History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Johnson, Crisfield. cn
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 798

USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5

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In June an Onondaga chief, bearing the historic name of " The Black Prince," attended by a hundred men, women, and children of that nation, went down to Oswego on his way to visit Canada, on the invitation of the governor- general. Conrad Weiser, an interpreter, who accompanied him as far as Oswego, has left an account of what transpired, which is so characteristic of Indian parleys as to be worth transcribing.

On their arrival they saluted the fort with two volleys from their muskets, which were duly returned. After land- ing, the warriors went in a body to visit the officers. One of the first proceedings on the part of the latter was to fur- nish the noble visitors with a dram apiece. Presently the Black Prince asked for another dram all around to drink the king's health. It was given. Very soon he requested another dram to drink the governor's health, and this too was furnished. Then the red men seated themselves upon their haunches and began smoking and talking. They wanted to know all about the war, and especially about its probable results. They said they were going to Canada to make arrangements whereby the house at Oswego should. not be attacked by the French. Finally they wanted the officers to give them some food. As the latter had been treating them pretty freely, and liquor was two dollars a gallon, they hesitated at this fresh demand. Finally, how- ever, they hunted up three bags of peas, a few loaves of bread, and thirty pounds of pork, which they presented to their guests. They appeared well pleased with the gift, but among themselves they grumbled much at the covetousness

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of the Englishmen. The next day they came again to the fort, when the interpreter himself treated them with a dram apieee, and gave them a two-gallon cask of liquor to drink the health of the king and queen at Montreal. As Weiser then returned to Onondaga, it is very doubtful whether the cask remained unbroached until the Black Prince and his companions reached the capital of Canada.

The officers seem to have made no effort to prevent the Indians from visiting the French, even in time of war, which shows that the English claims of sovereignty over the Six Nations were not considered as involving much active control. In fact, the Six Nations remained substan- tially neutral thoughout the conflict which raged from 1744 to 1748, though perhaps occasionally a small party went upon the war-path.

In 1745, William Johnson, the successful fur-trader be- fore mentioned, was commissioned colonel of the New York militia, and in 1746 he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for the Six Nations. He was also about the same time selected as contractor to supply the troops at Oswego, on condition that he should receive no higher prices during the war than had been paid in time of peace. This was the first appearance in public affairs of one who, until the day of his death, nearly thirty years later, exercised an immense influence in the colony of New York. A coarse- minded, uncultured man, but energetic, elear-headed, and fair-dealing, he was well fitted to manage the rude warriors and scarcely less rude frontiersmen with whom he was con- stantly brought in contact. He had already made himself a great favorite with the Mohawks, who looked up to him as a father (as many of the children had a right to do), and he soon acquired almost as great an influence over the other Iroquois tribes. They called him Warragiyughey (which is supposed to mean ehief manager), and probably deferred more to him than to any other man they ever knew, not excepting their own most powerful chiefs.

The next year, although Oswego was still unattacked, the road from the Mohawk valley thither was infested by small parties of the enemy, and the post was thought to be in considerable danger. Governor Clinton and Colonel Johnson relieved it in June, sending thither Lieutenant Visscher and a company of men, with a supply of goods, provisions, and ammunition. The next year (1748), Johnson declared he could no longer supply the post for two hundred pounds ($500) per annum, and the assembly voted him two hun- dred pounds extra,-no extravagant allowance for a post on which depended to a great extent the welfare of the colony.

As the French still made no movement on this side of the lake, the traders began to be desirons to obtain again some of their old profits. Not yet daring to go to Oswego, they congregated in numbers on the road thither, trading what they could with the Six Nations, and anxiously look- ing for an opportunity to resume business with the fur Indians. Fortunately for them, the peace of Aix-la-Cha- pelle, in 1748, removed the barrier, and the mouth of the Oswego was soon alive again with traders' bateaux and Indian canoes. Again the shores were gay with plumed warriors from Miami and Michilimaekinac, as well as stal- wart Iroquois from their nearer homes, while scalp-decorated braves and submissive squaws alike stood in open-mouthed

admiration before the gaudy blankets and silver jewelry displayed by the sturdy Dutch traders.

