History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 17

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664

USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 17
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 17

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The intended invasion of that section from the west by St. Leger co- operating with Burgoyne's descent by the way of Lake Champlain, was seasonably announced to the Tryon county authorities by Thomas Spen- cer, an Oneida half-breed sachem, who had learned of it in Canada on a spying expedition. He reported that there were seven hundred indians and four hundred British regulars at Oswego, who were to be joined by six hundred tories, then on one of the islands above Oswegatchie, in an incursion into the valley. He urged a reinforcement of Fort Schuyler Stanwix), and that the woods about it be cleared away and trees felled into Wood creek, the route by which the enemy would advance from Oneida Lake. He was concerned for the safety of his tribe, who would be compelled to join the invaders if the latter were not promptly checked.

This startling information, instead of arousing the whigs of Tryon county to active measures of defence, seemed to paralyze them with alarm. As the thus far victorious army of Burgoyne advanced from Ticonderoga, threatening to overwhelm everything before it, the patriots of the county began to waver, while the remaining tories, secretly informed of the move ments of the British, again took heart. It was declared that the Indians would ravage the whole country, and many of the inhabitants who had previously been neutral, now espoused the cause of the crown and stole away to the enemy. The residue of the Scotch Highlanders in the vicinity of Johnstown, together with some of the Germans adhering to the British cause, had fled to Canada, headed by two men named McDonald, whom General Schuyler had allowed to visit their families. The wives and children of the absconded tories maintained communication with thein and administered to their needs. The plan of arresting and remov- ing them to a place where they could neither do nor suffer harm was sug- gested and approved hy Col. Herkimer, or General, as we might better style him, since, though appointed a Colonel by the Tryon county com- mittee, he ontranked the officers of that name commanding battalions, being himself commander of all the county troops. So alarming were the various reports which reached the settlements that some of the inhabitants were obliged to be constantly ranging the frontier to guard against a sur- prise by the enemy, while others stood as sentinels around the field- where farmers were at work. The deplorable state of the county is revealed by the following extract from a letter of John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, dated July 21, 1777:

"The situation of Tryon county is both shameful and alarming. Such abjection and despondency as mark the letters we have received from thence disgrace human nature. God knows what to do with them, or for them. Were they alone interested in their fate, I should be for leaving their cart in the slough till they should put their shoulders to the wheel."

In the discouraging communications from Tryon county which Mr. Jay referred to, the committee of that county reported that with part of their militia at Fort Edward many of those remaining at home thought it hope-

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

less to take up arms against the overwhelming invasion that was expected ; and that if immediate relief was not afforded by a reinforcement of five hundred men, they must fall a prey to the enemy, or else seek their pro- tection. A letter by General Schuyler, dated Fort Edward, July 18, 1777, contains the following sentences corroborative of Mr. Jay's complaint in regard to the spirit of the Tryon county patriots :

"I am exceedingly chagrined at the pusilanimous spirit which prevails in the county of Tryon. [ apprehend much of it is to be attributed to the infidelity of the leading persons of that quarter. If I had one thou- sand regular troops, in addition to those now above and on the march, I should venture to keep only every third man of the militia and would send them down. The substance of Col. Harper's information had been trans- mitted about a month ago. In consequence whereof I sent Col. Van Schaick into Tryon county with as many troops as I could collect. After the improper agreement made by General Herkimer with Brant at Una- dilla), these troops were marched back ; but as soon as I was informed of the march, I ordered them to remain in Tryon county, where they are still, and I have sent up Col. Wesson's regiment to reinforce them. But if I may be allowed to judge of the temper of Gen. Herkimer and the com- mittee of Tryon county, from their letters to me, nothing will satisfy them unless I march the whole army into that quarter. With deference to the better judgment of the Council of Safety, I cannot by any mears think it prudent to bring on an open rupture with the savages at the present time. The inhabitants of Tryon county are already too much inclined to lay down their arms and take whatever terms the enemy may please to afford them. Half the militia from this Tryon) county and the neighboring State of Massachusetts we have been under the necessity of dismissing ; but the whole should go."

