USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of Wyoming County, N.Y., with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents > Part 6
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The Stamp Act was to take effect on the first day of November. As the appointed time drew near the excite- ment increased, and when the day had finally arrived flags floated at half mast, bells were tolled as on funeral occasions, and many other manifestations of public sorrow and discon- tent were made. The stamped paper, which had previously arrived, had been deposited in the fort for safe keeping, under the direction of Governor Colden, who had taken the oath to execute the Stamp Act; but McEvers, who had been appointed by the crown to manage its distribution and sale, seeing the manifestations of popular indignation, resigned. In the evening the Sons of Liberty appeared before the fort and demanded the stamped paper. On being refused, they repaired to the Commons, where they hung Governor Colden in effigy, and returned to the fort with his image. Not be- ing admitted at the gate, they broke into Colden's stable, and brought out his carriage, placed the effigy in it, paraded the streets, and returned to the fort, where it was again hung. They then made a bonfire and burned the carriage and its accompaniments. A party proceeded to the house of Major James, an artillery officer who had rendered himself par- ticularly obnoxious, destroyed the furniture, and carried off the colors of the Royal Artillery regiment. The next day Colden announced that he should not issue any of the stamped paper while he remained in office, but leave it to his successor, who was already on his way from England. .But the Sons of Liberty, not satisfied with this assurance, insisted that the stamped paper should be delivered into their hands, and threatened to take it by force if it was not.
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
The Common Council, alarmed at their ungovernable fury, requested that the paper might be deposited in the City Hall, which was done, and a guaranty given for its safe keeping. In the meantime, at a meeting called by the citizens, a committee was appointed to correspond with the merchants of the several colonies, inviting them to enter into an agreement not to import certain goods from England, which suggestion was promptly acted upon, and the trade with England almost ceased.
When the new governor,. Sir Henry Moore, arrived, he was disposed to carry the Stamp Act into execution, but the unanimous advice of his council, together with the unmis- takable character of public sentiment, soon convinced him of the folly of such an attempt. The Sons of Liberty seized ten boxes of stamped paper, on the arrival of a ves- sel containing it, conveyed it to the ship-yards, and it was consumed in a bonfire. The Stamp Act was so odious to the colonies, and their opposition to it was so effective, that it was repealed on the 18th of March, 1766; but immediately on its repeal a bill was passed declaring the absolute right of Parliament "to tax the colonies in all cases whatsoever." The repeal, however, was not owing to any appeals from the colonists, for Parliament would not receive the petitions of the Colonial Congress, because that body had not been summoned to meet by it; but it was because of the influence of London merchants, whose trade was seriously affected by the non-importation agreement. Notwithstanding the dec- laratory act that accompanied the repeal the news was hailed with a delirium of delight, and the city was in a blaze of illumination in honor of the event. On the King's birth- day, which occurred soon afterward, the New Yorkers as- sembled, and with enthusiastic manifestations of loyalty erected a liberty-pole, inscribed to the King, Pitt, and Lib- erty. The Assembly met in June, and the governor re- quested its compliance with the demands of the ministry in relation to furnishing supplies for the troops stationed in New York city. Some controversy ensued upon the subject, and only a partial compliance could be obtained from the Assembly.
The sounds of rejoicing which followed the repeal of the Stamp Act had hardly passed away before the ministry by its unjust acts again awakened the murmurs of discontent, and the declaratory act began to loom up and dampen all the hopes of the colonists. The partial provision of the Assem- bly for supporting the troops was distasteful to the Sons of Liberty, who well knew the soldiers were sent to enforce the abridgement of American liberties, and on their arrival did not disguise their feelings. Animosities arose between them, and the soldiers, believing that it was owing to the Sons of Liberty that the Assembly had not been more liberal in fur- nishing them with supplies, retaliated by cutting down the citizens' flagstaff. The next day, while the citizens were replacing it, they were assaulted by the troops, and several of them wounded. The officers were indifferent to this con- duct of their men, and other outrages were committed. The Assembly met again in November, when the governor placed before it the instructions of the ministry, requesting that im- mediate provision for the troops should be made; but their outrageous conduct had so disgusted the legislators that they refused to comply, and were severely censured by the crown. Parliament declared the legislative powers of the Assembly annulled, and forbade the governor and council
to give their assent to any act passed by that body until unqualified compliance with the demands of the government had been obtained.
