History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 28

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 28

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"Hemp may be transported by water from the mouth of the Gen; esee river to Montreal; or it may be sent from Arkport down the Susquehanna river, in arks to Baltimore, or it may be sent by land to Albany.

"The price at which lots in the above tract are put, is from two to five dollars per acre. The subscriber usually requires the purchase money to be paid in four equal installments to be made in two, three, four and five years from the time of purchase, with one year free of interest ; in some of the tracts he gives a credit of six and eight years.

"Liberal encouragement will be given in different settlements to carpenters. blacksmiths, shoemakers, millwrights and other trades- men.

"The subscriber. in order to encourage the settlement of substan- tial New England farmers, will exchange a few lots for improved farms.

"The tract of country in which the above described townships are situated, tho' north of New Jersey, resembles that state in the mild- ness of its climate. Peaches, apricots and nectarines grow to great perfection on the Genesee river.

"A valuable salt spring is discovered in Braddock's Bay township. Salt can now be afforded at this spring at one dollar per bushel; when the works are extended salt will probably be afforded at fifty cents a bushel, the same price at which it is sold at the Onondaga salt works.

"A turnpike road is completed from Albany to Canandaigua; and from Canandaigua to Geneseo, and thence to the above mentioned settlements there are excellent wagon roads.

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The subscriber has still for sale a number of reserved and other lots of land, in the midst of flourishing settlements, in the towns of Gen- eseo, Hartford, Bloomfield and Pittstown; some of these lots contain handsome improvements.

"JAMES WADSWORTHL. "Geneseo, (Ontario county) March, 1809."

In the fall of 1809, General William Wadsworth visited Chancellor Livingston at his residence at Claremont on the Hudson, with a view to making himself acquainted with the qualities of the Merino breed of sheep, and the best manner of rearing them. He also ordered fruit trees from Prince's Garden on Long Island for his orchard.

In 1810 Colonel Nathaniel Rochester of Hagarstown, Maryland, came to Dansville with a view of locating. Ile had visited the place ten years before in company with Charles Carroll and Colonel William Fitzhugh. He purchased a mill site and a residence of Jacob Opp, and in 1811 brought his family, consisting of his wife and several children. He erected a paper mill, which he sold in 1814 to the Rev. Dr. Endress. Robert Marr of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, was em- ployed as foreman. Under his contract Marr was to commence on the 1st of October, 1810.1 After remaining in Dansville two or three years, Colonel Rochester purchased a farm in Bloomfield and moved thither; here he remained until 1817, when he went to Rochester.

In 1810 the Democrats carried the election in Ontario county which elected five Democrats to the Assembly; and Genesee county, which then sent but one member, also elected a Democrat. These two counties embraced the territory of this county. Peter B. Porter, a Democrat, was elected to Congress from the district composed of Ontario and Genesee counties. The same year the vote for Governor in the towns comprising the present county stood 343 for Tompkins and 326 for Platt. In the previous year, at the election for State Sen- ator, the vote of the county was equally divided between Phelps and Swift, the opposing candidates.

Enterprise marked the progress of the settlements. The farmers had as yet formed no agricultural societies, but they never met with-

1. Marr brought with him from Chambersburg, Pa., Horace Hill and another man named Dngan, who were the first paper makers employed in the mill. Thomas II. Rochester, aged 13. Jolin Ward and Win. Street were apprentices .- (Letter of Thomas H. Rochester to the Hon, W'm. Scott.)

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out comparing views and exchanging suggestions. "Agriculture might be rendered doubly productive," writes a farmer from this re- gion in 1810. "We want some prominent character to give it a new direction, to lead into new channels. But who shall do it? Our great men have other fish to fry. Our papers are filled with comments on European politics, on orders in council and royal decrees, which our farmers do not nor will they ever understand, and it would be no ser- vice to them if they did." This impatience was generally felt, and prompted farmers to improvement in their stock and to better modes of planting. In that year a dairyman was brought from Orange coun- ty and placed on Wadsworth's home farm, fruit trees were ordered from Long Island, and experiments were made with different grains and utensils.

