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 31
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1 " The Mohawks stood their ground and fought bravely, until Hendrick fell, shot through the back, when they were thrown into confusion. The dying chief, ·with an Indian's pride, spent his latest breath in lamentations, lest such a death might leave a stain upon his memory."-Durfee's Hist. of Williams College, p. 44 The version given in the text is doubtless the correct one.
(a) SOIENGARAHTAH, or KING HENDRICK, as he was more commonly known to the English, was the Tekarahogea, or great war chief of the Iroquois confederacy, for nearly the first half of the eighteenth century, and for the same length of time held the proud preeminence as head sachem of the powerful Mohawk tribe. "Of his birth, parentage, infancy and childhood, but very scanty memorials exist. There are circumstances on record which lead to the inference that he may have been born somewhere from 1680 to 1690. It is generally conceded that he was one of the Indians referred to by Addison in his account of the Mohocks published about the year 1713. He was a savage of more than ordinary humanity, com- manding talents, and influence, great judgment and skill, and as an orator unex- celled, as many anecdotes still related of him go to show. He visited England again about the year 1740, where he received many attentions and was the reci- pient of several valuable presents, among which was the celebrated suit of green and gold and fine brussels lace presented by his majesty, George the Second. In this, the portrait was taken from which our illustration is copied. The earlier por- tion of his life was passed at the upper castle of the Mohawks, now known as Canajoharie; afterward he made his residence at or near a place called the Nose on the north side of the Mohawk river. During all his life he was the fast friend and firm ally of the English, and doubtless contributed more than any other one cause toward retaining for that nationality the services and good will of the turbulent, restless and warlike tribe, of which he was for years the constant inspiration and controlling spirit. Some of his speeches are on record, and of them it has been justly said, " they contain strains of eloquence which might have done honor to Tully or Demosthenes."
He was almost idolized by his tribe who followed him to the field far or near with all that implicit confidence and faith which even among the Caucassian races characterize the following of a brave and successful leader. The map of the en- gagement at the head of Lake George, shows that Hendrick had advanced fear- lessly far within the ambush planted by the French general ; and his corpulent form, arrayed in its brilliant uniform mounted upon a white pony, made him a conspicuous target for his hereditary enemies. The late Judge William Hay, whose scholarly acquirements, patient research, and careful investigation entitle
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
Colonel Williams, perceiving the firing to be the heaviest from the ascent to the right, ordered his troops to charge up the hill with the hope of turning the enemy's flank, and gain- ing a more elevated and commanding position. This was attempted, but they had no sooner changed front and advanced, than a destructive volley was poured in upon them from the thickly guarded summit, and the thinned ranks, stunned, swayed backward, closed up in a confused mob and fled panic stricken from the scene of action. Colonel Williams fell dead at the head of his column.1 The command now devolved upon Lieut. Colonel Whiting, who, after a while, succeeded in restoring a degree of order among the fugitives.
A temporary stand was made at the Bloody pond, behind which the troops rallied, and the French were held in check for several minutes by the determined and resolute bravery of the Provincials. Compelled at length from the numerical superi- ority of the enemy to give way, they resumed their retreat, constantly holding the pursuers in check by a scattering but well aimed fire from every cover, which could be made available on the route. The echoes of the protracted firing, had been heard with gradually approaching nearness at the head of the lake, and hurried preparations were made for placing the camp in a defensible condition, for as yet no line of intrenchments had been thrown up, or any cover, redout, rifle pit or fortifica- tion constructed to retard the progress of the enemy. The trunks of the trees, already fallen, were hastily piled up as a sort of rude breast work in front, while the flanks and rear were protected by seven field picces and two mortars. The roadway
his opinions to great weight and consideration, after making several measure- ments and looking the ground well over, reached the conclusion that he had found the place where the old Sachem fell by the side of a boulder which crowns a hill a short distance north of Mr. George Brown's Hotel, and which he designated and marked as King Hendrick's rock. A monument at this point would be but & fitting tribute to the brave chieftain's devotion and chivalry.1
1 Notwithstanding sundry guide books to the contrary, all accounts worthy of credit, concur in stating that Col. Williams fell at the head of his column in the early part of the engagement. He was shot through the head, and fell dead upon the spot. His body was hidden by two of his comrades, near the rock which bears his name to prevent its mutilation by the savages. After the action it was buried by the side of the old military road at the foot of a pine tree. This place was originally designated by a small granite slab marked E. W.
