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 6
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It may be a matter of interest to learn, and certainly it deserves to become a matter of record, the names of the per- sons who braved every danger, and several of whom sacrificed life, property, and everything dear, upon the altar of liberty. Their names were John Harper, John Harper, Jr., Alexander Harper, Joseph Harper, Isaac Patchin, Freegift Patchin, Andries Riber, Wm. McFarland, St. Leger Cowley, Sawyer, John More, Jas. Stevens, and several others, all of whom took the prescribed oath, and signed the articles of association.
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The following is the oath which was prescribed by the Pro- vincial Congress, and which was administered to every mem- ber.
" You shall swear by the holy evangelist of the Almighty God, to be a true subject to our continental resolve and Pro- vincial Congress and committees, in this difficulty existing between Great Britain and America, and to answer upon such questions as you shall be examined in, so help you God."*
Isaac Patchin, who was afterwards among the prisoners captured by Brant, in the spring of 1780, and the particulars of which will be narrated in a future chapter of this work, was the efficient chairman of the committee during its entire deliberations.
With the hope of influencing a portion of the Indians to join the American standard, or at least of obtaining pledges of neutrality in the forthcoming struggle, in the winter of 1776, Col. John Harper was despatched with a letter from the Pro- vincial Congress, to Oquago, the winter quarters of a large number of warriors of the Six Nations. The success of this mission was considered to be a matter of the utmost importance to the interests of the frontier settlements, and it was one, too, combining imminent hazard and peril, as it was reported that the Johnsons had already stirred them up to hostile movements.
Harper cheerfully undertook the performance of the arduous duties assigned him, and immediately made preparation for the journey, a distance of over seventy miles, through an almost unbroken wilderness.
He was accompanied down the Susquehanna, a distance of nearly fifty miles, to the Johnston settlement, by the regiment of militia under his command, when, deeming it imprudent to march farther into the Indian country, lest the appearance of an armed force amongst them should frustrate the import-
* Simms' History of Schoharie.
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ant object of the mission, he stationed his force at this set- tlement, giving private orders to the captains to hold them- selves in readiness, at a moment's warning, to march to his relief, should he be inhospitably detained beyond the appointed time for his return.
He was accompanied the remainder of the journey by a friendly Oneida and one white man, who resumed their route from the settlement, travelling the whole distance to the Indian encampment upon the frozen surface of the Susque- hanna. They were received by the Indians with every demon- stration of friendship; a council fire was built, and the chiefs and braves assembled around it to deliberate upon the objects of the mission. The letter from the Provincial Congress of New York was read to them by Harper, who needed no inter- preter, and who, in a few remarks in the Indian tongue, which he spoke and gestured* fluently, represented to them the ad- vantages of an alliance with the colonies; as the inevitable result of the war would be the establishment of their inde- pendence. He then distributed some presents among them. In the afternoon they again assembled at the council fire ; the Indians having held a discussion in secret, when a principal chief arose : he stated to Harper, that the report that in con- nection with the Johnsons, an expedition into the frontier settlements had been concerted in the following spring, was untrue-that they deplored the existing difficulties into which their brethren had been placed-that they should take no part in them, and that they desired to remain neutral. Having closed his speech, according to Indian usages he presented Harper with a deer skin, as a pledge of the sincerity of his pretensions.
At night a feast was prepared, and an ox which Harper had
* Gestures are a radical part of Indian oratory-every sentence is accompanied by an appropriate gesture.
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brought for the occasion, was killed and roasted. The cere- monies were conducted in all the novelty and pomp of Indian custom, and Harper, painted as one of them, and dressed in Indian costume, mingled freely in all their performances, and partook with a hearty relish of the roasted viand. The repast being over, the chiefs and great ones assembled around their hostage, when a crown, which consisted of a belt richly deco- rated with beads, was placed upon his head as a mark of dis- tinction, and which entitled him to a voice in the deliberations of the Six Nations .*
Harper having successfully accomplished his mission, accom- panied by his companions, returned to the Johnston settle- ment, where he joined his regiment, and from thence returned to Harpersfield.
