Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 90

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 90

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Lieutenant-Governor Colden writes to the Earl of Hillsborough, under date of New York, February 21, 1770-" My Lord : It is my duty to inform you that a violent party continue their assiduous endeavors to disturb the Government, by working hard on the passions of the populace, and ex- citing riots, who in every attempt have hitherto been unsuccessful. * * * The persons who appear on these occasions are of inferior rank, but it is not doubted they are directed by some persons of distinction. They consist chiefly of Dissenters, who are very numerous, especially in the country. * * * The most active among them are Inde- pendents from New England, or educated there, and of Republican principles. The friends of the

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

administration are the Church of England, the Lutherans, and the old Dutch, with several Pres- byterians." After this, he speaks of the confine- ment of Alexander McDougal in jail for writing a seditious political article, expressing the opinion that "he highly deserves punishment." McDougal was one of the "Sons of Liberty," and afterwards Colonel of the Ist New York Regiment in the Revolution and a Major-General in the service. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, and afterwards of the State Senate. He was a brave and trusted soldier and a valuable citizen. We note this to show wliat kind of men belonged to the early patriot party and the estimation in which they were held.

Albany was the center of supplies for the Northern Army. It would not do to leave the Northern De- partment uncared for by troops. The savages and the Tories were plenty about the upper Hudson and the Mohawk. They only wanted an opportunity to invade the City of Albany; to burn and plunder its homes; carry away its military stores and mur- der its inhabitants. Its soldiery was needed at home to protect what remained.

Did the women apply their hands to the distaff, the spinning-wheel and the loom, so that the soldiers might be sure of comfortable clothing. in the camp and field ? Did the "click of the loom and the hum of the wheel " make music harmon- ious with that of the drum and fife? Were there spinning matches and quilting bees among the mothers and daughters of Albany County from 1774 to 1781 ? There were no factories then to clothe the army by contract. We believe that much of it was done by noble women-the wives and daughters of that time.

Were the clergy eloquent in the pulpit against British aggression, and earnest in appeal to the spirit of patriotic doctrine? Did they urge the people, by zealous activity, to resist the wrongs done to the rights of property and personal freedom, and, like Rev. Mr. Allen, of Pittsfield, take the musket and go forth to pray and fight for heaven and our rights ? This Rev. Thomas Allen left his home and visited Kinderhook, Canaan, Claverack, and other towns in Eastern New York, speaking to the people and advising the strongest measures against those who favored the King. He writes home to the leading Whigs of his town, "As yet there are plenty of arms to be sold at Albany; but no powder is to be sold there for the present." Again, "The spirit of liberty runs high at Albany, as you have doubtless heard by their own post at our headquarters." "The New York Government begins to be alive in the glorious cause, and to act with great vigor." From these statements we infer that he visited Al- bany to quicken and stimulate its citizens to some activity. It is also said that the sainted Westerlo, of the Dutch Church, the most influential pastor in the city at that time, was bold and zealous for the patriot cause in the pulpit and among the people.

Tories were arrested and committed to gaol in Albany, until they " humbly confessed their faults,

asked forgiveness and promised reformation." Sometimes, after doing what harm they could to their Whig neighbors-hiding, meeting in secret conclaves, until discovered and threatened punish- ment-they ran away to Canada, Nova Scotia, or other safe place to await the end; which, to their mind, would be the discomfiture of the rebellious Whigs and the triumph of the loyal friends of King George III. A few of these returned and became good citizens. Others, self-banished, suffered con- fiscation of their estates. Some were banished; some were hanged. Everywhere the ban of society was upon them; and they were handled roughly when arrested.

Tories were plenty in New York, not excepting Albany County. North Carolina and New York were, for a long time, regarded by the British min- istry as loyal to the interests of the Crown, and dis- trusted by the patriots of New England and Vir- ginia.

There were many Tories who were so from prin- ciple, and refused to take sides against the parent country from honest convictions of the wrongful- ness of such a course. They looked upon the Whigs as rebels against their sovereign; condemned the war as unnatural; and regarded the final result as surely disastrous to those who had lifted up the arm of opposition. Their opinions were courte- ously, but firmly expressed; they took every op- portunity to dissuade their friends and neighbors from participating in the rebellion; and by all their words and acts discouraged the insurgent move- ment. But they shouldered no musket, girded on no sword, piloted no secret expedition against the Re- publicans. They were passive, noble-minded men; and deserve our respect for their consistency, and our commiseration for their sufferings at the hands of those who made no distinction between the man of honest opinions and the marauder with no opinions.

