USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 48
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not one of Laurens' command was either killed or wounded. Op- position had nearly ceased when Laurens and his men entered the redoubt carried by the American ,infantry. Charles Miller, an Irish lieutenant, and the bringer up of the fourth platoon under Williams, was a very large man, and could not enter the passage forced. Said he to his comrades, " My lads, take me on your bayonets and toss me in !" Said Betts to Williams, as Britain's flag gave place to the stripes of liberty, " This is the thirteenth engagement I have been in during the war, and this is the best of them all." Those redoubts were carried on the 14th of October .*
In December, 1781, Capt. Williams returned to Westchester county, where he wintered and continued in service in that vicini- ty a good part of the year 1732. On his return from Yorktown, Capt. Hitchcock of the light infantry, had some difficulty with Lieut. Stone, of his own company. The quarrel ended in a duel and the captain was killed ; soon after which Williams was trans- ferred to the command of his company. It is worthy of remark that but little dueling took place in the American army in the Re-
*The following incidents of the seige were communicated to the author just before this work went to press, by Nicholas Hill, of Montgomery county, who belonged to the New York state troops at the time. At some period of the seige a bomb-battery of the enemy, situated not far from York river, was car- ried by a party of Americans in the night, who entered as their foes left it. A detachment of American troops arriving after its capture, supposing it still occupied by the British, discharged their pieces in at the entrance, but most fortunately no one was injured within, and a pleasing recognition took place immediately after. The next day the enemy opened upon the lost battery, a heavy cannonade from one of their inner works. A board projected from an exposed part of it, which was a source of inconvenience to its new occupants, and an axe was procured with which to cut it off. A temporary silence pre- vailed, when Christopher Van Voast, a native of Schenectada, snatched up the axe, and exclaiming " You're all a pack of d-d cowards !" sprang up, as a volunteer, to do it. He raised the axe, but ere it had descended to the board a cannon shot passed through his body, cutting it nearly in two. About the same time an American soldier named Smith, was observed to fall near the battery, and on going to him his fellows found he was dead. There was no external mark of injury about him, but on examining his head, the skull was found broken in as was determined by a surgeon, from atmospheric concus- sion, caused by the passage of a cannon shot near it. Mr. Hill, said he did not believe the skull was fractured in the manner decided, but supposed the injury to have proceeded from the sudden fall upon the ground.
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AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
volution, the moral part of the community sternly rebuking the practice. A quarrel between Gen. Poor and Brigade Major Por- ter, which originated, it is believed, in a reproof of the former to the latter for his rakish conduct, resulted in a duel, which took place in 1780, near Perames, New Jersey, in which the general, a fine officer, was killed.
In the summer of 1782, a celebration took place at West Point in honor of the birth of the Dauphin of France, at which festival Capt. Williams was present, and which, from memory, he thus describes. A large bower was erected about eighty or one hun- dred rods from the river, covered with evergreens and beautifully festooned at the ends. Many natural flowers, interwoven with flower-de-lis cut from tissue paper, decorated the sides and ends. Long poles for the bower were brought on the shoulders of the soldiers, who on casting them down were sometimes heard, the one to exclaim with earnestness, " God bless the Dauphin !" while his comrade at the other end, with equal zeal would add, "God d-n the Dauphin !" An ox roasted whole for the occa- sion was caten within the bower, and after his bones had been re- moved, and a few bumpers of wine drank, Gen. Washington, who appeared in unusually good spirits, said to his officers, "Let us have a dance !" Selecting a partner among the officers, the great commander led the dance, in a " gander hop," or " stag dance," as called in modern times, when no ladies are present, to the favorite old tune, Soldier's Joy, played by a military band. Washington was a very graceful dancer, and presented a fine fig- ure among his officers. The numerous regiments of troops there convened were paraded towards evening along the mountain back of Fort Putnam, and upon the high grounds on the east side of the river, to fire a salute. The regiments were under the com- mand of quarter master sergeants, and the companies commanded by orderly sergeants : not a single commissioned officer holding any command among the thousands thus conspicuously paraded. As may be supposed, the non-commissioned commanders were justly proud of the confidence reposed in their integrity. At a given signal, a running fire began at the south end of the line and
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
extended along the west side of the river to the north end, when the feu-de-joie was caught by the troops on the opposite side of the river and carried south. Thus did the rattle of musketry three times make its distant circuit along the Hudson, in honor of an event which gave a prospective heir to the crown of France, then the efficient ally of our republic, -- after which, the troops, in the twilight of a lovely evening, returned to the Point. On the day of this festival, an extra one day's ration was served to the soldiers, and all seemed equally to enjoy the holiday, which passed off with- out an accident to mar its pleasantry.
