History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28

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It has also been said that this battle compelled St. Leger to raise the siege of Fort Stanwix, but to any attentive reader of history this statement is evidently erroneons. The siege had only really commenced on the 5th,-the day preceding the battle,-and notwithstanding the severe losses he deliberately sat di wn and pushed his operations for at least sixteen days following the action, and had it not been for other causes the fort must have eventually been taken. This subject will be considered farther on.

One of the most remarkable phases of the battle of Oris- kany was the presence of such a variety of nationalities, and each, almost without exception, having representatives in both armies. There were English, German, Dutch, Irish, Scotch, French, and possibly Canadians, on both sides, and the Six Nations were also represented in both armies by the Mohawks, Senecus, Cuyugas, and Onondagas, on the British side, and by the Oneidas, and probably the Tuscaroras, on the side of the Americans; and, in addi- tion, the Mississagues and seven nations of Canada were also present in force.

Families living in the Mohawk Valley were divided, and their members were found fighting in the opposing ranks. Even General Herkimer himself had a brother who was a captain in St. Leger's army, and Major John Frey, who was wounded and taken prisoner, came very near losing his life at the hands of his brother, who was in the British service. The German and Dutch troops of the Mohawk Valley fought against their friends and brothers in Sir John Johnson's regi- ment, and the Scotchmen under the Campbells from Cherry Valley encountered those from Johnstown under the Mc- Donalds, and Sir John, himself an Irishman by extraction if not by birth, encountered men of the same nationality in the ranks of Herkimer. The Hanau Chasseurs fought men of their own extraction from the Palatinate, and the French soldier, De Graff, from the lower Mohawk, battled manfully against his fellow-countrymen from La Chine. Several leading men of the Oneidas, including Thomas Spencer, were killed on the field, and the Senecas, Mo- hawks, and Mississagues left many a representative whose bones whitened for years in the forest of Oriskany. Indian scalped Indian and white man alike, and Protestant and Catholic and savage mingled fiercely in the bloody melee, asking no man his creed, but intent only on the work of destruction.

On the whole it was the most remarkable conflict of the war, and it seemed as if nearly all the nationalities of Europe and America had gathered at this point, in the very centre of the Empire State, to determine by the arbi- trament of the musket, the rifle, the spear, the tomahawk, and the knife, what should be the future of America : whether it was to remain an appendage to the effete monarch- ies of Europe, or, throwing off the shackles of the old regime, to rise to the commanding position of the great champion of human rights, and ere a century should elapse to take the lead in the van of human progress.

It most unquestionably was the commencement of those serions reverses which culminated in the surrender of Bur- goyne, and which latter event is admitted by all writers to have been the turning-point in the American Revolution. The capture of this large and finely equipped and officered army awakened the European nations to a sense of the capabilities of the colonies, and just six months to a day from the battle of Oriskany ( Feb. 6, 1778) France entered into a treaty with the Republic, and the issue became no longer doubtful.

The gallant commander of the Provincials did not sur- vive long enough to realize the value of his stubborn fight to the cause of his country. When the battle was over and the wounded had been collected together, the remains

# Life of Mary Jemison-from Stone.

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of the gallant army took up their line of march down the river, for all thought of reinforcing Fort Stanwix had been, of necessity, abandoned. The wounded general was taken to his home a few miles below Little Falls, and though seriously, was not supposed to be dangerously wounded. But the regular surgeons, Doctors Petry and Younglove, were not at hand to attend to him, the first named being severely wounded, and the last a prisoner, and an unskillful or unpracticed surgeon was left to attend him. Dr. Petry had dressed his limb in the best manner possible upon the field, and had no thought of an amputa- tion being necessary, neither had he dreamed of the general's dying from the effects of his wound. But the weather was excessively warm, and it was thought by the surgeon in attendance necessary to perform an amputation, which was done on the tenth day succeeding the battle. It appears that this surgeon belonged in General Arnold's army, which was advancing up the valley.

The following is the surgeon's letter, announcing the amputation and the general's death :

" GENERAL HANCOMEN'S, Ang. 17, 1777.

