USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 37
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Resolved, That we cordially approve of the recommendations which have been made for the removal to some selected spot, of the remains of the brave and generous Boyd, who, in 1779, fell a victim to the savage barbarity and treachery of the infamous Col. Butler, while, with a detachment of Gen. Sullivan's command, he was endeavoring to drive the savage enemy from the Valley of the Genesee.
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to cooperate with the other committees that may hereafter be appointed for the purpose of effecting such removal.
Whereupon the President named as such committee, James Miller. Robert A. Hall and Henry Shears, jr.
E. F. Parker, Secretary.
Joseph Putnam, President.
Similar action was quite as promptly taken by the Union Grays, the City Cadets, the Artillery Corps, the German Grenadiers, the Fire Department of Rochester, the Mechanics' Literary Association and the Rochester Athenaeum. The Corporation of the City of Rochester delegated three Aldermen to represent the body in the General Com- mittee of Arrangements. The project took definite shape by the ap- pointment of a Rochester Committee of Arrangements, consisting of Messrs. Henry O'Reilly,. L. B. Swan, John Williams and H. A. Tucker, and these gentlemen secured the promise of Governor Seward to be present at the ceremonies attending the proposed removal of the remains to Mount Hope appointed for August 21.
The people of Livingston county, within whose limits lay the ashes of the honored dead, zealously concurred with the citizens of Roches- ter in favoring the proposed solemnities.
Their feelings were happily expressed through the resolutions adopted by a county meeting convened at Geneseo. As some persons doubted the propriety of removing the remains from Livingston
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county, and as it was desirable that entire cordiality should exist between the people of the different counties on this matter, several prominent citizens of Geneseo issued the following notice for a county convention, that the sentiment of the people of Livingston might be freely and decisively manifested for or against the proposed ceremon- ies :
HONOR TO THE NOBLE DEAD!
The undersigned were appointed at a meeting of the citizens of Geneseo, on the 11th inst., as a committee to invite the citizens of this county to meet at the Court House in Geneseo, on Saturday, the 14th inst., at 2 o'clock, p. m., to take into consideration the proposed re- moval of the remains of Lieut. Boyd and his companions in arms, from this county by the citizens of Rochester. All who feel an inter- est in this subject are earnestly requested to attend punctually at the hour.
Dated, August 12, 1841.
This notice was signed by C. Metcalf, W. W. Weed, S. P. Allen, E. Clark, Allen Ayrault, W. J. Hamilton, E. P. Metcalf, E. R. Ham- matt, D. H. Bissell, C. H. Bryan, C. Colt, L. Turner, S. Treat, W. M. Bond, W. H. Kelsey.
The following is an official account of such meeting :
At a meeting of citizens of the County of Livingston, held, pursu- ant to public notice, at the Court House in Geneseo, on the 14th day of August. 1841, for the purpose of taking into consideration the pro- posed removal of the remains of Lieut. Boyd and his companions in arms, from this county, by the citizens of Rochester.
Colonel David A. Miller was appointed Chairman, and Samuel W. Smith and O. M. Willey, Secretaries.
C. H. Bryan, Esq., addressed the meeting on the subject ; and, in the course of his remarks gave a brief but interesting account of the con- flict between the Indians and the detachment under Lieut. Boyd, in which the latter was taken prisoner and shortly after put to death by the savages.
Henry O'Reilly of Rochester, at the invitation of the chairman, ad- dressed the meeting on behalf of the committee of that city. in rela- tion to the contemplated removal, and the provision made for the in- terment of the soldiers of the Revolution in the cemetery of Mount Hope. Whereupon,
Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to report what action is proper to be had by the citizens of this county, at the ap- proaching ceremonies.
The chairman appointed W. W. Weed, W. M. Odell, S. W. Smith,
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Reuben Sleeper, Mr. Nixon, Allen Ayrault and Samuel Lewis said committee.
The committee made the following report through Mr. Ayrault:
Your committee having entertained the subject matter committed to them do most cordially respond to the patriotic feeling evinced by the citizens of Rochester, to do honor to all who participated in the eventful struggle of the Revolution; and sincerely recommend to the citizens of Livingston County, to unite in the exercises contemplated on the 20th and 21st inst., in the removal of the remains of Lieut. Boyd and his immediate associates, who fell in 1779, in the cause of freedom, while contending with their savage enemies, within the territory now embraced in this county.
