History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862

USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 9

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The suceceding year, Big Mouth, accompanied by six Onondaga, Cayuga, and Oneida chiefs, and escorted, it is said, by no less than twelve hundred warriors, made a visit to Canada, in all probability going by way of La Famine or Black River bay, and thenee down the St. Lawrence.

With this powerful body of warriors to back his embassy, Big Mouth spoke as became the ambassador of a mighty people. He told the governor that the Indians well knew the weakness of the French, and had formed a plan for burning all the houses and barns, and destroying all the cattle, after which, they would fall upon the starving in- habitants in their forts, and destroy them altogether. The crafty old orator pretended that but for his special inter- ference, this plan would have been put in execution.

A declaration of neutrality was drawn up and signed by Big Mouth, in which he agreed that within a certain time deputies from the whole confederacy should come to Mon- treal and conclude a general peace.

But the Hurons were afraid lest they should not be in- cluded in the negotiations, and their most celebrated chief, Kon-dia-ronk, or the Rat, was determined that no treaty should be. signed which did not include the tribes of the lakes in its provisions. He accordingly gathered a party of about forty warriors, and came down the lakes to harass the Iroquois.

On his way he stopped at Fort Frontenac, where he was told that a treaty of peace was then in process of arrangement, to which deputies from the Iroquois were no doubt at that moment on the way, and that he had better go home. To this he only replied, " It is well." Secretly determining that no half-way treaty should be con- summated, he laid his plans accordingly. Learning that the Iroquois embassy were coming overland via Lu Famine, he hastily crossed the lower end of the lake and put his men in ambuscade to intercept them. The locality was no doubt somewhere on Black River bay. This was in the summer of 1688.

The wily chief had not long to wait, for an advance band of messengers, who were precursors of the embassy, soon approached the landing-place. At their head was a famous chief named Teganisorens, with whom came three other chiefs and a number of warriors. Scarcely had they landed when they received a volley from the Hurons, which

killed one of the chiefs and wounded all the rest. The balance of the party were taken prisoners, and the cunning Rat told them that this affair was brought about by the suggestion of Denonville, who had told him that a war- party was to come that way. When the envoys assured him that they came in the interests of peace, he pretended to be thunderstruck at the perfidy of the governor. " Go, my brothers," he exclaimed, "go home to your people. Though there is war between us, I give you your liberty. Onontio has made me do so black a deed that I shall never be happy again till your five tribes take a just vengeance upon him."*

Giving them a supply of guns, powder, and ball, he sent them on their way pleased with his considerate treatment, but terribly exasperated at what they deemed the treachery of the governor.

Recrossing the lake, Kondiaronk proceeded alone to Fort Frontenae, and, as he left the gate to rejoin his party, he coolly said, " I have killed the peace ; we shall see how the governor will get out of this business."+

This transaction put an immediate end to the negotiations, though the Iroquois pretended to believe Denonville's ex- planation, and offered to continue the conference.

But the smothered fires of vengeance in the bosoms of the Iroquois warriors could not long be restrained. An army of fifteen hundred men was raised so quietly that even the English knew nothing of it, and on the night between the 4th and 5th of August, 1689, in the midst of a furious hail-storm, they passed over the river, and landed at La Chine, La Salle's old colony, and at once commenced the horrid work of butchering the inhabitants and destroying everything on the island outside the strong fortifications. It was the most frightful massacre recorded in the history of Canada. Nearly the entire island was pillaged and its property destroyed. After staying a long time without being molested seriously, the savages departed, carrying more than a hundred prisoners, destined to torture and death, and leaving the charred remains of several hundred more among the smoking ruins. Terribly had the Iroquois been avenged.

FRONTENAC AGAIN.

Late in the autumn of 1689, Count Frontenac, who had been appointed to succeed Denonville, arrived in Canada, and found the country in terror and alarm at the fearful raid of the Iroquois.

The upper lake tribes were on the point of abandoning the French and going over to the English and the Iroquois, and the country was in the utmost peril.

But the vigorous steps taken by Frontenac changed the aspect of affairs. He sent a strong party to the aid of Michilimackinac, and in February, 1690, three war-parties made attacks on Schenectady, in New York, Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, and Pemmaquid, in Maine, all of which were captured and destroyed.

