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 48
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Burgoyne's surrender was shortly followed by the evacuation of the British forts and forces not previously captured,1 as far north as Crown Point, and all the intermediate posts to Fort Edward were abandoned; thus, for a brief period, the harried and harassed denizens of the northern border had rest.
About this time was the beginning of the famous Gates- Conway cabal. In contemplation of a hostile movement against Canada, afterwards abandoned as impracticable, Gene- ral Lafayette was placed in temporary command of the northern department. Washington knew nothing of this proposed inva- sion until, as the head of the army, he received the official notice of Lafayette's appointment to the command. The great and astute chieftain lent the enterprise his countenance and encouragement, but such was the deplorable condition of the country, the destitution of supplies, and demoralized state of the army, that notwithstanding a portion of the expedition had already gathered at Albany, a consultation between Lafayette, Schuyler, Lincoln and Arnold, the latter two of whom were slowly recovering from wounds received at Saratoga, the enter- prise was reluctantly given up. During the fall, and while this project was still pending, a large scouting party of Indians was
send me an account What the cost is I will send you the money or cum this way & Pay you If I may Leave it at Leonard Joneses it will be the Handiest for me. I shall be glad to have them have good Pasture. This from yours to sarve. &c DAVID WELCH
To mr Abraham Wing
1 Thomas Chittenden, President of the Vermont Council to General Gates. " In Council, Bennington 22 November, 1777.
DEAR GENERAL,- I have the pleasure to inform your Honor of the success of our Green mountain rangers in harassing the enemy's rear, on their retreat from Ticonderoga, in which Capt. Ebenezer Allen, with fifty rangers has taken forty- nine prisoners, upwards of one hundred horses, twelve yokes of oxen, four cows, and three of the enemy's boats, &c., &c.
Major Wait, who was sent to take possession of Mount Independence, found nothing of consequence, excepting several boats which the enemy had sunk, in which there were some provisions. All barracks, houses, and bridges were burnt ; cannon, to the number of forty, broken and spiked up. He was so fortunate as to take one French sutler, with some rum, wine, brandy, &c.
Agreeably to your Honor's request for Colonel Warner to come to Albany, express was sent, and he is to set off for Albany this morning. I have the honor to be, by order of Council,
Your Honor's most obedient, humble servant, THOMAS CHITTENDEN, President.
N. B .- I beg your Honor's directions how to dispose of the prisoners."- Sparks's Letters to Washington, vol. II, p. 531.
462
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
reported as being discovered on the Sacandaga, threatening an attack of the settlements on the Mohawk river.1
During the respite from active hostilities that ensued upon the approach of winter, the committee of congress, which had been appointed to investigate the affairs of the northern depart- ment,2 reported the result of their labors to that body, by whom General Washington was instructed to order a court martial for the trial of General Schuyler, on the charge of neglect of duty. This was done at his own urgent solicitation. The trial was delayed through various causes and influences, all of which do not probably now appear. The court, of which General Lin- coln was president, finally assembled on the first of October following (1778), at the house 3 of Reed Ferriss (one of the early proprietors of the township of Queensbury), in the town of . Pawling, Dutchess county, N. Y., near Washington's late head- quarters at Quaker Hill. A thorough and exhaustive examina- tion of the evidence resulted in a verdict of not guilty, and the brave and patriotic general stood triumphantly vindicated before the world. Too late, however, for his proud and sorely tried spirit to overlook the past, or forget the unmerited con- tumely cast upon him. His martial career was ended, and ano- ther had entered into and reaped the rich harvest of his pre- scient forethought, ceaseless care, and unwearying labors.
The great military operations of the next two years being removed to the southern part of the state, the seaboard, and navigable streams, where the powerful British fleet could lend its efficient cooperation, but little remains to be recorded during that period in regard to public events in this region. A small garrison was retained at Fort Edward,4 which, for several months, was the frontier post on the great northern military route.
1 Stone's Life of Brant, vol. I, p. 291.
2 On the 20th of January the committee was ordered to proceed in the discharge of its duty, and its report was submitted to congress on the 5th of February fol- lowing .- Vide Lossing's Life of Schuyler, vol. II, pp. 314-15.
' This building is said to be still standing.
4 Even this slight barrier it was proposed to abandon the following winter as appears by the following extract of a letter from Gen. Washington to General Stark, dated 8th October, 1778.
" I would not have you build barracks at Fort Edward. The troops now there may winter at Saratoga, where are good barracks for three hundred men.
