USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. II > Part 16
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In Gaine's Gazette of December, 1776, the repetition of the word rebel, in every paragraph, becomes ludicrous. Of Wash- ington's force he says, " such a miserable set of ragged creatures were never scraped together before, as those who form the rebel army in Pennsylvania." Rivington had advertised, "price one shilling, The Battle of Brooklyn, a farce in two acts, as it was performed on Long Island, on Tuesday, the 27th of August, 1776, by the representatives of the Tyrants of AMERICA, assembled at Philadelphia."
The rebel army was supposed to be annihilated. Their great General Lee, was safe in the old City Hall, in Wall street, with sentinels in his apartment, and before its door. He was confined in one of those dungeon-like places which had been crowded with the victims of the negro plot. The English army was cantoned on the banks of the Delaware, ready to cross when the ice made a bridge. General Washington had secured the boats, and had
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feeble detachments, under the command of Lord Stirling, stationed at the passes down the river, towards Philadelphia. The troops, now fortunately commanded by Sullivan instead of Lee, joined the commander-in-chief ; but most of them were unfit for action. Those under Gates, likewise arrived ; but their term of service had expired, (owing to the short enlistments, so fatally adopted by their general,) and only by the great exertions of Washington, were a part of them persuaded to re-enlist for six weeks. Gates pleaded sickness, and left head-quarters to recruit for himself in Philadelphia. With this shadow of an army, the commander-in- chief meditated the blow that was to save Philadelphia, and per- haps the continent. He had, however, with him, " good men and true," Greene, Knox, Sullivan, Stirling, Cadwalader, and other native Americans, to whom we must add the good old Scotch phy- sician, General Mercer.
Sir William Howe affected to treat Lee as a deserter, and threat- ened to try him as such ; but Washington, having in his power the field-officers taken at Trenton, and others, let Howe understand that as Lee was treated they must be treated, and offered to ex- change a certain number of them for him. In the meantime, as the garrison of New York had been weakened by the troops thrown into New Jersey, Washington ordered General Heath, with such militia as could be commanded, to make a movement on to the British line at Kingsbridge. Heath invested Fort Independence, summonned the garrison to surrender, and then, (perhaps very prudently, considering the kind of force he had,) as they refused, marched away again.
1778 On the 2Sth of June, 1778, occurred the memorable battle of Monmouth, which, although occurring in New Jersey, is too intimately connected with the history of New York, to be passed over in silence. For the following account, I am indebted to Mr. Stone .*
" No sooner had Great Britain been apprized of the alliance between France and her revolted colonies, than it was determined to evacuate Philadelphia, and concentrate the royal army at New York. Accordingly, on the 1Sthof June, the British troops crossed the Delaware into New Jersey, and commenced their march for New York, ascending the east bank of the river to Allentown, and thence taking the lower road leading through Monmouth to Sandy Hook. General Washington, anticipating this movement, had . previously detached a division of the army under General Maxwell, to impede the enemy's march. It was known that General Gates was approaching with the army from the north, and the enemy's
* Life of Brant, Vol. I. pp. 343 to 346.
