USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 34
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
Leek had not had time to reload his piece, before the enemy appeared in sight. The scout fled, hotly pursued by a party of In- dians, who passed their dying comrade without halting. Hoever had to drop his knapsack, containing some valuable articles, to outrun his pursuers, which he afterwards recovered, the enemy supposing it contained nothing more than a soldier's luncheon. They were so closely followed that they were separated, Leek fly- ing towards the fort, while Hoever and Winne were driven into the woods, in an opposite direction. The two latter afterwards
375
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
saw, from a place of concealment near the Schoharie, in the pre- sent town of Blenheim, their foes pass up the river with their pri- soners and plunder. Leek reached the fort in safety, after a race of nine or ten miles, but not enough in advance of his pursuers, to have a seasonable alarm given to warn the citizens of impending danger. The single discharge of a cannon was the usual signal ; if the discharge was repeated, it was considered hazardous to ap- proach the fort, while a third successive discharge served to as- sure the citizen that he could not possibly reach the fort, without encountering the enemy.
The invaders, consisting of seventy-three Indians, almost naked, and five tories-Benjamin Beacraft, Frederick Sager, Walter Al- let, one Thompson, and a mulatto, commanded by Capt. Brant, approached Vrooman's Land in the vicinity of the Upper fort, about ten o'clock in the morning. They entered the valley on the west side of the river, above the Onistagrawa in three places; one party coming down from the mountain near the present resi- dence of Charles Watson : another near that of Jacob Haines, then the residence of Capt. Tunis Vrooman; and the third near the dwelling of Harmanus Vrooman, at that time the residence of Col. Peter Vrooman, who chanced to be with his family, in the Mid- dle fort.
Capt. Hager, had gone on the morning of that day, to his farm, attended by a small guard, to draw in some hay nearly seven miles distant from the Upper fort, the command of which then de- volved on Tunis Vrooman, captain of the associate exempts. Al- though the citizens of Schoharie had huts at the several forts where they usually lodged nights, and where their clothing and most valuable effects were kept during the summer, the female part of many families were in the daily habit of visiting their dwellings to do certain kinds of work, while their husbands were engaged in securing their crops. On the morning of the day in question, Capt. Vrooman also returned home to secure wheat, ac- companied by his family, his wife to do her week's washing. The command of the garrison next belonged to Ephraim Vroo- man, a lieutenant under Capt. Hager, but as he went to his farm
25
376
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
soon after Capt. Vrooman left, it finally devolved on Lieut. Wil- liam Harper, who had not a dozen men with him in the fort. The wife of Lieut. Vrooman also returned home to do her washing .*
Capt. Vrooman, who had drawn one load of wheat to a bar- rack before breakfast, arose on that morning with a presentiment that some disastrous event was about to happen, which he could not drive from his mind ; and he expressed his forebodings at the breakfast-table. Four rifle-men called at his house in the morn- ing and took breakfast with him, but returned to the fort soon af- ter, to attend the roll-call. Capt. Vrooman's family consisted of himself, wife, four sons, John, Barney, Tunis and Peter, and two slaves, a male and female. After breakfast, Capt. Vrooman and his sons drew another load of wheat to the barrack : and while it was unloading, he stopped repeatedly to look out towards the sur- rounding hills. The grain had not all been pitched from the wag- on, before his worst fears were realized, and he beheld descend- ing upon the flats near, a party of hostile savages. He descend- ed from the barrack, not far from which he was tomahawked, scalped, and had his throat cut by a Schoharie Indian named John : who stood upon his shoulders while tearing off his scalp.
Many of the old Dutch dwellings in Schoharie (the outside doors of which were usually made in two parts, so that the lower half of the passage could be closed while the upper remained open,) had a kitchen detached from them : and such was that of Capt. Vrooman. His wife was washing in a narrow passage be- tween the buildings, where she was surprised and stricken down. After the first blow from a tomahawk, she remained standing, but a second blow laid her dead at the feet of an Indian, who also scalped her. The house was then plundered and set on fire, as was the barn, barracks of grain, hay, &c .; and the three oldest boys, with the blacks, made captives. Peter, who fled on the first alarm and concealed himself in some bushes, would probably have escaped the notice of the enemy, had not one of the blacks
. Mrs. Vrooman said to her friends as she left the fort, "This is the last morning I intend to go to my house to work." Her words were truly pro- phetic-Andrew Loucks.