About forty years since, Dr. William H. Williams (nephew of the colonel) of Raleigh, N. C., exhumed the skull, and carried it off. The statement that the
1 Compiled chiefly from the account contained in Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois, p. 413.
295
THE BLOODY MORNING SCOUT.
was also commanded by four large cannon advantageously posted. While these dispositions were being made, Lieutenant Colonel Cole was despatched with three hundred men to the assistance and relief of the defeated detachment. He met the flying troops a little to the north of the Bloody pond, and checked, by a well timed volley, the pursuit of the enemy, and covered the retreat of the fugitives into camp. So furious and disastrous had been this brief engagement, that on reaching camp, the numbers of the French were greatly magnified by
entire remains were subsequently removed is doubtless an error. The pine has fallen, but two thrifty scions, till within a few years, shaded the grave where the warrior sleeps.
When the monument was put up, the grave was refilled and a pyramidal boulder still remaining, placed upon it, bearing the plain inscription E. W. 1755. In the year 1854, a plain marble shaft was placed by the alumni of .Williams College, upon the rock which bears his name. It contains the follow ing inscriptions.
EAST SIDE.
To the memory of COLONEL EPHRAIM WILLIAMS. A native of Newton, Mass., who, after gallantly defend- ing the frontiers of his native state, served under General Johnson against the French and Indians, and nobly fell near this spot in the bloody conflict of Sept. 8th, 1755, in the 42d year of his age.
NORTH SIDE.
A lover of peace and learning, as courteous and gene- rous as he was brave and patriotic, Col. Williams sympathized deeply with the privations of the frontier settlers, and by his will, made at Albany, on his way to the field of battle, provided for the founding among them of an institution of learning, which has since been chartered as Williams College.
WEST SIDE.
Forti ac magnanimo EPH. WILLIAMS, Collegii Gulielmi Conditori ; Qui in hostibus patriae repellendis, prope hoc saxum cecidit ; grati alumni posuerunt, A. D. 1854.
SOUTH SIDE.
This Monument is erected by the alumni of William's College; the ground donated by E. H. ROSEKRANS, M. W. PERRINE, J. HAVILAND.
This monument and the scenes around it are now classic ground to every educated American, and are annually visited by hundreds, eager to pay the tri- bute of a pilgrimage to the shrine of a hero and patriot.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
the terrified survivors, while, as usual on such occasions, their own powers and achievements were greatly exaggerated.
Thus terminated the battle long known in fireside story and oral tradition, as the bloody morning scout, which resulted in disaster and humiliation to the English cause, and well nigh terminated the fortunes of the day. The loss of the English in this encounter was two hundred and sixteen dead, and ninety- six wounded.1 Among the officers slain were Colonel Williams; Major Ashley ; Captains Hawley, Porter, and Ingersoll; Lieu- tenants Cobb, Pomeroy, and Burt ; Ensigns Stratton and Wait, of Col. Williams's regiment alone.2 Also Captain Farrell, brother- in-law of Gen. Johnson, who was in command of a party of In- dians, Captains Stoddard, Kies and Stevens, all of whom were noted as Indian fighters,3 and officers of ability and repute. The French and their Indian allies also lost heavily in this af- fair. Among the killed was M. de St. Pierre, the leader of the Indians, an officer of distinction and merit, whose loss was greatly deplored by the savages under his command. But few prisoners were taken on either side, as nearly all were de- spatched by the tomahawk and scalping knife as soon as they had fallen, both parties being at short intervals in possession of the battle-field. Of the Mohawks thirty-eight were killed, and twelve wounded. Those who survived declined further partici- pation in the action of the day. They still remained with the army to watch the fortunes of the battle, and seize upon any opportunity which might present to secure scalps. They be- wailed the loss of their brave and favorite chief, and it was with difficulty that they were restrained after the battle from execut- ing their vengeance on the persons of the unfortunate captives.
1 Letter from Dr. Williams, surgeon of Col. Williams's regiment, quoted by Dwight in his Travels, vol. III, p. 354.
2 Gen. Johnson to the governors of the several colonies. Doc'y. Hist. N. Y., vol. II, p. 693.
" Very few were made prisoners, for the principal part that fell into the hands of the enemy were dispatched with the tomahawk, among whom was Captain Porter. He was seized by the Indians, tied to a trce, and barbarously hacked in pieces."- Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches, p. 278.