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motions were no sooner ascertained, than General Wayne was despatched, with one thousand chosen men, to strengthen the lines. The Marquis de Lafayette was directed to take command of the whole force thus sent in advance, while Washington himself moved rapidly forward with the main army. It was his design to bring on a general, and, if possible, decisive engagement. The result of his movements for that object was the battle of Monmouth, fought on the 2Sth of June. The dispositions for this engagement were admirably arranged on the night of the 27th, the position of the enemy being such as to afford the best advantages for an attack upon his rear the moment he should get in motion. Such being the intentions of the commander-in-chief, they were communicated to General Lee, who was ordered to make his dispositions accord- ingly, and to keep his troops lying upon their arins to be in readi- . ness at the shortest notice. At five in the morning of the 28th, the front of the enemy was observed to be in motion, and orders were instantly despatched to General Lee to move on and attack, " un- less there should be very powerful reasons to the contrary." Lee was also advised that Washington was himself advancing to sup- port him. After marching about five miles, 'to the great surprise and mortification' of the commander-in-chief, he met the whole advanced corps retreating, by the orders of Lee, 'without having made any opposition, except one fire given by a party under Colo- nel Butler, on their being charged by the enemy's cavalry, who were repulsed.'# Lce was sharply rebuked, and placed in arrest. Hurrying to the rear of the retreating corps, which the commander- in-chief found closely pressed by the enemy, he arrested their flight, re-formed them, and with the aid of some well served pieces of artillery, at once checked the enemy's advance, and gained time for making such dispositions as the emergency of the case required. The battle soon became general, and was obstinately contested at various points through the whole day, until dark-Sir Henry Clin- ton and General Washington heading their respective armies in person. By the misconduct of Lee, however, and an errour of General Scott in the morning, advantages had been lost which entirely disconcerted the views of the commander-in-chief, and deprived the American arms of a victory which was all but certain. Still, the fortunes of the day were so far recovered, that, from being the pursued, 'the Americans drove the enemy back over the ground they had followed, and recovered the field of battle, and possessed themselves of their dead; but, as they retreated behind a morass very difficult to pass, and had both flanks secured with thick woods,
* Letter of Washington to the President of Congress, July 1, 1778.
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it was found impracticable for the Americans, fainting with fatigue, heat, and want of water, to do any thing more that night.'*
" Both armies encamped in the field, and lay upon their arms ; Washington himself sleeping in his cloak under a tree in the midst of his soldiers. His intention was to renew and end the battle on the following morning, not doubting as to the issue. Indeed, the result of that day's fight was justly considered a victory by the American officers, and but for the conduct of Lee in the morning, it would almost beyond question have been decisive.t But the purpose of the commander-in-chief to renew the engagement was frustrated by a silent midnight retreat of the enemy-so silent, in- deed, that his departure was not known until the morning. A variety of circumstances concurred to render a pursuit by the Ame- ricans unadvisable ; among the principal of which were, the extreme heat of the weather, the fatigue of the army, from its march through a deep sandy country, almost entirely destitute of water, and the distance the enemy had gained by his midnight march. A pursuit, it was believed, would answer no valuable purpose, and would cer- tainly be fatal to numbers of the men, several of whom had perished of heat on the preceding day. The American commander there- upon drew off his army to the Hudson, crossed over, and once more established his head-quarters at White Plains. Meantime, Sir Henry Clinton proceeded to Sandy Hook, and thence passed his troops over to New York. The loss of the Americans in this battle was eight officers and sixty-one privates killed, and one hun- dred and sixty wounded. That of the enemy was three hundred and sixty-eight in killed, wounded, and missing, and about one hundred taken prisoners. One thousand of their men deserted on their march. Both parties claimed the victory, which was in fact won by neither. The advantages, in the earlier part of the day, were in favour of the British ; in the after part, of the Americans. The stealthy retreat of the former, moreover, covered by the dark- ness, left no doubt as to which army was best prepared to renew the conflict with the return of daylight."
The Indian hostilities on the Mohawk are among the important transactions of this year, for the particulars of which, I am again indebted to Mr. Stone,¿ whose language I have, as on other occa- sions, borrowed, with little or no variation.
* Letter of Washington to his brother, John Augustine Washington, July 4th, 1778
t In a letter to General Gansevoort from Colonel Willett, who was on a visit to head-quarters at the time of the battle of Monmouth, the colonel says: "I have had the pleasure of seeing the American army, under the great General Washing- ton, triumph over the haughty British, in the battle of Monmouth. The action was grand, and ended gloriously."-Manuscript letter of Col. Willett.
