired a substitute and returned to his family in Minisink. When Brandt invaded that section, he was among the first to volun- teer in pursuit, and was slain in the battle by a Tory named Case Cole. (Quinlan's Life of Tom Quick, p. 174.)
John Howel, the ancestor of an old family of Waway- anda, Orange county, was in this battle, and when the Americans broke and fled, stepped behind a tree and pulled off his shoes. Just then a tall Indian came along and stopped close by him, resting the butt of his gun on the ground and gazing after the fugitives, glimpses 5*
Gilbert S. Vail,
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
of whom could frequently be seen among the brush on the hill sides. Mr. Howel saw that the Indian would soon become aware of his presence, and determined to be beforehand with him ; so he took good aim at his head and fired. He said he never knew whether he killed the Indian or not, for he ran as fast as possible and did not look back to see. He was not pursued however, and escaped.
Major Wood had heard that Brandt was a Freemason, and having by some process become acquainted with the Master Mason's signal of distress, when overtaken by the Indians and about to be dispatched, he gave the signal. Faithful to his pledge, Brandt interposed and saved his life. When he found out his mistake after- wards, he was very angry, but nevertheless spared his life. Eager says that the evening after the battle, when the Indians were about to tie him, Wood remon- strated, said he was a gentleman, and promised. not to escape. Brandt acceeded to his request, but directed him to lie on a blanket between two Indians, who were directed to tomahawk him if he tried to escape during the night. The blanket caught fire in the night, but he dared not stir or make a noise for fear he should expe- rience the reality of the threat, and be tomahawked. The fire at last reached his feet and he kicked it out. The blanket belonged to Brandt, and he treated Wood harshly ever after. When asked the reason he replied, "D-n you, you burnt my blanket!" Wood ultimately returned to his friends after a long captivity.
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James Reeve, grandfather of John H. Reeve and James M. Reeve, Esqs., of Wawayanda, was in the bat- tle. When the settlers gave way he fled with the rest, but after crossing the Delaware separated from his com- panions. While making his way through the woods
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THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
his arm became weary with carrying his gun so long in one hand, and he thought he would carry it with the other awhile. When he made the exchange the gun fell from his hand, and on investigating the matter, he was surprised to find his arm had been broken by a musket ball; his mind having been so occupied that he had not felt the pain.
A man named Cuddeback was among the fugitives, and fled with his companions till he became completely exhausted. He then stepped from the path and hid among some small bushes. After a short time the Indi- ans came along in pursuit and happily passed without seeing him. He was just about rising to his feet in order to get farther in the woods, when he saw an Indi- an coming. The Indian discovered him when about opposite ; but Cuddeback had his rifle ready, and the moment he saw the Indian's eye rest on him, he fired. He then fled with all possible speed, not knowing whether he had hit the Indian. No one pursued him however, and he escaped.
Col. Benjamin Tusten, who was killed, was a practis- ing physician of the town of Goshen. His father re- moved from Southhold, Long Island, in the year 1746, and settled on the patent granted to Mrs. Denn, the first settler on the Wawayanda patent, which was between two and three miles from the village of Goshen, on the banks of the Otterkill. The old gentleman was much respected, and was a judge for some time in the county
court. He was afterward appointed colonel of the militia. He owned a large tract of land, and intended young Benjamin for a farmer; he being three years of age at the time of removal. But as he grew older he evinced a great desire to adopt some professional calling. For this purpose he attended several medical schools,
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
and in 1769 commenced the practice of physic at his father's house. In 1770 he introduced inoculation as a preventive of the small pox; the first of its general trial in Orange county. At the age of twenty-eight he married a Miss Brown, whom he had become acquainted with while studying medicine with Dr. Burnet, at New- ark, N. J. When the Revolution commenced he took an active part against the arbitrary measures of Eng- land. He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Goshen regiment of militia, under Gen. Allison, in 1777, and the following year Surrogate of Orange county, which office he held when killed at Minisink. (Eager's History.)