There was even a considerable commerce carried on with the French of Canada, who could buy goods so much cheaper of the English than of their own merchants that they were willing to run the risk attendant on illicit trade. But even while they bought they scowled with envy at the thought that the hated English were the possessors of all- important " Chouegnen."

The feeling of the French was well expressed by the Abbé Picquet, the head of the colony of Catholic Iroquois at La Presentation (now Ogdensburgh), who made a tour of Lake Ontario at a little later date. He declared Choue- guen to be " a post the most pernicious to France that the English could erect." He expressed a strong desire for its destruction, and calculated how easily two batteries of three twelve-pounders each would reduce it to ruins. Yet he was obliged to admit that the English and Dutch sold goods there to the Indians for less than a fourth of the price, in furs, which the French charged at Niagara, an advantage which was not counterbalanced by the fact that the red men preferred French brandy to English.

Soon after the war Captain Lindsay resigned his military position, and became Indian agent and commissary, which offices he held until his death, in 1751.

There is a tradition, and a quite probable one, that about 1750 a small mill was built at Oswego falls to grind eorn for the traders, the garrison, and those Indians whose palates were sufficiently educated to prefer meal to samp. In the year last named the Oswego garrison (which was a colonial foree, not a part of the British army) threatened to disband for lack of pay. The money was probably sup- plied, as there was no outbreak. About the same time Superintendent Johnson got into trouble with the colonial assembly. He claimed much more than they had allowed him for provisions and goods sent to Oswego. They, in turn, accused him of charging for articles not sent. John- son resigned his superintendency, but was immediately afterwards appointed to a seat in the executive council by Governor Clinton, with whom he was a great favorite. With all his faults, Johnson's character, acquired during a long and active life, was not that of dishonesty, and the probability is that the assembly was merely seeking an excuse for not paying the public debts.

The Six Nations were much disturbed at the resignation of their beloved Warragiyaghey, and in 1751 formally re- quested his reinstatement ; " for," said their spokesman, the celebrated King Hendrick, " he has large ears, and hears a great deal, and what he hears he tells to us. He has also large eyes, and sees a great way, and conceals nothing from us."

But in spite of these compliments Johnson refused to re- assume the position. He declared that he had advanced for the Indian department and for supplying Oswego up to the close of 1748 no less than seven thousand one hundred and seventy-seven pounds (about eighteen thousand dollars, an immense sum for those days), of which only five thou- sand eight hundred and one pounds had been even voted to him, and two thousand four hundred and one pounds of that amount remained unpaid, although he believed the " Oswego duties" to be sufficient for the purpose. These duties ap-

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pear to have been a tax levied on all goods sold at or sent through Oswego. Since 1748 he had advanced five hun- dred and ninety-five pounds, at the governor's request, for the same purposes, which was still unpaid. As he made no charge for his personal services, he insisted that he could not afford to hold so unprofitable an office. Several commis- sioners of Indian affairs were appointed in his place. Most of the statements relating to Sir William Johnson are taken from his " Life and Times," by William L. Stone. The work in question is strongly colored in favor of the baronet, but we have taken pains to compare it with other accounts, and to get at the facts as accurately as possible.

The ex-superintendent still prosecuted a lucrative trade with Oswego, and his own interests, if nothing else, im- pelled him to keep vigilant watch over French intrigues. Learning that the Jesuits had persuaded many of the Onondagas to consent to the establishment of a military and missionary station on Oneida lake, Johnson summoned the Onondaga and Oncida chiefs together and purchased the lake and a strip of land two miles in width clear around it for three hundred and fifty pounds. He offered it to the colonial government at the price he paid, but they re- fused to take it. As an unconfirmed Indian title was never considered valid, he had but little to show for his money.

There was almost always a conflict going on betwixt the colonial governor and his council on one side and the assembly on the other. In this year (1751) the council passed a bill applying five hundred pounds to the repair of Oswego and the conduct of Indian affairs, but the assem- bly voted this passage of a "money bill" by the upper house a high breach of privilege, and were soon after dis- solved. Before that occurred, however, their attention was called to another Oswego matter. They called for an account from the commissioners of the Oswego duties. John De Peyster, one of their number, sent in a return, showing the collection of eleven hundred and forty-five pounds for the four years closing with September, 1750. His report for 1751 was nine hundred and forty pounds. Johnson wrote to Clinton that there was some " cursed vil- lainy" about the Oswego duties, but that it would be hard to ferret it out. He asserted that De Peyster had admitted receiving over one thousand pounds in 1749, immediately after the war, and that the remaining one hundred and forty-five pounds would by no means cover the receipts of 1750, to say nothing of the smaller sums collected during the two last years of the war. From all the circumstances it seems quite certain that the duties would average some twenty-five hundred dollars per year.