377
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
made known his place of concealment : he was then captured and taken along a short distance, but crying to return, he ran to a fence, to which he was pursued by the tory Beacraft, who caught him, and placing his legs between his own, bent him back and cut his throat ; after which, he scalped and hung him across the fence .* Vrooman's horses were unharnessed and given to the boys to hold, as were several more, while the Indians were plun- dering, killing cattle and other animals, and burning buildings. While the Indians were shooting hogs in the pen, a ball went through it and lodged in the calf of John's leg; which instantly brought him to the ground : the horses then ran towards the river, and two of them were not recaptured.
The party which entered the valley at the dwelling of Colonel Vrooman, were led by Brant in person, who hoped to surprise a rebel colonel; but the services of that brave man were to be spared to his country. His family were also at the Middle fort.t From the dwelling of Col. Vrooman, which was a good brick tenement, and to which was applied the torch of destruction, Seth's Henry (with whom the reader has some acquaintance, ) led several of the enemy to the dwelling of Lieut. Vrooman ; which stood where Peter Kneiskern now lives. His family consisted of himself, wife Christina, sons Bartholomew and Josias E., and
. Of the murder of this Vrooman boy, Beacraft took occasion repeatedly to boast, in the presence of the prisoners, while on his way to Canada ; as also he did on several subsequent occasions : and yet he had the impudence to return, after the war closed, to Schoharie. His visit becoming known, a parly of about a dozen whigs one evening surrounded the house he was in, gear where the bridge in Blenhein now stands, and leading him from it into a grove near, they stripped and bound him to a sapling ; and then inflicted fifty lashes, with hickory gads, upon his bare back, telling him, at intervals of every ten, for what particular offence they were given. He was then un- bound, and given his life on condition that he would instantly leave that val- ley, and never more pollute its soil with his presence. He expressed his gratitude that his life was spared, left the settlement and was never afterwards heard from by the citizens of Schoharie .- Captivity of Patchin, corroborated.
t From what has appeared in several publications, a belief has gone abroad that Col. Vrooman was a cowardly, weak man. The impression is very erroneous, he was far otherwise, as the author has had indubitable ard repeated evidence.
378
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
daughters Janett (four years old,) and Christina, (an infant,) two Germans, Creshiboom and Hoffman, (captured at Burgoyne's sur- render,) and several slaves : the latter, however, were at work near the river and escaped. On hearing the alarm, Vrooman ran to his house, caught up his infant child and fled into the corn-field, between his dwelling and the Onistagrawa, followed by his wife leading her little daughter; said to have had long and beautiful hair for a child. He seated himself against the trunk of a large apple tree, and his wife was concealed a few rods from him in the thrifty corn. The road is now laid between the orchard and mountain, but at the period of which I speak, it passed over the flats east of the dwelling. His family would, no doubt, have re- mained undiscovered, had Mrs. Vrooman continued silent ; but not knowing where her husband was, and becoming alarmed, she rose up and called to him in Low Dutch-" Ephraim, Ephraim, where are you : have you got the child ?" The words were scarcely uttered, when a bullet from the rifle of Seth's Henry pierced her body. When struggling upon the ground, he ad- dressed her in the Dutch tongue, as follows: "Now say-what these Indian dogs do here?"* He then tomahawked and scalped her.
While Seth's Henry was killing and scalping Mrs. Vrooman, the tory Beacraft killed her little daughter with a stone, and drew off her scalp : in the mean time a powerful Indian directed by her call to her husband's place of concealment, approached him and thrust a spear at his body, which he parried, and the infant in his arms smiled. Another pass was made, was parried, and the child again smiled. At the third blow of the spear, which was also warded off, the little innocent, then only five months old, laughed aloud at the supposed sport ; which awakened the sympathy of
· This Indian had held a grudge against Mrs. Vrooman for many years. She was a Swart before marriage ; at which time, and just after the ceremo- ny was performed, she entered the kitchen of her father's dwelling, and see- ing several young Indians there, she imprudently asked a by stander, in Dutch, what do these Indian dogs do here ? He remembered the expression, and his resentment led him directly to her residence, to revenge the insult .- Mis. Van Slyck.
379
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
the savage, and he made Vrooman a prisoner. His sons and the Germans named, were also captured.
