USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 25
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CHAPTER IX.
Much that transpired in the American revolution of the most thrilling interest, not only in Schoharie but in all the frontier set- tlements, is now lost forever, to the American reader. To adopt the language of a beautiful writer-" Many prudent counsels con- ceived in perplexing times-many heart-stirring words uttered when liberty was treason-many brave and heroic deeds, per- formed when the halter and not the laurel was the promised meed of patriotic daring, are already lost and forgotten in the graves of their authors."
The capture of Burgoyne and his army not only inspired Ame- ricans with confidence of their final triumph, but the truly phi- lanthropic all over the civilized world hailed the event as ominous of good. Fortune is a fickle goddess. Let success attend the ambitious adventurer, and a sycophantic world is ready to rend the air with shouts of praise, and strew his path with flowery gar- lands; but if misfortune attend him, his imagined friends are changed to foes. It is probable that few leaders under similar circumstances could have done more for his royal master than had poor Burgoyne; and yet on his return to England, he was treated with contempt by the parasites of royalty.
Early in 1778, mortified at the result of her Canadian expe- ditions, England sought a reconciliation with the states. Lord Chatham, known at an earlier period in the House of Commons as the talented Pitt, the champion of civil liberty, attended on one occasion in the House of Lords during the session of that year. He was desirous of a compromise, but opposed to acknowledging
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our independence. While laboring to show how the difficulties could be settled, his emotions overcame him and he sunk nerveless into the arms of his friends. He was carried home-survived his last effort to speak but a few weeks, and his grave oratory was hushed forever. The love of country rose paramount in the last effort of this truly great man. Parliament passed an act that ses- sion declaring that they would not in future again tax the colo- nies, and commissioners were sent to treat with the state authori- ties. The terms proposed by the mother country were rejected. An attempt was then made to bribe some of the influential Ame- rican statesmen, but the proposition met with deserved scorn.
Early this season the French nation, which had looked with jealousy upon England after the loss of the Canadas, concluded a treaty of commerce and alliance with the American commissioners. It was signed on the 6th of February. The acknowledgment of the independence of the United States by France, had a very be- neficial tendency. It was greeted every where as the passport to independence, consequently every demonstration of joy was manifested. The treaties were read by the chaplains at the head of each brigade-published in the colonial papers, and made known from the sacred desk by ministers of the gospel, from Maine to Georgia. Many who were before wavering in their course, when they saw a powerful nation becoming their ally, manifested a willingness to exert themselves in their country's cause.
The rich flats along the Cobelskill at the out-break of hostili- ties, contained some 20 families in the distance of three miles, be- lieved to have been all whigs. They organized a company of militia for their own defence, of which Christian Brown (a brother of the late Judge Brown) was captain, and Jacob Borst, lieute- nant : but had erected no fortifications. The first appearance of the enemy in the Schoharie settlements in 1778, was at Co- belskill. The events which transpired there, were communicated to the author by Nicholas and George Warner brothers, Lawrence Lawyer, and Judge Brown. The three former were in the battle fought in that town. In the latter part of May several straggling
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Indians were seen in the vicinity of that settlement, and Capt. Brown, anticipating a hostile movement of the enemy, thought it prudent to send to the fort at Middleburgh for assistance. The lower fort was not quite completed at that time. Captain Pa- trick was dispatched with a small company of volunteers, and ar- rived at the residence of Capt. Brown on the 26th of May, where they remained until the 28th, when they moved up to the dwel- ling of Lawrence Lawyer. Scouts were kept out constantly, but nothing worthy of notice transpired until that day, when Lieut. Borst, his brother Joseph, and one of the Freemires were on a scout some miles up the creek. The latter was several hundred yards from his companions, seated upon a pile of drift-wood, fish- ing, when two Schoharie Indians, Ones-Yaap and Han-Yerry (the latter a chief) with a savage yell, intended to intimidate, sprang up the bank of the creek from a place of concealment and ap- proached them. After a friendly salutation, they began to re- prove the brothers, for being in the woods, to shoot Indians who did them no harm. Joseph replied to the speaker, that they in- tended no harm to those who were friendly. Han-Yerry ap- proached him, seized his gun in a playful manner, threw open the pan, and gave the gun a sudden jerk to spill out the priming, ex- claiming as he did so, Yo yenery hatste ! signifying-It is good if this be gone! Borst, seeing the object of the Indian was to disarm him, instantly dropped his own gun and seized that of his adver- sary, and wrenching the flint from the lock, he replied in the In- dian dialect, Yo yenery sagat ! It is good if this is served so! The Indian then dropped his gun and clinched Borst, but the latter, giving a loud whoop closed manfully with his antagonist and soon brought him upon his knees. While they were strug- gling for mastery, the other Indian approached the lieutenant and bade him surrender himself his prisoner : but instead of doing so, he stepped back and sent a bullet through his body. Han-Yerry succeeded in freeing himself from the grasp of his adversary, and seeing his comrade upon the ground, instantly fled leaving his gun. The lieutenant ran and caught up the gun of his brother and snapped it at the fleeing Indian, but as it was not primed the
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latter escaped. On the same day, George Warner and John Fes- ter returned from Cherry-Valley, where they had been the day before to carry a letter-doubtless to apprize that settlement of the proximity of the enemy.