"DEAR DOCTOR, -Yesterday morning I amputated General Har- comer's leg, there not being left the prospect of recovery without it. But, alas! the patriot hero died in the evening, the cause of his death God only knows. About three hours before his departure be complained of pain. I gave him thirty drops of laudanum liquid, and went to dress Mr. Pettery." I left him in as good a way as I eonld wish, with Dr. Hastings to take care of him. When I returned I found him taking his last gasp, free from spasm, and sensible. Nothing more surprised me, but we cannot always parry death, so there is an end of it.

" General Arnold left yesterday morning, with positive orders to follow him this evening or to-morrow morning. I sent for Scull to take care of the General and Pettery. He is just now arrived. I propose to have Pettery removed to Palatine, when Senll and two regimental mates will take care of him and the other wounded. This evening I will pursue Gen'l Arnold, and I suppose will overtake him at Fort Dayton. . . .

" The place and honr of glory draws nigh. No news from Fort Schuyler. I am, dear doctor, your most obedient and humble servant, "ROBERT JOHNSTON."

This letter was directed to Dr. Jonathan Potts, director of the general hospital for the northern department.

Surgeon Johnston is called a Frenchman by several writers, but the name indicates Scotch extraction.

From other accounts it is supposed that the surgeon did not succeed in stanching the blood. Colonel Willett visited the general soon after the operation, and found him sitting up in his bed, smoking his pipe, and seeming in the best of spirits. He died suddenly on the night succeeding the colonel's visit.

His friend, Colonel John Roff, was present at the ampu- tation, and stated that he bore the operation with unconimon fortitude. He was also with the general when he died. It would appear that the arteries were not well secured, and a hemorrhage set in which terminated fatally in a short time. Becoming satisfied that his end was near, he called for his Bible, and read to his friends who were present the thirty-eighth psalm, making the application to his own ease. t He closed the book, and soon after expired.

Colonel Stone, in speaking of llerkimer, uses the follow-

ing language : " It may well be questioned whether the annals of man furnish a more striking example of Christian heroism,-calm, deliberate, and firm in the hour of death, -than is presented in this remarkable instance. . . . He was an uneducated man, with possibly less skill in letters than even General Putnam, which is saying much. But he was, nevertheless, a man of strong and vigorous under- standing, destitute of some of the essential requisites of generalship, but of the most cool and dauntless courage. These traits were all strikingly disclosed in the brief and bloody expedition to Oriskany. But he must have been acquainted with that most important of all books, the Bible. Nor could the most learned biblical scholar, lay or elerical, have selected a portion of the sacred Scriptures more exactly appropriate than that to which he himself spontaneously turned. If Socrates died like a philosopher, and Rousseau like an unbelieving sentimentalist, General Herkimer died like a Christian hero."

Subsequently, Congress passed a resolution requesting the Governor and Council of New York to erect a monument at the expense of the United States, to the memory of this brave man, of the value of five hundred dollars. This res- olution was transmitted to Governor George Clinton, in a letter from which the following is a quotation :

" Every mark of distinction shown to the memory of such illustrious men as offer up their lives for the liberty and happiness of their country, reflects real honor on those who pay the tribute; and by holding up to others the prospect of fame and immortality, will animate them to tread in the same path." The Governor inclosed the reso- lution in a letter to the Tryon County committee, of which the following is a copy : " Enclosed you have a letter and resolves of Congress for erecting a monument to your late gallant general. While with you I lament the cause, I am impressed with a due sense of the great and justly-merited honor the continent has, in this instance, paid to the memory of that brave man." These patriotic sentences show the profound respect entertained by the prominent men of those days for the hero who gave his life on the blood-red field of Oriskany, that the Republic might be established. But, to the shame of the American people, and in particular to the inhabitants of the Empire State of the Union, it must be said that the patriotie and grateful action of Congress is the sum total of all that has been done to perpetuate in enduring stone the memory of Nicholas Herkimer.t

The Herkimer family originally settled at the German Flats, on a tract of land granted to them about 1725. They belonged to the German Palatinates from the banks of the Rhine, and called themselves High Germans. In religious belief they were followers of Martin Luther. The patent granted them extended on both sides of the Mohawk River, from the Little Falls westward as far as the present town of Frankfort. The traet was surveyed into narrow lots, running perpendicular with the river.

