USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 23
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* The name for this spot as known among the old inhabitants, and doubt- less signified, ground near a swamp.
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The enemy retreated up the river through Brakabeen, and by way of the Susquehanna laid their course for Niagara. Judge Hager states, that upwards of twenty male citizens went off from Vrooman's land, Brakabeen, and Clyberg (Clay hill,) with the enemy ; among whom were Adam Crysler, Joseph Brown, sever- al of the Boucks, Beckers, Keysers, Mattices, Freemires, William Zimmer, one of the Schoharie committee, one Shafer and one Kneiskern. He also adds, that while the enemy remained in Schoharie, they doubtless lived well, as they were in a land of plenty.
On the return of the light horse, as nothing appeared to crimi- nate the father of Capt. Mann, who was inoffensive and consider- ably advanced in life, he was suffered to remain at liberty-and as the title to the brick house and valuable farm adjoining is said to have been vested in him and not his son, it was never confis- cated to the republic.
Not long after the cavalry and militia had proceeded up the valley, Capt. Mann came down from his hiding place, crossed the river below the mouth of Fox's creek, and secreted himself un- der the Karighondontee mountain, at a place where a small stream of water has cut a ravine. The next day, David Warner, the lad before mentioned, and John Snyder, with a basket of food, went in pursuit of him. They crossed the river and followed up the ravine before named, just above which, seated in a cavity of the rock, they found the object of search, smoking a pipe and fast- ing ; with an apology for a fire, a few brands smoldering in the recess. Mann had very wisely taken with him from home a tin- der box and matches, as the chosen place of secretion was in- fested by rattle-snakes ; and it being usually damp, was a cold place at night even in midsummer. The little nook in which Mann was found by his friends, is a familiar one to the Schoharie geologists, who have been there to obtain strontian, especially if they ever chanced to be there, as the writer once did, in a very heavy shower. The ravine alluded to, affords the geologist some of the most beautiful deposits of fossil moss found in Schoharie county.
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When Mann heard his friends approaching, his fearful appre- hension was aroused, but on hearing their familiar voices calling him by name, he readily discovered himself. From his mountain retreat, he shortly after went to Kneiskern's dorf, several miles further down the river, where he was concealed by friends until fall; at which time, he surrendered himself to the military au- thority established in the valley, by which he was transfered to Albany for trial. The following paper will show the time when Capt. Mann became a prisoner.
" Schoharie, Dec. 8th, 1777.
Gentlemen of the committee :- We have taken it upon us to let George Mann come in, by a sufficient bail-bond, which we thought he could not get ; but since he did, we would not affront the people, and took it ; and if you think that it is not sufficient, let me know it, for I am ready now to act against the tories to the utmost point which is in my power, if the other committee are willing to join : if not, I will no longer be a committee man.
"Gentlemen, I beg one favor of you, which is, to give me in- telligence in what form we are to act with the tories now : so no more at present.
" I remain, sirs, " Your friend and well wisher, " JOHANNES BALL."
Owing to the great influence and respectability of his whig relatives and neighbors, Mann's trial was kept off until the war closed-when, a very liberal policy having been adopted toward those who had committed no very flagrant act, he was set at lib- erty, and returned home to the bosom of his family and the quiet possession of his property. From the fact that he surrendered himself a prisoner, instead of trying to flee to Canada, there can remain no doubt but that his views had undergone a change in regard to what course he should from the beginning have adopted. He had early, beyond a doubt, been warmly solicited by the friends of royalty, and the most flattering inducements, to advance their cause. But a life of repentance showed his error in judgment to have been of the head and not the heart,-while his firm and willing support ever after of the newly established order of things, fully atoned for his single offence.
From a long and intimate personal acquaintance with the de- scendants and other relatives of Capt. George Mann, I express
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an opinion without fear of contradiction, that they are as patriotic citizens and as firm and consistent supporters of the federal con- stitution, as an equal number of men found in any other part of the American union.
The command of Capt. Mann's company, after his disappear- ance, was given to his lieutenant, Christian Stubrach.
