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 49
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1'For this narrative, not hitherto published in any of our local or general his- tories, the author is indebted to Dr. Asa Fitch of Salem, by whom a full account was published in the Salem Press of Nov. 5th and 12th, 1867.
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472
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
"6. Voted, Ebenezer Fuller, James Higson and Andrew Lewis Assessors.
" 7. Voted, Abraham Wing, Pathmaster.
" 8. Voted, Abraham Wing, and Benja' Wing, Overseers of the poor.
" 9. Voted, Silas Brown Collector.
"10. Voted, Abraham Wing, town treasurer.
" 11. Voted, Abraham Wing, Jur. Pound keeper.
" 12. Voted, Pardon Daly and James Higson, fence viewers, and prisers of Damages."
The reason for adjourning this town meeting to Fort Miller,1 is presumed to have been the fear of some tory irruption from Canada like that already related, of which there were several more in the course of the season.
1 That the Queensbury families continued to suffer from time to time in con- sequence of requisitions for the public service is apparent from the following cer- tificates and affidavits, being a part of the Wing Mss.
No. 1.
Memorandum of Account of Outlays, Expenditures and Losses by Abraham Wing :
Time expended in Search of my Iron which was con- sealed by Sargent Williams & Company June the 20 Day 1778 6 men and myself 1 Day £8,, 8,,0
2 cwt of Nails. 60, 00 ,, 0
To 3 journies to Fort Stark in the Summer in pursuit of sd iron 3,, 12 ,, 0
" 2 days at Court
2, 8,,0
" 2 large Carpenters Sledges or Mawls, 9, 12 ,, 0
"1 ax ,, 2 Iron wedges 6, 8,0
ABRM WING.
No. 2. Statement of losses by one Jacob Ferguson.
Capt moss I understand by Cornal mcCray that you had wheat from my fathers plase with others ond as it was one third part mine please to pay Abraham Wing the money for what you Had and you will oblige your Friend
Queensbury the 4 of February 1780
JACOB FERGUSON.
Capt putnam I understand by Cornal mcCray that you had sum wheat from my Fathers plase which wheat was one third part mine please to pay Abraham Wing for the Same and you will oblige your friend to sarve.
Queensbury the 4 february 1780.
JACOB FERGUSON.
No. 3.
Affidavit of Samuel Younglove relating to the destruction of property in Queens- bury in 1780.
County of Personally before me Albert Baker one of the Justices for said Washington § SS. County Samuel Younglove of Lawfull age deposeth and saith that he saw James Stinslor take out of the house of Abram Wing in the year one
1
.
473
TOWN RECORDS.
The Mohawk valley was still full of sympathizers with the royal cause, giving substantial aid and comfort to the enemy
thousand seven hundred and eighty to the amount of about one hundred panes of glass with the sashes or near there abouts and saw him have five saw-mill saws and sundry other articles which the said Stinslor told the deponent he had taken from the said Wing, and the deponent further declares that the said Stinslor told him the deponent that he had got to the amount of between forty and fifty pounds from old Wing. farthermore deponent saith not. SAML YOUNGLOVE Sworn before me this 11th June, 1787
ALBERT BAKER J. Peace.
No. 4.
Affidavit concerning Cattle seized in 1780 :
Washington County State of New York ss.
Personally appeared before me John Williams one of Judges of the Court of Sessions & common pleas for the said County John McCrea of said County of lawful age who being duly sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God de- poseth and saith that in the month of October in the year of our Lord one thou- sand seven hundred and eighty that the Garrison stationed at Fort Edward were destitute of provisions and that the Commissary then at that post was directed to get Cattle where they might be had for the support of the Troops by order of General Schuyler Jonathan Jillet the then Commissary applyed to this deponent who had a pair of fatt oxen which he received and killed at the post that this de- ponent applied to the commissary for payment who gave this deponent a certifi- cate for said Cattle which afterwards was destroyed with the buildings of this deponent by the enemy that he the said Commissary left the parts immediately after the Campaign ended so that this deponent could not obtain any relief in the premises & has made application to the Legislature of this State but did not re- ceive any neither has he at any time or in any manner received any kind of restitu- tion for said Cattle and further he this deponent has not assigned or made over said certificate to any person or persons whatever and that the certificate which this deponent received for said oxen from said Commissary was for fourteen hundred weight of Beef as near as this deponent recollects and further this de- ponent saith not 1
Sworn before me this) JOHN WILLIAMS JUD CURIA. -
25th december 1790.5
No. 5.