The dirt roads, owing to the character of the soil and the imper- fect manner in which they were laid out and worked, were always an impediment. When the ground was soft the wagon way was sure to be cut up and rendered next to impassable by the narrow tired wheels in common use. To remedy this, the great Western Turnpike Com- pany in the summer of 1810 determined "that all wagons passing over their road, the wheel tires of which are six inches broad or up- wards, shall be exempted from paying toll at any of its gates for the period of two years."1 Every teamster was thus prompted to pro- vide himself with broad tired wagons. John White, of Groveland, had seen ten horses on a wide tire wagon which would exactly track with the narrow tire wheels, and would completely fill up and smooth over the ruts made by the ordinary vehicle.

The months of January and February, 1812, were exceedingly cold, "a tremendous winter," as a letter dated the latter part of March of that year says. "The ground is now covered with snow and we are obliged to give out grain. The wintering of our stock will cost us half as much as it is worth, and my brother has had the blues for six months." The winter had set in with unusual severity and proved to be the coldest of any then experienced. A month later the same writ- er says: "Our section of the country is very flourishing. Wheat and all kinds of produce command money, and settlers are flocking to the Genesee river from all quarters. The embargo renders busi- ness dull, but almost any tradesman, with or without a family, would

1. Albany Gazette, July 9, 1~10.

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find constant employment in our little village (Geneseo). A good shoe and boot maker and tailor would make property fast. Farm hands command from ten to twelve dollars per month." Merchandise had uniformly been brought up the Susquehanna and thence over- land from Elmira to Dansville. But in the fall of 1812 George Smith brought the last load of goods by that route in a covered wagon drawn by six horses.

The year 1812 added little to the population of this region, notwith- standing the promise of the early season. "The war is a complete damper to all sales of new land. I have not filled out a dozen land contracts this season," says the principal land owner of this section, "indeed, more settlers have gone out than have come into the Gen- esee country. "

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CHAPTER XII.

T HE WAR of 1812, though favored by the great body of the people, embracing the Democratic party and many of the op- position, was nevertheless opposed by an influential though small minority of the Federals. The Eastern States, with the exception of Vermont and a large part of New York and New Jersey, were opposed to it. Pennsylvania and the South and Southwest favor- ed it.

The district comprising the county of Livingston was largely Dem- ocratic, and gave the war a cordial support. Major General William Wadsworth, commanding the militia of the division which embraced the county, promptly offered his services and they were as promptly accepted. Colonel Lawrence, of Geneseo, also volunteered and was fol- lowed by a large part of his command.

War was declared on the 18th of June, 1812, and on the morning of the 13th of October of the same year about 230 men. under command of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, crossed the Niagara river from Lewiston to drive the British from Queens- town Heights. Colonel Van Rensselaer was severely wounded be- fore the little force moved from the Canada shore. Though General Wadsworth was charged with the duty of superintend- ing the moving of the troops and was entitled by his rank to com. mand the force, he promptly requested Captains Wool and Ogilvie, offi- cers of the regular army who had seen service, to direct the move- ments; and they resolutely pushed up the hill, assaulted the intrench- ments and drove the enemy out. As the Americans entered the works, General Brock came up from the direction of Fort George with a force double their number. and attempted to drive them out. The battery that had just been taken by our troops was so efficiently worked, however, that the British were driven back in confusion, and General Brock, among others, was killed. Reinforcements were at once ordered from Lewiston. but the reluctance of the undisciplined

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militia, fully 1,500 in number, to cross the river and take part in de- fending the heights on the plea that they had volunteered to defend the "lines" and not to invade foreign territory, so delayed the work of preparation that an additional force of regular soldiers of the enemy sent from Fort George under General Sheaffe arrived. and the Indians also collected from Chippewa, and by the middle of the afternoon, after an obstinate fight, retook the intrenchments and either killed or made prisoners all who had so gallantly and success- fully stormed the heights in the morning. Had our forces been sus- tained. as they should have been, by their companions who stood pas- sive on the opposite side of the river, they might have held the advan- tage so brilliantly won. General Van Rensselaer who had crossed to the American side to urge the militia to cross, on finding that they would not do so, despatched a letter to General Wadsworth, then in com- mand, informing him of the predicament, and leaving the course to be pursued to his judgment, assuring him that if he thought best to retreat boats would be furnished and fire opened on the pursuers; in- deed, every measure would be taken to render the retreat as safe as possible. The note, however, reached General Wadsworth too late. He was already engaged with General Sheaffe when the despatch was placed in his hands. ]