The day after the Borsts had the rencounter with the Indian scout, the Cobelskill battle was fought; which occurred on Sa- turday the first day of June .* On the morning of that day Cap- tain Miller, who was sent from the Schoharie fort with part of a company to reconnoitre, arrived at Lawyer's. Several of his men, one of whom was named Humphrey, volunteered to remain with Patrick, and he returned to the fort, before the enemy in force were discovered. The regulars under Capt. P. numbered between 30 and 40; and the militia volunteers under Capt. Brown were 15. After Capt. Miller left Lawyer's, the troops under Patrick marched up the creek to the residence of George Warner, who was one of the Schoharie committee, and father of the namesake before mentioned. Warner's was the southernmost house in the settlement, and stood on a knoll at Cobelskill Centre. An orchard at this time covers the site.
The troops had been at Warner's but a short time, when 15 or 20 Indians discovered themselves a little distance above the house, and the whole force was marched in pursuit of them. Brown was opposed to the pursuit, and told Patrick he feared they would be ambuscaded. The latter ridiculed the idea, and was disposed to assign another motive than that of caution to the militia cap-
· Several writers who have published some notice of this battle, have given it an erroneous date. Brown, in his pamphlet history, says it transpired " on the first day of June or July, in the year 1776," but at a personal interview he said that date was wrong, and that it took place on Saturday before Pink- ster, the year after Burgoyne's capture. Campbell, in the Annals of Tryon County, dates it in May, 1779. Stone has entered it in two places in the Life of Brant, supposing from Brown's account and one he found among the pa- pers of Col. Gansevoort, as they differed in dates and material facts, that he was recording two transactions. The last notice he accredits to a letter from Col. Varick to Col. Gansevoort, dated Schenectada, June 3, 1778, which let- ter stated that this invasion of the enemy took place on the preceding Satur- day. This last date corresponds with the one given the author by the three living witnesses named, who stated that it took place on Saturday preceding Pinkster-Whitsunday, which came that year on the 2d day of June.
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tain who, stung by the imputation, then yielded to the wishes of Patrick, notwithstanding the misgiving of his own better judg- ment. The enemy, who kept up a running fight, had not been pursued a mile, before it was evident their numbers were increas- ing. A halt was then made by the Americans near the present residence of Lambert Lawyer, with the militia on the right to- wards the creek, and a sharp engagement followed. Both parties fought in the Indian style, under the cover of trees. It soon be- came manifest from the firing, that the number of the enemy was very great. After several of his men had fallen around him, Capt. Patrick received a shot which broke his thigh. Two of his brave soldiers, in an attempt to bear him from the field, were sur- rounded by a party of the enemy, and shared his unhappy fate. A lieutenant under Capt. Patrick is said to have been spared, by giving a masonic sign to Brant. When Capt. Patrick fell, Brown ordered a retreat, which was most timely, for had it been delayed but a few minutes until the enemy could have extended his flanks, so as to surround the little band of patriots, few if any would have survived that day. The families in the settlement, hearing the firing, very properly sought safety in the depths of the forest, or by a rapid flight to Schoharie, ten miles distant. On arriving at the house from which they had been so artfully drawn into an ambush designedly laid, three of Patrick's men and two of Brown's took refuge within it, which providentially favored the escape of their fugitive friends. Being fired on from the house, the Indians halted to dislodge its inmates, by which the rest of the party gained time sufficient to make good their retreat. The house was set on fire, and three of its inmates were buried in its ruins. The continental soldiers, in attempting to make their escape from the burning building, were slain. One was evidently shot, but the other was supposed to have been taken alive and tortured to death. The party who first visited the scene of blood after the battle, found this soldier not far from where the house had stood, with his body cut open and his intestines fastened round a tree several feet distant. In one hand was a roll of continental bills, placed there by the enemy in derision of our country's almost valueless
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"promises to pay." It was subsequently known, that the enemy fired at least fifty balls into one window of this house, at its in- mates.