General Nicholas Herkimer was the eldest son of Johan Joost Herkimer, who was among the earliest settlers upon

# Petry. t Colonel Roff's statement, quoted by Colonel Stone.

# The General Ilerkimer Monument Association was organized in Ilerkimer County, Aug. 18, 1877, for the purpose of erecting a mon- ument to the general. A. H. Greene, Little Falls, seerctary.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the German Flats. His father drew and first lived upon lot No. 36, on the south side of the river. It is about a half-mile below the old stone church, and in 1877 was owned by James H. Steele, Esq., and George H. Orendorf. At this place it is supposed that the general was born soon after his father built his first dwelling, in 1725 or 1726. (The exact place and date of his birth, however, is not certainly known.) The house in which he was born sur- vived the Revolution, though every other in the settlement was destroyed. It is stated by Samuel Earl, Esq., that there was a school-house in the settlement as early as 1730, and at this primitive temple of learning, no doubt built of logs, the young Herkimer received all the school education which it was his lot to obtain.

His father was a leading member of the religious society which erected the old stone church, as appears from the following petition to the Governor in 1751 :

" To his Excellency, the Honorable George Clinton, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of New York, and Terri- tories thereon depending in America ; Vice-Admiral of the same, and Admiral af the White Squadron of His Majesty's Fleet :

" The humble petition of Johan Joost Hercheimer, of Burnet's Field, in the county of Albany, yeoman, in behalf of himself and the rest of the inhabitants, High Germans, living there, humbly sheweth :

" That your petitioner and sundry other High Germans, to the number of one hundred families and upwards, at present resident at Burnet's Field, in this provioce, propose, with your Excellency's per- mission, to erect a stone church on the south side of the river, upon a convenient spot of ground already purchased by the inhabitants, for the worship of Almighty God, according to the discipline of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. But finding themselves unable alone to finish and cumplete the same, your petitioner, therefore, in behalf of the said inhabitants, humbly prays your Excellency will be favorably pleased to grant a Brief or Lyeense to crave a voluntary assistance an contribution of all well-disposed persons within this province, for completing the said structure, altogether intended for Divine worship.

" And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &e. " JOHAN JOOST HERCHEIMER."

Indorsed :

"FORT GEORGE IN NEW YORK, October 6, 1751. Be it so. "G. CLINTON."

Previous to the French war the general's father erected a fine stone mansion about three-fourths of a mile to the west of his first location. He was a wealthy farmer and possessed a large estate, and had numerous chattels and negro slaves. He raised a family of five sons and eight daughters. About 1755, his mansion was fortified and known as " Fort Herkimer." This mansion remained un- til the enlargement of the Erie Canal, about 1841, when it was torn away. It is supposed that General Herkimer, then a lieutenant in Captain Wormwood's company, was in command of Fort Herkimer in 1758.

About 1760, his father conveyed to him a tract of 500 acres of land situated below Little Falls. His father died in August, 1775. The family was next after that of Sir William Johnson the wealthiest and most influential in the valley. One of the general's brothers, upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary troubles, went over to the British interest and fled to Canada. His estates were confiscated. It is probable that he was the Captain Herkimer spoken of by St. Leger in his account of the expedition ; and he may possibly have fought against his brother, the general, in the battle of Oriskany.

The general was an exceedingly popular man in the val- ley, and possessed immense influence over the people, as the grand rally which they made in response to his proclamation in 1777 plainly shows.

The general left no children. His widow survived him, and subsequently married a man in straitened circum- stances, with whom she removed to Canada, where she remained until her death.

The sisters of General Herkimer all married respectably, and their husbands were all influential and leading men. Among them Mr. Earl mentions Rev. Abraham Rose- crants, Hendrick Fry, Colonel Peter Bellinger, and George Henry Bell. The husbands of several, however, were ardent supporters of the crown, and were instrumental in bringing much destruction and misery upon the inhabi- tants of the valley and surrounding country.

His brother George was a true patriot, and fought with the general in the battle of Oriskany. His brother Henry, or Hendrick, died at the family mansion during the Revo- lution.

