USA > New York > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, and border wars of New York, containing a sketch of the early settlements in the county > Part 10
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I make the following extract from Patchin's narative :-
"From this mill we travelled directly down the river; we had not, however, gone many miles, when we met a man who was a tory, well known to Brant, by name Samuel Clockstone, who seeing us, the prisoners, was surprised, as he knew us ; when Brant related to him his adventure, and how he had been defeated by the account Capt. Harper had given of the troops lately arrived at Schoharie. 'Troops !' said Clockstone : 'there are no troops at that place ; you may rely upon it, Capt. Brant ; I have heard of none.' In a moment the snake eyes of Brant flashed murder, and running to Harper, he said in a voice of un- restrained fury, his hatchet vibrating about his head like the tongue of a viper : 'How came you to lie so to me ?' when Harper, turning round to the tory said : 'You know, Mr. Clockstone, I have been there but four days since : you know, since our party was stationed at the head of the river, at the sap-bush, that I have been once to the forts alone, and there were troops, as I have stated; and if Capt. Brant disbelieves it, he does it at his peril.'
"That Harper had been there, as he stated, happened to be true, which the tory also happened to know ; when he replied, ' yes, I know it !' All the while, Brant had glared intensely on the countenance of Harper, if possible, to discover some
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misgiving there, but all was firm and fair; when he again be- lieved him, and resumed his march.
"There was a very aged man, by the name of Brown, who had not gone off with the rest of the families who had fled the country. This miserable old man, with two grandsons, mere lads, were taken by Brant's party, and compelled to go pri- soners with us. The day after our meeting with the party, as above noticed, this old man, who was entirely bald from age, became too weary to keep up with the rest, and requested that he might be permitted to return, and alleged as a reason that he was too old to take part in the war, and therefore could do the king's cause no harm.
" At this request, instead of answering him, a halt was made, and the pack was taken from him, when he spoke in a low voice to his grandsons, saying, ' I shall see you no more, for they ". are going to kill me;' this he knew, being acquainted with the manners of the Indians. He was now taken in the rear of the party and left in the care of Indian, whose face was painted entirely black, as a token of his office, which was to kill and scalp any of the prisoners who might give out by the way. In a short time the Indian came on again, with the bald scalp of the old man dangling at the end of his gun, hitched in between the ramrod and muzzle. This he often flapped in the boys' faces, on the journey. The place at which this was done, was just on the point of a mountain, not far from where Judge Foot used to live, on the Delaware, below Delhi. There he was left, and doubtless devoured by wild animals; human bones were afterward found on that part of the mountain.
"We pursued our way down the Delaware, till we came to the Cook-House, suffering much night and day from the tight- ness of the cords with which our arms were bound. From this place we crossed through the wilderness, over hills and mountains, the most distant and dismal to be conceived of, till we came to a place called Oquago, on the Susquehanna
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river, which had been an Indian settlement before the war. Here they constructed several rafts out of logs, which they fastened together by withs and poles running crosswise, on which, after untying us, we were placed, themselves managing to steer. These soon floated us down as far as the mouth of Chemung river, where we disembarked and were again tied, taking up our line of march for the Genesee country.
"The Indians, we found, were more capable of sustaining fatigue than we were, and easily out-travelled us, which cir- cumstance would have led to the loss of our lives, had not a singular Providence interfered to save us; this was the indis- position of Brant, who, every other day for a considerable time, fell sick, so that the party were compelled to wait for him : this gave us an opportunity to rest ourselves.
"Brant's sickness was an attack of fever and ague, which he checked by the use of a preparation from the rattlesnake. The rattlesnake he caught on the side of a hill facing the south, on which the sun had shone and melted away the snow from the mouth of their dens, when, it appears, one had crawled out, being invited by the warmth. The reader will also observe that now about a fortnight had elapsed since the time of our captivity, so that the season was farther advanced; and, added to this, the snow is sooner melted on the Chemung in Pennsylvania, being farther south by about three degrees, than the head of the Delaware ; yet in places, even then, there was snow on the ground, and in the woods it was still deep. Of this snake he made a soup, which operated as a cure to the attack of the ague.
