History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

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 6
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 6

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In the following year a regiment of artillery was raised, with the same privileges and bounties as the other regi- ments. Congress also granted lands to thesc soldiers, which were located in the State of Ohio. By a subsequent agreement between the State of New York and the United States, any soldier relinquishing his claim to his one hun- dred acres in Ohio should draw a full right of six hundred acres in New York ; but, failing to relinquish his right, by neglect or otherwise, the one hundred acres over the five hundred should revert to the State. This gave origin to the term State's Hundred, once so much used in the Mili- tary Tract.

A very large tract of land in the central part of the State was surveyed out to satisfy these claims, and the town- ships into which it was divided were named after the most illustrious military characters of antiquity.

In May, 1784, commissioners were appointed to settle

these claims, consisting of the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Auditor.

The Indian title to this tract was not then extinguished, and there was at the time some doubt and uncertainty when this could be effected. Some of the claimants becoming clamorous, an act was passed by the Legislature, as before stated, authorizing the commissioners of the land office to lay out several townships where the Indian title had been extinguished to satisfy these claimants, and accordingly these lands were located in the northern part of the State.

These lands were numbered from south to north and back, to the number of twelve each, containing one hundred square miles. Nos. 1, 2, 11, and 12 are in Essex County ; Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Clinton County ; and numbers 7, 8, and 9 in Franklin County. The value of these lands compared with those of Western New York becoming known to the speculators who had bought up many of the soldiers' rights, the final settlement of claims was deferred until the Indian titles in the centre of the State were ex- tinguished.

In 1786 the tract was laid out, but no part of it was ever patented to military claimants. It was sold like the other lands by the commissioners.

In Clinton County, with the exception of the certain portion embraced within the four townships of the Military Tract mentioned above, the lands were mostly granted in comparatively small patents. At the close of the Revolu- tion, the State of New York granted a tract of two hundred and thirty-one thousand five hundred and forty acres in the northeast and central parts of the county to the refugees from Canada and Nova Scotia. The lands were divided into eighty and four hundred and twenty acre lots, except five thousand, which was divided into fifteen equal parts, which were granted to the officers and privates among these refugees. Several small tracts lying along the lake were granted to English officers who served during the French war. Other principal patents in this county were Platt's, Livingston's Beekman's, Duerville, Dean's, Stewart's, Fris- well's, and Greene's.

CHAPTER VII.

THE WAR OF 1812 .*

Difficulties between Great Britain and the United States-Henry's Mission to New England-President Madison's Message to Con- gress-Report of Committee on Foreign Affairs-Declaration of War, 1812-Troops ordered to the Champlain Frontier-Gen. Dearborn's "Morning Visit" in Canada-His Army go into Winter Quarters-Affair at St. Regis-Operations on the Ontario Frontier during the Summer of 1813-British and American Naval Force on Lake Champlain-Loss of the Growler and Eagle-Col. Murray burns the Barracks and Public Buildings at Plattsburgh.

ALTHOUGH Great Britain acknowledged the independ- ence of the United States, by the treaty of 1783, she could not forget that they had once formed the largest and most important of her colonial possessions. A feeling of dissatis-

# Contributed by Hon. Peter Sailly Palmer, author of History of Lake Champlain, etc.

THE WAR OF 1812.

faction pervaded the British nation, and led to many acts of oppression towards the infant confederacy. Vessels sailing upon the high seas under the American flag were boarded by her ships of war ; American seamen were im- pressed ; trade with neutral nations was forbidden, and the territory of the United States invaded.

In June, 1807, the British ship of war " Leopard" fired into and boarded the United States frigate " Chesapeake," while the latter vessel was yet within sight of the American coast. Ten days after this attack, Mr. Jefferson issued a proclamation interdicting all intercourse with the British armed vessels then within the waters of the United States. This proclamation was followed, on the 22d of December of the same year, by an act of Congress deelaring an unlimited embargo on every port in the Union.

During the year 1808 negotiations were conducted be- tween the two countries in a temper that promised a paeifie termination of the dispute; but no definite arrangement was concluded. The United States, in the mean time, was making preparations for defense. A large number of gun- boats were construeted for the protection of the sea-coast, and, in January, 1709, the President was directed to equip four new vessels of war. About the same time, Lieut. Melancton T. Woolsey was sent north to build two gun- boats on Lake Champlain, and a brig of sixteen guns on Lake Ontario.

