History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

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 9

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But little requiring the historian's attention occurred in Oswego County from this time till the beginning of the Revolution. Oswego continued to be a thriving trading- post. We learn from Clark's "Onondaga" that Henry Van Schaak, of Albany, had an important trading-house there, transporting large quantities of merchandise around the portage at Fort Stanwix and Oswego falls, and carrying on an extensive trade at both Oswego and Niagara.

In 1768, at a grand council between the English and the Six Nations, held at Fort Stanwix, of course under the management of Sir William Johnson, a " property line" was agreed on between the whites and Indians, beginning at the

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

junetion of Canada and Wood creeks, a little east of Rome, and running thence southward to the Susquehanna. West- ward of this line no lands were to be purchased by the whites. It was not continued northward from the mouth of Canada creek, as Sir William said the land in that di- rection was owned by the Mohawks and Oneidas, with whom an agreement could be made at any time. Probably he left that part open hoping to carry the boundary farther westward the next time. It is uncertain what became, in the arrangements, of Sir William's two-mile belt around Oneida lake, which, according to Stone, was the first land legally granted in Oswego County, but we are inclined to think he surrendered his title to the Indians if he ever had any.

Up to 1772, all this seetion, and all westward and north- ward to the boundaries of the State, was nominally a part of the county of Albany. In that year, all west of the present east line of Montgomery county was formed into a new county named Tryon, in honor of William Tryon, then the royal governor of New York. The officers who administered the laws in the settled portion were all ap- pointed on the nomination of Sir William, and as the Indian owners of this region usually complied with his wishes, he was very nearly the dictator of the county.

Meanwhile the continued peace caused the almost entire withdrawal of military force. Fort Brewerton and the forti- fications at the falls and Three Rivers point were entirely abandoned, and the report of Governor Tryon shows that in 1774 Fort Ontario was dismantled, and only a few men were stationed there to keep it from falling into entire decay.

In that year Sir William Johnson, so long intimately connected with the prosperity of Oswego, died suddenly at his residence, near Johnstown. His title and the greater part of his estate descended to his son, Sir John Johnson, and his office of superintendent was conferred on his nephew and son-in-law, Colonel Guy Johnson ; but the remarkable influence which he wielded over both whites and Indians could not be transferred to another. It has been supposed by many that his death was hastened by anxiety concerning the relations between England and the colonies, then rapidly hastening to a rupture, but there is no very strong reason for that opinion. There is no cause to doubt that had he lived he would have adhered to the royal cause, and it is certain that all his family and the majority of his especial friends took that side of the great contest.

CHAPTER X. THE REVOLUTION.

Distrust in the Mohawk Valley-Guy Johnson goes to Oswego-Great Conneil of the Six Nations-Quiet in 1776-Activity-The Royal Greens at Oswego-The Gathering of the Clans -- Brant's Rank- General St. Leger-Sir John Johnson-Butler and Brant-Setting forth to Victory-The Dismal Return-Oswego Abandoned-De- stroyed by the Americans-The Attack on the Onondagas-Sir Joha and Colonel Guy again-Re-establishment of the Post-An Attempted Surprise-Lost in the Snow-The Return -- Peace and Independenec.

WHEN the Revolution broke out, in the spring of 1775, the distrust which, for the previous few months, had been

growing up between the adherents of the Johnson family and the Whigs of the Mohawk valley, grew stronger with each successive day. The influence of the Johnsons with the Six Nations was especially dreaded. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras, under the influence of their missionary, Samuel Kirkland, were disposed to be friendly to the colonists. No attempts were made to obtain their services, as the Ameri- cans, at that time, would have been only too glad to secure - the neutrality of all the tribes. It soon became certain that Guy Johnson was intriguing with the Indians against the Americans. Early in June he removed westward from the lower Mohawk valley, first to Fort Stanwix and then to Oswego, where he arrived on the 17th of June. He was accompanied by most of the Mohawk Indians, by several of the white loyalists of the valley, by Colonel John Butler, an officer of the old French war, who has been mentioned in this history, and by the celebrated Joseph Brant, a full- blooded Mohawk, whom Colonel Guy had made his private secretary. Sir John Johnson remained at Johnson Hall nearly a year longer. The superintendent sent messengers to the three western tribes, and, early in July, a large council of warriors and others was assembled at Fort Ontario. Colonel Johnson is said, in " Ramsey's History of the Revo- lution," to have invited the Indians to come to Oswego to " feast on the flesh and drink the blood of a Bostonian" (as all the Whigs were frequently called by the loyalists), and to have explained this ferocious expression as meaning that they were to eat a roast ox and drink a hogshead of wine. But, considering the natural disposition of the Indians, such a phrase, if used at all, could only tend to fill them with fe- rocious hopes and stimulate them to bloody deeds.

