USA > New York > Essex County > Westport > Bessboro: A history of Westport, Essex Co., N.Y. > Part 19
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The regulars remained at Plattsburgh until winter, large bodies of United States troops being ordered there immediately after the battle, to prevent the possi- bility of another land invasion. No invasion by water could be thought of since Macdonough's sweeping vic- tory, and the commodore requested service on the sea- board under Decatur. His ships, and those he had captured, were not withdrawn to Otter Creek, but to Fiddler's Elbow, near Whitehall, where they lay for years, "never again," as Robinson says, "to be called forth to battle. There, where the unheeding keels of commerce pass to and fro above them, the once hostile hulks of ship and brig, schooner and galley, lie beneath the pulse of waves in an unbroken quietude of peace."
Although the war was really over, except for the De- cember battle far, far away at New Orleans, the lake dwellers, thrown out of all their old habits of quiet in- dustry by the alarms and excitement of the past two years, suffered needless terrors that winter from rumors of a great invasion from Canada, which should ravage the shore and burn Macdonough's ships as they lay frozen in the ice. Details were supplied of horses and sleighs, artillery mounted on runners, fur-clad troops with snow-shoes, and many a frightened woman sat knitting socks or mittens as fast as her fingers could fly, listening to the men as they talked of all this, and determined that if the soldiers of her household went
*One of my idle quests has been an attempt to discover a relationship between Joseph Barron, pilot of Macdonough's flag-ship, and Commodore Barron of the Chesapeake, the one who killed Decatur in a duel, six years after this.
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forth to meet such an army, they should be clad as warmly against the bitter cold as her strength and skill could compass. But when the news came in February that the treaty of peace was signed, all alarms were over. From that time onward life presented the old problems with which men had wrestled before they were called from the daily struggle with wild na- ture, the forest and the soil, to fighting their fellow men. Material progress had almost entirely stopped during the war, not because the men had been employed upon military service the greater part of the time, which it would not be correct to say, but because the times had been so unsettled that men's minds had not dwelt upon their own affairs as they had been wont to do in times of peace. It is a common remark among historians of this war that the northern settlements were nearly ru- ined at its close. Nevertheless, the evils of neglect are soon repaired, and soon the old every day work was taken up with redoubled vigor. The tide of immigra- tion from older settlements set in once more to these shores and the population rapidly increased.
One lasting monument to this war is found in the names bestowed upon some of the boys who were born soon after. Dr. Diadorus Holcomb named a son Henry Harrison, and Tillinghast Cole named one Perry. Other instances are A. Macdonough Finney and Bain- bridge Bishop in Elizabethtown, and Montgomery Pike Whallon and Stephen Decatur Derby in Essex -- the latter addressed as "Commodore" all his life in allusion to this name.
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But in no particular did the war leaveits mark upon the daily life of the people so much as in the new songs which came to be sung. The only musical instruments likely to be in town at that time were violins, more or less rude, and played with toil-worn fingers. Uncle Jed Barnes, the fiddler, then lived on the corner, on the present site of the club house, and the children in the school house a little way farther to the south used to go in after school hours and beg him to sing the "Massacre of the River Raisin." It is a curious fact that the name of Jeduthun Barnes was prophetic of that gift by which he is remembered in our local history, since we read in 1 Chron., 16:42; "And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cym- bals for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments of God." He was the uncle of the Jim Barnes of our day, and any one who now remem- bers hearing the latter sing "Marching through Georgia" can imagine the tuneful zeal with which "Uncle Jed" delivered these lines :
"In MChigan forest the night winds were high; Fast drifted the snow through the bleak winter sky. The trees, cliffs and mountains were hoary and cold, And the waves of the Raisin congealed as they rolled."
Then there was the Star Spangled Banner, with the lines going a trifle heavily, but with plenty of breath very effective. But neither of these delighted our an- cestors like the songs written about our own great bat- tle. There was the story about the game-cock on board Macdonough's flag-ship. One of the first shots from the enemy shattered the coop and set him free,
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when he flew up in the rigging and crowed with all his might. The sailors were so delighted with the omen that they cheered him, and always believed that the in- cident was significant of victory. There were some lines to the tune of "John Anderson, my Jo John" which allude to this :
"O Johnny Bull, my Jo John, Behold on Lake Champlain, With more than equal force, John, You tried your fist again. But the cock saw how 'twas going. John, And cried cock-a-doodle-doo,
Aud Macdonough was victorious, John, O Johnny Bull, my Joe."