When the news of the attack upon the " Chesapeake" first reached the people, there was a general cry of indignation throughout the country. Politics, however, ran high at the time, and this natural and national sentiment was soon con- sumed in many quarters by the fire of party strife. As the dispute with Great Britain progressed, the opposition of the anti-administration party developed itself more and more against the policy and measures of the government, until, at length, the authorities in Canada were induced to believe that a portion of the States were anxious to secede from the Union .* To encourage this feeling of discontent, Sir John Craig, Governor of Canada, sent the notorious John Henry as an emissary among the Federalists of the New England States, with directions to ascertain how far, in case of their separation from the Union, they " would look to England for assistance, or be disposed to enter into a connection with Great Britain."

Mr. Henry reached Burlington on the 12th of February, 1809, and at. first was much pleased with the evidences of discontent among the people. "On the subject of the em- bargo laws," he writes Governor Craig, "there seems but one opinion ; namely, that they are unnecessary, oppressive, and unconstitutional. It must also be observed that the execution of them is so invidious as to attract towards the officers of government the enmity of the people, which is of eourse transferred to the government itself ; so that, in case the State of Massachusetts should take any bold step towards resisting the execution of these laws, it is highly probable that it may ealeulate upon the hearty co-operation of the people of Vermont." A few days later Mr. Henry ex-

presses some doubts as to the correctness of his first opinions. "The Federal party," he again writes Governor Craig, " declare that in the event of war the State of Ver- mont will treat separately for itself with Great Britain, and support to the utmost the stipulations in which it may enter, without any regard to the policy of the general gov- . ernment. The Democrats, on the other hand, assert that, in such a ease as that contemplated, the people would be nearly divided into equal numbers; one of which would support the government, if it could be done without involving the people in a civil war; but at all events would risk everything in preferenee to a coalition with Great Britain."

Henry's investigations were not very satisfactory, and before he left for Boston he evidently became convinced that in the event of a dispute among the States, the eiti- zens of Vermont could not be relied upon to join the seceders, or to unite in a strong opposition to the war. He had at first been led astray by the loud clamor of politicians, and by the complaints of those who had suffered most from the operation of the embargo. These laws had severely injured the commerce of the lake, and had broken up the direct communication with the Canadian markets, upon which the inhabitants of the lake counties depended for a sale of their products, and for a supply of foreign com- modities.

The country was filled with smugglers, who frequently came in collision with the revenue officers. In some of these encounters blood had been shed and lives lost. The first serious affray occurred on the Winooski River, in 1808, between a party of government officers and a smug- gling vessel ealled the " Black Snake," in which two of the government officers were killed. Attempts were frequently made to seize the collectors and revenue officers, stationed on both sides of the lake. These attempts always failed, but, on one occasion, two of the assailants were severely, although not mortally, wounded. The feeling of opposition to the embargo was strong at the time of Henry's visit, in 1809, and induced him to attach greater importance to the representations of a few persons, as to the sentiments of the inhabitants of Western Vermont, than was warranted by the real inclinations of the people themselves. It is well known that when war was declared, the Vermonters were not only ready to repel an invasion of that State, but that many of them volunteered to eross the lake and oppose the advance of the British into the State of New York.

The difficulties between the United States and Great Britain continued to increase, in number and importanee, until the year 1812. On the 1st of June of that year, Mr. Madison sent a message to Congress, in which he re- viewed the various grounds of complaint against Great Britain, and set forth, at length, the unsatisfactory manner in which that power had reecived and treated the frequent remonstrances made on the part of the United States. This message was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who, a few days afterwards, made a report in which they fully concurred in the sentiments expressed in the President's message.

In this report the committee declare that more than seven years had elapsed sinee the commenecment of a system of

# This opposition was the most violent in the Eastern States, the inhabitants of which were more commercial, and had suffered more from the effects of the embargo than those of any other section of the Union.