Daniel Myers, an early settler of the present town of Minisink, and much noted for his hatred of the Indians, was in this battle. When the whites gave way, he thought he would wait till the first rush was over in hopes of a better chance to escape. Accordingly he stepped out of sight behind a large tree. After waiting some time he concluded the Indians had gone away after those who had run, and ventured to look out from his place of concealment. As he did so, an Indian who had remained behind for some purpose, spied him, and dodg- ed behind a tree with a yell. They were within close gunshot of each other, and at once began maneuvering to get the first shot. They were both good marksmen, and they each knew that if the other had a chance to aim at a vital part his life would pay the forfeit. At last Myers bethought him of an expedient. He drew the ramrod from his rifle and hung his hat upon it. . He then pushed the hat around the side of the tree very cau- tiously, as if it were himself trying to get a glimpse of his opponent. The ruse was successful. The Indian fired, with such an accurate aim as to send a bullet plumb
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THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
through the centre of the hat. Myers let the hat fall; and the Indian thinking he had killed him, sprang for- ward with a whoop of triumph to secure his scalp. Myers then stepped in view, and as the Indian paused with astonishment, shot him through the heart. De- scendants of this brave old pioneer, or of his relatives, still reside in the towns of Minisink and Greenville.
Benjamin Dunning, at the close of the battle, tried to escape by crossing the Delaware with a number of others. The Indians kept up a terrible fire on those in the water, and several were killed. He escaped unhurt till just as he was climbing from the water on the oppo- site side, when a bullet struck him and he fell dead upon the bank. His uncle, Daniel Dunning, formerly resided near Ridgebury in the town of Wawayanda.
Of Major Meeker, who acted so prominent a part in . the movements of the troops preceding the battle of Minisink, a humorous incident has been preserved to us by tradition, illustrative of the influence of the price of ¿ an article regardless of its quality. Shortly after he became chosen to the rank of Major of the militia, he found it necessary to procure corresponding equipments, and for this purpose visited Newburgh. Chief among .. the military toggery desired, was a hat-an article, the
- flaunt of whose proud feather, and the glitter of the shield that fastened its turned up side, had long visited . the dreams of the ambitious Major. It had been deci- ·ded on as one that should only be equaled by the best dressed officer of the brigade; and with this thought uppermost he entered the chief hat store of the place. . He was shown one, with the style and fit of which he · expressed himself pleased, and was told the price was only five dollars. "But," said the Major, "isn't that rather low ? To be sure it is very nice, and no doubt
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
good, but have you no higher priced ones ?" " Cer- tainly," replied the hatter, and taking the hat he passed into a back room apparently to change it. Here he turned the feather a little more to the other side, brushed it thoroughly and in a few minutes brought out the same one. "That's a beauty," exclaimed the de- lighted Major; " What is the price of it ?" " Ten dol- lars," was the reply. "I'll take that one," said the Major, and paying the money he walked away much better suited at having paid ten dollars for the military covering of his caput instead of five. 1
There is an old tradition current among the legends of Minisink and Greenville, that Joseph Brandt in order to acquaint himself with the state of affairs in the Mini- sink neighborhood, paid it a visit in secret, some time before his second invasion, and remained concealed in a swamp in the present town of Greenville, nearly a month. The neighbors suspected a certain man, who had expressed Tory sentiments pretty freely, of carry- ing victuals to the swamp for some purpose, supposing probably it was, some stray Indian secreted there. They set a watch upon the Tory, and one morning caught him just before daylight returning from the swamp, whither he had been to carry the carcass of a sheep he had just slaughtered. A council of the citizens was called, and many plans suggested for his punish- ment, as he refused to tell whom he had been feeding. It was at last determined to drive him to Goshen on foot. The skin of the sheep he had killed was thoroughly wound about him, a soldier followed with his bayonet fixed to keep him from lagging, a boy brought up the rear with an old bass drum, and in this order he was marched to Goshen to jail, a distance of some sixteen miles; a feat that must have made him look somewhat
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THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
sheepish, as it was a broiling hot day in summer. We may well be assured too, that the settlers in Greenville felt somewhat sheepish when they found out what an important personage had been concealed beneath their very noses, and allowed to escape with impunity, when a very little energy would have captured him.
