USA > New York > Gazetteer of the State of New York: embracing a comprehensive view of the geography, geology, and general history of the State, and a complete history and description of every county, city, town, village, and locality, Part 1 > Part 12
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The above rule does not apply to regiments and brigades not fully organized. If the former contain less than 6 companies, the field officers are appointed hy the Governor; and if the brigades are not within the requirements of the law, the briga- dier generals are also appointed hy the Governor. Const. 1846.
% The staff of the Commander-in-Chief consists of the Adju- tant General, Inspector General, Commissary General, Engineer- in-Chief, Judge Advocate General, Surgeon General, Quarter- master General, Paymaster General, Aids de-Camp, and Military Secretary, who severally rank in the order here given. The precedence and gradation of officers and non-commissioned offi- cers in the militia is as follows :-
1. The Commander-in-Chief.
2. Major General.
3. Brigadier General.
4. Colonel.
5. Lieutenant Colonel.
12. First Sergcant.
13. Sergeant.
14. Corporal.
In each grade precedence is given by priority In date of elec- tion, or appointment.
8. First Lientenant.
9. Second Lieutenant.
10. Sergeant-Major.
11. Quartermaster Sergeant.
6. Major.
7. Captain.
" The instructors, with the rank of colonel, are attached to the headquarters of the division, and hold by the same tenure as commissioned officers of the line. Instructors and division engineers must pass an examination as to special qualification before a board of not less than five officers, convened by the Commander-in-Chief. Appointments to this office have hitherto been made entirely from among the gradnates of West Point.
6 The Constitution of 1777 ordained that a proper magazine of warlike stores, proportionate to the number of Inhabitants, should be established in every county of the State; but this pro- vislon was never fully carried ont. An arsenal was huilt at New York at an early period, and another at Alhany soon after, the latter on the site purchased for a State prison. Under an act of Feh. 12, 1808, entitled "An Act for the defense of the northern and western frontiers," and by subsequent acts, arse- nals were erected at Canandaigua, Batavia, Onondaga Hollow, Rome, Watertown, Russell, Malone, Plattsburgh, and Elizabeth- town.
The arsenal at Plattsburgh was burned in 1813 or '14, and the one at Rome, which occupied the present site of St. Peter's Church, was burned with its contents a few years since. Neither has been rehuilt. In 1844 the State leased of the city of Buffalo a market building on Batavia St. for an arsenal. Magazines were also located at New York, at Albany, and on Staten Island. In 1850 these arsenals were mostly ordered to be sold, together with anch arms and other property as had become unserviceable for military purposes. An arsenal occupying the site of an old powder magazine of the Dutch, between Center, Elm, Franklin, and White Streets, New York, was anthorized to be sold in 1844, and a new one was directed to be huilt. The site was purchased hy the city for $30,000, and a new city armory was hullt, on the corner of White and Elm Streets. In 1808 the city of New York conveyed to the State a tract of ground upon Fifth Ave- nue, between Sixty-Third and Sixty-Fifth Sts., upon which a magazine was erected. In 1844 the Legislature authorized a new arsenal to be erected on these premises with such moneys as might be paid by the U. S. for the military works upon Staten Island. The sale was completed in April, 1847, for $37,284.87, of which $33,284.87 was applicable to the arsenal. The work was commenced, but In March, 1848, was suspended hy the Commissioners of the Land Office, to whose charge and that of the Commissary General the work had heen intrusted. It was alleged that the latter officer had expended moneys most un- warrantahly; and subsequent observation has proved that the structure was unfit for this or, in fact, for any other purpose .- Assembly Doc. 1856, No. 141. Senate Doc. 1848, No. 54.