The following is one verse of a song believed to have been writ- ten either for or on account of the celebration at West Point, for which I am indebted to the memory of my friend J. H. T.
" Hark, hark, a feu-de-joie-makes trembling ether ring, Whilst shouting armies hail, a Prince, a future King, On whom may Heaven with liberal hand Her choicest gifts bestow :
May peace and wisdom bless his reign , And laurels deck his brow : A Dauphin's born, let cannon loud Bid echo rend the sky.
Chorus .- Long life to Gallia's King, Columbia's great ally."
In the army arrangement of the Revolution, the colonel, lieut. colonel, and major of each regiment of state troops, retained the command of a company in the same called theirs, to which no captain was assigned. The immediate command of those compa- nies usually devolved on subaltern officers; that of the colonel on a captain lieutenant ; that of lieut. colonel on a first lieutenant ; and that of major on a second lieutenant.
Capt. Williams continued in the army of Washington near the Hudson until the British evacuated New-York, on the 25th of Nov. 1783, at which time he accompanied the victorious army in its entree to that city ; and was present at Francis' Tavern, or " Black Sam's" as familliary called, when Gen. Washington took leave of his officers on the 4th. of Dec. On leaving the disband- ed army Capt. W. could say-what few others could-he was ne- ver mustered during the whole war, sick or absent, when duty
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AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
required his presence. At the close of the war he became a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Cincinnati. Those Associations com- posed chiefly of military officers, were formed in the several states with a general society of the United States, of which Gen. Wash- ington was president. About the year 1SOS, Capt. Williams re- moved from Massachusetts to Onondaga county, N. Y. He now (1845) resides in the town of Schoharie ; and although in his nine- ty-sixth year, few young men read more than he does. He from choice cuts his own fire-wood, works his own garden, &c .; and the fall he was ninety years old, he revived the trade of his youth by framing two good sized buildings. He has ever continued to be a firm supporter of that government he helped to establish. He has long been an exemplary Christian-and imbibing in childhood the moral principles of a New England mother ; he has proven himself a worthy, honest and respected citizen. He still writes a legible hand without glasses. His answer to the question-Were you a young man with the knowledge you now have, would you enter the army if a war should break out ?- was, "Yes, I think I should. Yes, I am pretty sure I should."
I have made several quotations from the Military Journal of Major, afterwards Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, an active and effici- ent officer of the Revolution. This private journal, which was prepared after the war at the request of liis children to exhibit his military life, contains memoranda of an interesting character ; and from it I glean the following additional facts .*
Col. Tallmadge was the second of five sons of the Rev. Benj. Tallmadge, a settled minister at Brookhaven, L. I.
He graduated at Yale College with literary honors in 1773, soon after which he was called to the charge of a high school in Weathersfield, Ct. Capt. Chester of Weathersfield, having been appointed a colonel of state troops, and tendering young Tall- madge a lieutenant's commission, with the appointment of adju- tant of his regiment, the student laid aside his books, and the con-
·For the loan of this Journal, the author would here acknowledge his in- debtedness to the Hon. John P. Cushman, of Troy, a son-in-law of Colonel Tallmadge
35
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
templated study of the law, and entered the service of his coun -. try. He was commissioned a lieutenant by Gov. Trumbull, June 20th, 1776, and received a warrant as adjutant, bearing the same: date. He marched with the army of Washington to New York; was engaged in the disastrous battle of Long Island, and in seve- ral skirmishes above New York, in one of which Brigade Major Wyllis was made prisoner, and he was given his station. At the battle of White Plains, he was with a division of the army under Gen. Spencer, who engaged the Hessian troops under Gen. Rabl, when the Americans, pressed by overpowering numbers, were ob- liged to fall back to Chadderton's Hill, then occupied by Gen. McDougall. As the adjutant was about to enter the Bronx with the rear of the army, the Rev. Dr. Trumbull, their chaplain, sprang upon his horse behind him, with an impetus that carried them both headlong, with saddle and accoutrements, into the river. Regaining their feet, they, however, forded the stream in time to make good their retreat. Long poles, with iron pikes, supplied the want of bayonets, at this time, in the American camp. Near the close of the year, a new organization of the army took place, when Lieut. Tallmadge received the command of a company of dragoons, under Col. Elisha Sheldon.
