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 47
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1 " The massacre at Allen's was caused by his endeavor to prevent the savages from appropriating to their own use the food that had been prepared for his family's dinner. Such murders were not confined to copper colored savages, for about that time, at Fort Miller, Israel Fuller was slain by John Newell, who was [in turn] killed, as well as Capt. Sherwood, and many more like them [being a part of the detachment of Col. Baum] at Walloomschaick."- Judge Hay's Narra- tive.
2 Before the campaign was over Burgoyne said he "would have given all his Indians, provincials, and volunteers, for fifty British troops."- Lossing's Life of Schuyler, vol. II, p. 384. . .
452
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
On the same day, and in the same neighborhood, a family by the name of Barnes was massacred.1 Also the same day and by the same hands John White was murdered on their route from Allen's house to Fort Edward.2 The following morning occurred the famous Jane McCrea tragedy, in which by the same ruthless, bloodthirsty hand, that hapless maiden was killed, and Lieut. Van Vechten and several soldiers stationed on Fort Edward hill as an advanced picket post were shot. The scalps of all were taken.3 The bodies of the two former were stripped of their clothing, and rolled part way down a hill de- scending to a ravine toward the river. Here the bodies were found the following morning by a file of soldiers sent out in search. The main body of the American army had already moved down the river, (on the 26th) to Moses kill, where the engineers corps, of whom the celebrated Polish patriot Kosciusko was chief, had selected a commanding point, and recommended that it be fortified with a view to opposing the enemy's further progress. Here the American army now lay encamped. Col. John McCrea, Jenny's brother, had been left behind in charge of the rear guard, and now lingered with the last bateau load of stores, in waiting for the remains of his sister. Two women whom he had brought from his home opposite Fort Miller for that purpose, prepared the body for burial. The fort was abandoned and with the two bodies, accompanied by an escort in advance, the last detachment of American soldiers, that lay between the navigable waters of the Hudson and Burgoyne's army, moved forward to the southward. The bodies were buried by the banks of a small stream about three miles below the fort.
Through the activity and vigilance of General Phillips, to whom, states Burgoyne,4 "I had committed the important part
1 Wilson's Life of Jane McCrea, p. 106.
2 Manuscript of Judge Hay.
3 William Griffing,1 a tory, who lived a short distance east of the Baker and Hoffnagle place on Sandy Hill, kept a tavern which was quite a place of resort for the tories during the war. Here the exultant party of Indians brought and exhibited the reeking scalp of Jane McCrea. - Relation of Miss Keziah Baker.
4State of the Expedition. London, 1780, p. 12. From the 11th of July, General Phillips had charge of the duty of forwarding boats and transporting supplies across the portage and through Lake George. In one of his despatches Burgoyne says, " in the mean time, all possible diligence is using at Ticonderoga to get the
1 After the close of the war, Griffing removed with his family to the neighborhood of French mountain where he died.
453
GENERAL BURGOYNE'S MOVEMENTS.
of forwarding all the necessaries from Ticonderoga, a great embarkation arrived at Fort George1 on July 29th. I took possession of the country near Fort Edward on the same day." The draught horses, carts and cattle were at the same time for- warded up the west side of the lake by a road leading through Indian hollow, that had been cut through the wilderness during the last years of the French war. Passing through "the pitch pine plains in the march from Fort Ann to Fort Edward," 2 Burgoyne made a temporary halt in the north part of Kingsbury, establishing his head quarters at the farm house of John Jones a loyalist. The Hessians under Riedesel were encamped in the vicinity of the old burial ground back of the Baker place, the grenadiers lay at Moss street about two miles north of Sandy Hill, and the light infantry under Fraser, which at first bi- vouacked near head quarters, was in a short period moved for- ward into camp at the top of Fort Edward hill.3 The Indians and tories in flying parties on the flanks scoured the country in every direction, committing murder, rapine, and outrage as they went. The greater portion of the dwellings of Kingsbury, Queensbury, and Fort Edward were burnt. 4
An American whose name has not been handed down, was hung by a band of tories on the yellow pine tree, whose stump still remains opposite the old Buckbee place, on the road to Sandy Hill." The fortified camp at South Glen's Falls 6 was
gun boats, provision vessels, and a proper quantity of bateaux into Lake George. A corps of the army will be ordered to penetrate by that route, which will after- wards be the route for the magazines, and a junction of the whole is intended at Fort Edward."
