History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 3

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Jacht, the " Half Moon," a vessel of about eighty tons' burthen, was observed by crowds of the Muquaus, ur Mohawks, and the natives were there taught their initiatory lessons in intoxication, their first use of liquors. Civilization's primal contact with barbarism was marked by unprovoked massiere and the introduction of the red man's curse. From the Indians Hadenn obtained corn, beans, pump- kina, grapes, and tobacco, products of the country. Returning to England. Hodson sent his employers an account of his services, was furnished a ship by the English, and sent to find n northwest passage to the Pacific. He discovered the bay which perpetuates his memory, reached its limits, was put with others in a small boat, and left to perish by a mutinous crew. The fuite of the adventurous explorer is unkoown; his memory is indestructible. Holland claimed under Hudson's dis- covery the territory from Cape Cod to the southern shore of Delaware bay. To this thrice-discovered region the Dutch gave the name New Netherlands. A trading vessel was sent in 1810 to the Hudson river, and three years later four houses were built on Manhattan Island, while trading boats traversed every stream and inlet in the vicinity. In 1614, right was given to all original discoverers of American laods to make four voyages thither for trade, and extensive explorations of the New York coast resulted. During this year two forts were built, -one at the head of navigation below Alhans. the other on the south point of Manhattan Island. Agents were sent in every direction among the Indians to secure their trade, and, in 1618, at a point near Albany, a treaty was made with the Fire Nations, which the Dutch strove to make lasting and the later English cultivated most assiduously and successfully. "The Dutch," said the Iroquois, "are our brethren ; we have but one council-fire with them ; a covenant chain unites us as one flesh."

In 1623, Fart Orange was erected within the present limits of Albany, and in the year following Peter Minuit arrived as the first director of New Netherlands, and with him came families from the Belgian frontier, known as Walloons. At their settlement near Manhattan island Sarah de Rapelja was boro, in June, 1625. She was the first child of European parentage born in New York. Staten Island Was bought in 1626 from the Indians for twenty-four dollars, and Fort Amsterdam erected thereon. Wouter Van Twiller, a relation of Van Rensselaer, succeeded Minuit in 1633; and at this time came the first minister, Rev. Everardus Bogardus, and the first school-master. Adam Roelandsen, to the colony. Five years later William Kieft became director. His intemperate acts drove the Indians to arms, and a war waged which threatened the colony with extermina- tion. Peace was concluded by the powerful intervention of the Mohawks in 1645, during which Kieft was recalled and Peter Stuyvesant appointed in his place. From 1640 the English, who twenty years before had settled at Plymouth by Dutch permission, gradually encroached upon the colony regardless of remon- strance, fearless of force, and claiming the whole territory through Cabot'a dis- covery. Stuyvesant restricted the privileges of the colonists; a convention of delegates from the various towns met in 1653 at New Amsterdam to petition for redress, without avail.

This refusal was the knell of Dutch administration. On March 30, 1664, Charles II. of England, ignoring the right of Holland, granted the whole of New Netherlands to his brother James, the Duke of York and Albany. A fleet, sent out under Admiral Nichols, forced the capitulation of the Dutch governor on the 6th of September. The name of the colony was changed to New York, the settlement at New Amsterdam took the same name, and Fort Orange was given the name Albany. The Dutch and English colonists had hailed the change of government with satisfaction, but soon found themselves at issue with the represent- atives of English authority. Colonel Nichols, the first English governor, admin- istered till 1667, with moderation and justice. Under his management an unsuc- cessful attempt was made to determine the New York and Connecticut boundaries, and on June 12, 1666, New York city received its charter. He was succeeded by the. tyrant of New England, Edmund Andros. who was followed by Colonel Dongan. In October, 1633, Dongaa, being governor, celebrated his accession by granting permission to the people to elect an assembly consisting of a house of representatives, eighteen in number, chosen by freeholders. This, the first colo- nial assembly in the province of New York. took the present form of a governor, council for senate and assembly, with this important distinction, that then the power rested with the governor and tho council. while by constant and successful effort the council has been changed to a senate and the authority to the immediate representatives of the people.