Early in the spring of 1777, a squadron of four companies of Sheldon's corps, under the command of Tallmadge, the senior captain, joined the army of Washington, near Middlebrook, N. J. His own troop was mounted entirely on dapple gray horses, of which, under black mountings, he acknowledges he felt proud. On the 25th June, 1777, he was engaged in the battle of Short Hills, between the Americans, under Lord Sterling, and the ene- my, under Lord Cornwallis, in which the former lost four field pie- ces a second time. About this period Capt. Tallmadge was pro- moted to major of cavalry. In 1778, while actively employed with the army in New Jersey, Maj. T. opened a private corres- pondence with some persons in New York, for Gen. Washington, which lasted through the war.
About the 1st of July, 1779, when the dragoons of Col. Shel- don were stationed below North Castle, a large body of the ene-
.
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AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
my's light horse and infantry, under Lord Rawdon, attacked them in the night. The onset was impetuous, and the Americans, borne down by superior numbers, and flanked by infantry, found it neces- sary no retreat-doing which the servant of Maj. Tallmadge was wounded and captured by the enemy, and with him his master's horse and valise, the latter containing twenty guineas. In the summer of 1780, Gen. Washington honored Maj. T. with a sepa- rate command, consisting of a body of horse and two companies of infantry, forined from dismounted dragoons. He took a station soon after at North Stamford, Conn., and while there Gen. Par- sons proposed a joint enterprise of their forces against the ene- my's garrison at Lloyd's Neck, on Long Island, which was aban- doned, owing to the treachery of the agent employed by the ge- neral to gain the requisite information.
" On the 5th of September, 1779," [says the journal,] " I un- dertook an expedition against the enemy on Lloyd's Neck, Long Island. At this place, and on a promontory or elevated piece of ground next to the Sound, between Huntington Harbor and Oyster Bay, the enemy had established a strongly fortified post, where they kept a body of about five hundred troops. In the rear of this garrison a large band of marauders encamped, who, having boats at command, continually infested the Sound and our shores. Having a great desire to break up the banditti of freebooters, on the evening named I embarked my detachment, amounting in the whole to about one hundred and thirty men, at Shipand Point, near Stamford, at eight o'clock in the evening, and by ten we landed on Lloyd's Neck. Having made my arrangements we proceeded in different divisions to beat up their quarters. Our attack was so sudden and unexpected that we succeeded in capturing almost the whole party, a few only escaping into the bushes, from whence they commenced firing on my detachment ; which gave the alarm to the garrison. This prevented our attempting any attack upon the outposts and guards of the fort, and after destroying all the boats we could find, as well as the huts of these refugees, we re- turned with our prisoners to our boats, and embarked for Connecti- cut, where we landed in safety before sunrise the next morning, and without the loss of a single man."
As the fall advanced Maj. Tallmadge revived his project of an expedition to Long Island. Through agents he obtained accurate returns of a fortification in Suffolk county, called Fort St. George. It was constructed "at a point which projects into the South Bay
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
on Smith's Manor, being the enemy's easternmost defence." It is thus described in the journal :
"I found it to be a triangular inclosure of several acres of ground, at two angles of which was a strongly barricaded house, and at the third, a fort, with a deep ditch and wall encircled by an abattis of sharpened pickets, projecting at an angle of forty-five degrees. The fort and houses were entirely connected with a strong stock- ade, twelve feet high, every piece sharpened and fastened to each other by a transverse rail strongly bolted to each. The work was nearly finished."
