History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 11

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068

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" The deponent further saith, that on the 28th of October last, he set off for Canada under the command of Captain Deman, who had the command of twenty-two bateaux, with twenty men in each bateaux ; the remainder being 760 men followed in a few days, the 30th arrived at Chadakoin, where they staid four days during which time Monsr. Peon with 200 men cut a wagon road over the carrying place from Lake Erie to Lake Chadakoin, being fif- teen miles, viewed the situation which proved to their liking, so set off November 3rd for Niagara, where we arrived the sixth ; it is a very poor, rotten, old wooden fort with 25 men in it. They talked of rebuilding it next summer. We left fifty men here to build bateaux for the army against the spring, also a store house for provisions, stores, etc., and staid here two days, then set off for Canada ; all hands being fatigued with rowing all night, ordered to put ashore to breakfast within a mile of Oswego garrison, at

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

which time, the deponent saith, that he with a Frenchman slipped off and got to the fort where they both were concealed until the army passed ; from thence he came here. The deponent further saith, that besides the 300 men with which he went up first, under the command of Monsr. Babeer, and the 500 men Morang brought up afterwards, there came at different times with stores etc., 700 more, which made in all 1,500 men ; 300 of which remained to garrison the two forts, 50 at Niagara, the rest all returned to Canada, and talked of going up again this winter, so as to be there the beginning of April; they had two six pounders and seven four pounders, which they intended to have planted in the fort at Ganagarah'hare, which was to have been called the Governor's Fort, but as that was not built, they left the guns in the fort La Riviere O Boeff, where Morang commands. Further the deponent saith not.

STEPHEN COFFEN.

Sworn before me this roth day of January, 1754.

WM. JOHNSON.

The following information respecting the operations of the French in Chautauqua county in 1753 and of the building of the Portage Road is con- tributed by Dr. H. C. Taylor of Portland. Mr. Isaac Shattuck was for many years a citizen of that town, a personal acquaintance of Dr. Taylor. His grandfather, Samuel Shattuck, when an old man came to Portland with his family in 1823 where he died in 1827. He was born in Massachusetts, was in the French and Indian war, and a soldier of the Revolution. Dr. Taylor often listened to the recital by Isaac Shattuck of incidents of the French war that had been communicated to him by his grandfather Samuel Shattuck. Dr. Taylor from his knowledge and acquaintance with the parties vouches for his truthfulness. In 1753 Mr. Shattuck then a mere lad, was in some way connected with the colonial forces posted at Oswego under Lieutenant Hitchen Holland. He was allowed to accompany an officer and five men detailed to watch the movements of the French in the expedition to the Ohio river. We will here give, using the words of Dr. Taylor, the portion of the narrative that most nearly relates to the operations of the French in this county :

" We set out on the 7th of April ( 1753) for Lake Erie, following the shore of Lake Ontario until we reached what is now known as the Genessee river, then struck boldly into the woods, intending to reach Lake Erie 40 or 50 miles from its outlet ; but as it happened we came in sight of its waters a few miles below what is now called Cattaraugus creek. We were satisfied the flotilla had not passed, so we waited for it. The second day after, as near as I can remember the 16th day of April, it came in sight, and the sight was beautiful indeed. It was a fine day and well along in the afternoon. We at once started onward, keeping well back from the lake, and encamped for the night on the banks of a stream that I now believe to have been the Canadaway, a few miles west of the now location of Dunkirk. In the morn- ing the boats were out of sight, but we expected to overtake them easily, and in fact did so sooner than was agreeable to us as we came near discover- ing ourselves to the Indians that belonged to the expedition scattered through

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

the woods. They had landed at the mouth of Chautauqua creek, as now called, and were already felling trees on the west side of the creek, apparently for some sort of fortification. We were confident they had chosen this as a carrying place to some waterway south of the highlands. That night we slept some two or three miles back from the lake, probably near the east end of the village of Westfield as now seen ( 1826.) In the morning we repaired to our place of ambush and were much surprised in the afternoon to see another flotilla of boats filled with Frenchmen making a landing, a much larger munber of men than the party of the day before.

