USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
"We have good reason to believe that the greatest and most de- serving part of the Six Nations are well disposed toward us. This Council is exerting itself to secure you against danger, and only
227
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
wish you would second their efforts. Tryon county is a frontier to your settlement ; in that county Fort Schuyler is a respectable fortress, properly garrisoned. Major General Schuyler has sent up a part of a regiment as a further reinforcement. We have au- thorized Colonel Harper to raise and embody two hundred men for covering and protecting the inhabitants, and have formed such a disposition of the militia of the county of Tryon for alternate re- lieves as we hope will tend effectually to secure you.
" If any proclamations or protections should be offered you by the enemy, by all means reject them. From the woful experience of those who have fallen within their influence in other parts of the country, we have the highest reasons to believe that your ac- ceptance of those tenders of friendship, should they be made, will render your misery and slavery unavoidable.
" In further attention to the cause of your settlement and Tryon county, we have this morning sent Mr. Robert Livingston to Gen. Washington. He is authorized to concert with his Excellency the most effectual measures for putting the western frontiers of this state in all possible security.
" In the mean time we expect much from your public virtue ; that it will induce you to apprehend and send to us the disaffected among you ; that it will lead you to the most effectual means of securing your property from the depredations of a weak but insidi- ous foe ; and that it will teach you the impropriety of deserting your habitations, and keep you in continual readiness to repel the assaults of the enemies of the liberty of your country. We write to the general committee of the county of Albany, to give you all the countenance, assistance, and support in their power."
The following is part of a letter from the same body, under the same date, to the Albany Committee.
" Gentlemen-The great depression of spirits of the inhabitants of Tryon county, and the settlers of Schoharie, give this Council much uneasiness, as it exposes them to the depredations of an ene- my whom they might otherwise despise.
" We hope that your committee will not be wanting to support the drooping spirits of the western inhabitants in general, and par- ticularly of those within your county. We have great reason to fear the breaking up of the settlement of Schoharie, unless our exertions be seconded by your efforts. You well know that such an event on the frontiers will not only be attended with infinite mischief to the inhabitants, but will furnish cause for discourage- ment to the country in general. Every means should therefore be tried to prevent it.
" This Council are earnestly solicitous to put the western fron- tiers of this state in a situation as respectable as possible ; and though they conceive the enemy's strength to consist principally in those exaggerations which result from the threats of our internal
228
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
foes, and the fears of our friends ; yet as those may be productive of real mischief, they would endeavor by every means in their power to prevent the evil. Your known exertions in the public cause will not permit them to doubt of your straining every nerve to second their endeavors," &c., &c.
The reader will observe that in the letter to the Schoharie com- mittee, the state council, in speaking of the foe to which the Scho- harie settlement was exposed, consisted only of a few worthless Indians and Tories ; and that they believed the Six Nations, as a whole, were well affected towards the republicans. This, how- ever, as the result showed, was not the fact-as the principal warriors of four of the Six Nations had already taken up the Bri- tish hatchet, and were led on by a formidable number of royalists. They also spoke of Tryon county as the frontier of Schoharie-the whole being well protected by the garrison of Fort Schuyler, ge- nerally known as Fort Stanwix. This part of the letter discovers the ignorance of the council of the true geography of the frontier settlements ; as that fort was situated at least 100 miles northwest of Schoharie, while the enemies of the latter were expected from a southwest direction, from whence they usually approached. In that direction were the settlements of Unadilla, Harpersfield and Wyoming, either of which could be avoided; but the two former were early broken up and their well disposed inhabitants driven in upon less exposed communities-while the fate of the latter is too well known to be commented on here. The truth is, that, as an old soldier (James Williamson) of Fort Schuyler once observed to the writer, that fortress did not answer the purposes for which it was intended in the revolution, as the enemy could, and did pass round it in every direction to the frontier settlements-the unbroken forest concealing their approach, until, as if by magic, they appeared at the very dwellings of the pioneers.
