USA > New York > Sullivan County > Gazetteer and business directory of Sullivan county, N. Y., for 1872-3 > Part 20
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was immediately formed. They traveled seventeen miles, and then encamped for the night. The next morning they were joined by a small force under Col. Hathorn of the Warwick militia, and he, being Tusten's senior officer, took command. They resumed the march at sunrise, and at Half-way Brook came upon the Indian encampment of the previous night. The smouldering watch-fires were still smoking and their number indicated a large force. The two colonels with the more pru- dent of the company, advocated, in council, a return, rather than further pursuit. Excited bravado again overcame pru- dence, and a large majority determined to pursue the Indians; the minority yielded, and the march was resumed. Capt. Tyler, who was sent forward with a scouting party upon the Indian trail, was shot by an unseen foe. This produced a momentary alarm; but the volunteers pressed eagerly onward, and at nine in the morning they hovered upon the high hills overlooking the Delaware near the mouth of the Lackawaxen. The enemy were in full view below, marching in the direction of a fording place. Hathorn determined to intercept them there, and dis- posed his men accordingly. The belligerents were hid from each other by the intervening hills. Brant had watched the movements of his pursuers, and comprehending Hathorn's design, he wheeled his column, and thridding a deep and narrow ravine which the whites had crossed, brought his whole force in their rear. Here he formed an ambuscade, and deliberately selected his battle ground. The volunteers, surprised and dis- appointed at not finding the enemy where they expected to, were marching back, when they discovered some of the Indians, one of whom, mounted on a horse stolen at Minisink, was shot
by a militia-man. This was a signal for action and the firing soon became general. It was a long and bloody conflict. The Indians, being reinforced by those on the opposite side of the Delaware, were greatly superior in numbers, and a detachment of Hathorn's troops, consisting of one-third of the whole, became separated from the rest at the commencement of the engagement. The militia were gradually hemmed within the circumference of an acre of ground, upon a rocky hill that sloped on all sides. As their ammunition was limited, Hathorn, in imitation of Putnam at Bunker Hill, ordered that none should be wasted by random firing .* The unequal contest, which commenced at seven o'clock in the morning, was main- tained through that long July day,f both parties keeping up an irregular fire from behind rocks and trees, as best they couldi.f
*Putnam's order was-" Don't fre, boys, till you see the whites of their eyes."
tJuly 22nd, 1999.
#Stone's Life of Brant, page 413.
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The militia were completely cut off from water, and suffered greatly during the day from thirst .* About sunset their ammunition was exhausted, and a party of the enemy attacked and broke their hollow square at one corner.t The survivors attempted to retreat by forcing a passage through the cordon of Wood-thirsty savages, but many fell while making the effort. When the retreat commenced, seventeen wounded men were receiving treatment from Dr. Tusten, behind a ledge of rocks, and the whole number, including the Doctor, were . slain.] Among the slain were many of the first citizens of Goshen ; and of the whole number that went forth, only thirty returned to tell the melancholy story. Several were shot while attempting to escape by swimming the Delaware.§
"One of the militia," says Quinlan, in his "Tom Quick," p. 172, "who escaped was so exhausted he could not run far. He followed in the direction his friends had taken, until he could go no further. He then got out of the path, near which he remained some time. In a little while he saw the Indians one after another running in the direction the whites had gone. None of them looked towards the place where he was, until finally a very powerful savage discovered bim. The Indian's eye no sooner rested on him than the white man tired his last shot, and fled. The Indian did not follow, and it was supposed he was killed or badly wounded. The name of the white man, we believe, was Cuddeback."
Major Wood of Goshen, Orange Co., saved himself by means which Brant thought to be dishonorable. By accident or design he made a Masonic sign, which Brant, who was a Free- mason, perceived and heeded. Wood's life was spared, and as a prisoner he was treated kindly until Brant perceived that he was not a Mason. Then, with withering scorn, Brant looked upon Wood, believing that he had obtained the Masonic sign which he used, by deception. There is reason to believe, however, that Wood was innocent of any deception -- that the act which Brant mistook for a Masonic sign was purely accidental --- and that, when released, he hastened to become a member of the fraternity by whose instrumentality his life had been spared. |
*Quinlan & Tom Quick, page 172.
+ Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1, p. 670.
+"This massacre of the wounded," says Lossing, " is one of the darkest stains upon the memory of Brant, whose honor and humanity were often more conspicuous than that of his Tory allies. He made a week defense of his conduct by asserting that he Offered the Americans good treatment If they wouldi surrender ; that he warned them of the flerceness of the thirst for blood that actuated his warriors, and that he could not answer for their conduct after the first shot should be fired ; and that his humane propo- sition was answered by a buffet from an American musket, which pierced his belt. " -- Hetorial Filt Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1., p. 670-1.
§ Stone's Life of Brant. p. Ale.
I Lossing'e Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1, p. 671 ; Quinlan's Tom Quick. p. 174; Eager's Orange Co., p. 508; and Stone's Life of Brant, p. 419. From the last named authority. in & note, on the same page, we extract the following in- cident connected with Wood's captivity : " On the evening after the battle, when the 'monster' [ Brant] was about to tie him, [ Wood] he remonstrated, said he was a gentle-
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The bones of those slain in the battle of Minisink, which had been left forty-three years to bleach upon the field of strife, were collected by the citizens of Orange county, in 1822, and buried beneath a monument, near the center of the green at the foot of the main street of the village of Goshen. But one attempt had previously been made to perform this sacred rite, and that by the widows of the slain, of whom there were thirty- three in the Presbyterian congregation in Goshen. They set out for the battle ground on horseback; but finding the inter- vening country too rough and broken for them to proceed, they hired a man to complete their mission, who proved un- faithful to the trust and never returned .* On that occasion there was a great gathering of people, estimated at fifteen thou- sand in number. The cadets from West Point were there, under the command of the late Gen. North, then a Major. The corner-stone was laid by Gen. Hathorn, one of the survivors of the battle, then eighty years of age. He accompanied the act with a short and feeling address. A funeral oration was pronounced by Rev. James R. Wilson.t
man, and promised not to escape. He was not tied, but laid between two Indians; and told, that should he attempt to escape be should be tomahawked. The blanket on which he lay took fre in the night, and he dared not move, lest the tomahawk might sink into his head, until the Art reached his feet, when he kicked it out. It was Brant'e blanket. Brant treated him very barebly ever after ; and when Major Wood asked him the reason, he replied, 'D ---- n you, yon burnt my blanket.' "
*Quinlan's Tom Quick, p. 175.
tTho oration may be found In Quinlan's Tom Quick, appendix A ; and in Eager's Orange County. p. 404. The monament stande upon three courses of brown freestou", and a stone pavement a few fert square, designed to be surrounded by an iron railing. In consequence of ne decling to erect the railing, it has suffered much from the prevail- ing spirit of vandalism. Its coruvre are broken, the inscriptions are mutilated. and the people of Gustin are made to feel many regrets for delay in suitably protecting that interesting meidorial. Ou the east side of the pedestal is the following inscription: "'EnterED by the inhabitants of Orange County, 22d July, 1822. Sacred to the mem- ory of their fellow-cinzess who tell at the battle of MINISINK, 22d July, 1779,'" " The following names of the alain in that battle are inscribed on the other three sides: " NORTH SIDE. .
""Benjamin Tasten, colone! ; Bezalvel Tyler, Samnel Jones, Jobn Little, John Dun- can. Benjamin Veil, capitaine ; John Wood, lieutenant; Nathaniel Finch, [*] adjutant ; Ephraim Mastin, Ephraimo Middangh, eusions ; Gabriel Wiener, Esq., Stephen Mead, Mathias [+] Terwilliger, Joshua Lockwood, Ephraim Fergerson ; ** WEST SIDE.