1 The British had taken possession of Fort George, or what remained of it, the same day it was evacuated by the Americans.
2 Sic. State of the Expedition, p. 34. In a map of the country made at this time the region east of the road running through Kingsbury to Fort Edward is named the open pine plains.
3 Barber's Historical Collections of N. Y., p. 347.
4 " The other day I came across a statement of McCracken's that the British de- stroyed Kingsbury, Queensbury and part of Fort Edward in 1777, under Bur- goyne."- Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan to the author. Other testimony is sufficient and conclusive to the same effect.
. 5 Tradition in the Moon family related by Mrs. Peter Peck. Suspected persons on either side, had in those days but short shrift and scant mercy. Burgoyne writing to Lord George Germaine says : "Another most embarrassing circum- stance is the want of communication with Sir William Howe. Of the messengers I have sent, I know of two being hanged, and am ignorant whether any of the rest arrived, The same fate has probably attended those despatched by Sir William for only one letter has come to hand."- Memoirs of John Stark, p. 72. " Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, vol. I, p. 77.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
abandoned. A brisk engagement was held between a party of tories and Americans who had entrenched themselves near Doe's Corners at the foot of Palmertown mountain, in which the latter were defeated and driven off with some loss.
Mention has been made of Michael Hoffnagle, Baker's partner in the mills at Sandy Hill. He was a tory, and after Burgoyne's surrender, with many other loyalists sought safety and refuge in Canada.
His daughter Hannah, who was brought up in the same house with Albert Baker jr. (as the two families lived together), married Samuel Harris, a brother of Jonathan Harris, who, at a later period carried on the business of hatting on Sandy Hill.
At the time of Burgoyne's advance, they were residents at Moss street, where, after the war, she and her husband lived to raise a large family. She was one day, while at work baking, having just taken a batch of biscuit from the oven, surprised by a party of In- dians who rushed in, seized, and bound her, and took the baby from the cradle, a prisoner also. One of the number of her dusky tormentors, took the cradle quilt, a handsome and elaborate patchwork affair, the love labor of young maternity, and filled it with the smoking hot biscuit just from the oven. With other prisoners the young mother and her babe were hurried along on a forced march toward Canada. Coming along, shortly after her start, to a party of Hessians, she made a piteous appeal to them in herfather's native tongue, when without command, but with one consent, they drew their long sabres, and advanced upon the Indians in a resolute and threatening manner, which caused the latter to retire to the woods, abandoning their victims but carrying off the blanket and the biscuit, while the mother joyfully seized her child and returned in safety to her home.1
1 Relation of Miss Keziah Baker, who also tells the following quaint anecdote of the Hessians. Duncan Shaw, a Scotchman, who had for his neighbors the Gil- christs and McDougalls, lived east of Dunham's basin, on the corner leading to Argyle. Here the Hessians came day after day during Burgoyne's advance calling for " Meelick, Meelick ;" until finally the old lady's patience became exhausted, and in language more forcible than elegant told them she had no more milk for them, unless they ripped open the Hessians to get it.
455
GEN. SCHUYLER RELIEVED OF COMMAND.
CHAPTER XIII.
GENERAL GATES ASSUMES THE COMMAND OF THE NORTHERN ARMY - GENERAL RIEDESEL ORDERED TO JOHN'S FARM - ARRIVAL OF MADAME RIEDESEL AT THE HEAD OF LAKE GEORGE - AFFAIR AT DIAMOND ISLAND - BRITISH GARRISON AT FORT EDWARD MADE PRI- SONERS BY GENERAL STARK - SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE'S ARMY - TRIAL OF GENERAL SCHUYLER - ELECTION OF TOWN OFFICERS IN 1778 - DISTURBANCES AT FORT EDWARD - SEIZURE OF SERENUS PARKS THE TORY - TORY RAIDS AND REPRISALS - AFFAIR AT FORT MILLER - ARREST OF OLD MOSES HARRIS BY THE TORIES - CAP- TURE OF OLIVER GRAHAM - VISIT OF TORIES TO JOHNSTOWN.
