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 6
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" The moment we landed they began to run about two hundred paces to- ward their enemy, who stood firm, and had not perceived my companions, who went into the bush with some savages. Ours commenced calling me in a loud voice, and making way for me opened in two, and placed me at their head, marching about twenty paces in advance until I was within thirty paces of the enemy. The moment they saw me they halted, gazing at me and I at them. When I saw them preparing to shoot at us, I raised my arquebus, and aiming directly at one of the three chiefs, two of them fell by this shot; one of their companions received a wound of which he died afterwards. I had put four balls in my arquebus. Ours on witnessing a shot so favorable for them, set up such tremendous shouts that thunder could not have been heard ; and yet there was no lack of arrows on the one side and the other. The Iroquois were greatly astonished seeing two men killed so instantaneously, notwithstanding they were provided with arrow proof-armor,1 woven of cotton thread and wood ;
1 The allusion to this armor presents an interesting and suggestive inquiry. We know of the product of no indigenous plant, which Champlain might have mistaken for cotton. He must have been familiar with that plant. The fact he mentions implies either the existence of a commercial inter-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
this frightened them very much. Whilst I was reloading one of my compan- ions in the bush fired a shot, which so astonished them anew, seeing their chief slain, that they lost courage, took to flight and abandoned their fort, hiding themselves in the depths of the forest, whither pursuing them I killed some others. Our savages also killed several of them and took ten or twelve prison- ers. The rest carried off the wounded. Fifteen or sixteen were wounded by arrows; they were promptly cured.
" After having gained the victory they amused themselves by plundering Indian corn and meal from the enemy ; also their arms which they had thrown away to run the better. And having feasted, danced and sung, we returned three hours afterward with the prisoners.
" The place where the battle was fought is in forty-three degrees some minutes latitude, and I named it Lake Champlain."
This battle, the first of a long series that were to consecrate the locality with the blood of three contending powers, was doubtless fought near, if not directly upon the promontory afterwards occupied by Fort Ticonderoga. This opinion is advanced by the best authorities. The plan of the campaign and the route to be traveled, as described to Champlain by his savage com- panions, led beyond question up the outlet from Lake Champlain to Lake George. Hence there is no reason for assuming that they followed further up the coast than Ticonderoga, and ample reason for believing that here would be their landing place. The Indians had told Champlain that after traversing the lake they "must pass by a water-fall and thence into another lake three or four leagues long." No clearer description of the route from one lake to the other can be written at this day.
The Algonquin Indians, who had passed through a generation or more of warfare with the Iroquois and were generally getting the worst of the contest, now found themselves armed with a weapon with which they could, for a time, win victory on any field.
Thus signalized the first hostile meeting between the civilized white man and the untutored Indian. Low as the latter was found in the scale of intelli- gence and terrible as were many of the subsequent bloody deeds of the Iro- quois, it cannot be denied that their early treatment by the Europeans was scarcely calculated to foster in the savage breast any other feeling than bit- terest hostility. It is like a pathetic page from a romance to read that "the Iroquois are greatly astonished, seeing two men killed so instantaneously," one of whom was their noble chief; while the ingenuous acknowledgment of Cham- plain, "I had put four balls in my arquebus," is a vivid testimony of how little mercy the Iroquois nations were to expect thenceforth from their northern
course between the natives of the North and South ; or perhaps the Mohawks may have secured the cotton as a trophy in some of their southern incursions. - WATSON'S Essex County.
Without desiring to argue the question, it is still pertinent to state that is doubtful if the Indians could at that early date, have obtained cotton upon any southern incursion.
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EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
enemies and the pale-faced race who were eventually to drive them from their domain.
But it was an age in which might was appealed to as right oftener than in late years, and the planting of the lowly banner of the Cross was often pre- ceded by bloody conquest. In the light of the prevailing customs in the Old World at that time, we must view the ready hostility of Champlain towards his helpless enemies.
