USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > A history of the town of Queensbury, in the state of New York : with biographical sketches of many of its distinguished men, and some account of the aborigines of northern New York > Part 29
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At a treaty held in the city of New York, in the month of May following, these long contested claims were finally ex- tinguished, by the agreement of the agents to pay the claimants in the month of August following, the sum of one thousand two hundred and thirty pounds, six shillings and eight pence, "lawful money of said state," and on the third Monday in August, yearly, forever thereafter, the like sum of two hundred and thirty pounds six shillings and eight pence. In addition to this annuity, were certain small reservations of land in the neigh- borhood of their settlement. The Mohawk title proper to this territory, was ceded to the state by a treaty held at Albany on the twenty-ninth of March, 1795, the consideration being one
1 " The results (of this treaty) were communicated by the agents of the state to Governor Jay, who, in the month of January, transmitted the following message 1 to the legislature.
" Gentlemen : I have now the honor of laying before you the proceedings at a treaty with the Indians, denominated the seven nations of Canada, comprising those usually denominated the St. Regis Indians, held at the south end of Lake George, in this state, on the twenty-sixth day of September last, with a letter of the second inst., from the agents who were appointed to attend it on the part of the state.
"It appears from the above mentioned letter, that the expenses incident to the said treaty have been paid, and the accounts duly audited and passed, except the allowance usually made by the United States to the commissioners whom they employ for holding treaties with the Indians.
" The compensation due to the said agents for their services, still remains to be ascertained and ordered by the legislature.
" New York, 23d January, 1796.
" JOHN JAY."
1 Taken at length from Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, p. 134.
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HENRY HUDSON.
thousand dollars, besides the expenses of the deputies and cer- tain presents for distribution among the tribe.1
The discovery of Henry Hudson, (a) nearly contemporaneous with that of Champlain, had developed the existence of the noble river now bearing his name, and their high mightinesses, the lords of the states general of Holland, had promptly availed them- selves of the fertile foothold thus presented for a commercial colony in the New World. At a very early date men of wealth and distinction emigrated with their families and retainers, and in the virgin forests of the Chatiemac founded manors and estates after the style of the feudal barons and medieval chieftains of the Rhine, and with the title of patroons exercised for a century an almost undisputed sovereignty over their tenants and followers. Dutch settlements sprung up with almost incredible rapidity. In less than twenty-five years from the date of Hudson's adventur- ous voyage, existing records show that the Dutch runners, traders, and agents had penetrated the wilderness in every direction in pursuit of traffic, adventure, and discovery. This section which
1 See Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, p. 125 to 146.
(a) HENRY HUDSON, spelled Herdson, Hodson, Hodsdon, was, as contemporaneous documents go to show with tolerable conclusiveness, the grandson of Henry Hudson who was the founder, and first assistant of the great Muscovy Company and who died while holding the office of alderman in London in 1555. He was probably also the son of Capt. Thomas Hudson, an experienced navigator of that day, who was in the employment of the powerful Muscovy Company organized for the purpose of maritime commerce and discovery. This famous discoverer was trained up in the employ of that company and was the intimate companion and associate of the distinguished navigators and explorers of that active period. His first two voyages of which we have any authentic record were made in the interest of that wealthy and enterprising corporation.
It is conjectured, with a fair show of probability, that about the beginning of the 17th century, a few years prior to the discoveries which have associated his name so conspicuously with American history, he was for a while in the employment of the Merchant Adventurers, another influential company of London merchants, of which his supposed uncle Christopher Hudson was president.
The first voyage of Hudson, of which there is authentic record, was made in the interest of the great Muscovy or Russia Company in 1607. Holding to the opinion of an open polar sea, he sailed from Gravesend the first of May with the intention of crossing the north pole by the coast of Greenland. Being deterred by the impenetrable barrier of ice, he skirted the coast of Greenland to its southern extremity, and returned to England on the 15th of September following, having attained a higher degree of latitude than any previous traveler, and adding materially to the world's knowledge of those unexplored regions.