"The reader will remember the three bushels of corn given us at the mill; this they fairly and equally divided among us all, which amounted to two' handsful a day; and that none should have more or less than another, while it lasted, the corns were counted as we received them ; in this respect Brant was just and kind ... This corn we were allowed to boil in their
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kettles when they had finished theirs : we generally contrived to pound it before we boiled it, as we had found a mortar at a deserted wigwam, left by the Indians the year before, who had been driven away by General Sullivan. While in the neigh- borhood of what is now called Tioga Point, we but narrowly escaped every man of us being butchered on the spot; a miracle, as it were, saved us. The cause was as follows : At this place, when Brant was on his way down the Chemung, on this same expédition, but a few days before, he had detailed eleven Indians from his company, to pass through the woods from Tioga Point to a place called Minisink. It was known to Brant, that at this place were a few families, where it was supposed several prisoners might be made, or scalps taken, which, at Niagara, would bring them eight dollars apiece. This was the great stimulus by which the Indians, in the Revolution, were incited by Butler, the British agent, to per- petrate so many horrid murders upon women, children, and helpless old age, in this region of country.
"This party made good their way to the Minisink, when, lying concealed in the woods, they managed to get into their possession, one after another, five lusty men, and had brought them as far as to the east side of the Susquehanna, opposite Tioga Point. Here they encamped for the night, intending in the morning to construct a raft, in order to float themselves over the river, as they had done on their way toward the Mini- sink, a few days before, and so pursue their way up the Che- mung, which course was the great thoroughfare of the Indians from the Susquehanna country to that of the Genesee.
"Here, while the eleven Indians lay fast asleep, being greatly fatigued and apprehending no danger, as the prisoners were securely bound, and also sleeping soundly, as the Indians sup- posed, before they laid themselves down; but as the soul of one man, the prisoners were ever watching some opportunity to escape.
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"But this was not possible, even if they could have made their escape, unless they should first have effected the death of the whole party of Indians. This object, therefore, was their constant aim. In the night, by some means, unknown, one of the prisoners got loose, doubtless either by gnawing off his cord, or by chafing it in two as he lay on it, or during the day had managed to hitch it as often as he could against the snags of the trees, till it had become fretted and weak in some place, so that at last he got it in two. When this was effected he silently cut the cords of his fellows, the Indians sleeping ex- ceedingly sound; when each man took a hatchet, and in a moment nine of them received their blades to their handles, in their brains; but the sound of the blows, in cutting through the bone of their heads, awaked the other two, who sprung upon their feet as quick as thought, when one of them as they fled, received the blade of a hatchet between his shoulders, which, however, did not kill him, nor prevent his escape, yet he was terribly wounded. These men, who had so heroically made their escape, returned, as was supposed, to their homes, to relate to their families and posterity the perils of that awful night.
" After they had gone, the two Indians returned to the spot where lay their ruthless, but unfortunate companions, fast locked, not only in the sleep of night, but that of death, never more to torment the ear of civilized life with the death-yells of their sepulchral throats. They took the moccasins from the feet of their slaughtered friends, nine pair in number, and then constructed a float of logs on which they crossed the river, and had proceeded a little way up the Chemung, where they had built a hut, and the well Indian was endeavoring to cure his wounded companion.
"When the whooping of the party of Indians to whom we were prisoners struck his ear, he gave the death-yell, which rung on the dull air as the scream of a demon, reverberating in
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dull echoes up and down the stream; at which the whole body made a halt and stood in mute astonishment, not knowing what this could mean, when directly the two Indians made their ap- pearance, exhibiting the nine pair of moccasins, and relating in the Indian tongue-which Harper understood-the death of their companions. In a moment, as if transformed to devils, they threw themselves into a great circle around us, exhibiting the most horrid gestures, gnashing their teeth like a gang of wolves ready to devour, brandishing their tomahawks over us, as so many arrows of death. But here, let it be spoken to the praise of a Divine Providence, at the moment when we had given ourselves up as lost, the very Indian, who was a chief, and had been the only one of the eleven who had escaped un- hurt, threw himself into the midst of the ring, and with a shake of his hand gave the signal of silence, when he plead our cause, by simply saying, 'These are not the men who killed our friends, and to take the life of the innocent, in cold blood, cannot be right.'