When the conflict was over, it was found that Lieutenant- Colonel Samuel Campbell, of Cherry Valley, who was second in command of Colonel Cox's regiment, was the senior officer left unwounded, and he took command and led back the shattered battalions from that terrible field. The night succeeding the battle the survivors encamped on the site of Utica. When Arnold soon after advanced up the valley, one-half the survivors of each of the four regiments that had fought at Oriskany were ordered to join him for the relief of Fort Stanwix.

We will now return to Fort Stanwix (Schuyler). As the sortie of Colonel Willett occurred nearly at the same time with the battle of Oriskany, we introduce the account of the affair in this place; and as the commander of the detachment was the best judge of his own movements, his letter to Governor Trumbull, descriptive of the affair, is herewith given in full :*

" GERMAN FLATS, Aug. 11, 1777. " On Saturday evening, August the 2d, five bateaux arrived with stores for the garrison. About the same time we discovered a num- ber of fires a little better than a mile from the northwest corner of the fort. The stores were all got safe in, and the troops, which were a guard to the bateaux, marched up. The captain of the bateaux and a few of his inen, delaying their time about the boats, were fired upon by a party of Indians, which killed one man and wounded two. The captain himself was taken a prisoner.

"Next morning the enemy appeared in the edge of the woods, about a mile below the fort, where they took post in order to invest it upon that quarter, and to cut off the communication with the country, from whenee they sent in a flag, who told us of their great power, strength, and determination, in such a manner as to give us reason to suppose they were not possessed of sufficient strength to take the fort. Our answer was a determination to support it.

All day on Monday we were much annoyed by a sharp fire of mus- ketry from the Indians and German riflemen, which, as our men were obliged to be exposed on the works, killed one and wounded seven. The day after, the firing was not so beavy, and our men were under better cover; all the damage was one man killed by a rifle ball. This evening indicated soloething in contemplation hy the enemy. The Indians were uncommonly noisy. They kept up the most horrible yellings a great part of the evening in the woods, hardly a mile from the fort. A few cannon wero fired among tbcm.

# See portrait of Colonel Willett.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Wednesday morning there was an unusual silence. We dis- covered somo of the enemy marching along the edge of the woods downwards. About eleven o'clock three men got into the fort, who bronght a letter from General Harkaman, of the Tryon County militia, advising ns that he was at Eriska (eight miles off) with a part of his militia, and proposed to force his way to the fort for our relief. In order to render him what service we could in his march, it was agreed that I should make a sally from the fort with 250 men, consisting of one-half Gansevoort's, one-half Massachusetts ditto, and one field-piece, an iron three-pounder.

" The men were instantly paraded, and I ordered the following disposition to be made : thirty men from the advance gnard, to be commanded by Captain Van Benschoten and Lieutenant Stockwell; thirty for the rear-guard, under the command of Captain Allen, of the Massachusetts troops, and Lieutenant Diefendorf; thirty for flank-guards, to be commanded by Captain -, from Massachu- setts, and Ensign Chase. The main hody formed into eight sub- divisions, commanded by Captain Bleecker, Lientenants Conyne, Bo- gardus, McClenner, Cofraunder, Ensigns Bailey, Lewis, and Denni- son ; Lieutenant Ball, the only supernumerary officer, to march with me. Captain Jansen to bring up the rear of the main body. Cap- tain Swartwoudt, with Ensigns Magee, Arnent," and fifty men, to guard the field-piece, which was under the direction of Major Bedlow.

"Nothing could be more fortunate than this enterprise. We totally routed two of the enemy's encampments, destroyed all the provisions that were in them, brought off upwards of fifty brass kettles, and more than one hundred blankets (two articles which were much needed), with a quantity of muskets, tomahawks, spcars, ammu- nition, elothing, dcer-skins, a variety of Indian affairs, and five colors (the whole of which, on our return to the fort, were displayed on our flag-staff under the Continental flag). The Indians took chiefly to the woods, the rest of the troops, then at their posts, to the river. The number of men lost by the enemy is uncertain. Six lay dead in their encampments, two of whom were Indians; several seattered abont in the woods ; but their greatest loss appeared to be in crossing the river, and an inconsiderable number upon the opposite shore.