" Roger(*) Townsend, Sammel Enapp, James Knapp, Benjamin Bennet, Wm. Barker. Jonathan Fierce, James Little, Joseph Norris, Gilbert Vail, Abraham[ ** ] Shepperd, Joel Decker, Nathan Wade, Sinon Wait, --- Tallmadge, Jacob Dunning.
" SOUTH SIDE.
" .John Carpenter, David Harney, Jonathan Haskell, Abraham[+] Williams, James Moster, I-Ase Ward, Battles Serpos, Gamaliel Bailey, Moses Thomas, Eleazer Owens, Adam Embier, Samuel Little. Benjamin Danuing, Samuel[*2] Reed.'"-Lossing's Pic torial Field Book of the Regulation, Vol. 1, page 671-2.
The following notes refer to differences in names inscribed on the monument, and indicate fue ssthorities o : «nited which differ from the one we have quoted.
*Nothing FACE, Utan Tom Quick. p. 1. 'i 'quick. p. 176; and Eager's Orange County. p. 4.
..
"+ 176; and Eager's Orange County, p. 420.
** Abram Shepherd, ttAbram Williams,
44
*2 Daniel Reed, ..
..
" 157 :
Both Quinlan and Eager Invert the name of ----- Shepherd, as boing inscribed on the West Side ; but it is omitted entirely in: Losging's quotation.
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157
We close our allusion to this subject with an extract from the Poems of Alfred B. Street, Vol. 1, p. 58, published in 1867. * * * * "A sweet and peaceful rest Breathes o'er the scene, where once the sound Of battle shook the gory ground.
" Long will the shuddering hunter tell How once red warriors rose, And wakened with their battle-yell The forests' long repose. How shrieked in vain babe, wife, and sire, As hatchet, scalping-knife, and fire Proclaimed their bloody foes ; Until the boldest quailed to mark, Wrapped round the woods, Night's mantle dark.
" At length the fisher furled his sail Within the sheltered creek, The hunter trod his forest trail The mustering band to seek ; The settler cast his axe away And grasped his rifle for the fray ; All came revenge to wreak, With the rude arms that chance supplied,- And die, or conquer, side by side.
" Behind the footsteps of their foe They rushed, a gallant throng, Burning with haste to strike a blow For each remembered wrong ; Here on this field of Minisink, Fainting they sought the river's brink, Where cool waves gushed along ; No sound within the woods they heard, But murmuring wind and warbling bird.
" A scream !- 'tis but the panther's ; naught Breaks the calm sunshine there ; A thicket stirs !- a deer has sought From sight a closer lair ; Again upon the grass they droop, When burst close round, the well-known whoop, Shrill, deafening on the air ; And onward from their ambush deep, Like wolves the savage warriors leap.
" In vain upsprung that gallant band And seized their weapons by, Fought eye to eye, and hand to hand, Alas ! 'twas but to die ; In vain the ride's deadly flash Scorched eagle plume and wampum sash ; The hatchet hissed on high, And down they fell in erinison heaps, Like the ripe corn the sickle reaps.
" In vain they sought the covert dark ; The knife gashed every head, Each arrow found unerring mark, Till earth was piled with dead. "
158 GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
LIBERTY was formed from Lumberland, March 13, 1807. Callicoon was taken off and a part of Thompson added in 1842, and a part of Rockland was annexed May 1, 1849. It lies north of the center of the County, upon the water- shed between Mongaup River and Beaver Kill. Its surface is rough and broken. Walnut Hill, south of Liberty Village, is 2,130 feet above tide, and Liberty Village, 1,467. The former is one of the highest peaks in the Blue Mountain range, (as the principal ranges of mountains which traverse this section of the County were originally known, and from which the first settle- ment in Liberty received its name,) and is the highest in the County. The town is watered by the Mongaup and its tribu- taries in the south, and the Little Beaver Kill and its tribu- raries in the north. The former rise near the center, and flow southward; while the latter, also rising near the center, flow northward. The principal sheets of water are Lily Pond* in the north, Brodhead Pondt in the center, and Stevensville Pond in the south.