The French settlements persistently endeavored to curtail and destroy the Eng- lish colony, and but for the vigor of the confederate Indians would have succeeded. The governors, tyrannous in control and inethicient in protective measures, brought the colony into conterapt, only relieved hy the resolution and energy nf Schuyler, ably seconded by Fletcher during the winter of 1603. The revolutions in Eng- land, the changes of government. extended to her provinces, and gave rise to an event of the highest importance to the subsequent relation between the two classes

known as proprietors and the people. The execution of Leisler and Milbourne, so manifestly unjust, drew wide and deep the line between a people whose hard- ships in a new land entitled them to a voice in their own government and the dis- position of their own property, and the " patroons," or large landed proprietors and intended aristocrats, who aimed to establish here the invidious distinctions long knows and maintained in the parent-land. The strife so begun continued to in- creaso in its intensity until the struggle for independence called all to arins, when, under the designations of Whig and Tory, bitter feelings found vent in the cruel- ties which have made the name of Tory infamous. It remains to trace the pro- gress of events in Albany and Tryon counties westward till the war for independ- ence and the foothold of French and English upon the lands of the Senecas in the region of the lakes.

It was in 1683 that the province of New York was divided into connties, ten in number. Of these was Albany, which embraced all that portion of the territory north of Ulster and Dutchess counties, and west of the Hudson river. The col- onists so far had elung to the coast, the sound, and the lower portion of the river, and had located originally for purposes of traffic, and had become permanently established through habitude. The commencement of improvement and settle- ment west of Schenectady was made by men who sought in the wilds of the forest the exercise of the rights of conscience and freedom to worship God. No con- viets of an eastern nation, no adventurers for power and wealth were they, no seum of royalty nor dregs of populace, but refugees for cherished faith.

With promise of lands from Queen Anne, three thousand German palatines emigrated to this country, and, landing at New York, the majority settled in Penn- sylvania, while seven hundred persons, directed by seven captains, took their way to a tract of twenty thousand acres situated on the borders of the Schnharie river. Without resources save their own, they entered upon their work of establishing their homes. The products of the forest and the stream gave scanty subsistence, and in large bands they made journeys for grain to Schenectady, fearing else the attacks of wild beasts. In ITIl their first wheat was raised; it wie cultivated with the hoe upon land cleared and prepared without plow or team. and, harvested, was hacked to Schenectady for grinding. One Lindsley, a Scotchman, in 1739, obtained ownership of eight thousand acres in what is now the town of Cherry Valley, and there settled with his family. The nearest white neighbor, reached by Indian trail, was fifteen miles away upon the Mohawk. Fond of the chase, he found ample means of gratifying his taste. In danger of starvation from the decp snows of the winter of 1840, au Indian friend journeying upon snow-shoes supplied him with food. In 1741 a number of families joined him, and the set- tlement of Cherry Valley had an origin. A grist- and saw-mill were in operation in 1744, and a condition of prosperity was enjoyed, so far as they were exempt from the invaders of French and Indian assailants.

During 1840, Sir William Johnson, an Irishman, nephew of Sir Peter War- ren, an English admiral, came as his uncle's agent to manage a tract of fifteen thousand acres, granted by government within what is now the town of Florida, Montgomery county. Johnson located near Port Jackson, and began a close study of Indian language, character, and habits, and followed up his intercourse by obtaining a controlling and lasting influence favorable to the colonics. perni- cious to the State. It has been supposed that he closed his own life to avoid taking part against the colonies, aince the receipt of favors from the British had placed him under strong obligations. Settlements crept gradually westward. In 1716 a purchase in the present town of Amsterdam was made by Philip Groat, who was drowned while removing thither his family. The widow and her sons made the settlement, and in 1730 had erected a grist-mill. The first merchant west uf Schenectady was Giles Fonda, whose trade was chicfly confined to the confederates, and who had posts at Oswego, Niagara, Schlosser, and other points.