The committee, a few days previous to this appeal for protection, had been called to reinforce Fort Schuyler. Of the two hundred militia ordered to muster and form the garrison of that post, a part only obeyed. They had also ordered two companies of regular troops, stationed at dif- ferent points in the county under their direction, to repair to the fort ; but even these made various excuses, claiming that their service as scouts had unfitted them for garrison duty. They, however, reluctantly complied At this late hour, with Burgoyne advancing upon Albany, little help could be expected from a distance ; and it was obvious that the people of the Mo- hawk valley must rely mainly upon themselves for their defence against the tories and savages of St. Leger, who, if not confronted on the remote frontier, would soon be at their doors. Gen. Herkimer, therefore, on the 17th of July issued a proclamation, announcing that two thousand "Chris- tians and savages " had assembled at Oswego for a descent upon the Mo- hawk valley, and warning the people en masse to be ready at a moment's notice to take the field in fighting order, the men from sixteen to sixty for active service, and the aged and infirm to defend the women and children at points where they might gather for safety. Those who did not volun- tarily muster for service when called upon were to be brought along by force.

On the 30th of July the Tryon county committee received a final warn- ing from the Oneida sachem, Thomas Spencer, that the enemy would be upon Fort Schuyler in three or four days, and an exhortation to make the most of the time in pushing the preparations for its defence. On the 2d of August, Lieut .- Col. Mellon, of Col. Wesson's regiment, arrived at the fort with two batteaux of provisions and ammunition and a reinforcement of two hundred men, all sorely needed and most heartily welcomed. As the last load of supplies was hurried within the stockade, the vanguard of St. Leger's army broke from the border of the surrounding forest.

CHAPTER XI.

ST. LEGER'S SIEGE OF FORT SCHUYLER AND THE BATTLE OF ORISKANY- ROSTER OF THE LATTER.

At the same time that Burgoyne began his march to the northern frontier of New York, Col. Barry St. Leger was dispatched ria. the St. Lawrence to Oswego to join the tories and Indians congregating there under Sir John Johnson and Brant, who had been made a captain in the British army. At the end of July the invading force, consisting of seven- teen hundred Indians, tories, British regulars, and a few Hessians, set out for Fort Schuyler. It was St. Leger's intention after capturing that post to

sweep down the Mohawk valley, crush out the rebellious element and co- operate with Burgoyne.

On the end of August an advance party commanded by Lieutenant Bird and Brant, arrived before the fort, which was garrisoned by seven hundred and fifty men under Colonel Gansevoort, with six weeks provisions and plenty of ammunition for small arms, but lamentably lacking in cartridges for the cannon, there being only about four hundred, or nine per day to each gun for six weeks. The garrison had no flag when the enemy ap- peared, but a curious patchwork conforming to the Congressional regula- tions soon waved over the beleaguered fortress. Shirts were cut up to form the white stripes ; the red was supplied by bits of scarlet cloth, and the ground for the stars was furnished by a bluecloak. On the 3d, Col. St. Leger arrived with his whole force and immediately demanded a surrender of the fort, sending in at the same time a copy of a pompous manifesto in- tended to shake the courageous Ly its threats and seduce the timid by its promises. It was, however, treated with derision, and active hostilities began.

As soon as St. I.eger's advance upon Fort Schuyler was known to the committee and officers of Tryon county, Gen. Herkimer summoned the militia to the field for the relief of the garrison. The patriots who had desponded when the danger threatened them from a distance, roused them- selves in its presence to a heroic effort for the protection of their homes and families. Not only the militia, but most of the members of the county committee took the field. Gen. Herkimer soon found himself at the head of more than eight hundred men eager for action. The rendezvous was the little stockade fort built at German Flats the year before by Col. Day- ton and named after him. The little army now assembled here was chiefly composed of sturdy, resolute farmers, some in uniform, but more in home- spun. Gathered in little groups they expressed, excitedly, in a mixture of English and German, their even insubordinate eagerness to meet the once dreaded foe.

On the 4th, Gen. Herkimer's force set out for Fort Schuyler along a road which was little more than a rude path through the wilderness, and in places almost impassable for the baggage wagons. In the evening of the 5th they encamped in the neighborhood of Oriskany. From this point Gen. Herkimer sent forward Adam Helmer and two others to inform Col. Gansevoort of his approach. The discharge of three cannon at the fort, in rapid succession, was to be the signal of their arrival there, and for Gen. Herkimer to advance upon the besiegers while Col. Gansevoort made a sortie against their camp.