The soil is good, but stony. For agricultural purposes this town is one of the best in the County. , Dairying and stock raising form the chief pursuits of the farmers. Lumbering and tanning occupy the inhabitants to a good degree, but not to that extent they have heretofore done. The lumber and bark has been mostly cut off, the principal remaining tracts being in the west part of the town.
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The town covers an area of 41,6723 acres, of which, accord- ing to the census of 1865, there were then 16,6263 acres improved, and 25,046 unimproved. This disproportion of im- proved land has been largely diminished however since then, as many new roads have been opened and large quantities of land brought under cultivation, or cleared preparatory thereto.
The population of the town in 1870, was, according to the census of that year, 3,380.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, the town contained nineteen school districts, and employed twenty teachers. The number of children of school age was 1,441; the number attending school, 987; the average attendance, 400; and the value of school houses and sites, $6,795.
The New York & O. Midland R. R. extends through the town, entering it near the south-east corner and leaving it near
.This pond has an cu ration of about 1. fml feet. It covers an area of about one ban- did actes, and to surrounded by den futurte. Over its margin in summer are spread the green leaves and white fragrant blossoms of the waterlily, from which it derives it's name.
+This Pond, which covers an area of abont thirty acres, is situated on an elevated plane, about 1,90 feet shove tide, and about two miles north-west of Liberty Village. Allts outlet was erected the first mill in the town.
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the north-west corner. The summit of this road at Young's Gap is 1,8313 feet above tide, and the grade from there to Liberty Falls is 65 feet to the mile.
LIBERTY VILLAGE, (Liberty p. o.,) situated on the Middle Mongaup, and on the line of the New York & O. Midland R. R., south-east of the center of the town, was incorporated Sept. 17, 1870, and contains four churches, (Baptist, M. E., Presby- terian and Roman Catholic) The Liberty Normal Institute,* a fine district school, four hotels, ten stores of various kinds, a flouring mill, a carriage manufactory and about 600 inhab- itants. A library was established in the village in 1829, with thirty-three members.
The Liberty Fire Department was organized Nov. 19, 1870. It is composed of the "Watkins Engine Co., No. 1" and the "B. W. Winner Hook and Ladder Co., No. 2." A hose cart has recently been added, and a new company is soon to be formed under the name of the " Watkins Hose Co."
The Liberty Custom and Flouring Mill, of which R. T. Hum- phrey is proprietor, was erected in 1841, by Gotlieb Koeber. It is located in the south part of the village, on one of the branches of the Middle Mongaup. It has three runs of stones which capacitate it for grinding about three hundred bushels of grain per day.
A trestle is being constructed on the Midland R. R., just north of Liberty, on the lands of Jasper Hardenburgh, which will be about four hundred feet long and about seventy in height.
LIBERTY FALLS, (p. v.) situated in the south-east part, on the Middle Mongaup, is a station on the N. Y. & O. Midland R. R.,f and contains one hotel, a school house, two stores, two groceries, one grist mill, one upper and one sole leather tan- nery, three saw mills, one wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, a shoe shop and about one hundred inhabitants.
The Liberty Falls Custom Mill, of which Ovid Horton is pro- prietor, has two runs of stones, and a capacity for grinding about two hundred bushels of grain per day. .
* The Liberty Norina: Instituts, a boarding school for both sexes, was erected in 1847-8, and incorporated by an act of the Legislature, April 12, 1848. It is under the care of the Regents of the Uutrersity. Hon. John D. Watkins, the founder and sole corporator, has bern the sole Trustee since its incorporation. Milo P. Hall is the present Principal. Students are here prepared for college. There are now about cighty pupils in attend- ance, though about one handred and twenty can be accommodated, and five teachers are employed.
John F. Stoddard, the author of Stoddard's System of Mathematics, was the first principal of this Institute. . While here he prepared and used the Ms. for his Intellectual Arithmetic.
tThe rallroad, when completed, will cross the creek at this place on a bridge, 1,100 feet long and 100 high.
ivs.
