USA > New York > Schenectady County > History of the County of Schenectady, N. Y., from 1662 to 1886... > Part 8
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" Adrian Van Slyck followed next, at the head of a party of New York levies ; but on reaching the scene of action, where Ackes, with inferior numbers, was holding the enemy at bay, the levies all fled in the most cowardly manner.
"The fourth party was composed of Albert Van Slyck (the writer of the letter), Jacob Glen ' and sev- eral others,' on the approach of whom the enemy drew off, leaving Adrian among the dead." The letter adds : " It grieves me, I not being com-
mander, that when we went Garret Van Antwerp would suffer no more to accompany the party."
The second account, written by Giles F. Yates, Esq., and published in the Schenectady Democrat and Reflector, April 22, 1836, was gathered from tradition then floating about among the aged peo- ple of that day :
"In the beginning of July, 1748, Daniel Toll . and his servant Ryckert went in search of some stray horses at Beukendal. *
* They soon heard, as they supposed, the trampling of horses ; but this sound proved to be that of quoits with which some Indians were playing. Mr. Toll dis- covered his danger too late, and fell, pierced by bullets. Ryckert escaped, reached Schenectady and told the news of the death of his master and the presence of the enemy.
"In less than an hour about sixty volunteers were on their march to Beukendal. The greater part of these were young men, and such was their zeal that they would not wait until the proper au- thorities had called out the militia. * * *
" Without discipline or experience, and even without a leader, they hastened to the Indian camp.
"Those in advance of the main body, before they reached the enemy, were attracted by a singu- lar sight. They saw a man resembling Mr. Toll sitting near a fence in an adjoining field and a crow flying up and down before him.
"On coming nearer, they discovered it to be the corpse of Mr. Toll, with a crow attached to it by a string.
"This proved to be a stratagem of the Indians to decoy their adversaries. The Schenectadians fell, alas ! too easily into the snare laid for them, and were in a few moments surrounded by the In- dians who had been lying in ambush. Thus taken by surprise, they lost many of their number, and some were taken prisoners before they could make good their retreat.
"They, however, succeeded in reaching the house of Mr. De Graaf, in the neighborhood, which had been for some time deserted. (This house is still standing.) But, while retreating, they con- tinued to fire upon their enemy. On reaching Mr. De Graaf's house, they entered, bolted the doors and ascended to the second floor. Here they tore off all the boards near the eaves, and through the opening thus made fired with success at the savages, and succeeded in keeping them at bay. In the meantime Dirck Van Vorst, who had been left in the charge of two young Indians, ef- fected his escape.
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
"The two youngsters were anxious to see the fight and secured their prisoner by tying him to a tree, and left him alone. He succeeded in getting his knife from his pocket and cutting the cord with which he was bound. On the approach of the Schenectady militia under Col. Jacob Glen, the party in Mr. De Graaf's house were relieved from their perilous situation, and the enemy took up their line of march for Canada.
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"On this occasion there were thirty-two citizens killed (?) ; of these we are able to give the names of Jacob Glen (cousin of Col. Glen), Peter Vroo- man, John Darling, Adam Conde, -Van Antwerpen, Cornelius Viele, Nicholas De Graaf and Adrian Van Slyck ; wounded, Ryer Wemp, Robinson and -Wilson ; prisoners, Abraham De Graaf and his son William, John Phelps, Harmen Veeder and Lewis Groot.
"The bodies of De Graaf and Glen were found lying in close contact with their savage antagonists, with whom they had wrestled in deadly strife.
"The corpses were brought to Schenectady the evening of the massacre and deposited in the large barn of Abraham Mabee, being the identical one now standing on the premises of Mrs. Benjamin, in Church street. The relatives of the deceased repaired thither to claim their departed kindred and remove them for interment."
The news of this battle reached Albany in the evening of the same day, and by midnight Lieut. Chew, with one hundred English and two hundred friendly Indians, were on the march for the scene of action, but to no other purpose than as showing their willingness to meet an emergency of this kind.
From the accounts it is certain that the presence of the Indians was not suspected until the first shot; that Capt. Daniel Toll was the first victim; that the alarm was given by his negro Ryckert; that a company of Connecticut levies, under Lieut. John Darling, accompanied and followed by squads of the inhabitants, marched to the scene, and that, after a hot engagement, the Indians retreated, leaving twenty of the whites dead and taking away thirteen or fourteen prisoners, besides the wounded.