" As it happened, this Indian knew us all, for he had lived about Schoharie before the war, and was known as an inoffen- sive and kind-hearted native, but when the war came on, had seen fit to join the British Indians : his words had the desired effect, arrested the mind of Brant, and soothed to composure the terrific storm that a moment before had threatened to de- stroy us.
" Again we resumed our course, bearing the anguish of our sufferings with considerably more patience and fortitude than it is likely we should have done, had not our lives been pre- served from a greater calamity, just described. We soon came to Newtown, where we were nearly at the point of starvation, Indians and all, as we had nothing to eat except a handful or two of corn a day; and what the end would have been is not hard to foresee, had not an amazing number of wolf-tracks remaining directed us to the carcass of a dead horse. The
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poor brute had been left to take care of itself the summer be- fore, by Sullivan, in his march to the Indian country, being unfit for the service of a pack-horse. Here, on the commons of nature-which, during the summer and fall, it is likely, pro- duced an abundance of pasturage, but when winter came on, and rendered it impossible for the poor worn-out animal to take care of itself-death came to its relief. That it had lived until the winter had become severe, was evident, from its not being in the least degree putrescent, but was completely frozen, it having been buried in the snow during the winter.
"The wolves had torn and gnawed the upper side quite away, but not being able to turn the carcass over, it was sound and entire on the under side. This we seized upon, rejoicing as at the finding of hidden treasures; it was instantly cut to pieces, bones, head and hoofs, and equally divided among the whole. Fires were built, at which we roasted and eat, without salt, each his own share, with the highest degree of satisfac- tion.
"Near this we found the famous Painted Post, which is now known over all the continent, to those conversant with the early history of our country; the origin of which was as follows :- ' Whether it was in the Revolution, or in the Dun- more battles with the Indians, which commenced in Virginia, or in the French war, I do not know : an Indian chief on this spot had been victorious in battle, killing and taking prisoners to the number of about sixty. This event he celebrated, by causing a tree to be taken from the forest and hewed four- square, painted red, and the number he killed, which was twenty-eight, represented across the post in black paint, with- out any heads ; but those he took prisoners, which was thirty, were represented in black paint, as the others, but with heads on. This post he erected, and thus handed down to posterity an account that here a battle was fought, but by whom, and
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who the sufferers were, is covered in darkness, except that it was between the whites and Indians.'
"This post will probably continue as long as the country shall remain inhabited, as the citizens heretofore have uni- formly replaced it with a new one, exactly like the original, whenever it has become decayed.
"Nothing more of note happened to us till we came to the Genesee river, except a continued state of suffering. We passed along between the Chemung and the heads of the lakes Cayuga and Seneca, leaving the route of Sullivan, and went over the mountains farther north. These mountains, as they were very steep and high, being covered with brush, and our bodies weak and emaciated, were almost insurmountable; but at length we reached the top of the last and the highest, which overlooks immeasurable wilds, the ancient abode of men and nations unknown, whose history is written only in the dust.
"Here we halted to rest, when the tory Beacraft, took it into his head to boast of what he had done in the way of murder, since the war began. He said that he and others had killed some of the inhabitants of Schoharie, and that among them was the family of one Vrooman. These, he said, they soon dis- patched, except a boy about fourteen years of age, who fled across the flat, towards the Schoharie river. ' I took after the lad,' said the tory, 'and although he ran like a spirit, I soon over- took him, and putting my hand under his chin, laid him back on my thigh, though he struggled hard, cut his throat, scalped him, and hung the body across the fence.' This made my blood run cold, vengeance boiled through every vein ; but we dared not say a word to provoke our enemies, as it would be useless. This man, however, got his due, in a measure, after the war was over, as will be related at the end of this ac- count.
