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 51
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Although no one at the time knew with certainty what had become of the Indian doctor, the report darkly hinted that Harris had done his business for him, amply confirmed by his well known antipathy to the red race, reached the tribe, and according to their invariable custom, a powerful warrior was deputed to re- taliate the injury, by the death of the murderer. * * *
The brave, sent to avenge the death of the medicine man, lurked about the precincts of Harris hollow for some days without discovering himself, lest he should excite suspicion. At length observing a single man hoeing corn in a field adjacent to his retreat, he made up to him and civilly requested to be directed to. Harris's cabin. The savage had never seen the foe of his race and knew not that he was addressing the redoubtable Leather Stocking himself, or the mission might have found a speedy end in the death of one or the other of the implacable foes. Harris at once penetrated his design, and comprehended at a glance the extent of his own danger, and with a characteristic coolness proceeded to anticipate it. " Harris is a neighbor of mine," he said, "it is two miles to his house by the road, but if the other pleased he himself would conduct him thither by a short route." The savage assented, and the settler, shouldering his hoe, led the way to the ad- joining woods. Watching a favorable opportunity, the treacherous guide leveled a blow at the head of the confiding savage with his hoe, and felled him to the ground with a single stroke. Quickly dispatched, the son of the forest was as quickly buried, and Harris returned home from the deed of blood in moody silence
* * * * * Harris hollow was thenceforth unmolested, and its original proprietor lived to rehearse, in garrulous old age, to its prosperous and rapidly increasing population, the oft repeated tale of the " Pioneer's Revenge."
491
ANCIENT DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN.
his recovery it is stated that he served as a minute man, or one of the reserve militia until the close of the war.
As a fitting close to this chapter, we append the following description of Queensbury and Gien's Falls as they appeared to a visitor at the end of the year 1780.1
" On leaving the valley, and pursuing the road to Lake George, is a' tolerable military position which was occu- pied in the war before the last ; it is a sort of entrenched camp, adapted to abattis guarding the passage from the woods, and commanding the valley. Arrived at the height of the cataract, it was necessary to quit our sledges and walk
1 Travels in North America in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782, by the Marquis de Chastellux one of the forty members of the French academy, and major general in the French army, under the Count de Rochambeau. Eng. Translation, London, 1787, vol. I, pp. 419-22.
Some vindication of the memory of Col. Sherwood seems called for in this con- nection from the unjust aspersions against his reputation which have been handed down not only in popular tradition, but perpetuated in published official docu- ments.1 Some of the crude statements in fire side stories conveyed the impro- bable and monstrous charge that he had been bought up and bribed to surrender by the enemy. There were stories, too, of a private conference between the two commanding officers, before the capitulation, which lasted many hours.
That these charges were utterly without foundation, should be apparent to any candid and unprejudiced person, when it is borne in mind, that the investing force outnumbered the garrison, over ten to one ; that they were better armed ; that the fort itself was a weak, wooden structure ; and the garrison short of ammunition, having only ten rounds to a man.
This opinion is more than sustained by the following extract from a letter written by Stephen Lush of Albany, Oct. 12, 1780, to Governor Clinton.2 When " summoned by Major Carleton of the enemy, he refused, but upon parading their forces, amounting to 850 British, Indians and tories, in view of the garrison, they surrendered prisoners of war."
An article in Loudon's New York Packet, and American Advertiser, October 19th, 1780, states as follows. "They " (Carleton's party) " having cannon with them, and the fort being only stockaded, every shot made a break. It was, how- ever, defended by Captain Sherwood, with the greatest gallantry."3 One of the traditions related to the author by Moses Harris was, that the investing force set fire to the fort before the surrender, by firing hot cannon shot against and into it.
Taking these statements in connection with the fact that Sherwood was ap- pointed to various offices of trust and responsibility, both civil and military, with- in a short period after the termination of hostilities, and while the knowledge and memory of these events was still fresh in the public mind, it would seem that these calumnies must, for all time, fall pointless and innocuous to the ground.
1 In Governor Clinton's report of this affair to Washington he says: " The little post and garrison of Fort Anne, appears to me to have been surrendered through treachery or coward- ice."- Sparks's Letters to Washington, vol. III, p. 133.
The same charge was repeated by Washington himself, probably on the same authority.
2 Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 89.