In 1752 the assembly finally provided for rebuilding the post at Oswego, which was said to be in a ruinous condi- tion. The next year there began to be serious apprehen- sions of further difficulties with France. Strange as it may seem, notwithstanding all the wars which had raged, and all the treaties which had been made between France and England since they had founded colonies in America, no definite boundary lines had been agreed upon between their respective possessions on that continent. It scemed as if at every treaty each nation hoped that the fortunes of peace or war would give it a larger slice of American terri- tory than it could then lay claim to. In peace the English

colonies increased in population with ten times the rapidity of the French, but the latter were much the more enter- prising in establishing posts in the wilderness.

At this time they were taking measures to form a line of forts from their possessions in Canada to those in Louisiana. In May of the year last mentioned, Captain Stoddard and Lieutenant Holland, two officers of the Oswego garrison, wrote to Governor Clinton that thirty French canoes and five hundred Indians, under the celebrated partisan leader, Monsieur Marin, had passed that post on their way to the Ohio. There were rumors of still larger forces moving in the same direction. The New York authorities appro- priated a considerable sum in presents to keep the Six Nations in good humor, and the governor, council, and assembly all agreed that Colonel Johnson was the fittest man for commissioner to distribute the goods among the Indians. In this year, too, the colonial government, according to Stone, confirmed Colonel Johnson's purchase, noted a short distance back, at least so far as the land was concerned, and in accordance with it granted him a strip two miles wide ex- tending the whole circuit of Oneida lake. This, of course, included a portion of the present towns of Constantia, West Monroe, and Hastings, and Sir William Johnson was con- sequently the first legal landholder in the present county of Oswego. If such was the case the land must have descended to Sir John Johnson, and have been confiscated with the rest of his property on his joining the British during the Revo- lution.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE "OLD FRENCH WAR."

Hostilities in 1754-Oswego in Danger-Braddock and Shirley-Ex- pedition against Niagara-First English Ship on Lake Ontario -- Shirley's Advance - Braddock's Defeat - Shirley's Expedition Abandoned-Fort Ontario and Fort George-Omeus of Disaster- De Mentcalm and Loudon-Attacking the Communications-Brad- street's Bateau-Men-De Villiers on the Watch-The Conqueror of Washington-A Bloody Surprise-A Skirmish by the River- War Declared-De Villiers attacks Ontario-The Ambuscade fails -"Corsairs" on the Lake- Bradstreet with Supplies - Philip Schuyler-The Battle of Battle Island-Schuyler's Humanity -- De Villiers Defeated-British Blunders-De Montcalm's Vigilance -From Champlain to Ontario-The Stealthy Approach-The Sud- den Appearance- Opening Fire - The English Force - French Artillery landed-Opening the Trenches-Ontario Abandoned- Crossing the Oswego-Mereer Killed-Littlehales Frightened- Oswego Surrendered-The Losses-The Massacre-French Evi- denee-A Curious Adventure-The Forts Destroyed-Brilliancy of the Victory-Runaway Webb-A Quiet Year-Pitt to the Front- Bradstreet and Schuyler on the Wing-Quick Ship-Building- Capture of Frontenac-A Fort at the Falls-One at Three Rivers Point-The Culminating Struggle of 1759-A French Reconnois- sance-An English Army-The Six Nations in the Field-OD to Niagara-Another Attack-A Barricade of Barrels-A Warlike Priest-Defeat of De la Corne-Niagara Captured-Lively Times -The First Duel-Rebuilding Fort Ontario-Building Fort Brew- erton-Ancient Relics-Capture of Quebec-The Final Rally- The Main Army at Oswego-Distinguished Personages-Amherst and Gage-Johnson, Bradstreet, and Putnam -- The Grand Em- barkation-Surrender of Canada-End of the War.

