USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 45
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Of Gen. Herkimer, it may be well here to remark, that he was much better informed thaa many suppose. Says the manuscript of Yates, " I claim not for the General, that he was versed in Latin and Greek, or in the philosophy of the German schools; but I claim for him, that no German emigrant was bet. ter read in the history of the Protestant reformation, and in the philosophy of the Bible, than General Herkimer." I may add, in truth, he possessed largely those sterling qualities, good common sense, sympathy, honor, and a spirit of bravery in a just cause, unrivalled by that of a Montgomery or De Kalb.
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down they all concluded to tarry with the miller over night, ex- cept Bryce, who resolved to return as far as Dietz's, three miles toward his home, and stay with his brother. He arrived just at twilight near the house, when an Indian sprang from a covert by the road-side, and seized his bridle-reins. A short time before his arrival, the family had been led out of the house to be murdered, agreeable to a savage custom, perhaps that their mangled remains may terrify surviving friends ; and as the horse, with Robert still on him, was led near the house, the lad discovered the disfigured bodies of all the family, except Capt. Dietz and his own brother, who were tied to a tree near by.
The enemy, after plundering the dwelling of such articles as they desired, set it on fire, and, with the outbuildings, it was soon reduced to ashes. Securing the scalps of the eight bleeding vic- tims, or sixty-four dollars worth of American blood in an Eng- lish market-after placing their plunder on a number of horses belonging to the Dietzes, and that of young Bryce, on which his grist was retained for food-they started forward on their tedious journey to Canada. They traveled about two miles and encamped for the night, distant from the paternal house of the Bryce boys about a mile. Little did their parents dream of the fate and fu- ture prospects of their sons. By dawn of day next morning, the journey was resumed. The Indians desired to take the southern route to Niagara, and hoped to gain the sources of the Schoharie without molestation. Tidings of the untimely fate of this fami- lygwere next day communicated to the Schoharie forts, and a body of troops was dispatched by Col. Vrooman in pursuit.
Lieut. John Jost Dietz, a relative of the family, who was sent from the Lower fort with a party to bury the dead, met them in a wagon owned by a neighbor. The bodies had been mutilated by hogs, and presented a most revolting appearance. They were all deposited in one grave, in a yard attached to a small Reformed Dutch church, then standing not far distant from the place of massacre.
Suspecting the route the invaders would take, the Americans proceeded up the river, and towards night, on the second day af-
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ter the massacre, fell in with and fired upon them near the head waters of the Schoharie. Several of the Indians were wounded, but they all effected their escape with their prisoners. They however abandoned their horses and plunder at the onset, which were restored to the surviving friends of the family. The In- dian who claimed ownership to the person of Robert Bryce, was badly wounded in one leg by the fire of the Schoharie troops, and being unable to keep up with the party, journeyed with his pri- soner and two of his partizans at a much slower pace. On arriv- ing at the Indian settlements in western New York, Robert was initiated into the cruel mysteries of gantlet-running : receiving a lesson in which school, on one occasion, nearly cost him his life. He was taken to Nine Mile Landing on Lake Ontario ; sold to a a Scotchman, who was the captain of a sloop, for fifteen dollars ; was removed to Detroit, from whence he was liberated and re- turned home, after the proclamation of peace, in company with his brother and several hundred prisoners liberated at the same time.
The treatment of Capt. Dietz and the elder Bryce was more severe than that of Robert. Their party were greatly straight- ened for food on their way, and for several days lived on winter- green, birch-bark, and, possibly, a few esculent roots and wild berries. On the Susquehanna river, near the mouth of the Una- dilla, a deer was shot, which providentially saved them from starv- ing. Their progress at this period was very slow, as they were compelled daily to spend much of their time in hunting food. They journeyed through the Chemung and Genesee valleys, and at villages, the prisoners were compelled to endure the running ordeal. Added to the stripes of his foes and the gnawings of hun- ger, Capt. Dietz suffered the most severe mental agony. He was not only doomed to see the blood-stained scalps of his honored parents, his bosom companion and four lovely children stretched in hoops to tan in the sun, as was the custom, but often to have them slapped in his face by the Indian who bore them, in the most insulting manner.