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The. Liberty Falls Upper Leather Tannery, which was started about 1847, by Isaac Horton, and is now owned by Henry Gurd, tans about 4,000 sides and 600 calf skins per year.
The Liberty Sole Leather Tannery, of which Wm. Gildersleeve is proprietor, has a capacity for tanning about 12,000 sides per annum, though but half that number are being tanned.
PARKSVILLE, (p. v.) situated on the Little Beaver Kill and on the line of the N. Y. & O. Midland R. R., in the north part, contains, one church, (Baptist) one school, three stores, one hotel, a grist mill, a saw mill, a blacksmith shop, two shoe shops and 122 inhabitants.
The Parksville Custom and Flouring Mill, of which O. R. Rey- nolds is proprietor, was established about 1830, and contains two runs of stones which capacitate it for grinding 300 bush- of grain per day .*
Robertsonville, (p. v.) is situated near the head waters of the West Mongaup, five miles west of Liberty, and contains one church, (M. E.) one hotel, two stores, a blacksmith shop and about sixty inhabitants.t
RED BRICK (p. o.) is a hamlet near the east line, three and one-half miles south-east of Liberty. The post office at this place was established in 1864.
GLEN COVE, formerly known as Dowtonville, is a hamlet about one mile south-east of Liberty, and contains a dozen houses, a store and Geo. II. Decker's steam saw mill, which is capable of sawing from 20,000 to 24,000 feet of lumber per annum.
STEVENSVILLE (p. v.) is situated on the line of Bethel, near the foot of the Pond by the same name, five and one-half miles south of Liberty, and contains one church, (M. E.) a school house, a hotel, two stores, one tannery, a blacksmith shop, wagon shop and from 100 to 125 inhabitants.
The north-west part of the town is but thinly settled and is comparatively & wilderness, though it boasts of a small settle-
*Since the above was written we learn from The Liberty Register, of May 3, 1872, that D. E. Colver bs- pureassed this mill.
+The village derives Ra Dame from Bradley Robertson, who settled here in 19. Hiszen, fire. W. I tento, war informant is hotel keeper and proprietor of a su mill. Many of ble paradante are scattered throughout the locality. At the beginning of the present century, beasts of prey were so numerous as to render it a profitable businees to hunt them to secure the liberal bounties offered for their destruction. In- dividuals were induced to devote their Attention to this as a vocation.
The first rettler in this locality was John Star, who came here about 1800.
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ment , which rejoices in the euphonious name of " Skeeters- burg."*
The first settlement in the town was made by Eleazer Lara- hee from Stonington, Conn. He came here immediately from Neversink, to which place he moved, in 1790, from Falls- burgh, where he is said to have settled as early as 1786 or '88, near Hasbrouck. At that time Capt. Broadhead was opening a road from Neversink to his 3,000 acre tract in the Blue Mountain country, as it was then called. " He offered to give Larabee a deed for a lot of one hundred acres on the Blue Mountain, and a lease of three other lots for twenty years free from rent, on the sole consideration that he settled on and im- proved the land." Larabee accepted this offer, sold his land on Thunder Hill, in Neversink, to Phineas Booth, and the same year, 1794, moved to the 3,000 acre tract. Within a year or two he sold the lease of one of the lots of one hundred acres to John Vail for $700, and another to a Quaker named Earl for a like amount. The price received for the leases was more than the fee simple was worth. Larabee, under the direction of and for Mr. Broadhead, erected the first saw mill in the town, on the outlet of Broadhead Pond in 1797. It was built of logs and hewn timber. After its completion he sawed logs for the first grist mill, which he also built the same year. The mill was tended by - Hulse. It was burned and subse- quently rebuilt by Mr. Broadhead. At the end of four or five vears Larabee sold his remaining interest in this tract to Daniel S. Stewart, from Rockland, in 1798, and moved to Saratoga Co., and subsequently to the western part of the State. John Vail, the second settler, came from Deer Park, Orange Co. John Gorton, from Connecticut, came in 1595, having previously, in 1793, located with his cousins, Thomas and William Grant, in Fallsburgh. Nathaniel Pinney and Josiah Whipple came from Preston, Conn., in the fall of 1695,