" From some cause not apparent to us there was a cessation of work, and after three or four days the whole of both parties, with the exception of a few Indians, embarked in their boats and moved westward. Here was some- thing unlooked for, but as we had been detailed for a special duty we had to follow. We struck back into the woods and to the highlands, where we could look over the lake and at the same time avoid some straggling Indians that seemed to choose the land rather than the company of their friends on the water. These redskins, all the season through, gave us more trouble than all things else, and we were sometimes obliged to absent ourselves for days to avoid the unusual number that occasionally appeared to gather about, watching the work of the French. The wonder is that we escaped discovery and capture, bat we owed all our good fortune in this to our leader, who was an old Indian fighter from Onondaga, and understood them well. After a few miles we were obliged to return to the rise of ground between the high- lands and the lake, and at sundown were nearly abreast of the boats when they made a landing where Erie now stands. For the next two months or more there was considerable work done toward building a fort, but it must have been the last of July before it was completed. In the meantime parties had been sent south and returned, and on more than one occasion there seemed to be a delay in movements that to us seemed unaccountable, but in due time the whole force aside from the garrison, moved south, completing a fine road as they went that other parties had commenced. After three days they halted on the banks of a stream running nearly east at that point, where they went to work completing a stockaded fort already begun. We were not idle all this time, but wandered away, sometimes for days at a time, where small gante was more plenty, upon which we depended for our sub- sistence. We did not use our firearms from the time we left Oswego until we were well on our return, but depended upon traps and snares to secure such game as we needed.

" The design of the French was plain to be seen, and thinking we had accomplished all we were expected to do, we left for Oswego some time in September, where we arrived in due time with a full report which was sent at once to New York. I forgot to say that one of our party was dispatched to Oswego as early as the first of July. It was not expected that the French with so small a force and so late in the season, and with the amount of work before them, would push forward to the Ohio valley that season, and their return was confidently looked for with great anxiety. Some time in the lat- ter part of October it was known that the expedition had not returned, and fearing mischief Lieut. Holland dispatched the same party to learn of their movements and report as soon as at all consistent. This time we took a

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

course farther south and after reaching the highlands south of Lake Erie continued along their crest, keeping the lake in sight. On the seventh day out, or October 30th, as near as I remember, in the afternoon we came upon a party of nearly or quite a hundred Frenchmen rolling logs into a ravine in the bottom of a deep gulf, and digging into the steep sides of the gulf for a road, apparently, at a point that I now ( 1826) know to have been on the south border of the village of Westfield. They had, apparently, returned from Erie and were completing the work they began in April. We came upon this party very suddenly and unexpectedly, for we had supposed that the whole matter of a carrying place had been transferred to Erie ; in fact so sudden was it that had it not been for some adroit movements on our part, and sharp running up the cast branch of Chautauqua creek, as I now know it (to be), we should have been seen, overtaken, and of course gone into captivity. As it was we escaped and witnessed the completion of the road from Lake Erie to Lake Chautaugna. On the third or fourth day the whole party embarked in their boats and moved eastward. We at once retraced our steps and about the 10th of November reached Oswego."

The first person that traveled over the Old Portage road, who has given us a definite account of its appearance at the time of the journey was Judge William Peacock. From his description of the road as it was left by the French prior to the Revolution, or perhaps by the English in 1782, we can form the best idea of its character and situation in its original condition. In 1872, when in better than usnal health, and when his mind was clear, he made to the writer this statement :

"I first saw the Old French Portage Road in 1799. I was then a young man. I wanted to see the country. I came to Buffalo and a Seneca Indian ferried me over Buffalo creek. I hired this Indian to go with me. He could talk a little English and I could talk a little Seneca. He went afoot and I rode on horseback. He was a very good Indian. We went from Buffalo to the site of Westfield. This was in the month of July, 1799. There was nothing but an Indian path from Buffalo to Westfield. This path crossed the creek at Westfield a little below the bridge. We took this Indian path to the Old French Road which began on the west side of Chautauqua creek at its mouth opposite to Barcelona. At this end of the Old Portage road a stone mason work was erected laid in mud or mortar. It was three or four feet high, circular, three or four feet across with a circular hole in the top for a kettle. There was no kettle there. A fire could be built in this mason work. It was evidently con- structed for cooking. I and the Indian followed this old Old Portage road from the mouth of Chautauqua creek to Chantangna lake. . From the mouth of the Chautauqua it passed up the west side of the creek about three miles to where the road to Mayville from Westfield now crosses the creek. Here I saw dngways upon both sides of the creek. Then it meandered along over bad ground to the dividing ridge, then turned to the right to Chautauqua creek, and then turned to the left to a point between Mayville and the Mountain House (Buttons Inn,) where we came to an old log causeway over a bad place in the ground. The present road runs pretty much over this old log causeway. The Old Portage road then kept through bayous and swamps, although no other causeways appeared to have been built over