Then there was "The Siege of Plattsburgh," to the tune of "Boyne Water,) first sung in a variety theatre in Albany, poor stuff enough, but no social occasion was complete without it for many years.
"Backside Albany stan' Lake Champlain, Little pond half full o' water; Platt-burgh dar too, close 'pon de main. Town small, he grow bigger, do, hereafter. On Lake Champlain Uncle Sam set be boat, An' Massa Macdonough be sail 'em, While Gineral Macomb make Platt-burgh be home. Wid de army whose courage neber fail 'em."
Another is still fondly remembered among the older . people, who recall it with an enthusiasm quite out of proportion to its poetic finish. The national history is reviewed in twenty or more stanzas, two of which run like this :
"When Provost saw he'd lost his fleet He gave out special orders For his whole army to retreat
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And leave the Yankee borders. Thro' dreary wilds and boys and feus The luckless general blundered, He fled with fifteen thousand men
From Macomb's fifteen hundred."
No instructions will be needed as to the expected pronunciation of the last word.
But the favorite of all others was a home production, called "The Noble Lads of Canada," sung to a rollick- ing tune of its own. The story goes that it was written by one Minor Lewis, living in Mooers, a town next the Canada line. His imagination dwelt upon the recent exciting events until one day, as he was chopping alone in the woods, the words of the song began to take shape in his mind. He found a bit of charcoal and a large chip with a smooth surface -- some say the smooth top of a stump-and there wrote the words before they could escape him. I prefer the chip story to the stump story myself, because he could carry the chip home and : store it away as the ancients stored away the leaves of papyrus after they were written upou. But genius like that makes no affect ton of forgetting its own produc- tion, even if it has been left upon a stump in the depths of the woods, and the song was soon published by the power of many a Insty throat. It afterward found its way into print, and the sarcastic impersonation of the British which was necessary for the singer gave it just the dramatic touch which insured its success. The words suffered many variations, sometimes beginning "Come all ye Noble Englishmen," and sometimes with
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lines inserted containing local hits, according to the place and the occasion.
Come all ye British heroes, I pray you lend your ears.
Draw up your British forces, and then your volunteers, We're going to fight the Yankee boys by water and by land,
And we never will return till we conquer, sword in hand,
We're the noble lads of Canada, come to arms. boys, come.
Ob, now the time has come, my boys, to cross the Yan- kee's line,
We remember they were rebels once and conquered John Burgoyne,
We'll subdue those mighty rebels and pull their die)- lings down,
And we'll have the States inhabited with subjects of the crown.
We're the noble lads of Canada, etc.
Now, we've reached the Plattsburgh banks, my boys. and here we make a stand.
Until we take the Yankee fleet, MacDonough doth com- mand ;
We've the Growler and the Eagle, that from Smith we took away,
And we'll have their noble fleet that lies auchored in the bay,
We're the noble lads of Canada, etc.
The last verses portray the growing dismay of the British, and the chorus changes to a dismal refrain,
We've got too far from Canada, run for life, boys, run !" -sure to delight the audience who had been looking forward to this climax from the first.
Considerable interest attaches to the question, What did the soldiers of the war of 1812 wear ? Theoretically, the militia were supposed to wear the uniform prescribed
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for regular troops. As a matter of fact, the militia wore everything, from their own homespun to uniforms of British soldiers which had been picked up upon battle fields. There was a regulation that every company should have at least a certain number, (thirty,) I believe,) of uniformed soldiers when they appeared upon parade, under penalty of disbandment, and of course the natural wish of the male bird for fine feath- ers operated strongly in support of this regulation. Regularly equipped, the soldiers in a Light Infantry Corps, according to the militia law of 1809, appeared in "dark blue coats with white linings, scarlet facings, collars and cuffs, and white underclothes, (trousers,) and the buttons of the uniform shall be either of white or yellow metal." In 1814 there was a movement toward economy in dress, experience having doubtless proved its expediency. An appeal for raising a new volunteer company says :
"A cheap, neat and becoming uniform is fixed upon, calculated rather to give a soldierly appearance than to attract and please the eye of childhood-It is simply as follows :
"A blue broadcloth roundabout, narrow rolling col- lar, single-breasted, buttoned in front with bell but- tous, a row each side extending to the top of the should- er, with one on each side the collar. Beaver of a straight crown, about niue inches high, helmet front, diminishing gradually toward the back, leaving there only half an inch brim ; a waving red plume, the staff of which supported by a stripe of broad gold lace, run-
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ning from the base or rim of the hat, and forming a cockade near the top, with a narrow band of lace. Cartouch box covered with red morocco, secured round the waist by a belt of the same, to which the bayonet scabbard will be affixed. Yellow nankeen pantaloons, black handkerchief, boots, together with a musket, com- plete the dress and equipment."