Considering the number of whites engaged, their loss was very severe, amounting probably to one- third of their force.
The following is the fullest list of killed and missing that can now be given:
KILLED-John A. Bradt, Johannes Marinus, Pe- ter Vrooman, Daniel Van Antwerpen, Cornelis Viele, Jr., Nicolaas De Graaf, Adrian Van Slyck,
Jacob Glen, Jr., Adam Conde, J. P. Van Ant- werpen, Frans Vander Bogart, Capt. Daniel Toll, Lieut. John Darling and 7 of his soldiers; in all, 20 men.
WOUNDED-Ryer Wemp, - - Robinson, Dirk Van Vorst and - Wilson.
MISSING-Prisoners, John Phelps, Lewis Groot, Johannes Seyer Vrooman, Frank Connor, Harman Veeder, Isaac Truax, Albert John Vedder and 6 soldiers; in all, 13 men.
After the close of hostilities, Governor Clinton sent Lieut. Stoddert to Montreal to arrange for an exchange of prisoners. With Capt. Anthony Van Schaick he went into the Indian country to recover the captives, but with indifferent success. Among those who returned with Lieut. Stoddert were Capt. Anthony Van Schaick, John Vrooman, Peter Vas- borough [Vosburgh], Albert Vedder and Francis Conner. Efforts were made to induce others to return, but without success; of these were Rachel Quackenbos, Simon Fort and Philip Phillipsen. Rachel Quackenbos abjured the English religion, and Lieut. Stoddert could not persuade her to re- turn. Fort and Phillipsen also desired to remain with the Iroquois; the former belonged by adoption to a sister of a chief named Agonareche. She refused to give him up at any price. Capt. Van Schaick offered six hundred livres for Fort, with- out succeeding in obtaining him. On the con- trary, so determined was his squaw owner to retain him, that she said she would obey the French com- mandant and deliver him up, but that she and her husband would follow him, and he should not reach home alive. Lieut. Stoddert left Canada on the 28th of June, 1750, with 24 prisoners.
FORTIFICATIONS AND GARRISONS.
All considerable settlements on the upper Hud- son and Mohawk rivers were from the first pro- tected by wooden walls. Though never attacked nor even seriously threatened by the Iroquois or Mohicans, there were but few short periods down to the close of the French war (1763) when they were not subject to frequent alarms from the French or their Indian allies from Canada.
The method of fortification was by stockades, which the abundance of timber at their very doors made a cheap and ready protection. Guns were only used for defense, attacks being always made by the musket. The stockade consisted of a se- ries of posts or logs, from 15 to 18 feet long and 12 inches or more thick, sharpened at one end and hewed flat on opposite sides.
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FORTIFICATIONS AND GARRISONS.
Pine was usually chosen, because most abundant and easily worked.
The line of stockade being marked out, a trench three feet deep was dug; the posts were set therein, the flattened sides together, and the earth shoveled
back and rammed against them. To strengthen the top, two adjoining posts were bored and fastened together with oaken trenails. At the angles, gates and other important points, block-houses for the shel- ter of the garrison and guards were built, and within
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the stockade all around was a free space, called the Roudweg, of sufficient width for the patrol to march.
In addition to this outer circle of fortification, in Albany and Schenectady there was a fort in one of the angles of the latter place surrounded by a double row of high palisades, furnished with bar- racks for the garrison, platforms, guns, lookouts, etc. And in later times, when Schenectady be- came a depot for men and materials, there were barracks outside the walls. In 1765 the troops were posted along the east side of Ferry street, from Union to the Episcopal church ; in 1762, on the south side of Union street, from Ferry to Mrs. Colon Clute's house ; in the Revolutionary war, on the south side of Union street, from Lafayette eastwardly to Quackenbush street.
For protection and safety Schenectady was admirably placed, being surrounded with water and marsh on three sides and open only to the southeast, from which side the inhabitants had little to fear.
The first settlers, though their land lay else- where, built their habitations mainly together for their better protection. Doubtless, as soon after the settlement in 1662 as it could conveniently be done, the village was stockaded. Starting at State street, the line ran along the east side of Ferry to about the gate of the Episcopal church ; then in a straight line to the north side of Front, a little be- yond Washington street; then southerly and parallel to the same to State; and lastly, along the same twenty-eight feet south thereof to Ferry street or Mill lane. This was the original plot inclosed and con- tained most of the houses of the first settlers,
The south and west lines remained substantially the same down to the time of their extinction soon after the Revolutionary war. The front and Wash- ington street lines were later moved north and west to the river bank, and the Ferry street line some time after 1765 was carried southeasterly to where is now the New York Central railroad depot, and thence northerly through the Dutch church burying ground to the river bank.