3 " Captain Kies was a soldier under the unfortunate Lovewell, in the expedition against the Pigwackets, in 1724, and was there severely wounded. In the retreat of Williams's shattered detachment, he received a mortal wound, was left resting against a tree and tomahawked. Like Lieutenant Robbins in Lovewell's affair, he requested his friends to leave him a loaded musket, and when the Indians came up, the report of his gun was heard, and the next day he was found mangled at the place where he was left."- Id.
297
DEATH OF KING HENDRICK.
The son of Hendrick on being informed that his father was killed, gave the usual groan on such occasions, and suddenly putting his hand on his left breast, swore that his father was still alive in that place, and stood there in his son.1 The san- guinary skirmish just recorded, was partly fought within the present limits of the town of Queensbury.
Intent upon following up his success, Dieskau pressed on at the head of his regulars, who moved steadily forward in the narrow roadway, until within musket shot of the barricade, when they commenced firing by platoons.2 In his effort to urge the Canadians forward on the flank, the brave baron received three gun shot wounds in the thighs of both legs, which at once dis- abled him, and he was placed for security behind a tree. About the same time a fierce assault was made on the right of the English camp by the Canadians and Indians. The echoes of the artillery, however, speedily discouraged the latter and they soon retired from the conflict, and seeing the enemy retreating, the sturdy provincials leaped the barricade and followed hotly
1 Drake's Book of the Indians ..- Book v, p. 40. ·
2 About half an hour after eleven, the enemy appeared in sight, and marched along the road in very regular order directly upon our centre ; they inade a small halt about 150 yards from our breast-work, when the regular troops (whom we judged to be such by their bright and fixed bayonets) made the grand and centre attack. The Canadians and Indians squatted and dispersed on our flanks. The enemy's fire we received first from their regulars in platoons, but it did no great execution, being at too great a distance, and our men defended by the breast-work. Our artillery then began to play on them, and was served under the direction of Captain Eyre, during the whole engagement, in a manner very advantageous to his character, and those concerned in the management of it. The engagement now became general on both sides. The French regulars kept their ground and order for some time with great resolution and good conduct, but the warm and constant fire from our artillery and troops put them into disorder ; their fire be- came more scattered and unequal, and the enemy's fire on our left grew very faint. They moved then to the right of our encampment, and attacked Colonel Ruggles, Colonel Williams, and Colonel Titcomb's regiment, where they main- tained a very warm fire for near an hour, still keeping up their fire in the other parts of our line tho' not very strong. The three regiments on the right supported the attack very resolutely, and kept a constant and strong fire upon the enemy. This attack failing, and the artillery still playing along the line, we found their fire very weak, with considerable intervals. This was about four o'clock, when our men and the Indians jumped over the breast-work, pursued the enemy, slaugh- tered numbers, and took several prisoners, amongst whom was the Baron de Dies- kau, the French general of all the regular forces lately arrived from Europe, who was brought to my tent about six o'clock, just as a wound I had received was dressed. The whole engagement and pursuit ended about seven o'clock." Gen. Johnson to the Board of Trade. Doc'y Hist. of N. Y., vol. II, p. 693.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
in pursuit for some distance. The command of the French forces now devolved upon the Chevalier de Montreuil, who or- dered the retreat to be sounded, after vainly endeavoring to persuade the baron to be carried from the field on a litter. A little while later, the baron was again shot through the hips by a renegade Frenchman, who approaching him to rifle him, mis- took a movement of the baron, who put his hand in his pocket to surrender his watch, and supposed that he was hunting for a pistol to shoot him. The general exclaimed " You rascal why did you fire at me ? you see a man lying on the ground bathed in blood, and you fire, Eh ?" He answered " how did I know but you had a pistol ? I prefer to kill the devil, than that the devil kill me." " You are a Frenchman, then ? " " Yes" he re- plied. " It is more than ten years since I left Canada."] The baron, after being plundered and stripped, was conveyed to the English camp, and every pains taken to render his condition comfortable. He was afterwards conveyed in a litter to Fort Edward, and thence to New York, where he complained bitterly of falling into the hands of unskillful surgeons. He went to England and was not exchanged until after peace was declared. He died about the commencement of the American revolution, of the wounds received in this engagement. Early in the ac- tion General Johnson received a painful wound in the hip which disabled him from any further duty. The command of the English forces fell upon Major General Lyman, who with great spirit and energy conducted the defense and to whom a great portion of the day's success is justly due.