On the 22d of July, the chairman of the Albany committee wrote to Gen. Schuyler as follows-
" Hon. Sir-Colo. Vrooman and two other gentlemen from Schoharie, are now with us, and represent the distress their part of the county is driven to.
" Threats, they hourly receive; their persons and property are
229
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
exposed to imminent danger: nearly one-half of the people here- tofore well disposed, have laid down their arms, and propose to side with the enemy. All which change has taken its origin from the desertion of Ticonderoga, the unprecedented loss of which, we are afraid, will be followed by a revolt of more than one-half of the northern part of this county. We therefore beg leave to suggest whether it would not be advisable to detain one or two companies of continental troops, which are expected here, to be sent that way for a few days, which we suppose might bring the greater part · again to a sense of their duty."
On the 24th of July, the chairman of the Albany committee wrote to the council of safety as follows-
Gentlemen-Yours of the 22d instant is now before us, recom- mending us to use our utmost influence to revive the drooping spi- rits of the inhabitants of this and Tryon county. A duty so es- sential as this, has long since been our principal object, by follow- ing the example you have recommended to us ; but upon the whole, gentlemen, they are only words upon which we have long played, and we earnestly hope they may be realized in such a manner as that the usual confidence the people of this and Tryon county have in our board, may not depreciate in the eyes of the public, on which head we beg leave to remark, that your sanguine expecta- tions of Col. Harper's rangers will by no means answer the pur- pose. The gentleman undoubtedly has abilities, and will exert himself; but when this matter is held up in a more clear view, it will appear that every man, almost, in this and Tryon county, adapted for the ranging service, is engaged in the continental, occasioned by the amazing bounty that has been given; and on the other hand, the necessary men employed in various branches attending an army, together with the constant drain of militia, though but few in number, occasioned by the above circumstance, are still necessitated to discharge their duty to their country, all which point out to you the impracticability of the plan. After con- sidering these particulars, (which we believe have not been suffi- ciently suggested by the honorable the council,) we conceive it will be impossible to collect any more men on the proposed plan, by reason that their pay and encouragement is not adequate to the times. If the foregoing difficulties have any weight, you may judge that no essential service can be expected from the rangers, nor can have any weight with the people to the westward.
" We enclose you a copy of a letter by us sent to Gen. Schuy- ler, from which you will perceive the distressed situation the people of Scholarie are in."
On the 25th of July, Mr. Livingston returned from his confer- ence with the Commander-in-chief, and reported that his excel-
16
230
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
lency had already ordered Gen. Glover's division of the army to march to the relief of Tryon county ; and a letter was immediate- ly dispatched to the committee of that county, informing them that Glover's brigade had marched to Albany, there to receive directions from Gen. Schuyler, then in command of the northern army. The latter officer, in a letter to the Albany committee, dated Moses Creek, four miles below Fort Edward, July 24th, after speaking of the gloomy aspect of military affairs in that quarter, the desertion of New England troops, &c., thus adds :
"Happy I should still be, in some degree, if I could close the melancholy tale here; but every letter I receive from the county of Tryon, advises me that the inhabitants of it will lay down their arms, unless I support them with continental troops. From what I have said you will see the impossibility of my complying with their request. The district of Schoharie has also pointedly inti- mated, that unless continental troops are sent there, they will also submit to the enemy. Should it be asked what line of conduct I mean to hold amidst this variety of difficulties and distress, I would answer, to dispute every inch of ground with Gen. Burgoyne, and retard his descent into the country as long as possible, without the least hopes of being able to prevent his ultimately reaching Albany, unless I am reinforced from Gen. Washington, or by a respectable body of the militia. The former I am advised I am not to have, and whence to procure the latter I know not. I must therefore look up to you ; but though I am under the fullest conviction that you will readily afford me every aid in your power, yet I fear it cannot be much.
" In this situation you will be pleased to permit me to observe, that I think the council of safety ought to press Gen. Washington for an immediate reinforcement of at least fifteen hundred good continental troops. Those of our own state, if possible, if not from any of the southern colonies ; one thousand to reinforce me, the remainder to be sent to Tryon county."