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
GATES .- In 1690 it was said in the French ac- count of the village that there were but two gates, one at the north end of Church street, called the "north gate," the other at State. This was, doubt- less, at the junction of State and Church streets, and opened out to the roads through Mill lane and
Water street, leading to the bouwlands and to the Mohawk country. In later times there were others at Front and Union streets, The foundations of the gates and guardhouses where Ferry crosses State and Union streets were exposed in laying the water pipes in 1871.
2 W
The Fort of Scanecthade.
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5
"OLD FORT."
By Rev. John Miller. (Original in British Museum.)
EXPLANATION .- I, I, Block Houses. 2, 2, Rivers running beside ye fort. 3, 3, Indians' wigwams. 4, Flag staff, 5, Centry box. 6, Spy loft. 7, 7, 7, Sties for hogs. 8, The Block House designed for a church. 9, 9, Those and others like them houses. 10, A great barn. 1I, II, The treble stockadoes. 12, 12, The Fort Gates.
FORTS .- Schenectady was so important a post for the protection of the Province against the incur- sions of the Canadians that for the first hundred years of its existence it was deemed necessary to strengthen it by a fort and garrison.
It is believed, from references in the records, that the first block-house was in the north angle of the stockade at or near the junction of Front and Washington streets. This was destroyed in 1690 by the French, at which time it was garri- soned by a small detachment under Lieut. Enos Talmage, from Capt. Jonathan Bull's company, then stationed at Albany. These troops were Connecticut men. The magazine stood on or near the lot of Mrs. Willard, then belonging to Capt. Sander Glen.
A second was built in 1690 between Washing- ton street and the river, opposite the west end of
State street, covering the lot of Kleme Isaack (that is, Isaac Swits), who with his son Cornelis was carried away by the French to Canada, On his return from captivity next year he found his home- stead occupied by soldiers, his orchard cut down, and his home utterly ruined. He repeatedly peti- tioned for remuneration for his losses, but it was not until 1708 that his son received a patent for 1,000 acres of land in Niskayuna as a recognition of his father's claim.
The second fort was a large and spacious in- closure surrounded by "a triple stockade, a new block-house at every angle and in each block-house two great guns." It contained twenty-eight huts for inhabitants of the village, two wigwams for In- dians, a large barn and styes for hogs.
At a court-martial held at Schenectady, August 7, 1691, upon a soldier named George Castleton,
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FORTIFICATIONS AND GARRISONS.
it was proved that he quarreled with a fellow sol- dier named Desvallous about some beer ; the lat- ter struck the former with a stick, whereupon Cas- tleton, drawing his sword, thrust it into his side, causing almost instant death. The facts of the case were mainly proved by persons living within the fort. The culprit was adjudged guilty of man- slaughter, burnt in the hand and banished the Province.
If Miller's drawing of this fort be correct, it must have extended quite across the west end of the vil- lage from State to Front streets, and included much of the land between Washington street and the Binne kil. The block-house in the south angle covered Swits' lot.
The renewal of the stockadoes, which, being made of pine logs, lasted but five or six years, became very burdensome to the inhabitants of the village after its destruction in 1690. Having built a new fort in 1690, they were ordered to renew the pali- sades in 1695. On this occasion Reyer Schermer- horn refused to cut and draw his proportion of the logs; it may be because living at the mills he thought himself exempt from his burdensome ser- vice or that his quota was too large. Thereupon Justice Johannes Sanderse Glen fined him twelve shillings, and continuing contumacious, Governor Fletcher, on the 9th of April, 1698, directed the sheriff of Albany County to bring him before the Council in New York to answer for his conduct. On the 30th he appeared before the Council, and "stood upon his vindication, whereupon he was committed to answer at the next Supreme Court, and Col. Courtland was desired to take bond with sureties for his appearance, and that he be of good behaviour in the mean time."
In the winter of 1695-6 the garrison at Sche- nectady consisted of a detachment under command of Lieutenant Bickford, from the companies of Captains James Weems and William Hyde, sta- tioned at Albany.