Tryon county was organized from Albany in 1772, and derived its name from the last royal governor. It included all the province west of Schoharie county, and was divided into five districts, called Mohawk. Canajoharie, Palatine, German Flats, and Kingsland ; the last two included the greater part of the western set- tlements. The first court was held in Johnstown, on September 8, 1772, Guy Johnson, judge, as were John Butler and Peter Conyne, assisted by five judges and six justices. Names of officials show how the powers of law and government were held, and the impossibility of American freedom without a revolution. The acquirement of English supremacy in western New York uner obtained was held tenaciously long after the colonies had gained their independence, and was one ground of the war against Great Britain. It is a notable feature of history con- nected with the Genesce country that its ownership was a subject of controversy between nations, States, and companies, and its proprietors, previous to settlement, seemed instinctively to know its natural advantages and capacities. The lessons taught in schools treat lightly of this topic, and, save a few isolated facts, the his- tory of these western regions of the state is thought to be of limited importance; the converse should be true. The English claimed western New York from their

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

alliance with its native possessors, and, singularly enough, the French had the same basis of reason. The Senecas were independent, and scoroud the supremacy of either. French influence was fostered by the Jesuit priests, but no one further promoted their interests than Joncaire, a captive Frenchman, adopted by the Seneca tribe. It is notable that the French allied themselves by marriage with the Indians, and conformed to their customs. The English seldom so far forgot or ignored their higher culture. In 1721, Joncaire had built a cabin at Lewistoa, and had founded an Indian settlement. He was familiar with the course of the Genesee, and the sulphur springs at Avon, and, fluent in the language of the Iroquois, was influential for his eloquence. . It was in 1725 that Joncaire and French officers, diverting the Senecas upon a hunting excursion, employed a body of troops to erect a fort at Niagara so strung that, on their return, it was safe from attack. A year later and the English had built a fort at Oswego, and had estab- lished a trading post at Irondequoit bay. The war of supremacy to be closed by the conquest of one party began in 1754. An English expedition against Niagara was a failure. In 1756, Oswego was captured by Montcalm. Ia May, 1759, an army under General Prideaux moved from Schenectady to Oswego. The force com- prised two British regiments, a body of Americans, and many of the Iroquois. The army, provided with bateaux, set out July 1. and, following the southern Ontario coast, encamped by night upon the shore. The bay at Sodus was the first night'a harbor ; then successively at Irondequoit, Braddock's bay, Johnson's creek, and finally at a creek eighteen miles from the fort. As they had progressed the beavy guns had been discharged at intervals, and their deep boom through the forests announced their coming and their power. The armament was disembarked, and the siege began. It ended in the defeat of a body of French and western Indians twenty-five hundred strong, and led hy General Aubrey, who tempted to succor the garrison, and in the surrender of the fort. It required all the com- mand of Sir William Johnson to restrain the Iroquois from a massacre, and the plunder of the fort was given them as a diversion. With the fall of Niagara fell the French power, and the way was opened for the colonial struggie. France. jealous and revengeful, gave her armies to America, and the surrender at Yorktown was the finale of European rivalry and American independence.

CHAPTER IIL

THE RELATION OF THE BORDER WARFARE TO SUBSEQUENT SETTLEMENT-THE MASSACRES OF WYOMING AND CHERRY VALLEY-GENERAL SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION-AN UNKNOWN REGION EXPLORED-THE VALLEY OF THE GENESEE-A PROSPECTIVE HOME-THE ROUTE OF DROVERS -MISSIONARY, TRADERS, AND CAPTIVES.

FROM evil, good results. The horrors of war precede the greatest triumphs of peace. The neutrality of the confederates would have entitled them to consider- ation, and ignorance of the rich lands where from time immemorial their villages had stood and corn and fruit been raised would have deferred its occupation.

With the breaking out of the Revolution, Johnson, Butler, Brandt, and other tories removed to the west, accompanied by the Mohawk tribe or nation. Joseph Brandt settled the Indians at Lewiston, where he built a small log church. A bell brought from an Indian church npon the Mohawk was hung upon a cross-bar in the fork of a tree, and services were occasionally held by the British chaplain at Fort Niagara. The influence of Johnson drew to the British interest many set- tlers along the Mohawk, and the parties once peaceable neighbors became most implacable enemies.

