USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 44
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The reader is already familiar with the events of the year 1779, few of which bore important relation to the district under our present consideration. Skenesborough was burned in March by the infamous Joe Betteys and a party of one hundred and thirty Indians, some of the inhabitants killed and the re- mainder made prisoners ; Fort Anne was thus left as the frontier post on the north.
The town record book shows the usual election for 1779, with no change of importance, except the substitution of Phineas Babcock for supervisor in place of Abraham Wing. In 1780 the following record appears : -
" At an annual town meeting held in Queensbury on Tuesday ye 2 Day of May, 1780, For the Township of Queensbury.
" Voted, Abraham Wing, Moderator.
" Voted, to Return this to Fort Miller, at Duer's big house, the Eight of this instant at 9 in the Morning.
"Fort Miller ye 8 AD. 1780, - The Meting mett, and opened according to appointment."
The election of the following officers is then recorded; Benjamin Wing, town clerk; Phineas Babcock, supervisor ; James Higson and Andrew Lewis, constables; Ebenezer Fuller, James Higson and Andrew Lewis, assessors ; Abraham Wing, pathmaster; Abraham Wing and Benjamin Wing, overseers of the poor; Silas Brown, collector; Abraham Wing, town treasurer; Abra- ham Wing, jr., pound-keeper; Pardon Daly and James Higson, fence viewers and appraisers of damages.
The reason for adjourning this town meeting to Fort Miller is presumed to have been the fear of some Tory irruption from Canada like that already related, of which there were several more in the course of the season.
Nearly or quite all of the families that have been mentioned as settlers in Queensbury, and others (the Seelyes, the Ferrisses, Merritts, Browns, Odells, Braytons, Harrises, Parkses, Havilands, Griffings, Folgers, etc., who have been conspicuous in the history of the town), were from Duchess county. There they had been neighbors and friends for many years, and the trying experi- ences to which they were subjected on the scene of their new homes only welded closer the bonds of friendship among them. Most of them belonged
377
PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
to the religious sect known as Friends, or Quakers,1 and were on that account opposed to the war; consequently they took no part in it, and as year after year of the contest passed and their own immediate locality was threatened, they at various times gathered hastily movable property and precipitately retreated to their old homes in Duchess, to return again when the danger was passed. These flittings were so frequent that, in the language of one of the old resi- dents, " It soon got to be very easy to go, for they had but little to move." But, notwithstanding these hardships and periods of absence, the existence of the settlement was maintained with persistent energy, and with the exception of the last year of the war, the inhabitants did not fail to meet annually and elect their town officers, as we have seen.
The following additional records complete the statements of losses by the inhabitants of Queensbury, as recorded in the Wing manuscripts : -
No. 1.2
" Memorandum of Account of Outlays, Expenditures and losses by Abra- ham Wing :
"Time expended in Search of my Iron which was con- sealed by Sargent Williams & Company June the 20 Day 1778 6 men and myself 1 Day. £8,, 8,,0
" 2 cwt of Nails 60,, 00 , 0
"To 3 journies to Fort Stark in the Summer in pursuit of sd iron 3, 12 ,, O
" 2 days at Court 2 ,, 8 ,, 0
" 2 large Carpenters Sledges or Mawls, -9, 12 ,, O
" 8 ax ,, 2 Iron wedges. 6 ,, 8 , 0
" ABRM WING."
No. 2.
Statement of losses by one Jacob Ferguson.
" Capt moss I understand by Cornal mcCray that you had wheat from my fathers plase with others ond as it was one third part mine please to pay Abra- ham Wing the money for what you Had and you will oblige your Friend.
" Queensbury the 4 of February 1780 JACOB FERGUSON."
"Capt putnam I understand by Cornal mcCray that you had sum wheat from my Fathers plase which wheat was one third part mine please to pay Abraham Wing for the Same and you will oblige your friend to sarve.
" Queensbury the 4 february 1780. JACOB FERGUSON."
1 In the year 1813 the following named persons were returned from Queensbury as Quakers, sub- ject to military duty, and refused : Solomon Haviland, Dilwin Gardner, Joseph Haviland, Stephen Brown, Jonathan Brown, Henry Brown, Isaac Fancher, William Sisson, Nathaniel Sisson, jr., Daniel Sisson, Jonathan Dean, David Dean, Joseph Dean, David Brown, Benjamin Lapham. Each of these was assessed four dollars in lien of the year's military duty.