Brandt by the above means became well informed of the nature and resources of the neighborhood, and thus was enabled to invade the Minisink Region so success- fully. The same knowledge enabled him so skilfully to defeat the irregular levies that pursued him, whose hasty action and ill-advised movements he naturally un- derstood from their ignorance of war, and was well pre- pared to take advantage of. A few days after this bat- tle he fell with the same suddenness upon a settlement in the valley of the Mohawk, and left it a smoking ruin. His success rendered his name a potent spell of fear, far and near. He was generally believed to have been a half-breed-his mother a Mohawk squaw and his father a German-but it has since been thought he was a pure Mohawk Indian. He acquired a good education at Dartmouth College, and was appointed to a Colonel's commission of the Six Nations, under George III. at the commencement of the Revolution. Education did not tame his savage nature, for says Dr. Wilson, "In him the blood of the barbarian extinguished every spark of civilization that might have been kindled in his con- stitution. He was more cunning than the fox, and fiercer than the tiger." Immediate movements were made by the government to check these depredations upon the frontier settlements. General Sullivan, with three thousand men, ascended the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, near the present village of Waverly, where he was met by Gen. Clinton, who with one thousand, had
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
marched from the Mohawk by the way of Cherry Val- ley. Uniting their forces they proceeded against the Senecas, whose principal stations were on the banks of the Genesce. The Indians hearing of the projected cx- pedition, took possession of an elevated piece of ground near Newton, on the Tioga river, and fortified it with judgment. Here the combined forces of Sullivan and Clinton attacked them in August, the month after the Minisink battle. For two hours they stood a fierce can- nonading, but at length their trenches were forced and they fled precipitately. The victorious army penetrated into the very heart of their country, and laid it desolate. Their villages, with their detached habitations, their immense crops of growing corn and grain, fruit trees, and gardens, were indiscriminately destroyed. So heavy did the hand of retribution fall upon them, that though they occasionally made feeble irruptions into small set- tlements along the Mohawk, they never after were able to muster force enough to advance so far east as Min- isink.
For forty-three years the bones of the victims of the Minisink battle were bleached and whitened by the sun, wind and rain, among the dark ravines and on the bleak hillside where they fell. They were not forgotten, for the fearful scenes attending the death struggle, and the cause in which they bravely fought and died, had stamped its impress indelibly upon the memory of their fellow citizens. The first attempt to recover their remains was made by the widows of the killed, of whom there were thirty-three in the Presbyterian congregation of Goshen. They undertook to proceed to the battle field on horseback, but had not gone far before they were forced to give up the task. The man they hired to guide them to the place, was paid liberally and promised to go
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THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
on and secure the remains. But he proved faithless to his trust, and was never heard from afterward. In 1820 Dr. David R. Arnell published a sketch of Col. Tusten who was killed at the battle. It awoke a new interest in the matter, and finally led to the appointment of a committee to gather up the bones. The committee passed the night at the house of Mr. Samuel Watkins, of Half-way Brook, a descendant of Samuel Watkins of Revolutionary fame; having traveled about forty miles the first day. The next day they proceeded to the battle field. This is in the town of Lumberland, Sulli- van county, opposite the mouth of the Lackawaxen. It commenced on the banks of the Delaware and ended about three-fourths of a mile from the river. Some of the bones were found several miles distant, in the woods, the whole vicinity being a dense wilderness. Some have thought that Indian bones were picked up with the others; but the rule of the Indians was to carry off their slain; and on this occasion, says Eager, the sur- vivors saw the Indians after the battle engaged in this very duty. On the 22d of July, 1822, the bones were buried in Goshen-Col. Hathorn, then eighty years of age, laying the corner-stone of the monument. Dr. Jas. R. Wilson delivered the address, and it was estimated that at least 15,000 people witnessed the ceremonies. The monument bore the names of forty-four of the killed, and the date and purposes of its erection. In 1861 the old monument having become much defaced, Dr. Merit H. Cash, of Wawayanda, bequeathed four thousand dol- lars to the county for the purpose of procuring a new one. His views were carried out, and on the 22d of July, 1862, the eighty-third anniversary of the battle, the new monument was dedicated amid imposing cere- monies, and in presence of full as large an assemblage as
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