USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 31
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A large body of the enemy having been seen in the latter part of March, in the vicinity of Putman's creek, as stated in a letter from Col. Van Schaick, of Albany, to Col. Fisher, the former re- commended sending a reasonable force to the Sacandaga block- house. Col. Fisher accordingly despatched to that post one-third of his regiment, and ordered Lieut. Col. Veeder to repair thither, and take the command. The remainder of the regiment was or- dered out, and stationed at Fort Johnson and other commanding points near the Mohawk, until the 1st of April, and then dispers-
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ed. The enemy, however, had lingered about the settlements, as the following letter will show :
Caughnawaga, 3d April, 1780.
" Sir-On Tuesday night last, the block-house [at Sacandaga] was attacked by a scouting party of Indians, to the number of se- ven, as near as could be ascertained, [proved to be five] and en- deavored to set it on fire in two different places, which they would have effected had it not been for the activity of one brave man who lived there, named Solomon Woodworth, who, although alone, sal- lied out and extinguished the fire. Whilst he was doing it, five shots were fired at him, one of which only touched him. On his return into the house he fired at them, one of whom he wounded in the thigh, on which the rest fled and took the wounded Indian with them. The reason of the block-house being without men at that time, was through the neglect of one of the militia officers, which I have taken notice of already in a particular manner. I immediately sent out a party after them, who returned without success for the want of snow shoes. Seven volunteers [six, as sta- ted in a subsequent letter] turned out on last Thursday, and came up with them on Saturday about 12 o'clock, when five of the In- dians fired upon my men, and the whole missed, upon which the brave volunteers run up and fired upon them with buck-shot and wounded every one of them, took, and killed the whole, and brought in all their packs and guns without ever receiving the least hurt. This intelligence I just received from Col. Veeder, by express from the block-house, where he commands sixty men.
" You'll please order up some rum and ammunition for the use of my regiment of militia, being very necessary as the men are daily scouting. Your commands at any time shall be punctually obeyed, by
" Your most humble servant, "FREDERICK FISHER, Colonel.
" Col. Goshen Van Schaick-sent by express."
In a letter from Col. Fisher to Col. Van Schaick, dated April 13th, the names of the volunteers in the above enterprise are gi- ven, and are as follows : Solomon Woodworth, John Eikler, Pe- ter Pruyn, David Putman, Rulf Vores, and Joseph Mayall. The Indians were overtaken and killed about forty miles north of Sa- candaga.
At this period of the war, Marcus Bellinger was supervisor, and William Dietz, a Justice of the Peace for Schoharie. Agreeable to an act of Congress, passed Feb. 12, 1780, assessors were ap- pointed in the frontier districts to ascertain, as nearly as possible,
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how much grain each family might need for its consumption, that the remainder of the stock might be in readiness for their less pro- vident neighbors or the army. Bellinger gave written certificates to the requisite quantity for each family in his district, and Dietz gave written permits to such as had not a supply, to draw one.
The following particulars were narrated to the author in 1841, by Moses Nelson, then a resident of Otsego county. He stated, that on the morning Cherry-Valley was destroyed, in the fall of 1778, he, then in his 14th year, was at the fort; that when the alarm was given of the enemy's approach, he ran home-some half a mile distant-and, with his mother, then a widow with whom he was living, fled to Lady hill, east of the village; where they remained concealed until the enemy had left. Nelson had four half-brothers at the time, older than himself, who were all in the service of their country. In the month of March following, he enlisted in the bateau service, for a term of ten months, on the Hudson river, rendezvousing at Fishkill. After the time of his enlistment expired, he again returned to Cherry-Valley, and was living with his mother at that place, where a few daring spirits still continued their residence, when, on the 24th of April, 1780, a party of seventy-nine hostile Indians and two tories, broke in upon the settlement. One of the latter, named Bowman, a former resident of the Mohawk valley, was the leader of the band. They had previously been to the vicinity of the Mohawk, where they had made several prisoners ; and passing along Bowman's creek-called at its outlet the Canajoharie creek-they captured several more, among whom were two persons named Young. This party killed eight individuals and took fourteen prisoners in this expedition, and among the former was the mother of my in- formant, whose bloody scalp he was compelled to see torn off, and borne off as a trophy.