# Stone's Life of Brant, Vol. I. pp. 302 to 368.
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" The position of Fort Schuyler was of the first importance, as the key to the western entrance of the Mohawk country ; but it was nevertheless, too remote from the upper German settlements of the valley, to afford them protection from sudden irruptions of the enc- my, avoiding that fortress in their approach. The consequence was, that the work of destruction was actively prosecuted among the settlements referred to, during the summer of this year. The first blow was struck upon a small and rather secluded hamlet, called Andrus-town, situated about six miles south-east of the German Flatts, on the 1Sth of July, by a small party of Indians, led by Brant in person. This settlement consisted of seven families, planted upon a lot of one thousand acres. They were in affluent circumstances for borderers, and the object of the invasion was plunder. The settlement was utterly destroyed-every thing of value that could be removed, was carried away-the houses and other buildings was reduced to ashes-an aged man named Bell, with his son and two others, was killed-one other inhabitant perished in the flames of his own house -- and the remainder of the little colony were carried into captivity. Advices of this catastro- phe had no sooner reached the Flatts, than a party of resolute Whigs determined to pursue the marauders, among whom was John Frank, one of the committee of safety. Arriving at the scene of desolation, they hastily buried the dead, and continued their march, accompanied by six or seven friendly Indians, to the Little Lakes-where, also, was a small white colony known as " Young's Settlement," from the name of its founder. Here it was discovered that the enemy was so far in advance that the chase was relin- quished. But as Young, the head man of the settlement, was a Tory, as also was his next neighbour, a man named Collyer, the exasperated Whigs avenged, to a small extent, the destruction of Andrus-town, by plundering and burning their habitations.
" But the most considerable event of the season in that vicinity, was the entire destruction of the comparatively extensive and popu- lous settlement of the German Flatts. This settlement, originally called Burnetsfield, from the circumstance that the patent had been granted by Governour Burnet, extended over the richest and most beautiful section of the Mohawk Valley, comprehending the broad alluvial lands directly beyond the junction of the West Canada creek and the river, and including about ten miles of the valley from east to west. Midway of the settlement, on the south side of the river, yet stands the ancient stone church, the westernmost of the line of those structures built under the auspices of Sir William Johnson. A short distance east of the church stood the large and massive-built stone mansion of the Ilerkimer family, which, like the church itself, was used as a fort. Hence it was called Fort Herkimer. On the north side of the river, upon a gravelly plain,
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elevated some ten or fifteen feet above the surrounding flatts, stood Fort Dayton.
" At the time of which we are writing, the settlement on the south side of the river numbered thirty-four dwelling-houses, and there were about an equal number upon the north side, together with as many barns and other out-buildings, and several mills. The population, for the number of houses, was numerous. The lands, rich by nature, and well cultivated, had that year brought forth by handfuls ; so that the barns were amply stored with their products.
" It was at the close of August, or early in the month of Sep- tember, that this fine district was laid waste by the Indians under the direction of Brant. Most providentially, however, the invasion was attended with the loss of but two lives-one man being killed outright, and another, named M'Ginnis, perished in the flames. The particulars of this hostile irruption were these :- Entertaining some suspicions of Brant, who was at Unadilla, a scout of four men had been despatched into that vicinity for observation. Three of these men were killed at the Edineston settlement. The fourth, John Helmer, succeeded in making his escape to the flatts at half an hour before sundown, just in time to announce that Brant, with a large body of Indians, was advancing, and would, in a few hours, be upon them. All was, of course, terrour and alarm through the settlement ; and the inhabitants-men women and children-were gathered into Forts Dayton and Herkimer for security. In flying to those defences, they gathered up the most valuable of their stuff, and by means of boats and canoes upon the river, succeeded, in the course of the evening, in collecting a large portion of their best articles of furniture. But they had no time to look after their flocks and herds.
" Early in the evening, Brant arrived at the edge of the settle- ment, but as the night came on excessively dark and rainy, he halted with his forces in a ravine, near the house of his Tory friend, Shoemaker, where the younger Butler and his party were captured the preceding year. Here the chieftain lay with his warriours un- til the storm broke away toward morning-unconscious that his approach had been notified to the people by the scout in season to enable them to escape the blow of his uplifted arm. Before the dawn he was on foot, and his warriours were sweeping through the settlement ; so that the torch might be almost simultaneously ap- plied to every building it contained. Just as the day was breaking in the east, the fires were kindled, and the whole section of the val- ley was speedily illuminated by the flames of houses and barns, and all things else combustible. The spectacle, to the people in the forts, was one of melancholy grandeur. Every family saw the flames and smoke of its own domicil ascending to the skies, and
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every farmer the whole product of his labour for the season dissoly- ing into ashes.
