USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
In a description, or "itinerary," of the country from Oswego to Albany, by a secret agent of the French, in 1757, the following relating to Forts Bull and Williams is found:
" Fort Bull, which was burnt in 1756 by a detachment under the orders of M. De Lery, was situated on the right bank of this river," (river Vilerick, or river of the Killed Fish, or Fish Creek, as it was then called, now Wood Creek.) "near its source on the height of land. From Fort Bull to Fort Williams is estimated to be one league and a quarter. This is the carrying place across the height
21
322
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY. [CHAP.
of land. The English had constructed a road there, orer which all the carriages passed. They were obliged to bridge a portion of it, extending from Fort Bull to a small stream, near which a fort had been begun, though not finished, it was to be intermediate between the two forts, having been located precisely on the summit level. Fort Williams was situated on the right bank of the river Mo- hawk, or des Agnies, near the rise of that river on the height of land. It was abandoned and destroyed by the English after the capture of Chouegen" (Oswego).
From the character of Gen. Webb as here given, the reader may very well conjecture that this hero of Wood Creek was the same Gen. Webb who so supinely and in- gloriously lay at Fort Edward on the Hudson, with a large force, without making one effort to relieve Col. Monroc, and his brave garrison of 3,000 men, who were besieged by the French and Indians in Fort William Henry, on Lake George. Col. Monroe and his army were consequently compelled to surrender to superior numbers, when a large portion of his men were massacred by the savages, with very little exertion on the part of the French to restrain them.
In the month of August, 1758. after the defeat of the British army under Gen. Abercrombie. before Ticonderoga. an expedition under Gen. Bradstreet, for the taking of Fort Frontenac (now Kingston). in Canada, was planned and successfully executed. The following passage in relation to Gen. Webb is from Col. Willett's narrative of the expedi- tion :-
"Col. Bradstreet was well qualified for the enterprise, the success of which depended very much on the celerity of his movements. The troops passed down Wood Creek with all the expedition in their power. though they were greatly impeded by the lowness of the water, and obstructions occa-
323
ROME.
XIX. ]
sioned by trees, which the year before had been felled aeross the creek by order of Gen. Webb. after the loss of Fort William Henry, a measure which savored more of timidity than skill"
Smith, in his history, says that after the destruction of Frontenac, Col. Bradstreet " returned to the carrying place between the Mohawk and Wood Creek, to assist in securing that important pass in the country of the Oneidas, which Gen. Webb had so ingloriously left to the great insecurity and intimidation of the Six Nations;" and that, owing to their great fatigue, or the bad quality of the water of Wood Creek, five hundred of Col. Bradstreet's men, mostly of this colony, died upon or near the carrying place.
Up to the close of 1757, disaster had followed disaster to the English arms. Gen. Braddock had been defeated near Du Quesne, Gen. William Johnson had failed in an attempt to reduce Crown Point, and Oswego was in the hands of the enemy, leaving the colonies almost at the mercy of the French and savage foe.
The commencement of 1758 found William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, at the head of the British ministry. His in- domitable spirit was soon infused into every department of the government, and every officer and agent was taught that seeming impossibilities were to be overcome by energy and skill.
The importance of fortifying anew the carrying place at the head of the Mohawk, was soon discovered, and early in the year. Fort Stanwix* was erected by an English General of that name. at an expense of £60,000 sterling. It was a
* In the Revolutionary War an attempt was made to change the name from Stanwix to Schuyler, from the then detestation of every thing British, which has caused some confusion in the histories and maps of the time, as well as in histories and works of fiction of a
-
324
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY. [CHAP.
square fort, constructed on the most true and approved scien- tific principles of military engineering, having four bastions, surrounded by a broad ditch, 18 feet in depth, with a covert way and glacis. In the centre of the ditch was a row of per- pendicular pickets, and a horizontal row upon the ramparts.