Having obtained the necessary information he proposed to the Commander-in-chief to destroy the works, who concluded the ex- pedition too dangerous to warrant its undertaking. Not willing to abandon his project, Maj. T. visited the island in person about the 1st of November, to ascertain the then state of the works. He learned " that the fortress was completed, and was the depo- sitory of stores, dry-goods, groceries, and arms, from whence Suf- folk county could be supplied." Provided with an accurate draft of the fort, and apprised that a large quantity of forage was col- lected at Coram, from the east end of the island, he again impor- tuned Gen. Washington to sanction a contemplated visit, who, on the 11th day of November, signified his assent by letter. The expedition is thus entered in the journal :
"All preparations necessary being made, on the 21st of Novem- ber, at about four o'clock, P.M., I embarked my detachment com- posed of two companies of dismounted dragoons, (and in all short of one hundred selected men,) at Fairfield, and the same evening at nine o'clock, we landed at a place on Long Island called the Old Man's. I was obliged to go so far east to avoid a large body of the enemy which laid at Huntington and its vicinity, partly in our direct route from Stamford. Soon after we landed, say by ten o'clock, I put the troops in motion to cross Long Island. We had not gone far, say four or five miles, before the wind began to blow from the southeast, and the rain soon followed. I faced the troops about, returned to our boats, which were drawn up and concealed in the bushes. There we remained through the night and the next day, and at evening the rain abated, and I again ordered the troops to march for our destined place on the south side of Long Island. At four o'clock next morning I found we were within two miles of Fort St. George, when we halted a short time to take refreshment. Having made my arrangements for the plan of attack, I placed two small detachments under the command of subaltern officers of high
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AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
spirit, at different positions from the fort, with orders to keep con- cealed until the enemy should fire on my column. Just as the day began to dawn, I put my detachment in motion. The pioneers who preceded my column had reached within forty yards of the stockade before they were discovered by the enemy. At this mo- ment, the sentinal in advance of the stockade, halted his march, looked attentively at our column, demanded "who comes there ?" and fired. Before the smoke from his gun had cleared his vision, my sergeant, who marched by my side, reached him with his bay- onet, and prostrated him. This was the signal for the other troops to move forward, when all seemed to vie with each other to enter the fort. So resolute were the men, that a breach was soon made in the stockade, where the rear platoon halted to prevent the pri- soners from escaping. I led the column directly through the grand parade against the main fort, which we carried with the bayonet in less than ten minutes, not a musket being loaded. At the same instant that I entered one side of the fort, the officers commanding the smaller detachments mounted the ramparts on the other sides, and the watchword, Washington and Glory ! was repeated from three sides of the fort at the same time. While we were standing, elated with victory, in the centre of the fort, a volley of musketry was discharged from the windows of one of the large houses, which induced me to order my whole detachment to load and re- turn the fire. I soon found it necessary to lead the column direct- ly to the house, which being strongly barricaded required the aid of the pioneers with their axes. As soon as the troops could en- ter, the confusion and conflict was great. A considerable portion of those who had fired after the fort was taken and the colours had been struck, were thrown headlong from the second story to the ground. Having forfeited their lives by the usages of war, all would have been killed had I not ordered the slaughter to cease. The prisoners, being secured, it was soon discovered that the ship- ping, which laid near the fort, loaded with stores, &c., were get- ting under weigh. The guns of the fort were brought to bear on them, and they were soon secured. All things were now safe and quiet, and I had never seen the sun rise more pleasantly. It be- came necessary to demolish the enemy's works, as far as possible, which was done : an immense quantity of stores of various kinds, English, &c., were destroyed. The shipping and their stores were also burnt up. Some valuable articles of dry goods were made up in bundles, placed on the prisoners' shoulders, who were pin- ioned two and two, and thus carried across the island to our boats. The work of capturing and destroying this fortress being effected, at eight o'clock, A.M., I put the troops under march to recross the island to our boats. Having given the command of the detach- ment to Capt. Edgar, with orders to halt at a given point near the middle of the island, I selected ten or twelve men, and mounted them on horses taken at the fort, with which I intended to destroy the King's magazine of forage at Coram. This place was nearly
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
half way to the place where a large body of British troops were encamped, east of Huntington. I reached the place in about an hour and a half; made a vigorous charge upon the guard placed to protect it ; set it on fire [some three hundred tons of hay], and in about an hour and a half more reached the place where I had ordered the troops to halt, having rode some fifteen or sixteen miles. As I arrived at the spot, I was gratified to see the head of the detachment, under Capt. Edgar advancing with the prisoners. As none of us had halted since we parted, we sat down for nearly an hour and refreshed. After this we took up our line of march, by four o'clock reached our boats, and before sunset we were all afloat on the Sound; by midnight, or one o'clock next morning, every boat arrived on Fairfield beach, although we had entirely lost sight of each other in the darkness of the night. This ser- vice was executed entirely without the loss of one man from my detachment, and one only was badly wounded, and him we brought off. The enemy's loss was seven killed and wounded, most of them mortally. We took one lieutenant colonel commandant, one captain, one lieutenant, one surgeon, and fifty rank and file, with a host of others in the garrison."