While the events above recorded were occurring under the leadership of Champlain, who was thus pushing southward from his embryo settlement on the St. Lawrence, other explorations were being made from the sea coast northward, the actors in which were undoubtedly impelled by the same spirit of enterprise, but exemplified in a less belligerent manner. Prominent among these, and particularly noteworthy as opening the pathway of civilization lead- ing to the same territory towards which Champlain's expedition tended, was the exploration of the noble river that now bears the name of its discoverer, Henry Hudson.
Hudson was an Englishman, an expert navigator, and had made, in the in- terest of a body of English merchants, several voyages in search of a north- eastern passage to India. Finally he, as well as his employers, became dis- heartened in attempting to force a way through the ice packs and floes between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, and Hudson went to Holland and offered his services to the Dutch East India Company, which were gladly accepted. He was put in command of the Half-Moon, a stoutly built vessel of ninety tons, and again, casting aside his previous disappointments, sailed for Nova Zembla. But, as before, the fields of ice were a barrier too strong for even the staunch vessel commanded by Hudson, and he was forced to turn back. Determined not to return to Amsterdam without accomplishing something towards ren- dering his voyage fruitful, he directed his course towards Greenland, and sailed around the southern point thereof, taking the route that had already been pur- sued by others in search of a northwest passage. Baffled again by ice packs, he sailed southward, and discovered the American continent somewhere on the coast of Maine. Running into a harbor, he made necessary repairs to his bat- tered vessel, and then followed down the coast as far as Virginia. Returning, he entered Delaware bay and made a partial examination of its shores, and in September, 1609, entered the present harbor of New York. He met and en- tertained the natives, and was hospitably received by them ; but before his de- parture he conferred upon them experimental knowledge of the effects of in- toxicating liquor - an experience perhaps more baneful in its results than that conferred by Champlain a hundred and fifty miles northward, with his new and murderous weapon. Hudson ascended the river to a point within less than a hundred miles of that reached by Champlain, and r. turned to Europe, after hav- ing again sailed as far south as Chesapeake bay. "The unworthy monarch on
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
England's throne, jealous of the advantage which the Dutch might derive from Hudson's discoveries, detained him in England as an English subject; but the navigator outwitted his sovereign, for he had sent an account of his voyage to his Amsterdam employers by a trusty hand."I Through the information thus furnished was established a Dutch colony on the island of Manhattan, for which a charter was granted by the States-General of Holland, bearing date October I Ith, 1614, in which the country was named New Netherland.
It may not be out of place at this point to make brief mention of Hud- son's subsequent career and sad ending. In 1610 he made another and final voyage from England, sailing in April, and during the months of June and July discovered and navigated the great bay that bears his name. It was his intention to winter there, but owing to scant provisions, a portion of his crew mutinied and compelled him to return. On the way Hudson, his son, and seven of his crew who had remained faithful to him, were placed in an open boat, which was towed through the ice floes to the open sea, where it was cut adrift, and the unfortunate occupants were left to the mercy of the winds and waves. His fate was afterwards revealed by one of the mutineers. England sent an expedition in search of him, but not the slightest trace was found of him and his companions.
Meanwhile, in 1607, the English had made their first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, and in 1620 planted a second colony at Plymouth Rock. These two colonies became the successful rivals of all others of what- ever nationality, in the strife that finally left them (the English) masters of the country.
On the discoveries and the colonization efforts we have briefly noted, three European powers based claims to a part of the territory embraced in the State of New York. England, by reason of the discovery of Cabot, who sailed un- der letters patent from Henry VII, and on the 24th of June, 1497, struck the sterile coast of Labrador, and that made in the following year by his son Se- bastian, who explored the coast from New Foundland to Florida, claiming a territory eleven degrees in width and extending westward indefinitely. France, by reason of the discoveries of Verrazzani, claimed a portion of the Atlantic coast ; and Holland, by reason of the discovery of Hudson, claimed the coun- try from Cape Cod to the southern shore of Delaware Bay. As we have stated, the Dutch became, for the time being, the possessors of the region under consideration.
