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 30
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Awaiting developments, General Johnson established a camp at the head of the lake, and under the immediate supervision of Col. Williams, a large clearing was made on the headland afterward covered by the intrenchments of Fort William Henry.
In a communication to the board of trade dated the 3d Sept.,
killed. He was also at the capture of Crown Point by Amherst and at the sur- render of Montreal.
" In 1762 he commanded the provincial troops in the expedition against Havana. In 1763 he went to England as the agent of his brother officers to receive their prize money, also as agent of a company, called the military adventurers, to solicit a grant of land on the Mississippi, and wasted 11 years of his life. Being deluded for years by idle promises, his mind sunk down into imbecility ..
" At last his wife, who was a sister of Dr. Dwight's father, sent his second son to solicit his return in 1774. About this time a tract was granted to the petitioners. After his return he embarked with his eldest son for the Mississippi, and both died soon after their arrival at West Florida in 1775."-See Dwight's Travels, 1- 305, 361-3. Wilson's Orderly Book, in Munsell's Hist. Series, p. 29, note.
1 Lac du Saint Sacrament. Father Jogues . on his return to Canada,
. set out with some Indians for the scene of his former sufferings, in com- pany with Sieur Bourdon, royal engineer, and arrived on the festival of Corpus Christi, at Lake Andiatorocte, to which, in honor of the day, he gave the name of the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament .- O'Callaghan's Hist. of New Netherland, vol. II, p. 299.
2 Documentary Hist. of N. Y., vol. II, p. 682 .- Johnson Manuscripts.
285
NAMING OF LAKE GEORGE.
1775. General Johnson states as follows : I am building a fort at this lake where no house ever before was built, nor a rod of land cleared, which the French call Lake St. Sacrament, but I have given it the name of Lake George, not only in honor to His Majesty but to ascertain his undoubted dominion here. When the battoes (certain small boats so called) are brought from the last fort caused to be built at the great carrying place abt 17 miles from hence, I propose to go down this lake with a part of the army, and take part of the end of it about fifty miles from hence at a pass called Tionderogue 1 ab+ 15 miles from Crown Point, there wait the coming up of the rest of the army, and then attack Crown Point."
On Sunday, the seventh, the camp was hushed to listen to the first Christian services and sermon 2 held on this spot of which there is record. The venerable and Reverend Stephen Wil- liams of Longmeadow, Mass., a near relative of Col. Williams, and chaplain of his regiment, preached in camp from the pro- phetic words of Isaiah, " which remain among the graves and lodge in the mountains." The forces gathered here now num- bered nearly five thousand, and the want of transportation, coupled with the intelligence received from his trusty scouts and runners, that the French were in possession of the passes at the north dissipated the plan for any further advance.
In the mean time the enemy, more active and aggressive, had despatched three thousand men to the frontier post of St. Frederic. Nearly one third of these were veterans from the fields of France, the remainder consisting of Canadians and Indians. They were joined on the seventeenth by the Baron de Dieskau, a brave and experienced officer who had been as-
1 Invariably so spelled by Gen. Johnson. Ticonderoga has a widely varied or- thography. It is supposed to be a contraction of the Indian term Tek-ya-dough- ni-gar-i-gee, signifying two points opposite to each other ; ye Indian name of Fort St. Frederic .- Vide map of the middle British Colonies, by T. Pownall, M. P., Lond., 1776. The same term was applied to the narrows between Ticonderoga and Crown Point forming the entrance to Lake Champlain. T. Pownall's Topographical de- scription of North America, Lond., 1776. Pownall himself spells the word Cheon- deroga, and defines it as signifying three rivers .- Vide map ut supra.
2 "On Sunday, all come forth and collect in the groves for the worship of God ; three hundred red men, also, regularly enlisted under the English flag, and paid from the English treasury, seat themselves on the hillock, and, while the light of a summer's afternoon is shedding its sweetest influence on the tops of the forest clad mountains and on the still waters of the deep transparent lake, they listen gravely to the interpretation of a long sermon."-Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. VI, p. 28.