3 Hough's Northern Invasion, p. 122.
492
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
half a mile to the bank of the river. The snow was fifteen inches deep, which rendered this walk rather difficult, and obliged us to proceed in Indian file. In order to make a path, each of us put ourselves alternately at the head of this little column, as the wild geese relieve each other to occupy the summit of the angles they form in their flight. But had our march been still more difficult, the sight of the cataract was an ample recompense. It is not a sheet of water as at Cohos, and at Totohaw; the river confined, and interrupted in its course by different rocks, glides through the midst of them, and pre- cipitating itself obliquely, forms several cascades. That of Cohos is more majestic, this, more terrible ; the Mohawk river seemed to fall from its own dead weight; that of the Hudson frets, and becomes enraged, it foams, and forms whirlpools, and flies like a serpent making its escape, still continuing its menaces by horrible hissings. * * On their return, the party stopped again at Fort Edward to warm by the fire of the officers who command the garrison. They are five in number, and have about one hundred and fifty soldiers. They are stationed in this desert for the whole winter."
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493
GEN. STARK RESUMES COMMAND.
CHAPTER XV.
GEN. STARK RESUMES THE COMMAND OF THE NORTHERN DEPART- MENT - TROUBLES ON THE BORDER - DESTITUTION OF THE TROOPS - SUSPECTED PERSONS REMOVED FROM THE FRONT -THE VERMONT CONTROVERSY - WARLIKE RUMORS - BLOCK-HOUSE ERECTED AT SARATOGA -TERMINATION OF THE WAR AND DECLARATION OF PEACE - ELECTION OF TOWN OFFICERS - GENERAL WASHINGTON VISITS THE TOWN - APPEARANCE OF THE VILLAGE - SETTLEMENT PROGRESSES - FIRST QUAKER MEETING HOUSE BUILT - ADVEN- TURE OF PETER PECK - ANNOYANCES FROM WOLVES - MURDER OF DANIEL FAIRCHILD -THE GRAVE YARD AT THE ROUND POND - NUMBER OF VOTERS IN TOWN -LIQUIDATION OF QUITRENTS - VISIT OF JEFFERSON AND MADISON - CONCLUSION.
OR the two years following the events narrated in the last chapter, the history of Queensbury remains a blank, so far as the town or other local records are concerned.
By an order dated at New Windsor, June 25th, 1781, General Washington directed General Stark to assume the command of the northern department, with instructions to establish his head quarters at Saratoga.1
At this time, all the continental troops had been recalled to the south. The quota detained for the protection of this ex- posed quarter, consisted of a few levies of raw militia from New York and New England. The thinly settled territory now embraced by the fertile and populous counties of Washington and Saratoga, was the frequent scene of robberies and murders.
The whole country north of Albany, was infested with bands of tories, and lawless vagabonds who, under the shelter of the British authorities at Ticonderoga made bloody reprisals, and wrought out savage and cruel retribution for real or fancied wrongs. The country was demoralized, and the irregular, half
1 The following is a copy of the order. " You will be pleased, therefore, to re- pair to Saratoga, and establish your head quarters at that place, retaining with you four hundred of the troops from Massachusetts and sending the other two hundred to Col. Willett, who will remain in command upon the Mohawk river, as his popularity in that country will enable him to render essential services there." Stark's Memoirs, p. 211.
494
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
fed and worse armed militia afforded but little protection against the thoroughly appointed and well disciplined forces of the enemy. So critical was their situation (from the want of sup- plies), that in a letter to the governor, of May 3d, General Clin- ton mentions the fact that a small scout, commanded by a cor- poral, in the neighborhood of Fort George, having captured a party of the enemy, with a packet, had been bribed to release them, for a guinea each, and two silk handkerchiefs.1 The troubles with Vermont contributed largely to the insecurity of the New York frontier, and under color of negotiations with the partisans of that territory, frequent incursions and forays were made on the exposed settlements north of Albany. Ballston was harried and burned by bands of tories and Indians, one of which was led by the infamous Joe Bettys. In return, and by way of offset, " over sixty families suspected of disaffection to the American cause, were removed from Ballston and vicinity by Captains John Carlisle and Oothout accompanied by a small party of Indians. Being distressed for provisions, they drew very liberally from the stores of the disaffected.2
Suspecting treasonable correspondence to be going forward between the Vermont leaders, and the British authorities, General Schuyler once more called into requisition the services of Moses Harris, and Fish,3 who were set to work to ferret out the intrigue, but there is no evidence at hand to show that
1 American Border Wars, by William L. Stone.
2 Idem. " Ballstown is, I am told, a pass through which the enemy will pro- bably advance." Gen. Heath to Gen. Stark, Sept. 24, 1781. - Memoir of John Stark, p. 260.
