History of Otsego County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) cn
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 988

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" Another party of Indians surrounded the house of the Rev. Samuel Dunlop, whom we have frequently had occa- sion to mention as the pioneer in education in western New York. His wife was immediately killed. The old gentle- man and his daughter were preserved by Little Aaron, a chief of the Oquago branch of the Mohawks. Mrs. Wells was also a daughter of Mr. Dunlop. Little Aaron led him out from the house, tottering with age, and stood beside him to protect him. An Indian passing by pulled his hat from his head, and ran away with it; the chief pursued him and regained it; on his return, another Indian had carried away his wig. The rain was falling upon his bare head, while his whole system shook like an aspen under the combined influence of age, fear, and cold. He was released a few days after, but the shock was too violent ; he died about a year after. His death was hastened by his mis- fortunes, though he could have borne up but a few years longer under the increasing infirmities of old age. A Mr. Mitchell, who was in his field. beheld a party of Indians approaching ; he could not gain his house, and was obliged to flee to the woods. Here he eluded pursuit and escaped. A melancholy spectacle presented itself on his return; it was the corpses of his wife and four children. His house had been plundered and set on fire. He extinguished the fire, and, by examination, found life still existing in one of his children, a little girl ten or twelve years of age. He raised her up and placed her in the door, and was bending over her when he saw another party approaching. He had

barely time to hide himself behind a log fence near by before they were at the house. From this hiding-place he beheld an infamons Tory, by the name of Newbury, ex- tinguish the little spark of life which remained in his child with a single blow of his hatchet. The next day, without a single human being to assist him, he carried the remains of his family down to the fort on a sled, and there the soldiers aided him in depositing them in a common grave. Retributive justice sometimes follows close upon the heels of crime. This Tory was arrested as a spy the following summer by order of General James Clinton, when he lay with his army at Canajoharie; on the Mohawk river. Mr. Mitchell was called to prove this act .. He was found guilty by a court-martial, and, with a companion, suffered an igno- minious death.

"The party which surrounded the house of Colonel Campbell took Mrs. Campbell* and four children prisoners. Mr. Campbell was absent from home, but hastened there on the first alarm, which was a cannon fired at the fort. He arrived only in time to witness the destruction of his property, and not even to learn the fate of his family ; their lives were spared, but spared for a long and dreadful captivity. Many others were killed; some few escaped to the Mohawk river, and the remainder were made prisoners. Thirty-two of the inhabitants, principally women and chil- dren, were killed, and sixteen Continental soldiers. The terror of the scene was increased by the conflagration of all the houses and outhouses in the settlement ; the barns were, many of them, filled with hay and grain. He who fled to the mountains saw, as he looked back, the destruc- tion of his home and his little all which he had labored for years to accumulate.

" When the enemy approached, on the morning of the 11th, Mrs. Clyde, the wife of Colonel Clyde, collecting to- gether her children, fled into the woods. During that day and the following night she lay with her children, one of whom was an infant, gathered around her, and concealed under a large log. As we have before mentioned, it was a cold, rainy day, and the storm continued through the night. She could hear the yells of the savages as they triumphed in their work of death ; several of them passed near where she lay, and one so near that the butt of his gun trailed upon the log which covered her. At the intercession of her husband, who was in the fort, a party sallied out the following morning, and, at the risk of their lives, brought her and her children into the fort ; they were drenched with main and stiffened with the cold, but they all survived. Mrs. Clyde at the time of her flight had missed her eldest danghter, about ten years of age, and supposed she had gained the fort ; when she arrived at the fort on the morning of the 12th this danghter appeared in the neighboring field. When she saw the sentinels, who had wrapped themselves in blankets, she supposed them to be Indians, and again fled to the woods ; she was followed and brought back to the anxious mother. When fleeing from the house she had separated from the rest of the family. and had lain conceak d alone entil her appearance in the fieldl. The sif rings of

" She was subsequently exchangel, and, in 1754, returned to Cherry Valley.

HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

such a child in such a night, thinly clad, alone in the woods, must have been of the most excruciating nature.

"Some generons acts were performed by Brant, which, in justice to him, ought to be mentioned. On the day of the massaere, he inquired of some of the prisoners where his friend, Captain Mckean, was. They informed him that he had probably gone to the Mohawk river with his family.