There was then no garrison or stores at Oswego, and Johnson, before coming, had written to Niagara and Os- wegatchie for supplies. One small sloop came from Niagara withi ninety barrels of provisions,-a small allowance for six- teen hundred and forty-eight hungry Indians and a hundred white men, which is stated in British official documents to have been the number present. This must have included the squaws and children. Colonel Johnson, in a letter to Philip V. Livingston, stated the number of warriors at thirteen hundred and forty, but this may have been an exaggeration to frighten the Americans. The best esti- mates give the total number of warriors in the four tribes which adhered to the English at about sixteen hundred, and it is hardly probable that so large a proportion of them as Johnson mentions had gathered at Oswego.

At first the Indians were very unwilling to promise their assistance. Colonel Johnson labored assiduously to engage them on the English side, and in this he was warmly assisted by Brant, a shrewd, aeute Mohawk of about thirty-three, whose elder sister, Molly, had been the mistress of Sir William Johnson for twenty-five years before his death. Johnson, Butler, Brant, and others appealed to the Indians' avarice, declaring that the colonists were few and poor ; that the king was rich and powerful, both in money and men ; that his soldiers were as numerous as the leaves of the forest ; his gold as abundant as the dirt under their feet; and, best of all, that his rum was as plentiful as the waters of Lake Ontario.

Finally, the Indians entered into some kind of an engage-

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ment to assist in defending Lake Ontario and the St. Law- renee from the Americans, but did not, as we understand the British report, then join in a complete offensive alliance.

The superintendent then delivered to them a lot of new arms and other handsome presents, including a number of brass kettles, which for more than half a century afterwards were in use among the Senecas on the banks of the Gene- see. In fact, the account of Mary Jemison, the celebrated " white woman," then resident in that tribe, has it that the English officials gave every Indian a suit of clothes, a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk, scalping-knife, some ammunition, and a piece of gold. It is out of the question, however, that Guy Johnson could have had such stores at Oswego at that time, and certainly he did not pay out several thous- and dollars in gold, when he had as yet received no definite order to enlist the services of the Indians. The letter of instructions to that effect was signed by Lord Dartmouth on the 24th of July, 1775, and could not have reached Colonel Johnson until September.

The council was closed about the Sth of July. Most of the Indians returned home, but the Mohawks, who had abandoned their home, accompanied Colonel Johnson and his white adherents to Canada. They set sail in their little sloop and a few small boats on the 11th of July, the whole number of whites and Indians being two hundred and twenty, and made their way to Montreal. Colonel Butler, however, proceeded to Niagara, of which post he was soon after placed in command. Oswego was left unoccupied, except perhaps by a few men to take care of the buildings.

During the year 1776 nothing of especial consequence occurred in this county. The Indians were frequently visited by British agents to confirm their friendship for the king by presents and flattery, but they made no serious raids against the frontier. The Americans at first had con- siderable success in Canada, and this doubtless contributed to keep the red men quiet.

But during the summer of 1776 our forces were driven ont of that province, and early in 1777 great preparations were made by the British to follow up their snecess with crushing effect. A large army under General Burgoyne marched into northern New York, which was to be sup- ported by another strong force, entering by way of Oswego and sweeping down the Mohawk valley. There is some un- certainty about the details, but it is pretty sure that Sir John Johnson, with his regiment of " Royal Greens," and Colonel Claus, Guy Johnson's deputy (and, like him, a son-in-law of Sir William) came to Oswego as early as June, and began making preparations for the intended ouslaught. Colonel Guy Johnson was at that time in New York, having visited England with Brant the year before, and returned to that port, whence the chief had been sent across the country, through the American lines, to rouse the Indians. He (Brant) had been making some threatening demonstrations on the upper Susquehanna, but drew off, and in July came to Oswego with his band.