3 Among the Clinton papers on file in the State Library at Albany is a com- munication from Harris, showing that he had been in conference with a party of the enemy from Canada, among whom were David Higginbottom, Caleb Closen, and Andrew Rakely (See ante, pp. 447, and 467), under the command of Ensign Smith, formerly of Albany, and revealing a plot by which the people of the grants (Vermont) were to lay down their arms, and the British were to advance to the south end of Lake George and erect fortifications with a view to the command and occupation of the contiguous country.
" Schuyler was not at that time in the army, having exchanged the military for the civil service of his country two years before. Still his military exertions were almost as great, and his counsels were as frequently sought and as highly valued, as though he were yet in command of the department. Added to which, he had been specially charged by the commander in chief with the prosecution of all practicable measures for intercepting the communications of the enemy." - Stone's Life of Brant, vol. II, p. 175.
495
TROUBLES ON THE BORDER.
their efforts were successful to any considerable degree, or reached any practical result. The sturdy Indian fighter and hardy borderer were no match for the astute politicians of Ver- mont, who managed for two years to play fast and loose with the Canadian authorities, and the continental congress, being loyal and true to neither.
During the entire season, the camp at Saratoga was kept astir by the frequent rumors of intended forays, 1 or the intelligence of some freshly committed outrage along the border. Occa- sional small parties of the enemy were captured, or a venturous spy returned, whose stories of warlike preparations in Canada, did not tend to allay the gloomy apprehensions of the feeble garrison.
Early in the fall, another descent was made by the way of the Sacandaga upon the doomed settlement of Johnstown, and the adjacent region, by Maj. Ross, and the notorious Walter Butler, at the head of a large body of tories and Indians. The expedition proved disastrous to the invaders, who were attacked and repelled with considerable loss by Col. Marinus Willett, and the force under his command, Butler himself being killed on the retreat.2
On the 11th of September, General Stark at Saratoga wrote to Major General Heath as follows: "I have this day, almost certain intelligence of there being a large detachment of the enemy at St. Johns destined for this quarter." 3
1 Extract of a letter from Col. Claus to Capt. Brant, dated Montreal, March 3d, 1781. " I was informed that the rebels had posted themselves at a place called Palmerstown, about twelve or fifteen miles west of Saraghtoga. * * * His Ex- cellency, General Haldimand, * * * has for some time intended sending a party of about sixty chosen loyalists, under the command of Major Jessup, toward Fort Edward; this party might join Joseph against Palmerstown."-" Happily," says Mr. Stone, " from some cause unknown, this project, so well devised, and apparently so near its maturity, was never executed."- Stone's Life of Brant, vol. II, p. 144. Memoir of John Stark, p. 225.
JOHN STARK." To Col. Henry Laurens :
Albany Aug. 27th, 1781.
Dear Sir : By a spy, who has been on board of the enemy's ships at Crown Point, we learn that their intention is to make a push upon this place, to alarm the New Hampshire grants by way of Castleton, and gather all the tories in this quarter, who are to be met by General Howe's army near this place. Therefore I should advise you to keep your men in readiness.
Your Obed't Serv't,
2 Campbell's Annals of Tryon County, p. 208.
3Memoir of John Stark, p. 249.
496
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
On the 12th of October following, Genl. Schuyler, in reply to a communication from Gen. Stark, wrote: " At 6 o'clock this morning, I was favored with yours, announcing the arrival of the enemy on the south end of Lake George."1
These and many other reports and stories, some conjectural and contradictory, are to be accounted for and reconciled only by taking into account the negotiations going forward between Vermont and Canada, and the movements that were being made by Gen. Haldimand during that period, to conciliate the people of the grants on the one hand, and intimidate and occupy the attention of the troops on the New York frontier at the same time. General Enos, 2 who was stationed at Castleton with a detachment of the Green mountain boys, was fully in the secret of the cabal who were carrying forward the intrigue ; and just maintained the semblance of activity, which playing at war in the interest of the conspirators. 3
At the close of the year, in partial compliance with a request of General Stark for the better protection of the northern frontier, Lord Stirling, then in command of the department, ordered two block houses to be built at Saratoga. In Novem- ber a general order of thanks was issued to the troops of the department. With this act, excepting an insurrection among the troops at St. Coick and White Creek, arising from the
1 Memoir of John Stark, p. 271.
" Headquarters Castleton, Oct. 26th, 1781.
