History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Clinton County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4
USA > New York > Franklin County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4

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Arnold,' Gates wrote to Schuyler on the 15th of Septem- ber. 'Among the favors of Providence we have the bless- ings of Gen. Arnold's safe return,' are the words of Riehard Varick. Washington, always cautious in forming and ex- pressing his opinions, declared there was not ' a more active, more spirited, and more sensible officer in the service.' His gallant conduct at Quebec had not been tarnished by his treason at West Point."}

LOSS OF THE AMERICAN FLEET ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN, OCTOBER, 1776.

.The following is Gen. Arnold's official account of the loss of his ficet on the 13th of October, 1776 :

"TICONDEROGA, October 15, 1776. " DEAR GENERAL,-I make no doubt before this you have received a copy of muy letter to General Gates of the 12th instant, dated at Schuyler's Island, advising of an actiou between our fleet and the enemy the preceding day, in which we lost a schooner and a gondola. We remained uo longer at Schuyler's Island than to stop our leaks and mend the sails of the ' Washington.' At two o'clock P.M. the 12th, weighed auchor, with a fresh breeze to the southward. The enemy's fleet at the same time got under way. Our gondola made very little way ahead. In the evening the wind moderated, and we made such progress that at six o'clock next morning we were about off Willsborough, twenty-eight miles from Crown Point. The enemy's fleet were very little way above Schuyler's Island. The wind breezed up to the southward, so that we gained very little by beating or row- ing, at the same time the enemy took a fresh breeze from the north- east, and by the time we had reached Split Rock were alougside of us. The ' Washington' and 'Congress' were in the rear, the rest of our fleet were ahead except two gondolas sunk at Schuyler's Island. The 'Washington' galley was in such a shattered condition, and had so many men killed and wounded, she struck to the enemy after receiving a few broadsides. We were then attacked in the ' Congress' galley by a ship mounting twelve eighteen-pounders, a schooner of fourteen sixes, and one of twelve sixes, two under our stern, and one on our broadside, within musket-shot. They kept up an incessant fire on us for about five glasses, with round and grape- shot, which we returned as briskly. The sails, rigging, and hull of the ' Congress' were shattered and torn in pieces, the First Lieutenant and three men killed, when, to prevent her falling into the enemy's hands, who had seven sail around me, I ran her ashore in a small creek ten miles from Crown Point, on the east side, when, after saving our small arms, I set her on fire, with four gondolas, with whose crews I reached Crown Point through the woods that evening, and very luckily escaped the savages, who waylaid the road in two hours after we passed. At four o'clock yesterday morning I reached this place, exceedingly fatigued and unwell, having been without sleep or re- freshment for near three days.

"Of our whole fleet we have saved only two galleys, two small schooners, one gondola, and one sloop. General Waterbury, with one hundred and teu prisoners, were returned by Carleton last night. On board the ' Congress' we had twenty-odd men killed and wounded. Our whole loss amounts to eighty-odd.

"The enemy's fleet were last night three miles below Crown Point; their army is doubtless at their heels. Wo are busily employed in completing our lines and redoubts, which, I am sorry to say, are not so forward as I could wish. We have very few heavy canuon, but are mounting every piece we have. It is the opinion of General Gates and St. Clair that eight or ten thousand Militia should be immediately

# The narrow strait between Valcour and the mainland is historio. Over its waters have floated tho white banner of France, the red cross of England, and the stars of our country. Deeply imbeddod in its sands aro the hulls of fivo vessols, over whoso blood-stained deeks the waters havo rolled for a century. The position of but ono of these wrecks, tho schooner " Royal Savage," is known. It lies about twenty feet from the shore, near tho southwest point of the island, and the gunwales can yet ho seen in low water. In 1868 portions of the side were wrenchod off with grappling-irons, and sinco then several relies have been raised from the wreck .- Palmer.

# " Trumbull's Reminiscences of his own Times."

t "Gen. Maxwell to Governor Livingston."

HISTORY OF CLINTON AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

sent to our assistance, if they can be spared from below. I am of opinion the enemy will attack us with their fleet and armny at the same time. The former is very formidable, a list of which I am favored with by General Waterbury, and have enclosed. The season is so far advanced our people are daily growing more healthy.

"We have about nine thousand effectives, and, if properly sup- ported, make no doubt of stopping the career of the enemy. All your letters to me of late have miscarried. I am extremely sorry to hear, by General Gates, you are unwell. I have sent you by General Waterbury a small box, containing all my publick and private papers and accounts, with a considerable sum of hard and paper money, which beg the favour of your taking care of.