HISTORY OF CLINTON AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

hostile aggressions, by the British government, on the rights and interests of the United States. That the United States had done everything in their power to preserve the relations of friendship with Great Britain, and had given proof of this disposition at the moment when they were made the victims of an opposite policy. The committee then referred to the attack made by Great Britain upon the commerce between the United States and the colonies of France and Spain. A commerce which, they declared, was just in itself, sanctioned by the example of Great Brit- ain in regard to the trade with her own colonies; sanctioned by a solemn act between the two governments in the last war, and by the practice of the British government in the then existing European war.

They refer, at length, to the different attacks made by Great Britain upon the rights and sovereignty of the United States ; the interference with her neutral trade; the pretended blockade of the whole coast of Europe, from the Elbe to Brest, inclusive ; the order of council of January, 1807, by which neutral powers were prohibited from trading from one port to another of France, or of her allies, or to any country with which Great Britain might not freely trade ; the order of council of November of the same year ; the claim of right to search vessels sailing under the American flag ; the impressment of American citizens into the British naval service, and the attempt to dismember the Union by a secret mission to foment discontent and excite insurrection against the constituted authorities and laws of the nation.

Having clearly and plainly stated the facts upon which these charges were based, and reviewed the whole course of Great Britain against the United States since 1804, the committee recommended an immediate appcal to arms, and introduced a bill declaring war between the United States and Great Britain. This bill passed the Senate by a vote of nineteen to thirteen, and the House of Representa- tives by a vote of seventy-nine to forty-nine, and was pro- mulgated by the proclamation of President Madison on the 17th day of June, 1812.

Active measures were immediately taken by many of the States to second the action of the general government. The State of New York approved warmly of the course of the administration, and prepared to prosecute the war with vigor. Vermont was at the time under the control of the Democrats, and both the Governor and Legislature pledged themselves to support the country in the approaching con- test. A law was immediately passed by the Legislature of the latter State prohibiting all intercourse with Canada without a permit from the Governor, and measures were taken for calling out the militia whenever their services might be required.

The effective force in Canada at the time of the declara- tion of war was about ten thousand men. These troops were principally concentrated around Quebec, but the greater part were soon afterwards removed to Upper Can- ada, which was threatened ou the west by an army under General Hull. In the summer of 1812, General Bloom- field was ordered to the Champlain frontier, with several regiments. By the 1st of September he had about eight thousand men, including regulars, volunteers, and militia, under his command. This force was stationed at Platts-

burgh, with small advance parties thrown forward as far as Chazy and Champlain. The troops remained in quarters until the 16th of November, when they advanced north, under the immediate command of Maj .- Gen. Dearborn, and, on the 18th, encamped about half a mile south of the Canada line. The army collected at this point numbered three thousand regulars and two thousand militia.

The entire British force on the northern frontier did not exceed three thousand men, and of these not more than one thousand were within striking distance of the American army. When Dearborn had concentrated his troops near the lines, he prepared to cross into Canada. As he ap- proached Odletown, Maj. Salaberry, who commanded in that quarter, sent forward two companies of voltiguers and three hundred Indians to support the two companies of embodied militia, who formed the British outposts on the La Colle. Maj. Salaberry followed, the next day, with the remainder of the voltiguers and four companies of chasseurs.

Before daybreak on the morning of the 20th a detach- ment of Dearborn's army forded the La Colle, and sur- rounded the guard-house which was occupied by the Cana- dian militia and a few Indians, who rushed out, broke the American lincs, and escaped unhurt. In the mean time a second party of the Americans had advanced, and commenced a sharp fire upon those in possession of the ground, mistaking him for the British picket. This fire continued for nearly half an hour, when being undeceived, the two parties united and hastily retreated, leaving behind then five killed and as many wounded .* The troops im- mediately afterwards returned to Champlain. The designs of the American general were so completely obscured, that no one discovered the particular advantages intended to be gained by this singular and inefficient movement. It was a prelude to many similar operations on the Champlain frontier during the war.

On the 23d of September the army returned to Platts- burgh, where the 6th, 15th, and 16th Regiments went into winter quarters. The militia were disbanded ; the 9th, 11th, 21st, and 25th Regiments were sent to Burlington, and the light artillery and dragoons returned to Greenbush. Brig .- Gen. Chandler commanded the troops left at Burling- ton, and Col. Pike those stationed at Plattsburgh.