The indisposition of the militia to respond to the call of their officers so displeased General Van Rensselaer that he quit the service and re- turned to Albany. He was succeeded by General Alexander Smyth, who "took command of the American forces on the frontier." The surrender at Queenstown had depressed the spirits of the army as well as of the whole country . On taking command General Smyth plan- ned a descent upon Canada. Many of the New York militia had shown an unwillingness to cross the Niagara river, and, to stimulate their patriotism and encourage enlistments for a "month's duty, " he issued on the 10th of November, 1812, a flaming proclamation from his "Camp near Buffalo." In view of the utter failure of this enterprise

1. General Van Rensselaer says of General Wadsworth, in his account of the battle of Queens- town, "General Wadsworth, a brave and meritorious officer, was requested to superintend the moving of the troops," and in his letter of resignation he mentious as distinguished in this battle General Wadsworth and his aid, Major Spencer.

In the battle of Queenstown, when his ammunition ran low, Major Spencer (Win. H. Spencer) serving as aid to General Wadsworth, got off hi- horse, ran along among the wounded and dead, gathered the cartridges from their pouches into his hat, and distributed them to the advancing soldiers with the incouraging injunction, "Here, boys, are more balls. Now give it to 'em! "

Major General Willlam Wadsworth. From Portrait in Possession of Major William A. Wadsworth.

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and of his total want of military skill, the manifesto reads like the vaporings of a master of comedy. The call, addressed "To the Men of New York," opens with a brief review of military operations, followed by a sharp criticism of the course of his predecessors in command. It continued thus: "In a few days the troops under my command will plant the American standard in Canada. They are men accustomed to obedience, silence and steadiness. They will conquer or they will die." Referring to the "ruthless deeds" of the officers of the British King, he proceeds, "Where I command, the vanquished and the peace- ful man, the child, the maid, and the matron, shall be secure from wrong. The present is the hour of renown. *

You desire your share of fame? Then seize the present moment. If you do not you will regret it. Advance then to our aid. I will wait for you a few days. Come in companies, half companies, pairs, or singly. I will organize you for a short tour. Ride to this place if the distance is far, and send back your horses."

This call was promptly responded to in Western New York. A company of about thirty was raised in the village of Dansville, under command of William B. Rochester as Captain. Sparta and Groveland united in raising a company of about the same number. James Rose- brugh was Captain and Timothy Kennedy Lieutenant. When they were ready to march the weather was cold and the frozen ground was covered with snow. The volunteers marched on foot to Buffalo, where they were at once mustered in as infantry. Soon after, on a cold win- ter night, the army was marched down to the river at Black Rock and placed in boats, which lay in large numbers under the shore. After some hours' delay, expecting any moment to receive orders to move across and support the advance force that had already been sent over, the sound of a bugle was heard from the Canada side of the river, fol- lowed soon after by the announcement that the expedition, of which so much had been promised, had been abandoned. Smyth himself remain- ed on the American side. Orders shortly came that the volunteers should return to their homes and the regulars to winter quarters. General Porter, who strenuously urged that the army should cross over, published Smyth as a coward. The army was indignant, and the country felt disgraced. Smyth, who was promptly relieved of his command by the Government without trial and excluded from the regular army, made his way to his home in Virginia on horseback

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accompanied by his aid, to escape being mobbed by the soldiers and populace. An officer who had served with him met him on the road near Geneseo and says, "Smyth looked as if the d --- 1 had sent his compliments to the braggart. He travelled under the con- stant apprehension of being attacked." In passing the Benway farm in Groveland, he sighted a hawk on a tree several rods from the road, and pulling a pistol from its holster brought down the game without stopping his horse. He spent the night at Stout's tavern in Dans- ville, where he had an opportunity to observe many a silent evidence of the popular prejudice against him.