2 HOLDEN'S History of Queensbury.
378
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
No. 3.
Affidavit of Samuel Younglove relating to the destruction of property in Queensbury in 1780.
" County of ) Personally before me Albert Baker one of the Justices for said Washington S.SS. County Samuel Younglove of Lawfull age deposeth and saith that he saw James Stinslor take out of the house of Abram Wing in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty to the amount of about one hundred panes of glass with the sashes or near there abouts and saw him have five saw- mill saws and sundry other articles which the said Stinslor told the deponent he had taken from the said Wing, and the deponent further declares that the said Stinslor told him the deponent that he had got to the amount of between forty and fifty pounds from old Wing. farthermore deponent saith not.
"Sworn before me this 11th June, 1787 SAML YOUNGLOVE "
" ALBERT BAKER J. Peace."
No. 4. Affidavit concerning cattle seized in 1780.
" Washington County State of New York ss.
" Personally appeared before me John Williams one of Judges of the Court of Sessions & common pleas for the said County John McCrea of said County of lawful age who being duly sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God deposeth and saith that in the month of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty that the Garrison stationed at Fort Ed- ward were destitute of provisions and that the Commissary then at that post was directed to get Cattle where they might be had for the support of the Troops by order of General Schuyler Jonathan Jillet the then Commissary ap- plyed to this deponent who had a pair of fatt oxen which he received and killed at the post that this deponent applied to the commissary for payment who gave this deponent a certificate for said Cattle which afterwards was destroyed with the buildings of this deponent by the enemy that he the said Commissary left the parts immediately after the Campaign ended so that this deponent could not obtain any relief in the premises & has made application to the Legislature of this State but did not receive any neither has he at any time or in any man- ner received any kind of restitution for said Cattle and further he this deponent has not assigned or made over said certificate to any person or persons what- ever and that the certificate which this deponent received for said oxen from said Commissary was for fourteen hundred weight of Beef as near as this de- ponent recollects and further this deponent saith not.
"Sworn before me this
JOHN WILLIAMS JUD CURIA."
25th december 1790
No. 5.
Official certificates in favor of Abraham Wing and son.
"No 416 I do hereby acknowledge myself indebted to Abraham Wing in
379
PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
the Sum of Two Hundred dollars As Witness my hand this II Day of May 1780
MORN LEWIS D Q MG"
" This Certifies that Mr. Abraham Wing hath supplied the Publick with 150 Plank and 50 Boards Price not known of the above Boards.
" JONATHAN NICKLISON."
" This Certifies that Abraham Wing hath Supplied the Public with Two tuns of Hay at One hundred and Sixty five Dollors pr tun Amounting to One Hundred and Thirty two Pounds for Which Sum this Shall be a Sufficient voucher Given under my hand and Seal- -of September 1780 £132-0
"CHRIS YATES D Q MG
" FORT GEORGE 22d march 1780" " These to Certify
" That abraham Wing Jun hath been two days Imployed in Public services at the garrison at fort George with a sleigh and two Yoke of Oxen one day and with one Span of Horses the other Day for which he hath Recd no pay.
pr WM MOULTON Captn Commandt." " To Whom it may Concern
No. 6.
Deposition of James Higson concerning two oxen, the property of Benjn. Wing -taken for the public service in 1781.
" The Peblic to Benjn. Wing Dr. 15th May 1781
"To Two Oxen Taken from Fort Miller by Lieut. Bagley, by order of Lt. Col. Vandike.
"Washington } This Day personly appeared Before me James Higson of County Lawfull age and made solomn oath in the presence of Al- mighty God, that he Saw the above [named 'Lt. Bagley Take the Oxen from Fort Miller with a party of Soldiers and said he had orders from Col. Van Dicke to Do So, and that he the sd Deponant knew the oxen to be the property of the above named Benjamin Wing. JAMES HIGSON.
"Sworn before me at Fort Edward this 6th Day of March, 1786.
" ADIEL SHERWOOD Jus Peace
" We Do hereby Solemnly Sware that to the best of our knowledge the Two oxen above specified which were taken from Benjn. Wing for the use of the Continental Army, were worth at that time in specie Thirty pounds york money.
" PHINEHAS BABCOCK
" ANDREW LEWIS
" JAMES HIGSON
" Washington
County
this Day personly appeared before me the above Phis.