George Warner, who was captured the same season, informed
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the writer that he saw Capt. Dietz in his confinement at Niagara, and conversed with him. The latter appeared heart-stricken and in a decline, under which he sunk to the grave not long after. He told Capt. Warner (the latter was a military captain after the war) where a certain amount of money had been concealed near their dwelling. Capt. W. afterwards understood the treasure had been recovered .- Priest's narrative and Col. Wm. Dietz of Scho- harie, corroborated by others.
Early on the morning of July 4th, Adam Vrooman (a name- sake and cousin of "Pull Foot Vrooman," and son of Isaac Vrooman, who was killed the preceding fall,) went from the Up- per Schoharie fort, accompanied by Peter Feeck, (the man who discovered the rear of the British army on the morning of John- son's invasion,) to drive cattle to a pasture near the dwelling of the late Cornelius Vrooman. Feeck was driving the cattle as his companion went forward to open the gate ; and as the latter was in the act of so doing, he received several bullets from a party of seven Indians and tories concealed in ambush, and fell dead. Feeck fled, and although fired at by the enemy, he reached the fort, nearly a mile distant, in safety. On the same morning, Jo- seph Brown, who had left the Upper fort on the same errand as had Vrooman and Feeck, was captured by the same party and hurried off to Canada. A band of rangers left the fort on the re- turn of Feeck, and soon struck the trail of the enemy; but the latter having stolen a number of horses in the neighborhood, ef- fected their escape .- Mrs. Van Slyck and Josias E. Vrooman.
On the morning of July 26th, 1782, the tory captain, Adam Crysler, accompanied by his brother William, another tory named Peter Erkert, and twenty-two Indians, appeared in Foxes creek valley. They had tarried the preceding night, as was believed, at the dwelling of a tory in the vicinity, whose family and prop- erty were left unmolested. Early in the morning the destructives approached the house of Jacob Zimmer, which was one of the first stone dwellings erected in Schoharie county .*
*This house, situated a little distance from the hamlet called Gallupville, which dwelling has for many years past been owned and occupied by Theo.
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Jacob Zimmer, sen., was absent when the enemy arrived at his house, as was also his son Peter ; the latter, however, had not left the neighborhood. Crysler was sadly disappointed in not finding the elder Zimmer at home. His namesake was tomahawked and scalped in the presence of his wife and mother-two who could feel most keenly his loss. The women were not captured, and the enemy, after plundering the house, set it on fire, as also they did the barn, and then proceeded down the creek. The form- er was extinguished by the women, after the barn-burners had left, but the barn was reduced to ashes. Proceeding a little dis- tance from the house, the party met Peter Zimmer, and took him prisoner. Peter enquired of his captors if they had seen his broth .. er Jacob, and was answered that they had left him at home with the women, but did not tell him that the bloody trophy one of their number had secured for a British market, was the scalp of his near relative. A Hessian, who had entered New York as a sol- dier under Burgoyne, and who had chosen to desert and remain in the country, was at work for the Zimmers at the time of Crysler's invasion, and was also murdered, as his scalp would command eight dollars in Canada. Blood was said to have been visible on a stone beside the road where this poor Hessian was slain, for a great length of time afterwards.
The morning being unusually foggy, the light of Zimmer's house was not discovered by the citizens below, and as they had refrained from firing, their proximity was unsuspected.
At this period, Johannes Becker, one of the earliest German settlers on Foxes creek, was still living about two miles below Zimmer, and with or near him five sons, Joseph, major of militia, George, John, Jacob, and William; and one daughter named
bold Hilts, unfortunately took fire on the 9th day of March, 1843, and with most of its contents soon became a heap of ruins. Mr. Zimmer was a patri- ot, a man of influence, and well known in the country, having been associated as patentee with John Lawyer and others in the purchase and sale of exten- sive tracts of land ia Albany county. To secure such a prisioner (possibly one of the Schoharie council of safety at the time) was an object not to be overlooked by the tory chief ; he accordingly led his destructives to Zimmer's house. Mr. Zimmer had two sons, Jacob and Peter, living with him, who were young men grown-the former of whom had a wife also at his father's.