There was another class of Tories governed by the footpad's axiom that "might makes right." They were Whigs when royal power was weak, and Tories when royal power was strong. Their god was mammon, and they offered up human sacrifices in abundance upon its altars. They be- came as relentless robbers and murderers of neigh- bors and friends as the savages of the wilderness.

For some time the Tories in the neighborhood of Albany were employed in capturing prominent citizens and carrying them off to Canada for the purpose of exchange. Such an attempt was made on General Gansevoort, and another on General Schuyler, under direction of the notorious John Waltmeyer, colleague of Joe Bettys. Among the men of this class was the notorious Thomas Love- lace, who, after he had run away to Canada, formed a company with five other persons and returned to abduct, plunder and betray his former neighbors in Saratoga, Schenectady and Albany Counties&: His crimes were many. He robbed General Schuy- ler's house and attempted to carry off Colonel Van Vechten. He was captured, tried and hung by General John Stark, then in command of barracks near Fish Creek.

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

The story of taking old Fort Ticonderoga, the key to the gateway between the Colonies and the Canadas, May 8, 1775, is familiar to all. It was done under Colonel Ethan Allen, of Vermont, guided by the boy Nathan Beman, and aided by

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Ground Plan of Old Fort.

Colonels Warner, of Vermont, Brown and Easton, of Berkshire. We have no evidence that Albany County had any men among the 150 who were en- gaged in this bold movement. The County had not then fully organized its military forces. Its mayor and many of the citizens were not then de- cided in their patriotism. The city had been called on for supplies, but not for men at this time. Connecticut had lately sent a delegation of two to Albany " to discover the temper of the people at that place." It was then in doubt.

On the 19th of June, 1775, George Washington received his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Four Major-Generals: Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler and Israel Putnam, were chosen ; and eight Brigadier- Generals: Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joshua Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan and Nathaniel Greene. To these was added Horatio Gates as Adjutant- General with rank of Brigadier.

In June, 1775, Philip Schuyler, on recommen- dation of the patriots of this district, having been appointed as one of the four Major-Generals of the Continental Army, was assigned to the command of the Northern Department.

His first movement was towards Ticonderoga, which he reached July 18th, where he found a gar- rison of 1,000 Connecticut troops under Colonel Hinman, and a few Berkshire troops under Colonel Easton. These troops were composed chiefly of militia, raw and undisciplined, but full of patriot- ism, courage and intelligence. The invasion of Canada was under favorable consideration by all officers and men. It was urged that it was neces- sary to cut off the approaches of British troops by St. Lawrence and the Lakes, and prevent the sud- den attacks of savages and Tories on the borders, from Canada. It was understood, also, that many Canadians were favorably disposed toward the cause of the American patriots.

It was further understood that General Carleton, commander of the British forces in Canada, was planning an attempt to get possession of the forts upon the lakes, with the ultimate purpose of invad- ing the valleys of the Mohawk and Hudson, and dividing New England from New York and the States south and west.

Immediate movements were demanded to antici- pate Carleton. Major Brown, who had been sent to learn the situation at St. John's, Chambly, Montreal and Quebec, and to try the minds of the people of Canada, leaving July 24th, returned August 10th, feeling sure that "Now is the time to carry Canada.'

But serious delays occurred in securing troops and supplies. New York was filled with Tories who needed watching; Boston was besieged; Con- necticut was threatened with invasion of its coasts; self-protection must be secured before undertaking expeditions to Canada. But General Schuyler was hopeful of success, and eager to advance. Major Brown was placed in command of the flotilla on Lake Champlain. General Montgomery was at Crown Point as Schuyler's lieutenant. On Septem- ber 6th, General Schuyler, with his little army, was besieging St. John's. It was a long and tedious siege.