These two failures caused much depression of spirits throughout the country, and also a long and bitter discussion. The militia were much blamed by some for not promptly crossing the river and aiding General Wadsworth in the battle of Queenstown. But while some condemmed them without measurc, others justified their course. General Wadsworth himself, though blaming them for not performing their duty, was prompt to defend them against the wholesale aspersions of Eastern journals. In a letter to General Van Rensselaer he wrote, "I do not now say where the regulars or militia were who were not there to be counted off and afterward surrendered. It is clear they were not where they ought to have been. It is Major Spencer's, as it is my opinion, that the whole force surrendered by me, or, rather, which was embodied, did not exceed, including officers, 400 men. I am conscious that on the 13th and on every other day during the campaign I did, or endeavored to do, my duty. With this I shall rest satisfied, however editors may estimate my services. I am aware the militia have faults. but they have merit too, and of that merit they ought not to be deprived unless it is intended to render them useless in future. "1

General Wadsworth was made prisoner at Queenstown and placed on parole. He went to Geneseo, and while there and before his ex- change General Smyth's fiasco occurred. He was impatient to re-

1. Accompanying the letter were certificates from Colonel (Winfield) Scott and Lieutenant Israel Turner, 13th U. S. Inf. The former certifies that the number of troops under his command, formed in two divisions in the 13th, did not exceed 130, exclusive of (17) officers, at the time the retreat was ordered. There were 253 militia infantry and rifles embodied. These certif- icates General Wadsworth requested General Van Rensselaer not to publish, adding, "Too much has already been published. We did not Ing politics into the camp, and I do not see why we should be lugged into the political discussions of the day."

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turn to the service. He writes in December, while still on parole, that "the epidemic which originated on the lines has spread through the country by the returning volunteers, and is proving fatal to many of the inhabitants. I am not well and not without apprehension that the epidemic may lay claim to me, but not, I hope until I am ex- changed and can see General Smyth punished for his impudence and folly.'

Turner, in his "Phelps and Gorham Purchase," says: "All the long delay of action, all the waste of time and neglect of opportunities that the militia had witnessed; and lastly, the errors of the commanding General in reference to the crossing place, and the inadequate prepar- ations for crossing did not dampen the ardor or patriotism of the men of Western New York. In fact, we have it upon the authority of General Van Rensselaer himself that he brought on the conflict because the temper of these men would not brook further delay. They soon realized the fatal omission to supply boats for crossing, and this, in itself, was a most untoward be- ginning of the day's work." And after graphically portraying the scenes of that attempt to cross the river under a heavy fire, he says: "It is amid the clash, the smoke, the excitement of battle, that cour- age rises and enervates; it sinks even with the brave, when they are surrounded by the dead and the dying, and are in the state of in- action. Still the militia pressed forward and endeavored to cross. When they refused to do so it was under the deliberate conviction, in -. duced by all they had seen of that fatal morning's work, that all was lost: that with the vastly inadequate means of crossing a sufficient force could not be landed at one time, to insure a conquest, and only enough for successive sacrifices. In no case, in all the annals of battles, have undisciplined militia continued to stand firm, and press on when there was so much to discourage; so little to hope for.

Too long have the surviving men of Western New York, and the memories of the dead, been allowed to rest under cen- sures mainly undeserved." * * * Those of them who crossed the river and bravely fought, and gallantly strived for laurels in a conflict so illy arranged and povided for, have had but little credit for it."