Some individuals in the Schoharie settlements who had been persuaded to accept of kingly protection under McDonald, when the prospects of the colonies looked to them most gloomy, soon after his defeat and hasty flight, found means, in the confusion that ensued, to return home and become the supporters of the fed- eral compact, while others followed his fortunes to Canada to await the speedy triumph of the British arms, when they expect- ed to return and enjoy not only their own, but the confiscated property of their whig neighbors.
Letters from Colonels Harper and Vrooman, dated August 20th, 1777, were received by the council of safety, as appears by the journal of that body, and transmitted on the 29th to his excellen- cy the governor, recommending him to provide five hundred troops-one hundred of whom to be riflemen-to protect the frontiers of Albany and Tryon counties : and under the date of August 30th, I find entered upon the council's journal, the follow- ing letter :
" Schoharie, August 2Sth, 1777.
" Gentlemen-Since we put Capt. McDonald and his army to flight, I proceeded with some volunteers to Harpersfield, where we met many that had been forced by McDonald, and some of them much abused. Many others were in the woods, who were volunteers ; and as we could not get hands on those that were ac- tive in the matter, I gave orders to all to make their appearance, when called on, at Schoharie, in order to give satisfaction to the authority for what they have done ; and if they do not, that they are to be proclaimed traitors to the United States of America ; which they readily agreed to, and further declare that they will use their best endeavors to bring in those that have been the cause of the present disturbance. I would, therefore, beg the honorable council of safety, that they would appoint proper persons to try those people, as there will be many that can witness to the pro- ceedings of our enemy, and are not in ability to go abroad.
"From your most obedient, humble servant,
" JOHN HARPER, Colo.
" P. S. The people here are so confused that they do not know
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how to proceed. I therefore would beg the favor of your honora- ble body to appoint such men as are strangers in these parts. " To the honorable, the council of safety, at Kingston."
The above letter was referred to a committee who reported on the same, September 1st, and the council ordered the following letter written to Col. Harper in reply, under that date-
" SIR-Your favor of the 28th of August last, was received and communicated to the council. They congratulate you on the suc- cess of our arms in that quarter, which must be doubly grateful to the brave inhabitants of Tryon county, whose virtuous exertions have so greatly contributed to it.
" The trial and punishment of those inhuman wretches who have combined with a savage foe to imbrue their hands in the blood of the innocent, demands a speedy attention. But while the council agree with you in the impropriety of removing them to any distance from the witnesses of their guilt, they can not con- sent, nor indeed are they empowered to institute any new court for the trial of such offences. These wicked parricides, however de- testable, are nevertheless, by our free constitution, entitled to the inestimable privilege of a trial by their peers. A court of oyer and terminer will be held in your county [Albany county meant- Col. Harper was then a resident of Tryon county :] as soon as the present storm hath a little subsided. In the mean time the public officers of the county will exert themselves to detect, apprehend and secure the rebels.
"You will be pleased to communicate this letter to the commit- tee of Schoharie, and to such other persons as may be concerned in it."
The following letter directed to " The Commissioners for Se- questrings for Tryon County," and found among the papers of Col. Fisher, one of those commissioners, was from a member of the New York council of safety.
" Kingston, 31st August, 1777.
" Gent .- The enclosed resolution was thought necessary, that you may have it in your power to remove the women and children to such place (if even it should be to the enemy,) as you with Gen. Gates may think proper. Should you want any thing farther, you vill please to let the House know. I wish you health and spirits 1 these trying times-which we will all get over; and that it may be soon, is the prayer of Gent, your most hum'e serv't.
"ABM. YATES, Jun."
[The resolution above alluded to]-" Resolved, That the com- missioners for sequestrating the effects of persons gone over to, or
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who are with the enemy, be directed immediately to seize the ef- fects of all such of the inhabitants of the counties of Albany and Tryon, as are gone over unto and joined the enemy, and to dis- pose thereof, agreeably to the resolutions in that case made and provided. That the said commissioners be empowered to remove the wives and children of such disaffected persons aforesaid from their habitations, to such place or places as they shall conceive best for the security of the state. That the said commissioners (if Gen. Gates shall think it advisable) be empowered to send all or any part of the said women and children to their said husbands."