A.V.L.
GRACS. S.
THE ONISTAGRAWA AND SCENE BENEATH IT.
Upon the top of this mountain (called by some Vrooman's Nose) which af- forded a fine prospect of the valley, the enemy were often secreted to watch for exposed citizens.
John Vrooman, who dwelt where Bartholomew Vrooman now lives, was captured, as were his wife and children. His house was set on fire but put out. Adam A. Vrooman, who lived where Josias Vrooman now does, fled to the upper fort, three-fourths of a mile distant, after being twice fired upon by the enemy. He had a pistol, and when the Indians gained upon him he presented it and they would fall back, but renewed the chase when he set forward. He was pursued until protected by the fort. On his arrival he was asked how he had escaped : his answer was, " I pulled foot." From that day to his death he was called Pull Foot Vrooman. His wife was made a prisoner.
380
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
Simon Vrooman, who resided where Adam P. Vrooman now does, was taken prisoner, as were his wife and son Jacob, a boy three years old. John Daly, aged over sixty, Thomas Meriness, and James Turner, young men, Abbey Eliza Stowits, a girl of seventeen summers, the wife of Philip Hoever, the widow of Cor- nelius Vrooman, and several slaves not mentioned, were also cap- tured in Vrooman's Land, making the number of prisoners, in all, about thirty. The five persons mentioned, were all that were killed at this time. Brant might easily have taken the Upper fort, had he known how feebly it was garrisoned.
Abraham Vrooman, who happened to be in Vrooman's Land with his wagon, on which was a hay-rack, when the alarm was given, drove down through the valley and picked up several of the citizens. On arriving at the residence of Judge Swart, who lived in the lower end of the settlement, he reined up and called to Swart's wife, then at an oven a little distance from the house- " Cornelia, jump into my wagon, the Indians are upon us !" She ran into the house, snatched up her infant child* from the cradle, returned, and with her husband bounded into the wagon, which started forward just before the enemy, tomahawk in hand, reached their dwelling. Vrooman had a powerful team, and did not stop to open the gates which then obstructed the highway, but drove directly against them, forcing them open. Passing under an ap- ple tree, the rack on his wagon struck a limb, which sent it back against his head, causing the blood to flow freely. He drove to the Middle fort, which was also feebly garrisoned.
The destructives burnt at this place nine dwellings and the fur- niture they contained, with their barns and barracks, which were mostly filled with an abundant harvest. Ninety good horses were also driven, with their owners, into captivity. Large slices of meat were cut from the carcases of the cattle and hogs, strewed along the valley, and hung across the backs of some of the horses, to serve as provisions for the party on their way to Canada. Among
. The child thus seasonably rescued, is now the wife of David Swart, of Shelby, Orleans county, New York.
381
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
the plunder was a noble stud- horse, belonging to Judge Swart, and as the Indians were afraid of him, he was given young Tunis Vrooman to ride, who rode him all the way to Canada. His having the care of this horse caused the enemy to treat him kindly : and he was not compelled to run the gantlet.
Before Seth's Henry left the settlement, he placed his war club, which he believed was known to some of the citizens, in a con- spicuous place and purposely left it. Notched upon it were the evidences, as traced by the Indians on similar weapons, of thirty- five scalps and forty prisoners. No very pleasing record, as we may suppose, for the people of Schoharie, who knew that several of their own valuable citizens helped to swell the startling, though no doubt authentic record of the deeds of this crafty warrior.
On the arrival of Leek at the upper fort, after being so hotly pursued, John Hager, then at work on his father's place, hearing the alarm gun of the fort, mounted a horse, and rode up and in- formed Capt. Hager that the buildings were on fire in the valley below. The hay on his wagon, which was unloading in the barn, was quickly thrown off, and the few inhabitants of that vicinity were taken into it, driven into the woods, and concealed near Key- ser's kill. Henry Hager started with the wagon, when a favorite dog, that began to bark, was caught by him, and fearing it would betray the fugitives, he cut its throat with his pocket knife. Af- ter proceeding some distance from his house, having forgotten some article he intended to have taken with him, he returned and found it already occupied by the enemy, who made him their prisoner. He was nearly eighty years old; and as he was known to the enemy to be a firm whig-his sons (one a captain) and several of his grandsons all being in the rebel army-he was treated with marked severity.