It was, I believe, unusual for the Indians so far to forget their native prejudices as to bestow this mark of distinction upon a pale face, and I have never read of any other person excepting Sir William Johnston, upon whom the favor has been bestowed; and although the long struggle which imme- diately followed, was calculated to place him at enmity with the Indians, his bravery and the humanity he exhibited, still the more endeared him to them. He never took life when he could avoid it, and never suffered himself or those under his command to commit any of those barbarities which placed so dark a stain upon the history of the border warfare of the Revolution.
The following is an exact copy of a manuscript letter found in possession of the Rev. Mr. Boyce, of Harpersfield, who married a niece of Col. Harper, and which goes to show that the intimacy existing between Harper and the Six Nations was "
* I procured this information of the Rev. Mr. Boyce and others, of Harpersfield. See also Stone's Border Wars, and the Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of New York.
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kept up for many years, and that he frequently transacted business for them. The communication is in Brant's own hand-writing :
" Head of Lake Ontario, October 2nd, 1804.
"DEAR SIR,-I now send the bearer for those papers you mention in your letter to have obtained for me; it was my intention to have called on you myself on my way out, but the season will be so far advanced before I shall leave home, and being under the necessity to pass through Albany, it will not be in my power to see you until I return, when I will call on you myself, or let you know immediately the success I meet with : if I am fortunate you may depend on my influence with the Oquagos to do you justice, which I believe is their full determination, whenever it is in their power. Another reason why I wish to get the papers before I leave home is, to arrange them with others before I set off. I have not heard anything from Governor Clinton on the subject, and would wish your advice respecting it, as to my calling on him; whether you think he would be disposed to lend me such assistance as would be in his power ? In that case I conceive he might be of great service to me, as he was during the whole transaction 'of the business-executive of the State. As I supposed you might have mentioned something of my business to him about the time you wrote me, and will be able to know his feeling toward me, your opinion in writing to me will direct my calling on him, or mentioning my business to him.
"I am, Dear Sir, your most " humble servant, "JOS. BRANT. " COL. JOHN HARPER."
But however sincere may have been the protestations of the Indians to Harper at Oquago, they were, unfortunately for the
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colonies, doomed to be of short duration, as will appear from the following affidavit made only a few months after, by the Rev. Wm. Johnston, which I find in the New York Journal of the Council of Safety, dated July 16th, 1777.
" Ulster County, ss.
" William Johnston being duly sworn, says that on the second day of June, Joseph Brant came up from Onehogh- quaga to Unadilla, with between seventy and eighty warriors; that they came out of the Indian territory and within the division line (referred to in a previous chapter as having been established in 1768,) about one mile ; that Brant and his party sent for the officers of the militia company and the minister of Unadilla, and informed them that they were in want of provisions ; that if they could not get them by consent, they must take them by force; that Joseph Brant told the officers that their agreement with the king was very strong, and that they were not such villains as to break their covenant with the king; that they were naturally warriors, and that they could not bear to be threatened by Mr. Schuyler; that they were informed that the Mohawks were confined-that they had not liberty to pass and re-pass as formerly; that they were determined to be free, as they were a free people, and desired to have their friends removed from the Mohawk's river, lest if the Western Indians should come down upon them, their friends might suffer with the rest, as they would pay no respect to persons ; that the inhabitants being but weak and defenceless, they let them have some provisions ; that the said Brant and his party, after staying two days at Unadilla afore- said, took eight or ten head of horned cattle and some sheep and hogs, and returned to Onehoghquaga again ; that those of the inhabitants who were friendly to the cause of America, removed with their families and effects to places of more security ; that the examinant then went to the officers of
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Tryon county and informed them of the matter; that General Herkimer went with a party of men to Unadilla.
"WILLIAM JOHNSTON, JUN'R. ·
"Sworn and examined this 16th day of July, 1777, by me, JOHN McKERSON, Not. Public."