"' He sent me a challenge once,' said Brant; 'I have now come to accept it. IIe is a fine soldier thus to retreat.'

" They answered, 'Captain Mckean would not turn his back upon an enemy when there was any probability of success.'

"' I know it. He is a brave man, and I would have given more to have taken him than any other man in Cherry Valley ; but I would not have hurt a hair of his head.'

" In a house which he entered he found a woman en- gaged in her usual business. 'Are you thus engaged while your neighbors are murdered around you ?' said Braut.

"' We are king's people,' she replied.

"' That plea will not avail you to-day,' he answered. 'They have murdered Mr. Wells' family, who were as dear to me as my own.'

"' There is one Joseph Brant : if he is with the Indians, he will save us.'

"' I am Joseph Brant, but I have not the command, and I know not that I cau save you ; but I will do what is in my power.'

" While they were speaking several Senecas were ob- served approaching the house.

"'Get into bed and feign yourself sick,' said Brant, hastily.

." When the Senecas came in he told them there were no persons there but a sick woman and her children, and besought them to leave the house, which they accordingly did. As soon as they were out of sight Brant went to the end of the house and gave a long, shrill yell ; soon after, a small band of Mohawks were seen crossing the adjoining field with great speed. As they came up he inquired, ' Where is your paint ? Here, put my mark upon this woman and her children.' As soon as it was done he added, 'You are now probably safe.'

" This was a general custom ; each tribe had its mark by which they and their prisoners were designated. Most of the other prisoners were thus marked. It was an evi- dence that they were taken or claimed by some particular tribe or individual, and woe to that person upon whom no captor had put its mark !

" Brant, jealous of his character, always said that in the conneils he had urged the Indians to be humane, and not to injure the women and children. When he had the ex- elusive command this was in some degree effected. Colonel Butler alleged that Brant secretly incited the Indians in this massacre in order to stigmatize his son, who had superseded him in command. Others said that he was humane in order to contrast his own eoudnet with that of Walter Butler. Brant stoutly denied both charges, and appealed to his conduct in Springfield and other places."

CHAPTER VI.

SULLIVAN AND CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN.

Sullivan leaves Camp-Arrives at Tioga-Ercets " Fort Sullivan"- Clinton moves up the Mohawk-Reaches the Present Site of Cooperstown ria Otsego Lake-Eneamps-Builds Dam-Floats down the Susquehanna-Savages Terror-Stricken-Joins Sullivan at Tioga-Forward Movements-Battle of Newtown-Enemy De- feated-" Sullivan's March"-Villages Burned and Cornfields Destroyed.

" Go seek the eovert of the savage foe. Disperse them at thy weal or woc."

THE frequent recurrence of these troubles mentioned in the preceding chapter brought upon the Indians the ven- geance of Washington, who determined to visit them with retributive justice.

In the year 1779 an expedition under Generals Sullivan and Clinton was planned, the command of which was given to the former, with explicit instructions to devastate the Indian country, and to spare none. It was a severe course, and at this remote period seemingly inhuman, but the only one that could serve to bring a speedy close to the sacrifice of human lives in the border settlements. Sullivan and Clinton lost no time in marching northward. General Sul- livan left his camp on the Hudson May 1, 1779, and on the 24th day of the following month arrived at Wyoming, where he remained until July 31, when he continued his march, arriving at Tioga on Aug. 11. He threw up a fortification at this point called "Fort Sullivan," and re- mained here until the arrival of the detachment under command of General Clinton.

Clinton in the mean time was making his way up the Mohawk, with the 1st and 3d New York regiments. Upon arriving at Canajoharie he made a successful raid into the country of the Onondaga Indiaus, and then commenced his march from Canajoharie to the head of Otsego lake, a dis- tance of about twenty miles. This overland march through an almost impassable forest was accomplished with much difficulty, and midsummer had arrived when the boats were launched on the clear waters of Otsego lake, and the little band of soldiers moved over its placid surface which had but lately been dotted with the birchen eanoe of the savage, and along its shores where the echo of the war-whoop had scarecly died away.

General Clinton, upon arriving at the foot of the lake, en- camped on the site of the present village of Cooperstown, where he remained several weeks awaiting the movements of Sullivan. IIe soon discovered that, in consequence of the prevailing drought, his boats could not be floated down the river, and with his characteristic forethought performed an engineering feat clearly illustrative of the ingenuity of man, aud that rendered him substantial service.