" I am, dear General, your most affectionate, humble servant, " B. ARNOLD.

" To Hon. Major-General Schuyler.

" N. B .- Two of the enemy's gondolas sunk by our fleet the first day, and one blown up with sixty men."

BRITISH REPORT.

"CAPTAIN THOMAS PRINGLE TO MR. STEPHENS, SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY.

" ON BOARD THE ' MARIA,' OFF CROWN POINT, October 15, 1776.

" It is with the greatest pleasure that I embrace this opportunity of congratulating their Lordships upon the victory completed the 13th of this month, by his Majesty's fleet under muy command, upon Lake Champlain.

"Upon the 11th I came up with the Rebel fleet, commanded by Benedict Arnold. They were at anchor under the Island Valeour, and formed a strong line, extending from the island to the west side of the continent. The wind was so unfavorable that for a consider- able time nothing could be brought into action with them but the gun- boats. The 'Carleton' schooner, commanded by Mr. Dacres, who brings their Lordships this, by much perseverance, at last got to their assistance ; but as none of the other vessels of the fleet could then get up, I did not think it by any means advisable to continue so partial and unequal a combat ; consequently, with the approbation of his Excellency General Carleton, who did me the honour of being on board the ' Maria,' I called off the 'Carleton' and gunboats, and brought the whole flect to anchor in a line as near as possible to the Rebels, that their retreat might be cut off ; which purpose was, how- ever, frustrated by the extreme obscurity of the night, and in the morning the Rebels had got a considerable distance from us up the lake.

" Upon the 13th I again saw eleven sail of their fleet making off to Crown Point, who, after a chase of seven hours, I came up with in the ' Maria,' having the ' Carleton' and ' Inflexible' a small distance astern, the rest of the fleet almost out of sight. The action began at twelve o'clock, and lasted two hours, at which time Arnold, in the ' Congress' galley, and five gondolas, ran on shore, and were directly abandoned and blown up by the enemy,-a circuuistance they were greatly favoured in by the wind being off shore and the narrowness of the lake. The 'Washington' galley struck during the action, and the rest made their escape to Ticonderoga.

" The killed and wounded in his Majesty's flcet, including the artillery in the gunboats, do not amount to forty, but, from every in- formation I have yet got, the loss of the enemy must indeed be very considerable."

In 1777, Burgoyne swept through the wilderness on the west side of Lake Champlain with an army of seven thou- sand three hundred and ninety men, and fifteen hundred horses. He occupied the fortified sites of Points au Fer and Isle la Mott, and built a cross-way of logs over the impassable flat southward on the shore from the mouth of Chazy River to where is now Saxe's Landing,-traces of which road remained for fifty years.

Only the year previous the Americans had invaded Can- ada, were defeated, and returned through this section. They bivouacked at Point au Fer and Isle la Mott, dispir- ited, weary, and smitten with the smallpox. In the flush of victory Burgoyne followed Armstrong. How he styled

the Americans " rebels," how he called Gen. Washington " Mr. Washington," how he gave up his sword to Gen. Gates, and how Molly Stark didn't at Bennington become a widow, are matters of history too well known to be re- peated here.

THE WHITE HOUSE.

In 1774 Point au Fer became a military post, and by order of Gen. Sullivan a strong garrison-house was there- upon erected. It was constructed of stones surrounded by a stockade and manned. Ethan Allen appeared before it with several armed vessels, and from that time the point became an important post. For twenty-two years the building was known in military journals as the " White House."

It was the site of stirring adventure, of imprisonment of captives, rendezvous of passing armies, and the resort of the most celebrated men of the Revolution. The place was visited by Gen. Burgoyne, Armstrong, Sullivan, Schuy- ler, Benedict Arnold, Col. Ethan Allen, Col. Ebenezer Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Governor Clinton, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and others less noted whose names are lost in the mists of years.

The war ended in 1783, but it was not until 1796 that Great Britain relinquished its claim to these waters. The English commodore Steel, with his armed brig " Maria," guarded the outlet to Lake Champlain and covered its shores. Every American vessel lowered its "peak" and paid obeisance to the royal ensign. Steel made a garden on the shore, and for more than ninety years it has been known as " Stecl's Garden." Every month Steel sent a corporal's guard to Judge Moore and warned him off the soil, notify- ing him that his claim under the State would not be recog- nized, but no attention was paid to these repeated warnings.