" If there should be a necessity of keeping a small command at Fort Edward, a hut or two may be easily erected for that purpose."- Memoir of General Stark, p. 192.
463
TOWN RECORDS.
The town book from which the following record is taken, exhibits the usual election of town officers for the spring of 1778.
" At an annual town meeting held in Queensbury on Tuesday ye 5 Day of May 1778 for the Township of Queensbury :
1 voted. Abraham Wing, Moderator.
2 voted. Benjamin Wing, Town Clerk.
3 voted. Abraham Wing, Supervisor.
4 voted. James Higson, Constable.
5 voted. John Graves, Constable.
6 voted. Ebenezer Fuller, Phinehas Babcock and Nehemiah Sealey, Assessors.
7 voted. Ebenezer Fuller, Pathmaster.
8 voted. Nehemiah Sealey and Benjamin Wing, Overseers of the Poor.
9 voted. Phinehas Babcock, Collector.
10 voted. Abraham Wing, Town treasurer.
11 voted. Abraham Wing, Jur., Pound keeper.
12 voted. Nehemiah Sealey and Benjamin Wing, Viewers of fence and prizers of Damage."
The acrimonious feelings engendered by the hot partisan strife, which had enlisted in the fierce conflict of arms, all the worst attributes of human nature, and, but too often, found brothers and even father and son arrayed against each other in hostile camps, after the storm of battle passed by, found ex- pression in a vindictive determination to rid the county of Charlotte of the tory element, always defiant, malicious and cruel, and which, for a twelve month had been dominant and exultant throughout its wide spread borders1. The following
1 Extract of a letter from Duncan Campbell to John McKesson.
" Argyle Dec. 12th, 1777.
" SIR - Some fiery men openly declare that they will drive off all the Scots and Irish as tories from Argyle and New Perth, so that unless the good legislature interposes and help, then Canada and the depths of poverty will be our final doom."- Journal of the N. Y. Provincial Congress, vol. II, p. 351.
Part of a letter from Jno. Younglove commissioner of sequestrations for the northern department of county of Albany, to the president of the council of safety, dated Cambridge (Charlotte county), December 2d, 1777.
" There is likewise another set of men that took protection and then went home to their work ; we want to know what to do with them, and concerning their es- tates. There is likewise a set of them that has been with Burgoyne through the campaign ; and just before the capitulation, ran from him and came home, and now are devouring the provisions that the friends suffer for ; and the populace is
464
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
letter from General Stark, who had been in command of the northern department since the opening of spring,1 to the com- mandant of the post at Fort Edward, throws some light upon the disturbed and unsettled state of the country, at this time.
" Albany, May 21, 1778.
"To Colonel Safford, SIR : Doctor Smith complains that the troops at Fort Edward are turning out the inhabitants and de- stroying the buildings at that place. I should be glad that such disorders should be suppressed, and the inhabitants' property secured.
"I received a letter from you, directed to General Conway, in- forming him that you expected that the cannon would be at Fort Anne. I should be glad to know where they are now ?? You mentioned teams to be sent from this place. Col. Lewis not being here, I can give no information in that matter. I ex- pect him soon, when I can give you an account. Keep a good look out for the enemy, so that they do not come upon you unawares. " Your most obedient humble servant, " JOHN STARK."
The following month Serenus Parks, a tory residing near the Harris settlement in the north part of the town, was arrested as appears by the following communication occurring among the Wing papers.3
determined to drive them off or kill them. If something is not speedily done with them, we fear the consequence, if they are left amongst us."- Journal of the N. Y. Provincial Congress, vol. II, p. 351.
1 " Early in 1777 he was ordered to assume the command of the northern de- partment at Albany. For this service. he had very few reliable troops, and was obliged to depend for support, at times, upon the militia."- Memoir of John Stark, p. 80.
2 On the 24th of May, Gen. Stark writes to Gates that he had been informed by Colonel Safford, that all the cannon had been brought by him as far as Fort Anne."- Memoir of John Stark, p. 151.
Idem, p. 158. Stark writes (p. 151), that he expects an attack, as the enemy's vessels are coming near Crown Point.
3 The following extract from a letter of General Stark to the president of the New Hampshire congress will give some idea of the disturbed state of the country at this time.