Johnston, together with his family and the rest of the little settlement, deeming their lives unsafe in the exposed situation of Unadilla, repaired immediately to Cherry Valley, as will appear from an obituary notice of one of the party, and which I consider worth an insertion here :
"DIED at Sidney Plains, October 23d, 1833, HUGH JOHN- STON, aged 70 years. Captain Hugh Johnston was born April 10th, 1763, in Duanesburgh, Schenectady county, New York. He, together with his father, the Rev. William John- ston, and other connections, came to the Susquehanna Flats (now Sidney Plains,) in 1775. They were the first settlers in that part of the county, and for two years suffered all the hard- - ships and privations of a new country. In June, 1777, they were obliged to leave their homes and flee before an invading foe-Brant, a chief, with one hundred and ten warriors, came and burnt their buildings and slaughtered their cattle.
"The Johnston family fled to Cherry Valley, where they remained until Nov. 11th, 1778, when seven hundred Indians and tories came unawares and burnt the village of Cherry Valley, and murdered twenty-eight women and children. The Johnston family narrowly made their escape. They then removed to Schenectady, where they remained until May, 1784, when they returned to the Susquehanna Flats, their former place of residence."
The ravages committed at the Johnston settlement, and
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flight of its inhabitants to the Mohawk, exceedingly alarmed the frontier settlements, and gave rise to numberless reports of invasion by a savage foe. A meeting of the Harpersfield vigilant committee was convened, and the following letter addressed to the State Council of Safety :-
"GENTLEMEN,-The late irruptions and hostilities commit- ted at Unadilla by Joseph Brant, with a party of Indians and tories, have so alarmed the well-affected inhabitants of this and the neighboring settlements, who are now the entire fron- tier of this State, that except your Honors doth afford us im- mediate protection, we shall be obliged to leave our settlements to save our lives and families; especially as there is not a man on the outside of us, but such as have taken protection of Brant, and many of them have threatened our destruction in a short time, the particular circumstances of which Colonel Harper (who will wait on your Honors,) can give you a full account of, by whom we hope for your protection, in what manner to conduct ourselves." 1
It was now resolved to make yet another effort to induce the Indians to adhere to their professions of neutrality, and accordingly General Herkimer was despatched down the Sus- quehanna to hold a second interview with the Oquagos ; a messenger had been previously sent forward with a letter to Brant, requesting him to advance up and meet him at Una- dilla, which he accordingly did.
It was not until several days after Herkimer had made a halt at the appointed place of meeting, that Brant arrived. He was accompanied, according to his own statement, by five hundred warriors, to within a mile or two below where Herki- mer was waiting, to whom he immediately despatched a mes- senger to inquire the object of his visit. Herkimer replied, that "he merely wished to hold a friendly converse with Cap- tain Brant." The wily Indian, casting his eye around upon
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the armed force accompanying him, very sarcastically remarked : "And all these men wish to talk with the chief, too ?" The preliminaries of a meeting were now arranged about mid-way between the two encampments, and each commander was ac- companied to the designated spot by a body guard of about fifty men, unarmed. A circle was formed with Brant and Herkimer in the centre. Brant was the first to break the silence, by haughtily inquiring-as the messenger had done before-the object of the visit ? In reply to a direct question, as to the intentions of the Mohawks touching the difficulty of Great Britain and America, the chief replied that : "The Indians were in concert with the king, as their fathers and grandfathers had been ; that the king's belts were yet lodged with them, and they could not falsify their pledge. That General Herkimer and the rest had joined the Boston people against their king. That Boston people were resolute, but the king would humble them. That Mr. Schuyler, or Gene- ral, or what you please to call him, was very smart on the Indians at German Flats ; but was not at the same time able to afford them the smallest article of clothing. That the Indians had formerly made war on the white people all united; and now they were divided, the Indians were not frightened."