The committee, therefore, recommend for the consideration of the meeting, the following resolution :
Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed, with power to appoint a sub-committee, to make all necessary arrangements for the purpose of conveying to Cuyler the remains of those soldiers of Lieut. Boyd's detachment who fell in Groveland, in time for the exercises of the 20th instant.
The chairman appointed the following persons said committee. C. H. Bryan, W. T. Cuyler, D. H. Bissell, R. Sleeper, J. Henderson, Horatio Jones and John R. Murray, Jr.
Resolved, That said committee be enlarged by the addition of six names. Whereupon,
The chairman appointed the following additional members: Allen Ayrault, Samuel Treat, E. R. Hammatt, W. W. Weed, W. H. Stanley and D. H. Bissell.
Resolved, That we duly appreciate the praiseworthy and patriotic exertions of the citizens of Rochester, in establishing, in the cemetery at Mount Hope, a suitable place for the public interment in Western New York of such of the Revolutionary patriots as helped to fight the battles of our country.
D. A. Miller, Chairman.
Sam'l W. Smith,
O. M. Willey,
Secretaries.
In addition to the proceedings of the meeting at Geneseo, the follow- ing notice was issued to enable the people of Geneseo and other eastern towns to unite with the western towns of Livingston, in cooperation with the Rochester arrangements for the funeral ceremonies:
The committee from Livingston County will accompany the re- mains to the place of reinterment at Mount Hope. All persons resid- ing on the east side of the Valley and desirous of uniting in the cere- inonies of the occasion, are respectfully invited to assemble in Gene-
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seo on Friday, in season to join the procession from that place, which will move at precisely 11 o'clock, a. m., and arrive at Cuyler before 2 o'clock p. m. Those residing on the west side are invited to as- semble at the mound at Cuyler, in season to move with the procession from that place. Revolutionary soldiers are particularly solicited to unite in the ceremonies of the occasion.
By order and in behalf of the Committee of Arrangements.
E. R. Hammatt, Secretary.
It is suitable to introduce here a letter and statement respecting the ceremonies at the disinterment of the remains at Groveland and Leicester.
Geneseo, August 16, 1841.
Dear Sir-By this mail I send you a copy of our village paper, con- taining a sketch of the Order of Arrangements on the part of this county, for doing honor to the remains of the gallant Boyd and his associates. At a subsequent meeting we shall mature our plans, the result of which I will send you by Thursday's mail.
To-day a delegation from our committee have been to Groveland, and after vigorous search, succeeded in finding a portion of the re- mains interred there. After digging over a small space of ground, they were eminently successful in their search, having found quite a number of bones, some in a tolerable state of preservation, and others more decayed -- many teeth perfectly sound, etc. From information derived from some of the oldest settlers, but little doubt existed as to the identity of the remains with those they sought. £ Before leaving the ground, however, all doubt was removed by the discovery of four lead or pewter buttons in excellent preservation, and distinctly marked "U. S. A." These, with the remains, have been brought to our vil- lage; and to-morrow we propose to prosecute the search still further. Our committee learned from some old settlers who were present, that the ground had been explored some thirty-four years ago; and at that time many bones were discovered, which were either removed at the time or left exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and consequently soon decomposed. Many relics were also carried off at the time, such as buttons, parts of military dresses, etc. I will communicate the result of our further search.
We understand that letters have been addressed by your committee to two nephews of Lieutenant Boyd, residing in Pennsylvania. Will you please communicate the substance of their replies, in order that our orator may avail himself of any incidents they may communicate ?
You will notice by the paper I send, that our committee propose accompanying the remains to Mount Hope. As there will be but few of us, could we not do so in one of the boats which will come up with the Rochester delegation?
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We have writen to Maj. VanCampen, requesting him to assist at the ceremonies; but, as yet have not received his reply.
I am, dear sir, in behalf of the Committee, with great respect, Your obedient servant,
E. R. Hammnatt,
To Henry ('Reiley, Chairman, &c.
Secretary.
STATEMENT.