* Our informant speaks of this section thus facetiously :
"The north-western portion of the town of Liberty is commonly known as Egypt, an appellation, the origin of which is accounted for as follows :- Some thirty years ago, one Elias Hull, an early suitler, had a barn raising. with the necessary accom- paniment, a . Bro.' As night came on the laborers ceased from their work and talked of betaking themselves to their respective homes; but the voice of the majority was in favor of sleeping where they were, as there was danger of straying-the night being pronounced to be as back a> Egypt.' Those who officiated at the christening still stoutly maintained that ' sich a dark Light war never heerd tell on in these parts,' yet there are not wanting those who assert that there was nothing unusual touching the dark- news of the ulyht, bat insingate that there is reason for believing the alleged natural phenomenon to have been an stutenfed, if not created. by the ropeated attentions paid to a certain stode jar which firmie I prominently on the occasion. Be that as it may. this modern Frygt would appear to be not entirely without its plague, a hollow in the upper part bearing the rather wherestive title of ' Skeetersburg.'
" Indignation meettags bave been held, with a change of name for their object, but without success. 'Pleasant Valley,' ' Dingle Daisy,' and other attractive cognomens have been niged in vain upon the natives, who, true to their first love, still cling tenacionsly to their beloved . Skeetersburg.'
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and.settled on lot 12. A family by the name of Russell, also from Connecticut, came in the fall of the same year and settled near them. Nathan Stanton Sr. came from Preston, Conn., in 1796, and purchased & lot which had previously been partially cleared by Thomas Grant. Edward Swan, Isaiah Whipple, Ebenezer Gaer, - Hulse and Elijah and Isaac Carrier came the same year; and Ebenezer Green about the same time. Swan settled on lot 3; Green, on lot 4; and Whipple, on lot 10, of the 3,000 acre tract. Stephen, Ichabod and Frederick Benton, from Connecticut, located at Bentou Hollow, in 1796. Stephen bought eight hundred acres of the Hardenburgh Patent. Mrs. Julia Carrier,* daughter of Stephen Benton, now in her 86th year, is living about a mile north of Liberty. She says that in 1804 there were but two houses in the village of Liberty, one of which was occupied by Roswell and John Russell and Elijah Carrier; the other by Jason Fish, who settled here in 1798. The three former built the first mill at the village. Wm. Ayers came at the same time, and Robert Maffit, a youth of twenty years, soon after. The latter was a great hunter and it is said that in 1860 he estimated the number of deer he had killed at at least one thousand, besides several elk and other wild beasts almost innumerable. Thomas Crary, from Stonington, Conn., came here with his family in 1801, and located about one mile south of Liberty. His son Calvert, who is 74 years old, is now living a little cast of the village of Liberty. Roswell Russell commenced a settle- ment at Liberty Falls in 1807, and built a saw mill in that year. The next year he sold the property to Luther Buckley. Wm. Knight (now residing at Youngsville) came from Orange Co., in 1808, and settled at Liberty Falls. He is now ninety years old. Stephen A. Gregory moved with his family from Fairfield Co., Conn., in 1809, and located about a mile west of Liberty Falls. His eldest son, Abel Gregory Sen., who is now residing on the same farm, was then nine years old. When eleven years old he commenced attending school during the winter in Conn., proceeding there on foot, with satchel in hand, in the fall, and returning in the spring to work with his father. This he re- peated every year until he acquired an education which enabled him to impart to the youth of his own town the advantages he labored so hard to attain. But little more was done in the vicinity of Liberty Falls until about 1825-6, when Isaac Horton, who moved from Heatware Co., in company with Luther Buck- ler, built the first grist mill at that place. It was at one time called Hortonville.
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