The names of the men under Capt. Brown in this engagement were, Lieut. Jacob Borst, Nicholas Warner, George Warner, jr., George Freemire, John Shafer and Lawrence Lawyer, who es- caped uninjured, 6; John Zeh, Martinus and John Fester, Jacob and John Freemire and Jacob Shafer, killed, 6; Peter and Henry Shafer and Leonard King, wounded, 3. The whole number killed in the engagement, including Capt. Patrick and his men, was about 22 : five or six of his men were also wounded and two were made prisoners. More than half the Americans engaged were either killed or wounded. The enemy, as was afterwards ascer- tained, consisting of Indians (mostly Senecas, Schoharies and Oquagos, instead of Onondagas as stated by some writers) and to- ries, numbered over three hundred and fifty, and were commanded by Joseph Brant. Service, a noted tory, who lived near the Char- lotte river, and the Schoharie chief, Seth's-Henry, acted a con- spicuous part in the engagement. The loss the enemy sustained was never exactly known, but was supposed to equal, if it did not exceed that of the Americans. A mulatto, who was with the enemy at this time and returned after the war, stated that twenty- five of their number, mostly Indians, were buried in a mud-hole near David Zeh's. He also stated, that seven of the enemy who were wounded in the battle, died on their way to Canada. George Warner's was the first house burnt in the Schoharie settlements in the revolution. The enemy, after the engagement, plundered and burnt all the dwellings in Cobelskill as far down as the churches, except an old log house, formerly occupied by George Warner, which stood near the present residence of his son David. This house was left, as was afterwards supposed, with a belief that its owner might return and occupy it, after losing his framed dwelling, which would afford an opportunity to capture a com- mittee-man. The dwellings burnt at this time were those of George Warner and his son Nicholas, George Fester, Adam Sha- fer, William Snyder, John Freemire, Lawrence Lawyer, John
19
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Zeh, John Bouck and John Shell; (the latter owned by Law- rence Lawyer,) in all, ten, with the barns and other out-houses ; making, as stated in the record of the Lutheran Church at Scho- harie, "twenty buildings burned."
The two militia-men who took shelter in the house of Warner, were Martinus Fester and John Freemire. The remains of Fester fell into a tub of soap in the cellar, and were known by his to- bacco-box; and those of Freemire were identified by his knee- buckles and gun-barrel. Jacob Shafer was wounded in one leg early in the action, and was carried by his neighbor, George War- ner, jr., to a place of temporary safety, who agreed to get a horse and take him to the fort. As the battle terminated unfavorably, he was left to his fate-was discovered next morning by the ene- my and killed. The remains of John Fester were not discovered, until a piece of wheat was harvested, into which he had fallen. Jonas Belknap, one of Patrick's men, received a ball in his right hip and was borne out of the battle by Lawrence Lawyer, as the latter assured the author. The following additional facts respect- ing this soldier, who died a few years since at Gorham, Ontario county, were told the author by Ezekiel Howe, a nephew of said Belknap. After having been " carried one side," to use the words of Lawyer, Belknap discovered a hollow log into which he crept. The next day he backed out of his resting place cold and stiff, and while seated upon a fence, reflecting on the events of the last twenty-four hours, he discovered two Indians laden with plunder approaching him, having two dogs. Unobserved by them, he let himself fall into a bunch of briers. The Indians halted near him, and their dogs placed their paws on the fence and growled. He supposed himself discovered, but soon one of them took out a bottle, from which both drank, and he had the satisfaction of see- ing them resume their march, without noticing the irritation of their canine friends. Casting his eyes along the beautiful valley and surveying the ruins of the preceding day, he discovered the old house of Warner, on the west side of the creek, still standing, to which he made his way. He found it unoccupied, but victuals were on a table, and after eating, he laid down, faint and sad, up-
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on a bed which the house also afforded. In the afternoon, two men came and conveyed him to the Schoharie fort, where his wound was properly drest and he recovered.