In concluding this chapter it will not be out of place to make a brief refer- ence to the later career of Champlain, intimately associated as he was with the civilized knowledge of the beautiful waters of the lake that perpetuates his name, although the events noted are not directly connected with this history. The year following his discovery of the lake, Champlain passed in France; but
1 LOSSING.
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
the opening season of 1610 found him again ascending the St. Lawrence, and the same year he was wounded by an arrow in a fight with the Iroquois. Again returning to France, at the age of forty-four years, he married a girl of twelve; and, in 1612 returned to Quebec, clothed with the power of sovereignty granted him by Prince de Conde, who had succeeded Count de Soissons, the successor of De Monts. In the following year he ascended the Ottawa River in quest of a fabulous sea, of which he had heard tales; made successful arrangements for carrying on the fur trade with the Indians; fought a battle with the Onon- dagas; and, returning to France, organized a fur company in 1616. On his return to Canada he took with him several Recollet priests. In 1620, the col- ony beginning to languish, a new viceroy was appointed, who made Champlain governor, with full powers, of the whole territory. In 1628 and 1629 the English laid siege to Quebec, which Champlain was finally forced to surrender, and he was taken to England. By treaty, in 1632, Canada was restored to France, and Champlain was reinstated governor; he returned the last time in 1633 to the state his wisdom and zeal had created, invested by Richelieu with all his former prerogatives. Having suppressed the Indian excitement which had agitated his province, conciliated the jarring jealousies and angry feuds of mercenary traders and arbitrary officials, and amply asserted and perfected the dominion of his sovereign over a vast region, Champlain died in 1635, and is commemorated in the annals of the country he served so ably and with such fidelity as " the father of New France."
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CHAPTER V.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
Antagonism between the Northern Indians and the Iroquois - Lakes George and Champlain the Highways of Hostile Elements - End of the Dutch Regime - Expedition against the Mohawks under De Courcelles- The Peace of Breda - Continned Hostilities of the French and Iroquois - Invasion of the Conntry of the Senecas - Revenge of the Indians- Montreal Sacked - Return of Frontenac - Three English Expeditions - Schuyler's Expedition against La Prairie - Extracts from His Journal - Deplorable Condition of the French - Frontenac Marches against the Mohawks - Peace Treaty of Ryswick - Neutrality between the French and Iroquois - The English at last Rendered Desperate - Failure of their Plans - Treaty of Utrecht - Its Provisions Broken by the French - Fort St. Frederic Built.
ROM the date of the death of Champlain until the end of French domina- tion in New France, the friendship established by that great explorer be- tween the Northern Indians and the French was unbroken, while at the same time it led to the unyielding hostility of the Iroquois, and especially of the
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Mohawks. If truces and informal peace treaties were formed between these antagonistic elements, they were both brief in tenure and of little general effect. As a consequence of this and the fact that Lakes Champlain and George were the natural highway between the hostile nations, they became the scene of prolonged conflict and deeds of savage atrocity which retarded settlement and devastated their borders. The feuds of the peoples of Europe and the malig- nant passions of European sovereigns, armed the colonies of England and the provinces of France in conflicts where the ordinary ferocity of border warfare was aggravated by the relentless atrocities of savage barbarism. Each power emulated the other in the consummation of its schemes of blood and rapine. Hostile Indian tribes, panting for slaughter, were let loose along the whole frontier, upon feeble settlements, struggling amid the dense forest with a rig- orous climate and reluctant soil for a precarious existence. Unprotected mothers, helpless infancy and decrepit age, were equally the victims of the torch, the tomahawk and scalping-knife. The two lakes formed portions of the great pathway (equally accessible and useful to both parties) of these bloody and devastating forays. In the season of navigation they glided over the placid waters of the lake, with ease and celerity, in the bark canoes of the In- dians. The ice of winter afforded them a broad, crystal highway, with no ob- struction of forest or mountain, of ravine or river. If deep and impassable snows rested upon its bosom, snow-shoes were readily constructed, and secured and facilitated their march.