Smith, in enumerating the events of 1758, says that " the operations terminated in the north-west in the construction of a respectable Fort in the country of the Oneidas, and it was called Stanwix, in compliment to the General who com- manded in that quarter ;" and in November of that year Lient .- Gov. Delaney congratulated the New York Assembly upon the reduction of Louisburg, the erection of Fort Stan- wix. and Col. Bradstreet's success at Frontenac, thus, by coupling it with other great events, showing the importance attached to the fortification of this celebrated portage, then far in the Indian territory. Smith continues :- " The suc- cesses of 1759 infused a new zeal into the acting men of the colony. One hundred men more were posted in a small fort at the little falls of the Onondaga, and as many more at the western extremity of the Oneida Lake (Fort Brewerton), fifteen at the eastern end, and four hundred at Fort Stan- wix. A road was cut from that fortress, eighteen miles across the portage, to the mouth of the Wood Creek, to shorten the passage by that stream, which is more than double that distance. It was then asserted that the plain of the waters of Wood Creek and the Mohawk River, at each end of that carrying place, differed but two feet, which, if true, may one day give a supply of salmon and many other kinds of fish to the inhabitants upon the borders of the latter of these streams."
later period. In this work the author has used but the original name. and in Col. Willett's narrative it is not once called For: Schuyler.
xix.]
ROME. 325
Very little more, however, can be gleaned respecting Fort Stanwix during the remainder of the " old French War .??
The force commanded by Col. Bradstreet, and which marched against Frontenac (now Kingston), left Lake George carly in August, and proceeded to Albany, and from thence ascending the Mohawk, rendezvoused at Fort Stanwix, consisted of the following troops :- regulars, 135; royal artillery, 30; New York provincials, 1,112; Massa- chusetts do., 675; New Jersey do., 412 .; Rhode Island do., 318; batteau-men, 300; and about 60 rangers; in all. 3.035. The regulars were commanded by Capt. Ogilvie. and the artillery by Lieut. Brown. The New York troops consisted of two detachments : the first, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Charles Clinton, of Ulster, amounted to 440 men, under Captains Ogden, of Westchester, Peter Dubois, of New York. Sam. Bladgely, of Dutchess, and Daniel Wright, of Queens; the second was commanded by Licut .- Col. Isaac Corse, of Queens, and Major Nathaniel Woodhull, of Suffolk, and amounted to 668 men, under Captains Elias Hand, of Suf- folk, Richard Hewlet, of Queens, Thomas Arrowsmith, of Richmond, Wm. Humphrey, of Dutchess, Ebenezer Seeley, of Ulster, and Peter Yates and Goosen Van Schaik, of Albany. The troops left Fort Stanwix the 14th of August, and thence down Wood Creek through Oneida Lake to Oswego, down Lake Ontario, and across the St. Lawrence in open boats, and arrived and landed within a mile of Fron- tenac on the 25th. Col. Corse, who had distinguished him- self the three preceding campaigns, volunteered with a part of his detachment to creet a battery, in the night of the 26th, in the midst of the enemy's fire, and which in the morning commanded their fort, and led to an immediate surrender. The commander of the fort was afterwards exchanged for Col. Peter Schuyler, who was taken at Os-
1
326
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
[CHAP.
wego, and while a prisoner had rendered much service to the English prisoners in Canada. The detachment, after burn- ing the magazines, and an immense stock of Indian goods, and destroying the vessels on the lake, returned to fort Stanwix on the 10th of September. In November, the French garrison of Fort Du Quesne abandoned and burnt the fortress.
In 1759 Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara, and Quebec, were taken by the British. Under the walls of the latter place a hardly contested battle was fought on the 13th of September, in which the brave Gen. James Wolfe, the com- mander of the British, and Gen. Montcalm, the master-spirit of the French in Canada, lost their lives. In 1760 the remainder of Canada was subdued, and became annexed to Britain.
This state of things rendered Fort Stanwix comparatively of little consequence, and it was suffered to go to decay. In this year John Roof and a Mr. Brodock, from the Dutch settlements lower down in the valley of the Mohawk, were found residing at the "Traw Plat," in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix, where they gained a livelihood in assisting in the transportation of goods destined for the Indian trade, across the carrying place; trading with the Indians; and, one of them at least, in keeping a tavern for the accommodation of the few wayfarers who, in those early days, came to these western wilds. All that the author has been able to glean respecting these first settlers in Rome, is found in the fol- lowing obituary published in the Rome Sentinel :-
" DIED, at his residence, in Canajoharic, Montgomery County, on the 2d inst. [Oct. 1847] after a short illness, Col. JOHN Roor, aged 86 years. John Roof, father of the subject of this notice, was one of the first settlers at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), where he located himself as an innkeeper and trader with the Indians, as early as 1700. The
.