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Maria .* The three brothers, John, Jacob, and William Becker, went on the morning of Crysler's invasion, to work in a cornfield on the north side of the creek. Arriving at the field, they found they had but two hoes, and John, the eldest, sent William, the youngest of the three, then twenty-two years old, to the house for another hoe. He soon returned with a report that the women were hoeing a patch of cabbage, and did not like to part with it. As previously stated, many of the farmers concealed their hay and grain in the woods during the war, to avoid the enemy's fire- brand. The day before this invasion, the brothers had been cut- ting brush to make room for several hay stacks, and to open a road to the place, some distance from the house.
When William returned without the hoe, John told him he could go and finish the road in the woods, make bars, &c. Wil- liam started, but was called back by John, who told him to stay and hoe with Jacob, saying that he would go and finish the other work himself, as then he would be sure of its being done to suit him! John was afterwards found dead, lying upon the brush he had been cutting, and appeared not to have moved after he re- ceived the blow of a tomahawk. The brim and lower part of his hat crown were cut open, and the weapon had penetrated the brain. It was supposed that an Indian had stolen up behind him unobserved, and felled him to the earth, where he scalped and left him. As the enemy went directly from Zimmer's to the field where the Becker brothers had been at work the day before, it was supposed that their place of labor had been communicated by some tory in the settlement. Soon after John had left his bro- thers hoeing, William discovered the enemy in the upper side of the field, approaching them, and directed Jacob's attention that way. Both at the same instant let fall their hoes and ran towards home. Rightly conjecturing that their foes would if possible cut off their retreat to the house, they ran directly to the bank of the
* Joseph Becker had two sons, George three, John one, and Jacob four ; nearly all of whom are now residents of Schoharie county. Johannes Becker died soon after the war was over, and Major Becker, his oldest son, died Aug. 21st, 1806, the latter in the 68th year of his age.
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creek not far above the house, and opposite a small island that has since disappeared. At this place the stream was deep, and they had to diverge from their course to cross a log which ex- tended from the shore to the island. They dashed down the bank with an impetus that carried them both into the water, and Jacob fell down; but regaining his feet he reached the log, crossed, and ran up on the south side of the island, hotly pursued by a single Indian, who had to make the same circuit to cross or else swim the stream-the others having gone below to head them, sup- posing they would run to the house. Jacob, who was closely followed by the warrior with uplifted tomahawk, on arriving at a place on the southern shore of the island, which terminated bold- ly, sprang down the bank and remained quiet. William ran but a few rods beyond his brother, and also secreted himself beneath the bank. The pursuing Indian ran to within a few feet of where Jacob lay, halted, and looked up the stream in vain, to catch an- other glimpse of the fugitives-little suspecting that one of them was almost within reach of him-near where he had last seen him, and who doubtless was still visible had he looked down. He gave up the chase, crossed the island, passing very near the concealment of William, gained the north bank of the creek, and hastened to join his companions below. The Indians did not fire on the young men, as they hoped to surprise Maj. Becker and some others near by. The brothers remained concealed until the firing began at the house, and then crossed the creek and went into the woods, east of their corn-field. When the enemy left the valley, they passed so near the concealed brothers, that the latter distinctly heard them talk.
