History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > New York > Steuben County > History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 6

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The foundation of a house of hewed timber was also dis- covered in 1818, east of the river fort and just below the mouth of Cold Stream, on the farm of Joshua C. Stephens. It was exposed in changing the bed of the river, and had every appearance of having been covered for a long time by the natural alluvial deposit of the valley. #

Judge McMaster has singled out two of the actors in this expedition as noticeable men : " The leader, Montour, as there is strong grounds for believing, was the son of the famous Indian woman known as Queen Catharine, and the saine warrior who, after a fatal encounter with the American troops in the war of the Revolution, was brought to the mouth of the Conhocton, there to die and be buried in a grave marked by the Painted Post, which has given an en- during name to that locality. The other was Joseph Brant, as I shall venture to say on the authority of the records, which show that in this very month of April, 1764, he was engaged in an expedition against some hostile villages, and on the authority of Stone's 'Life of Sir William John- son,' where Canisteo is mentioned as the name of a village attacked at that time by the great Thayendanegea."

The story is not yet finished. "The inhabitants of the destroyed village fled for protection to the Senecas of Genesce, who were in not much better odor than the suf- ferers themselves. Three months later we find that the refractory ' Chenussio Indians and other Senecas' made a treaty of peace, in which it was provided 'that regarding the delivering up of the Kanestio murderers, one of them being dead, the other is pardoned, on their acceding to the additional article,' and also, 'that as the Delawares of the Susquehanna, who came for protection to Chenussio last spring, after their castles were destroyed by Sir William Johnson's Indian parties, are now suing for peace through the Chenussio mediation, the Chenussios agree to deliver up at Oswego within three weeks Atweetsera, the Delaware

# Kan is the Iroquois name for town ; the other part of the name is from a word signifying the junction of two rivers. A score or more of Indian villages in Western New York, at the time of the Sullivan campaign, began with this word Kan,-such as Kanadasaga, Kana- gasas, Kanadanga, etc.

+ This is the name given to the Chemung River in the colonial records and early writings. Before it had any other name, the people down in Pennsylvania and travelers generally called it the Cayuga Branch of the Susquehanna, because it extended off in the direction of the Cayuga country. The village referred to was ou the Chemung, in the vicinity of Waverly. It was visited by Bartram, the English betanist, and Conrad Weiser, on their return from Onondaga in 1743, twenty-one years before this expedition, and was then a village of considerable importance.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

king, and Onusseraqueta, their chief warrior, and every prisoner, deserter, Frenchman and negro among them.'

" The names of the King of Canisteo and the captain of his forces above given (if we may be allowed to infer from the meagre records of the affair, that the Canisteo elan is the party referred to in the report ) are the only names preserved to us of the defendants in the English governor's very sum- mary proceeding. In 1765 we find our dethroned monarch and his lieutenant attending a conference of the Six Nations at Johnson Hall. Sir William Johnson soundly berated the Chenussios for their failure to deliver up the prisoners, deserters, etc., together with a pair of red guerrillas named Squash-Cutter and Long-Coat. Onusseraqueta answered, saying among other things: 'Brother, it is a long time since you shook me by my head to bring me to my senses. I must confess we were out of our senses, but we are now resolved to act no more foolishly.' The Delawares sought to appease the governor with profuse apologies, but he was not to be put off by their palaver, and lectured them in cutting and peremptory terms, and refused to shake hands with them till the two reprobates, Squash-Cutter and Long- Coat, should be surrendered to him as hostages for the delivery of the prisoners, etc., according to the agreement. This was done, and affairs came to an adjustment in a treaty in May, 1765, which bears among other signatures the signs manual of Atweetsera and Onussaraqueta, that of the former being a loon, and that of the latter a beaver."

Doty, in his history of Livingston County, refers to a battle between the Canisteo and Seneca Indians* as fol- lows:

" In a battle which took place between the Canisteo Indians and Senecas, on a hill three miles to the northeast, a noted Seneca chief' was killed. To mark the spot where he fell an excavation several rods in extent, shaped like a man with arms extended, was made by his tribesmen. An In- dian trail led by this novel memorial, and the natives, in passing, were in the habit of clearing therefrom with ten- der regard the leaves and brush which the wind had drifted into it. The chief's remains were brought to Ganosgago for burial, and singularly enough now lie under the altar of the Lutheran Church, a Christian memorial to a pagan warrior. A rude monument, consisting of a pile of small stones brought hither one by one by the Indians from a hill a mile distant, was worked by the white man's hands into the church foundation wall."