On the 23d of October a gallant affair took place at St. Regis, where Maj. Guilford Dudley Young, of the Troy militia, surprised a party of British and took forty prisoners. t

# Christie's History of the War in Canada. Gen. Armstrong, then U. S. Secretary of War, says this account does not differ materially from those given by the American officers.

{ This was the first stand of colors taken by the Americans during the war, and were received at Albany with considerable pomp and ceremony. The Albany Gazette of January, 1813, coutains the fol- lowing :

"On Thursday, the 5th inst., at one o'clock, a detachment of the volunteer militia of Troy entered this city with the British colors taken at St. Regis. The detachment, with two superb eagles in the centre and the British colors in the rear, paraded to the music of Yankee Doodle and York Fusileers through Market and State Streets to the Capitol, the officers and colors in the centre; the remainder of the vestibule and the grand staircase leading to the hall of justice and the galleries of the Senate and Assembly chambers were crowded with spectators. His Excellency the Governor, from illness being absent, his aids, Cols. Lamb and Lush, advanced from the council chamber to receive the standards. Upon which Major Young, in a

THE WAR OF 1812.

But the campaign of 1812 did not add to the lustre of the American arms. On the Champlain frontier nothing was achieved beyond the little affair at St. Regis. The opera- tions on the Ontario frontier were confined to a few skir- mishes, the defense of Fort Niagara, and an unsuccessful and most disastrous assault upon Queenstown; while the incompetent and timid Hull surrendered Detroit and the Northwestern army without a battle, or any effort to maintain the honor of the country.

In the course of the winter preparations were made for the invasion of Upper Canada. The two brigades stationcd on Lake Champlain moved for the Ontario frontier in Feb- ruary, leaving a small detachment at Burlington to protect the magazines and provisions collected there. The west side of the lake was left wholly unprotected, and remained so until the month of September following.

Prior to the commencement of the war, the whole naval foree on Lake Champlain consisted of two gunboats, which lay at Basin Harbor, on the Vermont side of the lake. In the course of the summer of 1812 two small sloops were fitted up and armed, to which were joined four seows, ear- rying one long eighteen-pounder each. These vessels eon- stituted the whole naval foree of the Americans. The Brit- ish, at that time, had no vessels on the lake, nor any in the Richelieu larger than gunboats.

Late in the fall of 1812, Lieut. Thomas Macdonough was ordered north to take charge of the naval operations on the lake, which until then had been confided to Lieut. Sid- ney Smith .*

Maedonough brought out his vessels in the spring of 1813, as soon as the lake was free from iee. The Ameriean flotilla at this time consisted of the sloop " President," fitted up

truly military and gallant style, and with an appropriate address, presented it to the people of New York; to which Col. Lush, on the part of the State, replied in a highly complimentary speech, and the standard was deposited in the council-room, amid the loud huzzas of the citizens and military salutes. Subsequently to this achievement, Maj. Young was appointed a colonel in the United States army."

Christie, a British writer, in speaking of the boasted capture of these colors, says,-

"The Americans, in plundering the village, found an ensign, or Union Jack, in the house of the resident interpreter, usually hoisted upon a flag-staff at the door of the chief on Sundays or holy days, which, said the American majer, in an order issued upon the occa- sion (not a little proud of the achievement), was the first colors taken during the war."

Soon after the affair at St. Regis, the Troy and Columbia companies were withdrawn, leaving only one company here on the frontier, Capt Rufus Tilden's, of Moira. This company consisted of about forty men. Moses Eggleston, of Chateaugay, was lieutenant, and Aden Wood ensign. In November the British made a descent on French Mills. Capt. Tilden surrendered, the arms were breken, tho ammunition thrown into the river, and the company marched te Mon- treal as prisoners of war. In December this company was exchanged for tho samo one it had captured in October .- (EDITOR.)