Maj. Becker, at that period, owned and occupied a substantial stone dwelling, the present residence of his son Henry, late a judge of the county ; and near it stood a grist mill owned by him, which was one of the earliest erected mills in Schoharie county. The dwelling is pleasantly situated upon a knoll on the south side of the creek, at a little distance from the Albany road, and had at that period a gambrel roof. A hall passes through it from north to south, with a door at each end. The house contained five front
33
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and five rear windows ; and at that time two chamber windows in the east gable end, since altered. The upper part of the house was unfinished and all in one room ; and the windows were barricaded nearly to the top with oak plank. The front door was closed np with plank, and the back door, then the only entrance to the house, strengthened by a false door also of oak, to arrest the bul- lets of an enemy. Just before Crysler and his murderers arrived at Maj. Becker's, Henry, his son, then nine years old, Jacob Zim- mer, jun., (nephew of the one murdered) and several other boys about the same age, had been a little distance southeast of the house to drive hogs to a pasture. On their return, and when within ten or fifteen rods of the house, one of the boys said to the rest, " See the rifle-men over there ; they are painted like the In- dians !" The Schoharie Rangers when on a scout, were often clad much like Indians : but young Becker instantly recognized the party to be a band of savages. A few rods above the house was a small island containing perhaps an acre of ground, sepa- rated from the bank southeast of the dwelling, by a deep pool of stagnant water, over which had been felled a tree. The enemy being upon the island, had either to make quite a circuit or cross the log, which could only be done in single file. This gave the boys a little start and they ran to the house shouting, " Indians ! Indians!" They could easily have been shot, as they were but a few rods distant from the enemy, but the latter still hoped to sur- prise a militia major, which would doubtless have been done, had not the boys thus opportunely discovered their approach. Major Becker chanced to be engaged back of the house-caught the alarm, and running in seized his gun-entered the south west room -thrust it through a loop-hole above one of the windows, and fired on the invaders, breaking an Indian's arm. As the boys ran into the hall door, they encountered several children within; and all tumbled in a heap. Major Becker's wife, who was a woman of the times, sprang to the plank door which fastened with a ring and bolt-drew it to, and held it ajar with the bolt in her hand. John Hutt, as the enemy approached, was at the western end of the house making a whiffletree. Mrs. Becker continued to hold
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the door open for Hutt, who took the alarm from the furious bark- ing of three large dogs belonging to the inmates of the house, which had met and were giving battle to the invaders, who halted to shoot them. As Hutt neared the door, a large Indian sprang to seize him; but the former raising the missile which he had re- tained in his hand, in a threatening manner, the latter recoiled and he sprang into the door, which was quickly bolted by the Major's Spartan wife. Had not Mrs. Becker possessed great presence of mind, and the dogs met the enemy, Hutt must have either been slain or captured by them. The shot of Maj. Becker may also have damped the ardor of the assailants. George Shell, another Schoharie soldier, was fortunately in the house at the time, and assisted in its defence.
The inmates of the dwelling consisting of the three men named, Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Adam Zimmer, possibly one or two other wo- men, and some eight or ten children, went up stairs. The Major took his station at the south-west corner window, which com- manded the enemy's approach to his barn, assigned to Hutt the eastern gable windows ; and to Shell the north west window op- posite his own, which commanded their approach to the mill, which stood a few rods from the house upon ground now occu- pied by the race-way of the present mill. The lower sash of the upper windows was also secured by plank. The enemy immedi- ately ran round the eastern end of the house and there gained temporary shelter, some under the creek bank, some behind a fence, and others behind a small log building standing at a little distance south east of the house, used as a sort of store-room. The enemy fired numerous balls in at the windows, twenty-eight entering the window Hutt was stationed at. He was a bold, vi- gilant fellow, and often incurred the censure of Maj. Becker for exposing his person so much about the window, telling him that the force of the enemy was unknown, but their own was three men, the loss of one being one third of their strength. Hutt, how- ever, could not be restrained by the prudent counsels of the Major, and kept constantly returning the shots of the enemy. Discover- ing through a cranny of the log building the hat of one of his foes,
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Hutt sent a bullet through the brim of it close to the crown. This hat, it was afterwards ascertained, was on the head of Capt. Crysler. The balls of the enemy cut the air several times around the head of Hutt like the fall of hail in a hurricane, but fortunately without injury.
While a part of the invaders were firing in at the windows, one of their number was discovered by Shell crawling along the bank of the creek, which was then steeper than at present, with a brand of fire, intent on burning the mill. Shell was an eccentric fellow, and had acquired the habit of thinking out loud. Aiming his rifle at the foe, he was heard by several in the room to think much as follows : " Ah ! that's what you're at, is it ? you go a little fur- ther and you'll catch it. Now, look out ; I'll give it to you. When you get THERE, you get it ; there, THERE ; that will do !" In the midst of this soliloquy, his head in motion the while, crack went his rifle ; and he continued, There, he has it ; he's down ; one less ; you wont come again; now burn the mill will you! you infernal Indian !"