2 " General Enos to General Stark
" Dear Sir : - Captain Salisbury this instant returned as a scout from the Mount, which he left last evening. He lay in sight of the enemy's works the chief part of the day. They are repairing the fortification at [Ticonderoga], and have covered the long barracks. Nearly two hundred cattle were employed in drawing cannon, etc., from their boats.
"Behind the old French line appeared a large number of smokes, where it is sup- posed the chief part of their army is quartered. Colonel Walbridge informs me by express, that he has not as yet made any discovery from Lake George and that quarter. He has my directions, in case of any important discoveries, to make im- mediate returns to you.
"I am, Sir, Your most Obed't'h'ub'l Serv't. " ROGER ENOS." Memoir of John Stark, p. 283.
Nov. 2, 1781, Gen. Enos writes another letter to Gen'l Stark from Fort Anne, asking for cartridges and bread ; and speaks of hearing firing both of cannon, and small arms at Fort Edward that morning, and announces his intention of return- ing to Castleton .- Idem., p. 284.
1 3 Stone's Life of Brant, vol. II, pp. 201-5, inclusive.
497
CLOSE OF THE WAR.
Vermont troubles, the events of the campaign and of the war were ended.
"On the 19th of April 1783, the day which completed the eighth year of the war, the cessation of hostilities with Great Britain, was, by order of General Washington, proclaimed in the American camp."1 - On Tuesday, the sixth day of May fol- lowing, the customary town meeting was held, and the following list of officers elected.
Moderator - Abraham Wing.
Town Clerk - Benjamin Wing.
Supervisors - Nehemiah Seelye, and Phineas Babcock.
Constables - William Robards, and David Buck.
Assessors - David Bennett, Wm. Robards and James Higson.
Pathmasters - Benjamin Wing and Silas Brown.
Overseers of the Poor-Abraham Wing, and Benedick Brown. Collector - Nehemiah Seelye.
Treasurer - Abraham Wing.
Fence Viewers, and Prisers of Damage - Phineas Babcock, David Bennett and Jeremiah Briggs.
The first event following, to which the finger of tradition points, is the visit of General Washington and a portion of his staff, during the month of July (probably the 19th or 21st), on his way to inspect the posts at Lake George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point.2 On this occasion the cavalcade halted, and hailing Walter Briggs, who was at work in an adjoining field, he came up and with a tin pail helped the party to water from the upper branch of the Butler brook.
The fruits of a permanent peace soon became apparent, and the wilderness border again put on the aspect of culture and thrift. " The first clearing (at Glen's Falls), was limited to the hill which rises from the falls, and in the year 1783, presented only a wheat field, with a solitary smoke on its border, and two other dwellings in the vicinity of the forest. These houses were built after the architecture of the first settlers, of a few rough logs, placed one upon another, the interstices filled with straw, and a mixture of mud and clay. But in the year 1784, an individual of the name of Haviland, (Abraham, a blacksmith by calling), erected, to use a graphical expression, a small
I Sear's Pictorial History of the American Revolution.
2 Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington, vol. VIII, pp. 465, 467, 488.
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498
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
framed house, near the hotel in the upper part of the village,1 which was soon followed by that now occupied by Mr. Royal Leavins,2 completed upon the model of an old fashioned Massa- chusetts country house; which two buildings were consequently the first of the kind which graced our landscape. "3
On the 26th of January 1784, the inhabitants of Fort George were annexed to the Queensbury district by a vote of the in- habitants.4 The same year, by act of legislature, the name of Charlotte was changed to that of Washington county.
1 On the site now occupied by Ferguson's store, corner of South and Glen streets.
2 The dwelling now owned and occupied by J. W. Finch, Esq., since the above was written added to and much improved.
" From a series of articles entitled " Recollections," No's. one, two, and three, over the signature of " Harlow, " published in the Warren Messenger, of Feb'y 5th, 12th, and 19th, 1831, in which the writer continues as follows :
" As early as 1786-7, the fruit of their reflections were seen, a small, rudely constructed school-house now the residence of Mrs. Flannagan. (Now the site of the author's residence No. 17 Elm street). * * *
" The village of Glen's Falls, was formerly known by the name of Wing's Falls, a name probably derived from Mr. Abraham Wing, one of the first emigrants to this place, who lived in a log building which occupied the spot of Mr. L. L. Pixley's store. * * *
"Then followed the dams, the one above, and the other below the falls, and the mill seats afforded by them, owned and occupied by Mr. Benjamin Wing, and Gen. (Warren) Ferriss. Only one of these dams is still remaining - that at the head of the rapids, now a bank of five feet high, and about 600 broad, over which the river pours its waters in one unbroken sheet. * * * An Indian, for a trifling reward, paddled his canoe to the brink of the precipice, and then shot like lightning into the gulf to disappear forever, and the same is related of many others who dared the fury of the cataract.