In the summer of 1690, the English colonics planned two great expeditions against Canada. One, a naval expe- dition, under Sir William Phips, governor of Massachusetts, against Quebec, and the other a land expedition, under Win-

# Parkman.

t Parkman.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

throp, to proceed, by way of Albany and Lake Champlain, against Montreal. Both expeditions were failures ; the one against Quebee because of Frontenac's ample preparations, and the other through dissensions among the leaders.

During these years of strife and bloodshed it is quite probable that raiding-parties often passed through Jefferson County, and many a weary prisoner has slept on the banks of Black river, or been barbarously tortured to death beneath the forest shades along its banks.

In 1696, Frontenae resolved on another expedition against the Iroquois, and as a preparatory step he repaired and reoccupied Fort Frontenac, which had been abandoned by his predecessor. This done, he mustered a force of about twenty-two hundred men, French, Canadians, and Indians, and moved up the river from Montreal on the 4th of July. He reached Frontenac on the 19th, and on the 26th erossed his army over Lake Ontario. The account docs not state whether the force landed in Jefferson County, but it is at least probable, as they erossed the lake in bateaux and In- dian canoes, and were two days in reaching the mouth of the Onondaga or Oswego river, and it is not likely that they were on the open lake through the night.

The probabilities favor the supposition that the flotilla, leaving Frontenae in the morning, made the Galloo islands or some point, perhaps (Pointe de la Traverse), on the mainland in or near Hungry bay, where they landed and camped overnight.

This great expedition was partially successful, in that it reached and took possession of the Iroquois capital at Onon- daga, south of the present city of Syracuse, and a detaeh- ment under the Marquis de Vaudreuil, of seven hundred men, captured and destroyed the Oneida towns. The army also destroyed all the growing erops, and laid a large tract of the country waste ; but the main bodies of the warriors, with their families and effects, retreated into the forests to the south.

Returning from this expedition, the army undoubtedly camped again in Jefferson County, as on the advance.

In 1697 the treaty of Ryswiek was signed between the English and French, and for a time the forest warfare ceased in the New World between the colonies of the respective nations.

Count Frontenac died at Quebec, November 28, 1698, at the age of seventy-eight. He was no doubt one of the ablest of the long line of noblemen whom France sent to govern Canada.

De Collières succeeded Frontenac as governor, and in 1701 made a formal treaty with all the Indian nations at Montreal, at which figured conspicuously the celebrated Captain Joncaire and Kondiaronk, or the Rut, the great chief of the Hurons, the latter of whom died in the night, after having made a great speech to the assembled multitudes.

From this date the Iroquois seem to have gradually be- come less formidable both to the French and the contiguous Indian nations ; and their importance gradually lessened until the great expedition by General Sullivan, in 1779, com- pletely humbled them and reduced them to final submission.

'The following extracts from a letter written by Father Charlevoix, a prominent Jesuit, to the Duchess de Lesdi- guires, while on a voyage from Frontenac across Lake On-

tario, are interesting, as showing what knowledge Europeans then had of this region :*

" BAY OF FAMINE, 16th May, 1721.

" MADAME,-Here am I, detained by a contrary wind, which may continue a long time, and keep me more than a day, in one of the worst places in the world. I therefore attempt to keep off ennui by writing to you. There are passing here constantly great armies of pigeons, which we name turtles; if one of them would take charge of my letters you might know perhaps the news, before I can get away; but the savages have no aversion to dressing these birds for food, as do the Arabs and many other people.

"I embarked on the 14th, at precisely the same hour that I had arrived at the town of Cutarocoui. I had but six leagues to go to reach the Isle aux Chevreuils, where there is a fine port, which can receive large barques ; but my Canadians had not visited their eanoe, of which the sun had melted the pitch in many places, so that it let in water at all points, and we were compelled to lose nearly two hours for repairs, in one of the islands at the cutlet of Lake Ontario. We sailed thence at ten o'clock in the morning, without being able to reach Isle aux Chevreuils, and were forced to spend the night very unpleasantly.