xix. ]
ROME. 3:27
leccased was born at that military post, August 28, 1761, soon after which event, and when an infant, Sir William Johnson, with many of the most influential whites of the Mohawk valley, met the chiefs of the Iroquois at that place, to brighten the chain of friendship, and bury the war hatchet, the French and Indian war having then just terminated. Gen. Herkimer, a guest present, stood as god-father when the deceased was christened. Ile was on militia duty in the Revolution repeatedly (his father being a captain of militia), and to him were well known Col. Brown, who fell gloriously at Stone Arabia, and his own god-father, whose blood watered the fields of Oriskany; indeed, he was present at the death of the latter, and was a witness to his patient resignation. He was a colonel of militia subsequent to the Revolution. Temperate in his habits, and honest in his dealings, he has gone down to the grave full of years. Truly the great poet did not err when he said : -
" An honest man is the noblest work of God."
Messrs. Roof and Brodoek held no title to their lands, but occupied them under a contract from Oliver Delancy, one of the proprietors of the Oriskany Patent, who was in the Revolution attainted of treason, as an adherent of the enemy, he having acted as General of a brigade of tories. They left that place at some period early in the revolution- ary contest, but the precise time has not been ascertained.
In the spring of 1776, Colonels Van Schaick and Dayton were sent to Tryon County with detachments of continental troops, and were stationed at Johnstown and German Flats. In the month of June in the same year, Gen. Schuyler suggested the propriety of taking immediate possession of Fort Stanwix, and fortifying it more strongly, which propo- sition was highly approved, and Gen. Schuyler the same month ordered Col. Dayton, who was stationed at the Ger- man Flats, to take post at Fort Stanwix, and repair the . works. In August, Gen. Schuyler visited the post in per- son, but was soon called away upon duties relating to the Canada expedition. Col. Dayton, perhaps for the want of
3:23
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
[CHAP.
means, accomplished very little in repairing and strengthen- ing the place. It was at this time that the attempt was made to change the name to that of Schuyler. About the close of this year, Gen. Schuyler was again instructed to strengthen the works at Fort Stanwix.
The last of April, 1777, Col. Peter Gansevoort, with the third regiment of the New York line was ordered to this post. Col. Marinus Willett, of the same regiment, was the second in command. The repairs to the fort were still un- finished, and the carly part of the summer was spent in placing the fortification in a situation for resistance, but it had not been completed when afterward invested.
Previous to the year 1777, Gen. Burgoyne had boasted that with an army of 10,000 men he could march throughs the thirteen confederated colonies, and in this year he had such an army placed at his disposal. The plan matured by the British cabinet, was for Burgoyne to pass from Montreal to Lake Champlain, and from thence force his way to Albany, and there co-operate with Gen. Clinton, the con- mander of the British forces in the city of New York. in establishing a chain of posts from Canada to that city, so as entirely to sever New England from the middle and south- ern colonies. This plan, so imposing on paper. and which, if carried out. would have been so disastrous to the sons of liberty, fighting for independence, was doomed to be one of the most complete and perfect failures experienced by the British during the whole contest. In furtherance of the plan. Burgoyne dispatched Col. Barry St. Leger, with the. 60th regiment of foot, 200 strong, and a regiment of loyal- ists (tories), and such Indian force as he could call together on his route, to proceed up Lake Ontario to Oswego, thence up the Oswego and Oneida Rivers, across Oneida Lake and ny Wood Creek to Fort Stanwix, to invest and take that
329
ROME.
XIX. ]
post, and then pass down the Mohawk and join his General at Albany.
As early as the third of July, it became apparent to the garrison of Fort Stanwix, that hostile Indians were prowling about the fort. The following extract of a letter from Col. Gansevoort to Col. Van Schaick, dated July 28, will show one of the earliest of those tragedies which crimsoned the frontiers of New York :-
"Dear Sir,- Yesterday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, our garrison was alarmed at the firing of four guns. A party of men was instantly dispatched to the place where the guns were fired, which was in the edge of the woods, about five hundred yards from the fort, but they were too late. The villains were fled, after having shot three girls who were out picking raspberries, two of whom were lying scalped and tomahawked; one dead, the other expiring, who died in about half an hour after she was brought home. The third had two balls through her shoulder, but made out to make her escape ; her wounds are not thought dangerous. By the best discoveries we have made, there were four Indians who perpetrated these murders. I had four men with arms just passed that place, but those mercenaries of Britain came not to fight, but to lie in wait to murder; and it is equally the same to them, if they can get a scalp, whether it is from a soldier or an innocent babe."