Lord Dorchester ordered the people for ten miles this side the line to be enrolled with the militia of Canada. But the treaty of peace camc, and Steel and De Rocham- beau evacuated the " White House," and left the soil of the States no more to return. Capt. Steel. subsequently became a commodore on the great lakes, and died at the age of eighty-nine years.

Eighty-two years have now elapsed since the British left Point au Fer. Early in the present century the old garrison-house went to ruin. It was located on the north end of the point.

CHAPTER V ..

EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLE.

The Iroquois deserted by the English-Deplorable Condition-Inter- cession of Washington, Clinton, and Schuyler-State Commission- ers appointed - United States Commissioners appointed -The First Treaty between the United States and the Iroquois-" Fort Stanwix"-The First Treaty between New York and the Iroquois- "Fort Herkimer"-Subsequent Treaties-Conflicting Claims to Territory-The Hartford Arbitration.

THE unfortunate alliance of the Six Nations to the Brit- ish crown during the War of the Revolution tended in no- wise to benefit them. On the contrary, the close of the

EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLE.

war left them with no protectors save those against whom they had waged, through eight dreary years, the relentless border warfare, as England, upon the conclusion of peace with the colonists, made no provision whatever for her dusky allies. It was admitted by the State that the title to the land was originally vested in the Indian, but many, still suffering from the effects of the barbaritics perpetrated by the savage, urged that their lands be held forfeit, as those of a conquered foe. At one time this was the spirit that animated the law-makers of the State; and, but for the timely and earnest intervention of Clinton, Washington, and Schuyler, they would have been compelled to relinquish the title of their lands without a single treaty. The inter- cession of Clinton with the State, and Washington with the authorities of the general government, succeeded in effecting a wiser and more humane policy.

In April, 1784, by act of the Legislature of New York, the Governor and a board of commissioners were constituted superintendents of Indian affairs. The board was eonsti- tuted as follows : George Clinton, Governor, Abram Cuyler, Peter Schuyler, Henry Glen, Philip Schuyler, Robert Yates, Abram Ten Broeck, A. Yates, Jr., P. W. Yates, John J. Beekman, Mathew Vischer, and General Ganse- voort. To render the board more efficient they associated with them the Rev. Wm. Kirkland, Peter Ryckman, Jacob Reed, James Reed, James Deane, Major Fonda, Colonel Wemple, Major Fry, and Colonel Van Dyke, all of whom were familiar with the customs and habits of the Indians.

In the mean time the United States government had also appointed commissioners delegated with power to treat with the Iroquois for lands bordering upon New York, Pennsyl- vania, and Ohio. This board consisted of Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Serious complications immediately arose as to the jurisdiction of the two boards of commissioners. Governor Clinton, with his characteristic energy, endeavored, during the spring and summer of 1784, to effect a treaty, but found them generally averse to treat- ing with a State, but acknowledging their willingness to meet the "Thirteen Fires." Both the State and the United States commissioners designated Fort Stanwix as the council ground, and on Oct. 22, 1784, the first treaty of the United States was effected. By the terms of this treaty the government guaranteed protection to the Iroquois, and they, in turn, surrendered their captives.

Governor Clinton soon after succeeded in convening the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, and in June, 1785, the first treaty was held between this tribe and New York, at Fort Herkimer. By the terms of this treaty they ceded all that territory lying between Unadilla and Chenango Rivers, south of a line drawn through thesc streams, and extending to the Pennsylvania linc, paying therefor the sum of eleven thousand five hundred dollars. The Oneidas subsc- quently ceded to the State the remainder of their territory, with the exception of a small reservation, reserving to themselves, however, the right of hunting and fishing. The price paid for this territory was five thousand five hundred dollars, together with an annual annuity of six hundred dollars forever.

On Sept. 12, 1788, at a treaty held at Fort Schuyler, thic Onondagas disposed of all their lands within the bound-

aries, receiving in consideration one thousand French crowns in cash, together with elothing amounting to the sum of five hundred dollars, and an agreement by the terms of which they were to receive forever a yearly stipend of five hun- dred dollars.