286
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
signed to the command of the expedition. For the following fifteen days he was encamped under the entrenchments of that fort maturing his plans-sending out scouts for intelligence and harmonizing disagreements among the intractable savages who constituted so large a part of his following. On the second of September he reached the lower fall on the outlet of Lake George, whence he sent out a small scouting party, and bivouacked for a couple of days at what is now known as the fort ground of Ticonderoga. On the 4th M. de St Pierre was sent forward with the Canadians and Indians, who were to sleep that night on the side of the great marsh near Whitehall. General Dieskau made the great mistake of leaving the bulk of his force, viz. 1800 men, at Carillon, and with a flying corps of six hundred Canadians, as many Indians and three hundred re- gulars, including two companies of grenadiers, a detail of twelve marines and a squad of artillerymen and bombardiers, he reached the head of South bay, on Lake Champlain, on the fifth, and set forward on his march toward Fort Lyman. Continuing the march on the sixth, about noon the detachment encamped be- yond the mountains.1 Here small scouting parties were sent off in the direction of Fort Lyman and the head of Lake George. One of these returning the same night discovered and reported thick smoke seen in the direction of Johnson's camp. On the seventh, the army, preceded by scouts, again set forward. About two o'clock of that day the scouts, who had been sent to recon- noiter in the vicinity of Fort Lyman, rejoined the main body, with the information that there were about fifty tents outside the fort, upon which Dieskau, true to his motto,2 decided to at- tack it. Pushing forward, he reached that night the banks of the Hudson river about one league from the fort, where he en- camped for the night.3
At daybreak on the eighth the Indians fired at and killed a courier galloping rapidly towards the fort.4 On his person was
1 I have followed implicitly the official statement of M. de Vaudreuil in regard to Dieskau's march. This, it will be seen, varies materially from the commonly received account ; and differs somewhat from Bancroft's relation .- Vide Colonial Documents relating to the History of N. Y., vol. x, p. 313-327.
2 Boldness wins.
3 Probably on the flat at the foot of Sandy Hill.
4 " I got one Adams, a waggoner, who voluntarily and bravely consented to ride express with my orders to Colonel Blanchard of the New Hampshire regiment, commanding officer there. I acquainted him with my intelligence, and directed him to withdraw all the troops there within the works thrown up (at Fort Lyman).
287
CAPTURE OF DISPATCH.
found a dispatch to the officer in command of the garrison at that place advising him of Dieskau's approach, with a large force of Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians; and cautioning him as to the proper disposition of the provisions and ammuni- tion. Twelve wagons shortly after passed in the same direction, from which Dieskau only obtained two prisoners, from whom he obtained tolerably accurate information as to the condition and disposition of the English forces at the head of the lake. The garrison at Fort Lyman consisted of only about three hundred troops from the New Hampshire levies under Col. Blanchard. It was the baron's original intention, after learning the weakness of the latter place, to move forward with celerity, assault and carry it by storm. "The Iroquois refused point blank to march to attack the fort." Dieskau in his account of the affair says : " I was to arrive at nightfall at that fort and rush to the attack; but the Iroquois, who took the lead on the march, under the pretence of zeal, caused a wrong direction to be taken; and when I was informed of the circumstance, it was no longer time to apply a remedy, so that at nightfall I was yet a league from that fort on the road leading from it to Lake St. Sacrament."
M. de St Pierre who, by the baron's orders, had consulted the chiefs of the different natives, and communicated to them his intention of attacking the camp at the head of the lake, under the alluring representation " that the more English there were, the more of them he would kill," reported that the In- dians would submit to his pleasure ; and should he succeed at Lake St. Sacrament, they would accompany him to the fort.2
After day-break on the morning of the eighth, Dieskau com- menced his march along the newly made road so recently tra- versed by Johnson and his army. His force was disposed in five columns, marching at a distance of thirty paces apart.
About half an hour, or near an hour after this I got two Indians and two soldiers to go on foot with another letter to the same purpose.
" About twelve o'clock that night the Indians and soldiers returned with a wag- goner who had stole from the camp, with about eight others their waggoners and forces without orders. This waggoner says they heard and saw the enemy about four miles this side the carrying place. They heard a gun fire, and a man call upon heaven for mercy, which he judged to be Adams."-Gen. Johnson to the gov- ernors of the several colonies, Sept. 9th, 1755. O'Callaghan's Docy. Hist. N. Y., vol. II, p. 401-2.