"On the 10th Jan., about 12 of the clock at night deserted the whole guard except one, and others to the number of sixteen broak through the north west Block house next the water side." [Binne kil. ]
" They drew the guns of both powder and shott. The Lieutenant about two o'clock discovering their desertion, notified by express Col. Richard In- goldsby, at Albany, and with ten volunteers of the inhabitants and eleven soldiers, started in pursuit. The sergeant and seven red coats soon gave out and were left behind. At four in the afternoon the lieutenant and his 14 men came up with the
16 deserters ; ordering them to lay down their arms they answered with a volley, and both sides continued to fire until five of the deserters were killed and two wounded when the remainder sur- rendered."
The following were the volunteers from Schenec- tady who accompanied Lieutenant Bickford in his hazardous enterprise : " Harmen Van Styck, en- signe of the trained bands of Schenechtide, and Gerryt Simons Veeder, Peter Simons Veeder, Al- bert Veeder, Gerryt Gysbert [Gysbertse Van Brakel], Jan Danielse Van Antwerpen, Dirck Groot, Jonas De Ray, John Wemp, Daniel Mutch- craft [Mascraft] and Thomas Smith."
At a court-martial held in Schenectady April 21, the survivors of the deserting party were accounted guilty and condemned to be shot.
The commander of the garrison who succeeded Lieutenant Bickford, in the spring of 1696, was Lieutenant Daniel Hunt, from the garrison at Albany.
After the second fort had been occupied about fifteen years, 1690 to 1705, the block-houses were abandoned, and "Queens new Fort " was built at the east angle of the stockade. This was the " Old Fort," about which all the traditions of the people cluster.
It was at first simply a double or triple stockade, 100 feet square, with bastions or block-houses at the angles. In 1735 it was rebuilt in a more sub- stantial manner of timbers on a stone foundation. The four curtains were "about 76 feet each, and the four bastions or block-houses 24 feet square."
In 1754, at the beginning of the French war, it contained one 6 and one 9 pounder on carriages, but no " port holes in the curtain to fire them."
On the 15th October following the inhabitants of Schenectady again petitioned the Governor to build a fort in the village, signed by Daniel Camp- bell, Arent Bratt, Abm. Glen and others.
The open space on which this fort stood, at the junction of Ferry, Front and Green streets, was about 264 feet by more than 200 feet, extending from the Episcopal churchyard to Green street.
The fort was built nearly in the center of this plat, the south wall extending across Ferry street, three feet south of the north corner of the parson- age house.
The well of the fort was in the middle of the street, three feet south of the north corner of Mr. James Sander's house.
GARRISON AT SCHENECTADY. - While the province remained under the Dutch rule a small body of soldiers was stationed at Fort Orange. After the
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
English occupation in 1664 there was seldom less than one full company there, sometimes two, and Schenectady was garrisoned by a detachment there- from of 20 to 40 men, under command of a lieu- tenant.
In times of alarm and war, as in the ten years' war between England and France, 1688-1698, the regulars were supplemented by the militia of the town or from Connecticut.
Hardly a year passed that the importance of having Schenectady better fortified and garrisoned was not recognized, either by the Governor and Council, the Legislative Assembly or the ruling power in the mother country.
In 1671 Governor Lovelace directed Captain Thomas De Lavall, chief officer at Albany, and he on the 15th of July ordered all the inhabitants of Albany and Schenectady over 15 and under 60 years to provide themselves with guns, side arms, two pounds of powder and four pounds of lead, each under a penalty of 100 guilders, all within fourteen days. The year following this order was renewed at a meeting of the chief officers of Al- bany and Schenectady, those of the latter place be- ing Ensign Jacob Sanderse Glen and Ensign Sweer Teunise Van Velsen.
In 1687 Major Brockholes, being in command at Albany, reported to the Governor and Council assembled at Fort James, July 19, the condition of things at Albany and Schenectady, that " he is now come from Albany to Schanectade with in- structions ffrom the Government to bring up there with all convenient speed, a certain number of men & some provisions."
Whereupon it was "ordered that sixty men be reysed in & out of ye city & county of New York, & fifty men out of Queens County."
In anticipation of an immediate attack upon the frontiers, the Mayor, Common Council of Albany, military officers and justices of the peace of the county met in convention at Albany, on the 4th of September, 1689, as a committee of safety, and after deliberation resolved to send an express to Capt. Leisler, of New York, for one hundred or more men, "a recrute of six hundred weight of powder and foure hundred Ball, viz., 200 two pounders and 200 foure pounders with some match and one hundred hand Grenadoes."