Ile constructed a dam at the outlet of the Susquehanna, and when sufficiently filled with water he launched his boats, and, removing the obstruction, floated dowu on its swollen flood. The Indians, witnessing the rapid rise of the river, fled in terror to the adjacent forests, believing it to be an intervention of the Great Spirit in behalf of the - 1-le face."*

# Remains of this dam were plaiuly to be seen many years after- ward, and the last log was removed at a celebration held at Coopers-

HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

General Clinton joined the main army at Tioga on the 22d day of August. The entire command consisted of four brigades of infantry, one company of artillery, and a corps of riflemen, numbering in all about four thousand men.

The Indians were aware of the movements of Sullivan, and strongly fortifying themselves at Newtown, now El- mira, awaiting the coming of the whites. The Tories were well disciplined and under the command of Butler, while at the head of the savage clans was Joseph Brant, Thayen- dunegea, the foremost Indian warrior of his day, whose savage barbarity and courage has passed into history with- out a parallel in Indian annals. Brant thought it impos- sible, in consequence of the dense wilderness, that an army eurbracing any considerable number of men could penetrate into their country, and conceived it an easy task to repulse the invaders and re-enaet upon them the scenes of Wyo- ming and Cherry Valley. The 29th day of August, 1779, served to dispel that ill-conceived idea, when General Sullivan with his entire force appeared in front of the intrenehments. The Americans lost no time, but immediately opened a deadly fire. The recollections of Wyoming and Cherry Valley were still fresh in their minds, and the scenes of those nights of carnage rose spectral-like before their vis- ion, and, actuated by a spirit of revenge, they rushed upon the foe ; volley after volley was poured into the fort, and their fire was returned with energy. Brant, with his char- acteristic bravery, rallied his dusky legion again and again, as they fell back before the unerring fire of the whites.

After a fierce conflict, lasting two hours, the Indians and Tories, perceiving that they were likely to be annihilated, broke and fled in great confusion.

John Salmon, who belonged to the expedition, and gave an account of it to the author of the " Life of Mary Jemi- son," in speaking of the battle of Newtown, says, "This was the only regular stand made by the Indians. In their retreat they were pursued by our men to the Narrows, where they were attacked and killed in great numbers, so that the sides of the rocks next the river looked as if blood had been poured on them by pailfuls."

The Indians left their dead upon the field, and, gather- ing the women and children, fled before the pursuing foe northward toward Seneca lake. The army of Generals Sul- livan and Clinton followed hard upon the retreating form of the red brother. The Indians fled before the thunder of his artillery like leaves before the whirlwind. At Knawaholee twenty cabins and a large field of corn were destroyed. Queen Catherine Montour (at Havana) fled from her lodge, never to return. He passed down on the efst side of Seneca lake, burning villages and destroying cornfields. At Kanadesaga, the capital of the Sinecas, a contest was expected, but the poor savages, who had wit- nessed with sinking hopes the destruction of their homes and their food for the coming winter, became entirely dis- organized, and offered no resistance whatever to the invaders, who pursued their course to " Big Tree" (now Geneseo), devastation and ruin marking their pathway. He swept the

town, October 26, 1825, while the booming cannon from Buffalo to Albany were proclaiming to the people of this great State that General De Witt Clinton had commenced the passage from Bullalo to Albany

Indian country as it were with a besom of destruction, burned Forty villages, and destroyed more than four hundred thousand bushels of corn. From " Big Tree" Sullivan re- traced his line of march, and upon his arrival at Kanade- saga (Geneva) he dispatched Colonel Dearborn with a de- tachment of riflemen to the village of the Cuyagas, located in what is now Seneca county, on the west shore of Cayuga lake, where he visited upon them the same penalty so re- cently dealt to the Senecas. The penalty inflicted upon the Cuyugas and Senecas by Sullivan was severe, but served well the purpose for which it was intended. It ended the border wars, and the Indians never again at- tempted a reoccupation of the country. They returned only as erratie bands, to attend treaties.

CHAPTER VII.

EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLE.