" They (the people) do very well in the hanging way. They hanged nine on the 16th of May, on the 5th of June nine ; and have one hundred and twenty in jail, of which, I believe, more than one half will go the same way. Murder and robberies are committed every day in this neighborhood. So you may judge of my situation, with the enemy on my front, and the devil in my rear." Dated Albany; 28th June, 1778 .- Memoir of Gen. Stark, p. 173.
465
PARTISAN STRIFE.
" Stillwater, 18th of June, 1778,
"Sir we have Received yours of the 16th Inst. in which you have Sent us mr. Parks & Jackson's Crime as Pr. Complaint, we let you know that our Next meeting will be at the house of James Swarts at Saratoga on Thursday the 26th Inst. and as by order of Convention we are the Proper Judges of Persons of our own district in actions cognizable before a Sub Committee we therefore demand that the Sd Parks & Jackson shall be forth- with delivered to the Costody of Ensign Isac Doty - who is hereby authorized to Receive them in order that they may be caused to appear before us at the time and Place above men- tioned when the Complainants may have opportunity to Produce their Evidence and Proceed to tryal
By order of Committee, GEORGE PALMER, Chairman."
On the 8th of June, there were only twenty men at Fort 1 Edward,1 and no mention made of any force at Fort George, or the smaller posts between.
This season, memorable in the annals of the times for the fearful massacres and butcheries at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, was also signalized by an irruption into Tryon county of which the following graphic description is copied verbatim from Stone's Life of Brant.2
" In the month of June, the loyalists who had fled to Canada with Sir John Johnson, to the number of one hundred and up- ward, performed an exploit equally bold and remarkable, which naturally suggests the inquiry, where were the whigs of Tryon county at that time ; and in what were they engaged.
" The incident to which reference is had, was the return of those self same loyalists for their families, whom they were per- mitted to collect together, and with whom they were suffered to depart into the country, and the active service of the enemy. Nor was this all. Not only was no opposition made to their proceedings, but on their way they actually committed flagrant acts of hostility, destroyed property, and took several prisoners. Having completed their arrangements, they moved northward from Fort Hunter, through Fonda's Bush, making four prison-
1 Gates to Stark .- Memoirs, p. 161.
2 Original edition, vol. I, p. 309.
59
466
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
ers on their way thither,1 and at Fonda's Bush five others.2 From this place they proceeded across the great marsh to Sir , William Johnson's fish house on the Sacandaga, capturing a man named Martin, and another named Harris, on the way, and at the fish house taking a brave fellow named Solomon Wood- worth and four others.3
"They burnt the house and outbuildings of Godfrey Shew at this place, and departed with their prisoners, leaving the women and children homeless. Embarking on the Sacandaga in light canoes, previously moored at that place for the purpose, they descended twenty-five miles to the Hudson, and thence, by the way of Lake George and Champlain to St. Johns in safety. The day after his capture, Woodworth succeeded in making his escape. At St. Johns, John Shew and four others were given up to the Indians, by whom they were taken to their village in Canada. They were neither considered nor treated exactly as prisoners of war; and Shew, with three of his companions, soon afterward escaped and returned home.4 From St. Johns the loyal party proceeded down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, where the residue of the prisoners were kept in close confine- ment about four months. Some of the number died, and the remainder were sent to Halifax, and thence exchanged by the way of Boston."
It was during this season, as nearly as can be ascertained, that Levi Crocker of Fort Miller was taken prisoner,5 while at work in the fields near his home, by a party of tories, of which some were friends and neighbors. Hereceived such abuse, in- dignity, and insult, that he said to one of his captors, " Tom, there will come a time when I will make you bite the dust for this !" After some months' incarceration, he was fortunate enough to escape from his prison, and return to his home at Fort Miller in safety. One day, a member of the family dis- covered the offending tory, making his way across the lower end of their garden. Crocker, who happened to be in the house,
' Mr. Cough and his son, and Mr. Marinus and his son.
2 John Putnam Jr., Mr. Salisbury, Mr. Rice, Mr. Joseph Scott, and Mr. Bowman.
3 Godfrey Shew, and his three sons, John, Stephen and Jacob.
4 " In the autumn of 1780, young Shew was again captured by a scouting party of Indians and tories, in the woods in the neighborhood of Ballston, and at the instigation of one of the latter, named John Parker, was immediately murdered. Parker was himself soon afterward taken as a spy by Captain Bernett of the mili- tia, carried to Albany, tried, convicted and executed."-Stone ut supra.