N the first of August, Genl. Schuyler was ordered by a resolution of congress to report at headquarters, and, at the same time, the commander-in-chief was required to designate some general officer to assume the command, thus vacated. The clamor of the New England representatives had finally wrought its work, and their pressing demands at length secured from congress the appointment of General Gates to the command of the northern army. Thus was lost to the service through dishonorable intrigue, and po- litical mismanagement in the interest of ambitious rivals, one of the most capable executive officers in the country. Gates did not join the army until the 19th. In the meantime the battle of Bennington had been fought and won. Hundreds of the militia from the east, aroused by the threatened danger, had rallied responsive to the appeal for help, and were wending their way to the American camp, under the command of the cool and intrepid Lincoln. Col. Morgan with his veteran corps of riflemen had been detached from the southern army and sent north to cooperate in the attempt to check Burgoyne's ad- vance. The American army having retired down the river first to Saratoga,1 and afterwards to the sprouts of the Mohawk, where on the Delta and neighboring main land they en- trenched themselves, Burgoyne had advanced2 in the direction
1 " In a letter to Genl. Putnam, dated Germantown, 7th August, 1777, Washing- ton says, " by the last accounts, our army had fallen down to Saratoga." -- Life® and Writings of Washington, vol. v, p. 23.
2 The royal army moved forward to Fort Edward, and took possession of that post on the 30th of July. On arriving at the Hudson, the English 'were seized
456
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
of Albany as far as Fort Miller where he made his head quarters at the residence of Judge Duer, then a member of congress, and who was at that time in attendance upon his official duties. His main army at this time was encamped near the confluence of the Batten kill with the Hudson. A bridge of boats was thrown across the river, over which Fraser's corps passed and occupied the heights of Saratoga, where he established a forti- fied camp.1
" On the 8th of August, General Riedesel was detached with three battalions to John's farm,2 between Forts George and Edward, for the purpose, not only of covering the communica- tion with Fort George, but to promote the conveyance of the convoy to the army. There, in that place, he was completely cut off from the army ! So he entrenched himself in a strongly fortified camp, that he might be able to defend himself to the last man."3
From this time to the 11th of September, he was busily en- gaged in the transportation of baggage, supplies, and war material from the head of Lake George to the army below. " Those articles however, which might be more needed, were only sent back as far as Diamond island in Lake George, seven miles from Fort George, that they might be close at hand in case of need. At the same time two companies of the 47th regiment were sent with them as a garrison; only thirty men and one officer being left at Fort George, as the communica- tion with the lake was to be given up for the present. In pur- suance with this plan the two companies of the 53d regiment
with a delirium of joy.' It was the point to which they had long looked forward with the utmost eagerness. It had been reached at last, at the expense of, as it ultimately proved, the entire enterprise and venture.
1 Lossing's Life of Schuyler, vol. II, p. 292.
2 Stone's Translation of the Memoirs of Baroness Riedesel, p. 97, from which the following note is also transcribed.
" This farm was immediately north of Half-Way brook, two miles from the present pretty village of Glen's Falls."
I may be permitted to add that the late Judge Hay in some of his writings con- curred in the above statement. This locality was the site of Fort Amherst of the French war ; while the place of Riedesel's fortified camp, tradition locates at the Garrison ground, elsewhere spoken of, about one-third of a mile below, and on the opposite or south side of the stream.
3 In Stone's Memoirs of General Riedesel, vol. I, p. 137, John's farm is located at Brown's half-way house. The reasons or authority for this opinion are not given. The statement is manifestly an error, and inconsistent with other por- tions of the same narrative.
457
MOVEMENTS AGAINST DIAMOND ISLAND.
which had been hitherto stationed at Fort George, were sent to Ticonderoga, to reinforce that post."1 The entrenchments and post at Diamond island were placed in the command of Captain Aubrey, of the 47th, and before his communications with the army were cut off, his force was strengthened by the addition of a company of artillery.2
In the mean time, through the courtesy of General Burgoyne who had dispatched Captain Willoe as her escort, he was joined by his wife, the Baroness Riedesel, whose gracious womanly memoirs3 have long made her name a household word along the line of Burgoyne's march. Accompanied by her three children, all daughters, she arrived at noon, on the 14th of August, at the head of Lake George, where they were entertained by Col. Anstruther, " an exceedingly good and amiable man " to quote the words of the baroness. He was colonel of the 62d regi- ment. In the afternoon, seated in a calash they proceeded by the way of Wing's Corners, through Queensbury, to Fort Edward, where on the 15th they were joined by the general, who had left with the army4 the day before. It was about this time, or perhaps a little earlier, that a flank movement had been planned against Fort George by the way of Sacandaga river with the view of cutting off the enemy's supplies and communication. This undertaking was abandoned, or rather merged in the larger enterprise by which the forces rapidly accumulated and con- centrated through the Hampshire grants, simultaneously ad- vanced against Skenesborough, Fort Anne and Ticonderoga in separate detachments under the command respectively of Colonels Brown, Johnson and Woodbridge, General Warner with Colonel Johnson, near Mount Independence, having the general direction of the three parties; and General Lincoln at Pawlet the oversight of the entire movement. The following succinct account of the enterprise is in Burgoyne's own words.