"Another of them, by the name of Barney Cane, boasted that he had killed one Major Hopkins, on Dimon's Island,
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in lake George. A party of pleasure, as he stated, had gone to this island on a sailing excursion, and having spent more time than they were aware of before they were ready to return, con- cluded to encamp and remain all night, as it was impossible for them to return to the fort. 'From the shore where we lay hid it was easy to watch their motions; and perceiving their defenceless situation, as soon as it was dark we set off for the island, where we found them asleep by their fire, and discharged our guns among them. Several of them were killed, among whom was one woman, who had a sucking child which was not hurt. This we put to the breast of its dead mother, and so we left it. But Major Hopkins was only wounded, his thigh bone being broken; he started from his sleep to a rising posture, when I struck him,' said Barney Cane, 'with the butt of my gun, on the side of his head; he fell over, but caught on one hand; I then knocked him the other way, when he caught with the other hand; a third blow, and I had laid him dead. These were all scalped except the infant. In the morning a party from the fort went and brought away the dead, together with one they found alive, although he was scalped, and the . babe, which was hanging and sobbing at the bosom of its life- less mother.'
"Having rested ourselves, and our tantalizing companions having finished the stories of their infamy, we descended the mountains towards the Genesee, which we came in sight of the next day about two o'clock. Here we met a small con- pany of natives, who had come to the flats of the Genesee for the purpose of corn-planting, as soon as the waters of the river should fall sufficiently to drain the ground of its water. These Indians had with them a very beautiful horse, which Brant di- rected to be cut in pieces in a moment, and divided equally, without dressing or any such fashionable delay, which was done ; no part whatever of the animal being suffered to be lost. There fell to each man of the company a small piece, which we
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roasted, using the white ashes of our fires as salt, which gave it a delicious relish ; this, Brant himself showed us how to do.
"On these flats were found infinite quantities of ground- nuts, a root in form and size about equal to a musket-ball, which, being roasted, became exceedingly mealy and sweet. These, together with our new acquisition of horse-flesh, formed a delicious repast.
"From this place Brant sent a runner to Niagara, a distance of about eighty miles, to inform the garrison of his approach, and of the number of prisoners he had, their name and quality. This was a most humane act of Brant, as by this means he ef- fected the removal of all the Indian warriors in the two camps contiguous to the fort.
"Brant was in possession of a secret respecting Harper, which he had carefully concealed in his own breast during the whole journey, and probably, in the very first instance, when he discovered that Harper was his prisoner, operated, by in- fluencing him, if possible, to save his life. This secret con- sisted in the knowledge that there was then in the fort a British officer, who had married a niece of Harper, Jane More, whose mother was the sister of Captain Harper. This girl, together with her mother and sister, had been captured at the massacre of Cherry Valley, and carried to Niagara. This information was conveyed, by means of the runner, to the husband of Jane More, Captain Powell, who, when the girl was first brought by Butler and his Indians a prisoner to the fort, loved, courted, and honorably married her.
"Now, if Powell wished to save the life of his wife's uncle, he had the opportunity by doing as Brant had suggested,- that was, to send the warriors of both camps down the lake to Nine Mile Landing, with the expectation of meeting Brant there, whose prisoners would be given into their hands, to be dealt with as the genius of their natures and customs might
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suggest. Accordingly, Powell told his wife that her uncle was among the prisoners of Brant, who had sent him word, and that the warriors must be sent away; to whom he gave a quantity of rum, as they thought, to aid in the celebration of their infernal pow-wows, at the Nine Mile Landing, having obtained the consent of his superior, Col. Butler, to do so.
"Brant had concealed, from both his Indians and tories, as well as from the prisoners, that Powell, at the fort, was Har- per's relative, or that he had made the above arrangement. The reader may probably wish to know why the warriors in those two camps must be sent away, in order to save the lives of the prisoners. All persons acquainted with Indian customs in time of war, know very well that the unhappy wretch who falls into their hands, at such a time, is compelled to run what is called the gauntlet, between two rows of Indians, composed of warriors, old men, women and children, who, as the prisone flies between, if possible to reach a certain point assigned, called a council-house or fort, receives, from every one who can reach him, a blow with the fist, club, hatchet, or knife, and even wadding fired into their bodies, so that they gene rally die with their wounds before they can reach the appointed place, though they struggle with all the violence of hope and despair.