In laying out the Central Park, the premises consisting of 152 building lots, valued In 1856 at $266,000, were included in the proposed improvement, and an act was passed, April 15, 1857, under which this property, which the State purchased in 1808 for $700, was conveyed back to the city for $275,000. Of this sum $100,000 was made applicable to the erection of an ar- Benal at New York; $45,000 for an arsenal at Buffalo; $10,000 for an arsenal In Brooklyn; $25,000 for the improvement of the arsenal at Albany and the erection of an armory; $17,000 for the purchase of the U. S. arsenal at Rome; $14,000 for an arsenal at Corning, and for armories; $5,000 at Rochester, $5,000 at Troy, $4,000 at Anhurn, $4,000 at Syracuse, 34,000 at Utica, $3,000 at Ballston Spa, $3,000 at Dunkirk, $3,000 at Ogdenshnrgh, $3,000 at Oswego, and $3,000 for the purchase of a stone fort in Scholarie for an armory. The arsenal In Albany, by act of April 17, 1858, was exchanged with the city for a site on Hudson and Eagle Streets, and $5,000 toward an arsenal and armory buildings, which were erected in 1858-59. During the summer of 1858, buildings at Albany, Auburn, Ballston Spa, Brooklyn, Corning, Dunkirk, New York, Ogdenshurgh, and Syracuse were put under contract and finished, or far advanced, the same year. The stone fort or church at Schoharie was purchased, but no steps were taken for the erections anthorized at Troy, Rochester, Oswego, and Utica. The new arsenal built at New York In 1858 was located on Seventh Avenue, corner of Thirty-Fifth St., and was nearly completed, when the roof fell, on the morning of Nov. 13. 1858, greatly injuring the building.
Most of the structures erected under this act are of substantial workmanship and elegant architectural style. They were built under the direction of commissioners appointed by law. When completed, they will be placed In charge of the Commissary General, who also attends to the safe keeping of arms and
1820 112,760
3,132
45
MILITARY.
The fortifications within the State are owned and supported by the United States although several of them were built by the State of New York under an arrangement for the settle ment of the Revolutionary debt.1
military equipments belonging to the State. He keeps his office in New York.
Summary of the ordnance arms in the hands of the troops and in the arsenals of the State on the 1st day of January, 1859.
Hix pounders. 101
Musquetoons 222
Nine pounders.
3
Carhines. 340
Twelve pound howitzers
5
Cavalry sabres. 1,337
Twenty-four pound how- itzers
7
Artillery swords. 1,344
Mountain howitzers
13
Cartridge hoxes and
plates .. 10,744 Cartridge box belts and plates. 10,813
Percussion mnskets and hayonets
11,975
Flint rifles 563
Percussion rifles 1,365
Flint pistols 114
Cap pouches. 7,155
Pistol holsters. 1,553 Percussion pistols. 2,254
1 In Feb. 1801, there was due from the State of New York to |helow :-
the United States, on account of Revolutionary expenses, the
¡sum of $2,074,846. An Act of Congress, passed February 15, 1799, allowed any State to discharge its debt by payment into the treasury before April, 1800, or by expending a like amount within five years in the erection of fortifications. New York was the only State that chose to extinguish its debt by erecting defenses upon its own soil ; and a committee of Congress reported in February, 1801, that no other States had shown auy disposi- tion to pay the balances reported against them. The amount credited to New York was $891,129.31, and the remainder of the indebted ness was subsequently released .- Americun State Papers, Finance, I, 697.
The amount of moneys reduced to specie value received by, or paid to, the State of New York from the beginning of the Revo- lution to April, 1790, was as follows, in dollars :- Received from State. $1,545,889
Paid to State .... 822,803
A descriptive and historical notice is given of the several forti- fications in the localities where they occur. The latest official summary that has been published, dated in 1851, is given
United States Fortifications.
FORTS.
LOCATION.
When commenced.
When finished.
Garrison in war.
Total number of
Estimated cost of
construction or re-
Amount expended
for construction
Amount required
Estimated cost of
armament, includ-
ing 100 pounds of ammunition.
Fort Schuyler.
Throggs Neck ..
1833
1,250
318
$873,013
$848,013
$25.000
$225,040
Fort Columbus.
