Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 89

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 89

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A militia sergeant had been killed by some Can- adian scouts. Colonel . Johnson was ordered to send out scouting parties to harass the French of Canada. But, while they brought back some scalps and prisoners, they demanded a good many extra favors to keep them in good temper, even under the skillful tactics of Johnson.

Later in the autumn of 1746, Governor Clinton sent five companies of soldiers to Albany. Massa- chusetts and New York resumed their preparations against Canada, and began, although winter was near, to collect men and munitions of war at Albany. But, by the wiser counsel of Connecticut, the expedition was given over, and nothing was done. Troops from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other provinces were posted near by, with Albany as a center, in 1747, to guard the fron- tiers. Colonel Schuyler had command of the New Jersey troops. During this time a mutinous spirit manifested itself among all the troops but those of Colonel Schuyler, on the ground that they were poorly paid. The trading people of the city, who had but little to do (protected as they were) but to make gain out of these soldiers, are said to have incited this mutinous spirit against Governor Clin- ton, intimating that he withheld their pay for his own uses.

The war was ended by the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle, made October 18, 1748, in which all losses by either nation were restored. But the ancient hate and the memory of recent damaging contests had not died out. It was only a forced and temporary suspension of hostilities after a fool- ish war, with nothing gained. Some of the people of Albany County had suffered annoyance, but some, also, had made profit from the military placed here to keep off danger. They had not, however, left their own castles, and were none the worse off for King George's war.

THE OLD FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, 1754 TO 1763.

The last of the four intercolonial wars in which the colonies were involved, and which ended the French rule in America, was declared against France by England, May 17, 1756, and recipro- cated by the declaration of war against England by France on the 9th of June succeeding. It was a war made with the earnest determination on the part of England to put an end to the aggressions of the French in this country. It was a war to deter- mine whether America should be New England or New France. The French had been encompassing the English colonies with forts from Lake Champ- lain to the mouth of the Mississippi, including the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, the streams that run into them, and the land that bordered them. Their aim was to shut in the colonists between the Atlan- tic and the Appalachian Hills, and then force them into submission.

The colonists were deeply interested in this war; those of the North, including New England and New York, especially. To it they gave their hard- earned possessions and their lives, and England was willing that her hardy, grown-up children here should do the fighting and pay the expenses.

But this war did for both the Old and New Eng- land far more than they then knew. It taught the hardy soldier how to use arms and plan battles; it taught the colonies that they were old enough and able to govern themselves. Its close was the morn- ing of the Revolution of 1776.

This war was really a sequel to King George's War. The hate between England and France was not ended by treaty. Vexatious irruptions from Canadian Indians continued.

On the 28th of August, 1754, a party of French Indians invaded the Province of New York, and burned the houses and barns of some of the settlers at Hoosic, and took back with them to Canada the Schaghticoke Indians, about sixty in number.

Lieutenant-Governor DeLancey immediately or- dered the fort at Albany to be repaired and put in order. He sent a company of soldiers from New York to Albany, and directed that 200 men from each regiment of militia near Albany, be ready to march to the city when needed.

Although kept in constant alarm, and seeing much of the "pomp and circumstance of war," Albany really suffered nothing from invasion, and but little from loss of money or men during its existence.

We find but little in the city records touching the conduct of this war, only a few doings of the Common Council which make complaint and ask for better defenses.

A meeting of the Common Council was held at the City Hall on the 29th day of May, 1753.

At this time James DeLancey was acting Gov- ernor of the Province. Albany was a frontier town. At this meeting, a petition was directed to Gov- ernor DeLancey, signed by the Mayor and Alder- men, setting forth;

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THE OLD FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

That the City of Albany is a frontier town, and the de- fense thereof is of great consequence to the safety of the whole province in case of War with the French; that the city is altogether undefensable, exposed to the incursions of any enemy, and the corporation, by reason of the heavy debt they are under, occasioned by the great expense we were at during the late war, and no wise able to fortify the city un- less assisted by a provincial Tax; and whereas, your Excellen- cies have prepared a petition to be laid before the General Assembly, praying they would be pleased to lay a tax of £6,000 on estates throughout this province to defray the ex- pense of building a wall with bastions or batteries at con- venient distances, for the defence of said city and security of the province.