One of the girls who was killed was the daughter of a man who had served many years in the British artillery, and had been stationed as one of the guard at this place for several years. As he was considerably advanced in life and infirm, he had received a discharge, with a recommendation to Chelsea hospital ; but as he had been indulged while here with the
330
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY. ECHAP.
privilege of cultivating a piece of ground, and the use of a small house for himself and family, he preferred to remain where he was, instead of returning to his native country, and to enjoy the benefits to which his services entitled him.
A short time previous to the investment of the fort, the following singular incident occurred. It was written out by Dr. Dwight in a different form, and published with an account of his travels into this section, and from thence copied, under the title of " Faithful American Dog." into the " American Preceptor," one of the carly reading books for schools published in the country. The author has, however, copied it from Dr. Thatcher's Military Journal.
" Capt. Greig went with two* of his soldiers into the woods a short distance to shoot pigeons ; a party of Indians started suddenly from concealment in the bushes, shot them all down, tomahawked and sealped them, and left them for dead. The captain, after some time, revived, and perceiving his men were killed, himself robbed of his scalp, and suffering ex- treme agony from his numerous wounds, made an effort to move, and lay his bleeding head on one of the dead bodies, expecting soon to expire. A faithful dog, who accompanied lim, manifested great agitation, and in the tenderest manner licked his wounds, which afforded him great relief from ex- «quisite distress. He then directed the dog, as if a human being, to go in search of some person to come to his relief. The animal, with every appearance of anxiety, ran about a mile, when he met with two men fishing in the river, and endeavored, in the most moving manner, by whining and piteous cries, to prevail on them to follow him into the woods. Struck with the singular conduct of the dog, they
* Willett's Narrative states that but a corporal attended the captain.
331
ROME.
xIx.]
were induced to follow him part of the way, but fearing some deeoy or danger, they were about to return, when the dog, fixing his eyes on them, renewed his entreaties by his eries, and taking hold of their clothes with his teeth, pre- vailed on them to follow him to the fatal spot. Such was the remarkable fidelity and sagacity of this animal. Capt. Greig was immediately carried to the fort, where his wounds were dressed; he was afterward removed to our hospital [Albany ], and put under my care. He was a most frightful spectacle, the whole of his scalp removed; in two places on the forepart of his head, the tomahawk had penetrated through the seull; there was a wound on his back with the same instrument, besides a wound in his side and another through his arm with a musket ball. This unfortunate man, after suffering extremely for a long time, finally recovered, and appeared to be well satisfied in having his scalp restored to him, though uncovered with hair.27
In Gen. Sullivan's campaign against the Seneca Indians in 1779, Kay-ing-waur-to, a chief, was killed, and upon his person was found a paper, of which the following is a copy :
" This may certify that Kay-ing-waur-to, the Sanake [Seneca] chief, has been on an expedition to Fort Stanwix, and has taken two scalps, one from an officer and a corporal that were gunning near the fort, for which I promise to pay at sight ten dollars for each scalp.
" JOHN BUTLER,
"Col. and Supt. of the Six Nations and the allies of his Majesty.
"Given under my hand at
Bucks Island."
These were undoubtedly the scalps of Capt. Greig and
332
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
[CHLAP-
one of his men. It having been asserted in Congress after the war, that there was no evidence that Great Britain authorised the payment of money for scalps, this paper (among many other evidences) was produced.
At this period there was a general feeling of alarm and excitement throughout the country, particularly in the State of New York. These were increased in the valley of the Mohawk, when, on the 15th of July, Thomas, one of the principal Oncida sachems, who had just returned from Canada, where he had been present at an Indian council. gave a "talk," from which the following extracts are made.
After giving an account of the force marching against Fort Stanwix, he said :-
" Brothers,- I, therefore, desire you to be spirited, and to encourage one another to march on in assistance of Fort Stanwix. Come up, and show yourselves men, to defend and save your country, before it is too late. Despatch your- selves to clear the brush about the fort. and send a party to eut trees in Wood Creek to stop the same.