This band of furies consisted of warriors from various tribes ; and among the number were two Stockbridge Indians, one of whom claimed Nelson as his prisoner. The route pursued by the enemy, after completing the work of destruction at that doomed place, was down the Cherry-Valley creek : and from Otsego lake,
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down the Susquehanna to the Tioga, and thence westward via the Genesee flats to Niagara.
The enemy while returning to Canada, separated into small parties, the better to procure the means of subsistence. The two Stockbridge Indians with whom he journeyed, made a canoe from a bass-wood tree, in which, with their prisoner, they floated down the Susquehanna. At Indian villages, the party usually assem- bled. At two of those, Nelson had to run the gantlet, but he escaped with little injury. One of the prisoners, an aged man, who ran with a heavy pack on his back, was nearly killed. When Nelson was about to run, his master, who was called Capt. Da- vid, took off his pack to give him a fair chance for his life; and on one accasion placed himself at the entrance of a wigwam to which the prisonesrs were to flee, to witness the feat. Owing to his fleetness, he was not much injured. Said his master as he approached the goal, you did run well. Many of the party-and among the number was his master David, tarried nearly two weeks to plant corn, in the Genesee valley-at which time he was sent forward with David's brother to Niagara, where he ar- rived after a journey of eighteen days from his captivity.
As one of the Stockbridge Indians was an excellent hunter, Nelson did not suffer for the want of provisions, such as they were. The party, on their start from Cherry-Valley, took along several hogs and sheep, which were killed and then roasted whole, after burning off the hair and wool. On his arrival at Niagara, Nel- son was told by his master that he was adopted as an Indian, and was at liberty to hunt, fish, or enlist into the British service. Not long after this he was sold into the forester service of the enemy, the duties of which were "to procure wood, water, &c., for the garrison, and do the boating ;" being attached to what was called the Indian department. He was sent on one occasion with a party to Buffalo. He was for a while, with several other captives whose situation was like his own, in the employ of Col. John Butler. More than a year of his captivity was spent in the vici- nity of Niagara.
In the spring of 1782, when the enemy set about rebuilding
23
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Fort Oswego, three officers, Capt. Nellis, Lieut. James Hare, and Ensign Robert Nellis, a son of the captain, all of the forester ser- vice, had charge of the Indians there employed. Nelson and two other lads, also prisoners, accompanied this party, which was con- veyed in a sloop, as waiters. About one hundred persons were employed in rebuilding this fortress, which occupied most of the season. The winter following, Nelson remained at this fort, and was in it when Col. Willet advanced with a body of troops in Feb- ruary, 1783, with the intention of taking it by surprise. The en- terprise is said to have proved abortive in consequence of Col Willet's guide, who was an Oneida Indian, having lost his way in the night when within only a few miles of the fort. The men were illy provided for their return-certain victory having been anticipated, and their sufferings were, in consequence, very severe. This enterprise was undertaken, says Col. Stone, agreeably to the orders of Gen. Washington ; but it certainly added no laurels to the chaplet of the brave Willet.
Col. Willett, possibly, may not have known that Fort Oswego had been so strongly fitted up the preceding year, and conse- quently the difficulties he had to encounter before its capture- be that as it may, the probability is, that had the attack been made, the impossibility of scaling the walls, would have frustrated the design, with the loss of many brave men. The fort was surrounded by a deep moat, in the centre of which were planted heavy pick- ets. From the lower part of the walls projected downward and outward, another row of pickets. A draw-bridge enabled the in- mates to pass out and in, which was drawn up and secured to the wall every night, and the corners were built out so that mounted cannon commanded the trenches. Two of Willett's men, badly frozen, entered the fort in the morning, surrendering themselves prisoners, from whom the garrison learned the object of the en- terprise. The ladders prepared by Willett to scale the walls, were left on his return, and a party of British soldiers went and brought them in. The longest of them," said Nelson, " when pla- ced against the walls inside the pickets, reached only about two thirds of the way to the top." The post was strongly garrisoned,
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and it was the opinion of Mr. N. that the accident or treachery which misled the troops, was most providential, tending to save Col. Willett from defeat, and most of his men from certain death.