The document closes with a prayer-that

His Excellency will recommend to the General Assem- bly, in the most pressing terms that you think proper, to raise the sum of [6,000 for defraying the epxense of said Wall.

This petition was presented to the Legislature by Robert Livingston. At this time there was a wall around part of the city; and stockades, with block-houses at convenient distances, inclosed the city; and there was a fort bristling with can- non. But its exposure to the incursions of the French and Indians was so great, that its municipal government was urging the provincial authorities to afford greater security by building "a stone wall with bastions and batteries," around the city.

This petition for a stone wall and bastions around the city seems to have been disregarded by the General Assembly.

At a meeting of the Common Council held on the 22d of May, 1756, the matter was again taken up in a petition directed to Governor Charles Hardy, the preamble of which sets forth the de- fenceless condition of the city, praying for the erection of a wall, or at least for new stockades, and more cannon for the fort.

At this time there was encamped on the hill, about where the Old Capitol afterwards stood, a regiment of soldiers. An ordinance was passed by the Common Council forbidding all tavern keepers and all other persons selling any strong liquor to any of his Majesty's troops, or harboring or enter- taining any of them after 9 o'clock P. M.

During this war many troops were encamped in and around Albany. Some were at Port Schuyler, as it is now called. Some were on the flat lands in Albany and Bethlehem, as well as at Watervliet, and on the opposite side of the Hudson. The Hudson itself bore many vessels laden with munitions of war and troops for its service. The music of the drum and fife, and the training of the provincial militia and the English soldiery, were daily events. When General James Abercrombie was here in 1756, it is estimated that about 10,000 troops were encamped on both sides of the river. Lords Loudon and Amherst also tented here, and disciplined their armies for war. The people of the city and vicinity were greatly interested in furnishing supplies and service. Indian warriors, with their squaws and papooses, added to the liveliness of the scene.

The expeditions of 1755 and 1756, from Albany to Oswego, to attack Forts Frontenac and Niagara, under Governor Shirley, included Albany soldiers, of whom we have the name of General (then Cap- tain) Philip Schuyler, who assisted in forwarding

large supplies to Oswego. The march was peril- ous and fatiguing. Two forts were built to strengthen the Old Fort Oswego, called New Fort and Fort Ontario; vessels were built and other prep- arations on a large scale were made against Fort Niagara. But the approach of winter and heavy rains suspended the attack, and, after garrisoning the forts, he returned to Albany and disbanded the rest of his troops. During the winter, further preparations were made at Albany to proceed against Niagara in the spring. Early that season General Winslow was at Albany with 7, oco men, waiting for the arrival of the ever-dilatory Lord Loudon, Commander-in-Chief. His delay until late in the summer proved a fatal one. Mont- calm had the English forts at Oswego in his posses- sion, and held them until 1757, when, once more, Fort Ontario again came into possession of the English, and so remained until the Revolution.

Plans were made in 1755 to attack the French fort at Crown Point. The command of the expe- dition was given to Sir William Johnson. Troops were gathered at Albany and Greenbush from dif- ferent colonies. Among these was a regiment under Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Massachu- setts, whose will, made here at that time, on the 22d July, 1755, laid the foundation of Williams College. On the 8th day of September following, while within four miles of the English army, to join which he was on the march, he was attacked by the bold French commander, Dieskau, valiantly opposing this assault. Colonel Williams was killed. Soon after, Dieskau, fighting against the main army, under Johnson, was fatally wounded and taken prisoner to Albany. He lived to reach England and there died.

General Johnson was greatly delayed in his movement on Crown Point. At this time he com- plained much of the people of Albany County, saying, among other severe things, that he had "great opposition from those Dutch traders at Albany;" and, again, "these people are so much devoted to their own private profit, that every other public principle has ever been sacrificed to it;" and, again he writes, under date of September 16th: "Our expedition is likely to be extremely dis- tressed and, I fear, fatally retarded for the want of wagons. The people of Albany County and the adjacent counties hide their wagons and drive away their horses. Most of the wagoners taken into the service have deserted; some horses are quite jaded, and some few killed by the enemy, and several run away. Most of our provisions are at Albany."