On the council's journal under date of September 5th, I find the following entry-
The committee to whom was referred the petition of William Cameron and the other six prisoners brought by Maj. Wynkoop's party from Schoharie, delivered in their report, which was read, amended and agreed to, and is in the words following, to wit: ' That it appears from the said petition of William Cameron and the six prisoners brought with him as aforesaid, that they have, contrary to the resolutions of this state, aided and assisted the ene- mies thereof, by taking up arms against it, and therefore that they be confined in irons in one of the jail rooms at Kingston.'"
The above no doubt refers to the prisoners captured by the ca- valry which accompanied Col. Harper to Schoharie. In alluding to this transaction, the Rev. Daniel Gros, in a work on Moral Philosophy, published about the year 1806, thus observes-
" Neither must it be forgotten that Lieut. Wallace, Wm. Wills and John Harper, who at that time of general distress on our western frontiers, when two hundred royalists and Indians had advanced into the heart of Schoharie, where treachery, assisted by the panic with which the inhabitants had been struck, had al- most accomplished a total defection among them, with forty men, cellected in a strong brick house, [stone house,] braved the ene- my, hindered the defection from taking the intended effect; and afforded time for succor, by which the whole design of the enemy was defeated, and a valuable part of the frontier preserved."
On the 13th of August, the same day on which Col. Harper so opportunely led troops to Schoharie, Lt. Col. Schermerhorn pro- ceeded to Norman's kill with a body of Schenectada militia, and forty Rhode Island troops,-in all about one hundred men,-to root up a tory gathering at that place. The expedition was very successful ; David Springer, a noted royalist, was killed, thirteen
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of his comrades captured, the remainder dispersed, and confidence again restored, where all was doubt and disaffection, without the loss of a single man on the part of the Americans .- John J. Schemerhorn, son of Col. S. named in the context.
In the fall of this year the following resolution was made pub- lic :
"ADVERTISEMENT .- This is to give notice to all persons, that the Committed of Schoharie have Resolved that nobody shall sell any thing to disaffected persons, and especially to such persons as buy and send it to the Scotch settlements [on the Charlotte and Sus- quehanna rivers ;] and if any person does it, we shall seize it.
" By order of the committee,
" Schoharie, Nov. 24th, 1777. JOHANNES BALL, Ch'n."
The citizens of Schoharie were engaged in the fall in trans- porting provisions to the army under Gen. Gates, as the follow- ing will show.
" Half Moon, 18th Oct., 1777: Received of Jacob Cuyler, Esq., D. C. G. of P., [deputy commissary general of provisions] sixty- six barrels and two tierces of flour, containing 131c. 3qr. Slb .- tare 1471, in seventeen wagons, which I promise to deliver to Dirck Swart, D. C. of P. at Stillwater, having signed two receipts of the same tenor and date. JOHANNES BALL."
About twenty of Mr. Ball's neighbors were engaged with their teams in conveying the flour mentioned, as appears by another certificate in possession of the writer.
The following anecdote will serve to show the patriotism of the late patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer. When the troops under Gen. Gates were opposing Burgoyne near Saratoga, Gen. Ten Broeck, who was the guardian of the patroon, then in his minori- ty, visited some of his nephew's tenants near the Helleberg, and requested them to take all the provisions and grain they could spare (reserving a bare competency for their families,) to the Ame- rican army. Several emptied their granaries, pork-barrels, cattle- stalls and pig-styes, and delivered their effects to the commissary department at Saratoga ; not expecting any usual reward for so doing. Some time after, to their surprise, the young patroon in. vited those tenants to Albany and presented them with valid titles to their lands. Such was one of the many acts of that good
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man, distinguished through life for his generosity and benevo- lence .*
When news first reached Schoharie that the British had been defeated at Bennington, the tories believed it a falsehood, told to excite their fear.
In the Revolution, that part of Sharon contained in the town of Seward, was called New Dorlach. It was a settlement of twenty-five or thirty families, only four of which, those of Jacob Hynds, William Hynds, Bastian France, and William Spurnheyer were active whigs. An old man named Hoffman, who took no part on either side, was, with his whig neighbors, made an object of savage cupidity. When St. Leger was beseiging Fort Schuy- ler, about thirty individuals went from this settlement and united with his forces. When the seige was raised, they would gladly have returned to their homes, but were compelled to go to Ca- nada; only two came back at that time, and they deserted in the night .- Henry France, son of Bastian France.