Numerous other warriors came in, especially Senecas, that tribe being by far the largest and fiercest of the Six Nations. About the middle of July, Colonel John Butler, also a dep- uty superintendent, came from Niagara to Oswego and held a council with the warriors, requesting them to take up the

hatchet and engage in the proposed expedition. Some of the Indians demurred, declaring that they had been invited to Oswego merely to hold a council and to see the British whip the rebels,-not to fight themselves. But the usual appeals to their cupidity and love of blood were made, and they were soon persuaded to take an active part. Stone, in his " Life of Brant," declares that from that time forward that chief was acknowledged as head war-chief of all the Six Nations. Ile gives, however, no authority for the statement, and all the circumstances show to the contrary. Brant was never spoken of as head-chief of the Six Nations in the British dispatches, but only as " Brant," or " Joseph, the Indian chief." He never signed himself as head-chief, though he was fond of using the far inferior title of " eap- tain," conferred on him by the king. Besides, there was no head war-chief according to the old customs of the con- federaey, and it is hardly probable that the English would have undertaken to introduce such an innovation, which would be certain to disgust all the Iroquois except the Mo- hawks,-especially the Senecas, who were more powerful than all the other tribes who adhered to the British put together. It was customary, however, among the Six Na- tions to choose leaders for some particular battle or expe- dition, and it is not improbable that Brant was thus selected as commander of the Indians who were to accompany St. Leger, and afterwards of similar expeditions.

Shortly after the council, General Barry St. Leger ar- rived with a body of regulars. For a short time Oswego bore once more the stirring and martial appearance to which it had been a stranger since the days of the old French war. Sir John Johnson, dark, sour-faced, and seowling, was drilling his regiment of Tories, whose green coats covered hearts which, like his own, were fairly black with hatred of their old neighbors of the Mohawk valley. Big, burly, red-faced John Butler, of whom it could at least be said that he was a good, hard fighter, was getting " But- ler's Rangers" ready for action, and also giving attention to the Indian department. Brant, tall, slender, keen, and sin- ister in appearance, was gliding among the motley groups, elad in half-civilized, half-Indian attire, and ready to use pen or tomahawk as occasion might require. The scene was filled up with throngs of green-coated Tories, red-coated regulars, and naked Indians, while over all ruled Barry St. Leger, a plain, stubborn British officer, driven half frantic at times by the vagaries of his strange command, but never- theless dreaming of the glory to be won by his triumphant march to Albany.

Meanwhile the Americans had not been idle. Old Fort Stanwix had been repaired and garrisoned, and had been rechristened Fort Schuyler, but in common parlance still retained its former appellation, by which it will be called in this work when it may be necessary to mention it. The gallant Colonel Gansevoort had been placed in command. General Herkimer had called the militia of Tryon county to arms, though at first they responded but slowly. St. Leger knew it was not all plain sailing in front of him, and was determined that at least he would not be surprised on his march.

On the 27th of July the advance-guard set forthi, con- sisting of a small detachment of the Eighth or King's regi-

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ment and a few Indians, under Lieutenant Bird. The main body followed the next day. Once more the turbid Oswego river and placid Oneida lake were vexed with the stroke of multitudinous oars and paddles, while bateaux and canoes bore white men and Indians on their mission of death. Bird's Indians were extremely insubordinate. Hav- ing got above the falls on the 27th he went forward the next morning two miles, but found that no Indians were accompanying him. He waited two hours, when sixteen Senecas came up. Then he advanced to Three River point, where he again waited two hours, when seventy or eighty Missisaugas made their appearance. But these declined to go any farther that day. Their canoes were full of fresh meat, and Bird learned that they had stolen two oxen from the army drove. They were determined to have a feast, and poor Bird had to go forward without them. He proceeded seven miles, encamped, and the next morning again set off without his "savages." That night he encamped at Nine Mile point, in the present town of Constantia, and the next day proceeded to Wood creek.

Following the same route, St. Leger, with the main body, arrived at Nine Mile point on the 1st of July, where he learned that Bird had already invested Fort Stanwix. He sent forward Brant " with his corps of Indians" (by which St. Leger may or may not have meant the whole Indian force) to assist Bird, and procceded as rapidly as possible to join him with the army.