"I was happy in preventing the men from scalping even the In- dians, being desirous, if possible, to teach even the savages hu- manity ; but the men were much better employed, and kept in excel- lent order. We were out so long that a number of British regulars, accompanied by what Indians, etc., could be rallicd, had marched down to a thicket on the other side of the river, about fifty yards from the road we were to pass on our return ; near this place I had ordered the field-piece; the ambush was not quite formed when we discovered them, and gave them a well-directed fire. Here, espe- cially, Major Bedlow, with his field-piece, did considerable execution. Here, also, the enemy were annoyed by the fire of several eannon from the fort, as they marched round to form the ambuseade. The enemy's fire was very wild, and, though we were very much exposed, did no execution at all. We brought in four prisoners, three of whom were wounded. One of the prisoners is a Mr. George Single- ton, of Montreal ; he is a lieutenant in a company of which Mr. Ste- phen Watts, of New York (brother-in-law to Sir John Johnson), is captain, and who was himself killed in the battle with the militia about two hours before.f Mr. Singleton told me that Sir John John- son was with him when we attacked their camp, and that he thinks he ran to the river .¿ It is said, by some of the Oneidu Indians, that he is killed, which does not appear unlikely. From these prisoners we received the first account of General Harkaman's militia being ambushed on their march ; and of a severe battle they had with them about two hours before, which gave reason to think they had, for the present, given np their design of marching to the fort.

" I should not do justice to the officers and soldiers who were with me on this enterprise, if I were not in the most positive terms to assure their countrymen, that they in general behaved with the great-

est gallantry on this occasion ; anl next to the very kind and signal interposition of Divine Providence, which was powerfully manifested in their favor, it was undoubtedly owing to that noble intrepidity which discovered itself in this attack, and struck the enemy with sneh a panic as disenabled them from taking pains to direct their fire, that we had not one man killed or wounded. The officers in gen- eral behaved so well, that it is hardly right to mention the name of any particular one for their signal valor; but so remarkably intrepid was Captain Van Benschoten, and so rapid was his attack, that it demands from me this particular testimony of his extraordinary spirit.

" Among other things taken from the enemy were several bundles of papers, and a parecl of letters belonging to our garrison, which they had taken from our militia but not yet opened. Here I found one letter for myself; there were likewise papers belonging to Sir John Johnson and several other of the enemy's officers, with letters to and from General St. Leger, their commander; these papers have been of some service to us.

"On the evening of the next day the enemy fired a few canoon at us from high ground, about half a inile north of the fort, where they have erected a small battery. Next day, being Friday, the 8th, they threw a parcel of shells from the same battery, none of which did any execution. This evening they sent us a flag, with which came their adjutant-general, Captain Armstrong .¿ Colonel Butler, and a sur- geon ; the surgcon to examine Singleton's wounds. The principal business of the flag was to acquaint ns that General St. Leger had, without much difficulty, prevailed on the Indians to agree that if the commanding officer would deliver up the fort, the garrison should be seenre from any kind of harm,-that not a hair of their heads should be touched; but if not, the consequences to the garrison, should it afterwards fall into their hands, must be terrible; that the Indians were very much enraged, on account of having a number of their chiefs killed in the late action, and were determined, unless they got possession of the fort, to go down the Mohawk River and fall npon its inhabitants. Our answer was that, should this be the case, the blood of those inhabitants would he upon the heads of Mr. Butler and his employers, not upon ns; and that such proceedings would ever remain a stigma npon the name of Britain ; but for our parts, we were determined to defend the fort.

" That evening it was agreed by the field-officers that I should undertake, with Licutenant Stockwell (who is a good woodsman), to endeavor to get into the country, and by making a proper representa- tion of our affairs, endeavor to procure such force as may be sufficient entirely to extirpate this miscreant band. After a most severe march of about fifty miles through the wilderness, I arrived at this place, and am in no doubt of bcholding, in a few days, a force sufficient to accomplish this important piece of business. By the best accounts, the loss of the Indians is very considerable, and they are quite sick of the expedition.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920