At the close of this harangue, Colonel Cox, a brave but impulsive young officer, who had accompanied General Herki- mer, remarked, that if that was their determination the mat- ter was ended. The Colonel, it is said, had had difficulty with Brant before the war in relation to some land, and it is highly probable that the same hard feelings still existed between ehem, as the Indians are the last persons in the world to make or receive amends, when the link of friendship is once severed. The haughty chieftain became highly indignant at the decided expression of Cox, and sarcastically asked, if he was not the son-in-law of old George Klock ? "Yes," replied the Colonel, equally sarcastic, "and what is that to you, you d-d In-
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dian ?"* At the close of this dialogue, Brant turned and gave the signal to his warriors, who gave a terrific whoop, and fled precipitately to their quarters, but immediately reap- peared in hostile array, and discharged a volley of musketry into the air, the booming report of which echoed and reechoed among the surrounding hills. Herkimer now renewed his de- claration, that he had come on a peaceful mission ; that they had met as friends, and he desired that they should part as such ; but as either party were too highly excited to proceed farther with the business, the preliminaries of a meeting the following morning at nine o'clock were arranged, when the parties fell back to their respective encampments for the night.
Herkimer knew enough of Indian character to appreciate to the fullest extent, the exposed situation in which his person would be placed on the morrow's interview, and being too accomplished a soldier to proceed without any precaution to guard against surprise, in the morning, a short time pre- ceding the appointed time for the interview, he called one of his most fearless and trusty men, Joseph Waggoner, and enjoining upon him secresy, he informed him that he wished him to select, three other person's whom he could rely upon, and that the four armed with rifles, should secrete themselves in a conspicuous position, where, concealed from observation, they could overlook the interview between himself and Brant, which, should the interview not end amicably, as he hoped it would, they were to sacrifice Brant and his three companions, rather than that he, Herkimer, should be detained a prisoner. f But although we think Herkimer was perfectly justifiable in
* This dialogue is given on the authority of Simms' History of Schoharie County.
+ Stone, and I think rather unjustly, stigmatises this act of precau- tion in Herkimer, but certainly I think the times justified, if not de- manded it.
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V
this precaution of safety, nothing transpired to justify his fears, and consequently the order committed to the ambush, was not carried. into execution. The parties having met according to agreement, Brant was the first to break the silence. Addressing himself to Herkimer, he said : "I have five hundred warriors with me, armed and ready for battle. You are in my power, but as we have been friends and neigh- bors, I will not take advantage of you." At the close of the interview, General Herkimer presented the chieftain with a number of fat cattle, which had previously arrived from Otsego lake; for which the chief could not refrain from thanking him, as provisions with them were exceedingly scarce.
Campbell, speaking of this expedition, says : "This singular conference was singularly terminated. It was early in July, and the sun shone forth without a cloud to obscure it, and as its rays gilded the tops of the forest-trees, or were reflected from the waters of the Susquehanna, imparted a rich tint to the wild scenery with which they were surrounded. The echo of the war-whoop had scarcely died away before the heavens became black, and a violent storm of rain and hail obliged each party to withdraw and seek the nearest shelter. Men less superstitious than many of the unlettered yeomen, who, leaning upon their arms, were witnesses of the events of this day, could not have failed in after times to have looked back upon them, if not as an omen, at least as an emblem of those dreadful massacres which these Indians and their asso- ciates afterward visited upon the inhabitants of this unfor- tunate frontier."
The unsuccessful termination of the pacific mission of General Herkimer to the Indians, and which ended June 28th, together with their open declaration in favor of the king, as well as their denunciation of the acts of the Boston people, rendered the situation of the well-affected citizens of Harpers-
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field still more precarious ; and accordingly in July, the month immediately following, it was deemed advisable that all except the male able-bodied part of the inhabitants, who were to remain for a time to harvest their crops and protect their homes, should evacuate the settlement. Some went to Cherry Valley, where they had friends and relatives, but the larger portion decamped to Schoharie, distant about twenty miles, at which place three forts were afterward erected and garri- soned. From Schoharie a number of them removed to the places of their former residences in the Eastern States, and among this number were the female portion of the Harper family, who returned to East Windsor, in Connecticut, where they remained until after the war had terminated.