We, the undersigned, inhabitants of Cuylerville, in Livingston County, deem it proper to make the following record of the proceedings connected with the removal to Mount Hope of the remains of the party sent from Sullivan's army to reconnoitre the savages in Genesee Valley, in the Revolutionary War.
Excavations, made during several days, resulted, on the 7th of August, in the discovery of some remains at the junction of the streams where historical and traditionary accounts state that the bodies of Boyd and Parker were buried, after they were tortured to death-they having been taken prisoners when their twenty comrades were killed in battle. These streams unite at Cuylerville, near the site of the Indian settlement formerly known as Little Beard's Town, the chief point against which Sullivan's army directed their operations in the Genesee Valley; and their junction is midway between Geneseo and Moscow, a few rods from the main road. They were found partly overgrown by the roots of decayed plum trees, within a few feet of the edge of the bank of the united streams. They were disinterred in the presence of between twenty and thirty persons, including Captain David Shepard, of Geneseo, Henry O'Reilly, Lieut. Cheny of the Rochester Grays, and George Byington of the same city. The remain- dler of the spectators were residents of this town, along with us.
The relics, as disinterred, were examined particularly by Dr. Gar- lock, formerly of Canandaigua, and now of this place; who recognized most of them as parts of two skeletons, which, from the position in which they were found, left not a doubt on the minds of any one pres- ent, as to their being the remains of the ill-fated Boyd and Parker. These remains were kept in this village, in charge of one of the Liv- ingston County Committee, from that time to the 20th of August- being meantime examined, during that fortnight, by many persons from the neighboring towns, who called to witness the erection of the mound at the junction of the streams where these brave men met their fate.
Seymour L. Phelps, Edward Munsel, A. H. Niven, W. T. Cuyler.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
The concurrence of sentiment thus exhibited between the people of Livingston and those in Monroe county who manifested an interest in the subject, led to a satisfactory co-operation in rendering the last honors to the heroic dead.
Pursuant to arrangements between the General Committees of Monroe and Livingston counties, the Corporation and Military com- panies of Rochester left that city on the afternoon of the 19th of August, in a flotilla of boats, five in number, three of which were furnished gratuitously, with the usual liberality of Colonel John Allen of the Clinton Line, another by Mr. Sidney Allen, also an enterpris- ing and liberal minded forwarder of Rochester, the fifth being a packet.
On board these boats five military companies embarked, Wil- liams'Light Infantry, under Capt. Gibbs; the Union Grays, under Capt. Swan; the City Cadets, under Capt. Tucker; the Rochester Artillery, under Capt. Davis, and the German Grenadiers, under Capt. Klein. With these companies there went several invited guests, Major-General Stevens and suite, Capt. Eaton of the United States Army, Mr. Shepard of the Rochester Democrat and others, including several members of the General Committee of arrangements who were not attached to any military corps.
The Mayor, Elijah F. Smith, with Aldermen Southerin, J. I. Robins, H. Witbeek, and Stephen Charles, as representatives of the Corporation of Rochester, proceeded in carriages to the scene of action in Livingston county.
The military movements were directed by Col. Amos Sawyer, who had been elected Commandant for the occasion.
The editor of the Rochester Democrat, Mr. Shepard, who partici- pated in the scenes he describes, thus referred in his journal to the progress of the flotilla and the ceremonies in Livingston county :
As we progressed up the Genesee Valley canal, we saw evident tokens of a laudable public feeling, in the bonfires which were kindled at the principal villages, and the countless groups assembled to bear testimony to their reverence for the heroes of the Revolution, as well as approbation of the patriotism which had prompted this enterprise. At Scottsville, Captain Elnathan Perry, of West Rush, one of Sulli- van's men, in the eighty-first year of his age, joined our party, and bore his proportion of the fatigues of the next day, apparently with as little inconvenience as any of us. In the morning, passing through
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Cuylerville, which was already alive with spectators, we went to Mount Morris to breakfast. Here everything was in readiness, pre- pared by the liberality of its citizens; and after the repast, and a march by the troops through the several streets, were returned to Cuy- lerville, where we found such masses of people as seldom congregate on any occasion; proving satisfactorily that the people of Livingston county did not consider the attempt to commemorate the heroism and virtues of those who achieved our liberties, an unmeaning ceremony, or unworthy of their countenance and cooperation.