Here General Schuyler began to manifest that irresolution and timidity in meeting the difficulties of the military situation which, in spite of his un- doubted personal bravery, so often fatally marred his Northern campaigns, and led many patriots to distrust, not only his capacity, but his fidel- ity. Deceived into a belief of the strength of the fort and of the dangers around him, General Schuy- ler fell back to Isle Aux-Noix, and awaited rein- forcements. As soon as September 16th, he was compelled by ill health to return to Ticonderoga, and commit the movements of the army to Mont- gomery. The attempt upon St. John's was re- tarded, and success was hindered in many ways. Among them were the lack of ammunition and the almost mutinous discontent of the army. But suc- cessful movements upon Fort Chambly by Major Brown, to whom it was surrendered October 19th, imparted new vigor, and led to the surrender of St. John's, November 2d. After this Montreal capitula- ted to Montgomery, November 17th. Montgomery, with the beggarly remnant of his army of St. John's, was at Quebec December 1st. Here he was joined by Arnold with his New England troops, sent on from Cambridge by Washington. Here were Easton and Brown, from Berkshire; Wooster, from Massachusetts; Van Rensselaer, Livingston, and Lamb, from New York.

The disastrous assault on Quebec, made Decem- ber 31, 1775, which resulted in the lamented death of Richard Montgomery and the end of the Canada invasion, needs no further detail here. Every bright schoolboy has read the sad story. Let Montgom- ery's name ever be revered. He was a pure pa- triot, ready to do or suffer anything for country. His courage was impetuous and forgetful of self ; while that of Schuyler, just as true, had more of caution in it. In this expedition everything was

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unfavorable to Montgomery except his own brave and generous soul.

It is true that Arnold kept up a useless siege during the winter of 1775-76, and that recruits were sent on to reinforce the American army, which still remained in Canada, in the hope of accomplishing the conquest of that territory in the coming spring and summer. But a leader was wanting; discipline was imperfect; and sickness was weakening the strength of men who suffered from lack of clothing, food, and other supplies.

Burgoyne came early in May with succor for Quebec, and succeeded Carleton in the command. The Americans were compelled to entirely evacu- ate Canada. The remnant arrived at Crown Point in June, " disgraced, defeated, discontented, dispir- ited, diseased, naked, undisciplined; eaten up with vermin; no clothes, beds, blankets; no medicine; no victuals but salt pork and flour." Thus writes John Adams, under date of July 7, 1776, concern- ing our Northern Army at Crown Point.

Thus resulted the first movement of the Army of the Northern Department under General Schuyler. His policy as commander had given great dissatis- faction to most of the officers and men in his com- mand.

Horatio Gates, a new and less manly com- mander, supplanted Philip Schuyler in the North- ern command for a brief time in 1776.

During the winter of 1776-77, many of the offi- cers of the Continental Army, including General Gates, Colonel Morgan Lewis, Colonel Benedict Arnold, Colonel John Brown, had their winter quarters in Albany. It was during this winter that Colonel Brown wrote of Arnold: "Money is this man's God; and, to get enough of it, he would sacrifice his country." Three years after, John Brown fell, fighting for his country; while Arnold was a branded traitor and a fugitive in the British army.

The year 1777 was marked by events that de- manded unusual exertions and sacrifices from the people of Albany County .. The summer was one of intense anxiety. An army of disciplined and veteran British troops was on the march to Albany with hostile intent. To the peace-loving popula- tion of the city, their progress spread the wildest terror; to the loyal Tories ecstasies of hope and bold impudence; to the patriotic friends of liberty, anx- iety and dread. From mid-spring to late autumn all was excitement, alarm, and activity. The city was threatened with all the horrors of savage butchery and the invasion of an unscrupulous soldiery. John Burgoyne, with loud-mouthed threats to the enemies of Great Britain, and prom- ises of protection and favor to the weak and doubting, was on his way from Canada with his 12,000 men, made up of bloody Indians, merce- nary Hessians, and war-trained Scotchmen and Englishmen. He considered his march sure to end in triumph. His aim was to cut off New England with all its supplies of men and means, from the south, and thus make the divided and weakened armies a sure prey to the British Crown.

In Albany he expected to meet Clinton moving up the Hudson from New York, and St. Leger with his victorious forces from Oswego and Fort Stan- wix, coming down the Mohawk. With ambitious and able commanders and splendid soldiership and appointments, with well laid plans, the result seemed certain.

