USA > New York > Sullivan County > Gazetteer and business directory of Sullivan county, N. Y., for 1872-3 > Part 11
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*As there were bat few men in Fort Gumser, Capt. Cuddeback, in order to deceive the enemy, paraded all the women and young people back of the house and Fort, col- lected all the bats and coats about the house, and put them on the women. He also placed sticks and spare gone In their hands, so that all might appear to be soldiers. When the enemy came In sight of the Fort, the Capt. ordered the drum to be beat, and marched them in Indian fie from the rear to the front of the Fort, and entered it in a distant bat distinct view of the Indians. The women and children were ordered into the cellar. Anna swartwout (a large woman, somewhat in years, the widow of Major James Swartwont.) told the Captain that she would take a pitch fork, which had byen brought into the Fort as a defensive weapon, and remain with the men, and ardist in card the niemy should attempt to enter. The Captain granted the request, and she took the fork, and in true military bearing, walked ahont, anxiously observing the conduct of the Indians, and ready to defend heres the .- Eager's Orange County. p. 356. All who were caught out of the block houses were murdered. They were pursued through felds and woods, and shot or tomabawked. A young man named Swartwont attempted to escape by swimming the Nevereiuk. Just as he gained the opposite shore, he was shot. Three of his brothers and his father were killed .- [James E. Quinlan's " Tom Quick."
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Græme knew but little more of the traits of the enemy than his followers. He arrived at Grahamsville in advance of the Indians and selected a place there to surprise them. But before the Indians reached the ground, they knew his situation, and silently and with cat-like caution surrounded him. They posted themselves on high ground within rifle shot, and directed one of their number to approach Græme's party by the usual path, and thus draw their fire. Græme was drinking from the brook, and as he rose, he discovered the decoy savage, and directed his men to fire. As they aimed, the Indian fell upon his face and the balls passed harmlessly over his head. The Indians returned the fire with deadly effect. Only three of the whites escaped, including Abraham Vancampen, who, previous to the engagement, was sent to procure venison .* To deprive the enemy of sustenance and the means for further annoyance, the Legislature, Oct. 17, 1779, enacted a law directing the Gov- ernor to cause the destruction of such grain and crops in the west frontiers of Orange and Ulster counties as could not be removed to a place of safety. Feb. 21, 1783, the precinct of " Mamacotting" and the township of Rochester (the district of the regiment of Col. A. Hawke Hay, and that part of the Goshen regiment on the west side of the Minisink Mts.) were exempted from a levy then made for the defense of the north and west frontiers.t
Several traces of Indian occupation were found during the first settlements of the County. About four miles from the Delaware, on the Flat, was found a brass or copper tomahawk, with a steel edge, and a handle perforated for smoking. Stone axes, flint arrows, &c., were frequently found. In 1793, an Indian living in Rockland, at a place called " Pocatoclon," (meaning a river almost spent,) removed to Niagara. He is supposed to be the last of his race that inhabited the County. Indian trails were found along the Delaware, the Beaver Kill, and in other sections.
The part of this County south of the south bounds of Cochecton and Bethel, is comprised in the Minisink Patent, conveyed to Mathew Ling and others, Aug. 28, 1704; and the remainder of the County, in the great tract granted to Johannes Hardenburgh and others, April 20, 1:08, and known as the Hardenburgh Patent.# The Newburgh and Cochecton Turn-
"Quinlan's " Tom Quick."
+Incidents connected with this eventful period, and the details of the memorable battle of Minialnk in July, 177y, are given in our account of the towns in which they occurred.
#Portions of the Hardenbargh Patent were settled upon leases of long term ; and dar- ing the anti-rent excitement, the clamor against this tenure prevailed extensively, but without acts of open violence. The refusal to pay rents, which this feeling occasioned, led to a great amount of litigation. The tenants have now generally obtained titles in fee simple, and there is very little leasehold land in the County.