" I noticed here, for the first time, the vines in the woods. There are also small lizards, that elimb to the tops of the trecs. I have not made this remark because they are only observed in these places, for I am told they occur as far as Mexico.

" The vines have a very large stock, and bear many grapes ; but the berries are very small, not much larger than a pea, and for this reason it is not worth cultivating. When ripe they are eaten by the bears, who seek them on the highest trees. As for the birds, they would soon per- form the vintage of the whole forest.

" I left yesterday at an early hour, and at eleven in the morning stopped at the Galloo Islands, three leagues from Deer Island, in forty-three and a half degrees of latitude. I re-embarked a little after noon, and accomplished a voyage of a league and a half, to reach Pointe de la Traverse. If I had coasted along the mainland to this place, from where I passed the night, I should have had more than forty leagues to make, and should have been obliged to take this course had not the lake been calm ; for when it is agitated the waves are as great as on the open sea. It is not even possible to coast along when the wind is blowing off shore. From the point of Galloo Islands we can see to the westt the river Chouguen, otherwise ealled the river Onontague, which is distant fourteen leagues.

" As the lake was tranquil, with no appearance of foul weather, and a gentle breeze from the east was blowing, that barely filled our sail, I resolved to steer direct for this river, with the view of saving fifteen or twenty leagues of circuit. My attendants, more experienced than I, deemed the attempt hazardous, but from complaisance yielded to my advice.

# Translated from the French by Dr. F. B. Hough, 1853.

Evidently the reverend father had lost his bearings, because from Point Traverse the Onondaga river bears southwest by south, and distant about thirty miles. A direct west line would carry one nearly the whole length of the lake.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" The beauty of the country, which was passing on my left, did not tempt me any more than the salmon and quan- tities of other excellent fish which they take in six fine rivers, which are two or three leagues from one another. We steered off, then, large, and in four hours found our- selves in a place we repented, for the wind arose suddenly, and we heartily wished ourselves near the shore. We turned towards the nearest, from which we were still three leagues distant, and had much difficulty in reaching it. At length, at seven o'clock in the evening, we landed in the Bay of Famine, thus named from the Marquis de la Barre, the governor-general of New France, nearly losing all his army by hunger and' sickness in going to war with the Iroquois.

" It was high time that we landed, for the wind was very strong, and the waves so great, that we should not have dared to pass the Séine in Paris, opposite the Louvre, at such a time. In short, this place is very proper to destroy an army, which could only depend upon the chase and upon fishing for subsistence ; besides which the air appears very unwholesome. But nothing is finer than the forests, which cover all the shores of the lake.

" The white- and red-oaks tower almost to the clouds. There is also a trec of the largest class, of which the wood is hard but brittle, much resembling that of the palmn-trec, and of which the leaves have five angles of the ordi- nary size, of a fine green above and whitish beneath. They give it the name of Cotonnier,* because, in a little ease not larger than an India chestnut, there is a kind of cotton, but which is good for nothing.

" In walking upon the shore of the lake, I noticed that it has sensibly receded here. It is noticed that in the space of half a league in breadth, the land is much more low and sandy than beyond. I have also noticed in this lake, and they assure me the same occurs in all the others, almost continually a kind of ebb and flow. The rocks which are near the bank are covered and exposed several times within a quarter of an hour, although the surface of the lake is very calm, and there is no wind. After some reflection, I imagined that this must come from springs, which exist at the bottom of the lake, and from the shock of currents of rivers which enter from all sides and which eause the intermittent movements.

" But, ean you believe, madame, that at this season, and at the forty-third degree of latitude, there are still no leaves on the trees, although we sometimes have as much heat as you have in July ? This, doubtless, is because the carth has been covered with snow for many months, and has not yet been sufficiently warmed to open the pores of the roots and cause the sap to risc. As for the rest, the Great and Little Famine searcely deserve the name of rivers; they are mere brooks, especially the latter, yet they abound in fish. There are here eagles of prodigious size. My people de- stroyed the nest of one that made a cart-load of sticks, and had two young unfledged eagles, which were as large as the largest turkey-hens. They ate them and found them very good. .