Official certificates in favor of Abraham Wing and son.
No 416 I do hereby acknowledge myself indebted to Abraham Wing in the Sum of Two Hundred dollars As Witness my hand this 11 Day of May 1780 MORN LEWIS DQMG
This Certifies that Mr Abraham Wing hath supplied the Publick with 150 Plank and 50 Boards Price not known of the above Boards.
JONATHAN NICKLISON.
This Certifies that Abraham Wing hath Supplied the Public with Two tuns of Hay at One hundred and Sixty five Dollors pr tun Amounting to One Hundred and Thirty two Pounds for Which Sum this Shall be a Sufficient voucher Given under my hand and Seal ------- of September 1780 £132-0
CHRIS YATES D Q MG
FORT GEORGE 22d march 1780
60
4.74
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
with whom they were in constant correspondence,1 and the Sacandaga and Lake George with an occasional dash into Queensbury was the favorite and most frequented route. It was early in this season that Justus Seelye,2 subsequently a resi- dent of this town, then a small boy, was smuggled into a neigh- bor's house, at Fort Miller, where a meeting of Indians, as These to Certify
That abraham Wing Jun hath been two days Imployed in Public services at the garrison of fort George with a Sleigh and two Yoke of Oxen one day and with one Span of Horses the other Day for which he hath Recd no pay.
To Whom it may pr WM MOULTON Captn Commandt.
Concern
No. 6.
Deposition of James Higson concerning two oxen, the property of Benjn. Wing - taken for the public service in 1781 :
The Peblic to Benjn. Wing Dr. 15th May 1781
To Two Oxen Taken from Fort Miller by Lieut. Bagley, by order of Lt. Col. Vandike.
Washington ) This Day personly appeared Before me James Higson of Lawfull
County. age and made solomn oath in the presence of Almighty God, that he Saw the above named Lt. Bagley Take the Oxen from Fort Miller with a party of Soldiers and said he had orders from Col. Van Dicke to Do So, and that he the sd Deponant knew the oxen to be the property of the above named Benjamin Wing. JAMES HIGSON.
Sworn before me at Fort Edward this 6th Day of March, 1786.
ADIEL SHERWOOD Jus Peace
We Do hereby Solemnly Sware that to the best of our knowledge the Two oxen above specified which were Taken from Benjn. Wing for the use of the Continental Army, were worth at that Time in specie Thirty pounds york money. PHINEHAS BABCOCK ANDREW LEWIS JAMES HIGSON
Washington \ County this Day personly appeared before me the above Phis. Babcock, Andrew Lewis and James Higson and made oath to the same Fort Edward 6th March 1786. ADIEL SHERWOOD, Jus. Peace
6th March 1786, this day personly appeared before me Benjn Wing and Most Solemnly affirmed in the presence of Almighty God that he had not Received any Compensation for the within mentioned oxen. 1 ADIEL SHERWOOD, Jus. Peace.
It is presumed that no part of these claims were ever adjusted.
1 " Major Jelles Fonda wrote to General Clinton (1779), stating that there were yet 300 tory families in the northern part of that settlement, affording aid and comfort to the hostile refugees, who kept up a continual intercourse with them, across through the woods, or by Lake Champlain to Canada."- Stone's Life of Brant, vol. I, p. 403.
2 Communicated to the author by his son.
475
TORY SYMPATHIZERS.
supposed, was held, and to whose consultations and proceedings he thus involuntarily became a witness. After they left, he escaped to his home, and related the events and conversation of the evening. A party was immediately organized in pursuit, which overtook, and captured them, when one of them was dis- covered to be a neighbor and a tory painted up in the fitting semblance of a savage. He with the rest of his party, all tories, were sent to Albany and imprisoned, tried by court martial and hung.
Another incursion1 into the Mohawk valley was made in the spring of this year by Sir John Johnson at the head of 500 men consisting of a detachment of the regiment of Royal Greens of which he was commandant, and two hundred tories and Indians.
Advancing from the vicinity of Crown Point on Lake Cham- plain, where their bateaux were hidden, they entered the wilder- ness of Warren county in the present town of Johnsburgh, following the often traveled, and well beaten trail at the base of Crane's mountain, and striking the Sacandaga river near the Fish house, pursued their stealthy way to Johnstown which place he reached on the 21st of May, 1780.