In June, 1767, a bill was passed by Parliament imposing a duty on tea, glass, lead, paper, and printers' colors, im- ported into the colonies. This act was shortly followed by another re-organizing the colonial custom-house system, and establishing a board of revenue commissioners. When in- telligence of these acts reached the colonies the excitement was renewed, and the non-importation agreement revived. The colonists saw that Parliament intended to tax them in some way, and declared that taxes on trade for a revenue were as much a violation of their rights as any other taxes. In 1768 the Assembly of Massachusetts addressed a circu- lar to the other colonies referring to the acts of Parlia- ment, and soliciting their co-operation in maintaining the common liberties. This so offended the ministry that a letter was sent from the secretary of State to the several colonial governors, forbidding their assemblies to correspond with that of Massachusetts. When the Assembly of New York was convened the governor placed the document be- fore it, and requested their obedience to its mandates. The Assembly unhesitatingly refused; declared its right to cor- respond with any other of the legislatures; denounced the infringements upon its rights by Parliament; and was dis- solved by the governor. The people sustained their repre- sentatives, and when a new Assembly convened in April, 1769, it was found that but very little change had been ef- fected by the election.
The death of Sir Henry Moore occurred on the 11th of September, 1769. His mild and prudent course in avoiding controversy as far as possible had endeared him to the col- ony, and his death was much lamented. By that event the government again devolved upon Cadwallader Colden. The English merchants, suffering from the non-importation agreement, had joined their petitions with those of the colo- nists for the repeal of the obnoxious custom-house act, and a circular letter assured the people of the colonies that at the next session of Parliament a proposition would be made to abolish the duties on all articles except tea. This attempt at conciliation was far from satisfactory; for the right of taxation was not relinquished, and the principle was the same whether applied to one article or many. A bill was introduced in the New York Assembly in November for issuing colonial bills of credit to the amount of £120,000, to loan out as a means of revenue. The project at first met with favor from the popular party, but when it was followed by an appropriation to support the British troops in the colony, to be taken out of the interest arising from the loan, a revulsion of feeling at once took place. Shortly after handbills were circulated charging the Assembly with be- traying the inhabitants of the colony, and advising the people to meet on a certain day and express their sentiments upon the subject. Accordingly, a large concourse of people gathered, and emphatically denounced the action of the Assembly. That body passed resolutions declaring the handbills libelous, and offering a reward for the detection of their authors. John Lamb, who had presided over the pop- ular meeting, was arrested and brought before the House, but was soon after discharged.
Animosities continued between the Sons of Liberty and the soldiers. Now that their supplies were granted the
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THE FIRST REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTING-LANDING TEA PREVENTED.
latter no longer held themselves in check from motives of policy, and on the evening of the 13th of January, 1769, re- newed their attack on the flagpole of the citizens. The lat- ter hastily gathered for its defense, whereupon they desisted. Their failure in this attempt, together with the derisive jeers of the citizens, so enraged them that they charged upon a group of people in front of a tavern which was a favorite resort of the Sons of Liberty, drove them in and destroyed the windows and furniture. On the evening of the 16th they cut down the flagstaff, sawed it in pieces, and piled the fragments before the battered hotel. On the following morning several thousands of the citizens assembled at the scene of the outrage, and passed resolutions censuring the riotous proceedings of the soldiers, and recommending that whenever found in the street after roll-call they should be dealt with as enemies to the peace of the city. The next day placards were found posted up, ridiculing the resolu- tions and daring the citizens to execute them. During the day the Sons of Liberty caught two or three soldiers in the act of putting up these bills, and arrested them. While con- ducting them to the mayor's office the citizens were attacked by a party of twenty soldiers, armed with cutlasses, and a skirmish ensued-the citizens defending themselves with clubs. The soldiers were forced back to Golden Hill, as John street, between Cliff street and Burling Slip, was then called. Here they were re-inforced, and made a furious charge on the citizens, most of whom were entirely unarmed. The latter stoutly resisted until a party of officers appeared on the scene and ordered the troops back to their barracks. Several of the citizens were severely wounded, some of whom had not participated in the skirmish. Several affrays oc- curred on the following day, in which the soldiers were gen- erally worsted. The mayor issued a proclamation forbidding them to leave the barracks unless accompanied by a non- commissioned officer, and order was restored.