Babcock, Andrew Lewis and James Higson and made oath to the same
" Fort Edward 6th March 1786. ADIEL SHERWOOD, Jus Peace
" 6th March 1786, this day personly appeared before me Benjn Wing and
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Most Solemnly affirmed in the presence of Almighty God that he had not re- ceived any Compensation for the within mentioned oxen.
" ADIEL SHERWOOD, Jus. Peace."
It is presumed that no part of these claims was ever adjusted.
Queensbury was destined to still further devastation before the triumph of liberty was secured. The Tory element in this section continued to increase in numbers and vindictiveness, and the annals of the times are filled with thrill- ing incidents in which they and their loyal neighbors were the chief partici- pants. The Sacandaga River and Lake George, with frequent forays into Queensbury, were the favorite routes for the incursions of the Tory bands. It was early in this season (1780) that Justus Seelye (according to the narrative of his son given to Dr. Holden), then a small boy and later a resident of this town, was smuggled into a neighbor's house at Fort Miller, where a meeting of Indians, as supposed, was held, and to whose consultations and proceedings he thus involuntarily became a witness. After they left he escaped to his home and related the events and conversation of the evening. A party was imme- diately organized in pursuit, which overtook and captured them, when one of them was discovered to be a neighbor and a Tory painted up in the fitting sem- blance of a savage. He with the rest of his party, all Tories, were sent to Al- bany and imprisoned, tried by court martial and hung.
In the autumn of the same year, when Captain John Chipman was in com- mand at Fort George and Captain Adiel Sherwood at Fort Anne, both of these posts were captured by the British and the latter named unimportant fortifica- tion burned, the details of which, with those of other operations and the san- guinary engagement at Bloody Pond, have been given in an earlier chapter. The prisoners taken at the two forts were conveyed by way of Lake Leorge and transferred to the vessels on Lake Champlain, and Fort George was de- stroyed. The detachment of Tories and Indians that proceeded south from Fort Anne hastened on through Kingsbury street, burning and destroying as they went. In local traditions this year has ever since been termed "the year of the burning."
Of the incidents bearing a local interest and connected with these events, Dr. Holden notes the following in his work on Queensbury: "Among the number comprising this expedition [against the two forts] was a former resi- dent of Sandy Hill named Adam Wint, who, espousing the royal cause, went to Canada in the early part of the war. He with another Tory from the same neighborhood acted as guides to a party of Indians to whom was assigned the incendiary work of destruction. At this time Albert Baker, sr.,1 was attending
1 The Bakers were of Scotch or North English origin. For political reasons the original or pio- neer emigrant of the name was obliged to flee his country, and seek refuge in this country, during Cromwell's protectorate. Albert Baker, jr., was born 10th November, 1765. When he was four years of age his father moved to Sandy Hill. Caleb Baker, son of Albert, was the first child born of white parents in the town of Kingsbury. Albert, jr., was sent to school at Glens Falls before there was any school at Sandy Hill. He boarded at Abraham Wing's.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
court in the eastern part of the county. While his sons and hired men were at work, a part of them in the barn and the rest in the fields near by, a neigh- bor by the name of Thomas Lyon came rushing by exclaiming, 'Boys what are you about ? Don't you see that all Kingsbury's ablaze ? You'd better be getting out of this !' After warning the family, the boys hitched up two yokes of oxen to a cart, and loading it hastily with what few things came readily to hand they made their escape by the way of Fort Edward. Even then the Tories had formed their ambuscade by the road side, for Gil Harris, who was one of the party, with others lay concealed behind a log on the route between Sandy Hill and Fort Edward, afterwards told Mrs. Baker that he saw her pass- ing with a tea-kettle in her hand, and that she would have been taken a pris- oner to Canada had it not been from a fear of being pursued by the soldiers at Fort Edward.
" A portion of the same party followed down the river on the west side as far as Stillwater, burning and destroying as th y went. The fugitive settlers from Kingsbury and Queensbury are said to have been guided on their retreat by the blaze of the burning buildings.
" A widow Harris, who kept tavern nearly opposite the Baker house, had a little daughter captured by the enemy, but they shortly let her go again and she returned to her mother ; home she had none, for it was burned. There were seventeen families living in Kingsbury at this time. Of all the buildings and betterments everything was destroyed but two.