The military companies and many of the citizens dined under a bower, while the committees, the survivors of the Revolution, the Mayor and Common Council, Maj. Gen. Stevens and statt, and other guests were very hospitably entertained by Colonel Cuyler. at his beautiful residence in the grove on the hill.
The procession was then formed and proceeded to the mound, some three quarters of a mile east of the canal. The bones had been de- posited in an urn, and after a dirge played with much effect by the band, on the very spot where, sixty-two years ago, the savage yells of Little Beard and his blood-thirsty rangers had been the only requiem of the two dying patriots (Boyd and Parker), they were slowly borne away, with the sarcophagus containing the ashes of their comrades. followed by the thousands who had there collected from Geneseo and the eastern extremes of the county. ( The citizens from Geneseo, etc., had brought with them to that spot the relics of Boyd's soldiers who fell in Groveland-which were thus united with the ashes of their gallant officer in the honors paid to their heroism by the people of another age, who are enjoying the blessings of that freedom for which those soldiers fell bravely fighting.) On reaching the large grove of stately oaks near Col. Cuyler's house, where a platform and seats had been erected, the vast concourse (the lowest estimate of which, that we heard, was five thousand), was called to order, a dirge was played by the band, and the Throne of Grace addressed by the Rev. MIr. Gillet, of Moscow. Major Moses VanCampen, aged eighty five, and Mr. Sanborn, aged seventy-nine, sat on the platform by the side of Capt. Perry, all of whom had been actively employed in Sullivan's expedition. Mr. S. was the man who first discovered the mangled bodies of Boyd and Parker in the grass. There were also several other time honored Soldiers of the Revolution present. After another dirge, Mr. Samuel Treat, Principal of the Seminary at Geneseo, ad- dressed the audience in a strain of eloquence and manly feeling, highly honorable to him as a historian and scholar, giving in the introduc- tion detail of the massacres at Cherry Valley, Wyoming, etc., which led to the destruction of the wigwams and corn patches that once covered the now prolific valley which lay spread out before us. As the address is to be published, and should be in every family in
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Livingston, Genesee and Monroe, we shall attempt no outline of it."
The venerable Major VanCampen, as President of the day, thus addressed the vast assemblage by which he was surrounded:
FELLOW CITIZENS-We no longer hear the war whoop of the savages. We are no longer alarmed by the martial drum calling us to arms. We no longer hear the roaring of cannon nor the din of small arms. We are no longer shocked by the cries of the wounded nor the groans of the dying. We no longer see the fertile fields of our country stained with the blood of your fathers and of my companions in arms. But we see the relics of those patriotic youths who shed their blood for the rights of man, deposited in that sacred urn before you.
Gentlemen of the Committees! Citizens and Soldiers of the coun- ties of Monroe and Livingston! You have conferred upon me the honor of presiding on this day, on this important and interesting occasion.
I confess I want ability to discharge the duty connected with the deep interest felt on this occasion; yet I feel happy in doing what I can to commemorate the scenes which are this day brought before us.
It will not be necessary for me to say much, after the interesting and eloquent address which we have just heard. Yet, I must say that I little expected to live to see the time when the remains of some companions in youth, and all of them my companions in arms, whose blood was shed in the glorious struggle for the liberty and independ- ence of our country, and shed on the soil of Livingston county; and whose patriotic remains for sixty-two years have been mouldering in her dust-should here, this day, be presented to the view of this great assembly.
How different do they appear to me now, from what they did sixty- two years ago, when I saw them in the vigor of life and in the bloom of youth.
Aye! my noble Boyd! could your immortal spirit witness the scenes of this day, methinks it would rejoice to see your old friend and companion making a surrender of your mortal remains and those of your brave men who fell a sacrifice to the tomahawk and scalping knife of the savage-surrendering you to the honorable committee and associations from Rochester, who have prepare 1 for you a resting place till you are called from the slumbering dust by the voice of your God.
And you, gentlemen, that have taken so honorable a part in the scenes of this day, your nanies are worthy of a page in the history of our country for this act of patriotism.