Thus terminated the first conflict in which blood was shed in the cause of American independence. It is usually asserted that at Lexington was the first battle fought ; but the actual beginning of the combat, so doubtful in its pro- gress, and so glorious in its results, was the battle of Golden Hill, on the 18th of January, 1770, at least five years earlier. The Sons of Liberty purchased grounds and erected another pole, which stood until the occupation of the city by the British forces in 1776.
CHAPTER X.
-
LANDING TEA PREVENTED-CONGRESSIONAL ACTION-THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON-CANADA INVADED.
N October Lord Dunmore arrived in New York and superseded Colden in the government of the province. Meanwhile the duties had been removed from all articles except tea, and the non-importation agreement was restricted to that article. The new governor brought the news of the royal approval of the act authorizing the emission of colonial bills of credit. This strengthened the spirit of
loyalty, and affairs went on more smoothly. On the 8th of July, 1771, William Tryon was commissioned as governor in place of Lord Dunmore, who was transferred to the gov- ernment of Virginia. By a recent order of the crown the governor's salary was to be paid from the revenue, thus ren- dering the executive independent of the people. The East India Company were suffering severely from the non-impor. tation agreement in regard to tea, and in 1773 urgently petitioned the British government to abolish the duty levied upon that article in the colonies, offering to submit to double that duty as an exportation tariff. This would in- crease the amount of revenue twofold, but the party in power, deluded by false views of national honor, would not in the least relinquish its declared right to tax the colonies. It preferred to favor the East India Company by a special act allowing them to ship their tea to the colonies free of export duty, which would enable them to sell it at a lower rate than in England. By this act the ministers imagined they had outwitted the colonists, and that this appeal to their pockets would end their resistance. Ships were laden with tea and consignees appointed in the colonies to receive it, with the expectation that this new act would secure its ready sale. When information of this arrangement reached the colonies their indignation was deeply aroused. The Sons of Liberty rallied and resolved that the obnoxious article should not be landed under any pretense. The tea commissioners appointed for New York resigned in view of such decided demonstrations of resistance.
Expecting a consignment of tea would soon reach the city the citizens held a mass meeting, and regardless of the efforts of Governor Tryon to secure its reception, emphati- cally resolved that it should not be landed. The expected vessel was delayed and did not make its appearance until April, 1774. When it arrived off Sandy Hook the pilot, acting under the instructions of the vigilance committee, refused to bring the ship any nearer the city. Captain Lockyer, the commander, under escort of the committee, was allowed to come up and consult with the consignee, but the latter refused to receive the cargo, and advised the captain to return to England immediately. Meanwhile Captain Chambers, of New York, professing to be a patriot, arrived in the harbor. His vessel was boarded by the com- mittee, and upon being questioned he denied having any contraband goods; but on being informed by the committee that with the evidence they had to the contrary they should search his ship, he admitted that there was tea on board which he had brought out on a private venture The hatches were forced open and the chests brought on deck and given air and water. The next morning Captain Lock- yer was conducted by the committee to his ship, together with Chambers, his companion in the tea trade, and they were sent on an outward voyage.
