USA > New York > Monroe County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Allegany County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming > Part 6
USA > New York > Livingston County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Yates County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Wayne County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
USA > New York > Orleans County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
* Ile may, with propriety, be called the Admiral of the Lake ; for he commanded the only sail vessel upon it. He was a kind of fresh water Van Tromp, or Pant Jones ; at one period, we hear of him as an active negotiator between the French and English, at Fort du Quesne ; at another, in the command of a scouting party, har- rassing the border settlers of Virginia ; at another, loaded with chains, in jail at Wil- liamsburgh, from which he was liberated by the humanity of Washington, who had known him upon the Ohio ; and lastly, in the command of an armed schooner, active and brave, in the French service on Lake Ontario.
51
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
which became almost incessant during the night, obliging them at times to suspend their works. The small French force at Schlosser, succeeded in reaching the fort. On the 11th, a small party of French approached within a short distance of the English trenches, from which they sallied out in strong force, but were driven again into their defences, by the guns of the fort. At 5 P. M., the Eng- lish opened their fire with eight mortars.
The siege continued from day to day, and night to night, with oc- casional, but not long-continued intermissions ; the French, too few in number to risk a sortie, holding out valiantly amid the tumbling walls of their devoted fortress, seriously annoying the besiegers by an active fire, that often arrested the progress of their works, as may well be inferred from their slow approaches; wearied with toil and want of rest; at times, almost upon the point of abandoning the unequal contest. On the 14th, the besiegers had so extended their works, as to be enabled to bring a heavy force to bear upon the fort. On the evening of the 19th, their General, (Prideux,) who had so well planned the attack, and, so far, so well executed it, was accidentally killed, while giving his orders in the trenches, by the premature bursting of a shell, discharged from a cohorn mortar. The vigor with which the siege was prosecuted, may be judged from the fact, that in one night, they threw three hundred bombs. Thus things continued until the morning of the 23d, when the be- sieged had a gleam of hope that was destined not to be realized : - Anticipating this attack, Captain Pouchot had sent runners to Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, Venango, and Detroit, ordering them with their commands, and all the Indian allies they could muster, to repair to Niagara. At a moment when it seemed that the dilapidated fortress, and its diminished and wearied defenders could hold out no longer, two western Indians made their way into the fort, bringing word from Monsieur Aubrey that he had arrived with a force of nearly twenty-five hundred French and Indians, at Navy Island, opposite the " Little Fort," (Schlosser.) Four Indians were imme- diately despatched, to inform Monsieur Aubrey of the critical con- dition of the fort, and urge him to press forward to its relief.
The command of the British force having now devolved upon Sir William Johnson, he had anticipated the approach of the French and Indians from the West, and kept himself carefully ad- vised of their movements, by means of his Indian runners. On
52
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
the evening of the 23d, he sent out strong detachments of troops, and posted them along on either side of the road leading from the fort to the Falls, about two miles from the fort, where they rested upon their arms during the night. Early in the morning of the 24th, other detachments of his most effective troops were ordered from the trenches before the fort, to re-inforce those already posted upon the Niagara River. The success of his protracted siege, now depended on arresting the march of D'Aubrey.
The British force had but just been posted for the encounter, when the French and Indians, under D'Aubrey, came down the river. The British out-posts fell back, and joined the main body. The opposing forces were now drawn up in order of battle, and D'Aubrey gave the order for attack. His western Indian allies, hitherto principally concealed, swarmed from the woods, and gave the terrifie war-whoop, at the same time, rushing upon the English lines, followed by the French troops. The British regulars, and such provincials as had seen little of Indian warfare, quailed for a moment in view of the fierce onslaught ; the Iroquois and the prac- ticed Indian fighters, among both regulars and provincials, stood firm. In a moment, the shock was met as firmly as it had been impetu- ously made. Volley after volley was discharged upon the fierce assailants from the whole British line, and from the Indian flanking parties, until the Indian assailants gave way and left the field. Deserted by his Indian allies, D'Aubrey bravely led on his French troops against the English column, and was pressing it vigorously, when a reinforcement of Johnson's Indians arrived from the trench- es, and assailed his flanks, and aided powerfully in turning the tide of battle against him. Standing firm for a short time, and return- ing the English and the Indian fire, he gave way and ordered a re- treat, which soon assumed the character of a total rout. The English pressed upon the vanquished and retreating French, and made prisoners, or shot down by far the larger portion of them. But a remnant of them escaped into an inhospitable and trackless wilderness. D'Aubrey and most of his principal officers were among the captives. This was the main and decisive feature of the protracted siege. The contest was but of short duration ; but long enough, with the vigor and desperation with which it was waged, to strew the ground for miles with the dead bodies of the combatants.
53
PHELPS AND GORIIAM'S PURCHASE.