On the 22d of April 1608, he embarked on his second recorded voyage for the Muscovy Company in pursuit of that delusion of the early navigators a north east passage to the Indies. In this adventure he reached the northern coast of Norway, reached Nova Zembla on the sixth of July, and after a vain effort to force
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
has since become classic ground in the eye of the historian; lying in the direct route between the French settlements at the north and the commercial posts on the Hudson, was among the first to be explored, and the tributaries of the Hud- son, as far north as Fort Edward, still bear the names given them by their Dutch discoverers. From that time to the out- break of the old French war, which terminated in the conquest of Canada, and the final expulsion of the French from a foot- hold in North America, the trail leading from Albany to Montreal through the villages of Fort Edward, Sandy Hill and Glen's Falls to the head of Lake George was deeply worn by the mingled footsteps of the white and red man, in the frequent and often clashing pursuits of war and traffic-the lust of con- quest and gain. To this day, the frequently exhumed relics of frontier warfare, both savage and civilized, bear witness to the hot and sanguinary struggles which have here taken place.
Until after the French war the territory of northern New York, was embraced within the somewhat unsettled boundaries of Albany county. North of the domain of the Van Rensselaers, the old military post of Saratoga,1 was the first, and for a long
a passage returned to England, landing at Gravesend, on the 26th day of August, 1608. These brilliant enterprises aroused the jealousy and apprehension of the opulent East India Company of Holland; and with characteristic enterprise they sought to divert the labors of the bold navigator to their interest. He was accordingly induced to visit Amsterdam, and after tediously delayed negotiations entered the employ of that Company. On Saturday the fourth of April, 1609 he set sail from Amsterdam in the Half-Moon, a yacht of about 80 tons burden and manned by 16 or 18 English and Dutch sailors. The object of this voyage was a renewal of the search for a north-east passage by the route pursued the previous year. Failing in this, and his crew becoming mutinous, he, with their consent, turned his prow in search of other adventures towards the setting sun. He reached the banks of Newfoundland on the second of July-skirted the coast of the continent as far north as Delaware Bay which he discovered and entered, and in September discovered, and sailed up the river which bears his name.
The following year he sailed again in the Half-Moon, and again cursed with a wicked and mutinous crew, " though he had divided even with tears his last bread with his men, yet on midsummer's day, 1611, his ungrateful crew, thrusting him into a frail boat with his son, and several sick sailors, cut him adrift, to perish amid the arctic winds and waves of the great waste of waters (Hudson's bay) which bearing his name "is his tomb and monument."-Compiled from A His- torical Ingury concerning Henry Hudson by John Meredith Read jr.
1 Fort Saratoga stood upon a hill on the east side of the Hudson, opposite the present Schuylerville. It was rebuilt in the spring of 1746, in quadrangular form and strongly palisaded, and named Fort Clinton."-Lossing's Life and Times of Philip Schuyler, vol. I, p. 56, note. It was abandoned and burnt by the English, about Dec. 1st, 1747 ; it being untenable as against the enemy.
277
JESUIT MISSIONS.
period the only barrier between the nomads of Canada, and the stockade defenses at Fort Orange. As early as 1709 a mili- tary road was constructed on the east side of the Hudson as far as the head waters of Lake Champlain. Along this route, in addition to the post already named, two other forts were erected, the northernmost of which was named Fort Ann in honor of the then reigning sovereign of England. The next was named Fort Nicholson, after the commander of the expedition. This afterward formed a part of the defenses known as Fort Lydius.
Contemporaneous with the progress of French discovery and colonization, was that wonderful movement in the direction of Christianizing the savage races, and the establishment of Indian missions by the Jesuits of the seventeenth century. This enter- prise stands conspicuously out upon the pages of modern his- tory, without parallel for the endurance, perseverance, energy, self abnegation, constancy, devotion and ultimate horrible tor- ture and death of its victims.
Not only hand in hand with the explorer, the fur trader, and military adventurer, but oftentimes far in advance of either, we find these enthusiastic devotees, penetrating the bosky wilds and sullen glooms of the Saguenay and the upper lakes; now halting by the far stretching vistas of the Beautiful river; founding missions by the numerous waters of the great inland seas; and anon pushing adventurously up the unknown tribu- taries of the great Mississippi; paddling in frail canoes over unexplored wastes of water; wading and wandering through untraversed swamps, and illimitable wildernesses, through storm and tempest, frost and snow, starvation and sickness ; in perils more deadly and imminent than those encountered by St. Paul; of ravening beasts, of venomous reptiles, and of merci- less savages, these men of God fought their way with the invisi- ble but ever potent weapons of a sublime faith, impelled by the fervid vow of obedience and high convictions of duty, until nearly all of that splendid galaxy, finally achieved the cross and crown of martyrdom through the bloody and terrific ordeal of the tomahawk and scalping knife, the cruel gauntlet, the torture, the stake and the funeral pyre. Of this number was Father Isaac Jogues,1 who joined the ill fated Huron mission in 1636.
