History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 7

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 7

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The campaign in its results realized the fullest anticipa- tions of its projector. The Indians were most thoroughly overawed by the destruction of their country by an army they fully believed never could penetrate successfully twenty miles into it. They never again appeared in large numbers on any battle-field of the Revolution. They were driven north to Niagara by the destruction of their supplies, where, owing to the provisions issued to them by the garrison being salted,

the scurvy broke out among them, and the winter being ex- ceptionally severe, they died in large numbers. Terribly had the border settlements suffered from their ravages, and ter- ribly were they avenged.

EXPEDITIONS UP THE CHEMUNG.

That detachments of the army were sent up the Che- mung, above Elmira, both on their arrival at Newtown, on 31st of August, 1779, and after their return, September 27 and 28, is evident from several published documents. We quote first, Gen. Sullivan's official report :

" From this place (Elmira) Col. Dayton was detached with his regiment and the rifle corps up the Tioga about six miles, who de- stroyed several large fields of corn."

Canfield's journal :

" August 31. Col. Dayton was detached to follow the enemy up the Chemung, hut could not overtake them, but came to an Iodian town which he destroyed, and also the corn."

Lient. John Jenkins' journal :

" August 31. This day we discovered the enemy going up the main branch of the Tioga with boats and canoes. Maj. Parr, with the riflemen and a company of infaotry, was sent after them. . . . Sep- tember 1. Maj. Parr returned to the army about 10 o'clock to-day, and informed ns that he could not come up with the Indians with their canoes, but that he burned a number of buildings and destroyed thirty acres of corn, and that the enemy had made a quantity of hay."

Other journals give substantially the same facts. The journal of Col. Gansevort says :

" The army waited the return of a detachment which had been dis- patched up the Tioga to lay waste the crops."

The following is from Sergt. Salmon's account of the ex- pedition. Mr. Salmon was a resident of Northumberland Co., Pa., and was orderly-sergeant of Capt. Sampson's com- pany during the Sullivan campaign. He died in 1837. After describing the battle of Newtown and the retreat of the Indians, he says :

" The Indians having in this manner escaped, went up the river to a placed called the Narrows, where they were attacked hy our men, who killed them in great numbers, so that the sides of the rocks next towards the river appeared as though blood had been poured on them in pailfuls. The Indians threw their dead into the river, and escaped the best way they could."

This statement is published under the sanction of the " Rochester Committee," in a work entitled " Notices of the Sullivan Campaign, or the Revolutionary Warfare in West- ern New York," embodying the addresses and documents connected with the removal of the remains of Lieut. Boyd to Mount Hope Cemetery in 1842.

The " Narrows" referred to are probably the Chemung Narrows, below Elmira. The writer goes ou to say : " From Newtown our army went directly to the head of Seneca Lake," etc.

The " Manuscript Journal of an Officer," quoted at large in the " Annals of Tryon County," has the following :

"Sept. 28. This day Cols. Cortland and Dayton were detached with large detachments to destroy corn ; the former taking his route up the Tioga branch, to which place he was detached the day before (27th), and destroyed large fields of corn; and the latter taking his route downwards and destroyed such as the army left in going up."

A chief of the Oneidas, who had been remarkable for his attach- ment to the cause of the Colonies, having served as a volunteer from the commencement of the war. The Dutch, with whom he had fought io the Mohawk Valley, called him Han Jerry,-John George.

+ " It was estimated that one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn were destroyed during the expedition."-Thatcher.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

It is evident that the expedition was too much engaged in pursuing the main body of the Indians and Tories north- ward to pay much attention to the upper valley of the Che- mung till after the return to Newton, on the 24th of Sep- tember. We give the following extraets from journals respeeting the movements of this period :

Col. Hubley's journal :

" Sept. 27. The detachment ordered to march yesterday moved this morning up the Tioga branch to an Indian village about twelve miles from this place, with orders to destroy the same. At dark this evening, the detachment which moved this morning returned, after destroying a considerable quantity of corn, beans, and other vegetables, sixteen boat-loads of which they brought with them for the use of the army. They also burned a small village."

Jenkins' Journal notices the same facts of this date, with the addition that the detachment was commanded by Col. Spalding.