IN 1754 hostilities actually began on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, though without any formal

IHISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

declaration of war. The New York assembly took the alarm and voted some thirteen hundred dollars to pay for repairs at Oswego, and for doubling the garrison. It should be remembered that a dollar would probably go nearly as far then as five will now, so that the amounts voted from time to time for that important post were really not as small as they look. The year passed without any events of importance in this vicinity, but in 1755 the tide of war set strongly towards Lake Ontario. Yet, while the work of slaughter was raging all along the frontier, England and France were still nominally at peace. There was merely a little dispute about boundaries going on in America.

In February, 1755, acting governor De Laneey informed the assembly that Oswego was in great danger through want of provisions, as Colonel Johnson had refused to furnish any more until his old debts should have been paid. The urgency was so great that the necessary arrangements were soon made.

Early in the spring the sadly-celebrated General Brad- doek arrived in America, bearing the king's commission as commander-in-chief of all the British forces on the eonti- tinent. His second in command was William Shirley, gov- ernor of Massachusetts, a man of decided genius, to whom was principally due the brilliant capture of Louisburg, ten years before, but who was more successful in devising plans than in carrying them out.

Braddock convened a eouneil of the provisional gover- nors at Alexandria, Virginia, to concert methods of driving baek the French. The keen-eyed Shirley saw at onee that by sending a foree, by way of Oswego, to capture Fort Niagara, and by building vessels which should gain posses- sion of Lake Ontario, not only Duquesne but all the other western forts would be cut off from their communications and the whole French system broken in pieces. Braddock, however, determined to march directly against Duquesne with nearly all the regulars, and it is said that his orders compelled him to do so. Colonel Johnson, now appointed major-general and superintendent of Indian affairs by Brad- doek, was directed to organize an expedition against Crown Point, while the operations on Lake Ontario, the key of the whole frontier, were intrusted to Governor Shirley.

That energetic commander sent forward two Albany in- dependent companies and two companies of Sir William Pepperell's* regiment to strengthen Oswego while he was organizing his forces, and directed the immediate beginning of a Lake Ontario navy, by the construction of a small schooner at that point. This schooner, of forty feet keel, propelled by sweeps as well as sails, and armed with twelve swivels, was launched on the 28th of June following, and was the first English vessel on Lake Ontario.

Meanwhile, Shirley gathered some three hundred more ship-carpenters, whom he sent to Oswego in June to build vessels enough to command the lake and convey his army

to Niagara. The raising, equipping, and moving of that army, though it was to consist of only three regiments and some independent companies, was a work of time. Jeal- ousies arose between Governor Shirley and General John- son, and the former accused the latter of preventing the cordial co-operation of the Six Nations. Shirley probably lacked the tact to manage the Indians, and perhaps, not- withstanding his genius, was deficient in executive capacity.

In July, Colonel Schuyler's regiment of New Jersey troops was sent forward to Oswego, and in the forepart of August, Shirley embarked at Schenectady with his own and Sir William Pepperell's regiments, some independent companies, and a sufficient complement of artillery. Just as he was doing so there came the news of the terrible de- feat of Braddock, almost at the gates of Fort Duquesne, and the death of that most unfortunate general. The gov- ernor was now commander-in-chief of all the British forces on the continent, but his men received a great shoek from the dismal story, and the expedition set forth under the gloomiest auspices. Following the usual route, they pro- pelled their bateaux up the Mohawk, down Wood ereek, through Oneida lake, and down the river of many rapids to Oswego, where they arrived on the 21st of Angust.

There everything wore an animated aspeet. Besides the schooner before mentioned, one or two other small vessels were already bearing the British flag upon Lake Ontario, and still others were under way. The work was pressed forward as speedily as possible, but no sooner were the ves- sels and boats ready than a severe storm set in, which de- layed the embarkation for several days.

It was not until the 26th of September that the six hun- dred men who were to attack Niagara went on board the eraft intended to convey them thither. But storms and head-winds prevented their departure. For thirteen days more they remained at Oswego, ready to set forth if the weather abated, and then Shirley saw that the expedition must be deferred. Many of his men were sick, all were thoroughly discouraged, and the few Indians whom he had induced to accompany him soon deserted what appeared to be the failing cause. Determined to prosecute his darling scheme the next year, the governor placed Colonel Mereer in command of the forees, gave orders for the erection of two new forts, and returned to Albany.