" I returned to Catarocoui, where, the night that I spent

# Evidently the Platanus Occidentalis, or sycamore.

there, I was a witness to a very curious spectacle. About ten o'clock at night, as I was about to retire, I heard a ery, which, they told me, was the war-ery, and soon after I saw a band of Missisagues enter the fort, singing. For some years these savages have been constantly engaged in the war which the Iroquois have carried on with the Cherokees, a numerous people who inhabit a fine country south of Lake Erie, and from that time their young men have had an uncontrollable itching for war.

" Three or four of these braves, equipped as if for a mas- querade, with faces painted so as to inspire horror, and fol- lowed by all the savages who dwell around the fort, after having gone through all the cabins, singing their war-songs to the sound of Chickikoe (a kind of gourd, containing little pebbles), eame to do the same thing in the apartments of the fort, in honor of the commandant and the officers.

" I acknowledge to you, madame, that this ceremony has in it something that inspires horror, when seen for the first time, and I have never before felt so sensibly as then that I was among barbarians.

" Their songs are always dismal and gloomy, but here they were to the last degree horrid, occasioned perhaps only by the darkness of night and the apparatus of their festival, for such it is with the Indians. This invitation was to the Iroquois, who, finding the war with the Cherokees becoming tedious, required deliberation, and every one returned home.

" It seems, madame, that in these songs they invoke the god of war, whom the Iluons call ' Areskoui,' and the Iroquois ' Agreskoue.' I do not know what name the Algonquins give him ; but it is not a little remarkable that the Greek word Apys ( Ares), which is Mars, and the god of war in all those countries which follow the theology of Homer, should be the root from whence several terms which relate to war in the Huron and Iroquois languages seem to be derived. Aregouen signifies to make war, and is thus conjugated : Jarego, I make war ; Sarego, you make war ; Arego, he makes war. Moreover, Areskoui is not only the Mars of these people, he is also the sovereign of the gods, or, as they say, of the Great Spirit, the creator and master of the world, the genius who governs all things. But it is principally in military expeditions that they invoke him, as if the attribute that does him most honor was that of the god of armies. His name is the war-ery before combat and in the heat of engagement; in marching they often repeat it, as if for mutual encouragement and to implore his assistance."

CARLTON ISLAND.

This island, in a historical point of view, is probably the most interesting locality in the county. The date of its first occupation is uncertain. Its superficial area is about thir- teen hundred acres, and its extreme length a little less than three miles. It was originally covered with timber, but a large portion of it is now cleared and tilled. The surface is gently undulating and the soil very fertile.

The rock formation, like that of all this region, is Trenton limestone. The highest points are from fifty to sixty feet above the river, and the rock esearpment along the water is in many places perpendicular. At the head of

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the island are two beautiful land-locked bays or coves, with a depth of water sufficient to accommodate large vessels ; and beyond is a low peninsula occupied by a farm-house and garden, and on the extreme northern point of the pen- insula is an acre of land, with boat-houses, club-house, etc., belonging to a company of young men from some of the cities of central New York, who make the place a favorite resort during the summer months. Apples, pears, and other fruits common to this region flourish luxuriantly.

The great point of interest is the ancient fortification on the high bluff overlooking the river, and which, at the time of its completion, was a first-class work. It is probable that the French occupied the island at a very early date, perhaps as early as 1673, the date of the ercction of Fort Cataraqui at Kingston ; and they no doubt erected works to protect the harbor.

At the time of Charlevoix's visit to Canada, in 1721, it is spoken of as a point of some importance under the name of Isle aux Chevreuils, or Deer island, though the Jesuit's

over the waters of the north bay. In addition to this natural defensc there was an artificial wall of stone, and most probably a stockade along the brow, though the latter is entirely gone and the former in ruins. Excavations at the base of the first shoulder of the cliff would seem to indicate magazines or store-rooms, though the main maga- zine was located a little north of the centre of the work. The length of the gorge-wall is about eight hundred feet. The front, looking towards the mainland of the island, was defended by a somewhat irregular line of carthworks, with a solid parapet, having three unequal faces, with a strong bastion on each face, calculated for four guns, and there were guns mounted at intervals between the bastions. The ditch was excavated by blasting, or otherwise, through the rock to a depth of six feet, and having a general width of about twenty fcet, though opposite the re-entrant angles of the bastions it was about double that width.