Feb. 25, 1789, a treaty was concluded at Albany between the State of New York and the Cayuga tribe, the Indians ceding all their possessions to the State, reserving a tract embracing one hundred square miles, located on cither side of Cayuga Lake, within the present counties of Cayuga and Seneca. The consideration paid by the State was two thou- sand one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and an annual annuity to their posterity forever of five hundred dollars. The State was prompt to treat with the Indians whenever they desired to part with their possessions, and one treaty followed another in quick succession, and 1790 dawns to find the title to their fertile lands within New York extin- guished with the exception of the reservations, their num- bers greatly lessened, and their warlike prowess gone. They were crowded on and on toward the setting sun, not by the bayonet of the white, but by civilization, a power at once friendly, but as irresistible as the march of time.

To the lasting honor of the State of New York, it is proper to remark that she has earnestly endeavored to ad- vanee the interests of remnants of the tribes within her borders, by teaching them the art of husbandry and fur- nishing them religious and educational instruetors. It has, however, except in a few instances, practically wrought no beneficial results. The Indians have become demoralized by contact with the whites, and the fragments of the once grand league of Iroquois are eking out a miserable cxist- ence.

In the year 1620 the King of Great Britain granted to an organization known as the Plymouth Company a tract of land denominated New England, extending several degrecs north and south, and reaching from the Atlantie to the Pa- cific. Eight years after, Charles I. granted a charter for a portion of this territory, which was vacated in 1684, and a second eharter granted by William and Mary in 1691. The territory embraced within the boundaries designated by this charter extended from north latitude 42º 2' to north latitude 44° 15', and from ocean to ocean. In the year 1663, Charles I. granted to the Duke of York and Albany the province of New York, including the present State of New Jersey, and extending, from a line twenty miles east of the Hudson River, westward to the Pacific Ocean. The boundaries of this tract were very indefinite, and when each of the colonies-afterwards States-laid claim to the same territory a collision arose, which at one time wore a serious and threatening aspect.

New York in 1781, and Massachusetts in 1785, ceded to the United States a large tract of territory, thereby greatly diminishing the original amount in controversy, but still left about nineteen thousand square miles of territory yet in disputc.

This controversy was amicably settled by commissioners assembled at Hartford, Conn., Dec. 16, 1786. By the terms of the arbitrament, Massachusetts confirmed to New York the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the soil lying west of the east boundary of New York, while to Massachusetts

HISTORY OF CLINTON AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

was ceded the property of the soil, or the right of the pre- emption of the soil from the natives This compact em- braced that part of the State lying west of a line running north from the "eighty-second" mile-stone, on the bound- ary-line between New York and Pennsylvania, through Sencca Lake to Sodus Bay. This line is known as the " Old Pre-emption Line."

CHAPTER VI. LAND GRANTS.

Totten and Crossfield's Purchase-" Irocoisia"-The "Ten Town- ships"-Macomb's Great Purchase-His Application-The Survey -The First Patent-Macomb's Failure-William Constable- Daniel McCormick-Old Military Tract-The Canada and Nova Scotia Refugees-Other Tracts.

PREVIOUS to the Revolution various patents had been granted by the English government to lands lying along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, the most northern of which was then known as "Totten's and Crossfield's Purchase," which was purchased by Joseph Totten, Stephen Crossfield, and others from the Indians at Johnson's Hall (Johnstown), in July, 1773. This purchase formed the southern bound- ary of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties.

In Jeffries' " French Dominions in America," the country north of this purchase is described as the " deer-hunting grounds of the Iroquois." In Delisle's Atlas, 1785, it is designated Irocoisia, or the land of the Iroquois. On an old map in the Documentary History of New York, it is put down Conghsagrage, the beaver-hunting country of the Six Nations. On this map, across the counties of St. Lawrence and Franklin is written the following :

"Through this tract of Land was a chain of mountains, which from Lake Champlain on one side and the River St. Lawrence on the other side show their tops always white with snow ; but altho' this one unfavorable circumstance has hitherto secured it from the claws of the Harpy Land Jobbers, yet no doubt it is as fertile as the Land on the East side of the Lake, and will in future furnish a comfortable retreat for many Industrious Families."

From the minutes of the council of the colonial govern- ment of 7th of June, 1771, is extracted the following :

" At a council held at Fort George, in the city of New York, on Friday, the 7th day of June, 1771-

" Present :

" His Excellency the Right Hon. John, Earl of Dunmore, Captain- General, &c.,

" Mr. Watts, Mr. Cruger,

" Mr. Apthorp, Mr. Wallace,

" Mr. Smith, Mr. White.