In the summer of 1777, when the several British commanders were proceeding towards Albany, some of its citizens, fearing the enemy would reach that city, secreted their money. A man named Ten Eyck buried a tin cup full of gold and silver in his cellar. After Burgoyne's surrender, search was made in vain for this treasure; one Jacob Radley dug the ground floor of the cellar all over without finding it, and the superstitious notion obtained in the familiy, that it had disappeared through super- natural agency. Here is a spook story for the credulous. The cup had been removed by animam viventum-a living soul .- Judge Brown.
The surrender of Burgoyne to Gen. Gates, which took place after the other British enterprises in New York had proved ab- ortive, diffused joy and gladness throughout the union. In Al- bany, the event was celebrated with much display. An ox was roasted whole for the occasion. A pole passing through it and resting on crotches served as a spit, while a pair of cart wheels
· Frederick Vogel, to whom the facts were communicated after the war, by Frederick Crounse, one of the tenants alluded to in the context.
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at the ends of the pole were used to turn it. A hole was dug in the ground, in which, beneath the ox a fire was made. While cooking, several pails of salt water were at hand, to be applied with swabs to keep the meat from burning. When roasted it was drawn through the principal streets, and the patriotic secur- ed a good slice. A constant roar of artillery was kept up during the day.
The aged met with joy of heart, The youthful met with glee; While little children played their part, The happiest of the three.
In the evening almost every dwelling in the city was illumin- ated. A pyramid of pine fagots which had been collected for the occasion, in the centre of which stood a liberty pole sup- porting on its top a barrel of tar, was set on fire on the hill near the city early in the evening. When the fire reached the tar, it not only illuminated every part of the city, but sent its ominous light for many miles around, presenting a most impos- ing effect .*
To show the enthusiasm that prevailed during the celebration above related, I insert the following incident. Evert Yates, of Montgomery county, who then lived in Albany, assured the writer that he, with several young friends, was without the city firing muskets in honor of the happy event. After firing a good many loud guns they returned home-when he found to his great sur- prise, his gun was half full! The party, as often as they had loaded, fired together ; and he continued to load, not doubting
* The author is indebted to Mrs. Henry France of Seward, who was a resident of Albany at the time, for the manner in which this event was cele- brated ; and also for the following narrative: Her father, John Horne, was a butcher in Albany previous to the French war. In the early part of that war, he with six other Albanians, went up the Hudson in a batteau with merchandize to trade with the Indians for furs. Landing at some place and leaving their boat in which were their weapons of defence, they were pro- ceeding a little distance from it, when, as they were crossing a small bridge a party of seven armed Indians, who had been sometime watching their mo- tions, sprang out from under the bridge and made them captives. As they all had prisoners, each Indian at night took care of his own, and Horne' watching his opportunity after traveling several days with his new master,
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but his old fusee went off-too much excited to discover the in- creasing length of his ramrod.