Early in July, old Fort Ticonderoga, garrisoned by St. Clair and his scarcely 3,000 men, most of them poorly provided for defense, was found to be untenable. It was found that Burgoyne's skilled engineers had it entirely at their mercy, and it was consequently hastily evacuated.

Although Colonel John Trumbull had, in 1776, with characteristic sagacity, explained to Generals Gates and Schuyler the weak points in the defense of that fort, nothing was done. Schuyler and St. Clair had expressed themselves confident that the post was secure from any attack which Burgoyne could bring to bear upon it. They had accumulated stores, and rested in apparent security. But the commanding battery upon Mount Defiance made retreat the only alternative. Scarcity of ammuni- tion and danger of reinforcement did not chiefly decide the question of retreat. Nor did want of courage. It was forced discretion. One division of the retreating army, under Colonel Long, was overtaken at the head of Lake George, now White- hall, and after suffering loss of artillery and stores, pushed on to Fort Ann, where, turning upon its pursuers, a gallant stand was made near that fort. The importance of the battle fought here under General Schuyler, with 500 men from Rensselaer Manor, has never been duly estimated in history. Many Albany men were killed and wounded here, and a decided check was put upon the advance of the British army, much to the advancement of the patriot cause.

St. Clair's division, after severe fighting and heavy losses, made its way through woods and swamps, and over streams to Fort Edward, where Schuyler had fixed his headquarters. Here he was met by Colonel Long and his division.

The loss of Ticonderoga, the traditional strong- hold to which they and their fathers had looked for protection, naturally filled the patriots of New York and Massachusetts with the most serious ap- prehension. There was consternation everywhere. The way was considered open to Burgoyne for easy attainment of all his aims. Nothing but desolation and death stared the people in the towns and vil- lages along the Hudson in the face. Unjust charges of cowardice were laid at the door of St. Clair ; and treachery, incompetence, or inefficiency in Schuyler were outspoken by many, especially by the New England troops.

The evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga filled Gen- eral Schuyler with d'scouragement. On the 26th of July he dismissed half the Militia of New England and of Albany County. A month later he sent away the greater part of the remainder. This he did while the enemy were marching toward Albany, and he never had greater need, not only of keeping the men he had, but of increasing their number. His excuse for this singular course was, first, that

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

he dismissed a part lest he might lose the whole ; and, then, having sent away about one half, he might as well send home the other half. He alleged that his militia, men of Berkshire and Al- bany Counties, were very impatient to get home to their farms. Bancroft tells us that Schuyler was importuning Washington to send him Southern soldiers, alleging that one of them was worth two from the Eastern States. It is well known that the Militia of Albany and Berkshire held the Com- mander of the Northern Department at this time in great distrust; and they well knew the slight regard in which they were held by him. The state of feel- ing between General Schuyler and his troops was very unfortunate at this time. Rude and unculti- vated as many of these men were, they had brave and honest hearts, which they proved soon on the fields of Bennington and Saratoga under leaders that knew them.

No battle of the Revolution took a more powerful and permanent hold upon the hearts of the people of that day than that of Bennington on the 16th of August, 1777. Its results were disappointing to Burgoyne. Almost unopposed had been his march upon Albany until that day. His army was one of terror to the friends of liberty. They could see nothing but the union of Clinton, coming up the Hudson, with Burgoyne coming down to Albany, thus making a complete armed barrier, dividing the East from the South and West. The course of the proud army was stayed by the arms of a militia, gathered from the hills of New England for the oc- casion. Their boasting was changed to doubt and fear by the event. There were no soldiers from New York in this fight. Many were men who had once been led by Ethan Allen, of the Green Moun- tains. They were led by John Stark, a born sol- dier, of determined independence and energy, who refused to be trammeled by Schuyler or the Conti- nental Congress.

This should be said in regard to the attitude of the New York and New England Indians during the Revolution :

The Mohawks were always at war with the Mo- hegans, on the east bank of the Hudson, who bore their yoke with uneasiness and frequent outbreaks. These New England Indians had no friendly feel- ings toward the Dutch, whom they looked upon as allies of their Iroquois enemies.

Forced, as these Eastern red men were, by the trading Dutch and the jealous Mohawks, back over the western slopes of the Hudson into the valleys of the Housatonic and the Connecticut, they seldom met during the colonial period after the first years. When they did, there was only a renewal of con- tention and bloodshed, the result of which al- ways asserted the superior power of the Western savages.