All these delays discouraged the enterprise, and led Johnson, at the approach of winter, after hav- ing built Fort William Henry and left there a gar- rison of 600 men, to return to Albany and disband his troops. At the close of this fruitless expedi- tion, King George II made him a gift of £5co and granted him a baronetcy, an honor which he had not fairly earned. The best service of the ex- pedition was rendered by New England officers and men.

In 1757. the citizens of Albany were in great alarm at the advance of Montcalm. His attack

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

upon Fort William Henry in August of this year caused the greatest consternation, especially when the savage slaughter of the garrison by the Indians, as it left the fort, became known. An increasing army centered in the city; a large number quar- tered here during the fall and winter, and the place became a house of refuge to the frontier settlers.

It was during this winter that the sober people of Albany were scandalized by the social man- ners of the English officers and soldiery, many of whom gave themselves to theatrical plays and all the blandishments of dress, fashion, social flirtation and debauchery. The Anglomania of this season is graphically described by Mrs. Grant, in "The American Lady."

In the early summer of 1758, General Aber- crombie and his several regiments of troops were encamped upon the "Pasture. " or great flat lands on the south side of the city. Among his officers was the long-remembered and amiable Lord Howe. Great hopes were rested in this army, which, in July, was most crushingly defeated in its move- ment upon Ticonderoga, then called Fort Carillon. Albany soldiers accompanied the inefficient Aber- crombie. The disheartened army retreated to Fort William Henry, and many of the wounded were conveyed to Albany. The brave Lord Howe was slain in this battle, and his body, in charge of Philip Schuyler, was entombed in this city, first in Schuyler's family tomb and finally under St. Peter's Church. His death was mourned in America and England, while the presumption and cowardice of Abercrombie made his name contemptible.

As a contribution to the local history of this per- iod, indicative of the character of the people and the army, we give the following extract from the doings of the Common Council.

Whereas, Sundry complaints have been made, and in par- licular by the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Howe, of the great abuse in selling Rum and other strong Liquors to Soldiers, which, by means of their continuat drinking, im- pairs and weakens their constitutions and renders them unfit for duty; and we being conscious of the justness of the com- plaint, as well as the mischiefs that may arise from the said abuse, and being willing to remedy it as much as in us lays, Be it therefore ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen and Com- monalty of the City of Albany, and it is bereby ordained by the authority of the same, that no person whatsoever atter publication hereof presume to sell any Rum or other strong liquors to any Soldier or Soldiers whatsoever, or to any other person for their use ; and in case any person or persons shall be convicted before the Mayor, Recorder, or any of the Aldermen of selling any Rum or other distilled Liquor. as aforesaid, to any Soldier or Soldiers, she or they so offending shall, for the first offence, forfeit the sum of twenty shillings current money of New York, and for every like offense after, the sum of forty shillings, to be levyed by dis-

tress and sale of the offender's goods, one-half for the benefit of the informer, and the other half for the use of the City. Dated Albany, this Seventh day of December, 1756.

Among the expeditions in which soldiers of Albany were engaged, was the one against old Fort Frontenac, under Colonel John Bradstreet. This was a French fort and a fur-trading and missionary station, near where Kingston, Canada, now is. The fort was erected in 1673 by Governor Louis Frontenac, and was for many years regarded as one of the strongest and most important in Amer- ica. After the defeat of Abercrombie at Ticonder- oga, in 1758, Colonel Bradstreet, at his own re- quest, went across the wilderness to Oswego, and advanced to the fort in three vessels. The approach was sudden and the fort was weak. It surrendered without a contest. His force consisted of New York and New England troops. Among the officers were Captains Peter Yates and Goosen Van Schaick, of Albany, the latter of whom became a Colonel in the New York revolutionary line. Colonel Bradstreet was Commissary-General in 1756, keeping up supplies between Albany and Oswego, with much annoyance from the French Indians, with whom he had several successful and bloody skirmishes.