St. Leger had been notified of the advance of the militia, and early in the morning of the 6th, detached Brant with a large body of the Indians, Major Watts, with a division of Johnson's Greens, and Col. Butler, with his Rangers, to intercept them, Gen. Herkimer, brave, but cautious, had de- termined not to leave his camp until he should be reinforced, or should hear the signal guns. His subordinates, however, in their excessive eager- ness to press forward, became almost mutinous on the morning of the 6th. "Doubtless," they said, "the messengers had been killed or captured, and the sound of the signal cannon was not to be expected." In deference to their continued complaints, Gen. Herkimer held a council of his principal officers, with whom he discussed the question of an immediate advance, showing the folly of his ill-equipped militia attacking double their number of well armed troops, without reinforcements, or even an understanding with Gansevoort. His officers, however, were impatient of delay, and did not conceal their contempt for the prudent advice of their General. Cols. Cox and Paris denounced him as a coward and a tory. Suppressing his indignation at this outrageous insult, Herkimer told them that he considered himself charged with the care as well as the leadership of his men, and did not wish to place them in a perilous position from which it would be impossible to extricate them ; he added, that those who were boasting loudest of their courage, would be the first to run in the face of the enemy, and satisfied the clamor of his officious subordinates by giving the order to march. The troops with shoutings, grasped their arms, and the undiscip- lined regiments of Cols. Cox, Paris, Visscher and Klock, rushed forward.

The line of march soon led into a curving ravine, with a marshy bottom, traversed by a causeway of logs and earth. Along this road the headstrong patriots were pursuing their hasty march, when the guards in front and flank were suddenly shot down, and the surrounding forest rang with the blood-curdling yells of the savages. The latter immediately closed up the gap by which the patriot force had entered their fatal circle. In so doing they cut off from the main body the baggage-train and the regiment of

BATTLE OF ORISKANY-DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY-DEATH OF HERKIMER.

Col. Visscher. The latter took to flight, as predicted by their general, but did not thereby escape the punishment of their temerity; for they were pur- sued and cut off by a detachment of the Indians. The regiments sur- rounded in the ravine were thrown into dire confusion by the fire of their concealed enemy, and for a time seemed likely to be annihilated before they could make any effectual defence. In this dreadful extremity, how. ever, they were not panic-stricken; but, after the first shock, resolving to sell their lives dearly, they fought with the courage and skill of veterans. The slaughter among them was fearful. Their danger was increased when they were disabled by wounds, for at every opportunity the savages darted from their coverts, with knife and tomahawk, to complete the work of the musket-balls that, from every side, tore through the disordered body of patriots floundering in the morass.

Early in the action Gen. Herkimer was severely wounded by a ball which shattered one of his legs, just below the knee, and killed his horse. On being taken up he coolly directed his saddle placed against a tree; support- ing himself upon it, he lighted his pipe, and with a hail-storm of bullets cutting down his men all about him, calmly directed the battle, nobly re- buking those who, a few hours before, in pressing the march into this fatal trap, had called him a coward and a traitor.

The unequal combat had continued nearly an hour before any orderly and concerted action was attempted by the patriot troops. Captain Seeber, without orders, threw the remnant of his company into a circle, the better to repel the attacks of the enemy, who were by degrees closing in upon them. The example was followed by other sections of Herkimer's little army, whose defence from this time became so effective that it was thought necessary for a part of the Royal Greens and Butler's Rangers to make a bayonet charge. This brought the Mohawk Valley patriots at last face to face with their hated foes in deadly personal struggle. Hardly had the battle assumed this terrible form, when a heavy thunder-storm broke over the belligerents; the tories, upon whom the fight in its present phase was telling severely, gladly drew off to a safe distance, and there was a lull in the strife of arms while the war of the elements continued.

Herkimer's men took advantage of this circumstance to concentrate in a circle upon an advantageous piece of ground, where they more hopefully awaited a renewal of the attack. Another piece of tactics now adopted was the placing of two men behind a single tree, to fire alternately, thus pro- tecting each other from the savages, who, when a marksman was alone, rushed upon and tomahawked him as soon as he had fired, and before he could reload. As the pouring rain ceased, the enemy renewed their assault. They were mostly tory refugees from Tryon county, and their old neigh- bors, recognizing them as such, wreaked upon them the resentment engen- dered by years of controversy, with their experiences of insult and injury. Springiog from their lines, the patriots of the Mohawk rushed with tiger- like ferocity upon the men who were leading a horde of heartless savages to the destruction of their families and homes, and thrust them through with the bayonet, or with the knife in closer grapple. Meanwhile the In- dians, good for nothing at the point of the bayonet, and severely punished in the later stage of the battle, lost heart and wavered.