How vivid is the picture presented to the imagination, of this early scene! It was then far, far away, in any direction, from the abode of civilization. There were no spectators of that sudden clash of arms, of that protracted siege ; all were participants. Hundreds of miles beyond the heaviest sounds that like earthquake shocks must have gone out from the conflict, were the nearest of our race, save those who were at Frontenac and Oswego, and the few mis- sionaries and traders upon our interior rivers. The outlet of vast inland lakes, the shores of which had been scarcely tread by Euro- peans, hushed to comparative stillness, after having tumbled over the mighty precipice, and madly rushed through the long narrow gorge that succeeds, was rolling past, its eddies dashing heavily against.the shore, moaning a requiem over the dead that were thickly strewn upon it. Death and carnage, the smoke of battle, the gleam- ing of steel, had chosen for their theatre a marked spot, romantic and beautiful as any that arrests the eye of the tourist, in that region of sublime and gorgeous landscapes. There was the roar of musket- ry, the terrible war-hoop ; the groans of the dying ; the fierce assault and firm repulsion ; precipitate retreat. and hot and deadly pursuit : the red warrior loading himself with trophies of the tomahawk and scalping knife, that would signalize his valor in the war dance, or tale out his deeds of blood at a place of reward :
"The shout of battle, the barbarian yell, the bray Of disonant instruments, the clang of arms, The shrieks of agony, the groan of death, In one wild uproar and continued din Shook the still air !"-SOUTHEY.
In yonder ancient structure, standing out in bold relief, solitary and isolated even now; was a handful of brave men, their numbers thinned, holding out after a long siege ; encouraged by hopes that were crushed, when their brave countrymen, deserted by treacher- ous allies, gave way before a superior force. Stretched out upon yonder plain, in long lines of batteries and entrenchments, were the besiegers, who, advancing from day to day, had approached so near, that every shot from their heavy artillery told upon the massive walls they were assailing.
It was a new scene in the wilderness ; - nature in her solitudes and fastnesses, was affrighted ; the wild beasts hurried farther and farther, into the recesses of the forest, or huddled in their lairs,
54
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
trembling as each successive crash came upon their unaccustomed ears. It was a calm July morning. The surface of that wide ex- panse of water, smooth and unruffled, mirrored the scene of fire and smoke, of waving banners and advancing columns. Stunning and deafening came the sounds of battle ; - then a hushed silence, as if war and conquest stood appalled in view of the work of death they had wrought; in which brief pause would come the roar of the mighty cataract, rushing in as if impatient to riot in its accustomed monopoly of sound ! The "great thunderer" was contending with its first rival! High over all arose the smoke of the two battle grounds to the clear blue heavens, and mingling there with the spray of the cataract, was carried off by a gentle breeze ; and at the suns decline, when the strife was ended, it canopied and spanned the deep blue waters, - a bow of promise and a harbinger of peace.
The French in the Fort had been close observers of every sign without, and had seen enough to make them apprehensive of the re- sult upon the river bank; but hours passed by before they could know with certainty the fate of the gallant men who had been arrested in their march of intended relief. An Indian scout gained access to the Fort informing them of Aubrey's total defeat and rout, and in a few minutes, a British officer entered and demanded a surrender, accompanying the demand with an exhortation from Sir William Johnson against the necessity of further bloodshed, and the intimation that his exasperated Indian allies could not be prevented from wreaking vengence upon the captives if the fight was further prolonged. Captain Pouchot, with the advice and concurrence of of his officers, yielded to fate and necessity ; and more than all, per- haps, to the fearful apprehension that farther doubtful resistance would make victims to savage warfare, of his unfortunate country- men and their allies. Terms of capitulation were agreed upon, hon- orable to both parties ; and thus ended a well planned and well con- ducted siege; stood out against with almost unexampled heroic fortitude ; and thus commenced the English possession of Fort Niag- ara, and dominion over all the region of Western New York.
NOTE. - The battle ground is upon the banks of the Niagara River between the vil- lages of Youngstown and Lewiston, below the Five Mile Meadows. Its principal theatre was at a small inlet which was known to the early settlers by the name of " Bloody Run." Soon after 1800, when settlement of that region commenced, gun barrels, gun locks, broken swords, bayonets and " bill axes" were found on the surface of the earth, and up to this period, the plough frequently discloses relies of the battle.
55
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
The terms of capitulation assented to by Sir William Johnson, should be added to the evidences that while he excelled in bravery and military foresight, a life in the wilderness, far away from the incentives and examples of civilized life, had not made him insensi- ble to the obligations of humanity and courtesy. Anticipating the bloody scenes we must yet pass through, to conduct the reader to the main objects of our narrative, the wish obtrudes itself that he could have been 'spared to have exercised his vast influence in after years in arresting the tomahawk and the scalping knife. The vanquished were allowed to pass out of the Fort with the honors of war, and lay down their arms. It was stipulated that the French officers and soldiers should be conducted to New York, where comfortable quar- ters should be furnished them; that the females and children should have safe convoy to the nearest port of France ; and that the woun- ded should be taken care of, and conveyed to New York as soon as they were able to undertake the journey. Upon the other hand, Captain Pouchot stipulated the surrender of all the stores, provisions and arms, with which the garrison had been well supplied.