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pike, which was incorporated Mar. 20, 1801, and opened across the County in 1808, gave the first impulse to the prosperity of the County by making it accessible to settlers. This section continned to receive emigrants from New England and the older sections of the State until its growth was checked by the completion of the Erie Canal to the Genesee country and the great lakes, by which emigration was diverted to the new and fertile lands of the West. Real estate in consequence declined materially in value, and many of the early settlers abandoned their locations and joined the westward current. In 1819 or '20 the Orange Branch Turnpike was made, from Montgomery, (Orange County,) crossing the Shawangunk Mt. at. Roses Gap, and extending across the barrens through Wakemans Settle- ment to the Neversink Falls, and thence to Liberty. The charter of this road was long since given up, but the route is maintained as a district road.
The first deed recorded in the Sullivan County Clerk's Office, was drawn Dec. 28, 1808; Wm. Ellis of Mamakating, (then in Ulster Co.) and Eleanor his wife, conveying to James S. Dun- ning and Oliver Dunning, merchants of that town, twenty acres of land, for the sum of $300. This deed was acknowl- edged Feb. 10, 1800, before Wm. A. Thompson, First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Ulster. The first deed recorded that was made after the organization of the County, bears date of Oct. 21, 1800. Bv it Wm. Morgan of the State of New York, and Electa, his wife, conveyed to Solomon Royce of Mansfield, Conn., "all that certain piece and parcel of land distinguished by the western half of farm lot No. 14, in the southern Tier Lots in the Hardenburgh Patent, situated in the County of Sullivan, bounded" &c., containing 93 acres and 20 rods, for a consideration of 81,100.
The life of Tom Quick is so intimately connected with the early history of this County, and more especially during and sub- sequent to the Revolutionary war, that a brief notice of him in this connection may not be inappropriate. It is not the province of the historian to moralize on the terrible vindictiveness which characterized the life of this remarkable man, or ques- tion the sufficiency of the cause which directed his energies in this channel ; we shall therefore confine ourselves to the task of narrating the facts as we find them, and permit the reader to draw such deductions as they may seem to warrant. The life and habits of Tom were of so cosmopolitan a nature that we deem it better to place our sketch of him and the incidents in which he was the prominent actor, in the history of the County, rather than disconnect them by classifying them under the
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towns in which they transpired .* The parents of Thomas Quick emigrated from Holland to the Colony of New York 4about 1733,f and soon afterwards located in Milford, Penn. By industry and frugality they soon surrounded themselves with many of the comforts of life, and their home must have presented a striking contrast with the dense wilderness in which they had located, for they are said to have been the pioneers of Milford. In 1734 the subject of this sketch was born, and received the name of his father. At this time the Indians held undisputed possession of the banks of the Delaware and its tributaries, except at Peenpack, on the Neversink, and they frequented the house of Quick, who had early won their confidence, and who uniformly tendered them a generous hospitality. They learned to admire young Thomas "and often made him presents of plumes of feathers and other articles." So much did he asso- ciate with the juvenile natives that he learned to speak the Indian tongue with as much case and fluency as the aborigines themselves and became proficient in the athletic accomplish- ments for which they are noted. He acquired so great a passion for the attraction of a hunter's life that he could rarely, even in after life, be induced to follow any other vocation. His associ- ations developed all those characteristics of the natives which inclined them to a life of wild abandonment, free from the restraints imposed by civilization. He grew totally unlike his brothers and sisters, (four in number, the names of his two brothers being respectively Cornelius and James,) who attended a Dutch school which had been established in the neighborhood, to meet the demands of the increased number of inhabitants, while Tom was as assiduously devoted to the sports of the chase and the amusements of the natives. During this time, however, he was acquiring a knowledge of the streams tributary to the Delaware, most of which he had traced to their sources, which afterwards proved of essential service to him, as it enabled him to execute with greater ease and certainty a terrible vow he made to revenge the death of his father, an event which resulted from the perfidy of the Indians he most befriended, for "many of the Indians almost lived in the family
*We are indebted to Gan. A. C. Niven for the substance of the incidents connected with or accredited to the life of Quick, who kindly permitted us to extract them from a little work entitled " Tom Quick," by James E. Quinlan, and to which we would direct the attention of the readers interested in the recital of each scener, for a more detailed Account of the inchlente bere given, and others which have no intimate connection with this County. Many of the Incidents seem endowed with all the characteristics of fiction, and some of the enshedhbmouts aro doubtless due to the vivid imaginariou, intensified Ly a love of the marvelous, of the narrator, though in substance they are believed to be Well authenticated facts.
tThis seems to be contradicted in Doc. ITist. of New York, Vol 1, p. 260, where it Appears that a man named Thomas Quick, among others, took the "oath of allegiance in ye County of Ulster, by order of His Excelly : ye Gouernor ; ye ffirst day of September anno qe : domini 1639."