# Mr. Smith was fifth lieutenant on board tho " Chesapeake" at tho time of tho "Leopard's" attack upon that vessel, in June, 1807, and, on tho return of the "Chesapeake" to Hampton Roads, joined tho othor officers of that frigate in a letter to tho Secretary of the Navy, preforring charges against Commodore Barron, und requesting a court of inquiry upon his conduct. Ho afterwards served on board tho U. S. ship " Wasp," and in March, 1810, was ordered to Lake Cham- plain, where he remained in command until the arrival of Lieut. Macdonough, in tho fall of 1812. Ile married a daughter of Judgo Bailey, of Plattsburgh, and died, a commander, in 1827.

during the winter, which was commanded by Macdonough in person ; the sloop " Growler," Lieut. Smith, and the sloop "Eagle," Mr. Loomis. About the 1st of June, Macdonough received information of an attaek, by several British gun- boats, upon some small craft at the lower end of the lake. In consequence of this intelligenee, he ordered Lieut. Smith to move towards Rouse's Point, with the "Growler" and " Eagle," in order to attaek the gunboats, should they again make their appearanee. Lieut. Smith left Plattsburgh harbor with his vessels on the morning of the 2d of June, and about dark east anehor within a mile of the lines. The next morning, about daybreak, he got under way, and pro- eeeded down the Richelieu as far as Ash Island (Isle aux Têtes), where he discovered and gave ehase to three British gunboats. The wind was blowing fresh from the south at the time, and soon brought the sloops, the "Growler" leading, within sight of the works at Isle aux Noix. The sloops now tacked and began to beat baek towards the open lake, having the wind against them, with a slight adverse current in the river.

As soon as the British were aware of the advantages these eircumstanees gave them, three of their row-galleys eame out from under the works at Isle aux Noix and opened a brisk fire upon the sloops. As the galleys ear- ried long twenty-fours, while the largest guns on the sloops were eighteens, the former were able to seleet their own distanee, nor eould the latter come to elose quarters without running within range of the fire of the batteries on the island.

To render the situation of the sloops still more eritieal, the British now lined the woods on each side of the river, and opened upon them with musketry. This fire was returned with constant diseharges of grape and eanister, and in this manner the contest was continued for several hours with great gallantry on both sides. About four hours after the commencement of the action a shot from one of the galleys struck the " Eagle" under the starboard quarter and passed out on the other side, ripping off a plank under water. The sloop went down almost immediately, but for- tunately in shoal water, and her crew were taken off by boats sent from the shore; soon after this aceident the " Growler" had her fore-stay and main-boom shot away, when she became unmanageable and ran ashore.

In this engagement the " Growler" had one killed and eight wounded, and the " Eagle" eleven wounded, ineluding the pilot, Mr. Graves. The whole number of men on board both vessels, when they went into aetion, was one hundred and twelve, ineluding Capt. Herriek and thirty- three volunteers from his company. The officers and men were taken prisoners and sent to Canada. The two sloops, having been refitted, were transferred to the British ser- viee, their names being changed to the " Finch" and " Chubb," and were subsequently re-captured by Macdon- ough in September, 1814. The loss to the British in this engagement was never correctly aseertained. It must have been very severe, however, as their forees advanced to the bank of the river, where, destitute of shelter, they re- ceived broadside after broadside of eanister and grape. A sergeant of the 11th Regiment, who had volunteered ou board one of the sloops, and who was paroled on account

HISTORY OF CLINTON AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

of his wounds, reported that he counted thirty of the enemy dead upon one small spot .*

The capture of the " Growler" and " Eagle" gave to the British the superiority on the lake. In July, Macdonough increased his naval force, which by the loss of the " Growler" and " Eagle" had been reduced to one sloop, by the addi- tion of six gunboats, and, by the 20th of August, had fitted out and armed three small sloops, mounting together twenty-eiglit guns. This increased the American force on the lake to about fifty guns. In the official returns in the Admiralty Office, it is stated that the British had at Isle Aux Noix, or St. Johns, on the 24th of July, two sloops of eleven guns and forty men each, and three gunboats of twenty men each. Other accounts state their naval force, in August, at three sloops, four gunboats, and three row- galleys, mounting in all about forty-two guns. The efficacy of this arm was, however, less than the number of guns would seem to indicate, for the sloops on both sides were originally built and used in the transport service, and were not adapted to war purposes.

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History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

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