5 Relation of Miss Keziah Baker.
467
CROCKER'S VENGEANCE.
was immediately notified, and, taking down his gun, which was always loaded in those days of peril and danger, he stepped to the door, and deliberately shot him. While writhing and wal- lowing on the ground in his death agony, Crocker advanced to the spot where the dying man laid, and reminded him of his former treachery, and his own threat and promise now literally made good.
Among the pioneer settlers of the Bradshaw patent was Moses Harris,1 father of the spy whose exploits have already been in part narrated. Like his brother Gilbert2, the tory, he was also a militia man at the time of the capture of Port Royal. In consequence of this service he became entitled to bounty- land, and it was probably while endeavoring to locate his scrip, that he settled in the north-western part of Kingsbury. He was arrested about the time of the occurrence of the events just narrated, at the house of his brother Gilbert. The latter, well knowing that Moses was fully cognizant of his evil doings, insisted that he should be taken into Canada as a prisoner, even if he died on the route, he being not only advanced in years, but in feeble health at the time, but Andrew Rakely,3 who was in charge or command of the party of tories, resolutely opposed the proposition, saying, " he is an old man, and if he goes, the fatigue and exposure will kill him." To this Gilbert unfeelingly responded, " let him die then." The matter was finally com- promised by Moses taking an oath not to reveal anything so long as the war lasted, which would prejudice Gilbert's interests or bring him into disrepute with his whig neighbors. - After the war, Joseph Harris, Moses' son, out of gratitude for this unusual act of kindness, sent word to Rakely in Canada, that if he would come down and settle on it, he would give him one hundred acres of as good farming land as this section of country afforded.4
About the same time, a lad by the name of Oliver Graham,
1 It is stated traditionally, that old Moses Harris after the close of the war emi- grated to the then new state of Kentucky, whither he had been preceded by some of his children, and where he died.
2 Old Gil. Harris found Kingsbury an unhealthy neighborhood to live in, after the war was, ended. He removed, it is said, to Bolton, and died, and was buried somewhere in the vicinity of Basin bay on Lake George.
3 Andrew Rikely, as given me by my informant, but as the name already appears in this work according to the spelling in the text, to avoid confusion I have thought best to follow Judge Hay's orthography.
4 Relation of Miss Keziah Baker.
1
468
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
being with a party of three or four others on their way from Fort Edward, was shot at and wounded by a party of tories con- cealed on the route, of whom Gil Harris was one. One of the number exclaimed, as he was about to fire, " Why that's little Oliver Graham, don't kill him; " to which Harris savagely re- plied, " Yes! damn him! let's kill all." The poor fellow on finding himself wounded, jumped from the roadway into the woods on the opposite side from which the gun was fired, and fell into the hands of another party in ambush, by whom he was taken a prisoner to Canada, where he remained until after the close of the war, when he returned again to Sandy Hill.1
Late in the summer, considerable bodies of troops were stationed at Otter creek, Fort Edward, Fort Schuyler, and one or two other stations in anticipation of tory forays into the country.2
That these precautions were needed but ineffective appears from a communication of General Stark, who speaks of the detention of a captain with a flag of truce by the British com- mander at Crown Point, and also some of the inhabitants of the vicinity being detained on board the enemy's vessels.3
The events of the year 1778, as relates to this section, were wound up by another tory raid by the way of Lake George and the Sacandaga. The details of this expedition are related as follows by Stone in his Life of. Brant.4
" Much has been said in the traditions of Tryon county, and somewhat, also, in the courts of law, in cases involving titles to real estate formerly in the family of Sir William Johnson, re- specting the burial of an iron chest, by his son Sir John, pre- vious to his flight to Canada, containing the most valuable of his own and his father's papers. Late in the autumn of the present year, General Haldimand, at the request of Sir John, sent a party of between forty and fifty men privately to Johns- town, to dig up and carry the chest away. The expedition was successful ; but the chest not being sufficiently tight to prevent the influence of dampness from the earth, the papers had be-
1 Relation of Miss Keziah Baker. About this time Hoffnagle, (or Huffnail as he was called) Baker's partner in the mills at Sandy Hill, who was a tory, also escaped to Canada, probably with the same party named in the text.
2 Memoir of Stark, p. 217.
8 Idem, pp. 190-1.
4 Vol. I, p. 393.
469
THE BURIED IRON CHEST.
come mouldy, rotten and illegible, when taken up. The infor- mation respecting this expedition was derived in the spring following, from a man named Helmer,1 who composed one of the party, and assisted in disinterring the chest."