The enemy, on leaving Vrooman's Land, proceeded with their booty and prisoners directly up the river. A grist-mill, owned by Adam Crysler, a tory captain, and standing on the Lower Brak- abeen creek, as called in old conveyances, which runs into the Schoharie near the residence of Benjamin Best, was sacked of the little flour it chanced to contain, and then set on fire-the tories,
382
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
with the enemy, declaring that the whigs of Vrooman's Land should not be longer benefited by said mill. Several fragments of the mill-stone used in this mill, which was an Esopus conglomerate, have been recovered from the creek since 1841, and deposited in the cabinets of geologists. The Indians, on their arrival in that part of Brakabeen, burned all of Captain Hager's buildings, and Henry Hager's barn. Henry Mattice and Adam Brown, tories, accompanied the enemy from Brakabeen of their own accord.
I have said that the families of Capt. Hager and his father were concealed at Keyser's kill. The waggon which carried them from their homes was left in one place, the horses in another, and the women and children were sheltered beneath a rock in a ravine of the mountain stream before named. After the women and chil- dren were disposed of, Capt. Hager, taking with him his brother, Lawrence Bouck, Jacob Thomas, and several others who composed the guard mentioned, proceeded from Keyser's kill with due cau- tion, to ascertain if the Upper fort had been capturcd. It was nearly noon when Brant left the vicinity of that fort, and nearly night when its commandant and his men reached it. On the fol- lowing day the party concealed near Keyser's kill, were conveyed to the fort.
The 10th day of August, 1780, was one of sadness and mourn- ing for the citizens of Vrooman's Land, some of whom had lost near relatives among the slain, and all, among the captives, either relatives or valued friends ; while the destruction of property to individuals was a loss, especially at that season of the year, when too late to grow sustenance for their families, to be most keenly felt and deplorcd. The burial of the dead took place the day af- ter their massacre, on the farm of John Fceck, near the fort. The bodies of Capt. Vrooman, his wife and son, were deposited in one grave, and that of Mrs. Ephraim Vrooman and her daughter, in another. The remains of the former body presented a most hor- rid appearance. Left by her murderers between the burning build- ings, her flesh was partly consumed, exposing her entrails.
When the dead body of Mrs. Ephraim Vrooman was first dis- covered in the corn-field, it was evident that she had partially re-
383
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
covered, and had vainly endeavored to staunch the flowing blood from the wound in her breast, first with her cap or some portion of her dress, and afterwards with earth, having dug quite a hole in the ground. This woman, as one of her sons assured the wri- ter, had had a presentiment for nearly three years that she was to be shot. She fancied she felt a cold substance like lead passing through her body, from the back to the breast, and often the same sensation returned. She frequently expressed her fears in the fa- mily that she was to be shot, and singular as the coincidence may appear, when she was shot, the ball passed through her body where she had so long imagined it would. Nearly three years before her death, in the month of November, several of their ap- ple trees were observed to be in blossom, which freak of nature the superstitious also considered an unfavorable omen. After her death those circumstances were often discussed by her relatives.
The destroyers of Vrooman's Land proceeded on the afternoon of the same day about fifteen miles, and encamped for the night. The scalps of the slain were stretched upon hoops, and dried in the presence of the relative prisoners, the oldest of whom were all bound nights. As the party were proceeding along the east shore of the Schoharie, in the afternoon of the first day, after journeying some six miles, Brant permitted the wife of John Vroo- man, with her own infant, and that taken with Ephraim Vroo- man, to return back to the settlement. The reader may desire to know the fate of this child, whose infant smiles had saved its father's life. Its inother being already dead, it was necessarily weaned, but at too tender an age, and three months after, it sick- ened and died. On the morning after the massacre, the line of march was again resumed, and when about half way from the Patchin place to Harpersfield, Brant yielded to the repeated im- portunities of several of his female captives, and perhaps the sea- sonable interference of several tory friends living near, and per- mitted all of them, (except Mrs. Simon Vrooman,) with several male children-nearly one half the whole number of prisoners- to return to Schoharie. Brant led the liberated captives aside nearly half a mile to a place of concealment, where he required
384
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
them to remain until night. The female prisoners, when captured, were plundered of their bonnets, neckerchiefs, beads, ear-rings, etc., which articles, of course, they did not recover. Word hav- ing been been sent to Schoharie that those prisoners had been li- berated, Maj. Thomas Ecker, Lieut. Harper, and Schoharie John, a friendly Indian, who lived at Middleburgh during the war, met them not far from where Mrs. Vrooman had been left the preced- ing afternoon, with several horses ; and placing three persons on a horse, they conveyed them to the Upper fort, where they arrived just at dusk.