James Norris' Journal :

"Sept. 28. The same party that was sent yesterday was sent again to-day further up the river to destroy a Tory settlement that a small party discovered yesterday."

Gen. John S. Clark, who has a fine collection of doeu- ments on the Sullivan Campaign, and who has studied that subject, as well as the Indian antiquities of this State, very thoroughly, thinks that there were three villages destroyed on the Chemung above Elmira,-one at or near Big Flats, another near the present site of Corning, and the third at Painted Post. Speaking of the "Tory settlement" re- ferred to in the journal of Norris, he says: "This last place, according to the accounts, appears to have been at Painted Post, where was also a considerable village in 1764, called Assinnissink, a Monsey town, near the con- fluence of the Canisteo and Tioga. It was the residence of Jacheabus, the leader of the war-party that committed the massacre of the Mahoney in 1755. The exact location of this more ancient town is somewhat uncertain. The Pennsylvania Historical Map places it in the forks of the two rivers in the town of Erwin." *

We do not know of any other authority for the Tory settlement than the journal above quoted. Such a settle- ment or collection of Indians and British traders of the low sort may have existed here at the time of the Sullivan expe- dition, and been so effectually destroyed as to leave no trace of it at the time of the early settlement. There can be no doubt but that some one of the detachments sent up the Chemung penetrated this county as far as the confluence of the Canisteo and Tioga Rivers, and destroyed everything in the shape of cornfields, buildings, and orchards which came in their way. The only Indian orchard that re- mained standing when the first settlers came into this part of the Chemung Valley was that on an island near Fox & Weston's steam-mill, two miles above Painted Post, which was probably overlooked when they destroyed the cornfields and orchards of the adjoining valley.

# Near the junction of the Canistco and Tioga Rivers, on the farm of Mrs. E. E. Townsend, just north of the present school in that part of the town of Erwin, is an ancient Indian burying-ground, which has been much noted and commented upon by the settlers since the first advent of the whites to this part of the country. It probably belonged to the period of the Indian settlement above referred to.

Thus far it will be conceded that we stand on firm historie ground. Whether a battle was fought or an en- gagement of any kind was had with the Indians within the limits of this county during the Sullivan campaign is another question. It is elaimed by some local writers and newspaper correspondents, chiefly on traditional authority, that a detachment of Maxwell's brigade came up the Che- mung and had an engagement with the Indians at the mouth of a little creek, since called Bloody Run, about two and a half miles below Corning, on the north side of the river, on lands now owned by Mr. James Smith, on the 4th or 5th of September, 1779. Others, again, deny this chiefly on the ground that no allusion is made to any such battle or engagement in any printed or published account of the expedition. That we may do justice to both parties in this controversy, which has filled a score of newspaper columns during the past year, we propose to give the sub- stance of the arguments on both sides, and leave the reader to judge of their respective merits. In one of the news- paper articles referred to we find the following :

" Well-attested tradition avers that a battle was fought here between a detachment of Sullivan's army and a force of Indians, in September, 1779. Mr. Jobu Patterson, whose integrity none will question, says the place was indicated up to the year 1814, by seven oak-trees that stood near the highway. On three of these trees was carved the hie- roglyphical representation of Indiaus with tomahawks drawn. On four of the trees there was carved the representation of soldiers with guns in their hands. These were considered hy the primitive settlers as relies of this engagement.

" There is no doubt that links in the chain of Sullivan's campaign have been lost, and have remained unsupplied to this day ; conse- queatly we must rely on the statements of those old patriots who are gone, and much of the story of this engagement is buried with theni. They are gone but not forgotten; they need no statue or inscription to reveal their greatness; their deeds are monuments more lasting than the fanes reared to the kings and demi-gods of old.