" Having no fire-arms larger than their rifles, the Indians avoided even a demonstration against the forts, notwithstanding their chagrin that neither scalps nor prisoners were to grace their triumph. But as the light of day advanced, their warriours were seen singly, or in small groups, scouring the fields, and driving away all the horses, sheep, and black cattle that could be found. Nothing upon which they could lay their hands was left ; and the settlement, which, but the day before, for ten miles had smiled in plenty and in beauty, was. now houseless and destitute. Happily, however, of human life there was no greater sacrifice than has already been mentioned. After the Indians had decamped with their booty, a force of be- tween three and four hundred militiamen collected, and went in pursuit-following as far as Edmeston's plantation on the Unadilla river, where the bodies of the three scouts were found and buried. But no other results attended this expedition. A party of the Onei- da Indians was more successful. They penetrated into one of the Unadilla settlements, burnt several houses, retook some of the cattle driven from the German Flatts, and brought off a number of priso- ners.
" But the acquisitions of booty by the Indians at the German Flatts were more than counterbalanced, a few days afterward, by their losses in their own chief towns, Unadilla and Oghkwaga, which were invaded, and in turn laid waste, by Colonel William Butler, with the 4th Pennsylvania regiment, a detachment of Col. Morgan's riflemen, then recently stationed at Schoharie, and a corps of twenty rangers. Having marched from Schoharie to the head waters of the Delaware, and descended that stream two day's inarch, Colonel Butler struck off thence to the Susquehanna, upon which he emerged in the neighbourhood of Unadilla. He approached the settlement with great caution; but the enemy had left the place several days before. Two of the white settlers, Tories, were made prisoners, however, one of whom was compelled to guide the forces of Butler to Oghkwaga, which service he performed. The town was taken possession of without interruption, the Indians having fled the day before in the greatest confusion-leaving behind a large quantity of corn, their dogs, some cattle, and a great part of their household goods. The march of Butler's troops had been fatiguing, and the vegetables and poultry, which they found here in great abundance, enabled them to fare sumptuously during their stay. The town was uncommonly well built for an Indian settle- ment, there being a considerable number of good farm-houses on either side of the river. These were all destroyed, together with the Indian castle three miles farther down the river, as also large quantities of provisions, intended for their winter's supply. They
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saw nothing of the enemy, and lost only one man at that place, who was shot by an Indian straggler, lurking in ambush. Returning to Unadilla, that settlement, upon both sides of the river, was burnt, as also a grist-mill and saw-mill -- the only ones in the Susquehanna valley."
We now come to the melancholy tragedy of Cherry Valley, in November of this year. In consequence of the exposed situation of that place, General Lafayette had ordered the erection of a forti- fication there early the preceding spring. The command of the post was solicited by Colonel Gansevoort, but it was given to Co- louel Ichabod Alden, at the head of an eastern regiment, unfortu- nately but little accustomed to Indian warfare. I borrow the details from Mr. Stone .*
"On the Sth of November, Colonel Alden received a despatch from Fort Schuyler by express, advising him that his post was to be attacked by the Tories and Indians. The intelligence had been conveyed to Fort Schuyler by an Oneida Indian, reporting that he received it from one of the Onondagas, who had been present at a great meeting of the Indians and Tories at Tioga, at which the de- termination was formed. In consequence of the lateness of the season, the inhabitants, not anticipating any further hostilities before spring, had removed their effects from the fortification, where, du- ring the summer, they had been deposited for safety, back to their own dwellings. On the receipt of this intelligence, they requested permission to remove once more into the fort, or at least to be allowed again to deposite their most valuable property within its walls. But Colonel Alden, discrediting the intelligence as an idle Indian rumour, denied their solicitations, assuring the people that he would use all diligence against surprise, and by means of vigi- Jant scouts, be at all times prepared to warn them of approaching danger. Accordingly, scouts were despatched in various direc- tions on the 9th. The party proceeding down the Susquehanna, as it were in the very face of the enemy, very wisely kindled a fire in the evening, by the side of which they laid themselves down to sleep. The result might have been forseen. They were all prise- ners when they awoke !