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

these bad places. Bearing a little to the east of the present road in May- ville, the road passed about 70 rods easterly from my dwelling, and so on easterly of Main street through Mayville terminating at the foot of Main street. At its termination at Chautauqua lake there was another pile of stone erected for cooking purposes, precisely like that at the mouth of Chau- tanqua creek, and of the same kind of stone. No trees that I saw were cut upon this Portage road except that at this causeway underbrush had been cut. The road had not been cleared out however very extensively. It appeared as if wagons and canon had passed over it. "Some work had been expended in making these small dugways about three miles from Barcelona."

The next person who saw the road in its original state and described it was William Bell. This letter in reply to inquiries made by the Hon. E. T. Foote was published in the Westfield Republican of April 5, 1871.

WESTFIELD, MARCH 29, 1871. HON. ELIAL T. FOOTE :

My Dear Sir-In answer to your letter inquiring about the route of the old French road from Lake Erie to Chantanqua lake I will say that I came to what is now Westfield in August, 1820. My father, Arthur Bell came from Pensylvania with a part of the family in "dug out canoes" up the Allegany and Connewango rivers, and the Chautauqua outlet and lake to the present steamboat landing at Mayville, while I came through the woods from the Allegany river to Erie, and thence to Westfield with some cat- tle and horses ; and when the family arrived at the head of the lake I went there to meet them, and the goods were " packed " over to the farm that my father had " taken up" when he was here in the spring, on the " main road," about three miles west of Westfield village.

In 1802 there were the remains of a stone chimney standing near the shore of Lake Erie, a little west of the mouth of Chautauqua creek, that was said to have been built by the French. A road was ent ont from that point on Lake Erie, crossing the present Erie road near the old " MeHenry Tavern," where the historical monument now stands, and crossing the west branch of Chautauqua creek abont 100 rods above where the woolen factory of Lester Stone, Esq., now stands, and from there to a point near the former residence of Gervis Foot, or late residence of Mrs. Rumsey, and from there to Chantan- qua lake, on or near the line of the present traveled road. I remember very well when I was quite a young lad, of driving a team to draw salt over this old French road from Lake Erie to Chautauqua lake, and from the appearance of the road it must have been cut out a good many years before I passed over it. My father settled on part of Lot 3, Township 4, Range 14 of the Holland Land Company's survey ; and after the death of my father, I resided on the same farm till within the last few years. Respectfully yours,

WILLIAM BELL."

Gov. Patterson and A. Dixon coneurred in the recol ection of William Bell.

Judge Campbell's statement made about the same time is: " The state- ment of Col. William Bell in regard to the Old French Road is undoubtedly correct ; but he does not allnde to the branch of the same road on the east

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

side of Chautauqua creek-the two different branches of the same forming a junction above the mouth of the little Chantanqua creek, and above the woolen factory of Mr. Stone, as mentioned by Col. Bell. Those two branches made two cross roads : the first where the stone monment is now standing, and the other at the corners now in the village of Westfield. The east branch of this old French road passed near the bank of the creek, and the original tracks were plainly to be seen on both sides of the creek, in 1817, when I settled on the farm where I now reside. The road on the eastern side passed through my farm, and the remains of log bridges were plainly to be seen ; and the road on the bank of the creek down to cross the mouth of the little Chantanqua creek below the woolen factory, and to join the west branch above the factory ; and the relics of the branches of these two branch roads still remain visible to this day, April 4th, 1871.