1 " He was born at Orleans in 1607, and (at the time of his capture), was thirty- · five years of age. His oval face and the delicate mould of his features indicated a modest, thoughtful, and refined nature. He was constitutionally timid, with a
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
After arduous labors in preaching and propagating the faith along the northern shores of Lake Huron, as far as the straits of Michilimackinac, and the Sault Sainte Marie, he, in company with four other Frenchmen, and a party of thirty-five Hurons, early in the summer of 1642, while on their way from Quebec to the mission with supplies, were attacked near the western end of Lake St. Peters, and the entire party of whites and about half of the Hurons were made prisoners. In trying to help one of his companions, the brutal savages pounded him with their clubs and fists until he was senseless, and chewed and lacerated his hands with their teeth until they were so mutilated as to be nearly useless.
The prisoners were conveyed by the way of the Richelieu river and Lake Champlain, to the Mohawk settlements.
Near the southern extremity of Lake Champlain, they en- countered another war party of the Iroquois, when the ill fated prisoners were subjected to fresh indignities, and were obliged to run the gauntlet. Father Jogues was again knocked sense- less ; his hands frightfully mutilated, and drenched with blood, and fire was applied to his body. On their way to the Mohawk towns, the party passed through Lake George, and as this is the first record we have of a white man visiting this locality, there can be little question but that Father Jogues with his compan- ·ions, Goupil and Couture, were the first of the Caucassian race to set eyes upon this lovely lake, or to traverse the portage be- yond it. Staggering under heavy burdens all the way, the poor priest and his suffering companions at length reached the lower Mohawk village, where they were again obliged to run the gauntlet and suffer fresh tortures and mutilations. Here Father Jogues had one of his thumbs cut off by one of the Algonquin female converts, who was compelled to perform this piece of butchery. From town to town these scenes were repeated and for months he was in daily expectation of meeting his fate. Goupil was at finally tomahawked. · Couture was adopted into the tribe. At length, after more than a year of captivity, through the instrumentality and kindness of the Dutch minister and
sensitive conscience and great religious susceptibilities. He was a finished scholar, and might have gained a literary reputation ; but he had chosen another career, and one for which he seemed but ill fitted. Physically, however, he was well matched with his work ; for, though his frame was slight, he was so active, that none of the Indians could surpass him in running."- Parkman's Jesuits in North America, p. 214.
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FATHER JOGUES.
other sympathizing friends in Albany, who afterward paid a large ransom to appease the Mohawks, he escaped to New York, and after various mishaps, in which he seemed continually the victim of bad fortune, he reached France in the month of Jan- uary, 1644. Here for a season he became the subject of great interest and attention; and besides receiving visits and expres- sions of sympathy from the queen, and many persons of rank and distinction, was the object of the deepest veneration and regard by the members of his order, who for months had made his sufferings and torture the subject of special solicitude and reflection. At this time he received from the pope a special dispensation authorizing him to celebrate mass with his muti- lated hands.
The ensuing spring he returned to Canada,1 and for a while had a respite from his arduous and hazardous labors. Two years later he was commissioned by the governor to proceed on a political embassy to the Iroquois country, with gifts, congratu- lations and conciliating messages to the Mohawks, in relation to the ratification of a treaty recently consummated with the Canadian authorities. He was at the same time commissioned by the superior of his order to establish a mission among that bloodthirsty people, bearing the prophetic and significant name, of the mission of the martyrs. About the middle of May, 1646, he left Three Rivers on this expedition, in company with the Sieur Bourdon, engineer in chief on the governor's staff, two Algonquin deputies carrying belts and presents in behalf of their tribe, and four Mohawks to act as guides and an escort. Proceeding up the Richelieu river and Lake Champlain, past the scenes of former trials and sufferings, he reached the lower extremity of Lake George on the eve of the Romish festival of Corpus Christi,2 and as a memorial of the same, conferred upon this historic sheet the name of Lac St. Sacrament, a name which, for upwards of a century, was borne without dispute or question. From the head of Lake George to the Hudson, the
1 " Hennepin says * the Spaniards who were the first discoverers, expected to have found some valuable mines there, and being disappointed, called that part of it on which the upper town of Quebec, is now partly situated, il capo di nada, a cape of nothing, or barren cape; whence, adds this writer, the name of Canada has been corrupted. Others say, that upon the Spaniards first landing, they were accosted by the natives with the words hah-cah-nah-dah which implies there's nothing here."-Knox's Hist. Journal, 1-303.