At the time of the battle this village was the frontier post of the Seneeas in a southward direction, and stood as a menace to the Canisteos on this side of the hills. The Indian trail which led from the Genesee to the Canisteo, and thence to Eastern Pennsylvania, may yet be traced in places, especially at a point half-way up Big Hill, where the path intersects the highway leading from Dansville to Hornellsville. For many miles below the latter place its deeply-worn course is yet plainly visible.

Ganosgago, the village referred to, is laid down on Pou- chot's map as Kanouskegon; it was established after De Nouville's invasion of 1689.+

CHAPTER V.

PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION.

Massacre of Wyoming-Campaign of General Sullivan-Celebration at Newtown-Expeditions up the Chemung -- Operations within this County.

Two ineidents of no little importance to our local history occurred within the limits of this county during the period of the Revolution : one was the fitting out of the expedi- tion to Wyoming in the summer of 1778; the other the movements of certain detachments of the Sullivan cam- paign the following year.

The Indians and Tories who planned the attack upon Wyoming, acting under the authority of the British officers in command of the garrison at Fort Niagara, followed the well-trodden Indian trail across the Genesee Valley to the upper Canisteo, or place of putting in the canoes.\ Fol- lowing the course of the stream eastward to within a few miles of the present village of Hornellsville they there cut down large pine-trees, which grew upon its bank, and con- structed the canoes which carried them down the swift cur- rent into the Chemung, and thence to the scene of that bloody and ever-memorable tragedy of the 3d of July, 1778. The valley of the Chemung from Painted Post to Tioga was at this time occupied by Indian settlements of more or less importance. Their lodges, villages, and corn- fields were scattered along the banks of the river for nearly the whole distanee down which the expedition passed to their bloody work in the beautiful Wyoming Valley. How many of these Indians joined the party on their way down the river, or what aid and comfort they rendered the expe- dition, is not known, but it is certain that the massacre of Wyoming was the immediate cause of the planning and execution of the campaign intrusted to Gen. Sullivan dur- ing the following summer.

It has been remarked by a late writer on this subject, that " the terrible seenes and slaughter at Wyoming, July 3, 1778, extorted a wail from every colony in the land, aud roused a feeling of vengeance so deep and imperative that even the great and magnanimous heart of Washington, whose affections and desires were all enlisted. in the uplift- ing of the Indian, was checked in its generous impulses, and he calmly and wisely drew the plan of the Sullivan campaign." It was no less than meeting the Indians on their own ground, and adopting their own desolating tac- ties,-to lay waste their country, destroy their villages, burn their crops, ent down their orchards, and thus break their power for future operations against the colonists.

The chief command of the expedition was intrusted to Gen. Sullivan, though at first it was proposed to give it to Gen. Gates. The army was to march from their winter quarters on the Hudson to Wyoming, thence up the Sus- quehanna to Tioga, where another division under Gen. James Clinton, marching by the way of Otsego Lake, after a di- version into the country of the Onondagas, was to effect a junction, when the combined army, consisting of four

+ Meaning of the word Conisten, place of putting in the cannes, or head of navigation. The uame which at first only meant the launch - ing-place in a little while eamc to be applied to the whole river.

* At Ganosgago, on the site of the present village of Dansville; a small Seneca town of comparatively modern datc.

t Doty's Ilistory of Livingston County.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

brigades of infantry and riflemen and a park of artillery, was to proceed through the valley of the Chemung, thence northward to the Genesee River, destroying erops and houses, and everything of value to the Indians, as far as could be reached on either side of the trail of the army.