Governors Island
1831
105
78
269,467
259,467
10,000
79.332
South Battery
1831
1845
14
15
5.096
5.096
18,672
Fort Wood.
Bedloes Island
1841
350
77
245.689
213,000
32,689
75.540
Fort Richmond.
Staten Islaud
1847
140
505,808
205,606
300,202
124,302
1,000
50
20,081
20,081 3.508
6,632
75.778
Fort Ilamilton
Long Island.
1824
800
118
634.752
614.752
20,000
86,757
Fort Montgomery
Rouses Point.
1841
500
164
411.497
187,355
224,142
132,384
Fort Ontario.
Oswego ..
1839
300
30
83.013
78,013
5.000
18,610
Fort Niagara.
Month of Niagara River 1840
300
21
84.027
59,027
25.000
12.961
Fort Porter
Black Rock
1842
300
64
150,000
116,500
33.500
51,208
The forts on Staten Island are being rebuilt on an extensive scale. Fort Schuyler, on Throggs Neck, has since heen finished, a site purchased for a fort at Wilkins Point, directly opposite, and an immense fortress has heen commenced on Sandy Hook, for the more effectual defense of New York Ilarhor. These works will effectually defend the approaches to New York by water, but would not prevent an attack hy land should an enemy effect a landing upon Long Island. To guard against this, it has been proposed to erect a line of redoubts across the island from Wilkins Point to Fort Hamilton at such intervala as would secure this object.
The General Government has appropriated large sums of money during many years to the construction of a floating battery for the defense of New York Harbor. It is building at lloboken, and is said to be nearly completed. It is of iron, of great strength aud thickness, with its outer deck oval, and every part proof against cannon ball. It is to be mounted with heavy guna and propelled by steam. No official account of its construction has been published ; and, for obvious reasons, the details of its plan are kept secret. It is reported that it has a capacity to accom- todate 3000 men, with the necessary supplies of fuel and military stores; and it is thought that of itself it might oppose an effectual barrier against the approach of a hostile fleet in any pa-sage which it might be brought to defend. This mighty engine of war was planned by the late Jolin C. Stevens.
The other military establishuients of the National Government in New York are,-
The Military Academy at West Point.
The Navy Yard, Dry Dock, Naval Hospital, and Labo- ratory at Brooklyn.
The Arsenal at Watervliet for the manufacture of gun car- riages and other heavy furniture of artillery for the field and fort.
The Arsenal of Deposit, at Rome.
Plattsburgh Barracks.
Madison Barracks, at Sackets Harbor. Buffalo Barracks.
A few years after the last war with Great Britain, a military road was surveyed and partly opened by the United States from Plattsburgh to Sackets Harbor ; but this work from the first has been kept in repair by the towns as a common highway.
Fort Montgomery is the only work now under construction on the northern frontier. The Canadians have the following fortifications adjacent to New York :-
Fort Wellington, at Prescott. erected in 1812-15.
Fort Henry, at Kingston, with sever: 1 Martello towers and hatteries, for the protection of the liarbor and town and defense of the north channel of the St. Lawrence. They were partly built in the War of 1812-15, and partly in 1837-40. Fort Carl- ton, now within the United States, commanded the south chan- nel, and portions of the work, executed a century ago. (and since the Revolution entirely ueglected,) might still be made available upon short notice.
Fort Massasauga, at Niagara, directly opposite the American fort. is of modern origin.
NuTE .- By the Militia Regulations of this State, the device at the head of this article is borue upon buttons and other insignia worn by military officers.
...
64
Battery. Ilndson.
Battery. Morton ...
1841
1846
9
3.508
10.665
Fort Lafayette.
Reef, near Long Island ...
1812
370
76
348,573
341,941
103,749
Castle Williams.
1831
800
12,184
Fort Gibson.
Ellis Island
1841
1844
80
guns.
pair.
or repair.
to complete or con-
struct.
59.209
Fort Tompkins.
1841
1846
57,000
......