1 Memoirs of General Riedesel translated by William L. Stone, vol. I, pp. 124-5.
2 " In 1813, when the compiler was first at Diamond island, its entrenchments were in good preservation, and a house, on the south end of the island, was occu- pied by an eccentric Englishman who styled himself Adam Larkin, commodore of Lake George, and governor of Diamond island."- MSS. of the late Judge Hay.
3 These memoirs, for some years out of print, were retranslated with corrections and emendations, by William L. Stone, the younger historian of that name, and published by Munsell in 1867.
4 The Lady Harriet Ackland also accompanied this expedition from Fort Ed- ward down, being a participant in its hardships, exposures and dangers up to the time of the final surrender.
58
458
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
" During the events stated above, an attempt was made against Ticonderoga by an army assembled under Major Gene- ral Lincoln, who found means to march with a considerable corps from Huberton' undiscovered, while another column of his force passed the mountains between Skenesborough and Lake George, and on the morning of the 18th of September, a sudden and general attack was made upon the carrying place at Lake George,2 Sugar Hill, Ticonderoga, and Mount Independence. * *
* * On the 24th inst. (September), the enemy enabled by the capture of the gunboats and bateaux which they had made after the surprise of the sloop, to embark upon Lake George, attacked Diamond island in two divisions. Capt. Aubrey, and two companies of the 47th regiment had been posted at that island from the time the army passed the Hudson's river, as a better situation for the security of the stores at the south end of Lake George, than Fort George, which is the continent, and not tenable against artillery and numbers. The
1 Sic. Hubbardton, Vt.
2 " The following extract from a letter written by Colonel Brown to General Gates, dated 'North end of Lake George, September 18, 1777,' and published in the newspapers of the time, gives the particulars of his success against the enemy. ' With great fatigue, after marching all last night, I arrived at this place at break of day and after the best disposition of the men I could make, immediately began the attack, and, in a few minutes, carried the place. I then, without loss of time, detaclied a considerable part of my men to the mill, where a great number of the enemy were posted, who also were made prisoners ; a small number of whom, having taken possession of a block house in that vicinity, were, with more difficulty brought to submission ; but at the sight of the cannon they surrendered. During these seasons of successes, Mount Defiance also fell into our hands. I have taken possession of the old French lines at Ticonderoga. I have sent a flag demanding a surrender of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in the strongest and most peremptory terms. I have had as yet no information of Colonel Johnson's attack on the Mount. My loss of men in these several actions is not more than three or four killed, and five wounded, the enemy's loss is less. I find myself in possession of 293 prisoners, * * * and retook more than one hundred of our men. * * * The water craft I have taken is one hundred and fifty bateaux, above the Falls; in Lake Champlain fifty above the Falls, including several large gun boats, and an armed sloop; arms equal to the number of prisoners ; some ammunition ; and many other things, which I cannot as yet ascertain. I must not forget to mention a few cannon, which may be of great service to us.'"- Sparks's Correspondence of the Revolution, vol. II, p. 530, note.
In regard to the demand for surrender, Burgoyne says in his letter to Lord George Germaine quoted above,- "The enemy having summoned Brigadier General Powell, and received such answer as became a gallant officer entrusted with so important a post, and having tried during the course of four days, several attacks, and being repulsed in all, retreated without having done any considerable damage."- State of the Expedition, Appendix.