While Nelson was with the two Indians on his way from Cher- ry-Valley to Niagara, David, his owner, afterwards told him that the other Indian wanted to kill him. He said he replied to his brother-" You must first kill me, then you will have two scalps and be a big man." On their route to Canada, they passed the body of a white man, who had been killed by some other party.
Peace was proclaimed in the spring of 1783, and Nelson, with many other prisoners-none however, who were taken when he was-returned home via Ticonderoga and Fort Edward. Previ- ous to his return he visited Montreal, where he was paid for labor done in the British service the year before.
Several times in April, of this year, the Mohawk river settle- ments were alarmed by anticipated invasions, but those alarms died away and were not renewed until near the middle of May. The following correspondence addressed to " Col. Fisher, at Caughna- waga," gives the earliest reliable testimony of the enemy's ap- proach.
" Fort Paris, May 15th, 1780.
" Sir-I have intelligence which I believe is very certain, that the enemy are on their way, and will attack in four different places in this county within a few days. I hope you will exert yourself to discover them, and make every possible preparation to defeat their design.
" It is expected that they will come by the way of Sacandaga. " I am your hble servt.
" JACOB KLOCK, Col."
Bearing the same date, Col. Fisher received an anonymous let- ter written at Caughnawaga, stating that an invasion of the ene- my under Sir John Johnson was hourly expected, adding as a cor- roborating circumstance, that a number of his near neighbors, five of whom were named, had gone away the night before to join the invaders. The writer added, that he had written some days pre- vious what he suspected, and that the enemy would be very strong.
Among the Fisher papers on this subject I also find the following.
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Schenectada, 17th May, 1780.
" Dear Sir-Just this moment returned from Albany, Col. Van Schaick has requested of me to write to you, requesting you to send me by the bearer, Sergt. Carkeright, an account of all the persons that have gone to the enemy from your county, with their names, which request I wish you to comply with ; also let me know if any thing of the alarm has turned up.
" I am, dear sir, your friend,
" H. GLEN." " Col. VISGER."
Nothing more was heard of the enemy until Sunday night the 21st day of May, when Sir John Johnson, at the head of about five hundred troops, British, Indians and tories, entered the Johns- town settlements from the expected northern route. The objects of the invasion doubtless were, the recovery of property concealed on his leaving the country, the murder of certain whig partizans, the plunder of their dwellings, and the capture of several indi- viduals as prisoners : intending, by the execution of part of the enterprize, to terrify his former neighbors.
About midnight the destructives arrived in the north east part of the town, from which several of the tories had disappeared the day before, to meet and conduct their kindred spirits to the dwellings of their patriotic neighbors : for when Johnson was censured for the murder of those men, he replied that " their tory neighbors and not himself were blameable for those acts." A party of the enc- my proceeded directly to the house of Lodowick Putman, an hon- est Dutchman, living two miles and a half from the court house. Putman had three sons and two daughters. On the night the en- emy broke into his house, two of his sons were fortunately gone sparking a few miles distant. Old Mr. Putman, who was a whig of the times, and his son Aaron who was at home, were taken from their beds, murdered, and scalped. While the Indians were plundering the house and pulling down clothing from hooks along the wall, Mrs. Putman snatched several articles of female apparel, such as gowns, petticoats, &c. from the hands of a large Indian, telling him that such and such things she must and would have for her daughter. The fierce looking savage, whom few women. of the present day would care to meet, much less to contend with,
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offered some resistance to her gaining several garments, and they jerked each other about the room ; but seeing her determination to possess them, he finally yielded to her entreaties and prowess, and with a sullen " Umph!" let go his hold. After the enemy had been gone sometime from the house, Mrs. Putman and her daugh- ter Hannah, afterwards the wife of Jacob Shew, Esq., leaving the mangled remains of their murdered friends, proceeded to the Johns- town fort, where they arrived about sun-rise. The jail was pa- lisaded, and, with several block-houses built within the inclosure, constituted the Johnstown fort.