After continuing the attack as narrated for some time, the ene- my attempted to fire the building. They placed a wheel-barrow under the water conductor leading from the gutter at the north east corner of the house, to within three or four feet of the ground ; and piling on combustibles, set them on fire, which quickly communicated with the wooden spout, and threatened the destruction of the building. It was impossible for the inmates of the house to fire on their foes while applying the incendiary torch, without exposing themselves to almost certain death, as some of the Indians were constantly on the look out for such an exposure. As the flame began to ascend the gutter toward the roof, Major Becker, who had no inclination to be burned alive, set about forc- ing off the corner of it with a piece of scantling, which fortune placed in the chamber, while his wife went into the cellar to pro- cure water. On entering the cellar, she found an outside cellar- door upon the north side of the building, standing wide open, where the enemy might have entered had they gone to the other end of the building, which they could have done without danger.
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Fastening the door, and procuring a pail of water ; she returned to the chamber.
A.V. L. DI
MAJOR BECKER'S HOUSE INVADED BY THE ENEMY.
For a time the roof, which was nailed on with heavy wrought nails as was the ancient custom, baffled all the major's efforts, but it at length yielded, and he sank down almost exhausted. As the shingles fell to the ground, the Indians gathered them up, ex- claiming, " Yok-wah !" Thank you! And added in their dialect, " we can kindle it now." A hole being made, water was thrown down, and the spout was extinguished. The enemy soon had it blazing again with additional combustibles, and then remarked, also in their own tongue, Chock-wot de wink-wock !". It now burns like tobacco ! It was again put out, and again enkindled and and put out, until the spout had burned off above their reach, when they abandoned further attempts to set the house on fire. Supposing their firing would be heard at the Lower fort, some three miles distant, the assailants took French leave of the premi-
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ses about nine o'clock, A. M., and buried themselves in the forest ; having been about the Becker house several hours.
The father and mother of the Becker brothers, with a child of Shell, (who was in the stone-house,) who lived just below Major Becker, and where Robert Coats now resides, taking the alarm on the enemy's approach, fled towards the fort along the southern bank of the creek. They were discovered, and fired on by the invaders, and several balls struck a fence near them, before they were out of danger; but the enemy being so intent on the cap- ture of Maj. Becker, and plunder of his house, did not pursue them and they escaped. Adam Zimmer and John Enders, who fled on the approach of the enemy from the vicinity of Maj. Beck- er's, carried news of the invasion to the Lower fort, then com- manded by Captain Brown ; when a party of Americans under Lieut. Snyder sallied forth, and arrived at the scene of action just after Crysler and his followers had left. The state of the atmos- phere was such, that, what is surprising, the firing at Becker's was heard at the Middle Fort, six or seven miles distant and not heard at the Lower fort, less than half as remote.
After the enemy retired from Becker's, the supposed Indian whom Shell had shot, was found to have fallen partly in the wa- ter and was not dead. He was taken into the house, and doctor Werth called to examine his wound, who pronounced it mortal ; the ball having passed diagonally through the body at the shoul- ders. The man was now discovered to be a painted tory instead of an Indian ; and was shortly after recognized to be Erkert, a Scotch cooper, who had made flour-barrels for Maj. Becker be- fore the war. The major, on making the recognition, accused the tory of ingratitude. Said he, "when you came to me for work, I employed you, and always paid you well; and now you come with a band of savages to murder me and my family ; plunder and and burn mybuildings." The man appeared very penitent as cer- tain death was before him ; expressed his sorrow for the course he had taken, and said "he did not then care which succeeded, King or Congress." He was scalped in the afternoon by a friendly In- dian named Yan, (a son of David, who was killed by the cav-
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alry under Col. Harper, in 1777,) and on the following morning he was summoned to the bar of his Maker, to render an account " for the deeds done in the body." The victims of Crysler's in- vasion at Foxes creek, were buried in rough boxes with their clothes on .- Jacob and Wm. Becker, who escaped by flight; Judge Becker and Jacob Zimmer, jr., two of the boys who discovered the enemy near the house ; and the manuscript of Judge Hager.
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