The booming of cannon in the direction of the fort now came gratefully to the ears of the patriot soldiers. Col. Willet was assaulting St. Leger's camp. The tory Col. Butler, thinking Herkimer's men might be expecting a reinforcement from the fort, had the uniforms of a detachment of John- son's Greens disguised so as to make them resemble a company of Ameri- cans, and sent them toward the patriot position from the direction of the fort. The ruse was well nigh successful. Lieut. Jacoh Sammons was deceived by it, and announced to Capt. Gardinier the approach of sup- port. That officer, however, eyed the advancing party with suspicion, and when they were within hearing, hailed them. They were already so near that one of the captain's men recognized in their ranks an acquaintance whom be supposed a friend. Stepping forward to greet him, he was seized as a prisoner. Capt. Gardinier sprang to the rescue, and in the fierce struggle which ensued killed three of the disguised tories. Some of his men, not yet undeceived, warned him that he was killing his friends, but he cried out: "They are not our men; they are the enemy-fire away!" A volley of bullets was sent whizzing among the tories, and thirty of them, together with many Indian warriors, fell. The survivors charged furiously. They were met in the same spirit, and the forest again rang with the clash of steel and the yells of the savages. The latter conkl not long abide a contest on even terms, however brave behind trees and at hacking the wounded; and seeing their ranks fast thinning and the stubborn stand of

the provincials, they became disheartened and raised the signal for retreat -"Oonah! Oonah!" Panic seizing them, they fled, followed by a shower of bullets and the frantic cheers of the surviving patriots. The tories, deserted by their dusky allies, retreated precipitately, leaving the field in possession of the Tryon county militia, whom almost a miracle had saved from extermination. Thus ended the battle of Oriskany, one of the bloodiest and most hotly contested fields of the Revolution. During the six hours' conflict nearly two hundred of the patriots had perished, and as many of the enemy, including nearly a hundred Indian warriors.

As the shower which deluged the Oriskany battlefield subsided, Col. Willet, with two hundred and fifty men and a three-pounder, sallied from Fort Schuyler and fell upon the British entrenchments so unexpectedly that the troops left in them and the savages remaining in their adjoining camp had not time to form, and were driven helter-skelter into the woods. The attacking party held the enemy's position long enough to transfer from it to the fort twenty-one wagon loads of all manner of spoils, includ- ing five British flags and the coat of Sir John Johnson, who was glad to escape in his shirt sleeves across the river. Willet's command regained the fort without the loss of a man, and hung out the captured standards to the view of St. Leger, who returned just too late to intercept the vic- torious provincials.

The patriots who remained unharmed upon the Oriskany battlefield set about removing their wounded, of whom about fifty were carried to places of safety. General Herkimer was borne to his residence, where he died about ten days after the battle, from the effects of a clumsy amputation. Among the prisoners taken by the British was Col. Paris, who was after- ward murdered by the Indians, together with many other captives. Maj. John Frey was wounded and taken prisoner, and would have been slain by his own brother-a tory-but for the interference of bystanders. The sense of victory could not console the many homes in the Mohawk Valley which were represented among the corpses moldering in the bloody ravine of Oriskany, and every hamlet had reason long to mourn the rashness of some of the brave men who went forth to save it from invasion.

The garrison of Fort Schuyler was so completely environed by its be- siegers, that nothing could be learned of the result of Herkimer's effort. St. Leger took advantage of the fact by compelling Col. Bellinger and Major Frey, who were prisoners in his camp, to write a letter to Col. Ganse- voort, reporting the disastrous failure of the effort to relieve him, assuring him that there was no hope and advising him to surrender. They were forced to say that their anxiety for the good of their friends in the fort led them to write as they did, since the enemy were in overpowering force, and Burgoyne's army probably already before Albany, the fall of which place would be followed by the conquest of the Mohawk valley. This let- ter was delivered by Col. Butler, St. Leger's Adjutant, to Col. Gansevoort, with a verbal demand for surrender, which from its informality, the latter refused to recognize. He, however, gave audience next day to three British officers who addressed him at length, representing that the only salvation of the garrison was an immediate surrender, as the Indians, who were ex- tremely exasperated by their losses, would slaughter his men if they held out longer, and were on the point of sending a large party down the valley to massacre the inhabitants, who were defenceless, now that Herkimer's army was, as they represented, destroyed. They asserted that Burgoyne was then in Albany, which insured the fall of the fort. If it was promptly surrendered, the garrison would be protected from the savages, but the latter would soon become uncontrollable. Col. Gansevoort having refused, as before, to recognize any verbal demand, St. Leger on the 9th, sent him a written summons to the same effect as his subordinate's speech, and like that, betraying a solicitude for the immediate possession of the fort, which was incompatible with an assurance that it must certainly fall into his hands.