The ostensible purpose of this foray was the recovery of the family plate, of which two barrels had been buried in the cellar of the old mansion. This was disinterred and divided among the packs of forty soldiers, and carried back in safety to Montreal. The route of this incursion was as usual, marked by rapine, slaughter, and ruined homesteads, and has been characterized as one of the most wanton, ruthless, and inde- fensible outrages of the whole war.
They were followed by Governor Clinton with a party of hastily gathered militia who took the route by the way of Queensbury and Lake George, as far as Ticonderoga and Crown Point but were too late,2 the marauders having already made good their escape down the lake. The prisoners were conveyed to Chambly and confined in the fortress at that place.
1 Although many authorities have been consulted in regard to this affair, the author has followed chiefly the very full, and graphic account given by William L. Stone (the younger), in the appendix to the Life of Sir William Johnson.
2 He (John Neilson, the author's father), was also a volunteer under Governor George Clinton, at the time he went north to intercept the retreat of Sir John Johnson, and was one of the two scouts (John Benson being the other) who were selected by the governor, and sent from Crown Point to scour the wilderness, between that post and Schroon lake .-- Neilson's Burgoyne's Campaign, p. 227.
476
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
Before the retreat of Sir John, the militia of the district began to assemble under the command of Colonels John Harper and Volkert Veeder, but the number of the invading party was too large to warrant them in pursuit or attack, until it was too late.
In the month of June or July General Haldimand who had been the year before appointed governor of Canada1 in the place of Carleton, reoccupied the fortress at Ticonderoga, with a force of upwards of ten thousand men. His mission was of a pacific nature, it being alleged that he was concerned in negotiations with the Vermont leaders to restore that terri- tory to its fealty to the crown, and that his presence was to assure that people of his assistance and protection. Notwith- standing this allegation and assurance, the Vermonters were made the special subjects of visitation by some marauding bands of tories and Indians during the season.2 The towns of Bar- nard, Newbury, Peacham, Tunbridge, Royalton, Sharon and Randolph were attacked at different periods, a few killed, houses burned, fields laid waste, and several prisoners taken and carried to Canada, some of whom were ransomed from the Indians, some exchanged, and others remained until the close of the war.
During this season Col. Warner's regiment3 appears to have been assigned to the duty of protecting the frontiers, a portion being stationed at Saratoga4 (Schuylerville) a part at Fort Edward, and a company under Capt. John Chipman at Fort George. Fort Anne was also garrisoned by a levy of Charlotte county militia, drawn chiefly from the towns of Queensbury, Kingsbury, and Fort Edward ; and placed under the command of Captain Adiel Sherwood, of the same regiment, from which the militia were drafted.
About this time, John High (a son of William High, who
1 " General Sir Frederic Haldimand, had previous to this (18th Feb'y, 1779), superseded Sir Guy Carleton in the command of Canada .- Stone's Life of Brant, vol. i, p. 384.
2 Hoskin's History of Vermont, pp. 75, 6, 7, 8.
3 The adventure of Colonel Warner recorded in a note on page 304 of this work, most probably occurred about this time.
4 " The board of war decided to break up several minor stations, including those at Schenectady, Schoharie, Johnstown, Fort Plank, Oneida Castle, Half Moon Point, New-City (now Lansingburgh), Saratoga, Fort Edward and Skenes- borough." The events upon the frontiers, already noticed, induced General Clin- ton to retain some of those at Skenesborough, Fort Plank, Herkimer, Schoharie, and Fort Edward."- Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 23.
477
FORAYS AND MOVEMENTS OF TROOPS.
lived near the present site of Kenyon's Mills east of Sandy Hill) and Albert Baker Jr. (son of one of the early proprietors, and mill owners, at Sandy Hill, after whom the third fall on the Hudson was named) were employed to take a couple of led horses up to some of the officers at Fort George. They were delayed in starting by waiting to catch a horse in the fields back of the present brick dwelling known as the Baker house on Main street. The horse had a trick of raising its head in a peculiar manner when it did not want to be caught, and it played this trick so persistently on this fateful morning that young Baker was provoked beyond measure at the delay thus caused. After a weary chase and many trials he at length succeeded in getting the bridle on to the horse, and they started on the way. Baker in after years used to relate this event and its attendant delay as a Providential interposition in their behalf, for when they reached the Half-way brook, they found the bodies of four dead laborers, recently killed, the bodies still warm, and the scalps taken. Among them was one they re- cognized as a neighbor, by the name of Koon. If Baker and his companion had been half an hour earlier, they would pro- bably have shared the same fate.1
From the beginning of the campaign, rumors had been borne to the American camps of active and extensive preparations in Canada, for the invasion of the frontier posts and settlements of northern New York. In anticipation of this event, as early as the 20th of May, the regiments of Colonels Yates, Van Woert, Schoonhoven, and McCrea, were gathered at Saratoga,2 and General James Clinton was assigned to the command of the department.