On reporting the result of his expedition to the Commander-in- chief, Maj. Tallmadge requested permission to give his troops the spoils they had borne from the captured fortress, to which he re- ceived the following reply :
" MORRISTOWN, 28th Nov., 1780.
" Dear Sir-Both your Letters of the 25th came to my hands this day. I received with much pleasure the report of your suc- cessful Enterprise upon Fort St. George, and the vessel with stores in the harbor ; and was particularly well pleased with the destruc- tion of the hay, which must, I should conceive, be severely felt by the enemy at this time.
" I beg of you to accept my thanks for your judicious planning, and spirited execution of this business, and that you will offer them to the Officers and Men who shared the honor of the Enter- prise with you.
" The gallant behavior of Mr. Muirson gives him a fair claim to an appointment in the second Regt. of Dragoons, or any other of the State to which he belongs, where there is a vacancy ; and I have no doubt of his meeting with it accordingly, if you will make known his merits, with these sentiments in his favor.
" You have my free consent to reward your gallant party with the little booty they were able to bring from the Enemy's works. " With much esteem and regard, I am, Dear Sir,
" Your most obed't Servt,
GO. WASHINGTON."
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AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK.
The following honorable notice of Maj. Tallmadge's success over the enemy on Long Island, is found on the Journal of Con- gress for 1780, under date of Dec. 6th, that body having been apprised of the affair some days before by Gen. Washington.
" While Congress are sensible of the patriotism, courage and perseverance of the officers and privates of their regular forces, as well as the militia throughout these United States, and of the mi- litary conduct of the principal commanders in both, it gives them pleasure to be so frequently called upon to confer marks of distinc- tion and applause for enterprises which do honor to the profession of arms, and claim a high rank among military achievements. In this light they view the enterprise against Fort George, on Long Island, planned, and conducted with wisdom and great gallantry by Maj. Tallmadge, of the light dragoons, and executed with in- trepidity and complete success by the officers and soldiers of his detachment.
"Ordered, therefore, That Maj. Tallmadge's report to the Com- mander-in-chief be published, with the preceding minute, as a tri- bute to distinguished merit, and in testimony of the sense Congress entertain of this brilliant service."
" No person but a military man," says the journal of Col. T., " knows how to appreciate the honor bestowed, when the Com- mander-in- chief and the Congress of the United States return their thanks for a military achievement."
Contemplating an expedition against a British garrison of eight hundred men at Lloyd's Neck, and that of Fort Slongo, eight miles eastward of it, guarded by one hundred and fifty men, Maj. Tallmadge again visited Long Island, April 22, 1781, to obtain accurate information. Submitting his plan of intended operations to Gen. Washington for the capture of these posts, and clearing the sound of the enemy's small craft, with the aid of more troops, and the co-operation of the French frigates, it was favorably re- ceived, and he was furnished with a flattering letter of introduc- tion to Count Rochambeau, then at Rhode Island, for the naval force. The absence of the vessels of the size wanted, prevented the prosecution of the enterprise. In the fall of this year, Maj. Tallmadge renewed his project of annoying the enemy on Long Island.
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