1 Documents relating to the Colonial History of N. Y., vol. x, p. 317.
2 Vaudreuil's relation. Ibid, p. 321.
288
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
The regular troops forming the centre were led by the baron, in person, while on either flank was a column of Canadians and another of Indians. The latter were obliged, in order to main- tain their front, to wade morasses and streams, thread the tan- gled underbrush of the forest and climb the hills on their route. Nevertheless the force moved with considerable celerity, reach- ing the heights just north of Brown's half-way house, at about eight o'clock in the morning. Here he was met by some scouts who brought in two English prisoners, from whom he derived the intelligence that General Johnson had fortified and in- trenched the English camp, that he was in possession of twelve cannon from thirty pounders down. And, " that a large body of English and Indians were following them on their way to re- inforce Fort Lydius."-In consequence of this information, a halt was ordered, the Canadians and Indians deposited their packs, and in light marching order were instructed to place themselves in ambush on the side hill west of the road, which was occupied by Dieskau with his regular troops.1
In the mean time an express arrived at the English camp with the intelligence that he had seen a large body of the enemy, a few miles to the north of Fort Lyman. In the morn- ing following, a council of war was held to determine a plan of procedure, at which it was resolved to send out a small party to reconnoitre and harrass the enemy's flanks as they appoached. King Hendrick, the celebrated chief of the Mohawks, being asked for his opinion, replied : "If they are to fight they are too few, if they are to be killed they are too many." It was sub- sequently proposed to divide the party into three detachments. The brave old sachem remonstrated, and forcibly illustrated the folly of the suggestion by picking up three sticks and bind- ing them together saying: "You see now that these cannot easily be broken ; but take them one by one, and you may break
' Vaudrueil's relation. Colonial Documents, vol. x, p. 321. Local tradition states that, to screen their advance and conceal their numbers, Dieskau's soldiers cut down branches from the trees, and bore them like Malcolm's forces who carried Birnam wood to Dunsinane.
Hoyt says that Dieskau's regulars occupied the centre and the flanks, consisting of Canadians and Indians, were arranged in double potences, i.e. facing inward like two sides of a hollow square.
An account in the Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. x, p. 342, states that the right wing consisted of Canadians, and the left of Indians, and were thrown forward forming a cul de sac with Dieskau's regulars for the base.
289
COUNCIL OF WAR.
them at once.1 The council of war adopted in part the chief's advice, and one thousand men, under the command of Col. Ephraim Williams (a), of the Massachusetts levies, and two
1 Drake's Book of the Indians. Book v, p. 40, eighth edition.
(a) COL. EPHRAIM WILLIAMS was born in the year 1714, in Newton, Massa- chusetts, which was then a frontier settlement, exposed to all the horrors of an annual Indian invasion, with its usual accompaniments of ruthless reprisal and vindictive massacre. His childhood and youth were passed among scenes of daily peril, which must have had a strong controlling influence in the formation of his character, fitting him for those positions of trust and responsibility, which in after years he filled with such becoming honor.
He came of Welch stock, his ancestors having immigrated from Wales about 1630, only ten years after the landing of the pilgrim fathers. They at first settled at Roxbury, Mass., where it is believed the grandfather of the subject of this sketch officiated as a minister of the gospel.
So far as we can, at this distance of time, judge of the colonel's character, it partook largely of those elements which has placed New England, despite its " barren sands and rock bound shores," in the vanguard of material prosperity as well as moral purity, and intellectual supremacy. Deprived of his parents in child- hood, he became the protege of Abraham Jackson, his maternal grandfather, and was early trained to commercial pursuits. In the prosecution of these, he made several voyages to Europe, during which he visited England, Spain and Holland, adding largely to his self-dependence, and by his ready powers of observance accu- mulating a valuable fund of information, with which to grace the positions of trust to which he was soon to be called.
When the French war of 1740 broke out, he was settled at Stockbridge. His supe- rior acquirements and executive ability, added to his military talent and taste pointed him out as the suitable military commandant of his district, and he was accordingly commissioned as captain, and was entrusted with the charge of all the Massachu- setts line of forts west of the Connecticut river. To meet the exigencies of this important command, he made his head quarters at Fort Massachusetts, " which stood not far from the north-eastern end of Saddle mountain, within the present township of Adams, and on the eastern border of Hoosac river."