-
Artillery sabres 1,188
Flint muskets and bayo- nets 671
Bayonet scabbard belts and plates 9,890
Waist belts and plates ... 9,258
LANDS.
THE absolute property of all the lands in the State is vested in the respective owners, liable only to escheat and to the reservation of gold and silver mines in such as derive title from Colonial patents.1
The law prohibits the leasing of agricultural lands for a longer period than twelve years .? The care and sale of lands belonging to the State are intrusted to the Commissioners of the Land Office. These commissioners have also the sole right of dealing with the Indians for the sale and surrender of reservations, excepting within the territory whereof the pre-emptive right of purchase was ceded to Massachusetts and is now held by the Ogden Company.
The Commissioners of the Land Office were created by an act of May 11, 1784, to carry into execution the promises of bounty lands for Revolutionary services which had been made by the Legislature in 1780. As now formed, this Board consists of the Lieutenant Governor of the State, Speaker of Assembly, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney General, and State Engineer and Surveyor. The Deputy Secretary of State is ex officio Clerk of the Board, and the meetings are held in the Secretary's office, upon the call of the Secretary of State.
When State lands are to be sold, they are first surveyed, appraised, and advertised for sale at auction, and their minimum bid affixed. The lots that remain without a bid are liable to be taken by the first applicant upon payment of one-fourth of the price and giving bonds for the residue. If they remain unsold any considerable time, they are re-appraised and offered at a lower rate.3
The lands under water in the bays around Long Island are in most cases the property of the townships, by virtue of original patents; and the privilege of fishing and taking oysters and elams is by some towns held as exclusively belonging to their inhabitants.4
1 The Dutch Government sometimes granted lands in the Colony without the formalities of Indian purchase ; but it was the rule of the English to first extinguish the aboriginal title. It was customary to apply to the Governor and Council tor leave to purchase. If granted, a treaty was held and an Indian deed obtained, a warrant was issued to the Surveyor General for a survey, and the map and field notes were reported. The Attorney General was then directed to prepare a draft of at patent. which was submitted to the Governor and Council. und. if approved, was engrossed upon parchment, recorded. scaled. and issued. The fees incident to procuring a patent were im- portant sources of revenue to the officers concerned. Only 1.000 acres could be granted to one person ; but this rule was evaded by associating great numbers of merely nominal parties; and the officers through whose hands the papers passed were often larg ly interested in the grants. The Colonial Government in this respect became exceedingly corrupt. and stood greatly in need of a reform like that wrought by the Revolution. In a few isolated cases grants of land were made directly by the crown, and no records appear in our offices. Of this class was the Royal Grant to Sir Wm. Johnson, N. of the Mohawk. Patents for land were generally very formal, and abounded in repetitions. The grants were "in fee and common socage." as in the manor of Fast Greenwich. in the co. of Kent. and in- cluded with the land all " honses, messages. tenements. crec- tions, and buildings. mills. milldams, fences. inclosures. gardens. orchards. fields. pastures. common of pastures, meadows.marshes. swamps. plains. woods. underwoods, timber, trees, rivers, rivu- Its, runs, streams, water, lakes, ponds, pools, pits. brachen. quarries. mines. minerals, (gold and silver [wholly or in part] excepted.) creeks, Irarbors, highways, casements. fishing. hunt- ing. and lowling, aud all other franchises. profits. commodities.
2 This feature was adopted to prevent the recurrence of anti- rent difficulties. The Legislature. in 1546, enacted a law pro- viding that all lands previously rented for a life or lives, or for more than 21 years, should be taxed as the personal property of the persons receiving the rents. to an extent equal to a suin that at legal interest would produce the annual rent. Sucht taxes were made payable in the cos. where the lands lay: and this unpleasant enenmbrance has largely contributed to reduce the amenut of lands thus held.