The Iroquois Deserted by the English-Deplorable Condition-Inter- cession of Washington, Clinton, and Schuyler-State Commission- ers Appointed-United States Commissioners Appointed-The First Treaty between the United States and the Iroquois-" Fort Stanwix"-The First Treaty between New York and the Iroquois -" Fort Herkimer"-Subsequent Treaties-Conflicting Claims to Territory-The Hartford Arbitration.

THE unfortunate alliance of the Six Nations to the Brit- ish crown during the War of the Revolution tended in no- wise to benefit them. On the contrary, the close of the war left them with no protectors save those against whom they had waged, through eight dreary years, the relentless border warfare, as England, upon the conclusion of peace with the colonists, made no provision whatever for her dusky allies. It was admitted by the State that the title to the land was originally vested in the Indian, but many, still suffering from the effects of the barbarities perpetrated by the savage, urged that their lands be held forfeit. as those of a conquered foe. At one time this was the spirit that animated the law-makers of the State ; and, but for the timely and earnest intervention of Clinton, Washington. and Schuyler, they would have been compelled to relinquish the title of their lands without a single treaty. The inter- cession of Clinton with the State, and Washington with the authorities of the general government, succeeded in effecting a wiser and more humane policy.

In April, 1784, by act of the legislature of New York, the governor and a board of commissioners were constituted superintendents of Indian affairs. The board was consti- tuted as follows : George Clinton, governor, Abram Cuyler, Peter Schuyler, Henry Glen, Philip Schuyler. Robert Yates, Abram Ten Broeck, A. Yates, Jr, P. W. Yates, John J. Beekman, Mathew Vischer, and General Ganse- voort. To render the board more efficient they associated with them the Rev. Wm. Kirkland, Peter Ryckman, Jacob Reed, James Reed, James Deane, Major Fonda, Colonel Wemple, Major Fry, and Colonel Van Dyke, all of whom were familiar with the customs and habits of the Indians.

In the mean time the United States government hel also . .. . . ...... 1 ....... .. . ... .. . . ) 1 . . . ...:. 1. . .. . .. ... . ...:. 1.

HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the Iroquois for lands bordering upon New York, Pennsyl- vania, and Ohio. This board consisted of Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Serious complications immediately arose as to the jurisdiction of the two boards of commissioners. Governor Clinton, with his characteristic energy, endeavored, during the spring and summer of 1784, to effect a treaty, but found them generally adverse to treat- ing with a State, but acknowledging their willingness to meet the "Thirteen Fires." Both the State and the United States commissioners designated Fort Stanwix as the council ground, and on Oct. 22, 1784, the first treaty of the United States was effected. By the terms of this treaty the government guaranteed protection to the Iroquois, and they, in turn, surrendered their captives.

Governor Clinton soon after succeeded in convening the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, and in June, 1785, the first treaty was held between this tribe and New York, at Fort Herkimer. By the terms of this treaty they ceded all that territory lying between Unadilla and Chenango rivers, south of a line drawn through these streams, and extending to the Pennsylvania line, paying therefor the sum of $11,500. The Oneidas subsequently ceded to the State the remainder of their territory, with the exception of a small reservation, reserving to themselves, however, the right of hunting and fishing. The price paid for this ter- ritory was $5500, together with an annual annuity of $600 for ever:

On Sept. 12, 1788, at a treaty held at Fort Schuyler, the Onondagus disposed of all their lands within the bound- aries, receiving in consideration one thonsand French erowns in eash, together with clothing amounting to the sum of 8500, and an agreement by the terms of which they were to receive forever a yearly stipend of $500.

Feb. 25, 1789, a treaty was concluded at Albany between the State of New York and the Cayuga tribe, the Indians ceding all their possessions to the State, reserving a traet embracing one hundred square miles, located on either side of Cayuga lake, within the present counties of Caynga and Seneca. The consideration paid by the State was $2125, and an annual annuity to their posterity forever of $500. The State was prompt to treat with the Indians whenever they desired to part with their possessions, and one treaty followed another in quick succession, and 1790 dawns to find the title to their fertile lands within New York extin- guished with the exception of the reservations, their numbers greatly lessened, and their warlike prowess gone. They were crowded on and on toward the setting sun, not by the bayonet of the white, but by civilization, a power at once friendly but as irresistible as the march of time.