The same morning, intelligence being brought by Indian runners to Fort Lyman, that some wagoners on the way to Lake George had been waylaid and killed, a party of sixty men belonging to a New Hampshire regiment, was sent out to scour the woods, which, on the report of the firing in the morning engagement, was strengthened by a reinforcement of two hun- dred men from the New York, and New Hampshire regiments, under the command of Capt. McGinnis, with orders to proceed to the assistance of the troops at the head of the lake. When they had reached a point in the road about four miles from the head of the lake, they came upon the enemy's baggage (for it seems the French had no thought and had made no provision for an attack in the rear), under the guard of five or six men,
1 Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. x, p. 343.
299
BLOODY POND.
who had clambered to the top of a neighboring eminence to ob- tain a lookout towards the lake. Placing a heavy ambush in the vicinity of the baggage and making their way, unperceived by the guard, they passed over the hill and came unexpectedly upon a party of three hundred Canadians and Indians who were sitting by a small body of water in the valley beyond.
These were skulkers who had dropped out of Dieskau's ranks, and were refreshing themselves from the contents of their packs as they were seated around the margin of the pond. The pro- vincial officers, urged on by their men, determined to make an attack, and cautiously surrounded the enemy without being dis- covered. At a given signal a withering fire was delivered, which slaughtered great numbers.
The few survivors sprang up and before being put to flight rallied to the attack and a fierce skirmish ensued, in which twelve of the Americans were killed, and Captains McGinnis and Folsom, their commanding officers, were seriously wounded. It was in this famous affair that the celebrated ranger and scout Robert Rogers made his debut in action.1 The Baron de Lon- gueil who was in command of the Canadians and Indians, was also reported as being mortally wounded at this time.2 Tradi- tion states that the bodies of the dead, to the number of two hundred and upwards, were rolled into the pool, and that sur- vivors of the action walked dry shod over the pond on the piled up corpses. For weeks the waters bore the sanguinary stain of the carnage, and gave to this stagnant forest pool, the sig- nificant name of Bloody pond.3 After defeating this party,
1 Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches, p. 281.
2 Relation of M. de Vaudreuil. Doc's. relating to the Colonial Hist. of N. Y., vol. x. p. 323.
3 " Immediately beyond Fort Edward the country assumed a dreary, cheerless aspect. Between this and Lake George, a distance of about twelve miles, it was almost an entire wood, acquiring a deeper gloom, as well from the general preva- lence of pines, as from its dark, extended covert being presented to the imagination as an appropriate scene for the treasons, stratagems and spoils of savage hostility. It was in this tract of country that several actions had been fought ; that Baron Dieskau had been defeated ; and that American blood had flowed, as well as En- glish and French ; in commemoration of which, the terror we attach to the adven- titious circumstances which seem to accelerate man's doom, had given to a piece of standing water, near the road the name 'Bloody pond.' The descending sun had shed a browner horror on the wilderness ; and as we passed the dismal pool, we experienced that transient emotion of commiseration, which is natural* to the mind, when contemplating past events, involving the fall of friends, the fortune of war and the sad lot of human kind. Denique ob casus bellorum et sortem hominum."- Graydon's Memoirs.
300
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
the English detachment in pursuance of orders continued on towards the camp, and came up just as the French were retreat- ing, firing upon them, taking several prisoners and giving the finishing stroke to their defeat.1 Of the French who escaped, several who went in good faith to take their baggage were killed.2 The scene of this ambuscade is supposed to be at the crest of the hill just north of George Brown's half-way-house. After sundown the stragglers of the Canadians and Indians, joined the regulars who had escaped to the mountain, and half a league further on, they bivouacked for the night. The locality of this halt is believed to have been at the outlet of the Big pond, at the foot of French mountain.
Thus terminated this eventful day, in which the first English victory of the campaign had been achieved; the untaught pro- vincials found themselves matched against, and conquerors of the disciplined troops, fresh from continental fields of fame. Its remote bearings and immediate effects cannot well be over estimated, being most important to the future of the American colonists, and the success of the English arms. England promptly recognized its value by conferring on General John- son, a baronetcy, and £5000, the only titular acknowledgment ever made by the British crown to its colonial dependents.