The Artillery wore "long dark blue coats, with scar- let linings, facings, collars and cuffs;" some companies had "dark blue pautaloous, white vests, black gaiters or half boots, and rewind or cocked hats, as may be de- termined by the officers." Another company we find with "yellow buttons, white underclothes, and cocked hats with the cockade of the Army of the United States." There were Rifle Companies wearing "green frocks and pantaloons with yellow fringe, black gaiters, round black hats ornamented with yellow buttons, black loops and short green feathers."
Governor Tompkins, writing in 1810 a letter which enclosed a commission as Lieutenant Colonel, says:
"Thesaiform of the station is a blue coat with buff facings, collar and cuffs, Yellow Epaulettes, buff under clothes, Cocked hat, or Chapeau bias with a Cockade ornamented by a Golden Eagle in the center and such additional mounting as pleases you. Myself and Aids, to distinguish ourselves from the inferior General Ofii- cers and their staff, mount no feathers. The sword. belt, sash, spurs and boots are left to the taste of each aid who also puts embroidery or lace on his coat or not at his pleasure."
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The cavalry color was green, like the rifle companies, though with many distinguishing details. An order of Sept. 3, 1805, for the formation of a troop of horse in New York city :
"The uniform of the Cavalry being left by Law to be fixed by the Commander in Chief, he directs that it consist for the Regimental Field and Staff and Troop Officers, of a short Green Coat, faced with black Velvet collars, cuffs and wings on the shoulders of the same, light buttons on the Lappelle, two on each side of the collar, three op the sleeve, and three on the skirt. The buttons to be small, yellow and of a conical form, the button-holes and along the edges of the Coat (the bot- tom excepted) to be trimmed with gold lace or yellow silk binding, the buttons and Epaulettes of the like colour, with buff Vest, buckskin Breeches and long black top't boots."
Examples of all these different uniforms might sometimes be seen in a militia regiment upon train- ing days and musters. After the war these trainings, made a grand holiday for the entire population, be- came more Important and more punctiliously attend- ed than ever before, and the next generation grew up well versed in military tactics, at least as presented by the militia officers of a country town. Many an old sword and uniform which has been preserved as a relic of the war of 1812 dates no farther back than the militia trainings of the years succeeding the war. East of the Black river the regular places for mili- tary exercise were at Barber's Point and North-west
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Bay. ' Men no more than fifty years old can now re- member the trainings in the village, sometimes on the flat just below the Carpenter house, sometimes in the public square in front of Person's Hotel. The nat- ural desire to wash the dust out of one's throat after the execution of arduous maneuvers on a warm spring day, together with the spirit of conviviality sure to be awakened at the sight of old comrades, led to habits of indulgence which sometimes turned the whole occasion iuto a farce, and partly on this account, and partly be- cause Uncle Sam has come to depend upon volunteers for the fighting of his battles the observance of the day fell into disrepute, and has been long a thing of the past.
List of Westport Men in Active Service During the War of 1812.
Gen. Daniel Wright, Brigadier-General of the 40th Brigade of Militia. He fought at Bunker Hill, served eight months under Col. John Stark and a year under Col. Samuel Reed, then in June of 1777 was sent to Ticonderoga, with his regiment, to await the attack of Burgyue. When St. Clair evacuated Ticonderoga he went with the retreating army, fought at Saratoga, aud saw the surrender of Burgoyne. After coming into Es- sex county he was made 2nd Major, March 24, 1802, 1st Major in 1806 and Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant in 1807. Then February 11th, 1811, he was commis- sioned Brigadier-General, which rank he held until he resigned from the service March 22, 1816, at the age of sixty.
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Gen. Luman Wadhams. Was commissioned Cap- tain Feb. 11th, 1811, and 2nd Major March 2nd, 1814. After the war he was promoted Colonel of the 37th reg- iment of Militia, March 21st, 1821, was made Briga- dier-General of the 40th Brigade, following Gen. Ran- som Noble, who had followed Gen. Daniel Wright. He moved from Lewis into Westport in 1822.
Major David B. McNeil. Commissioned Adjutant of the 37th regiment Feb. 11th, 1811. On March 2nd, 1814, he was commissioned Brigade Major and In- spector upon General Wright's staff. He moved from Essex to Westport in 1822, remaining six years.