" The annexed petition was read :

"' To his Excellency, the Right Honorable John, Earl of Dunmore, Captain-General and Governor-in-chief in and over the Province of New York and the territories depending thereon in America, Chan- cellor, and the Admiral of the same in council :

"' The humble petition of Joseph Totten and Stephen Crossfield, in behalf of themselves and their associates, humbly sheweth :

"'That your petitioners have discovered that there is a certain tract of land lying and being in the county of Albany, on the west side of the most northerly branch of Hudson's river, beginning at the north- east corner of a tract of forty-six thousand acres of land petitioned for by Thomas Palmer and his associates; thence running south 60º west, to the northwest corner of a tract of land petitioned for by John

Bergen and his associates ; thence running north 30° west, till it shall intersect a line coming west from ten miles north of Crown Point ; thence east to Hudson river; thence down the said river to the north bounds of a tract of land, petitioned for by Edward Jessup and Ebene- zer Jessup and their associates, of forty thousand acres; thence west- crly and southerly round the said tract of land until it shall come to the northeast bounds of said tract of land petitioned for by the said Thomas Palmer and his associates, being the place of beginning.

"' That the said tract of land hath not been purchased of the Indian proprietors thereof, but that the Indian right thereto still remains vested in them.

"' That your petitioners and their associates are willing and desirous at their own expense, of vesting the Indian right and title to the lands before described in his Majesty, in hopes of being able to obtain his Majesty's letters patent for such parts of the said tract of land as shall be found fit for cultivation.

"'Your petitioners therefore in behalf of themselves and their asso- ciates, most humbly pray your Excellency's lisence, enabling them to purchase in his Majesty's name of the Indian proprietors thereof the tract of land before described, in order that your petitioners and their associates may be enabled to apply for and obtain his Majesty's letters patent for the same, or such parts thereof as upon an accurate survey may be found fit for cultivation, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, etc.

"' NEW YORK, April 10, 1771.

"' JOSEPH TOTTEN, " 'STEPHEN CROSSFIELD,

"' In behalf of themselves and their associates.'

"This petition was referred to a committee of the Council, reported favorably, and the permission to purchase of the Indians given.

" The purchase was made in 1772, in accordance with law, at John- son Hall, in the presence of Governor Tryon, John Butler acting as interpreter. The purchase-money, paid to the Indians in the presence of the Governor amounted to the sum of eleven hundred and thirty- five pounds (£1135) lawful money of New York (together with five shillings, etc., by Governor Tryon on behalf of his most sacred Majesty, George the Third, etc.), being an absolute deed of all their interest in the tract as bounded and described in the petition of Totten and Crossfield; an estimated area of 800,000 acres It is signed by "HENDRICKS, + Mark.

" ABRAMS, + Mark. " AGWIR ÆGHSSE, " Jo HANS CRIM.

" It is to be remarked that the commencement of the deed gives the names as Heudrick alias Tayahansara, Lawrence alias Aggurasies, Haus alias Canadajaure, and Hans Krine alias Onagoadhoge, ' native Indians of the Mohock Castle.'

"The speculators who secured this Indian deed subsequently made application, through Governor Tryon, to the Crown for a patent for the same. It had by this time become apparent, however, that the pretended desire to effect settlements upon these lands, thereby securing extraordinary privileges, was not the real object of those desiring the patent ; and that the names of Totten and Crossfield, simply ship- carpenters of New York, merely served as the screen to certain famous speculators or ' land jobbers,' as they were then called, and the Crown officials appear to have suspected that this was a scheme to obtain possession without due consideration of the valuable timber (majestic groves of noble white pines which at that period in all the abundance of the primeval forest crowded the banks of the Upper Hudson), and seem to have desired that the title should be vested in more responsible persons. This was just previous to the Revolution, and by the Earl of Dartmouth (letter of 21st April, 1775, to Governor Tryon) they are informed : ' I shall submit to his majesty my humble opinion that whenever the persons really and bona fide interested and concerned in those purchases shall make humble application to his Majesty for such grants, accompanied with a disavowal of all association to ob- struct the importation or exportation of goods to and from Great Britain, it may be advisable for his majesty to comply with their request, and to confirm to them the possession of the said lands by letters patent under the great seal of Great Britain, and not other- wise :' being a demand for a declaration of their loyalty. The imme- diate occasion for this demand may perhaps be explained by the fact that subsequently Joseph Totten appears as 26th on a list of the

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History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922