The following anecdote was told the author by Jacob Van Al- styne, who was at the taking of Burgoyne. He was then adju- tant of a regiment of Rensselaer county militia, under Col. Ste- phen J. Schuyler, Lieut. Col. Henry K. Van Rensselaer, and aet- ed in the two-fold capacity of adjutant and quarter-master. Col. Schuyler was a brother of Gen. Philip Schuyler, and having the oldest commission among the colonels on that station, he acted as brigadier general in the latter part of the campaign. A German, named John Tillman, a portly gentleman who resided at Albany after the war, acted as German interpreter for Gen. Gates, and was requested by the latter to select a proper person to go into the British camp as a spy ; the object of whose mission was, to circulate letters among the Hessian soldiers, to induce them to de- sert, and to bring on an engagement in such a manner as Gates desired. Tillman selected Christopher Fisher,* a private in Col. Schuyler's regiment-a shrewd fellow and always ready with an answer to any question that might be asked him. Fisher, being well acquainted with my informant, visited him to ask his advice in the hazardous undertaking, naming the reward offered. The latter told him what the consequence would be if he was detect- ed, but declined giving counsel. "Well," said Fisher, "if you will not advise me how to proceed, then I must act on my own
effected his escape when the party were all asleep. He went a short dis- tance and secreted himself in a hollow log. As soon as his absence was dis- covered, several of the enemy pursued him; and he in his concealment heard them pass and repass, hallooing to each other. After their return he directed his course to the Mohawk, and at the end of eight or nine days journey through the forest, in which time he suffered much from hunger and exposure, he reached the bank of West Canada creek, and discovered an Indian and squaw upon its opposite shore. He called to them to come to him, but they did not move until he held up a piece of money. The Indian then sent the squaw in a canoe after him. He obtained food from them, who proved to be of a friendly tribe, and in a few days more reached home in safety; but it was a long time before his comrades in the perilous enterprize all re- turned.
· Fisher was a native of Schoharie county, of German origin, and had re- moved to Rensselaer county just before the war.
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judgment :" so saying, he took his leave of Van Alstyne, who thought but little more of the matter until after the battle, which occured October 7th. While in his tent after that engagement, Fisher entered and showed him a purse of gold and his discharge from the service. Van Alstyne then desired to know how he had proceeded. Fisher stated that on the day appointed, he ap- proached the enemy's picket with a sheep upon his back, which had been killed for the occasion. He was hailed by the guard, who demanded of him his residence and the object of his visit. Fisher replied, that he lived a few miles back in the country- " that the d-d Yankees had destroyed all his property but one sheep, which he had killed, and was then taking to his friends." On hearing this reply, the sentinel treated him kindly, and deliv- ered him over to an officer with a favorable report. In the Bri- tish camp, he was asked by a superior officer, what proof he could give that he was not deceiving. Said Fisher, "the rebels are preparing to give you battle, and if you will go with me, I will convince you of its truth." The officer followed Fisher to a cer- tain place, from which was visible a wood. Here had been sta- tioned, agreeable to the order of Gates, a body of Morgan's rifle corps, who were to exhibit themselves in a stealthy manner. The rifle-men wore frocks and were easily distinguished. "There- there"-says Fisher, "dont you see them devils of Morgan's dodging about among the trees ?" And sure enough, as fast as the spy directed his vision, the British officer could see the moving frocks of the American rifle-men. When urged to enlist into the British service, Fisher pretended an aversion to war, pleading also the necessity of returning home to protect his family against the rebels. He was allowed to leave the camp when he chose, and embraced the opportunity while the armies were engaged. He was, however, admitted into communion as a genuine royalist, and being allowed to mingle for several hours with those who spoke German, he discharged the duties of his perilous mission to the satisfaction of Gen. Gates. A party of British troops were sent to dislodge the rifle-men pointed out by Fisher-a general engagement followed, and the result is known to every American
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reader. Burgoyne capitulated soon after. The spy executed faithfully the principal object of his hazardous enterprise, and many of those Hessian soldiers deserted the British service in that campaign, and either entered the American service, or became good citizens of New York. Mr. Van Alstyne died in May, 1844, aged nearly 95 years.
Gen. Fraser, a distinguished officer in the British army, was looked upon by some of the Americans as a more dangerous lead- er to oppose than Bnrgoyne himself. Several published accounts state that such was the opinion of Col. Morgan. During the en- gagement of October 7th, it fell to the fortune of Morgan's rifle corps to meet in battle the troops under Fraser. Morgan select- ed a few of his best marksmen, who were placed in a favorable position, and instructed to make Fraser their especial mark. Timothy Murphy, who afterwards went to Schoharie, was one of the riflemen selected to execute this unholy design. The party thus stationed had each a chance to fire, and some of them more than once, before a favorable opportunity presented for Murphy ; but when it did, the effect was soon manifest. The gallant gene- ral was riding upon a gallop when he received the fatal ball, and after a few bounds of his charger, fell, mortally wounded. The fact that Murphy shot Gen. Fraser, was communicated to the writer by a son of the former.
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