A zigzag wall, built of stone taken from the ditch, ran along the front parallel to and distant from the outer wall

FROM THE DITCH

GLACIS FILLED. WITH .. DEBRIS

OLD FORT CARLTON

DRAWN ON THE GROUND

DITCH

VERTICAL

SWD.DEL.

DITCH

WALL

WALL 4 FEET

MAGAZINE

WALL

CHIMNIES

WELL

SALLY

PORT

GORGE

WALL

PERPENDICULAR BLUFF50 FEETH

MAGAZINE

STEEP BLUFF

ROAD

SOUTH HARBOR

NORTH HARBOR

SUNKEN HULK

letter, given on another page, is so ambiguous in its geog- raphy that it is difficult to determine whether he refers to this island or the one now known as Grenadier island. The great fortification was most probably constructed by the English at some period subsequent to the destruction of Fort Frontenac by Colonel Bradstreet in 1758, as there is no special mention made of any important works here in the French archives. General Amherst constructed the heavy works at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, in 1759 -60, and as this is a similar work, it may have been built about the same time. It is barely possible that it dates only to the commencement of the American Revolution, but the probabilities are that it is much older.

It stands immediately on the brow of the high bluff overlooking the little peninsula and the two harbors below, and effectually commands both the channels of the St. Lawrenec lying south of Wolf island. The gorge, or rear wall, was mostly formned by the high cliff at its base, which, for about one-half its length, hangs nearly perpendicular

of the ditch about thirty feet, and the glacis was formed of the débris of the ditch filled in beyond, making the approach of an enemy exceedingly difficult; the whole glacis and ditch being under dircct fire from the guns of the parapet. The scarp and counterscarp were perpendicular. The quar- ters appear to have been built along three sides of a paral- lelogram, and a low wall of loose stone inclosed the space between on the south and east sides of the quadrangle. Originally there were about fifteen buildings within the work, as indicated by the immense chimneys, seven only of which remain standing. These chimneys were very solidly constructed of hammered stone, and were about six feet square at the base and twenty feet high. Most if not all the chimneys were constructed with two fire-places, on opposite faccs, and double flues.

An immense well, ten feet in diameter, and sunk to a level with the water, was blasted in the rock a few feet from the gorge-wall. It is at this time filled with rubbish to within twenty-five or thirty feet of the top. There were

PORT

PERPENDICULAR

ROAD

CHIMNIES

DITCH

PARAPET

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

two main sallyports or gateways, one near each extremity, on the north and south, and connecting with roads leading down to the landing; the road on the south being a well- constructed one with an easy grade, running diagonally down the steep bluff to the isthmus connecting the penin- sula with the main body of the island; the other running down the northern slope of the hill to a little plain below, where were probably store-houses and temporary barracks. The lime-kiln used in manufacturing the lime with which the chimneys were constructed was on this plain near the water's edge. The fort, including the ditch, probably covered an area of from eight to ten aeres, and could accommodate a garrison of five hundred men.

It was according to the system of Vauban, and must have cost an immense sum.

The cemetery was on the plain east of the works, but very little remains of the headstones at the present day.

The relics found in and around the works consist of but- tons, coins, tomahawks, flints, etc .; all indicate an English or French origin. Mr. Horr, of Cape Vincent, has in his possession a fine specimen of a tomahawk found in or near the fort.

The island and fortification were no doubt occupied by the English during the Revolutionary war, and as late as 1799 a detachment from the Kingston garrison was sta- tioned here.

On the breaking out of the War of 1812 the island was captured by Abner Hubbard, a Revolutionary soldier, who, with a man and boy to help him, took possession of the works, which were held by thrce invalid men and two women. The stores were soon after removed to the main- land, and the buildings burned. The works were never repaired or occupied by the United States Government.

The following extract from Dr. Hough's " History of Jef- ferson County" would indicate that the French were at least making preparations to erect strong works upon this island in the fall of 1758, but were probably prevented from ear- rying out the design by the virtual surrender of Canada in the following year:

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 862

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862