459
ATTACK UPON DIAMOND ISLAND.
enemy were repulsed by Captain Aubrey with great loss,1 and pursued by the gun-boats under his command to the east shore, where two of their principal vessels were retaken, together with all the cannon. They had just time to set fire to the other bateaux, and retreated over the mountains."2
The garrison left by Burgoyne at Fort Edward were a few days afterward made prisoners by General Stark, who advanced upon that fort with a body of one thousand of the hardy yeo- manry of New Hampshire. A few days later it was increased to twenty-five hundred men and he moved down the river with this formidable and hourly increasing force, closing up the avenues of retreat toward the north.3 During this interval, the Americans had possessed themselves of the high grounds be- tween Fort Edward and Fort George, where they had thrown up entrenchments, protected by artillery.4
On the night of the 11th of October Burgoyne held a con- sultation with Generals Riedesel and Phillips, explaining his embarrassments and soliciting their advice. " General Riedesel proposed to leave the baggage and retreat on this (the west) side of the Hudson," and " to cross the river four miles above Fort Edward, and continue the march to Fort George."5
They were informed that a detachment of Americans were already throwing up a redoubt at this point and were prepared to dispute its passage.6 The end was rapidly approaching. The country in the rear was swarming with roving bands of volunteer militia, burning with patriotic ardor. In front lay an army of veterans of more than double his own numbers.7
1 The British batteries were planted at the north end of the island. After Colonel Brown's repulse he was driven into Van Wormer's bay, when, after destroying his bateaux, he made his way across the Dresden mountains to Skenesborough, which had been taken possession of by Genl. Lincoln on the 17th with a force of 700 men. - Judge Hay's manuscript, also Letter of General Lincoln to the council of Massachusetts.
2 Letter from J. Burgoyne to Lord George Germaine. Albany, 20th October, 1777.
3 Memoirs of John Stark, pp. 74-5.
4 Sears's Pictorial History of the Revolution, p. 261.
5 See map on page 341 where the old fording place and road toward Saratoga is laid down. It crossed the Sandy Hill road about a mile east of the village of Glen's Falls. The quotation in the text is from the Memoirs of General Riedesel, (Stone's translation) vol. I, p. 173.
6 Lossing's Life of General Schuyler, vol. II, p. 374.
" " The exact number of Gates's army, not counting the troops on the other side of the Hudson, was 22,350 men."- Stone's Memoirs of- Gen. Riedesel, vol. I, p. 189, note.
460
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
With a fatuity that no reasoning can account for, he had volun- tarily abandoned his communications and destroyed the roads and bridges on the route of his retreat. Harassed incessantly by foes once vanquished and despised " the vaunting general, who had boasted in the British capital that with ten thousand men he could march through the whole rebel country at pleasure, found himself"1 obliged to capitulate. The treaty or convention was signed on the 16th of October, and the follow- ing day, the army that had moved forward so proudly to triumph and conquest, laid down its arms. The country at large breathed free. The first great blow for freedom had been struck; but the scarred fields and blackened roof trees of Queensbury, showed that something more than the peaceful tenets of the Quakers was needed to arrest the ravages, and check the bold license of relentless war.2
As has already been stated, a few families remained here during all this struggle. With the new born promise of peace, the scattered and fugitive settlers returned and rebuilt their ruined homesteads, and resumed the avocations of peaceful industry.3
1 Stone's Life of Brant (1st edition), vol. I, p. 232.
2 Immediately after the capitulation General Gates dispatched the following letter to General Stark.
Camp at Saratoga, October 18, 1777.
DEAR SIR : Inclosed, I send you an exact copy of the convention signed by General Burgoyne, and ratified by me. I will forward everything necessary for your assistance ; Colonel Warner had my verbal instructions last evening. Let me very frequently hear from you by express, and be sure to keep a sharp look out upon Lake George and South bay, and between Fort Ann and Fort Edward.
I am, dear general, Your affectionate
Humble servant
The Hon'ble Brig. Gen'l. Stark .- Memoir, p. 140. HORATIO GATES.
3 The two following extracts from the Wing Manuscripts go to show the con- tinued occupancy of the settlement.
I. NOTICE of a Friends' Meeting with visitors from abroad .- Extract from Abra- ham Wing's Pocket Memorandum.
3d mo. 6, 1778.
George Dillwyn from Burlington in West Jersey accompanied by Edward Hal- lock, Isaac Vail and Paul Upton of the Nine Partners monthly meeting, were here and had a meeting.
II. MEMORANDUM concerning some horses left with Abraham Wing. Lake George the 12th Day of June A D 1778.
Mr. Abraham Wing I Cant have my Horses carried to Ticonderoga at Present and If you will Keep 2 Horses for me until the Hurry is over and then will send them up to Leonard Joneses and Desire him to send them to Ticonderoga and
461
AFTER BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER.
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