" Extorting all necessary information from the prisoners so op- portunely taken, the enemy moved forward on the 10th-Butle: with his rangers, and Thayendanegea with his Indians-encamping for the night on the top of a hill, thickly covered with evergreens. about a mile south-west of the fort and village of Cherry Valley. The snow fell several inches during the night-the storm turning to rain in the morning, with a thick and cloudy atmosphere. Tre
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· Life of Brant, Vol. I. pp. 372 to 378.
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officers of the garrison were accustomed to lodge about among the families near the fort ; and from the assurances of Colonel Alden, the apprehensions of the people were so much allayed, that they were reposing in perfect security. Colonel Alden himself, with Stacia, his lieutenant-colonel, lodged with Mr. Robert Wells, a gentleman of great respectability, recently a judge. of the county, who was, moreover, an intimate friend of Colonel John Butler, as he had also been of Sir William Johnson .* Having ascertained the localities in which the officers lodged, the enemy approached the unsuspecting village in the greatest security, veiled by the haze which hung in the atmosphere. An alarm was, however, given, before the enemy had actually arrived in the village, by the firing of an Indian upon a settler from the outskirts, who was riding thither on horseback. He was wounded, but nevertheless pushed forward, and gave instant information to the vigilant colonel. Strange as it may seem, this officer still disbelieved the approach of an enemy in force-supposing the shot to have proceeded from a straggler. But he was soon convinced of his errour; for even before the guards could be called in, the Indians were upon them. Unfortunately, probably, for the inhabitants, the rangers had halted just before entering the village to examine their arms, the rain having damaged their powder. During this pause, the Indians sprang forward; and the Senecas, being at that period the most ferocious of the Six Nations, were in the van. The house of Mr. Wells was instantly surrounded by the warriours of that tribe, and several Tories of no less ferocity, who rushed in and massacred the whole family, consisting at that time of himself, his mother, his wife, his brother and sister, John and Jane, three of his sons, Sam- uel, Robert, and William, and his daughter, Eleanor. The only survivor of the family was John, who was then at school in Sche- nectady. His father had taken his family to that place for safety some months before, but his fears having subsided, they had just removed back to their home. Colonel Alden, having escaped from the house, was pursued some distance down a hill by an Indian, who repeatedly demanded of him to surrender. This, however, he refused to do, turning upon his pursuer repeatedly, and snapping his pistol, but without effect. The Indian ultimately hurled his tomahawk with unerring direction at his head, and rushing forward, tore his scalp from him in the same instant. Thus, in the very out- set of the battle, fell the commander, who, had he been as prudent as he was brave, might have averted the tragick scenes of that hap- less day. Lieutenant-colonel Stacia was made prisoner ; and the
* Robert Wells was the father of the late distinguished counsellor, John Wells, of New York.
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American guards, stationed at the house of Mr. Wells, were all either killed or taken.
" The destruction of the family of Mr. Wells was marked by circumstances of peculiar barbarity. It was boasted by one of the Tories, that he had killed Mr. Wells while engaged in prayer -- certainly a happy moment for a soul to wing its flight to another state of existence ; but what the degree of hardihood that could boast of compassing the death of an unarmed man at such a ino- ment ! His sister, Jane, was distinguished alike for her beauty, her accomplishunents, and her virtues. As the savages rushed into the house, she fled to a pile of wood on the premises, and endea- voured to conceal herself. She was pursued and arrested by an Indian, who, with perfect composure, wiped and sheathed his drip- ping knife, and took his tomahawk from his girdle. At this instant a Tory, who had formerly been a domestick in the family, sprang forward and interfered in her behalf-claiming her as a sister. The maiden, too, who understood somewhat of the Indian language, implored for mercy. But in vain. With one hand the Indian pushed the Tory from him, and with the other planted his hatchet deep into her temple !
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