" But it is safe to leap from any of the rocks, at the southern point of the island or as far west as the bridge. - This was fully attested by Cook, who jumped three successive times from the old king-post, into the water beneath (the gulf at the foot of the arch), and returned, exclaiming like Patch 'there's no mistake.' "
4 Who the residents were, appears from the following, taken from the N. Y. legislative papers. Jonathan Pitcher then kept a sort of rude tavern at the head of the lake. Hugh McAuley was also another inhabitant of Lake George at that time. Robert Nesbit, who was in trade there for several years, did not come until June, 1785.
" The Petition of Jonathan Pitcher, Gurdon Chamberlin, Wyatt Chamberlin and Isaac Doty, residing on a tract of land at the South end of Lake George com- monly called Garrison Land, humbly sheweth ; That your Petitioners, some time since, being desirous to emigrate from the Old Settlements, and to fix ourselves on the Frontier of the State, did obtain, from the Surveyor Genl. of the state, Leases of the Lands whereon we now reside, which Leases being only for the Term of One Year, induceth us to address Your Hon'ble Body on the Subject. Your Petitioners having removed our families to this place at great Expense from a very considera- ble distance, ardently wish to continue on the same, and do most humbly pray that
499
THE PECK FAMILY.
Mrs. Emma Goss, but lately deceased, who with her father, James Stevenson, removed to the town in 1785, stated that there were then but 18 families in the whole town. The de- struction of the mills during the revolutionary war, compelled the inhabitants for a while to go, either to Jessup's Falls, or Fort Miller, for their bread stuffs.1 About this time the first place of worship in town, a log meeting house,2 was built by the society of Friends on the south side of the Half-way brook, adjoining the west side of the road leading to Dunham's bay. Here too was kept the first school in town, and here was the first burial ground, where the fathers of the town, and their first-born, rested undisturbed by the shrill cry of the panther, or the nightly long drawn howl of the predatory wolf.
Among the new comers at this time was the Peck family. Peter Peck, a cooper by trade, and the father of Reuben, Daniel and Edmund Peck, moved to this place about the year 1785, from Litchfield, Connecticut. He purchased a large farm, or rather tract of wilderness stretching from the Big Cedar swamp on the east, to the road leading to Dunham's bay on the west. A family by the name of Varney then occupied a log house situated just north of the Half-way brook, on the west side of the Bay road. Peck made it his home with these people for a short time and was persuaded by them to build his
our Leases may be renewed for as long a Term of time as your Hon'ble Body shall deem most eligible ; or that any other mode may be adopted, whereby your peti- tioners may be allowed to occupy the premises .- Lake George, Dec. 30, 1783.
1 " Uncle Silas Brown used to back grists over the mountain by a line of blazed trees, afterwards a bridle path to Jessup's grist-mill, in what is now called Lu- zerne, during and after the revolution. The mill was located on a small stream near Thurlow Leavin's house."- Relation of Joseph Varney, 11th Jan'y, 1868.
[Josiah Varney, Joseph's father, married Lydia, a daughter of Benedick Brown. Joseph was born 30th Oct., 1787, in a log dwelling which stood on the west side of Bay road about 3 miles north of the village.]
" Had to go to Jessup's patent to mill when father first came here in 1785."- Relation of Mrs. Emma Goss, July, 1860.
2 Its dimensions were about 20 × 30 feet. It stood within the limits of a small, enclosed parcel of ground, used even to the present day as a place of burial. It has been described by those remembering it, as a long, low building, roughly ceiled on the inside, divisible by a movable or sliding partition into two parts, and provided with rough benches for seating the congregation. It had two en- trance doors and was lighted by small windows placed high up towards the roof. Here the first and second generations of the Friends of Queensbury met and wor- shipped, and in the limits of that field their remains repose without a monument or mark to designate their resting place from the common earth by which they are surrounded.
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