The force under Gen. Sullivan arrived at Tioga from Wyoming, August 11, 1779, where it awaited the arrival of Gen. Clinton's brigade and artillery from Otsego. In the mean time a fortification was thrown up, running across the point of land between the two rivers, a distance of one hun- dred and ninety yards, behind which the army lay safe from attack. On the 11th scouts were sent ont to discover the whereabouts of the enemy, and returned on the 12th, re- porting him at Old Chemung, twelve miles above. An ex- pedition was at onee prepared and ordered forward for the capture of the place. The three brigades, with the excep- tion of two regiments, left to guard the works and supply- trains, all under the command of Gen. Sullivan, marched at eight P.M., on the 12th ; but, owing to the darkness of the night, the absence of roads, and the lack of proper guides, the command did not arrive at Chemung until after day- light. " Even then," says Col. IIubley, " our pilot, on our arrival, from some disagreeable emotions he felt, could not find the town." However, another hour's march brought them to the main town, and the morning being a foggy one, disposition was made of the troops to surprise it; but, on reaching it at five A.M , it was found evacuated. Gen. Hand then pushed forward Capt. Bush, and his infantry company of Col. Hubley's regiment, for about a mile, when fires were discovered, and the balance of the regiment and two inde- pendent companies were brought up, and an advance of an- other mile was made, when the Indians, ambushed on a high hill, fired upon them. Capt. Bush immediately at- tempted to flank the savages, while the colonel led the rest of his regiment directly up the hill, the men pressing for- ward with great intrepidity under a severe fire. The Indians seeing the determination evinced by the troops, retreated before Capt. Bush could gain their rear, and carried off their dead and wounded. The ground beyond being nn- favorable for pursuit, the retreating savages escaped. The loss in this action, with the exception of two, fell wholly on Col. Hubley's regiment. Two captains,-Walker and Car- berry,-Adjt. Huston, a guide, and eight privates were wounded, and one sergeant, one drummer, and four privates were killed. Gens. Poor and Maxwell's brigades were also fired upon, and lost one man killed and several wounded. Maj. John Franklin, of Wyoming, was also seriously wounded. The town at this place consisted of about seventeen houses, which were destroyed, together with several fine fields of corn. The dead were brought back to Tioga on the 13th, the day of the battle, and on the 14th were buried with full military honors.

The 15th of August was Sunday. On Monday a column of seven hundred men, under Gen. Poor, marched up the Sus- quehanna to meet Gen. Clinton. On the 22d, Gen. Clinton, with a flotilla of two hundred and twenty boats and fifteen hundred men, accompanied by Geu. Poor and his column, arrived at Tioga, and were received with joyous demonstra- tions. Clinton had been delayed by his raid into the Onon- daga country, and had arrived at the ontlet of Otsego Lake

late in the season to find that the summer heats had dimin- ished the water therein to such an extent as to preclude the passage of his boats loaded with artillery and supplies. " But nothing daunted, this leader, fruitful in expedients and skillful in wooderaft, at once contrived a plan to increase the carrying power of the Susquehanna, as unique as it proved successful. lle threw a dam across the outlet of the lake, cleared the stream of its drift-wood, launched his boats, and when the waters in the lake had gained as heavy a head as his dam would bear, he cut the latter, and on the flood of waters that rushed out floated to Tioga, the waters at that point setting back up the Chemung some distance. The sight of a freshet in the Susquehanna, when there had been no rain for many weeks, excited the superstitions awe of the Indians, and they fled from before the soldier favored, as they believed, by the Great Spirit and against them- selves."

The 24th of August was spent by the army in making bags out of their tents to carry their flour in, and in preparing for the expedition northward into the Indian country. Col. Butler's regiment and Maj. Parr's riflemen joined the light corps which formed the advance. Col. Shreve was left in charge of Fort Sullivan, and the line of march was taken up at eleven A.M., August 26, in the following order : light corps, commanded by Gen. Hand, marched in six columns, the right held by Col. Butler and the left by Col. Ilubley. Maj. Parr, with the riflemen, covered the entire front, a short distance in advance, and reconnoitered every suspi- cious-looking spot or point of concealment for the enemy, to prevent surprise or ambuscade. The pioneers followed next, preceding the artillery, and the main army followed in two columns, in the centre of which moved the paek-horses and cattle, the whole flanked right and left by the divisions commanded by Cols. Dubois and Ogden. The rear was brought up by Gen. Clinton's brigade. The army moved three miles and encamped, and on the 27th marched in the same order six miles and encamped at the " lower end of Chemung," near the narrows, where Col. Hubley says he " made an agreeable repast of' eorn, potatoes, beans, cucum- bers, watermelons, squashes, and other vegetables, which grew in abundance there."