Captain Asa Aikens, more commonly known as Judge Aikens. He entered West Point Nov. 30th, 1807, and was commissioned Captain in the 31st regiment, U. S. A. April 30th, 1813. His regiment was recruited in Ver- mout, and commanded by Col. Daniel Dana. He moved from Windsor, Vt., to Westport in 1843.
Sergeant William Guy Hunter. Enlisted July 30th, 1814, at Windsor, Vt., at the age of nineteen. He was & Sergeant in Capt. Ira Williams' company, the 26th New York Aufantry. After the war was over he went to the Military Academy at West Point, where he re- mained three years. Moved from Windsor, Vt., to Westport in 1838.
Lieutenant Platt Rogers Halstead. Commissioned 3rd Lieutenant in 29th Infantry, U. S. A., April 30th, 1813 ; promoted 2nd Lieutenant Feb. 20th, 1814, and honorably discharged June 15, 1815, upon the reduc- tion of the army to a peace establishment. The Col-
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onel of the 29th Infantry, (mainly a Dutchess county regiment.) was Col. Melanethon Smith of Plattsburgh, son of Judge Melanethon Smith of Poughkeepsie.
The three men last named, Captain Aikens, Lieuten- ant Halstead and Sergeant Hunter, were the only ofli- cers of the regular army (in distinction from the mi- litia) who lived in Westport.
As for the organization of the militia, we find by re- ferring to the Military Minutes of the Council of Ap- pointment of the State of New York that as early as April 2, 1796, a new company was formed "of the mil- itia at Pleasant Vale and Bettsborough," of which Eli- jah Bishop was made Captain and Elijah Newell Lieu- tenant. Bishop was afterward a Major, and Elijah Newell became later a Captain in the 37th. Then in 1798 a new regiment was formed of Clinton County militia (then including Essex County) to be command- ed by Lt. Col. Daniel Ross, in which Charles Hatch was made Paymaster. Further search in these volum- inous Council Minutes reveals these names and titles of men belonging to our town.
Major Hezekiah Barber. He was a Captain in 1800, 2nd Major in 1806, and first Major in Daniel Wright's regiment in 1808. Dying in 1810, he did not live to see the war.
The Lobdells seem to have been a warlike race. Syl- vanns Lobdell was a Quartermaster in 1802. When the first artillery company in the county was formed, July 3, 1804, Boughton Lobdell was made 2ud Lieut. lu 1808 we find John Lobdell cornet in the cavalry
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troop of Theodorus Ross, in 1811 1st Lt., in 1812 Cap- tain and in 1817 resigned. Jacob Lobdell was a Cap- tain of riflemen in 1819.
We find also mentioned : Capt. Nathaniel Hinkley, Lt Thomas Hinkley, Capt. Joel Finney, Capt. Elijah Storrs, Capt. George Andrews and Lt. Samuel W. Felt.
Captain Levi Frisbie was the most seriously wound- ed of any of our men in the battle of Plattsburgh, los- ing one leg. There is a reference to him in a letter from General Mooers to General Wright as follows:
"Capt. Frisbee, by whom I had this, has called on me. I have signed the certificate to which your name is attached, or rather made a certificate on the back of that, yet his name ought to be annexed to your return of the disabled and wounded, which return I wish to have, with those of the killed, as soon as you can con- veniently obtain them. I expect soon to set out for Albany, and wish to take them with me.
I am, sir, your obedient servant, Benj. Mooers.
Plattsburgh, 28 July, 1815.
To Brig. Gen. Daniel Wright, Elizabethtown."
Capt. Jesse Braman gave his whole company break- fast at Braman's Mills on the morning when they start- ed for the scene of the battle of Plattsburgh.
Two Ensigns of the 37th are mentioned, John Gree- Jey, Jr., and Vine T. Bingham. Ensign Greeley was wounded in the shoulder at the battle of Plattsburgh.
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His father fought at Bunker Hill. John H. Low was an Ensign in 1821.
Ensign Jason Dunster was in the service in New Hampshire, being stationed at Portsmouth. He came to Westport in 1821.
Lieut. Nathan DeLano of Ticonderoga, 2nd lieuten- ant in Capt. Mackenzie's cavalry company, seems to have come to Westport with his son, Joseph R. DeLano, and was buried in this town.
Diadorus Holcomb was Paymaster of the 37th in 1809, was made Surgeon's Mate March 2, 1814, and as such did good service at the battle of Plattsburg, being afterward promoted Surgeon.