'T. B. CAMPBELL ..

In an article published in the Chantanqua Eagle of June 12, 1819, it is said : " The old ( French) road is distinctly traceable in the vicinity of this village" (Mayville.) Dr. H. C. Taylor first saw the road in 1827. He says the road was then " plainly to be seen at intervals and could be traced nearly its entire length, especially the northern portion from the lake to the foot- hills." He further says that "even at this day, 1890, there are traces of its existence." There still exist not far from the MeHenry monument the marks of its nse, pointed ont to the writer as late as i891 by Hon. Austin Smith.

Dr. Taylor, in his history of the old Portage describes its location as fol- lows : " Its starting point was on the west side of Chantanqna creek at Bar- celona within a few rods of the lake. Its course from this point was sonthi- erly along the bank of the creek, passing the after location of the first grist mill built in the county, by John McMahan, not far from the mouth of the creek, in 1804 or 1805, it reached and crossed what is now the main road at the ancient cross roads, one mile west of the center of the village of Westfield, at the monument erected there by Hon. Elial T. Foote, (1870.) From this point by a southeasterly course it soon reached the steep bank of Chautauqua creek, along which it ran for a mile when it passed into a deep gorge of a hundred feet or more in depth, through which the creek ran, by an extensive dugway still plainly to be seen on the lands owned by Miss Elizabeth Stone, where it crossed the creek and by another dugway on lands for many years owned by Win. Cummings, it reached the high banks a few rods from the present Glen Mills. The passage of this gorge was a work of considerable magnitude. The west bank was so very precipitous that the passage of teams would seem nearly impossible, yet it is said that in later years, before the road on the east side of the creek through the present village of Westfield was opened, vast quantities of salt and merchandise were transported over it from Lake Erie to Lake Chautauqua for Pittsburg and other points in the Ohio valley. On the east side of the gorge the road was

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

less precipitous and is now a public highway. After reaching a point above Glen Mills on the south side of the gorge through which the east branch of the Chautauqua creek now runs, and where the Mayville road is now located at that point, to avoid the rugged section over the hill it passed up the east branch for some distance and continued to the east of the present thorough- fare to Mayville, and reached Chautauqua lake at or near the present steam- boat landing."

To this last circumstance is due the fact that the traces of the road seem to have been more strongly marked when Judge Campbell and later observ- ers saw it than in 1799 when first seen by Judge Peacock. Dr. Taylor informs us that it was surveyed by James McMahan in August, 1805, and legally located as a public highway the same month by the commissioners, Thos. MeClintock and James Dunn. Causeways, rude bridges and dugways were undoubtedly made while in use by the early settlers.

The disputed territory first entered upon by Celoron of which he claimed dominion. in the name of the king, was Chatauqua county. Ahnost the first act of the French thereafter, by way of enforcing their claim was the build- ing of the Portage road in Chautauqua county. These events kindled a spark that finally burst into flames. They constituted the immediate cause of the Old French War. Although this war was disastrous in the beginning to British arms, it resulted in the fall of Quebec, and the loss to the French of all Canada and of the greater part of their possessions in America. This war having its beginning in Chautauqua county soon extended to Europe where it was waged on a grander scale. It was there known as the " Seven Years' War." France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and other European powers arrayed themselves against England and Prussia. The statemanship of Wil- liam Pitt and the military genius of Frederick the Great gave the victory to the latter nations. The battles of Minden and Quiberon Bay in 1759 were decisive of the contest. One of the latter results of this great struggle has been the creation of the German empire. The Seven Years' War extended even to Asia. The French and English contended for empire in India. The English finally gained the great victory of Palissy in 1757 over the Indian allies of the French, with which began the empire of England in the East. While we may not say that the chief cause of these great events was the expedition of Celoron, and the building of the Portage road in Chatau- qua county, they stand however at the very beginning of a series of events that directly led to these momentous results.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

SECTION II . - OUR ENGLISH HISTORY.