2 A holy day set for the Thursday of the week following Pentecost (Whitsunday) to commemorate the real presence in the Holy Eucharist.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
party had a weary march, carrying their presents and luggage. Below the fall, they succeeded in procuring canoes and proceeded thence to Albany. Although no outrages were committed, the embassy, in great degree, proved a failure, and the party returned, reaching Fort Richelieu on the twenty-seventh of June.
To complete the narrative, Jogues was sent back by his superior, in August, was taken prisoner while on the route from Canada, and, on his arrival at the Mohawk village, after having thin strips of flesh torn from his body, was led to the house of a chief, where, on his entrance, his skull was cloven with a tomahawk, and he fell dead at his tormentor's feet. "Thus died Isaac Jogues, one of the purest examples of Roman Catholic virtue, which this western continent has seen." 1
After this tragic occurrence, a hundred years passed on in the cycle of human events, and this northern border, with its scanty fringe of civilization, still remained the domain and in the oc- casional occupancy of savage tribes wandering in the search of peltry or game, or making its sodden trails the pathway of predal and vindictive warfare. Marin's expedition, which " left Montreal on the 4th of Nov., 1745," "on the sug- gestion of Father Piquet, the French prefect apostolique to Canada, who met the expedition at Crown Point, and the re- presentatives of the Iroquois who were with Marin, *
they passed up Lake Champlain and Wood creek, crossed the country to the Hudson river, destroyed Lydius's lumber estab- lishment on the site of Fort Edward, and approached the thriv- ing settlement of Saratoga, which they utterly destroyed." 2
The peace secured by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, hollow and insincere in the old world, was scarcely observed in the new. The ashes of the frontier settlements had scarcely ceased smoking when the French resumed, with unwonted energy, their original and favorite plan of establishing a chain of military posts from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi. The Indians, far and near, by threats and caresses, presents, promises, and displays of force, were rendered tribu- tary to their vast designs, and the hum of military preparation, the chink of the carpenter's hammer, and the echo of the carbine, rang from the Kennebec to the Monongahela.
Frequent Indian alarms along the border in 1754, aroused the
1 Parkman's Jesuits in North America, p. 304.
Lossing's Life and Times of Philip Schuyler, vol. I, p. 54.
·
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MARTIAL PREPARATIONS.
colonists to a sense of danger, and steps were taken for a more effective defense than had as yet been adopted. A larger body of troops was raised for the protection of the frontier, and Ephraim Williams was promoted to the rank of major and placed in command. The following year, war, which had been long pending, was formally declared, and both sides rallied themselves for that long and bloody struggle, which was des- tined in the councils of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe to overthrow the French dominion in North America.
Provincial assemblies were convened, money and troops voted in profusion, and with the opening of the spring, the whole sea- board as well as wilderness border of the English colonies was actively astir with martial preparations. Massachusetts raised three regiments of infantry, the third of which was placed in the command of Ephraim Williams, again advanced to the rank of colonel. The plan of the campaign contemplated a simulta- neous movement of three distinct armies upon as many different points of the line of French fortifications between the head waters of the Ohio and Quebec. Col. Williams's regiment was destined to cooperate with the force of Maj. Gen. William Johnson in an attack upon the French posts on Lake Champlain, and was ordered to rendezvous for that purpose with the other New England levies at Albany.