Gentlemen, I now, with these my worthy companions, and the only two surviving members present of the army of General Sullivan, and in the name of the Committee of the County of Livinsgton, sur-
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render to you these sacred relies for an honorable interment at Mount Hope, where you will pay to them the highest tribute of respect. Gentlemen, they are yours.
The Mayor of the City of Rochester, the Hon. E. F. Smith, re- sponded to the sentiments expressed by the venerable VanCampen. as follows:
As one of the Committee appointed on behalf of the citizens and military companies of Rochester, he said, he was impressed with the solemnity of the trust which the people of the Genesee valley had now transferred to the inhabitants of that city. Appropriate honors, long deferred, had been paid by the multitude here assembled, to the names of those gallant soldiers whose lifeblood first moistened this valley in the cause of freedom. The remains of those heroic men, now transferred for interment on the Revolutionary Hill at Mount Hope, imposed on the citizens of Rochester a duty which he was con- fident would be sacredly discharged-the duty of rendering their resting place in that cemetery an appropriate mausoleum for those whose services in the cause of freedom entitled them to honor in death as in life.
Yet, he remarked, it was proper to disclaim, on the part of his fel- low citizens, any feeling merely local or sectional. The Revolution- ary Ilill in Mount Hope Cemetery is designed not merely for the re- ception of the Revolutionary patriots who may die in Rochester, but for all of the gallant seventy-sixers "who have died or may die in the Valley of the Genesee." And whose remains more worthy of the first honors than those of the intrepid soldiers who fell with Boyd in this beautiful valley-the extreme western point to which the flag of free- dom was borne during our glorious Revolution ?
The corporation of Rochester, he added, had liberally appropriated a suitable eminence for the hallowed purpose; and the patriotic feel- ing which characterized the ceremonies thus far afforded ample guaranty that the people, not merely of Rochester, but of the whole Genesee valley, would, through long ages, guard with filial care the resting place of those Fathers of American Freedom who boldly pledged honor and life for the defence of their country, in the "times that tried men's souls."
The following preamble and resolution were then proposed by Henry O'Reilly, the chairman of the Rochester Committee of Ar- rangements, and unanimously adopted:
Assembled for the solemn purpose of rendering funeral honors to the gallant soldiers of Sullivan's army who fell fighting for freedom against the British and savage forces in the Revolutionary war, the thousands here collected from the Genesee valley, do solemnly
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Resolve, That the streams at whose junction were buried the mangled bodies of Boyd and Parker, one of which streams has hither- to been nameless and the other named after the savage chief whose ferocity was signalized by the shocking tortures of the gallant Boyd. shall hereafter be named in honor of those fallen soldiers, the latter Boyd's Creek. and the former Parker's Creek, that those streams and the mound at their junction may commemorate the names and services of those martyrs through all time, 'while grass grows and water runs.
"After reciprocal interchanges of courtesy between the Committees of Livingston and Monroe counties," says Mr. Shepard in his nar- rative of the expedition, and after directing that the entire proceedings should be published the Rochester Military took their departure with the remains an hour before sunset, highly gratified with the courtesies which had been extended to them by the citizens of Livingston county.
The arrival of the flotilla at Rochester was announced at sunrise by firing the national salute. At 10 o'clock the troops, upon the tolling of the bells, assembled in front of the place where the boats were moored; and, after going through various evolutions, formed into pro- cession and moved towards Mount Hope.
When the immense cavalcade got in motion it presented a scene highly interesting and imposing. The procession extended as far as the eye could reach, consisting of double and sometimes treble rows of carriages, besides large numbers on horseback. Thousands of spectators lined the sides of the streets, or appeared at the windows, in the numerous balconies and on the tops of houses. Every eminence and elevated place was crowded with people. Along the whole line of march from the city to Mount Hope the roadsides were thronged with foot passengers wending their way to the scene of the final ceremonies.
"Upon arriving at Mount Hope, where a vast assemblage of people were awaiting the arrival of the procession," says the writer already quoted, "the military companies formed a line around the hill desig- nated as the burial place of the Revolutionary patriots, where the sarcophagus and urn were deposited in their final resting place." An address was made by Governor Seward, who was introduced by Chancellor Whittlesey. Rev. Elisha Tucker read the funeral service of the Episcopal Church, and in a very impressive manner dedicated
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