In the same letter Gen. Schuyler expressed his fears that should Burgoyne be able to penetrate to Albany, the force ap- proaching the Mohawk under Col. St. Ledger would be able to meet him there; in which case if Gen. Howe pressed up the river, Gen. Washington would either be put between two fires, or compelled to file off into New England. He however trusted such a result might not be realized, and hoped the freedom of his sentiments would not be thought to rise from a principle which would disgrace a soldier. He added, "I assure you they do not ;
231
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
and I hope my countrymen will never have occasion to blush for me, whatever may be the event of this campaign."
The Council of Safety, in reply to the Albany Committee's let- ter of the 24th, responded on the 27th of July as follows :- " Gentlemen-Your letter of the 24th inst. has just been received and laid before the council. It was not by words alone that the council expects the drooping spirits of the inhabitants of Tryon county should be revived, nor do they know any other way of realizing those expectations than by vigorous exertions.
"It is highly unreasonable to expect that the militia of other states or additional detachments from the continental army should be sent to Tryon or Schoharie, when their own exertions, with the aid already afforded, would secure them. Harper's rangers are not the only measures taken for their support; a third part of the militia is ordered to be embodied, and the council will provide for their pay. But if when their all is at stake, they should think the wages too little, and from such degenerate, mercenary principles refuse to march, they will merit the distinction to which their want of courage and public spirit will expose them.
" It is by example, not speeches, that the council wish they may be encouraged. They expect the county of Albany will ex- ert itself; that their leading men on other occasons, will not be backward now; that they will march with the militia, and ani- mate the body of the people by their perseverance, spirit and pa- triotism. If the salvation of such a cause be not sufficient to in- duce us to such actions, future generations may with propriety say that we did not deserve to be free. If malcontents among you are fomenting divisions or encouraging a revolt, they ought to be immediately apprehended, and it is presumed you have sufficient strength at least for the purpose of internal goverment. If a few dispirited people are permitted to lay down their arms, and with impunity, not only to disobey orders, but to say they will side with the enemy, government has become base and feeble indeed. Your powers are equal to all these exigences, and the council hope you will exert them. That large drafts of men have been made from the militia is a fact not to be denied; but it is equally true that their number is still very respectable, and if they please, very formidable. In short, there is reason to fear that the panic and irresolution which seems to prevail in the western district, will, by being introduced into the history of the present glorious contest, injure the reputation which this state has justly acquired by its strenuous and noble exertions in the common cause of America.
"P. S. We have the best assurances that Gen. Glover, with his brigade, is sent up to reinforce the northern department ; and we flatter ourselves that Major General Schuyler will, as he finds himself reinforced, cause troops to file off for the defence of the
232
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
western frontiers. To facilitate this, we have written pressingly to the Governor of Connecticut for aid."
The following extract of a letter from Col. Gansevoort to Col. Van Schaick, dated Fort Schuyler, July 28th, will show one of the earliest of those tragedies which crimsoned the frontier forest of New York.
" Dear Sir-Yesterday, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our garri- son was alarmed with the firing of four guns. A party of men was instantly dispatched to the place where the guns were fired, which was in the edge of the woods, about five hundred yards from the fort; but they were too late. The villians were fled, after having shot three girls who were out picking raspberries, two of whom were lying scalped and tomahawked ; one dead and the other expiring, who died in about half an hour after she was brought home. The third had two balls through her shoulder, but made out to make her escape. Her wounds are not thought dan- gerous : by the best discoveries we have made, there were four Indians who perpetrated these murders.
" I had four men with arms just passed that place, but these mercenaries of Britain come not to fight, but to lie in wait to mur- der ; and it is equally the same to them, if they can get a scalp, whether it is from a soldier or an innocent babe."