On their return from Fort Frontenac, his small army aided in building Fort Stanwix, near where Rome is now situated. This fortunate expedition resulted in the exchange of the Commander of the fort for Colonel Peter Schuyler, then a prisoner in Canada, and turning over 9 armed vessels, 40 pieces of cannon, a great quantity of stores, the fort itself, and 110 men as prisoners of war. The name of Bradstreet is deserving of honor, as a brave soldier and an excellent man. He was an intimate friend of Philip Schuyler, whose counsel and aid he sought, not only at this time, but in subsequent service.

In May and June, 1759, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, an English officer of great merit, encamped about the City of Albany. In July, his army of New York and New England soldiers moved toward Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The French forces withdrew on their approach and both these strongholds came into the hands of the English.

The fall of Quebec, September 12th, and of Montreal soon after, gave Canada to the British and ended the French dominion in America. A definitive treaty was concluded at Paris, Febru- ary 10, 1763.

Albany County had no more alarms from the French and Indians of Canada. The usual in- dustrial pursuits of peace were resumed.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

By Prof. J. TENNEY.

THE representative principle must be sought away back in the ages-in the first communities of men. Its growth, traced through all the forms of industrial, ecclesiastical and civil institutions, has never yet been carefully written out. It would be the work of a lifetime. It took deeper root and expanded more rapidly and vigorously in Anglo- Saxon Britain than among any other people. Its democratic element gradually acquired great dis- tinctness and purity, and in this form was first brought over to the stormy coasts of primitive New England in 1620. Here it found congenial soil and skillful culture, and branched forth westward over a large territory, producing a growth of as- tonishing vigor on the 4th of July, 1776.

What Albany City and County had to do in the struggle that led to its establishment, we propose to set forth as fully as the scattered facts, dug out of the debris of one hundred years, and our limited time and space, will admit.

We regret that we have no record of the services rendered on the field of battle by individuals who were always ready "to do or die" for sweet liberty -men who occupied subordinate military offices or worked in the ranks-untitled men of strong convictions and brave hearts, who fought, not for fame, but for home and country, and now fill unlettered graves. Our questions in regard to their names and deeds have found no answer.

Much that transpired in the great struggle with England for American nationality is already lost in the graves of the actors in that drama.

We do not find that much field service was done by Albany County in that war. At first there was much apathy among the citizens generally. They were not men of war; they loved peace and pro- ductive industry. King George was far away and had done them no harm that they could see. The wrongs complained of in Boston, New York, and elsewhere, by men of trade and public men, they might have heard of, but they had not seen nor felt them. Who can wonder that such men were slow to leave their farms, and shops, and stores for strife and carnage; that some were not apathetic only, but decidedly opposed to a war that meant revolution ? They preferred to endure the ills they knew than to fly to those they knew not of. Hence there were many Tories in Albany County. And, while the most brave and intelligent watched events, and pondered and feared, most put off the evil day, hoping that the unpleasantness with Old Mother England would be settled without blood.

Yes, Albany was slow to respond to the feelings so strongly manifested in the cities of the Atlantic coasts, in Philadelphia, and in Virginia.

But most of the men of mind and property in the city-the Schuylers, the Van Rensselaers, Gansevoort, Van Schaick, Nicolls, Douw, Ten Broeck, and others-were fully alive to the situa- tion, full of the spirit of patriotism, ready for any sacrifice for the rights of the people. They were always on the side of wise counsel, and when the hour of action came, they were prepared.

There was no newspaper in Albany until 1771, and the publisher of that was a Tory. No tele- graph then; no stage; no medium of rapid com- munication. News moved slowly; the common mind moved slowly. But, when the news of blood- shed on the plains of Lexington, April 19, 1775, was heard, all saw that war was inevitable. Patriot blood was stirred, and city and county began to get ready. Military companies were formed, and the bustle and confusion of getting ready for the worst was heard all around.

Albany, as important as it was, was a small vil- lage then. But it had long been a town of grim forts and warlike movements. It was used to sol- diers and officers; to camps and marches. Its sit- uation and its accidents had made it always a military center to which men came and from which men went with all the pomp and circumstance of dire war.