Mereer immediately set his troops at work constructing the fortifications ordered by Shirley. Ou the east side of the river, about a quarter of a mile from Fort Oswego, a work was built which received the name of Fort Ontario, a name which has ever since been applied to some fortifica- tion on substantially the same site. It was about two hun- dred feet square, built of logs from twenty to thirty inches in diameter, set up on end in stockade form, and banked up with earth so as to make a wall fourteen feet in height. Outside was a ditch fourteen feet wide and ten feet deep. Inside, barracks were built for three hundred men. The work was intended to mount sixteen guns. It was proba- bly not finished until the spring of 1756.

At the same time with Fort Ontario another fortification was begun on the hill west of Fort Oswego, exactly on the site of the house erected by the late F. T. Carrington. It was intended to prevent Fort Oswego from being com-

* Sir William Pepperell, lieutenant-general in his majesty's ser- vice, was born in Maine, and was bred a merchant. He rose to the highest military honors. The king, in reward of his services, con- ferred upon him the dignity of a baronet, an honor never before, or sinec, conferred upon a native of New England. Hle died at his seat in Kittery, Maine, 1759, aged sixty-three years .- Potter's History and Antiquities of the Northern States, 1844.

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

manded from the rear, and was to be a hundred and seventy feet square, the wall being a rampart of earth and stone, twenty feet thick and twelve feet high, surrounded by a ditch and crowned by a parapet. This work was never fin- ished. It was sometimes called Fort George and sometimes New Fort Oswego. This latter fort was also strengthened by Mercer. The French imagined that its name was Fort Pepperell, and so designated it on some of their plans, but it does not appear that the English ever called it by any other name than Fort Oswego.

Meanwhile, General Johnson, in his march against Crown Point, being threatened by Baron Dieskau, threw up intrenchments, and when the latter made an attack he was repulsed with heavy loss. Johnson neglected to take any advantage of his victory, and did not even attempt to capture Crown Point, the sole object of his expedition. His success, however, was the only one of the year ; so the home government rewarded him with a colonelcy in the regular army, the permanent superintendeney of all the northern Indians, a grant of five thousand pounds sterling, and a baronetey, and he was thereafter known as Sir Wil- liam Johnsen,-a very proper recognition of the extraordi- nary character of any English victory in America.

Shirley, as commander-in-chief, summoned another coun- cil of provincial governors at Albany in December, and again proposed his pet scheme of making Lake Ontario the main theatre of military operations. He desired that five thousand troops, most of them to be raised by the colonies, should rendezvous at Oswego in the spring, and thenee proceed to the capture of Frontenac and Niagara, and the complete severance of the French line of communications.

His plan was the right one, but his previous failures to carry his fine schemes into execution were causing his star to pale before the rising light of the new baronet, and very little heed was paid to his suggestions.

The spring of 1756 opened from the first with omens of disaster to the English cause. The new commander-in- chief of the French forces was the Marquis de Montcalmn, one of the very bravest soldiers and ablest generals who ever trod the soil of America, while the selection of the English court fell on the Earl of Loudon, probably the most thoroughly stupid, indolent, and incompetent man to whom were ever intrusted the destinies of a continent, devoid alike of the theoretical skill of Shirley, the rude vigor of Johnson, and the bull-dog courage of Braddock.

In March a French lieutenant, with a mixed party of regulars, Canadians, and Indians, marched through the wil- derness from Ogdensburgh, and captured Fort Bull, one of the two posts which guarded the great Oneida carrying- place from the Mohawk river to Wood creek ; killing most of its garrison, destroying a large quantity of stores, and startling the troops at Oswego with a sense of the great insecurity of their slender line of communications.

Shirley did all he could to strengthen that important post. He had early ordered the building of three new vessels there, carrying respectively twelve, sixteen, and eighteen guns. He organized a great number of bateau- men, in companies of fifty each (composed largely of those formerly engaged in the Albany and Oswego fur-trade), to transport army supplies and naval stores to Lake Ontario.

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History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Johnson, Crisfield. cn Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & co. Number of Pages: 798

Author: Johnson, Crisfield. cn
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 798