Instead of Gen. Schuyler's affording the western settlements any relief after having been reinforced by Glover's brigade, we find him, under date of August 1st, writing from Saratoga to the New York council as follows :
" I have desired Col. Van Schaick to apply for all the militia of Schoharie, Duanesburgh, Schenectada and Tryon county, that can be collected ; but I forsee that nothing will be effected, unless a committee of your body is deputed to repair to Albany." [Those militia were intended to reinforce the northern army.]
Let us take a hasty glance at the progress of the enemy's cam- paign in the summer of 1777; when he hoped by one energetic blow, to separate the New England from the Middle states. Col. St. Leger, checked in his progress down the Mohawk, by a bloody battle with the Tryon county militia, at Oriskany, on the morning of August 6th, under the brave old Herkimer, in which some of his men performed prodigies of valor ; and a timely sor- tie from Fort Schuyler by troops under Col. Willet-finding his Indians deserting him-Col. Gansevoort unwilling to surrender-
233
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
and a body of troops under Gen. Arnold advancing to raise the siege of that fortress-was obliged to make good his retreat to Canada. Gen. Burgoyne, after contesting the ground for some time, and meeting with repeated defeats-seeing his Indian allies deserting him from a dislike to Morgan's rifle-men, and his own retreat cut off, surrendered his army to Gen. Gates, who had suc- ceeded Schuyler, as prisoners of war. Gen. Vaughan, with a body of troops from the army of Sir Henry Clinton, after ascend- ing the Hudson as far as Kingston, and reducing that flourishing village to ashes, learning that Gov. Clinton was marching to op- pose him, fell back down the river.
It remains for us to follow the footsteps of McDonald. At this unsettled period, when no forts had been erected in the Schoharie settlements to which the timid might flee for safety, confusion, for want of union, was manifest among the courageous .*
Under date of August 9th, the Albany committee wrote to the council of safety as follows :
" We inclose you a copy of a letter just now received from the committee of Schenectada. You will perceive by its contents, that a reinforcement is called for in that quarter. It gives us pain to inform you that it is out of the power of this county to send them any. The depredations committed by the tories is of the worst consequences, as it effectually prevents the militia from joining the army pursuant to Gen. Ten Broeck's request ; each part calls for more help to assist themselves. A Captain Mann, of the militia of Schoharie has collected a number of Indians and tories ; de- clares himself a friend to King George, and threatens destruction to all who do not lay down their arms or take protection from our enemies. In order to support our friends in that quarter, a force should be sent to them. This is needless to attempt, as a reason is assigned why no force can be had.
"In yours of the 27th ult., you desire that every nerve may be exerted ; this has been done, though without the desired effect. Our army to the northward, we have already informed you, does not appear adequate to repel the force supposed to be coming against them," &c., &c.
The above letter, and one from Gen. Schuyler, dated at Still-
. In the Annals of Tryon County, the invasion of McDonald is erroneously set down as having occurred in 1778. Campbell also states that three forts had been erected in Schoharie the fall before. The forts were erected at the time he states ; but not, however, until after McDonald's visit.
234
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
water, August 6th, were received by the state council on the 11th: from the latter, I take the following extract :
" General Ten Broeck has ordered out the whole of the militia ; but I fear very few will march, and that most of them will behave as the Schoharie and Schenectada militia have done. How that is, you will see by the inclosed, which are copies of letters I have this morning received." [What the conduct alluded to was, does not appear on the journal of the council, but we may suppose they refused to march until some provision was made for the protection of their own families against the common foe.]