Henry Shafer, mentioned as being wounded in this engagement, received a ball in his thigh which brought him to the ground. The bone was not fractured, but the limb was benumbed. He regained his feet but fell the instant his weight came upon the wounded limb. Disencumbering himself of his gun and powder- horn, after several unsuccessful attempts to run, action returned to the limb and he fled. He directed his steps toward Schoharie, and on the way fell in with Peter Snyder, his brother-in-law. They traveled nearly to Punchkill together, when Shafer, too weak to proceed, concealed himself and requested his comrade to inform his friends at the fort where he might be found, desiring them to come after him. His fellow-traveler went to the fort, but instead of doing the errand as desired by his wounded rela- tive, he reported him dead. Shafer tarried beneath a shelving rock until Monday morning, when, by great exertion, he arrived at the house of a friend in Kneiskern's dorf. As he was much exhausted, he was very prudently fed gruel until he revived, when he was taken to the fort and cured of his wound .- From Peter, son of Henry Shafer .*
The night after the Cobelskill battle it rained, and a dreary one it must have been to the surviving citizens of the Cobel- skill valley, many of whom were in the forest to which they had fled from their burning dwellings, exposed to the mercy of wild beasts-foes less to be dreaded than those left behind. The wife of Lawrence Lawyer, with several other persons, was in the woods three days, and finally came out near the mouth of the Co-
· Mr. Shafer lived to become a very useful citizen. He was for many years a justice of the peace-frequently represented Cobelskill in the board of su- pervisors-for several years was a member of the state legislature-and was for a great length of time a judge of Common Pleas ; which several stations, considering his early opportunities, he discharged with credit to himself and fidelity to the public. He was remarkably punctual in the performance of his official duties. He died on the 15th of April, 1839, in the eighty-second year of his age.
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belskill. Scouts were sent out to reconnoitre and look after the wounded, and absent members of families, but it was several days before the dead were buried. Some day in the course of the week following the engagement, Col. Vrooman with part of the Schoharie troops, and Col. Yates with a detachment of Schenec- tada militia, went to perform the last sad duties to those martyrs to the cause of liberty. As the weather had been wet and cool, the bodies were found to have suffered but little change. A pit was dug near where George Warner's house had stood, into which several boards were laid : the charred remains of the three soldiers taken from the cellar, and the mutilated remains of those near, were then buried within it. Pits were also dug so as to re- quire as little moving of the bodies as possible, in which Captain Patrick and the other soldiers were deposited. None can realize at a period of nearly seventy years after it transpired, the solem- nities of that burial. Several of the deceased left wives and chil- dren to mourn their untimely fate; while all left friends who had centered on them hopes of future usefulness and aggrandizement. This blow was a most severe one for the little settlement of Co- belskill. Peaceful be your rest brave warrior ! for
" When ye sank on your bed of death, No gentle form hung over you ; No fond eye caught your parting breath, Or shrunk in anguish from the view ! But o'er you, in that hour of fate, Bent the dark " Indian's "vengeful form ; And the stern glance of ruthless hate Gleamed dreadful, 'mid the hurrying storm. No mourning dirge did o'er you swell, Nor winding sheet your limbs inclosed ; For you was tolled no passing bell ; No tomb was raised where you reposed, Your bed of death-the battle ground,
'Twas there they heaped your funeral mound, And all unhallowed was your grave, Save by the ashes of the brave."-Lines on Waterloo.
On the knoll where stood the house of George Warner, which was burnt in the Revolution, as before stated, the patriotic citizens of Cobelskill celebrated the anniversary of our national indepen-
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dence, on the 4th day of July, 1837. An appropriate oration was delivered on the occasion by Demosthenes Lawyer, Esq.
How proper, after so long a time, to assemble on that day, on ground consecrated by patriot's blood, and water it with the tear of gratitude.
A few days previous to the irruption of the enemy into Cobels- kill, they were in the vicinity of Cherry Valley. Brant had his destructives there with the intention of laying waste that place. He secreted them on Lady hill,* about a mile east of the fort, to await a favorable opportunity to strike the fatal blow, and slayor capture some of its influential citizens. A company of boys happened to be training, for boys then caught the martial spirit, as Brant, like the eagle from its eyry, was looking down from his hiding place upon the devoted hamlet. Mistaking these miniature soldiers for armed men, he deferred the attack for a more favora- ble opportunity. After killing Lieut. Wormwood, a promising young officer from Palatine, who had left the fort but a few min- utes before on horseback, and taking Peter Sitz, his comrade, pri- soner,f Brant directed his steps to Cobelskill.