Already a few adventurous pioneers had commenced a settlement within the present township of Williamstown. The struggles and denials of these hardy settlers, excited the commiseration and lively sympathy of Col. Williams, and even at that early date, while furnishing them protection and deliverance from the in- cursions of their savage foe, he gave them intimations of his future beneficence and care.
A letter of his, now extant, dated Northfield, 12th October, 1745, apprises the colonial commissioners at Albany, of an attack by the French and Indians upon the frontier posts of New England.
In August, 1746, with what force could be conveniently spared from the thinly garrisoned forts under his command, he joined Gov. Clinton at Albany, in the long talked of, but never executed project of invasion against the French settlements at the north. During his absence, Fort Massachusetts was invested, and after a gallant resistance, captured by the enemy, under Rigaud de Vaudreuil, and its small garrison taken prisoners to Canada.
In 1748, Fort Massachusetts, having been rebuilt, was garrisoned with one „ hundred men, and again placed in the charge of Col. Ephraim Williams, the com- mand of the northern and western frontier being devolved upon Col. John Stoddard,
37
290
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
hundred Mohawks led by King Hendrick, the sachem of the upper castle of that tribe, were detailed for this service. Before . starting, King Hendrick mounted a gun carriage, and addressed
of Northampton, his superior officer. On the 2d of August, a party of 200 French and Indians invested the fort. A scouting party of four men was fired upon, which first betrayed the presence of the enemy. Capt. Williams sallied forth at the head of thirty men to their relief. He succeeded in rescuing them but was drawn into an ambush, by which he and his little force were placed in imminent jeopardy, a party of thirty Indians moving in his rear to intercept his return. By determined bravery and rapidity of movement, however, he succeeded in reaching the fort with the loss of one man killed and two wounded, one of whom was Lieutenant Hawley. The French account of this affair, with customary gasconade reports five Englishmen killed, while the French loss was one Huron and one Iro- quois wounded. As they had no artillery, after a desultory musketry fire of more than two hours, the French retired from the contest.
In recognition of his great military abilities he was in 1754-5, successively pro- moted to the grade of major, lieutenant colonel and colonel. With the opening of the campaign of the latter year he, with his regiment, was assigned to duty on the northern frontier, and his command was ordered to rendezvous at Albany, While there, on the 22d of July, he made his will, with what foreboding or pre- science of his impending fate none can say.
" In this instrument, after giving certain legacies to his connections, he directed, that the remainder of his land should be sold, at the discretion of his executors, within five years after an established peace ; and that the interest of the monies, arising from the sale, and also the interest of his notes and bonds, should be ap- plied to the support of a free school in a township west of Fort Massachusetts provided the said township fell within Massachusetts bay, upon running the line between that province and New York, provided the said township when incor- porated should be called Williamstown.
" The property designated in this bequest, was loaned on interest ; and, after an accumulation of thirty years, was considered as a fund sufficient to warrant the institution of the free school contemplated in the will. The spot pointed out was, June 30th, 1785, incorporated by the name of Williamstown. In 1785, nine gentle- men were appointed trustees for the management of the donation, and the free, school to which it was to give birth. In 1788, they voted to erect a building. The legislature granted them a lottery, which yielded $4,000, and theinhabitants con- tributed $2,000 more. In 1790, they built a brick edifice, eighty-two feet in length, and forty-two in breadth, of four stories, on the middle eminence in the principal street. It contained twenty-eight rooms and a chapel. The expense of erecting it was 11,700 dollars, and the remainder of the fund was about the same sum,
" The school was opened in October, 1791, under the superintendency of Mr. Ebenezer Fitch, now Rev. Dr. Fitch, president of Williams College. It consisted of two establishments, an academy, and an English free school, and, under the direction of this gentleman, immediately became prosperous. A considerable number of students resorted to it from Massachusetts and the neighboring states, and even from Canada. In 1793, the legislature, being informed of its flourishing condition, erected it into a college, by the name of Williams College. The trustees of the free school were by the act of incorporation, constituted, together with four other gentlemen, including the president, trustees of the college. The trustees may be seventeen in number; may fill all vacancies in their board ; and may hold property, the annual income of which shall be 20,000 dollars. In October of the
291
INDIAN ELOQUENCE.