" Belonging to the detachment that Sullivan sent up the Chemung, was Lieut. Nathan Dascum, William Mapes, and Abijah Ward, who have left a verbal history of the engagement that took place at Bloody Run, and they all agree as to location. Daseum was a lieutenant in this detachment, and belonged with Mapes to Maxwell's Brigade. Ile lived at Geneva, and died at Big Flats in the year 1840. Ile was the grandfather of Calvin Lovell, Esq., of Painted Post, and Reuben Lovell. Esq., of Big Flats. In the year 1835, on a visit to his daughter at Big Flats, he expressed a wish to visit the field of Bloody Run, where he had met the red man in deadly conflict fifty-six years be- fore. Calvin Lovell went with him, and the old patriot pointed out to him, with tears in his eyes, the position and the very ground occu- pied by the detachment and the location of the Indians, which was behind a swamp covered with bushes. Mr. Lovell says the recital was one of thrilling interest to him. The engagement took place over this swamp, the soldiers firing over the bushes, the Indians fall- ing back and taking position on the side of the hill. After the battle the Americans crossed the river and followed up the west side until they came to a fording-place, there recrossed and joined a detachment that went np on the east side of the river. Uniting, they went west as far as Switch Bottom Flats (which is in the vicinity of Fox, Weston & Co.'s mills), the old veteran pointing out the very spot of ground where they encamped.

" Daseum corroborates Mapes. Their account of the battle and what took place subsequently are almost identical with Abijah Ward's, who died at Painted Post about forty years ago. . . .

. . . " Ilis statement is that they met the Indians at Bloody Ruu, concealed in a swamp ; that the enemy fired on them as they came up ; that after the battle the detachment went back and joined the main army. He agrees with Dascum and Mapes, with the exception of the farther advance west."

Another writer, on the same side of the question, under date of Aug. 26, 1878, says :

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" In my letter of the 19th instant to the Gazette in relation to Sul- livan's campaign against the Indians in 1779, I had no idea of man- ufacturing history or proveking a controversy. I desired simply to throw light upon some of the incidents of that campaign, in which the people of the Chemung Valley are at present interested. But a brief criticism of my letter appears in the Free Press of August 23, in which the editor seems to doubt the taking place of an engagement between a detachment of Sullivan's army and the Indiaos at a place two and a half miles below Corning, en the east hank of the Chemung River, on lands formerly owned by Jonathan Brown, Esq , Sept. 4th or 5th, 1779. . .

" I have before me ' Lieut .- Col. Adam lInbley's Journal,' ' Lessing's Field Book of the Revolution,' ' Stone's Life of Brandt,' . Miner's Ilis- tory of Wyoming,' and other reliable data, and there is not a word in them incompatible with the assertions of William Mapes in relation to an engagement on the 4th or 5th of September, 1779, at the place stated hy him, and communicated in my letter of the 19th inst. . . .

" William Mapes, the old soldier from whom I obtained my iafor- mation, was in General Maxwell's brigade of Sullivan's expedition. Ile was an intelligent and truthful mao, and his memory in regard to Revolutionary events was truly wonderful. He had served five years in the Continental army, and had made himself acquainted with the history of that eventful era.

" Before I ventured to write a word concerning any of the events of the campaign of Sullivan, I tested bim thoroughly, and found him to be a perfect cyelopædia of Revolutionary history, and had memorized all the leading events, and had them at his tongue's end."

One of the principal writers on the other side discredits the value of this traditional evidence as follows :

" If the above statement is true, it stands alone and without any corroboration of official or traditional evidence within our knowledge. The view from our standpoint : Abijah Ward, another soldier in Sul- livan's army, and who was, as he said, 'one of the sixty men of the detachment seat up the Chemung River by Sullivan,' lived for many years in our town, and his integrity and soldierly reputation were no more to be questioned than those of Mr. Mapes. In his relations of the acts of the detachment, he denied not only the killing, but seeing a solitary Indian from the time they left New town until their return.