The period from 1688 to 1698 was the most trying and critical in the history of Schenectady. First there were alarms and apprehensions of an attack by the French and their Indians allies, the destruction of the village, the slaughter and the captivity of a large part of its inhabitants, and
lastly, the departure of many of the remainder to Albany, New York and other places of safety. The town was in danger of being depopulated in spite of stringent ordinances against removal and the encouragement of the Mohawks to stay by the post, fortify and maintain a vigorous warfare against their enemies.
For ten years the town gained little or nothing in population and prosperity, and until the peace of Ryswick the chief aim of the government and inhabitants was to hold the village, keep in repair its fortifications and maintain a sufficient garrison.
In 1698 the government sent over one Col. Romer, a military engineer, to examine, report upon and build certain forts needed on the coast and the frontiers.
Gov. Bellomont fully appreciated the import- ance of Schenectady and the necessity of its being properly fortified for the protection of the province on the side toward Canada. Hence he constantly importuned the Lords of Trade for men and means to complete and garrison the forts.
From this time on, the letters of the Governors of the Province to the Lords of Trade, the reports of the military commanders at this post, the orders and warrants of the Provincial Council, the acts of the legislature from time to time and the petitions of the chief inhabitants all combine to show the culpable neglect of the mother country of the safety of this her most important Province. All accounts of the condition of the fortifications and garrison at Schenectady after the peace of 1698 show that the stockades were neglected and suf- fered to rot down, rendering the town an open village, that the barracks became uninhabitable and . that "it was by no foresight or energy of the Home government that Schenectady and its neighbors had been preserved from a second attack and destruc- tion."
In the year 1703 Gov. Cornbury laid the foun- dations for a stone fort at Albany, and by the "advice of Her Majesty's Council of this province repaired as well as possible the stockaded fort at Schenectady."
Up to 1704 the palisades on the west side of the village stood about 100 feet back from Washington street, but on the 29th July, 1704, Governor Corn- bury issued an order removing them to the bank of the Binnekil.
At about the beginning of the second "French War"-1755-the Assembly passed an act for raising £3,000, to be expended in fortifying the village; but after the close of this contest, and the fall of the French power in Canada in 1763, the
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MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.
defenses of the village fell into decay, and were not renewed at the outbreak of the Revolution; neither were they renewed after its close. The old fort was removed, and the land sold; the stockades rot- ted and fell to the ground, and Schenectady bc- came an "open village."
In 1872 there were those who remembered see- ing the palisades standing along the Binne kill and used as tying posts for the Catteaux.
There is no map which shows the change made during the Revolution, when the palisade line was carried out as far as Given's Hotel on the south, or State street side, and thence north to the old Dutch Church burying ground.
MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.
From 1748 to the Revolution not much can be learned of the military organizations in Schenec- tady, with the exception of the gallant part per- formed by a company of eighty-nine men, from Schenectady, commanded by Capt. William Mc- Ginnis and Lieutenant Jonathan Storms, at the battle of Fort George, September 5, 1755, between the English and French. The English troops were under Sir William Johnson, and the French under Baron Dieskau. In this battle, at that time said to have been one of the most desperate en- counters ever witnessed in the new world, both officers and many of the privates of the Schenec- tady company were killed. But so nobly did they fight that, in his official report, Sir William John- son said: "The Schenectady officers and men fought like lions."
When the first gun was fired and the first blood flowed at Lexington, on the 19th day of April, 1775, the mass of the inhabitants of Schenectady arrayed themselves on the side of liberty. On the 6th day of May, 1775, at a meeting of the free- holders and inhabitants of the township of Sche- nectady, the following persons were selected to be a committee of correspondence, safety and protec- tion for the township:
Rimies Mynderse, James Wilson, Hugh Mitchel, Henry Glen, Harmanus Wendell, Abraham Oo- thout, John Roseboom, Christopher Yates, Cor- nelius Cuyler and Jacobus Teller. Christopher Yates (father of the late Hon. Joseph Yates) was made chairman; Hugh Mitchel was made clerk.
The committee held its meetings in the house of William White, located on the corner of Church and Front streets, for many years the residence of the late Stephen Yates. Extensive and multiform were the duties that devolved upon the members of this body. Not only were they to attend to raising troops and all the details of military matters, but acted as judges in cases of trial of all persons charged with treasonable sentiments. Many cases of this kind were tried before them, and those per- sons found to be unfriendly to the cause of the colonies, or who had in any way been proved as allies of England in speech or deed, were sum-
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