It was in June, 1777, that Brandt appeared at Unadilla with a party of about eighty Indians. He demanded food, which being supplied, he departed. On a day in July, General Herkimer, with three hundred and eighty militia, came to Unadilla, where Brandt appeared with one hundred and eighty warriors. He was arrogant and insolent, and intimated that whoever gave the most presents would have bis support. At a signal, the Indians, shouting, repaired to their camp, whence they returned, raising the war-whoop. Brandt manifested a readiness to fight, but Herkimer forbore in hopes of peaceful settlement. This was the last conference with the confederates to secure their neutrality. Immediately there- after, Johnson called a council at Oswego, and the English influence prevailed. Colonel Gansevoort, with the Third New York. had been posted at Fert Schuyler, a part of the present site of Rome, since April, and on August 2 was besieged by General St. Leger, who had marchedl from Oswego with a force of seventeen hundred men. General Herkimer, attempting to juin Gansevoort with seven

hundred men, was ambuscoded by tories and Indians under Butler and Brandt. The van was destroyed. The rear fled confusedly, hotly pursued; tho centre facing outward, treed and held their ground .*

The fighting had continued for some time, when Major Watson, s brother-in- law of Sir John Johnson, brought up a detachment of Johnson's Greeos. The blood of the Germans boiled with indignation at the sight of these men. Many of the "Greens" were personally known to them. They had fled their country, and were now returned in arms to subdue it. Their presence, under any circum- stances, would have kindled np the resentment of those militia ; but coming as they now did, in aid of a retreating foe, called into exercise the most hitter feel- ings of hostility .. They fired upon them as they advanced, and then, rushing from behind their covers, attacked them with their hayonets, and those who had none with the hutt ends of their muskets. This contest was maintained, hand- to-hand, for nearly half an hour. The " Greens" made a good resistance. but were obliged to give way under the fury of their assailants. A sally was made from the fort, the camp plundered, and return made without loss. General Herkimer behaved heroically, and, disabled hy a musket-shot, was placed a little removed from the struggle, where he smoked a pipe and gave orders. His limb was am- putated, mortified, and caused his death. The Americans lost four hundred killed and wounded. The Indians had one hundred killed, thirty of whom were Senecas. The tories and English had one hundred killed.

The siege of Fort Schuyler ended on August 22. It was raised partly by the approach of a brigade under Arnold, and in part by the tale of a "foolish" refugee, who exaggerated the numbers of the approaching force as "many as the forest-leaves," and caused the withdrawal of the Indians. Lieutenant Leger found his way via Oswego and Montreal to Burgoyne. Brandt and Butler, with their white and red partisans, laid waste the frontiers, and many a log house flamed at midnight, and many a family met cruel deaths. Two events illustrate the horrors of the border, the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley. Colonel John Butler, in 1759, led his band of renegades and Indiane from Niagara Past- ward over the Genesee country dowa to the valley of Wyoming. Colonel Zebulon Batler, a Continental officer, chanced to be at home, and assumed command of the militia. The Americans set out to surprise their enemies, and failed. A battle resulted in which no quarter-was shown. The defeated militia found shelter at Fort Wyoming, which was filled with women and children. and indefensible. The fort was surrounded, and the garrison capitulated under a pledge of protec- tion, which was wholly ignored, and the merciless savages swept the valley with ruin. Brandt attempted a surprise at Germon Flats, but the population escaped, and only their property was destroyed. A fort had been built by order of La Fayette in Cherry Valley during 1778, and a garrison placed within, under com- mand of Colonel Alden. This officer was notified of the approaching enemy, but took no precautionary measures. All rested in fancied security till the yells of the fierce Iroquois appalled the ear, and their keen weapons speedily accomplished · their dreadful work. The fort repelled assault with a telling fire, and all without were killed or captured. Night came, and a hody of prisoners were taken to the woods, and placed within a circle of fires, where they remained till morning, when all the women and children were set free except Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Moore and their childrco. They were taken to Kanadesaga (Geneva) and adopted into Iudian families. By making up clothing for the squaws, and efforts at pleasing them, Mrs. Campbell won influence and improved her condition. She was taken hy the Senecas to Niagara, and finally with her children reached her old home.