To the lasting honor of the State of New York. it is proper to remark that she has earnestly endeavored to ad- vance the interests of the remnants of the tribes within her borders, by teaching them the art of husbandry and fur- nishing thein religious and educational instructors. It has, however, except in a few instances, practically wrought no beneficial results. The Indians have become demoralized by contact with the whites, and the fragments of the onee grand league of Iroquois are cking out a miserable exist- ence.

In the year 1620 the king of Great Britain granted to

an organization known as the Plymouth company a tract of land denominated New England, extending several de- grees north and south, and reaching from the Atlantic to the l'acific. Eight years after, Charles I. granted a charter for a portion of this territory, which was vacated in 1684, and a second charter granted by William and Mary in 1691. The territory embraced within the boundaries designated by this charter extended from north latitude 42º 2' to north latitude 44° 15', and from ocean to ocean. In the year 1663, Charles I. granted to the Duke of York and Albany the province of New York, including the present State of New Jersey, and extending, from a line twenty miles east of the Hudson river, westward to the Pacific ocean. The boundaries of this tract were very indefinite, and when each of the colonies, afterwards States, laid claim to the same territory a collision arose, which at one time wore a serious and threatening aspect.

New York in 1781, and Massachusetts in 1785, ceded to the United States a large traet of territory, thereby greatly diminishing the original amount in controversy, but still left about 19,000 square miles of territory yet in dispute.

This controversy was amicably settled by commissioners assembled at Hartford, Conn., Dec. 16, 1786. By the terms of the arbitrament, Massachusetts confirmed to New York the sovereignty and right of jurisdiction of the soil lying west of the cast boundary of New York, while to Massachusetts was eeded the property of the soil, or the right of the pre-emption of the soil from the natives. This compact embraced that part of the State lying west of a line running north from the "eighty-second" mile-stone, on the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania, through Seneca lake to Sodus bay. This line is known as the " Old Pre-emption Line."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION-INFLUX OF SETTLERS.

Sullivan's and Clinton's Return-Glowing Description of the Country -Pioneer Movements-Settlements Westward.

UPON the return of Generals Sullivan and Clinton front this memorable campaign, they gave such glowing descrip- tion of the country through which they had passed, that the sinoke had scarcely lifted from the burning villages marking their pathway of desolation, ere the white settler might have been seen threading his way into the wilderness, anxious to rear his home in the fertile lands of the Iroquois.

John Doolittle, of Connecticut, was the first settler iu Broome county. He located in the Oquago valley, now Windsor, in 1785. He was followed in the same year by James McMaster, who proceeded up the Susquehanna. and located on the site of the present village of Owego, Tioga county.

The pioneer of Binghamton was Capt. Joseph Leonard, who settled in 1787.

Ithaca Flats were first settled by Peter Hinepow, Jacob Yaple, and Isaac Dumond, in 1789.

HISTORY OF OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The first log cabin on the site of the present flourishing city of Elmira was erected by Col. John Heudy, in 1788. Col. Hendy was a soldier in the Revolution, and became acquainted with the locality while serving under General Sullivan.

The first settler within the limits of the present county of Oneida was HIon. Hugh White, who located at Whites- town, now a suburb of Utica, in 1784. The tide of emi- gration rolled westward, and two years after the location of Mr. White, Ephraim Webster, a native of New Hampshire, settled in Onondaga county.

In 1793 the first cabin was built on the site of the present city of Auburn, by Colonel John L. Hardenburg, and the place was kuown as " Hardenburg's Corners" uutil 1800.

Canandaigua received its first white settler in 1789. This pioneer was Oliver Phelps, of honored memory, who opened the first land-office for the regular sale of land to settlers iu America.

Geneva was settled in 1787, and in 1792 the celebrated Captain Williamson located at Bath, Steuben county. The Holland land company effected their purchase of Robert Morris in 1793, and in the year 1800 the first settlement was made at Batavia, by Abel Rowe, who came in under the auspices of Joseph Elliott, the first land-agent of the Holland estate.

The Wadsworths located. at " Big Tree," now Geneseo, in 1790.

The settlement of Buffalo was not commenced until about 1794; and there still resides in Rochester Mr. Edwin Serantom, who, in 1810, lived in a log dwelling which oe- cupied the site of the Powers block, when only three rude huts stood where now is located the flourishing city of 85,000 inhabitants. (See township histories for details of early settlements in Otsego County.)

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History of Otsego County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) cn Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 988

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) cn
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 988