CHAPTER IX.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

T HESE operations of the French in the west in 1753 were watched with interest and indignation by the English. Captain Stodart wrote a letter to Col. William Johnson May 15, 1753, from Oswego, inform- ing him that over thirty French canoes, carrying a part of the French army, had passed them the day before for the Ohio ; also that he was informed by a Frenchman, on his way to Cajocka (probably Chautauqua), that the French under Marin were about to build fores at places convenient for them ; "that one fort was to be built at Ka-sa-no-tia-yo-go" (a carrying place), and another at Diontarogo .* A copy of this letter was forwarded by Col. Johnson to Governor Clinton. When information reached Governor Dinwiddie of Vir- ginia of these proceedings of the French, he determined to ascertain their purpose, and to induce them to abandon their claim upon the valley of the

Ohio. He accordingly dispatched George Washington, then but twenty-two years of age, who set out from Williamsburgh, Virginia, October, 30, 1753, and arrived where Pittsburgh now stands about three weeks afterwards. He then proceeded to Venango, where he arrived December 4, and had an inter- view with the celebrated Captain Joncaire, but obtained no satisfaction. From Venango he pushed on up French creek, to the French post at Le Bœuf, now Waterford, where he arrived December 11, 1753. The fort he found situated on the island on the west fork of French creek. It consisted of four houses forming a square, defended by bastions made of palisades twelve feet high, pierced for cannon and small arms. Within the bastions were a guard-house and other buildings ; outside were stables, a smith's forge, and a log house for soldiers. Washington found that the French were here preparing many pine boats and bark canoes to be ready in the spring to descend and destroy the English posts on the Ohio river. Here Washington,

* 6 Doc. relating to the Col. Hist. of N. Y., 779.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

140 years ago, spent five anxious days within but fourteen miles of French Creek, in Chautauqua county, negotiating with the French commandant, St. Pierre. Having finished his business with the French, Washington set out December 16, to return. His long journey through the wilderness was beset by- difficulties and dangers. French creek and the Allegany were swollen and full of floating ice; the snows were deep, and the cold intense. He arrived at Williamsburgh, January 16, 1754, having performed a toilsome and perilous journey of Soo miles in two and one-half months.

Immediately after Washington's return, the Ohio Company sent Captain Trent and a small body of men, to the junction of the Allegany with the Monongahela, where Pittsburgh is now situated. He arrived there in Febru- ary, 1754, and commenced a fort, which was completed prior to April 17, 1754. This was the first occupation of the territory of Pittsburgh. Against this post the French immediately dispatched a formidable expedition, the first warlike demonstration made in the French war. Monsier Contrecoeur, then French commander-in-chief on the Beautiful river, at the head of 1,000 French and Indians, with 18 pieces of cannon, in 60 bateaux and 200 canoes descended the Allegany, arrived at Pittsburgh April 16, 175-4, and summoned the English commandant Ward to surrender. He having but forty men to defend his unfinished stockade was obliged to do so .* This affair is memora- ble, as it was the first blow struck in the war that followed.

The Portage road from Barcelona to Mayville was cut late in the preced- ing fall with a distinct view to its future use. This expedition was the first movement made by the French in the spring following ; as but few French remained at Le Boeuf and Presque Isle during the winter, a large part of this force had probably to be drawn that season from Canada ; a portion of it may have passed over Chautauqua lake. In the letter written by Gen. Wm. Irvine to General Washington, dated Jan. 27, 1788, General Irvine says :

" The following account I had from a chief of the Seneca tribe, as well as from a white man named Mathews, a Virginian, who says that he was taken prisoner by the Indians at Kanawha, in 1777. He has lived with the Indians since that time. As far as I could judge, he appeared to be well acquainted with this part of the country. I employed him as an interpreter. He stated that from the upper end of Jadaque lake it is not more than nine miles along the path or road to Lake Erie, and that there was formerly a wagon road between the two lakes. The Indian related, that he was about fourteen years old when the French went first to establish a post at Fort Pitt ; that he accompanied an mele who was a chief warrior, on that occasion, who attended the French ; that the head of Lake Jadaque was the spot where the detachment embarked ; that they fell down to Fort Duquesne without any obstruction, in large canoes, with all the artillery, stores, provisions, etc.+ Ile added that French creek was made the medium of communication after-

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 11

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068