Col. Gansevoort briefly replied that he should defend the fort to the last extremity. Stege operations were thereupon renewed with increased vigor, but the artillery of the enemy was so light as to make but little impression. It was feared, however, that the garrison might be starved into capitulation, if not relieved, and Col. Willet and Maj. Stockwell set out in the night of the toth to pass the enemy's lines, go down the river and rally, if possible, the militia of the county, with whom the Colonel was deservedly popular. Reaching Albany after a perilous journey, Col. Willet found Gen Arnold with a Massachusetts brigade starting for the relief of the beleagured post. The force immediately set out, and reaching Fort Dayton, halted for the local militia to assemble.

In the mean time St. Leger was not idle. His next move was to issue

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

an address to the people of Tryon county, signed by Sir John Johnson and Cols. Claus and Butler, in which he hoped by threats of Indian bar- barities to induce them to influence Col. Gansevoort to surrender. This appeal artfully expressed the utmost concern for the fate of those to whom it was addressed, and an ardent desire on the part of its authors for peace and reconciliation, which they condescended to grant, in spite of the in- juries to which they had been subjected, and the fact that they were at the head of a victorious army, After these words of peace and promise, the alternative in case of continued resistance was set forth :

"You have, no doubt, great reason to dread the resentment of the Indians on account of the loss they sustained in the late action, and the mulish obstinacy of your troops in this garrison, who have no resource but them- selves ; for which reasons the Indians declare, that if they do not surrender the garrison without further opposition, they will put every soul to death -not only the garrison, but the whole county-without any regard to age, sex or friends, for which reason it is become your indispensable duty, as you must answer the consequences, to send a deputation of your principal people to oblige them immediately to what they, in a very little time, must be forced-surrender the garrison, in which case we will engage on the faith of christians to protect you from the violence of the Indians."

This document only brought trouble upon some of the messengers who circulated it. Walter Butler, son of Col. John Butler, having come down the valley on this mission, was arrested near Fort Dayton, tried as a spy by Gen. Arnold, convicted, and though saved from death by the interces- sions of some officers who knew him, was sent to Albany and their im - prisoned. General Arnold issued a stirring proclamation, well calculated to neutralize the tory manifesto and encourage the patriots of the valley.

St. Leger ran forward his trenches to within a hundred and fifty yards of the fort, but the sharp firing of the garrison prevented a nearer approach. He shelled the fortress, but with little effect. Its defenders, however ignorant of tbe relief on the way to them, began to be apprehensive, and some even suggested a surrender. Gansevoort would not entertain this idea, having resolved, if his supplies were exhausted, to make a sortie by night and cut his way through the enemy's lines, or die in the attempt. He was happily spared this desperate resort, for on the zend of August, St. Leger broke up his camp and hastily retreated, leaving his tents and baggage, with most of his artillery, to fall into the hands of the brave gar- rison. This movement, as surprising and mysterious as it was welcome to the beseiged, was the result of a ruse perpetrated by Gen. Arnold, who released a rough ignorant fellow named Han Yost Schuyler, captured at the same time with Walter Butler, on condition that he should go to the camp of St. Leger with an extravagant report of the force which was at hand to raise the siege. Bullets were fired through his clothes to corroborate the story he was to tell of having had a narrow escape, and a friendly Oneida Indian arranged to reach St. Leger about the same time from another quarter with similar intelligence. The effect of their tale upon the British commander and his followers need not be repeated. The savages. dis- gusted with the result of the campaign, in the confusion of the flight robbed and even killed some of their white allies, and as St. Leger reported, "became more formidable than the enemy they had to expect."

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History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 17

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 664

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664