his followers in a strain of thrilling eloquence, that at once aroused their courage, and kindled their ferocious passions for the approaching fray. An eye witness, who did not under- stand a word of what was said, described it as the most affecting speech he ever heard.1
The road, recently made, followed the course of a ravine ex- tending from the head of the lake nearly due south for a distance of several miles. The detachment headed by Colonel Williams took this route at nine o'clock in the morning, and in conse- quence of the intelligence received at midnight, supposed the enemy to be still in the vicinity of Fort Lyman ; and probably moved forward with less precaution than he would have done, if he had supposed the enemy nearer. At a point about two miles south of the encampment, near a place now known as Hendrick's spring, he halted, and was joined by the detachment of Mo- hawks, who, with their chief, passed to the front, and at ten o'clock resumed the march. King Hendrick was mounted on a small horse, loaned for the occasion, by his friend the general.2 Flanking parties were now thrown out, which advanced, cau- tiously beating the dense woods on the right and left.
About one-third of a mile south of Bloody pond the ravine,
same year the college commenced its operations by the admission of three classes of students. In 1794, a lot was purchased, and a house built for the president. The same year the legislature granted to the college 4,000 dollars; and in 1796, two townships of land in the district of Maine. One of these townships was sold the following year for 10,000 dollars. With this sum, and an addition of 2,400 dollars, the trustees erected another brick building, one hundred and four feet in length, twenty-eight in breadth, of four stories, and containing thirty-two chambers."1_ Dwight's Travels.
From the scanty personal memorials of Col. Williams, now in existence, we glean the fact that he was a large, fleshy man, of fine and imposing exterior, of a kindly heart and pleasing address ; and, as a matter of course, enthusiastically beloved and looked up to by the men in his command.
1 " Lieutenant Colonel Pomeroy who was present, and heard this effusion of In- dian eloquence, told me, that, although he did not understand a word of the lan- guage, yet such was the animation of Hendrick, the fire of his eye, the force of his gesture, the strength of his emphasis, the apparent propriety of the inflexions of his voice, and the natural appearance of his whole manner, that himself was more deeply affected with this speech, than with any other which he had ever heard .--- Dwight's Travels, vol. III, p. 357.
2 He lost his life by riding on horseback on one of Gen. Johnson's horses. His horse was shot under him, and he, being unwieldy and not able to disengage him- self and get away, was stabbed with a bayonet. T. Pownall to the Lords of Trade .- Documents Relating to the Colonial History of N. Y., vol. VI, p. 1008.
1 For most of these facts I am indebted to the History of Williams College, written by the Rev. Dr. Fitch, and published in Hist. Coll., vol. VIII.
292
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
through which Williams's detachment proceeded, is narrowed by the abrupt shoulder of a hill projecting from the west, while on the east the sharp acclivity and rugged sides of French mountain abut the narrow defile. At its base creep the shim- mering waters of a rivulet known as Rocky brook. When within a short distance of the ambush, a herd of deer, probably driven forward by the French advance, rushed violently down the defile, and effected their escape by breaking through the ranks of the advancing party. Still, no apprehensions were en- tertained of the proximity of the enemy, and they continued to advance in fearless confidence, the entire command marching in double files along the road, until entered some distance within the jaws of the ambuscade, when reaching a small emi-
Sc
FORBES. Del
SOIENGARAHTAH, OR KING HENDRICK
nence, the keen sighted Hendrick suddenly halted and ex- claimed to Williams who was near him : "I scent Indians." A few Mohawks pushed out into the thick undergrowth of bushes, and the detachment moved cautiously forward for a short dis-
293
KING HENDRICK.
tance, when one of the French allies called out " whence came you ?" "From the Mohawks," was the reply, " whence came you ? " returned Hendrick, to which was answered Montreal, ac- companied with a few scattering shots, followed shortly by the terrific Indian war-whoop, and a destructive volley of musketry from the woods and rocks on the right. Shortly afterward, a heavy fire was poured in by the Canadians on the left. King Hendrick's horse was killed by the first fire, and he was soon after despatched with a bayonet.'1 The advancing files of Pro- vincials, wholly unprepared for the unexpected encounter, made but a feeble resistance while at the first alarm the Mohawks took promptly to cover. (a)
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