The settlement made on Manhattan Island, the occupation of which followed Hudson's discovery and the granting of the charter of 1614 to the Dutch East India Company, progressed rapidly. A fort was built on the island, and also one on the site of Albany. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was formed and, under their charter, took possession of New Amsterdam, as the fort with its surroundings was called. For fifteen years the most amicable re- lations existed between the Dutch and the Indians; but the harsh and unwise administration of William Kieft, who was appointed director-general in Sep- tember, 1637, provoked the beginning of hostilities with the natives, which were kept up with more or less vindictiveness during the period of his admin- istration. In May, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant succeeded Kieft as director-general or governor. He was the last of the Dutch officials in that capacity, and the firm and just course followed by him harmonized the difficulties with the In- dians and also with the Swedes who had colonized in the region of the Delaware.
On the 12th of March, 1664, Charles II, of England, conveyed by royal patent to his brother James, Duke of York, all the country from the river St. Croix to the Kennebec, in Maine; also Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Long Island, together with all the land from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. The duke sent an English squadron,
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
under Admiral Richard Nicolls, to secure the gift, and on the 8th of Septem- ber following Governor Stuyvesant capitulated, being constrained to that course by the Dutch colonists, who preferred peace with the same privileges and liberties accorded to the English colonists, to a prolonged and perhaps fruitless contest. Thus ended the Dutch regime. The English changed the name of New Amsterdam to New York.
The Dutch had, during their period of peace with the Iroquois, become thrifty and well-to-do through the energetic prosecution of their missionary work of trading guns and rum to the Indians, thus supplying them with a two- edged sword. The peaceful relations existing between the Dutch and the In- dians at the time of the English accession were maintained by the latter; but strife and jealousy continued between the English and French, the former steadily gaining ground, both through their success in forming and maintain- ing an alliance with the Iroquois and the more permanent character of their settlements.
"The right of France to the country of the Iroquois, which embraced in part the valleys of Lakes Champlain and St. Sacrament [George], was based on an established maxim existing among European nations, that the first dis- coverers who planted the arms of their government upon aboriginal soil ac- quired thereby the property of that country for their respective nations."1
About this time the French became possessed of the desire to control the Hudson River and the port of New York. To carry out this purpose meet- ings of the cabinet council discussed plans, and measures were inaugurated. Also, in the hope of avenging past injuries and to put an end to future incur- sions, the government of New France resolved, in 1665, to send against the Mohawks a force that would not return until their enemies were wiped from the face of the earth. On the 23d of March of that year Daniel De Runy, knight, Lord de Courcelles, was appointed governor of Canada, and in Sep- tember of that year arrived with a regiment, several families and necessaries 2 for the establishment of a colony. In June of the same year M. de Tracy was appointed viceroy of the French Possessions in America, and brought with him to Quebec four regiments of infantry. On the 9th of January, 1666, De Courcelles started with less than six hundred men on a long and perilous march of nearly three hundred miles in mid-winter when the snow was four feet deep. "The governor caused slight sledges to be made in good numbers, laying pro- visions upon them, drew them over the snow with mastiff dogs."3 The men traveled on snow-shoes, each carrying twenty-five to thirty pounds of biscuits. "On the third day out many had their noses, ears, fingers or knees frozen, and some, wholly overcome by the cold, were carried to the place where they were
1 BUTLER's Lake George and Lake Champlain.
2 It is recorded that the first horses were brought 10 Canada on this occasion.
3 Relations of the march, Doc. History
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
to pass the night. Still they pushed on, until, on the 9th of February, they arrived within two miles of Schenectady."I Here they learned that the greater part of the Mohawks and Oneidas had gone to a distance to make war upon the "wampum-makers." Watson says they "were only preserved from de- struction by the active, though ill-requited beneficence of a small Dutch set- tlement, standing on the outer verge of civilization. The potent influence and urgent intercessions of a prominent, although private citizen of Schenectady averted from the suffering and defenseless Frenchmen, the vengeance of the exasperated Mohawks" - (referring to Arent Van Corlear). His unselfish act was gratefully acknowledged by the colonial government, and De Tracy urged him to visit Quebec. Corlear accepted this courtesy in the year 1667, and while making the passage of Lake Champlain was drowned "by a sudden squall of wind, in crossing a great bay." Deeming it " useless to push further forward an expedition which had all the effect intended by the terror it spread among all the tribes,"2 Courcelles retraced his march.