All efforts to bring together the Iroquois under the influence of the Christian religion or civilization were only partially successful, except with the Onei- das and Tuscaroras, of whom the Stockbridge In- dians came to speak of as brothers. Both had been taught Christianity and freedom by New England Puritan missionaries.

They united in the War of the Revolution in the cause of the colonists against the Crown, and thus again met in battle their ancient foes, the Mohawks, who, under the influence and lead of the Johnsons and Butlers, did deeds of indescribable cruelty in every northern battle where they had opportunity; and, in conjunction with the Tories, carried the firebrand, the tomahawk, and the scalping-knife to many a peaceful home and village along the Mo- hawk, the Schoharie, and the Susquehanna.

All the efforts of General Schuyler and other del- egates from Albany, in conferences with the Six Nations in 1774, when they pledged neutrality, and at Guy Park in May, 1775, were overborne by the money and promises of the British crown and the artful intrigues of Guy and John Johnson, with the alliance of Joseph Brant and the Tory Butlers.

The worst cruelties inflicted by these savage In- dians, and worse than savage whites, fell upon the peaceful homes of Old Tryon County. Albany County was so well defended that it was left alone by them. The only exception happened in the town of Berne, of which a good account is given in the history of that place.

PETER GANSEVOORT was born in Albany, July 17, 1749. He was among the troops which accom- panied Schuyler, in 1775, in his movement toward Canada, and accompanied Montgomery, with the rank of Major, in his unfortunate assault upon Quebec in December of that year. The next year he was appointed a Colonel in the New York line, and took command of Fort Schuyler, previously called Fort Stanwix, situated where is now the City of Rome, in the spring of 1777. For his gallant defense of this post against St. Leger, in his at- tempted march from Oswego down the Mohawk, to meet Burgoyne at Albany, he received the thanks of Congress.

In 1781 he was promoted to the rank of Briga- dier-General by the State of New York. He was, for many years after the war, military agent, and held other offices of trust. He was held in high esteem as a soldier for bravery and good judgment, and as a citizen, for intelligence and uprightness. He died at the age of 62 years, July 2, 1812.

When Colonel Gansevoort took command of Fort Schuyler, in early summer of 1777, the fort was unfinished and feebly garrisoned. The patri- otic citizens of Mohawk valley were paralyzed with fear. They saw nothing but defeat and ruin should the disciplined army of St. Leger fall upon Fort Schuyler. They knew no way of successful resist- ance should he attempt to march down the valley to Albany. Many timid and wavering ones became Loyalists, or, at best, weak and passive patriots. But Colonel Gansevoort was vigilant and hopeful, appealing for aid to General Schuyler and the Pro- vincial Congress, and putting forth every possible effort to be ready for the enemy. On the Ist of Au- gust, St. Leger, with his Tory rangers and his blood- thirsty Indians under Brant, were ready to invest the fort with a force 1, 700 strong. Gansevoort had only 750 men, among whom were the brave and sa- gacious Colonel Marinus Willett and his regiment,

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A few other recruits, and ammunition and provis- ion for a siege of six weeks soon came. The siege began August 4th. The British commander sent a pompous manifesto into the fort, and a dispatch to Burgoyne assuring him that he expected they would soon meet at Albany as victors.

We are not called upon to detail the carnage of Oriskany, August 6th, where the brave Nicholas Herkimer and his 800 Mohawk Valley men fell into an ambuscade of Tories and savages, while on their march to relieve General Gansevoort. Herkimer, badly wounded, did his duty with wonderful endur- ance and coolness until the battle was over, and then was borne to his home to die with the unskilled surgeon's knife, as many a noble soldier has done before and since; nor need we dwell upon the sortie of Colonel Willett, in which this man of daring courage suddenly and furiously attacked the enemy, put them to rout, made an end to this bloody struggle at Oriskany, and brought his force back to the fort without loss of a man; nor need we repeat the particulars of the reinforcement sent by Schuyler from Stillwater, under Arnold, and the stratagem that frightened St. Leger's Indians, leading him to raise the siege before Fort Schuyler on the 23d of August, and make a hasty flight toward Wood Creek to join Burgoyne.

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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 90

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