The New Hampshire grants continued a source of serious contention. The civil officers were opposed by force in their efforts to enforce the judgments obtained in the eject- ment suits, and the New York Assembly passed an act de- claring resistance to be felony. A proclamation was issued by Governor Tryon offering a reward for the apprehension of Ethan Allen and other conspicuous offenders. This was followed by a burlesque proclamation from the proscribed, affirming their determination to resist and offering a reward for the arrest of the governor of New York. In the spring
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
of 1775, at the time appointed for the session of court in the disputed territory, the settlers took possession of the court-house and prevented the New York officers from en- tering. The officers thereupon collected a force, and being again refused admittance fired into the house, killing one of the occupants and wounding several others. Some of the officers were arrested by the enraged inhabitants and lodged in jail, and matters appeared to be approaching a crisis; but the battle of Lexington occurring at this juncture, active hostilities between Great Britain and the colonies began and caused a cessation of these difficulties.
A cargo of tea had arrived in Boston harbor considerably earlier than in New York, and the Bostonians resolved that it should not be landed. The vessels containing the obnox- ious article were boarded and the chests emptied into the water. The ministry, enraged at this spirited resistance, determined to subjugate the colonies. Various measures were determined upon which were ruinous to the liberties of the American people; among them was the celebrated "Boston Port Bill," closing the harbor and destroying the trade of the city to punish the citizens for having destroyed the tea. The people everywhere were awakened to a lively sympathy with Boston, seeing by its treatment what was in store for them. A brisk correspondence was carried on between Boston and New York through the agency of com- mittees appointed for that purpose. Public meetings were held for the consideration of their common grievances, and among the measures devised and recommended were the restoration of the non-importation agreement and the con- vening of a colonial congress. On the 5th of September, 1774, this congress met at Philadelphia and adopted a dec- laration of rights, setting forth wherein those rights had been violated ; agreed on a petition to the King for the re- moval of their grievances and also on an appeal to the people of Great Britain and Canada; and then adjourned to meet again in May of the following year. The Assembly of New York was the only colonial assembly that withheld its approval of the proceedings of this congress. It, however, addressed a remonstrance to Parliament, which was treated as all others had been, with disdain. The Assembly ad- journed on the 3d of April, 1775, and was never again con- vened. Its refusal to appoint delegates to the Continental Congress gave great dissatisfaction, and a provincial conven- tion of county representatives was called by the people to perform that duty.
At midnight on the 18th of April, 1775, General Gage sent a detachment of British regulars from Boston to de- stroy the military stores collected by the Americans at Concord, Massachusetts. The expedition was conducted with great secrecy, but the troops were discovered and the people warned of their coming. On reaching Lexington the following morning they found the militia assembled on the green. The latter, disregarding a command to disperse, were fired upon and several . of them were killed. The British troops proceeded to Concord, but the inhabitants, having been apprised of their design, had concealed the greater part of their stores. and the British troops on their return were severely harassed by the militia who had gath- ered from the neighboring towns
When intelligence of this event reached New York the excitement was intense. The affair was in fact the signal for a general rush to arms throughout the colonies. The
Sons of Liberty took possession of the arms at the arsena' in New York city and distributed them among the people. At the suggestion of the Committee of Observation a pro- vincial government for the city was formed, consisting of one hundred of the principal citizens, who were to control affairs until Congress should otherwise order. The British troops at New York having been ordered to Boston, the provisional government allowed them to depart on condition that they should take nothing but their own arms with them Regardless of this stipulation they attempted to carry off some military stores belonging to the city, but were defeated in their designs by Colonel Marinus Willett with a party of the Sons of Liberty, who confronted them and succeeded in retaking the property and replacing it in the fort.
While the patriots were flocking toward Boston the Con- necticut Assembly was in session, and several of its members agreed upon a plan to seize the cannon and military stores at Ticonderoga and Crown Point for the use of the patriot army. They appointed a committee to repair to the fron- tier and raise an expedition, under Colonel Ethan Allen, to surprise and capture the posts named. A force of two hundred and seventy men was soon collected, and marched by night under Colonels Allen and Benedict Arnold to a point on Lake Champlain opposite Ticonderoga. They had but few boats, and when day began to dawn only the officers and eighty-three men had crossed. Fearful that delay would be hazardous, Allen resolved to make an attack before the rear division had crossed, and marched at the head of his men directly to the sally port. The sentinel snapped his musket at him and retreated to the parade with the patriots close at his heels. The garrison were aroused and taken prisoners. Colonel Allen went directly to the apart- ments of the commander and demanded and obtained a surrender of the fort "in the name of the Great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress." Crown Point was taken without resistance two days afterward, and the command of Lake Champlain was thus secured.