So it continued to be during the War of the Revolution. Here was Fort Frederick, with its garrisons and guns; here were officers' quarters, barracks, hospitals, and commissaries stores. Sol- diers were billeted here. Here were fears and watchings. There were enemies at home and abroad. Here were prisons for bold traitors and gallows to hang them on. Of course there was much to be done to duly provide, keep, and distribute "the sinews of war." Here was much to be done by a strong "home guard," protecting the city and holding it as a place of safety and supply; a place not for the protection alone of citizens and their wives and children, but for the restraint of the rebellious Tory; for the hungry and ragged soldier in tent and field; for the sick and wounded in the hospital.

Such duties as these all important ones, neces- sarily occupied the patriotic inhabitants of Albany City and County, and made them less frequent in the march and bloody contest. They were not found, so far as we can learn, at Bennington, White Plains, Monmouth, Trenton, nor in any of the batt'es of the South. Nor was much fighting done by them after the surrender of Burgoyne.

They went, probably, where Schuyler, Ganse- voort and Van Schaick, and Ten Broeck and the Van Rensselaers went, or directed to go, to St.

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

Johns, Chambly, Montreal, and Quebec; to Crown Point and Ticonderoga; to Fort Ann and Fort Stanwix; to Stone Arabia and Saratoga.

Who some of them were who were enrolled ready for any duty, is told in the military rosters as we find them in the archives of the State, in the records of the Committee of Safety, and in cer- tain local histories.

The City Records, and the Records of the Com- mittee of Safety, from which we have made liberal extracts, show better than anything else the state of matters in this County and City.

Albany was always fortified, and fortified and

garrisoned according to the needs of the place and the times. Its government was usually adminis- tered by prudent officers, supported by a discreet, peace-loving class of citizens. It kept friendship with the Indians. No battle was ever fought in the present Albany County ; no invasion ever reached the city ; no besiegers ever attacked its de- fenses. It had rumors of war, but no war. It al- ways had fears of the savage, but fear was all. Its people were always forewarned and forearmed. The French of Canada, full. of jealousy, often planned invasion of Albany, but never carried out their plans.

OLD ENGLISH CHURCH AND FORT FREDERICK.

An important convention of colonial delegates met at Albany June 19, 1754. It has often been referred to as having connection with the opening movements of the American Revolution. If this be so, it was quite remote. It was invited by Lord Holderness, English Secretary of State. Seven of the thirteen colonies were represented by twenty- six members. The New York Delegates were James Delancy, Joseph Murray, William Johnson, John Chambers, William Smith. Most of these were adherents of the English Crown, and remained so all their lives. The delegates were chosen by the colonial assemblies, and had for their leading object the formation of a closer political union for the purpose of better security against the encroach- ments of the French on the north, and for keeping the friendship of the Indians, the Six Nations es- pecially, who seemed getting too much under the influence of the Jesuits and other French emissa- ries. The sachems of the Indians were particularly invited to meet this convention, and they were present in full numbers. Speeches were made on both sides, and much diplomacy was used. The sessions were held for twelve days. The meetings were in the old City Hall.

Benjamin Franklin was present from Pennsylva- nia, having a plan which he introduced for discus- sion, that looked to a permanent union for mutual counsel and defense in all matters of common inter- est. " Debate upon this and other plans proposed was taken up, hand in hand with the Indian business, daily." A plan, very much like that of Franklin, proposed a grand council of forty-eight members,

to have, under limitations, the appointment of all civil and military officers, the general management of civil and military matters, and the entire con- trol of Indian affairs. When the plan was sub- mitted, as Franklin himself tells us, "the assem- blies did not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it; and in Eng'and it was judged to have too much of the democratic." But the convention, no doubt, succeeded in its main pur- pose-that of keeping the Iroquois on friendly terms-after the usual presents, promises and flat- tery ; and "the plan," which was not the main purpose, led the colonists to a better understand- ing of each other, and helped prepare them for more united action when the time came. This was largely due to the far seeing sagacity and vigi- lant patriotism of Franklin.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 89

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452