" We had now, on the fourth day after the runner had been sent, arrived within about two miles of Niagara, when the tories began to tell us the danger we were soon to be exposed to, in passing those two Indian encampments, which, till then, we knew nothing of; this difficulty they were careful to de- scribe in the most critical manner, so that every step, although so near our journey's end, when we hoped at last to have our hunger satisfied, was as the steps of the wretch condemned to die. But on coming to the first encampment, what was our surprise and joy at finding nothing there capable of injuring us but a few old women and children, who had, indeed, formed
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themselves as before described. However, one old squaw coming up in a very friendly manner, saluted me, by saying, ' poor shild ! poor shild !' when she gave me a blow which, as I was tied, could not be parried, that nearly split my head in two.
" But now the desired fort, although it was to be our prison- house, was seen through the opening woods. I had come to within about five rods of the gateway, still agonizing under the effect of the old squaw's blow, when a young savage, about twelve years old, came running, with a hatchet in his hand, directly up to me, and seizing hold of the petumb hi, or cord by which I was tied, twitched me around so that we faced each other, when he gave me a blow exactly between my eyes on the forehead, that nearly dropped me dead, as I was weak and faint. The blood spouted out at a dreadful rate, when a sol- dier snatched the little demon's hatchet, and flung it into the lake. Whether Brant was rewarded over and above the eight dollars (which was the stipulated price per head) for Harper, or not, I cannot tell; but, as was most natural to suppose, there was, on the part of himself and niece, great joy on so unex- pectedly falling in with friends and relations in the midst of enemies ; and on the part of Powell, respect and kindness was shown to Harper, on account of the lovely Jane, who had be- come a talisman of peace between them.
" We had scarcely arrived, when we were brought to the presence of a number of British officers of the crown, who blazed in all the glory of military habiliments'; and among them, as a chief, was the bloated, insolent, unprincipled, cruel, infamous Butler, whose name will stink in the recollections of men to the latest page of American history ; because it was him who directed, rewarded, and encouraged the operations of the Indians and tories all along from Canada to the State of Delaware. This man commenced to question us in a very abusive manner, respecting the state of American affairs, and,
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addressing me in particular, probably because nearer me than any of the rest, asked, whether I did not think that, by and by, his Indians would compel a general surrender of the Yankees ? I replied to him in as modest a manner as possible-not feeling in any mood of repartee, as the blood from the wound in my forehead still continued to trickle down my face, covering my vest and bosom with blood-that I did not wish to say any thing about it, nor give offence to any one. But he would not excuse me, still insisting that I should say whether I did not think so; to which I firmly replied-feeling what blood and spirit there were yet in me to rouse a little-that if I must answer him, it was to say NO; and that he might as well think to empty the lake of its waterz at a bucketful at a time, as to conquer the Yankees in that way: At this he burst out in a violent manner, calling me a 'dam'd rebel !' for giving him such an insolent answer, and ordered me out of his sight; but here, when ready to sink to the floor, (not from any thing the huge bulk of flesh had said to me, but from hunger, weariness, and the loss of blood,) a noble-hearted officer inter- posed, saying to Butler : 'The lad is not to blame, as you have compelled him to answer your question, which, no doubt, he has done according to the best of his judgment. Here, poor fellow, take this glass of wine, and drink.' Thus the matter ended. [Here the old General wept at the recollection of so much kindness where he expected none.]
" We were now given over to the care of a woman, Nancy. Bundy by name, who had been ordered to prepare us a soup made of proper materials, who was not slow to relieve our dis- tress as far as she dare, as she was also a prisoner. But taking off the belt which I had worn around my body, as the manner of the Indians is, to keep the wind out of the stomach, it appeared that I was ready to disown my own body, had I not been convinced by my other senses that there was no mistake.
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