The siege of Fort Stanwix, the gallant defense made by Gansevoort, Willett, and their men, the bloody battle of Oriskany, the relief brought by Arnold and Larned, and the final abandonment of the siege, all lie outside the purview of this work. Suffice it to say that in the latter days of August the remains of the confident army, which had started for Albany a month before, came hurry- ing down the Oswego, defeated and crest-fallen, its members thinned by battle and sickness, its artillery abandoned in the trenches before Stanwix, and its red allies having nearly all departed in anger to their homes to mourn over their many slaughtered brethren ; nay, it is said, on British au- thority, having vented their wrath by plundering the boats and murdering the straggling soldiers of King George.

From Oswego, St. Leger, with his regulars, proceeded by way of Montreal to join Burgoyne. Butler, with his rangers, returned to Niagara, and Sir John Johnson took his Royal Greens back to Oswegatehie, or that vicinity. The surrender of Burgoyne in October put an end to all hostile operations in New York for that season. Oswego was probably entirely abandoned.

It was certainly unoccupied in March, 1778, and re- mained so throughout the spring, except perhaps for a short time by partics passing from the St. Lawrence to Niagara, or the reverse. In the forepart of July, Colonel Gansevoort sent down Lieutenant Mcclellan to destroy Fort Ontario and the buildings around. The lientenant found no one there but a woman and her children and a lad of fourteen. The family he placed in an outhouse with their furniture and some provisions, and then proceeded to burn all the other buildings, and as far as possible, with his small force, to destroy the fortifications. The boy was taken as a prisoner to Fort Stanwix. These events took place at

Oswego almost exactly at the same time as the slaughter of Wyoming.

From this time forward very little of any consequence occurred in Oswego County during the Revolution. It has been generally supposed that a strong post was maintained by the British at Fort Ontario, and that numerous bloody raids against the frontiers were set on foot from that locality ; but a elose examination of the authorities shows that this is entirely a mistake. The Indian allies of the British were anxious for a post there for their protection, and in the spring of 1779 sent a delegation of chiefs to General Hal- dimand, at Montreal, charged, among other things, to re- quest the re-establishment of a fort at Oswego. General Haldimand explained that all his troops had been diverted to other points, and nothing was then done towards reoceu- pation.

Probably if a British force had been stationed at Os- wego it would have saved the Onondagas the destruction of their villages. Early that spring, Colonel Van Schaick left Fort Stanwix with about five hundred and fifty men, who rowed along the north shore of Oneida lake, and soon reached Onondaga landing, opposite old Fort Brewerton. There they left a guard with their boats, and marched rap- idly to the Onondaga villages, destroying the principal one, and, according to the official report, killing and capturing fifty warriors.

Sullivan's great raid followed in the summer. In the autumn a slight attempt was made by the British to inau- gurate hostile proceedings at Oswego. Sir John Johnson and Colonel Gny Johnson went thither in vessels from Niagara, and were joined by a considerable number of Indians. Another body, however, who marched along the shore, under Brant and some British officers, did not come up, and the Canadian Indians who had been expected to make a foraging expedition to the vicinity of Fort Stan- wix declined to undertake the dangerous task. So Oswego was again abandoned, Sir John and Colonel Guy returned to Niagara, and the Indians were mostly distributed in winter quarters on the Niagara and the St. Lawrence.

Colonel Guy Johnson, in giving an account of this trans- action to the home government, urged that Fort Ontario should be re-established the next spring, as the Indians had it much at heart. Whether it was so re-established in the spring of 1780 there is nothing to show.

In the autumn of 1780 Sir John Johnson, with a force of Indians and whites, again passed through Oswego and up the river to Oneida lake. There they concealed their boats, and passed by a circuitous route to the borders of Schoha- rie county. They inflicted great damage on the Americans, and finally succeeded in escaping despite all the efforts of the New York militia.

It was not until 1782 that it is certain there was a gar- rison at the point in question. That season there was cer- tainly a small one there, and in the snecceding winter an effort was fnade by the Americans to surprise it. Under the special orders of Washington, the gallant Colonel Wil- lett assembled four hundred and seventy men at Fort Herkimer, in the present county of that name. They set out on the 8th of February, 1783, proceeding in sleighs over the ice of Oneida lake, uear the north shore, till they

HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

reached Fort Brewerton. There they left their sleighs under a guard and went forward on foot. Striking through the woods, they reached Oswego river, three miles above the falls, about the 12th of February. At two in the after- noon they reached the " lower landing." There they made seventeen scaling-ladders, and at night again moved forward.