Among those who left about this time and sought safety in the more populous sections of the country, were John More and his family, consisting of a wife and four small children. Although a member of the association, so precipitate had been the retreat of the inhabitants from Harpersfield, that he, living as he did in a remote part of the town, remained unin- formed of their retreat, until made aware of the fact by a visit from a friendly Indian chief, with whom he had been familiar before the war, and who with his men had frequently partaken of their hospitality before the commencement of hostilities, while on hunting excursions in that vicinity. To this chief, although he was known to be avowedly in favor of the king's cause, the sturdy Scotchman unfolded his situation : he hardly knew what course to pursue, or what expedient to adopt. He had considerable property, and it seemed almost an impossi- bility for him to move. The Indian listened attentively to his story, and in reply to the inquiry, if he thought his family would be safe where they were ? replied : " I am thy friend, and so long as I am with you not a hair of your head shall be injured; but I cannot always be with the men myself, and I therefore advise you to go." This advice was immediately
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acted upon, and together with his family he made hasty pre- parations for their journey.
An able address upon the "Pioneer," thus does justice to the memory of this settler. Referring to the incident related above, he says : "The reminiscences of this old gentleman I have oftened listened to with intense pleasure : had they been preserved and recorded, they would fill an interesting chapter in the history of those eventful times. But I fear, as I said at the commencement, that the record of his battles has never been preserved. Aye, he did battle ! He contended singly and alone with foes, before whose formidable front many a valiant hero would have quailed. He had settled in Delaware county ere the Revolution broke forth-ere the fierce tempest of political discord, with its mighty thunderings shook the very sphere to its centre, and the mighty surge of war sent its echo to the remotest log-cabin in, the wilderness. But he lived far back from the haunts of civilization, a hermit in the wilderness ! Surely the home of the pioneer will escape the blood-thirsty vengeance of war. Its solitude will form a shield ! But hark ! In the still, solemn hour of the night, a chieftain warrior leaves his dusky band in the strong embrace of their midnight slumbers, and by a path unknown to any footstep but his own, he winds his way through the dark frowning forest, until he reaches the little clearing of the pioneer; he approaches the log-cabin. His knock arouses the slumberers from their sleep; and in reply to the demand of the settler, 'Who's there ?' the well known voice of his Indian friend is recognised. The mission of the chieftain is speedily performed, and lest his presence from his comrades be missed, he quickly disappears in the dark forest and returns to the camp-fire of his dusky mates, by the same blind trail. But he has made revelations which will banish sleep from the eyelids of the occupants of that house that night. He has told the pioneer that, ere to-morrow's sun shall finish his diurnal
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course, and sink behind the western hills, this home of his will be marked but by a heap of ashes, and that that loving' partner in the rugged journey of life, and these merry chil- dren who cluster around his knee, and himself, did they remain, would yield up to the tomahawk the price of British bribery. That noble chieftain was none other than the renowned Jo Brant. His generosity saved the white man and his family from a cruel death, but their hard-earned home vanished amid the wreathing curls of the crackling flames, as the chief had predicted, on the morrow."
The rude state of the roads at that period, being for many miles nothing but an Indian trail, prevented even the conve- nience of a sled, and much less a wagon. They collected a few things, the most valuable of which they contrived to tie in packs upon their horses, and the remainder they buried or concealed in the crevices of a ledge of rocks a short distance behind the house.
A passing description of this family, as they appeared when the arrangements for their journey had been completed-the last box of goods had been carried and secreted-the cattle turned loose into the wilderness, and they, too, equipped and just ready to plunge into a forest for many miles unbroken by a single clearing in the direction they were to pursue. Upon one of the horses was Mrs. More and her two youngest children, one of which, a mere babe in her arms, she carried before her, and the other being large enough, was compelled to cling on behind, although, as he frequently assured the writer, when an old man, I used to sit upon his knee, and for long hours listen with breathless attention to the reminiscences of his child- hood, upon which he loved to dwell, that several times during that journey he came near being brushed off by projecting limbs overhanging the way; and that just as they had started the second day, having encamped for the night on the iden- tical spot which, after the country became settled, was reserved
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