On the 26th of July the noted Indian chieftain Brant, with a body of 800 well armed Indians and tories, made their appear- ance in the Mohawk valley. Making first a feint upon Fort Schuyler, he descended on the village of Canajoharie, which, with several of the adjacent settlements, was utterly laid waste, with the usual accompaniments of pillage, butchery, and house burning. From time to time, all through the season, other outrages of a similar character were perpetrated on a smaller scale, here and there, along the wilderness front, showing that the enemy were continually alert, active and aggressive. An
1 Relation of Miss Keziah Baker.
2 Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 27.
478
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
occasional bit of news from an escaped prisoner, or an inter- cepted dispatch, bore witness to the continuance of martial pre- parations at the north. At length the storm burst. The long threatened inroad took shape on the 10th of October, by the sudden 1 appearance before the little post of Fort Anne, of a force of 800 British regulars, one company of German Yagers, 200 tories, and 175 Indians, under the command of Major Christopher Carleton of the 29th regiment.2 They had ad- vanced about the first of the month from St. Johns with a fleet of eight vessels, and twenty-six boats, and landed during the night of the eighth on the shore of South bay. Here a small party with boats was detached to return to Ticonderoga, and thence across the carrying place to Lake George, with a view to cooperate in an attack upon the post at its southern ex- tremity.3
1 It appears by a letter from Capt. Chipman, that Capt. Sherwood had been no- tified by his scouts, on the 8th, of the approach of the enemy, which information he had immediately transmitted to Col. Henry Livingston in command at Fort Edward, but the latter failed to communicate the same to the officers at Fort George, in consequence of which neglect that garrison suffered heavily in the action that ensued on Carleton's approach.
Col. Livingston took great credit to himself for diverting the attention of the enemy from Fort Edward by the following ruse. It is quite probable, however, that the small party of tories who swept through the towns of Kingsbury, Queens- bury and Fort Edward, burning and destroying as they went, as far south as Saratoga, and east to White Creek, had neither intention or desire of meeting an armed force either great or small.
" The invading troops approached Fort Edward, but were probably prevented from making an attack, by a stratagem of Colonel Livingston who commanded there. Hearing of the incursions of the enemy, he wrote a letter to Captain Sherwood, on the morning of the day on which Fort Anne was surrendered, saying he was very strong, and would support that garrison if attacked. He gave this letter to a messenger, who he had little doubt would carry it to the enemy, which he is presumed to have done, and thus to have saved that post from the fate which had befallen the others. The garrison did not amount to seventy men. Parties of the enemy penetrated near to Saratoga. Thirty-five houses were burned."- Letters of Col. Livingston, Oct. 12th and Col. Warner, Oct. 30th. Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington, vol. VII, p. 270.
2 Colonel Ebenezer Jessup's battalion, raised in this neighborhood, was stated to have composed a part of this force; perhaps comprised the tory element.
3 " There is a report that the enemy retired after destroying Fort Anne, Fort George, and burning some houses. It is thought, and perhaps not without founda- tion, that this incursion was made upon a supposition that Arnold's treachery had succeeded."- Gen. Washington to the President of Congress.
21st October, 1780.
" A branch of this expedition, consisting of about four hundred regulars, tories and Indians, under the command of Major John Munro, a tory, formerly a mer-
479
SURRENDER OF FORT ANNE.
The garrison of Fort Anne consisted at this time of seventy- five men all told, officers included, under the command of Captain Adiel Sherwood; men and officers being a part of the raw and undisciplined militia of the western border of Charlotte county.
A demand was made for the surrender of the fort and its feeble garrison. With a supply of only ten rounds of ammu- nition to a man, it was agreed, after a brief conference among the officers, that any attempt at defense with such overwhelm- ing odds, and no known succor within possibility of reach, would be worse than useless, as it would thereby exasperate a vindictive and unrelenting foe, and entail a wanton and needless waste of life. The fort with its garrison was accordingly surrendered, a stipulation having been made that the women and children in the fort should be sent in safety to their homes. The barracks and wood work of the fort 1 was burned, and the force divided, a portion of which marched down through Kings- bury street, burning houses, destroying property and taking prisoners as it went. The larger portion of the invaders, led by Carleton in person, advanced across the country2 to Fort George, where Captain John Chipman was stationed with a portion (a part of two companies as inferred), of Warner's regiment.