At this period, one of Putman's daughters was married to Ama- sa Stevens, also a whig, living in the neighborhood. While some of the enemy were at Putman's, another party approached the dwelling of Stevens, and forcing the doors and windows, entered it from different directions at the same instant. Poor Stevens was also dragged from his bed, and compelled to leave his house. Mrs. Stevens, in the act of leaving the bed, desired a stout savage, or a painted tory, as she afterwards supposed, not to allow the Indians to hurt her husband. He forced her back upon the bed with her terrified children, a boy, named after his grandfather, two and a half years old, and an infant daughter named Clarissa, tell- ing her she should not be hurt. A few rods from the house Ste- vens was murdered, scalped and hung upon the garden fence. Af- ter the enemy had left the dwelling, Mrs. Stevens looked out to see if she could discover any one about the premises. She had supposed her husband taken by them into captivity; but seeing in the uncertain star-light the almost naked form of a man leaning upon the fence, she readily imagined it to be that of her husband. In a tremulous voice she several times called " Amasa! Amasa !" but receiving no answer she ran to the fence. God only knows what her mental agony was, on arriving there and finding her hus- band stiffening in death. With almost supernatural strength she took down the body and bore it into the dwelling, (which, with Putman's, had been spared the incendiary torch from motives of policy,) and depositing it, sprinkled with the scalding tears of blighted affection, she snatched the two pledges of her early love
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and sought safety in flight to the fort ; where she found her sur- viving relatives.
The amorous Putman brothers set out on their return home to- wards day-light, from what is now called Sammons' Hollow, and discovering the light of the burning buildings at Tribes' Hill, they hastily directed their steps to the fort, meeting at the gate-way their mourning relatives.
Stevens had just finished planting when murdered, and the next week purposed to have journeyed eastward with his family. The Putmans were killed on the farm now owned and occupied by Col. Archibald McIntyre. They were both buried in one grave in a single rough box ; and while their neighbors were perform- ing the act of burial, they were once alarmed by the supposed ap- proach of the enemy and left the grave, but soon returned and filled it .- Clarissa, relict of Joseph Leach, and daughter of Amasa Stevens.
Dividing his forces, Col. Johnson sent part of them, mostly In- dians and tories, to Tribes' Hill; under the direction, as believed, of Henry and William Bowen, two brothers who had formerly lived in that vicinity and removed with the Johnsons to Canada. These destructives were to fall upon the Mohawk river settlements at the Hill, and proceed up its flats, while Johnson led the remain- der in person by a western route to Caughnawaga, the appointed place for them to unite. The Bowens led their followers through Albany Bush, a tory settlement in the eastern part of the town, where, of course, no one was molested, and directed their steps to the dwelling of Capt. Garret Putman, a noted whig. Putman, who had a son named Victor, also a whig, had been ordered to Fort Hunter but a few days before, and had removed his family thither ; renting his house to William Gault, an old English gar- dener who had resided in Cherry-Valley before its destruction, and Thomas Plateau, also an Englishman. Without knowing that the Putman house had changed occupants, the enemy surrounded it, forced an entrance, and tomahawked and scalped its inmates. The house was then pillaged and set on fire, and its plunderers knew not until next day, that they had obtained the scalps of
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two tories. In the morning, Gault, who was near eighty years old, was discovered alive outside the dwelling, and was taken across the river to Fort Hunter, where his wounds were properly drest, but he soon after died.
Among the early settlers in the Mohawk valley was Harman Visscher, who died before the Revolution, leaving an aged widow, three sons, Frederick a colonel* of militia, John a captain, and Harman; and two sisters, Margaret and Rebecca. Frederick the elder brother, who was born on the 22d of February, 1741; was married and resided a little distance below the paternal dwelling, which stood nearly on the site of the present residence of the Hon. Jesse D. De Graff. The other Fisher brothers were unmarried, and, with their mother and sisters, lived at the home- stead. The Fisher family was one of much influence, and warm- ly advocated the popular cause. The following anecdote will show the position of the elder brother, at an early period of the contest. Soon after the difficulties commenced at Boston, a meet- ing of the citizens along the Mohawk valley was called at Tribes' Hill, on which occasion Col. John Butler was present, and harrangued the multitude on the duties of subjects to their sovereign, &c., and then proposed a test for his hearers, some three hundred in number. Having formed a line, he desired those who were willing to oppose the king, to remain standing, and those who favored royal pretensions to advanee a few paces forward. The result was, Frederick Fisher stood alone, as the only avowed opposer of the British government .- David, his son.