This day's work, whose leading events have been here re- corded, was but the terrible prelude to the tragic scenes of a series of frontier struggles which blended the tramp of mar- shalled hosts, the clash of arms, the savage yell of defiance, the bugle call of alarm and the pæan of victory; that only ter- minated in the expulsion of the French from that broad domain which stretches from the head waters of the Beautiful river to the frigid fastnesses of the Arctic circle. In this protracted struggle the long line of the wilderness border, of which Queens- bury was the centre, was sodden with the life blood of five generations of warriors, comprising the flower of our forest chivalry. The remainder of the season was consumed in com-
Alexander Graydon was despatched by the continental authorities, in the first year of the revolutionary war, with a quantity of specie to pay off the troops under Schuyler in the northern department. At Fort Edward he met, on their return, Franklin, Carroll, and Chase, the commissioners who had been fruitlessly de- spatched by congress, to induce the Canadians to join the Americans in throwing off the British yoke. It was on this excursion that the foregoing was written.
1 T. Pownall to the lords of trade. Documents relating to the Colonial Hist. of N.Y. See vol. VI, p. 1008.
2 Ibid, vol. x, p. 323. M. de Vaudreuil to M. de Machault.
301
FORT WILLIAM HENRY.
pleting the defenses at the head of Lake George, and the erec- tion of a substantial fortification, which was named in honor of William Henry 1 the duke of Cumberland, and brother of King George the third.
' Col. Montressor, in a communication to Capt. Green, states that " Major Eyre began Fort William Henry, in September, and it was finished by the end of November, following, being an irregular square of about 300 feet each side with Provincials alone and that without any expense."- Doc. Hist. of N. Y., vol. IV. p. 525.
WILLIAM EYRE was appointed, 7th January, 1756, major of the 44th foot which suffered so much in Braddock's expedition ; he built, the same year, Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, since celebrated by Col. Munro's gallant defense of that post in 1757. In January, 1758, Maj. Eyre was commis- sioned engineer in ordinary ; and in July following, lieutenant colonel in the army, and afterwards lieutenant colonel of the 55th. In the course of Amherst's campaign, he was engaged in strengthening Fort Edward, and in July, 1759, was appointed chief engineer of the army, and soon after laid out the ground for a new fort at Ticonderoga. In the month of October, 1759, he became lieutenant colonel of his old regiment, the 44th. He accompanied Amherst from Oswego to Montreal in 1760, and remained in America until 1764, in the fall of which year he was unfortunately drowned, in the prime of his life, on his passage to Ireland. In his profession as an engineer, he was exceedingly eminent, and an honor to his country, having arrived at that rank solely by his merit. The service and the army, to whom he was a shining ornament, sustained a very considerable loss by his death .- Wilson's Orderly Book, p. 27-8, note. Munsell's Historical Series.
302
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
CHAPTER III.
EVENTS FOLLOWING THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE .- ENGAGEMENT AT THE HALF-WAY BROOK, IN 1756 - INCURSION OF CANADIANS AND INDIANS UNDER MARIN - PRISONERS CAPTURED NEAR FORT ED- WARD - INVESTMENT, CAPITULATION AND SURRENDER OF THE GARRISON AT FORT WILLIAM HENRY - SCENES OF MASSACRE FOLLOWING - CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN ON THE NORTHERN BORDER.
T an early period in the French war, a block house and stockaded enclosure had been erected at the Half-way brook, partly as a depot for provisions, and military stores, and partly as a resting place for soldiers and teamsters on their way to and from the important posts of Fort William Henry and Fort Edward. The date of its construction would seem to have been in 1755, for in that year the French scouts and runners, reported to their chief that the English had erected posts every two leagues from the head of Lake George to Albany. This post was strengthened and en- larged materially in 1759, and the name of Fort Amherst con- ferred upon it in honor of the commander-in-chief of the English army. It was situated on the north side of the brook, and to the west of the plank road leading to the head of Lake George. The old military road led across the brook about four rods above the present crossing. A part of the old abutments, tim- bers and causeway are yet visible. It was capable of accommo- dating upwards of eight hundred men, and was protected by redoubts, rifle pits, earthworks, and a palisade of hewn timbers.2
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