In 1821 the Rev. Cyrus Comstock was appointed Chaplain of the 37th.
Frivates.
It must be remembered that, theoretically, every man in the township, over the age of eighteen and un- der that of forty-five, belonged to the militia by no choice of his own, and was liable to military duty at any moment upon the requisition of his superior ofheer. He did not enlist, and he did not volunteer; he was a soldier because he was a citizen. Nevertheless, the quo. tas required of the several military districts would be naturally filled by the men most willing to serve, and this made it virtually a volunteer service. There are many classes of exempts, such as Government ( fficers.
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clergymen, ferrymen, postmasters, mail carriers, inn keepers, etc., as well as all those physically incapable.
My sources of information have been these: 1st, the list of soldiers' graves decorated every Memorial Day By the S. C. Dwyer Post of the G. A. R., furnished me by the kindness of Mr. Edward Osborne. 2nd, notes made by Mr. Henry Harmon Noble from the war rec- ords at Albany, freely given me so far as I was able to make use of them. 3rd, Military Minutes of the Coun- cil of Appointment of the State of New York, 1783- 1821.
I am sorry not to have been able to spend the time „to make out a complete list of names for each cemetery for use upon Decoration Day, but this would now re- quire many hours' work in visiting the most remote parts of the town, and I will give the names as I find them upon my notes.
Isaac Alden, Samuel Anderson, Jeduthan Barnes Joshua Bennett, Ephraim Bull, Joseph Call, Tilling- hast Cole, Seymour Curtis, John Daniels, Joshua Dan- iels, Archibald Dunton, Elijah Dunton, David Clark and Darius Ferris, (in the Vermont militia,) Asa Farnsworth, Gideon Hammond, Joseph M. Havens, Ira Henderson, (wounded at the battle of Plattsburgh,) Johnson Hill, Abner Holcomb, Amos Holcomb, Asa Kinney, Waite B. Lawrence, Erastus Loveland, Wilson Low, Platt Rogers Sheldon, Ebenezer Sherman, Wil- liam Viall.
Buried at Wadhams, besides Gen. Wadhams, Capt. Braman and Ensign Dunster, are Benjamin Hardy, Joel
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French, Salmon Cooper, Thomas Hadley, and John Whitney.
In a list of invalid pensioners we find, besides the names of Daniel Wright, Levi Frisbie and John Gree- ley, these names: John Viall, Eldad Kellogg, David and Samuel Pangborn and Ebenezer Newell, who was a fif- er. Among the men from Clinton county are Levi Stockwell, Samuel Cook and John A. Ferris, which are certainly Westport names and probably those of men who afterward moved into town. In this pension list I find Westport surnames, like Allen, Barnes, Good- speed, Johnson, Nichols, Smith and Suow, which may indicate citizens of our town, but which I hesitate to claim because I know nothing about them.
Humphrey Sherman, (ancestor of all the Shermaus now living in Westport,) served on the Niagara frontier, a private in Capt. Trowbridge's company, Lt. Col. Henry Bloom's 1st regiment, Enlisted at Hector, Sen- eca Co., Sept. 7, 1813, discharged at Fort Niagara Dec. 17, 1813. He afterward moved to Essex, and then to Westport. He was a brother of Nathan Shergan, who settled in Moriah and was the ancestor of the Sherman family connected with the iron mines there.
As for the number of men whom we sent into the field during this war, I do not suppose that we had at that time one hundred and fifty men subject to militia duty. I have given the names of fifty and I doubt if there were many more who actually marched under military orders, aside from the drills of the training days. .
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Ira Henderson and Samuel Anderson were both com- monly addressed as "Captain," but this does not seem to have been in either case a military title, but rather one used in recognition of the command of sailing ves- selson thelake. Similarly, the tombstone upon which is cut "Capt. Jacob Halstead" must not be taken as evi- dence of military rank, since Jacob Halstead was born in 1800, and therefore only a boy of twelve when war was declared, but he afterward owned and sailed the schoon- er Troy.
Revolutionary Soldiers.
There are but few graves of men who fought in the War of Independence to be found in Westport, from the fact that settlement of this northern region did not begin until most of the Revolutionary soldiers were too old and too tired with their strenuous lives to join the army of the pioneers. Many of the first land-owners, like Platt Rogers," Gen. Woolsey and the Platts, had served in the Continental Line, but they neither lived nor died here. Our most distinguished soldier, of the Revolution as well as of the second war with Great Britains was Gen. Daniel Wright whose military rec- ord has already been given.
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