" At this time Queensbury was abandoned by its inhabitants, its dwellings and improvements were again burnt and destroyed and the settlement remained deserted for the next fifteen months, during which no record exists of town meetings, nor is there any other evidence of occupancy."
Of the situation after the era of destruction in Queensbury we have a vivid picture in the Travels in North America, by the Marquis de Chastellux, under date of December 30th, 1780, wherein he says: "I had scarcely lost sight of Fort Edward, before the spectacle of devastation presented itself to my eyes, and continued to distress them as far as the place I stopped at. Peace and In- dustry had conducted Cultivators amidst the ancient forests [who] were content and happy, before the period of this war. Those who were in Burgoyne's way alone Experienced the horrors of his Expedition; but on the last invasion of the Savages, the desolation has spread from Fort Schuyler (or Stanwise) even to Fort Edward ; I beheld nothing around me but the remains of conflagrations ; a few bricks, proof against the fire, were the only indication of ruined houses ; whilst the fences still entire, and cleared out lands, announced that these de- plorable habitations had once been the abode of riches and happiness."
"Among the prisoners taken at this time by a party of savages and Tories accompanying the expedition to Fort George, were Eben Fuller (brother-in- law to William Robards, before mentioned) and his son Benjamin; Andrew
382
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Lewis, who was held a prisoner in Canada to the close of the war, James Hig- son, soon afterward liberated through the intercession of his brother-in-law, Daniel Jones, Moses Harris the elder and his son William.
" The morning following the surrender of the fort, the dwelling where they lived was surrounded by the invading party, and before they could make any preparations either for defense or escape, they were made prisoners. The elder Harris was treated with uncalled for severity and harshness. His shoes and stockings were taken off, and he was loaded with a heavy pack of plunder, with which, after his house and out buildings were burned, he was compelled to travel the rough road which led along the western banks of Lake George to a point on Lake Champlain north of Ticonderoga, probably Bulwagga Bay.1 The son begged the privilege of carrying his father's pack, and also to allow the old gentleman the use of his shoes and stockings, while he would go barefoot. Through the malignity of one of the Tories, who had an old grudge to revenge, this request was denied, and the old man's trail might, for many miles, have been traced by his bloody foot-prints. After reaching Lake Champlain the party, consisting of eighteen prisoners with their captors, were embarked in boats and bateaux, which had been concealed at that place on their way up, and after many privations, hardships and indignities, were finally landed at Quebec.
" Here the captives were ransomed from the savages, and became prisoners of war. For a period they were held in close confinement, but after awhile the rigor of their discipline was somewhat relaxed, and the old man was permitted to follow the occupations of farming and also of dressing and tanning deer- skins, with which he was familiar. In due course of time, he with other pris- oners was sent to Halifax and exchanged, after which he returned to his former home in Duchess county. The younger Harris, with thirteen other prisoners, through the same Tory influence that had made both his march and imprison- ment of unusual rigor and severity, was placed for more perfect security where they were guarded by a patrol of soldiers and kept at work. With the open- ing of spring a yearning for freedom possessed the hearts of the prisoners, and they concerted a plan for escape, which was afterward matured and carried into effect as follows : A boat from the main land furnished them daily with pro-
1 " It is proper to state," says Dr. Holden in a foot note, p. 485, " that this narrative and the other Harris traditions were taken down by the author about the year 1850 from the relation of Moses Harris, nephew of William, the principal actor in this life drama, by whom my informant had heard the events related many times. In one respect, and perhaps without sufficient canse, I have varied my account from the original version as given to me ; which made the date of the capture of the Harrises and other prisoners at the time of Burgoyne's advance, which the following reminiscence would seem to confirm ; for William's son Benjamin informed me that his father's name was afterwards found on the muster and pay rolls in Sherwood's possession, as one of the militia drafted for that emergency, and that he was present in the fort as a soldier, and was made a prisoner at the time of the surrender of Fort Anne. It is gratifying, also, to record his justification of the surrender; inasmuch as, according to his judgment, the fort was wholly untenable against any considerable force.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