On the afternoon of Monday, the 11th, Benjamin Bartholomew, from Schoharie, was admitted to the council chamber, and in- formed the council in substance :
" That a certain man at Schoharie was collecting a party in fa- vor of the enemy : had dispirited the inhabitants ; that the few re- solutely well affected were escaping from thence privately." [That body then drafted the following letter to Gov. Clinton:] "Sir-The council have received advice, that one Captain Mann is collecting a force in Schoharie, and has prevailed upon the inhabitants, through fear, to take part with him, and even to take up arms against us. As this must expose the frontiers of Ulster and Alba- ny counties, and the flame may possibly extend further, if not in- stantly checked-
" They would suggest to your Excellency the propriety of send- ing a party under the command of an active and intelligent officer, by the way of Woodstock or Catskill, who may fall upon the par- ty, arouse the spirits of our friends, and give the Indians such an impression of our activity, as will render them cautious of opposing us. Perhaps about two hundred men might be spared for this pur- pose from the garrison in the Highlands, and, if necessary, they might again be reinstated by other militia. The council submit this plan to your Excellency, and if it should be approved, doubt not but that it will be carried instantly into execution, since secre- cy and expedition will ensure its success."
On the 11th, the Albany committee, in a letter to the council, speaking of their apprehensions for the northern army and the ul- timate fate of Albany, and the meritorious conduct of Gen. Her- · kimer, after he was severely wounded, in refusing for hours to leave the Oriskany battle field, thus observe :
" The people of Schoharie have informed us that they will be obliged to lay down their arms. The militia that could be collect- ed in this county have been sent to the army : they have been long
235
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
in service, and seeing no prospect of relief, intend soon to return and remove their families to a place of greater safety."
Gov. Clinton addressed the president of the council from New Windsor, on the 11th of August, as follows :
" Sir-I wrote this morning to Colo. Pawling, advising him of the conduct of Capt. Mann, of the Schoharie militia, mentioned in the letter of the committee of Albany, a copy of which you sent me. I am apprehensive, that unless he and his party are speedily routed they will become formidable and dangerous neighbors to our western frontiers. I therefore proposed to Colo. Pawling, in the letter I addressed to him this morning, the propriety of em- bodying a party of men out of his regiment, under an active offi- cer, for this purpose, and directed him to call on your Honorable House for their advice and assistance on this occasion, which, should they agree with me in sentiment, they will please to afford him.
" It is clearly my opinion, that it is essential to the public safe- ty to have this business executed with dispatch and effectually. That fellow, without doubt, acts under the encouragement and by the advice of the enemy ; and even though he should not attempt to commit hostilities on the inhabitants of the western frontiers, the very deterring of the militia from marching to the aid of the northern army alone is a capital mischief; besides suffering such an atrocious and open offender to pass with impunity, would, in point of example, be extremely impolitic. It may be necessary to exercise a good deal of prudence with respect to the Indians who are with Capt. Mann, the management of which I must submit to the council."
The next day, his excellency again addressed the president of the council, as follows :
" New Windsor, 12th Aug't, 1777.
" Dear sir-On the receipt of a letter yesterday morning from General Scott, enclosing a copy of a letter from the committee of Albany, to your honble. board, containing the same intelligence respecting Capt. Mann, mentioned in your letter of the 11th inst .. just now delivered me, I immediately wrote to Colonel Pawling on that subject, pointing out the propriety of destroying Mann and his party by a sudden exertion, with a detachment of the militia under an active officer, and desiring him, if he thought it practica- ble, to set about it immediately ; and in that case to call upon the council for their advice and aid. This morning I addressed a let- ter to your honorable board on the same subject, by which you will observe my sentiments coincide exactly with the council's on this occasion. I dare not however, at present, venture to take any of the continental troops from the garrison in the Highlands for this business.
236
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY, ETC.
" The designs of the enemy under General Howe, are yet un- certain ; the garrison not over strong ; and should any unlucky ac- cident happen in that quarter, in the absence of troops, which might be drawn from thence for this expedition, I would be greatly and perhaps deservedly censured. If the militia are to be em- ployed, they can be much easier and more expeditiously had in the neighborhood of Kingston and Marbletown, than by marching them up from the fort.
" Major Pawling was charged with my letter to council, and left my house this morning for Kingston. I mentioned this scheme to him, and he expressed a strong desire to command the party, to which I consented, provided a party proper for him to command should be ordered out on this occasion. I know him to be possessed of prudence as well as spirit."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.