They walked on the ice as far as "Bradstreet's rift," where they again struck into the woods to avoid discovery. An Oneida Indian was acting as a guide, and the wearied soldiers were warm with hopes of a successful surprise. But, after several hours of tramping in the snow, through the deuse forest, it was found that the Oneida had lost his way. All attempts to find it were unavailing, and nothing remained but to keep in motion till morning, lest they should succumb to the bitter cold. On they went, scaree knowing whither, hour after hour, until at length the late February morning dawned on the disheartened soldiers. They found themselves at the side of the wood. Looking forward, they saw at the distance of three-quarters of a mile the very prize they had been seeking,-Fort Ontario, lying in uncon- cerned repose on the icy borders of the lake. They were on Oak hill, near the present corner of Utica and East Seventh streets, Oswego.

Colonel Willett's orders from Washington were impera- tive not to attack the fort unless he could surprise the gar- rison. It was accordingly out of the question to push across that three-fourths of a mile of open space. If they could retire to some place where they could build a fire, and remain in the vicinity till another night, the surprise might yet succeed. While the officers were discussing what was to be done, five British soldiers in fatigue dress, with axes on their shoulders, were seen approaching, evidently sent out to provide wood for the garrison. The Americans en- deavored to capture them without noise, but though two were taken three escaped, and fled with all speed to the fort. Soon the drums were heard beating to arms, the gar- rison swarmed upon the ramparts, and parties were seen shoveling the snow from the embrasures and preparing the guns for action.

All hopes of surprise were at an end, and Willett relue- tantly gave the order to return. The men threw their scaling-ladders in the hollow, southeast of Oak hill, where the remnants of them were found by the early settlers, and made the best of their way back to Fort Brewerton. Dur- ing the trip, either coming or going, several men were badly frozen, and one colored man was frozen to death. Two men, Henry Blackmer and Joseph Perrigo, who afterwards both settled on the west side of the Oswego, above the falls, were badly frozen on this expedition.

At Brewerton the battalion found their sleighs, and quickly made their way to Fort Stanwix. When they ar- rived there they heard news which well compensated them for their disappointment at Oswego. Peace was declared, and their country was now one of the independent nations of the earth.

CHAPTER XL.

FROM 1783 TO 1800.

The Boundary-The Iroquois Neglected-Washington in the Indian Ileaven-Treaty of 1784-The Two Land Companies-Treaties of 1788-Woman's Rights-Oswego County bought by the Whites- The Bounty- Laws-Laying Out the Military Tract-Method of Allotment-The Survey Fifties-Classic Names-t)klest Deed- First Resident of Oswego County-The true Story of Frenchman's Island-Bruce at Constantia-Herkimer County-Mexico-Ma- comb's Purchase-The Boylston Traet-The Roosevelt Parchase- Sale to Scriba-Cockburn's Survey-Major Van Valkenburgh- Love and Morder-Great Excitement-Vanderkemp's Expedition -More about Frenebinan's Island-A Scene on Lake Ontario -- The Ariadua of Oncida Lako-A Bear in command of a Boat-The First Blacksmith in the County-Scriba hegins Settlement-The Castorland Expedition-Mare Isombard Branel- New Rotterdam -Oswego in 1793-A Grouty Captain-Branel under a Tarpaulin -Stratagems and Troubles-"Jovial as Cupids"-Formation of Onondaga County- Mexico Disorganized-Indian Troubles-Itob- bing a Boat-The Thunder of Cannon-Terrible Alarm-Stevens' Block-House-Wright's Survey-Van Valkenburgh at Fort Ontario -A Moral Explosion-The Township Survey-Scriha's Names - La Rochefouenold-Lianeoort-Condition of Itotterdato - The Last of Desvatines-An Adventure with Wolves-Mexico Reor- ganized-Oswego Surrendered-The Letter announcing it-Stow's Adventure-Selkirk's Purchase-Settlement of Oswego-Settlo- ment of Mexico-Settlement of Redfield-Scriba's Liberality- Laying oot Oswego-First Town Officers of Mexico-First Jastiee of the Peace-Settlement of Oswego Town-Formation of Oneida County-Assessment Roll of Mexico-Settlement of Seriba and Now llaven-A Terrible Disaster-Mexico Divided.

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History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

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