On the evening of the second day, the journeying party reach- ed the Susquehanna. The prisoners were obliged to travel on foot, with the exception of Mrs. Vrooman, and the lad, Tunis Vrooman. The provisions on the journey were fresh meat after the first day, as they obtained but little flour, which was boiled into a pudding the first night. The meat taken from Schoharie was soon fly-blown, but when roasted in the coals it was feasted upon by the hungry prisoners. They progressed slowly, because they were obliged to hunt deer, and catch fish for food on their way, generally having enough to eat, such as it was. Fish they usually roasted whole in the coals, ate the flesh, and then threw the offal away. The parties that had been led by Brant and Qua- kock, a chief second in command, into Tryon county and the Schoharie settlements, assembled at Oquago, when several hun- dred of the enemy, with their prisoners, came together.
The prisoners again separated at Oquago, and proceeded by different routes to Canada. Josias E. Vrooman, who was among the prisoners, claimed by Seneca warriors, went with a party up the Chemung. In the Genesee valley he saw a stake planted in the ground, some five or six feet high, which was painted red and sharpened at the top, on which was resting a fleshless skull. The Indians told the prisoners it was the skull of Lieut. Boyd, who was killed in that vicinity the year before, and each of them was compelled to hold it. Whether the skull shown the Vrooman's Land prisoners was that of Lieut. Boyd, or some other prisoner who had shared a similar fate, cannot now be known ; but as se-
385
AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
veral teeth were found with Boyd's and Parker's bones, when re- moved, there can remain no doubt but that the head of Parker, which was identified by an old scar, was buried by his comrades. -- C. Metcalf, Esq.
While on their journey, Lieut. Vrooman was once led out be- tween two Indians-one armed with a tomahawk and the other a knife-to be murdered. Standing on a log which lay across a marsh or mire between the Indians, he addressed them in their own dialect, and finally made his peace with them for some tri- fling offence, and his life was spared. The old patriot Hager was cruelly treated all the way, and was several times struck upon the head with the flat side of a tomahawk.
I have said that John, a son of Capt. Vrooman, was wounded by the enemy while holding his father's horses. He was com- pelled to travel on foot, and as no attention had been paid to the wound, it was soon filled with maggots, becoming exceedingly painful. The Indians began to talk of killing him, if he failed to keep up with them. His namesake, who was his uncle, then assumed the care of him, and dressed his wound with tobacco leaves; when it gained a healthy appearance, and he was greatly relieved. While going through the Tonawanda swamp, the ball worked out and the wound soon after healed.
On arriving in the Genesee valley, Mrs. Vrooman, then quite ill, was left there. Adam Vroomnan, a brother of her's, from be- low the Helleberg, on hearing of her captivity, paid her ransom. Some of the prisoners were twenty-two days on their journey. On arriving at the Indian settlements, they were compelled to run the gantlet ; when some of them were seriously injured. A girl twelve or fourteen years old, who was among the prisoners made in the Mohawk valley, was nearly killed ; and Simon Vrooman and John Daly were so badly hurt, that they both died soon after arriving at their journey's end. Vrooman's widow afterwards married a man named Markell, in Canada, and remained there. Meriness was taken to Quebec, and while there, attempted, with several other prisoners to blow up the magazine. The design was discovered, and the conspirators were nearly whipped to
386
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
death-two of them did die ; but Meriness finally recovered. Ne- gro captives were seldom bound while on their way to Canada, nor were they compelled to run the gantlet. They hardly ever returned to the States to remain, generally adopting the Indian's life. A negro belonging to Isaac Vrooman, usually called Tom Vroomån, who was taken to Canada at this time, became a wait- er to Sir John Johnson, and in that capacity, passed through the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys in the following October. He was, however, captured by Joseph Naylor, an American soldier, near Fort Plain, and with him an elegant horse belonging to his new master, with saddle, holsters and valise.
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.