The 28th of' August was spent in reconnoitering, and to find a ford for the artillery and trains, to avoid a high hill over which Gen. Poor and Gen. Clinton marched, with their brigades. The ford was made and the river reerossed farther up, and the army encamped at six o'clock, having made but two miles advance. Sconts reported the enemy in force below Newtown, and evidently intending to give battle.

On Sunday, August 29th, the march was resumed in the same order as on the 26th, the riflemen covering the ad- vance of the light corps, which moved with the greatest precision and caution. On arriving near the bridge on which the action of the 13th had commenced, several In- dians were discovered, who fired and retreated, and the advance pushed on about a mile, into a marshy ground, where it again drew the fire of the Indians, who again retreated. Maj. Parr then began to take even more pre- cautions than he had before done, and ordered one of his men to climb a tree. The order was obeyed, and the look-

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

out soon discovered the movements of some Indians-whose paint rendered them conspicuous-behind an extensive breastwork nearly half a mile in length, and artfully con- cealed by green boughs and trees, their right secured by the river and their left by a high hill or mountain. " It was situated on a rising ground, about one hundred yards in front of a difficult stream of water, bounded by the marshy ground before mentioned on our side, and between it and the breastwork was an open and clear field."

Maj. Poor immediately gave intelligence to Gen. Hand of his discoveries, who advanced the light corps within about three hundred yards of the enemy's works and formed in line of battle. The rifle corps, under cover, advanced and lay under the bank of the creek within one hundred yards of the lines.

Gen. Sullivan, having previous notice, arrived with the main army, and ordered the following disposition of the forces . the riflemen and light corps to continue their posi- tion ; the left flanking division, under command of Col. Ogden, to take post on the left flank of the light corps; Gen. Maxwell's brigade some distance in the rear as a corps de reserve; and Col. Proctor's artillery in front of the cen- tre of the light corps and immediately opposite the breast- works. A heavy fire ensued between the riffe-corps and the enemy, but little damage was done on either side.

In the mean time Gens. Poor and Clinton's brigades, with the right flanking division, were ordered to march and gain, if possible, the enemy's flank and rear, while the rifle and light corps engaged them in front. Col. Proctor had orders to be in readiness with his artillery and attack the lines, first allowing a sufficient space of time to Gens. Poor and Clinton to gain their intended stations.

" About three o'clock; P.M., the artillery began the attack on the enemy's works. The rifle and light corps, meanwhile, prepared to advance and charge; but the enemy, finding their situation rather precarious and our troops determined, retreated from their works with the greatest precipitation, leaving behind them a number of blankets, gun-covers, and kettles with corn boiling over the fire.

"Gens. Poor and Clinton, on account of several difficulties which they had to surmount, could not effect their designs ; and the enemy, probably having intelligence of their ap- proach, posted a number of troops on the top of a mountain over which they had to advance. On their arrival near the summit of the same, the enemy dealt them a fire, and wounded several officers and soldiers. Gen. Poor pushed on and gave them a fire as they retreated, and killed five of the savages."

This was the battle of Newtown. The best authorities agree that it was fought from seven to eight miles below Elmira, at a point called IIogback. Ephraim Bennett, who was an officer in the Revolution, located his farm, in 1794, on the old battle-ground, and lived there till 1799. At this latter date the fortifications were distinctly visible.

Capt. Daniel Livermore, of Geu. Poor's brigade, speak- ing of the attempt to cut off the retreat of the Indians and Tories, says : " A very warm action ensued between about six hundred chosen savages, commanded by Brant and Capt. Butler, of the Queen's Rangers, and Poor's brigade, com- mauded by himself in person. The brigade marched on

with coolness with charged bayonets, not a gun being fired till within a short distance, when the enemy were obliged to give back, leaving their dead on the ground, amounting to twenty. We took three prisoners. At sunset, after a complete victory, encamped near the field of action, car- rying off our dead and wounded. Among the latter was Maj. Titeomb, Capt. Clayes, Lieut. McCauley, and about thirty others. The killed amounted to about four or five. During the whole of the action Col. Reed's and Col. Dear- born's regiments fared the hardest. Lieut. McCauley died of his wounds, August 30.