8 Unappropriated lands in the counties of Clinton. Essex, Franklin. Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga. St. Lawrence, Washington. and Warren may be sold by the commissioners in quantities of not less than 160 neres, if already surveyed. at such price as they may be hoind worth. If over 1.000 arres. they may be surveyed and sold for their value. and may not be assessed at a higher rate for five years. Lands sold under fore- closure of loan mortgages are bid in by the Loan Commissioners if liable to go for less than the smn due. They are then sold by auction, or otherwise. for the best interests of the State, under the regulations above stated. Land under water may be conveyed by the Commissioners ot the Land Office, under regn- lations fixed by law. Notice of application for such grants must be advertised for six weeks in the co. newspaper where the lands lic, and posted on the courthouse door. These notices innst describe the adjoining lands and give the names of their owners. Applicants must make affidavit that they intend to appropriate the lands applied for to commercial purposes. The co. judge. or supervisor und town clerk. or twa assessors of the town where the lands lie. must make affidavit that the land is not more than is necessary for the purposes of commerce. and that the persons applying are believed to be bona fute applicants for the purposes stated. Applicants minst also produce un acen- and appartenances whatsoever." This enumeration of rights. I rate map of the proposed grant and the adjacent lands owned more or less varied. was embraced in all land patenty. Colonial grants were usually conditioned to the ammal payment of a
¡ by thent. certified by the oath of a surveyor; and also a correct description in writing. with courses and distances, and the quitrent. at a stated time and place named in the patent. This | sindings for every 50 feet on the exterior line. The map must payment was sometimes due in money. and often in wheat or i show the general course of the shore for a inile each way, and other coandodity. Others were conditioned to the payment of [ the partienlar course at the point applied for, and include all the skins of animals or a merely nominal article. as simply an . docks, bulkheads. or other improvements. the names of owners acknowledgment of the superior rights of the grantors. The "of lands adjoining. and the width of the channel or river if less quitrenta formed an important source of revenne, and, after ; than two miles. The deduction of title and proof that the lands the Revolution, became dne to the State. In 1786 it was pro- ! belong to the State must also be produced. with claim of owner- ship by the applicant. or by himself and those under whom he claims. The patent is conditioned to occupation in the mode agreed upon within - years and the fees are $5.00. Grauts under the waters of navigable rivers and lakes can only be made to the owners of the land along the shores: and the cotil- missioners are restricted in their powers so far as relate- to New York City and the Hudson River R. K.
vided that lainds subject to these rents might be released upon payment of arrears. and 14 shillings to every shilling of the annual dnes. Large amounts of land upon which arrears of quitrent» had accumulated were sold from time to time: and laws continued to be passed at frequent intervals for the regn- lation of these rents until 1824. when an act was passed for the final sale of all land, which had not been released by cominuta. tion or remitted by law. Such lands as then remained murr- + Around Staten Island the owners of the shores possess the right of using or leasing the adjacent lams nuder water for planting oysters. The enstem of granting lands under water deemed were allowed to be released by payment of $2.50 to cach shilling sterling due. The last sade took place in March, 1525. The arrears for quitrenta. then amounting to 353.380. were in I without the restrictions here enumerated has led to serions 1819 taken from the general fund and given in equal portions encroachments upon the harbor of New York. the details of which are stated ou pages 418. 419. to the Literature and School Funds.
16
47
LANDS.
The publie lands are greatly reduced in quantity, and belong to the several permanent funds to which they have from time to time been granted.1
Gospel and School Lands .- Under an act of 1782, a lot of 400 aeres was to be reserved in each township of the Military Traet for the support of the gospel, and two lots of 200 aeres for schools.2
In each of the Twenty Towns of the Chenango Traet a lot of 250 acres (usually Lot 45) was reserved for the gospel, and another (Lot 46) of like extent for schools; but these lots were sold with the lands, and the Canastota Tract, in Sullivan and Lenox, adjoining Oneida Lake, was in 1805-08 given in lieu, and apportioned among the Twenty Towns.3
In each of the Ten Towns on the St. Lawrence a mile square (usually Lot 55) was granted for gospel and schools, and in some towns was applied in early years to both these objects.4
Besides these grants for schools by the State, land proprietors have in some instances conveyed certain lots for this purpose, to encourage settlement. In nearly every instance these lands have been applied for the benefit of the original townships within which they were grauted, and in their subdivision the local school fund has been equitably divided. Other lands were subse- quently granted, as elsewhere noticed ; and in 1822 the Constitution gave all the publie lands not specially appropriated to the school fund.5
1 The quantity now owned forms about 4} per cent. of that held in 1823, and compares between the two periods as follows :-
Lands belonging to tho School Fund ...