In April, 1755, a convention of the governors of the several colonies was assembled at Annapolis 1 in Maryland, at which Gen. Braddock assisted for the purpose of arranging the details of military operations for the ensuing campaign. It was at this conference determined to despatch the first expedition, under the command of Gen. Braddock, in person, against the post since known as Fort Du Quesne at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. The second, designed for the conquest of the posts on and near Lake Ontario, was to be commanded by Gen. Shirley ; and the third, destined for the Champlain valley, was entrusted to the command of William Johnson, who had been recently commissioned as major general. Of these three expeditions, the latter, only, was in part successful.
In July following, 600 men under the command of Gen. Ly- man, of New Hampshire, detailed to cooperate with the northern
1 War was not declared in Europe until the following year, by England on the 18th of May, and by France on the 9th of June, ensuing.
36
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
army, was sent forward to clear up the old military road along the Hudson, and to rebuild the fort at Lydius's mills.
While this was in progress, Col. Miller, with another detach- ment of the army, threw up a block-house and entrenchments at the second carrying place on the Hudson. The village of Fort Miller still perpetuates the name then given to these defenses.
CHAPTER II.
GATHERING OF THE ENGLISH ARMY AT ALBANY-IT PROCEEDS TO THE HEAD OF LAKE GEORGE-FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICE AND SERMON AT THAT PLACE-COUNCIL OF WAR-KING HENDRICK'S ELOQUENCE- THE BLOODY MORNING SCOUT-BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE-DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH ARMY AND CAPTURE OF ITS LEADER-ACTION AT BLOODY POND.
HE several quotas for the expedition against Fort St. Frederic having at length reached Albany, and the other preparations for the campaign having been matured, in the early part of August, the main body of the army set forward in its march northward; and General Johnson soon followed with the artillery, stores and baggage.
Advancing slowly along the old military road up the river, he reached the camp at the great carrying place on the four- teenth of August, at which time he reported to Governor Delancey that his entire force would " not exceed 2850 men fit for marching to Crown Point." Col. Cockroft's regiment, was left behind as a convoy to the wagons and batteaux freighted with the usual impedimenta of an army. An addition to the defenses of this important point was at this time commenced, to which the name of Fort Lyman 1 was first given in honor of Major General Phineas Lyman (a) of the Connecticut troops, to
1 It stood close upon the bank of the Hudson, on the north side of the mouth of Fort Edward creek. It was of an irregular quadrangular form, with bastions at three of the angles, the fourth angle being effectually protected by the river. It was constructed of timber and earth. The ramparts were sixteen feet high, and twenty-two feet thick, and were mounted with six cannon. A deep fosse was excavated in front of two of its sides, the other two sides fronting upon, and being protected by Fort Edward creek and the Hudson. In addition to the several buildings which stood inside of the walls of the fort, large store houses and bar- racks were reared on an island opposite to it in the river .- Fitch's Hist. Survey of Washington County. In Trans. N. Y. S. Agricultural Soc'y, 1848.
(a) " PHINEHAS LYMAN, was born at Durham, Conn., about 1716 ; was gradu- ted in 1738 at Yale College, in which he was afterwards a tutor three years ; and settled as a lawyer in Suffield. He sustained various public offices. In 1755 he was appointed major general and commander in chief of the Connecticut forces, " and built Fort Lyman, now called Fort Edward, N. Y. When Sir W. Johnson was wounded in the battle of Lake George, the command devolved on him. In 1758, he served under Abercrombie, and was with Lord Howe, when he was
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
whom was assigned the duty of erection. It was shortly after changed to Fort Edward in compliment to Edward, Duke of York, grandson of George the second, and brother of George the third.
On the fifteenth a council of war was held, at which resolu- tions were passed, desiring additional aid and reinforcements from the governors of New York and Connecticut; and re- questing the governor of Massachusetts to make a diversion in their favor, by sending a detachment of five hundred troops down the Chaudiere river against the French establishments in that vicinity. On the twenty-fourth of the same month, Gen. Johnson writes to Lieut. Gov. Delancey from the camp at the great carrying place, that " the road is now making from this place to Lake St. Sacrament 1 where I propose to build maga- zines and raise a defensible fortification, either as a safe retreat in case we should find the enemy too strong for our force, and be obliged to quit our ground, or upon well grounded intelli- gence find it the most prudent measure to halt there till we re- ceive reinforcements."2 He adds, "I propose to march to-morrow or next day with the first division of about fifteen hundred men, and some Indians, and a few field pieces."
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