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of .the Quicks, by whom they were clothed when naked, and fed when hungry." But the friendly relations which subsisted between the Quicks and the Indians were not of an enduring character, as subsequent events proved. "The increasing num- ber of the whites and the encroachments made upon what the natives regarded as their own territory, alarmed the Indians. The Delaware was a favorite haunt of the red man. Game was found upon its banks sufficient for them, and its waters swarmed with numerous kinds of fish. The bones of their fathers were interred in its most pleasant places, and the mem- bers of the tribe and their friends had been in the habit, from remote antiquity, of gathering within the sound of its waters to celebrate their annual festivals. Now the prospect was that the whites would soon occupy the whole country, if some decisive step was not taken, and that the bones of the braves who had been in the spirit land hundreds of years, would be desecrated by the plow of the pale face. It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that, during the war between England and France, the Indians were easily induced to fight against the adherents of Great Britain, and endeavor to drive them back to their old bounds, The Quicks had been kind to them; but, on the other hand, the fact could not be concealed that they were the first who had encroached upon them at Milford, and that they had induced others to locate there. The Indians were anxious to rid the whole valley of the strange land-loving race ; and if that had not been a sufficient incentive, the pros- pect of plundering a family as opulent as that of the Quicks, was sufficient in case the Delaware settlements were attacked, to render the ties of gratitude weak and easily bro- ken." Their disaffection was hightened by the belief that they had been cheated in the sale of their lands. They claimed that twice as much land was taken as was bought, and that even that was not adequately paid for .* Frequent threats to drive the whites from the disputed territory were made. When hostilities commenced, the natives became less social, and ultimately withdrew from the valley of the Delaware altogether. Both parties feared and distrusted each other. For & time they committed only petty acts of hostility. They occasionally murdered or captured a few whites at some of the exposed points; but seemed to spare the settlements. The whites took
"In Leseine's "Vetorial Field Bank of the Revolution, " the novel manner of deter- mieloy the boundary of lords part barn from the Delaware Indians is described. The · proprietore of Fynnsybaris" Bad hought of them lande whose boundarier were to exten l a certain of dance in the Dr's wate, end as far back, in a north-west direction, a' a main could walk in one and a half days. To settle the depth of the fract, the pur- chasers procured the swiftest runners in the colonies, who did not stop eveu to eat while running the hne. The expiration of the day and a half, found them eighty-six miles in the interior,
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such measures to guard against danger as seemed neccessary and prudent, without provoking open hostilities, by the erec- tion or repairing of block houses, and the procurement of arms and ammunition ; and some sought a more active part in the struggle by volunteering to serve in the army, believing that the fears of danger in the immediate vicinity of their own homes were groundless, a belief which was encouraged by the delay of the Indians in making any decisive manifestation of their enmity. This exodus of some of the pioneers to engage in the more active events of the war, left some of the settlements exposed. The Quicks shared the uneasiness engendered by the withdrawal of the Indians, in common with their friends, though they were disposed. to believe that their past kindness merited some consideration, if the worst fears in regard to the Indians were realized. From the beginning of the war, Tom had been induced by the urgent and affectionate entreaties of his mother, and the advice of his father, to forego his excur- sions in the woods. He no longer had the congenial company of the Indians, and became quite domesticated in the family of his father, whom he assisted in his work with his brothers and a brother-in-law. While thus situated, the event, which crystalized Tom's life into one of hatred toward the Indians, occurred. The latter had plotted to fall upon and destroy the outpost at Milford, and were concealed near that place, awaiting the approach of night to put their plan into execution. Tom accompanied his father and brother-in-law to the river side to procure hoop-poles, and, as was their custom, took with them no fire-arms. As they proceeded around a point or ridge near the river, they were discovered by the outposts of the am- bushed Indians, who resolved to kill them, even at the risk of defeating the main object of the expedition