Jan. 1, 1823. .. 991,659.A.
Jan. 1859. 9,463A.
66
Literature Fund 17,946 "
640 "
16
Canal 129,769 "
...
66
General
39,269 "
Salt
209 "
Total ...... 1,139,374 " 49,581 "
2 These lots were designated by the supervisors of Onondaga and Seneca cos., under acts passed in 1796 and 1808, as follows :-
Gospel and School Lands of the Military Tract.
ORIGINAL TOWN- SHIP AND ITS NUMBERS.
Gospel and School Lot. 9 5
Literature Lot.
Present Toins sharing in Profits of School Lot.
1. Lysander .... 2. Hannibal ....
100 14
Lysander and part of Granby. Hannibal, Cicero. parts of Os- wego City, and Granby.
3. Cato.
25
89
Victory. Ira, and parts of Con- quest and Cato.
4. Brutus
87
58
Brutus, and parts of Sennett, Mentz, Conquest, and Cato.
6. Camillus ... 72 15
14
16 18 36
Owasco, Fleming, Auburn, and parts of Aurelius, Sennett, and Mentz.
9. Marcellus ... 22
19
Marcellns, Skaneateles, and parts of Spafford and Otisco.
10. Pompey 67
11. Romulus. 50
12. Scipio. 1
13. Sempronius 52
25 Sempronfus, Moravia, aud part of Niles.
14. Tully 76
15. Fabius 3
36
16. Ovid ..
30 24
23 56
17. Milton
18. Locke. 15
94
19. Homer 34
85
20. Solon
2.2 41
21. Hector
1
6
22. Ulysses. 5
24
Ulysses, Enfield, Ithaca, and part of Lansing.
23. Dryden
63
Dryden.
24. Virgil
Virgil.
25. Cincinnatns
26. Junius 78
79
Junius, Tyre. Waterloo, and part of Seneca Falls.
27. Galen ..
45
Galen and Savannah.
23. Sterling ... 72ª
33 88
Sterling, Butler, Wolcott, Huron. and Rose.
" Exchanged for No. 17 by Chap. 177, Laws of 1812.
8 In each of the following townships a lot of 640 acres was reserved for schools, viz .:- Fayette, now Guilford, and part of Oxford; Clinton, now Bainbridge, Afton, and part of Coventry; Greene, now parts of Greene, Smithville, and Coventry ; Warren, now parts of Colesville, Sanford, and Windsor; Chenango, now parts of Port Crane, Conklin, Colesville, and Windsor; Sidney, now parts of Binghamton and Vestal; Randolph, now parts of Sanford, Windsor, and Conklin; and Humbden, now parts of Vestal, Owego, and Nichols.
4 In Plattsburgh 640 acres was reserved for the gospel, and 460 for schools; and in Totten and Crossfield's Purchase 16 lots of 640 acres each. The latter have been selected under the Sackets Harbor and Saratoga R. R. Grant. In Benson Town- ship (Ilope and Lake Pleasant) 4 lots of 160 acres each were given for schools and literature.
6 The lands of the school fund were, Jan. 1859, as follows :- 4,270 acres in Hamilton, 2,861 in Essex, 1,680 in Clinton, 350 in Wayne, 105 in Schoharie, 75 in St. Lawrence. 30 in Washing- ton, 28 in Oneida, 25 in Fulton, 16 in Montgomery, 12 in Her- kimer, 6 in Dutchess, and 5 in Onondaga cos.
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