visions and such necessary supplies as their condition required. From these supplies, they commenced saving up from their daily rations such portions as could be most easily preserved, until they had accumulated sufficient to last them for three days. When the critical moment of departure arrived, however, only seven of the fourteen could be prevailed upon to undertake the perilous journey. The most the others would do was to take a solemn oath not to make any disclosure or raise any alarm which would lead to their apprehension, until the evening following, when the sentries were changed, and the discovery would be inevitable. They seized the boat which brought their provisions in the morning and made their escape during the forenoon, landing upon the south shore of the St. Lawrence, on the borders of the vast wilderness stretch- ing toward the New England colonies. Harris, being an excellent woodsman, here took the lead, and they struck boldly into the wilderness, pursuing their way southward for several days and nights with but little rest and scant re- freshment, husbanding their slender stock of provisions to the utmost. These soon gave out and they were obliged to depend upon such chance fare as the forest afforded. At length, utterly worn out with fatigue they made a halt, and to avoid the intolerable annoyance of the mosquitos and flies, it was pro- posed to build a fire, or more properly a smudge, as it is called in woodman's par- lance. Harris opposed the project and endeavored to dissuade them from it, on the ground that it would inevitably lead to their discovery and recapture, if they were pursued, which was exceedingly probable. He was overruled, how- ever, by the majority, and a place was selected on a low marshy spot of ground, where the fire was started and then smothered with damp, rotten wood, which prevented it from blazing and made a dense, heavy smoke which kept off the insects. Around this they camped for the night, and exhausted with the pro- tracted march and unwonted fatigue the entire party was very shortly buried in a profound sleep. About midnight they were aroused from their slumbers by a volley of musketry, by which one of their number was killed outright, and two others were desperately wounded. Harris, who was a large, muscular man, with limbs powerfully knit together, and of herculean proportions and strength, arose in time to parry a blow from a tomahawk, which was aimed by a gigantic savage at one of his companions. The Indian immediately grappled with him, and after a struggle for some minutes Harris succeeded in throwing him upon the now brightly blazing fire, when putting his feet upon his neck he pressed the savage's head beneath the flames. At this juncture, a near neighbor and former friend of Harris before the war, a Tory by the name of Cyrenus Parks, approached him with his musket, clubbed, and ordered him to release the sav- age.1 This he refused to do, and as he drew back to strike him, Harris ex-
1 Cyrenus Parks had a brother named Joseph, who, after the war, lived on his brother's place, near neighbor to William. As he was a Whig and patriot in sentiment, he and the Harrises were very ami- cable in their relations, until a misunderstanding arose between them in regard to some business trans- action, when a gradual coolness ensued, which, for a while, estranged them. One morning Joseph
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
claimed, 'You won't kill an unarmed man will you, Parks, and an old neighbor too?" Parks made no reply, nor for an instant wavered in his fell purpose, and the blow descended. Harris warded it off as well as he could with his arm, which was broken by its force, the remainder of the blow falling upon his head, the lock of the gun cutting a large gash through the scalp, down the sides of the head to the ear.
" Harris fell stunned and remained insensible for many hours. When he awoke to consciousness he found another gash on the opposite side of his head, caused by the blow of a tomahawk, two wounds upon his forehead caused by the muzzle of a musket, jammed down with considerable force with the intent of dispatching him, and a bayonet thrust in the chest, which had been given to see if he was still alive. All his companions were gone, as well as his coat, shoes and knapsack, which he had taken off the evening before, and which had served him as a pillow during his fatal sleep. He staggered to his feet, dressed his wounds as well as he could, slung his broken arm through his neck hand- kerchief, and, maimed and crippled, resumed his slow and toilsome progress towards home. He subsisted upon roots, leaves and herbs, such as he could find suitable for the purpose upon his route, and an occasional frog dressed with his remaining hand, aided by his teeth, and eaten raw.
" At length he came out on the bank of a stream. While standing upon the gravelly beach, looking around for materials with which to construct a raft, the stream being deep and rapid, and he unable to swim, he suddenly caught sight of two men cautiously reconnoitering from some distance above him. He immediately concealed himself among the thick bushes and rank vegetation along the stream and crept back into the woods to an old tree top, which had been his place of concealment and lodging the night before. After waiting some time, and reflecting that his situation could be made but little worse even by a return to captivity, he resolved to go back and surrender himself to the lurking foe. He accordingly went back and again discovered the two men cautiously peering at him through the brushwood. Stepping boldly out in sight, he beckoned them to approach, when, to his great joy, he found that they were two Dutchmen from the Mohawk Valley, comrades of his, who had also escaped on the night of the attack. They dressed his wounds, which
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