by & premature alarm. When they approached sufficiently near, they were fired upon, and the father fell mortally wounded. The young men, who were unhurt, instantly took hold of him, and endeavored to drag him after them as they fled. Being pressed too close by the pursuing Indians, though they were at first resolved to convey him to a place of safety, or remain and die with him, they were prevailed upon by the dying man to leave him and run for their lives. To escape, it was necessary to cross the Delaware on the ice, but to do so in full view of the Indians was extremely hazardous. The attempt was made, and before the river was half crossed, the savages appeared upon the bank behind them. They were within ride shot, with nothing to screen them "from the murderous fire of the yelling savages, any one of whom could shoot a deer, ninety- nine times in a hundred, while it was bounding through the
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forest;" but by running in a zigzag course, in order to baffle the aim of the enemy, and getting as far apart as possible, they escaped. Tom was struck on the heel of his shoe, and thus knocked down. As he fell, his pursuers, in savage exultation, shouted, " there lies Tom Quick "; but he was soon on his feet again and running as rapidly as ever. The savages abandoned their project of attacking the settlement, knowing that the whites would be prepared to give them a warm reception. They returned, and after scalping the wounded man, and in- flicting various other cruelties, despatched him, and held a "pow-wow" over his dead body. As soon as Tom and his brother-in-law found that they were no longer pursued, they cautiously crept back near enough to the Indians to ascertain what was going on. They heard the scalping whoop, and the rejoicing of the Indians, and it is said that Tom, rendered frantic by their fiendish conduct, swore that he would never be at peace with them, as long as an Indian could be found upon the banks of the Delaware. Though Tom a association with the Indians had rendered him turbulent, and restive under restraint from his parents, his love for them was by no means diminished thereby. He loved them with all the intensity of his nature, and his hatred of the murderers of his father was no less intense. His oath was never violated; and he lived to see the day when he could traverse the river almost from one extreme to the other without encountering a red man. The fact that the murder was committed by the Indians who had frequently enjoyed the hospitality of the Quicks, made it particularly aggravating. Tom thought that his father merited other treatment at the hands of those who had been fed at his table, and who had found an asylum under his roof whenever they desired it, savages though they were, and he imagined that the blood of the whole race was not sufficient to atone for the blood of his father. He was forever after an implacable enemy of the Indian, who learned to dread his name. He wreaked his vengeance ou the savages with as little compunction as if he was actuated by a religious duty, and as though he had no other object in life. As may be supposed, the execution of his vow involved him many times in serious personal danger, for he seems to have had little concern for his own safety when an opportunity was afforded him to engage in an affray with the Indians, the sight of whom svemed only to suggest the thought as to how they could be di pakbed with the greatest facility. Little is known of the part taken by Tom in the French war ; but his repugnante to the restraint which military discipline would impose, renders it highly improbable that he enlisted in the army, At the close of the war, however, we find him zeal-
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ously engaged in the execution of his threat on the Indians who returned to their old haunts in the valley of the Delaware, expecting, on the return of peace, to be again received into the confidence and respect of the whites. But the semblance of amity which the whites found it prudent to maintain toward their former enemies, the Indians, whom they regarded with abhorrence and dread lest any overt act on their part should bring upon them the revengeful ire of the savages, rendered it neces- sary for Tom to resort to secresy in meting out his conception of justice to the murderers of his father, lest he should incur the displeasure of his friends. This prudential measure seems, however, to have been disregarded by Tom in the murder of Muskwink, who was a drunken vagabond, and assisted in the murder of Tom's father. The fact that he was engaged in this sanguinary transaction was not at first known, and was only disclosed by the Indian himself while partially drunk, at a tavern kept on the Neversink, by a man named Decker, about two years after the war. Tom was present at the tavern on some business, and his acquaintance was claimed by Muskwink, on whom, however, he bestowed a contemptuous epithet. This gave