The magnitude of this expedition, although it resulted in no immediate disaster to the Iroquois, prompted them to sue for peace, and a treaty was con- cluded in May, June and July, 1666, by the Senecas, Oneidas and Mohawks, respectively. Pending the negotiations, the Mohawks committed an outrage on the Fort St. Anne garrison, and M de Tracy was convinced that the treaty would be rendered more stable if the Mohawks were further chastised. Ac- cordingly in September, at the head of six hundred troops and seven hundred Indians, he made an incursion into the Mohawk country only to find it deserted. by the wily savages; after destroying their villages and crops, he returned.
In the following year (July, 1667) was concluded the peace of Breda, be- tween Holland, England and France. This gave the New Netherlands to the English, and Acadia (Nova Scotia), with fixed boundaries, to the French. But the period of quiet was of short duration, for in 1669 we find the French again at war with their old antagonists, the Iroquois. Owing to the increasing: hostilities the inhabitants found it difficult to harvest their crops in safety ; suf- fering and consternation prevailed and many prepared to return to France. But in April, 1672, Count de Frontenac was appointed governor and lieuten- ant-general of Canada, and under his efficient administration, confidence was restored and a treaty of peace again established in 1673.3
In 1684 another rupture occurred between the French and Iroquois. M. de la Barre was then governor of New France, and Colonel Dongan governor of New York. The Frenchman led an expedition against the Senecas, but
1 BUTLER.
2 Doc. History.
3 Count De Frontenac writes September 14th, 1674 : " In spite of the efforts of the Dutch to get the Iroquois to make war on the French, the Iroquois came last year on solemn embassy to Montreal, brought eight children belonging to the principal families of their villages, and ratified the treaty made- with them in 1673." - Colonial History of New York.
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
hearing that the latter would be reinforced by Dongan with "four hundred horse and four hundred foot," he gave up his purpose. This pretentious ex- pedition, which ended so ignominiously, subjected De la Barre to severe cen- sure and in the following year he was superseded by the Marquis Denonville, who came over instructed to preserve a strict neutrality. This he found to be impossible and so informed his sovereign. Reinforcements were sent him for a determined attack upon the Senecas, and in the summer of 1687 an expedition of two thousand French and Indians was organized and marched against the enemy. This large force impelled the Indians to adopt their customary tactics for self-preservation, and their villages were deserted, or nearly so. After de- stroying everything of value, the expedition returned. This bold incursion into the country of their strongest nation, alarmed the Iroquois and they applied to Governor Dongan for protection. It was promised them, of course, with the accompanying advice that they should not make peace with the French ; but Denonville called a meeting of chiefs of the Five Nations at Montreal to arrange a treaty, and they decided to send representatives. Before this was consummated and on account of alleged treachery on the part of Denonville, the Iroquois became deeply angered against the French and burned for re- venge. In July, 1689, twelve hundred Iroquois warriors landed on the upper end of the Island of Montreal, burned houses, sacked plantations, massacred men, women and children and retired with twenty-six prisoners, most of whom were burned alive. In October following they made a similar incursion at the lower end of the island, which was likewise devastated. These successful in- vasions were of incalculable injury to the French interests, and becoming known to their Indian allies, already disgusted with De la Barre's failure, caused many of them to seek an alliance with the English and open trade with them. "They would have murdered the whole French colony to placate the Iroquois, and would certainly have done it," says Colden, "had not the Sieur Perot, with wonderful sagacity and eminent hazard to his own person, diverted them."
The French colony was now in a pitiable condition, but an unexpected and welcome change was at hand. The divided counsels of the English colonies, growing out of the revolution in the mother country resulting in the accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne, gave a new aspect to affairs. The Count de Frontenac, whose previous administration had been wise and effi- cient, was again appointed governor May 21st, 1689, and arrived in October. He had learned the futility of prosecuting a war against the Iroquois and made earnest efforts to negotiate a peace with them. Failing, he determined to ter- rify them into neutrality. For this purpose he fitted out three expeditions, one against New York, one against Connecticut and the third against New England. The first was directed against Schenectady, which was sacked and burned on the night of February 9th, 1690. A band of the French and Hu-
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