" Brothers,- If you don't come soon, without delay, to assist this place, we cannot stay much longer on your side ; for if you leave this fort without succor, and the enemy shall get possession thereof, we shall suffer like you in your settle- ments, and shall be destroyed with you."
After much more advice, he closed with the following sentence :
" You may depend on it we are willing to help you, if you will do some efforts too."
After Col. Gansevoort assumed the command, the repairs to the fort proceeded in earnest, but as ill luck would have it. a French engineer had been employed for the work, who
333
ROME.
XIX. ]
was wholly incompetent. Instead of repairing the works after the manner of their original construction, which would have been comparatively easy, he sent out large parties to the swamp to cut logs for pickets, and which when brought to the fort, he began to erect in the covert way, and not in the centre of the ditch as formerly. After these pickets had been brought to the fort with so much labor, each was found seven feet longer than required, being seventeen feet, instead of ten. For this blunder, Col. Willett advised his immediate discharge, but as he had been appointed by Gen. Schuyler, Commandant of the Northern Department, Col. Gansevoort was reluctant to take the step. Another blunder of this engineer, was the erection of a building for barracks outside the fort, and which could be of no possible use in the event of a siege, and the result proved it worse than useless, for after the investment, it was set on fire by the British, which occasioned considerable inconvenience to the garrison. The third in the chapter of blunders was the erection of a salient angle to cover the gate, so constructed, that the port-holes in the pickets did not correspond with the embrasures of the fort. Col. Willett early discovered this error, but suffered the engineer to proceed until it would be plainly perceptible to all. The lack of skill on the part of the engineer had now become so apparent that he was arrested by Col. Willett, by order of Col. Gansevoort, but was permitted to depart to head-quarters, a letter being sent at the same time informing Gen. Schuyler of the cause of his arrest. This step was not taken until some time in July. Thus being without any one to act as engineer, greater diligence than ever was necessary to put the fort in a proper state of defence, and officers and men now exerted themselves to their utmost. By the first day of August, the wall around the fort was repaired; the parapets nearly raised ; embrasures made on three of the
331
ANNALS OF ONEIDA COUNTY. [CHAP.
bastions ; horizontal pickets fixed around the walls, and per- pendicular pickets around the covert way, and the gate and the bridge made secure. The garrison had but just finished laying the horizontal pickets, but none of the parapets were completed, when the enemy appeared before the fort. The parapets had, therefore, to be finished in the presence of the enemy. and thus being exposed, several of the men were killed by their rifles. The engineer had neglected to con- struct a magazine, although he well knew that there was no secure place for the ammunition. Now the seven feet of spare timber cut from the pickets was turned to good ac- count. These pieces were framed together in a square form, placed in the body of one of the bastions, and being covered with earth, formed a safe powder magazine.
The garrison was, however, quite deficient in two impor- tant articles for sustaining a siege, -ammunition and pro- visions.
On the 30th of July a letter was received at the fort from Thomas Spencer." dated "Oneida, July 29," from which the following extracts are made : -
". At a meeting of the chiefs to-day, they tell me that there is but four days remaining of the time set for the king's troops to come to Fort Stanwix, and that they think likely they will be here sooner.
" The chiefs desire the commanding officers at Fort Stan- wir not to make a Ticonderoga of it.t
* The source from which this is derived does not state who Thomas Spencer is, but from the style, the author has no doubt but that he is the same as the Sachem Thomas who gave the "talk '' just noticed. He was killed in the Oriskany battle, and was there called the " Indian Interpreter."
+ Referring to the abandonment of that place by Gen. St. Clair. just one month before.
335
ROME.
XIX. 1
" Let all the troops that come to Fort Stanwix take care on their march, as there is a party of Indians to stop the road below the fort.
" Send this to the committee ; as soon as they receive it, let the militia rise up and come to Fort Stanwix.
" This may be our last advice. *
"We send a belt of eight rows to confirm the truth of what we say."
On the first of August an express arrived at the fort. with the thrice welcome intelligence that a number of bat- teaux, loaded with ammunition and provisions, guarded by a reinforcement of 200 men, were at hand.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.