"There are gentlemen still living in our village who have heard him repeatedly make this statement; also, that ' he came up to' (and, if I am not mistaken ) 'around the chimney Narrows Hill.' Another Sullivan soldier, Mr. Little, a young man from Northumberland, Pa., was in the battle of the log Back, taken prisoner after the battle, and taken by the notorious Tory, Capt. MeDonald, to Canada, in company with a Mr. Taggart, a prisoner from Freeling's Fort, Pa., who, with MeDonald was present at the burial of the half-breed chief, Montour, at Painted Post, on their route to Canada. Little made his escape, and returning, stopped a few days with the renowned hunter and guide, Benjamin Patterson, then living in the town of Painted Pest." to whom he related, ' The chief that was buried at Painted Post was wounded at the battle of the Hog Back, below New town. IHis name was Montour, and he was taken in a eanoe to Painted Post. It was frequently mentioned in. the eamp where I was a prisoner, and before I made my escape, and Mr. Taggart told me he was present at the burial.' Now, Mr. William Mapes relates ' that one of the twelve In- dians shot in the engagement at Bloody Run was a chief, and had en a ealico shirt ; was in the net of jumping over a Ing when hit; was taken hy other Indians to Painted Post, and buried.' And thus ends the positive evidence : The statement of Mr. Mapes, that Mon- tour was wounded at ' the engagement' at Bloody Run : Mr. Little, that he was wounded at the Battle of Ilog Baek ; and Mr. Ward, that ne Indians were seen, wounded, or slain on the expedition of the de- tachment, and this is all the positive evidence.

" Now let us look at the possibilities.

" If this detachment was sent up the river by Gen. Sullivan, and was composed ef so many men, it must certainly have been eensidered by the commander of some importance (and there is no reasonable doubt but that such detachment was sent). If said detachment was sent to destroy the erops of the Indians or seatter and destroy the Indians, would not a report of the sneeess or failure have been among the re-

eords of the campaign ? If so large a foree had been sent, and an important engagement, in which a dozen of the enemy, including a renowned chief, were slain, and not one of the detachment wounded or lost, would it have been kept out of the reports and left to the ehance of individual soldiers' descriptions ?"

We have deemed the above views worthy of a respectful hearing, although destitute of the qualities necessary to constitute history.

CHAPTER VI.

EXTINGUISHMENT OF THE INDIAN TITLE.

Indians at the elose of the Revolution-First Treaty at Fort Stanwix -Council at Herkimer-The Lessee Companies-Second Treaty at Fort Stanwix-Treaty of Fort Schuyler-Treaty of Albany.

AT the close of the Revolutionary war, the Indian allies of Great Britain were deserted and left unprovided for by the masters whom they had so long and faithfully served. The United States, on the contrary, and the States as a general rule, were disposed to treat them with greater lenity than the laws of war and the usage of civilized nations re- quired ; regarding them as subjects to be treated with for the purchase of their lands, rather than as vassals who had forfeited their ancestral inheritance to the conquerors. The country has reason to congratulate itself, both on the score of humanity and economy, that so liberal a policy was adopted in extinguishing the Indian title to lands in this State. It was an example to foreign nations of a forward step in civilization,-a step not less truly American than the peculiar form of government which our fathers established in this Western World.

After the merciless conduct of the savages at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, many were disposed to show them no lenity ; especially was this the case with those who had suffered most at their hands. At one time the proposition to confiscate their lands was received with so much favor by the Legislature of New York that it probably would have prevailed but for the opposite advice and influence of Gen. Schuyler and others. Washington, also, used his influence in the same direction in the National Councils. The wiser and better measures advocated by these and other far-sceing statesmen prevailed; and, notwithstanding the long and perplexing period spent in negotiating treaties, and the large sums of money expended by the State and the general government in settling Indian claims, the more humane policy was undoubtedly less expensive to the country than a renewal of war and conquest would have proved ; and it was certainly more creditable to the head and heart of the nation to deal in this manner with the remnant of a brave and heroic people, whose chief cause for fighting against the colonies was loyalty to the British, with whom they had been for three-quarters of a century in alliance.

TREATY OF FORT STANWIX.

The first attempt on the part of the State of New York to convene a general council of the Five Nations was made in 1784, only a few months after the treaty of peace which closed the Revolution. In April of that year the Legis-

* Benjamin Patterson did not live in Painted Post till 1796, at least seventeen years after the capture of Little.

HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

lature passed an act making the governor and board of commissioners superintendents of Indian affairs. Gov. George Clinton was ex officio president of the board, than whom no man was ever more efficient and patriotic or a greater benefactor to the State. The commissioners ap- pointed were Abraham Cuyler, Peter Schuyler, and Ilenry Glen, who, by authority of the act, associated with then- selves Philip Schuyler, Robert Yates, Abraham Ten Broeck, Abraham Yates, Jr., John J. Beekman, P. W. Yates, Matthew Vischer, and Gen. Gansevoort. Gov. Clinton, at the head of the board, assumed the laboring oar of nego- tiation. The services of a long roll of those who had been Indian traders or captives were enlisted,-Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the missionary, Peter Ryckman, Jacob Reed, James Deane, Maj. Fonda, Col. Wemple, Col. Van Dyke, and others. Peter Ryckman was sent to the various Indian villages, from Oneida Castle to Niagara, to consult with the leading sachems and chiefs, and prepare the Indians to attend the council which was contingently appointed.to be held at a certain time at Fort Schuyler.

All this preparation seems to have been made without the knowledge that the general government was at the same time contemplating a treaty with the Indians. But such was the fact. Congress had already determined upon a general treaty, not only with the Six Nations, but with all the tribes bordering upon the settlements in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and had appointed as its commis- sioners Oliver Woolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. This brought the general government and State authorities into conflict ; a correspondence ensued on the question of jurisdiction and the respective rights of cach to form treaties with the Indians, the State maintaining its right to treat with all Indians within its jurisdiction. The New York board, however, finding the Indians averse to treating with the State, but generally disposed to meet the " Thirteen Fires" and hold a "treaty of peace" jointly with their people of the Western nations, waived the point for the time being, allowing the United States commissioners to hold the first council of importance.

Meantime, the New York Board did not relax their exer- tions. Most of the spring and summer of 1784 were spent in endeavors to convene a couneil of the Six Nations. On the 1st of September deputies from the Onondagas, Cayu- gas, and Senecas met at Fort Schuyler. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras held back, but a deputation from them was brought in by runners on the third day. A very interest- ing summary of the proceedings and results of this and other subsequent councils is given by Mr. Turner, in his history of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, which we cannot do better than to quote here. Its important bearing on our local history will be our apology for its length. Mr. Turner says :

" The deputies of these two nations [Oneidas and Tus- erroras] were first addressed by Gov. Clinton. Ile assured them of' a disposition to be at peace ; disclaimed any inten- tion to deprive them of their lands; proposed a settlement of boundaries ; and warned them against disposing of their lands to other than commissioners regularly appointed by the State of New York, who would treat with them for lands when they were disposed to sell them. In reply to

this speech a delegate of the two nations expressed their gratification that the war had ended, and that they could now meet and ' smoke the pipe of peace.' .You have come up,' said he, ' what has been an untrodden path to you for many years ; and this path which you have seen as you have come along, has been strewed with blood. We, therefore, in our turn, console your losses and sorrows during these troublesome times. We rejoice that you have opened the path of peace to this country.' He thanked the commis- sioners for their advice to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, not to listen to individuals who proposed the purchase of their lands.

" At this stage of the council the Cayuga and Tuscarora chiefs exhibited a letter from the commissioners of Con- gress. The letter was read. It informed the Indians that they, the commissioners, were appointed by Congress ' to settle a general peace with all the Indian nations from the Ohio to the Great Lakes'-that the Governor of New York had no authority from Congress ; but as he had invited the Indians to assemble at Fort Stanwix on the 20th of Sep- tember, the commissioners, to save the trouble of two coun- cils, would alter the determination of holding the council at Niagara, and meet them at Fort Stanwix on the day named.

" Gov. Clinton next addressed the ' sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.' He assured them that what was a colony had become a State ; that he and his friends had met them to open the path of peace, to establish that friendly relation that existed between the Indians and their white neighbors previous to the war. Some passages of the Governor's speech were as truly elo- quent as anything that will be found among our State records. He said : 'The council fires which were lighted both at Albany and Onondaga by our ancestors and those of the Six Nations, which burned so bright, and shone with so friendly a light over our common country, have un- happily almost been extinguished by the late war with Great Britain. I now gather together at this place the remaining brands, add fresh fuel, and with the true spirit of reconciliation and returning friendship, rekindle the fire, in hopes that no future events may ever arise to extinguish it ; but that you and we, and the offspring of us both, may enjoy its benign influence as long as the sun shall shine or Waters flow.' In reference to the letter of the commis- sioners of Congress, he assured them that their business was with Indians residing out of any State ; but that New York had a right to deal with those residing within her boundaries.

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History of Steuben county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 7

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