1 This person was arrested the following spring and executed as a spy. The foregoing information and statement in the text, is derived from the minutes of the court martial .- Id.
H.FERGUSON.ALBANY.
NA OCRØV
JOHNSON HALL.
470
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
CHAPTER XIV.
CAMPAIGN OF 1780 -INVESTMENT, CAPTURE, AND DESTRUCTION OF SKENESBOROUGH - ANNUAL TOWN MEETING - QUEENSBURY AGAIN STRIPPED OF ITS RESOURCES - ADVENTURE OF JUSTUS SEELYE - SIR JOHN JOHNSON'S INCURSION TO THE MOHAWK VALLEY - GENERAL HALDIMAND REOCCUPIES FORT TICONDEROGA -TORY RAVAGES IN VERMONT - COL. WARNER ASSIGNED TO DUTY ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER - MAJOR SHERWOOD PLACED IN CHARGE OF FORT ANNE - ADVENTURE OF TWO SANDY HILL BOYS - CARLETON'S INVASION - CAPTURE OF FORT ANNE AND FORT GEORGE WITH THEIR GARRI- SONS - BURNING OF KINGSBURY AND QUEENSBURY - THE HARRISES AND OTHERS FROM QUEENSBURY CARRIED INTO CAPTIVITY - THEIR ADVENTURES.
OTHING of any particular note transpired in this vicinity during the year 1779, of which any record remains. The annual election of town officers re- quired by the provisions of the patent was held as usual, the only change in the list of any importance, being the selection of Phineas Babcock for supervisor in the place of Abraham Wing. Several new names also appear upon the record showing that the work of settlement and the pursuits of peace were still going forward notwithstanding the impending terrors of war looming up from a hostile frontier.
Before the ice had cleared out1 from Lake Champlain and while it still remained passable, it was made available by a band of 130 Indians, led by the infamous Joe Bettys, and two Cana- dian Frenchmen, who made an attack upon the little settlement at Skenesborough, then garrisoned by a body of militia sixty in number, drafted from the towns of. New Perth, now Salem, and Cambridge on the eastern border of Charlotte county. The assailants approached the settlement from East bay, crossing the mountain east of Whitehall village. A man and his wife who lived a short distance from the stone house built by Skene,
1 Hough's Northern Invasion, Introduction, p. 18. His version of the affair is embraced in the following brief paragraph. "Six days later (i. e. the 21st of March), about one hundred Indians from Canada, with three tories from Ballston and Tryôn, surprised a small post at Skenesborough, captured its little garrison of thirteen men, killed and scalped a man and his wife, burnt several buildings, and retired down the lake on the ice, by the way they came."
471
DESTRUCTION OF SKENESBOROUGH.
were tomahawked and scalped ; a part of the garrison perceiving their approach attempted to escape, by swimming across the icy waters of Wood creek, but their fleet footed pursuers were too quick for them. When midway of the stream they were sternly ordered to return or they would be shot. They accordingly went back and surrendered themselves.
The attack was made about two o'clock on the afternoon of the 21st of March, and before sundown the party, loaded with plunder and accompanied by their prisoners, had started on its retreat. In this raid three persons (the two already named and one soldier), were killed and every building in the settlement was fired, so that of the once flourishing hamlet of Skenes- borough, not a roof was left, and Fort Anne for a brief period became the frontier post at the north. The Indians com- prising this marauding party were of the Caughnawaga or St. Regis tribes, and the prisoners, after reaching St. Johns were conducted through the wilderness to the Indian settle- ments at Chateaugay and French Mills, whence after a short detention, being robbed of all their valuables even to cloth- ing, they were conveyed to Montreal where they were ran- somed by the British officers for eight dollars apiece, and imprisoned, until they were exchanged, some of them in the mean time making their escape, and some remaining prisoners for two years or more.1
The Queensbury town book exhibits the following entry for the year 1780.
" At an annual town meeting held in Queensbury on Tuesday ye 2 Day of May, 1780, For the Township of Queensbury.
"1. Voted, Abraham Wing, Moderater.
" 2. Voted, to Regurn this to Fort Miller, at Duer's big house, till the Eight of this instant at 9 in the Morning.
" Fort Miller ye 8 AD. 1780, - the Meting mett, and opened according to appointment.
"3. Voted, Benjamin Wing, town Clark.
" 4. Voted, Phinehas Babcock, Superviser.
" 5. Voted, James Higson and Andrew Lewis, Constables.
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