On the 4th day of July, 1778, the beautiful valley of Wyoming in Pennsylvania, fell a prey to the savage cupidity of the British, Tory and Indian forces under Col. John Butler ; and its inhabit- ants were either killed, carried into captivity, or escaped by a most appalling flight. The poem entitled " Gertrude of Wyo- ming," from the pen of the English poet Campbell-founded up- on the tragedies of that massacre-is doubtless familiar to most of my readers. Many of the most unfeeling and inhuman acts of cruelty committed on the fleeing inhabitants and soldiers of this ill-fated place, were committed by tories. On this occasion, a to- ry found a brother secreted, who had been an American militia- man, but had fled, abandoning his gun. On recognizing his brother, the tory said to him, " So it is you, is it ?" The unarmed
. This hill was embraced in a patent owned by a rich lady in England, from which circumstance it was formerly called Lady Hill .- Moses Nelson.
t For the death of Lt. Wormwood and capture of Sitz, sce Annals of Tryon County.
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man approached his kinsman, fell upon his knees and besought him to spare his life; promising, if he would, to live with him and become his servant. " All this is mighty fine," replied the human fiend, " but you are a d-d rebel !" At the close of this sentence, he leveled his gun and sent the death-telling ball through his body .- Chapman's History of Wyoming.
About the first of September of this year, the enemy destroyed several of the western settlements on the south side of the Mo- hawk. In a letter written at one of the frontier posts, by Col. Klock to Gov. Clinton, and sent by " Col. Fisher and Zep. Batchellor, Esq.," probably in September (it being without date,) he thus observes-
" I beg leave to represent to your Excellency the most deplora- ble situation of this country. The enemy have from time to time desolated and destroyed the settlements of Springfield, Andreas- Town, and the German-Flats ; by which at least one hundred and fifty families are reduced to misery and distress. People who were in flourishing circumstances are thus, by one wanton act, brought to poverty.
" Nothwithstanding I have repeatedly wrote our situation down and asked relief, we have obtained none except Alden's regiment, which is stationed at Cherry-Valley, where they remain in garri- son. Woful experience teaches us that the troops in Cherry-Val- ley are by no means a defence for any other part of the country. [After speaking of the ungovernable spirit that influenced the con- duct of some of the settlers, the desertion of a part of the militia to the enemy, and the necessity of immediate succor, he adds] -- From the information we are able to collect from prisoners and otherwise, we learn that the enemy when at the German-Flats were 500 or upwards strong, commanded by Capt. Caldwell-that they intended soon to make another incursion, and that a reinforce- ment of 5 or 600 was on its march to join the enemy."
During the invasions above noticed, nearly 1000 horses, cattle, sheep and swine were killed or driven away. The settlers at the German-Flats, by receiving timely notice of danger, with one single exception, fled into the neighboring forts and escaped the tomahawk. The loss of so many dwellings, with most of their furniture, and barns well filled with the recompense of the hus- bandman's toils, must have been a most serious one to this district.
Capt. Walter Butler was a son of Col. John Butler, a justice of
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the king's court for Tryon county, who resided, at the commence- ment of the war, about a mile from the ancient village of Caugh- nawaga. He went with the royalists who left the county in 1775, to Canada. In the summer of 1778, he returned to the Mohawk valley-was arrested, and confined in the Albany jail. Under the pretence of ill health he was removed to a private dwelling, from which, aided by treachery, he escaped. Burning with re- venge for his imprisonment, on his arrival in Canada he obtained command of a part of his father's regiment of tories called But- ler's Rangers ; and with them directed his steps towards the fron- tier settlements of New York. On his way he met Brant return- ing to Canada from his Mohawk river expedition, who reluctantly joined him in his enterprise. Their united forces were 500 In- dians, and 200 tories, worse than Indians. On the morning of Nov. 11th, they surprised Cherry-Valley, killing 32 of the in- habitants and 16 continental soldiers, among whom was Col. Al- den, the imprudent commander of the garrison, who is said to have been a man of intemperate habits. Nearly all the dwellings and barns in the settlement-just filled with an abundant harvest, were burned, and-
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