A few days before the invasion of Johnson, a bateau from Schenectada was seen opposite Col. Fisher's, taking in his most valuable effects; and his neighbors, living along the south side of the river, among whom was Nicholas Quackenboss, crossed over to learn the cause of his removal. On his arrival, the neighbor enquired of Col. Fisher if an enemy was expected, that
. Some of the family write this name Visscher, and others Fisher. The original Dutch name was Visger. Harman Visscher's son Frederick, the colonel, wrote his name Fisher until just before his death, at which time he desired his children to spell the name as in the context. Fisher is the Eng. lish of Visscher.
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he was thus preparing to move his family and effects? The colonel replied that he knew of no hostile movement unknown to his neighbors. After a little conversation of the kind, and when about to recross the river, said Quackenboss, clenching his fist in a threatening manner and addressing him playfully in Low Dutch, " Ah, colonel ! if you know something of the enemy and don't let us know it, I hope you'll be the first one scalped !" Having sent his family to Schenectada, Col. Fisher went to the homestead, thinking himself and brothers would be the better able to defend themselves, if attacked by an enemy.
On Sunday evening, about eight o'clock, Captain Walter Vrooman, of Guilderland, arrived at the Fisher dwelling with a company of eighty men, on his way to the Johntown fort. He had intended to quarter his men over night at Fisher's, for their own comfort and the safety of the family ; but the colonel, ob- serving that himself and brothers could probably defend the house if attacked, forwarded the troops to Johntown, knowing that that place was feebly garrisoned.
After the murder of Gault and Plateau, the enemy proceeded up the river to the dwelling of Capt. Henry Hansen, which stood where John Fisher now resides .* On reaching the dwelling of Hansen, who was an American captain, the enemy forced an en- trance-and taking him from his bed they murdered and scalped him. His sons, Victor and John I., then at home were captured. Margaret, a daughter, was hurried out of the house by an Indian, who told her it was on fire. She asked him to aid her in carry- ing out the bed on which she had been sleeping, and he did so. Depositing it in an old Indian hut near by, and learning that her mother was still in the burning building, finding access through the door too dangerous, she broke a window in her room and
* Henry Hansen was a son of Nicholas Hansen, who with his brother Hendrick, took two patents, each for one thousand acres of land along the north side of the Mohawk, above Tribes' Hill. The patents were executed by Gov. Hunter, and dated July 12, 1713. The brothers settled on those lands soon after, and Henry Hansen was the first white child born on the north side of the Mohawk west of Fort Hunter, and east of the German settlements, many miles above.
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called to her. As may be supposed, the old lady was greatly terrified and bewildered at first ; but recovering, she groped her way to the window, and was helped out by her daughter, who assisted her to the hut-from whence, after day light she was conveyed to a place of safety. The enemy made no female scalps or captives at this time, and offered indignities to but few of the sex. In the garret of Hansen's dwelling was a keg of powder, which exploded with terrific effect.
Proceeding west along the river, the enemy next halted at the dwelling of Barney Hansen, which stood where Benj. R. Jenkins now lives. Hansen, who chanced to be from home, had a son about ten years of age, who was then going to school at Fort Hunter. On Saturday evening preceding the invasion, Peter, a son of Cornelius Putman, of Cu-daugh-ri-ty,* about the same age as young Hansen, went home with the latter, crossing the river in a boat, to tarry with him over Sunday. The lads slept in a bunk, which, on retiring to rest on Sunday night, was drawn before the outside door ; and the first intimation the family had of the ene- my's proximity, was their heavy blows npon the door with an axe, just before daylight, sending the splinter's upon the boys' bed, cau- sing them to bury their heads beneath the bedding. An entrance was quickly forced, and the house plundered. The boys were led } out by two Indians, and claimed as prisoners, but owing to the ear- nest entreaties of Mrs. Hansen that they might be left, a British officer interfered, saying that they were too young to endure the journey : they were then liberated. This house was built and owned by Joseph Clement, a tory, who was supposed to have been present ; consequently, it was not burned.
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