From about the 1st of December, 1812, to the middle of March, 1813, a disease spoken of by General Wadsworth in the letter just

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quoted and known to physicians as typhoid pneumonia, prevailed in Western New York as an epidemic and malignant in form. Dr. Lyman N. Cook, of Dansville, who had good opportunity profession- ally for judging of its severity, says: "I doubt its ever having been more malignant or fatal at any time or place. The cold chill, which suddenly came on, was of such severity and duration that it was gen- erally denominated the 'cold plague,' and many cases terminated fatally without reaction being restored. The fatality was about the same as in cholera-one in three-but as fatal cases leave a stronger and more lasting impression on the mind than cases of recovery, I pre- suine the rate of mortality is generally believed to have been greater." Such, indeed, is the impression. The pioneers refer to the "epi-

demic" as usually proving fatal. There is scarcely a burying ground in the country that is not strewn with the graves of its victims. The disease originated in the British army in Canada, and passed into the American army in camp on the Niagara frontier. Hospital accom- modations were then so poor that where patients were in a condition to be removed they were allowed to return to their homes, and while the medical profession did not hold that the disease was contagious, yet, as it broke out in the settlements so soon after its appearance m the army and the return of the sick soldiers, the conviction fastened itself upon the minds of the pioneers that it was communicated in this way, which is probably true. It rapidly spread over the United States arriving in Florida in about three years. This disease, which "has repeatedly prevailed in different portions of the United States, as an epidemic, often of wide extent, and in its earlier visitations producing an amount of mortality truly appalling. " is described as "a state of congestion or inflammation, more or less intense, of the lungs, accompanied by that impairment of the sensorial powers and morbid condition of the circulation and of the organism generally, which characterize the more grave forms of typhus fever. Instances are known in which the patient was found dead, or died within three or four hours after being apparently well."1 Of the cough, which usually came on within the first twenty-four hours, and the "remark- able pink-colored suffusion of the whole face," an early set- tler says: "Swollen-faced, rose-colored patients would be found

I. Watson's Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic, p, 602. Prof. Samuel Henry Dickson calls the disease, Pneumonia Typhoides.

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barking in every house throughout the settlement, calome! and hemlock for sweating, the usual remedies, were in con- stant demand. Some got well, but many died. Though long years have passed away since the horrors of the epidemic were a pres- ent thing, yet the general features of the disease are so clearly fixed in my recollection that I feel safe in asserting that the spotted fever, which has so recently prevailed in this region, is identical with epi- demic or cold plague." In this view some medical authorities concur. though it is authoritatively held that the two diseases are totally different. One is inflammation of the lungs, the other inflammation of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, the only resemblance being that both are epidemical.

On the 27th of May, 1813, Fort George, which stood on the Canada side of the Niagara river opposite Fort Niagara, was taken by the Americans. On the night of the 6th of June following the British fell upon the American camp, but were repulsed. At this time the army was 6,000 strong, under command of Generals Lewis, Chandler, Boyd and Winder, who were with their brigades, and Colonels Scott and McComb with their regiments, while Commodore Chauncey, Captain Perry and other naval officers were present. The capture of Fort George was the first extensive military operation of the war.

After the capture of Fort George General Dearborn, commanding the American army, landed and the next day ordered the British General Vincent and his flying troops to be pursued, when it was too late. Generals Winder and Chandler were sent in pursuit, but were assaulted at Forty Mile Creek on the 3d of June by Lieutenant Colo- nel Harvey and both Generals were taken. As soon as Dearborn was informed of this disaster, he sent forward General Morgan Lewis with more troops to join Colonel James Burn and bring Vincent to action, which Lewis was well disposed to do. Delays ensued and at last, on the 23d of June, the final mishap of our campaign in Canada that summer occurred. Colonel Charles Boerstler, then lately promoted to the command of the 14th Regiment of Infantry, was permitted to take 600 men to a considerable distance, contrary to obvious in- junctions of prudence. - 600 men out of reach of support-to destroy a British lodgment. On the 24th of June he arrived at a point a short distance from the Beaver Dams, and seventeen miles from Dearborn at Fort George, when, as he was about to attack a stone house in which

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Colonel Bishop was intrenched, he was suddenly beset by between 500 and 600 Indians on one side and a small party of English under Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon on the other. After a long fight, Boerstler. alarmed by the threats of the savages and deluded by offers of capitu- lation, out of reach of succor and with only a hopeless struggle before him, surrendered his whole command with tears in his eyes.

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History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 28

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen Number of Pages: 1422

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422