The Continental Congress reassembled and organized on the roth of May, the same day that Colonel Allen captured Ticonderoga, and proceeded at once to raise and equip an army for the defense of the colonies. New York was or- dered to raise three thousand men as her proportion. The population of the province during the preceding year had increased to 182,251. George Washington was commissioned commander-in-chief of the American forces. A provincial congress of New York, convened on the 22nd of May, author- ized the raising of troops, encouraged the manufacture of gunpowder and muskets in the province, and projected for- tifications at King's Bridge and the Hudson passes in the Highlands.
Captain Lamb was ordered to remove the cannon from the battery at the foot of the city to a place of greater security. On the evening of August 23d he proceeded to the execu- tion of the order. The captain of the British war-ship " Asia," being informed of the intended movement, sent a barge filled with men to watch it. A shot was fired from the barge into the American force, which was immediately answered by a volley, killing one of the crew and wounding several others. The "Asia " then opened a cannonade upon the city, doing considerable damage to the buildings in the vicinity of the battery, but the patriots were undismayed, and in the face
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CANADA INVADED-THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
of the cannonade deliberately removed every gun. Gov- ernor Tryon returned from England in June and strenuously exerted himself to promote the royal cause. Finding that his position was growing more and more unsatisfactory, and having fears for his personal safety, he abandoned the city and took refuge on board a British sloop of war.
The Continental Congress directed General Schuyler to collect an armament at Ticonderoga, and put the post in a state of defense, preparatory to an expedition against Canada. The forces under Generals Schuyler and Montgomery ap- peared before St. John's in September. General Schuyler was compelled by ill health to relinquish the command to General Montgomery and return to Ticonderoga. The fort at Chambly, twelve miles below, was captured on the 19th of October by a detachment of the American force, aided by friendly Canadians. The spoils taken at Chambly materially aided in carrying on with vigor the siege of St. John's, which after several unsuccessful assaults and numerous mishaps was on the 3d of November compelled to surrender. General Montgomery moved forward to Montreal, which was taken without resistance. Later in the month Montgomery and Benedict Arnold assaulted Quebec, but the former was killed and the colonial force repulsed and soon after driven out of Canada.
CHAPTER XI.
HOSTILITIES TRANSFERRED TO NEW YORK-THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND .- BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN.
N March, Washington, having compelled General Howe to evacuate Boston, and apprehensive that New York would be the next point of attack, made immediate preparations for putting that city in a posture of defense. General Lee, with twelve hundred men, was ordered forward from Connecticut. The captain of the British man-of-war "Asia" had threatened to cannonade the city if " rebel troops" were permitted to enter it. It was the stronghold of loyalty to the crown and disaffection to the patriot cause, and the committee of safety in their timidity protested against Lee's entrance, but threats and protests were unavailing. Lee came, and the tories either fled or ceased to oppose the cause of the patriots. Sir Henry Clinton, who had been sent over on a secret expedition, appeared off Sandy Hook at nearly the same time that General Lee entered the city, but finding it in possession of the American troops, proceeded south to attack Charleston. Washington hastened forward from Boston, and on the 14th of April arrived at New York and established his headquarters in the city. General Howe went to Halifax on leaving Boston, but about the Ist of July appeared off Sandy Hook, and shortly after landed on Staten Island. He was soon after joined by his brother Admiral Howe, with a force of British regulars and Hes- sian hirelings, and also by Clinton and Parker on their re- turn from an unsuccessful attack on Charleston, making all together a combined force of nearly thirty thousand men. Howe was here visited by Governor Tryon, who had planned
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