He had, in the early part of October, received advices through his scouts, of the arrival of the enemy's vessels at Crown Point, a fact which he had communicated to Colonel Malcom, the officer then commanding the northern department.
On the morning of Wednesday, the 11th, being destitute of provisions, an express was despatched to Fort Edward, for fresh supplies. The messenger shortly returned with the intelligence that he had discovered a party of Indians, about twenty-five in
chant at Schenectady, having left their boats at Bulwagga bay near Crown Point, proceeded by an interior route west of Lake George [via Johnsburgh and Crane's mountain in Warren county to the Sacandaga], with the original intention, it is believed, of surprising Schenectady." They laid waste and burned the little settlement of Ballstown."- Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 45.
1 The fort was hardly worthy of the name, being only a block house built of rough logs, and surrounded by a stockaded inclosure. - Vide Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 43:
2 A reference to Gov. Tryon's map, in vol. I of the Documentary History of N. Y., shows the existence of a road at this time, leading from the post at the Half- way brook (Fort Amherst), to intersect near Kingsbury street, the great military route from Fort Edward to Fort Anne. Judge Hay states in his MSS., that at the time of Burgoyne's advance, there was a road leading direct from Fort Anne to the upper picket post near George Brown's Half-way house.
480
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
number, near Bloody pond. This was Carleton's advance. Supposing it to be a marauding party, and being but scantily supplied with ammunition, it was thought best to send out a sufficient force 1 to drive them from the road. Accordingly the following garrison order was issued to Capt. Thomas Sill.
" Oct'br 11, 1780.
" Sir; as it is reported to me that there is a small party of savages near Bloddy pond, you will immediately take Forty Eight men, officers included and proseed on the main road, un- til you make discoveries of them, keeping a Suffiscient advance and Flank gards in Such a manner as to prevent being sur- rounded. If you find a large party you will Emmediately Re- treat to the fort except they should be savages only, in which case you will attack and immediately Charge upon them.
" JOHN CHIPMAN, Capt. Com'dt."
For some cause, not explained, Captain Sill did not take the main road directed by his orders, and thus unobserved, on a bye road, he passed the invading party on its way to the fort. Falling into the rear and following up the trail they speedily discovered the superior force of the enemy, but finding their retreat thus cut off, they resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible, and so rushed to the attack. The engagement, which took place between. Bloody pond and Gage's hill, was short, sharp, and decisive. The enemy perceiving the smallness of the attacking force,2 speedily surrounded it, and the survivors of the brief struggle were made prisoners. The severity of the action may be judged of by the large proportionate number of killed. This spirited onset it is quite probable contributed largely to the favorable terms granted in the capitulation. The fort3 was immediately invested by the enemy, who were met
1 " Captain Chipman, supposing the party to consist of a scout from the enemy, sent out all his garrison except fourteen men. * Colonel Warner and Lieutenant Colonel Safford were absent. * * * Two days previously, Captain Sherwood had surrendered Fort Anne, and the whole garrison, consisting of seventy-seven men."- Col. Livingston's Letter. Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington, vol. VII, p. 269.
2 Ensign Grant with fourteen men, in the melee became separated from the main body, and keeping clear of the garrison, fortunately made their escape .- Capt. Chipman's Letter.
3 Capt. Chipman in a letter of explanation, speaks of the fort as " the wretched production of a cantrous Jebb ;" and in another place says " the fort, which though dignified with that term, is but an unfinished angle of the intended fort."
481
CAPITULATION OF FORT GEORGE.
with a spirited resistance from its one piece of ordnance (a six pounder), and fifteen muskets, until asurrender was demanded, when upon conference the capitulation was made upon the following conditions, alike honorable to victors and vanquished.1
" Articles of Capitulation between Major Carleton, commanding a detach- ment of the King's troops, and Capt. Chipman, commanding at Fort George.
" Article Ist. The troops of the garrison to surrender themselves prisoners of war.
" Article 2d. That the women and children be permitted to return to their homes, with two waggons and their baggage.
" Article 3d. Each officer shall be allowed their servants.
" Article 4th. No Indian to enter the fort until a British detachment takes possession of the fort.
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