" In the course of the day," says Col. IFubley, " we took nine scalps (all savages) and two prisoners, who were sepa- rately examined, and gave the following accurate account : ' That the enemy were seven hundred strong, viz., five hundred savages and two hundred Tories, with about twenty British troops, commanded by a Seneca chief (Cornplanter), the two Butlers, Brant, and McDonald.' They further in- formed us that the whole of their party had subsisted on corn only for this fortnight past, and that they had no other provisions with them, and that their next place of rendez- vous would be at Catharine's town, an Indian village about twenty-five miles from this place."

" It is said that it was the vigilant eye of Brant that discovered the movement of Poor and Clinton, which threatened to cut off the retreat of the force behind the breastwork, and he gave the signal of retreat when the cold steel of the New Hampshire and New York men pressed over the summit of the mountain, unchecked by the rifle- shots of his faithful warriors."

It is not our purpose to follow the details of this expe- dition into the Genesee country further than to give a synopsis of the principal events of the campaign. After spending Monday, August 30, in destroying the extensive cornfields on the plains below Newtown, the army at noon on the 31st, crossed the Chemung at the junction of New- town Creek, destroying an Indian village at that point, and also some furniture which they found concealed. On Wed- nesday, September 1, they crossed the marshes before reaching Havana, and encamped late at night at Catharine's town. The place had been evacuated by the enemy, Queen Catharine herself fleeing with the rest. From this point the army marched on the east side of Seneca Lake, destroy- ing the Indian villages in their course, and reached Kana- dasaga (Geneva) on the 7th of September. Here the grand council-house and fifty comfortable dwellings were given to the flames, a fine apple-orchard was girdled, and immense cornfields destroyed. On the 8th of September the village of Gaghsiungua met with the same fate. On the 10th, Kanadalaugua, a village of between forty and fifty well-built houses, chiefly of hewn plank, was destroyed, and Anyayea was added to the list on the 12th. This last, consisting of a dozen or more hewn log houses, was made a post-garrison by the army, and fifty soldiers unable to march, with provisions and ammunition, were stationed there, while the army pushed on for Genesee, the capital of the Senecas and the last objective point of the expedition.

September 12 the little village of Kanagsas, comprising about ten houses, was reached, and given to the flames the next day. On the evening of the 12th, Lieut. Boyd and

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

his command of twenty-six men, and the Oneida, Han Jerry,* were sent out to reconnoitre, and on the 13th met their tragic fate, fifteen of the twenty-eight, including Boyd and the Oneida guide, being killed outright, or most inhu- manly tortured and murdered; Boyd and Sergt. Parker being stabbed in more than twenty places, scalped, their tongues cut out, eyes put out, and heads cut off. On the 13th the army reached the town of Gaghsauguilahery, where the enemy seemed determined to make a stand. The line of battle was formed and the advance ordered, but the Indians fled from the town across the river, without making any further show of resistance. On the 14th this town and its extensive cornfields were destroyed, and the last stronghold of the Senecas was entered without a gun being fired.

On the 15th of September General Sullivan issued his congratulatory orders, announcing the successful aecom- plishment of the immediate objects of the campaign. On the same day the army began the return march to Tioga, and on the 24th arrived at Newtown, " where Capt. Reed, with a detachment of two hundred men, had thrown up a breastwork to guard some stores and cattle brought forward from Tioga for the army in case of necessity." This forti- fication, called Fort Reed, ran along the bank of Newtown Creek, as far up as the present bridge, below the Arnot Mills ; thence westerly, on the south side of the road, from sixty to eighty rods; thence to the river, and down the same to the mouth of the creek, including an area of three or four acres, and surrounded by palisades. On the arrival of the victorious army, the garrison at Fort Read fired a salute of thirteen guns, which was responded to by the artillery of Col. Proctor. Oy the 25th of September the expedition, which had been sent under Col. Dearborn to destroy the villages of the Cayugas, joined the main army at Fort Reed, and a grand celebration was held over their victory and the declaration of war by Spain against England.

The success of the expedition was most complete. Forty towns and one hundred and sixty thousandf bushels of corn was destroyed, besides vast quantities of pumpkins, beans, melons, and other vegetables, and peach- and apple-orchards, and a most desolating march executed through the richest portion of the enemy's country, with small loss to the invad- ers. One pitched battle was fought and several skirmishes were had ; the most distressing and shocking loss of ours being that of Lieut. Boyd and his command of twenty-six men, of whom more than half were slain.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Lewis, Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 826