Sullivan's expedition against the confederates to their homes in the valley of the Genesee in 1779 grew out of the atrocities of which we have spoken, and is worthy of record for its bearing upon the settlement of this country. To this time the Senecas had been secure through their isolation, and returned from their bloody raids to security. Now General Washington determined to send an army to lay waste their villages and capture Foft. Niagara,-the depot of their supplies. General Sullivan was appointed to commaud the expedition, and set out for Wyoming, where a force was concentrated, and advanced to Tioga Point. Morgan's riflemen, and other troops to the number of fifteen hundred men, in command of General James Clinton, joined Sullivan on August 22, 1779, and the whole force under Sullivan set out with great caution upon the proposed cam- paign. The army numbered about five thouwind men, and, well supplied with artillery and a month's rations, proccedled up the Tioga.

The Indians derided the supposed folly of attempting to march a regular army through the forests auch a distance to drive them from their villages. but when they found that army actually advancing, they rallied at Newtown. Butler and Brandt came from Canada ; the former to head his rangers, the latter to cominand the Indians. Within a few miles of Newtown the Americans found the enemy posted behind a loy breastwork, from which they were quickly driven with loss.

. Campbell's Annals.

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

At a short distance, a second stand was made behind another extended breast- work. The army was divided. and each wing was ordered to march, the one to the right the other to the left, and encompass the enemy : while to hohl them from retreating shells were thrown over them, which, bursting in their rear, caused a dash through one wing of the army, whereby both sides loet considerably. At a place on the river called the Narrows many Iodians were killed. The road was now open, and the advance was cautiously resumed directly to the head of Seneca lake, thence down the lake to Kanadesaga, which was evacuated by all but one- a boy of seven years, found asleep in a hnt, and adopted by an officer. The women . and children fled, a pitiable throog, to Niavara, while in vain the Indians attempted an ambuscade. From the mouth of Seneca lake the advance was made without resistance by the ontlets of the Canandaigua, Honeove, and Hemlock lakes to the head of Conesus lake, where camp was made upon what is known as Henderson's Hats The Indians took their stand in vain ; his scouts were practiced riflemen, and the troops were constantly on the alert. while morning and evening the boom of a single cannon told of advance and halt,-a signal of humanity to the help- less, a menacing defiance to the warrior.

The army lay in camp : behind them was a well-marked route, and where the villages had atood ashes and smouldering fires lay in heaps; where large orchards had promised weight accura, the area had done their work, and wide over the corn-fields lay the withering stalks,-a complete scene of desolation. At dusk of the day in camp a party of' twenty-one riflemen were sent out under Lieutenant Boyd to reconnoitre near the Genesee river, between Genesee and Mount Morris, and guided by Hanayerry, a friendly Oneida. The distance to Little Beard's town was but seven miles; but the ronte, the darkness, aod the required cantion made advance laborious, and the village was reached at a late hour, and found bot lately abandoned, as the fires were still burning in the huts. Boyd decided to halt till morning near by, and just before daylight sent two men back to report the enemy undiscovered. After daylight the party again approached the village, Dear which two Indians were seen skulking. A Virginian, named Murphy. a noted scout, shot, one of the Indians and took his scalp; the other fled. Conceal- meat was no longer possible, and the party immediately began to retrace their way to the army.

They were within a mile and a half of the camp when discovery was made that Brandt and Butler. in heavy force. occupied a ravine. intercepting farther return. Boyd saw his forlorn hope of breaking through, and, encouraging his men, gave the command to advance. At the first attack the riflemen killed several of the enemy and met no loss : twice more the attempt to go through was unsuccessfully made. Murphy and six others escaped. ten were killed, and Lien- tenant Boyd and a soldier named Parker were captured. Boyd requested to see Brandt, whe at once came forward and was met by an appeal known to the initiated as the call of "a brother in distress." The chief promised his influence as a protection. The prisoners were taken to the Indian village near Moscow of to- day, and, during the temporary absence of Brandt. were interrogated by Butler respecting the force and intentions of' Sullivan. The information was refused, and Boyd was put to most inhuman torture, which closed with cutting off his head. Parker was beheaded, but oot tortured. The army, hearing the tiring, advanced towards the Genesee, and at the battle-ground found and buried the dain. Arrived at Genesce, a crossing was effected, and the country was scoured along the river; villages were burned and all subsistence destroyed. The muti- lated-remains of Boyd and Parker were found and buried under a clump of wild plum-trees. The army abandoned the advance on Niagara, returned apon their route, and went into camp at Morristown. New Jersey.

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 3

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts Number of Pages: 976

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976