rise to an irritating conversation, during which the Indian, with no other apparent design than to exasperate Tom, boasted of his exploits in the war, and of his participation in the killing of the latter's father, a detailed account of which event he gave, and to corroborate his assertions, exhibited the sleeve buttons worn by his victim at the time. This exhibition of savage brutality so aroused Tom's spirit of revenge that he at once resolved to kill him, and being unarmed, he took from its position, over the hearth stone in the bar-room, (where such implements were wont to be kept by the early settlers to prevent their rusting, and where they could be readily obtained in any sudden emergency;) & French musket, which he ascertained was loaded and primed. Before the Indian had sufficiently recovered his stupified senses to divine the meaning of this action, or to make any attempt to resist or escape, Tom cocked the gun and, placing its muzzle to the breast of the former, ordered him to leave the house-an order with which the. Indian sullenly complied. Tom drove the savage into the main road leading from Wurtsboro to Car- penter's Point; and after proceeding about a mile toward the latter place, he exclaimed, " Indian dog, you'll kill no more white men!" and he shot the Indian in the back between the shoul- ders. Muskwink jumped two or three feet from the ground, and fell on his face dead. Tom took from him the buttons which had belonged to his father, drew the body to a tree, that the wind had torn up by the roots, and kicking some leaves and dirt over it, left it there, where several years subsequently the
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bones were exhumed by Philip Decker, while clearing and plowing this land. Tom returned the gun, drank a glass of rum, and left the neighborhood. No one at the tavern seems to have imagined that bloodshed would result from the alterca- tion between Tom and the Indian ; hence no attempt was made to prevent it. This act was commended by some, while by others it was condemned, not only as being unjust, but as being likely to incite the friends of the Indian to revenge his death on the settlements. Tom, however, seems to have escaped unpunished.
Not long after Tom shot Muskwink, he was hunting in the vicinity of Butler's Rift. One day, while watching at the foot of the Rift, either for savages or wild beasts, he was rewarded with the sight of five savages coming up the river in a canoe. The party consisted of a man, a squaw, and three children. He concealed himself in the long reed grass which grew on the shore, and awaited their approach. He recognized the Indian as one of those who had visited his father's house before the war, and who had been engaged in several outrages on the frontier. When they were within gun-shot, Tom raised from his recumbent posture, and ordered them in the Indian tongue to come ashore, The man had heard of the murder of Musk- wink, and when he saw Tom, 'turned very pale,' but dared not disobey, and approached the ashore. After receiving replies to inquiries as to whence he came and whither he was going, Tom informed him that he had reached his journey's end; that the tribe to which he belonged had murdered his father and several of his relatives during the war, and that he had lifted up his hand in vengeance against his whole race. The Indian replied that it was "peace time," that "the hatchet was buried," &c .; but Tom answered that there could be no peace between the red skins and him, and that he would wage eternal war with them. He then shot the man, who jumped from the canoe into the river, where, after a few convulsive throes, he died. He then tomahawked the squaw and two eldest children, the latter of whom he declared " squawked like young crows." As he raised the tomahawk to despatch the remaining child-a babe-he was led to desist, for a moment, by the smiling wonderment with which the little innocent looked up into his face ; he seemed impressed with the enormity of his conduct, and even allowed himself to entertain the thought of sparing it ; but the thought of his father's brutal death, and the fact that the babe, if spared, would become an Indian, recurred to him and co enraged him that he instantly dashed out its brains. In consequence of the excitement which grew out of the murder of Muskwink, Tom thought it prudent
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to conceal the bodies of his victims, and, having procured some strips of basswood bark from a neighboring tree, he fastened heavy stones to the bodies, and conveyed them, one after the other, to the deep water of the Rift, where he sank them to the bottom. After all the bodies were disposed of, he destroyed the canoe, and no evidence of the horrible deed remained. When it was safe to do so, Tom told the foregoing facts to Jacob Quick of Callicoon. When asked why he killed the children, he invariably replied, "Nits make lice."
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