The French that capitulated in the fort, numbered over 600; be- side them, were the prisoners taken in the battle upon the river. Not less than ten commissioned officers were among the prisoners, of whom were the gallant D'Aubrey, Captain Pouchot, and two half-breed sons of Joncaire. In marching out and embarking in batteux, it was with difficulty they were saved from massacre by the Iroquois; and only saved by the conciliatory course of Sir William Johnson, and the promise to his turbulent allies of a liberal participation in the spoils of victory ; a promise that he fulfilled .*
In a few days, after holding an Indian council to further promote
* A letter, written from the spot soon after the surrender, preserved in some old newspaper files, states that the Indian allies were allowed all the plunder in the fort, save the arms and ammunition. Some of them, it is stated, obtained, individually, plunder to the value of £300. Among the plunder, were large quantities of French hatchets, stored there for Indian trade and presents ; the same that are even now occa- sionally uncovered by the plough, in different localities in this region.
NOTE .- It has been truthfully said, that the last French and English war, was the school of the Revolution. Washington first unsheathed his sword at the battle of the Great Meadows, and won his first laurels at Braddock's defeat. Putnam was at Ticon- deroga ; Gates and Morgan were at Braddock's defeat ; Stark was a young officer in a corps of Provincial Rangers; George Clinton, it has been asserted, bore a commis- sion among the Provincials, in the siege of Niagara; and there are other names, after- wards rendered illustrious, mingled in different accounts of the campaigns against Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Quebec, and Niagara.
56
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
and strengthen the alliance of the Iroquois, and detaching a suffi- cient force to repair and occupy the captured fort, Sir William Johnson, with his main force and his prisoners, departed for Oswego.
CHAPTER III.
-
SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA, CROWN POINT, QUEBEC, AND MONTREAL - PEACE OF 1763 -END OF FRENCHI DOMINION.
WHILE all this was transpiring, war was waging with equal vigor, if not with as signal success, upon the banks of the St. Lawrence, and upon the Northern Lakes. On the 22d of July, the main army under General Amherst, arrived at Ticonderoga; and, opening a heavy fire upon the French out-posts, compelled them to retire within the walls of the fort, leaving their heavy breast-works to shelter the besiegers from a brisk fire they poured out from the strong-hold to which they had retreated. The siege and stout re- sistance continued until late in the night of the 23d, when the French, warned by the formidable preparations the besiegers were making, withdrew their main force to Crown Point, leaving but 400 to mark their retreat. Seldom, perhaps, in war's annals, has an unequal force - a handful against a powerful array - so much annoyed besiegers, as did these 400 gallant Frenchmen, left, as it would almost seem, for a sacrifice. In the darkness of the night, a detachment of them went from the fort, and stealthily approached the English in their entrenchments; breaking them up, and for a brief space, creating confusion and dismay. They held out in the fort for the two succeeding days, annoying the besiegers in their entrenchments, by a continued well-directed fire. On the night of the 26th, the small force, perceiving that the English had planted themselves strongly within six hundred yards of the fort - that
57
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
longer resistance would be unavailing - blew up their magazines, fired their wooden breast-works, barracks and store-houses ; made a wreck of their fortress for the besiegers to occupy, and secured a safe retreat, uninterrupted but by a pursuit across the Lake, and the capture of 16 of their number. At daylight, on the morning of the 27th, the French flag was struck down, and the English flag raised, amid smoke and flames, devastation and ruin, that the torch and fusee of the gallant, but despairing Frenchmen, had left for the destruction of works their valor could not save.
The first work of Gen. Amherst was the repairing of the dilapi- dated fortress ; and in the mean time some naval armament was per- fected necessary to carrying his conquest further on, to Crown Point. He was soon however, informed that that post was aban- doned, and that the enemy had retreated to Aux Nois, at the lower end of Lake Champlain. On the 4th of August, he advanced with his main army, to the last deserted French post. M. de Bourlemagne, who commanded the French forces in that quarter, seemed govern- ed by the policy of retarding as far as possible, the advance of the English force, whose ultimate destination he was well aware, was Quebec ; and their errand there, to aid the besiegers in the reduc- tion of that strong hold, and last hope, of his king and country upon this continent. At Aux Nois, where he had made his stand, he had yet an effective force of 3,500 men; 100 pieces of cannon ; and a force of armed vessels, which gave him command of the Lake. The English rested at Crown Point, engaging actively however, in strengthening their feeble naval armament; occasionally sending out small scouting parties ; and preparing in all things, for breaking up the French in their plan of retreat. On the 10th of October, the army under Gen. Amherst were embarked, and after an ineffec- tual attempt to reach their destination, in consequence of high winds and storms, were obliged to seek shelter in a bay, upon the western shore of the lake, and remain there for seven days. On the 18th, the troops were again embarked, and after encountering another gale, fell back to Crown Point. The season was now far advanced - the rigors of winter, in a bleak northern region, had began seri- ously to impair the ability and energy of the troops. These con- siderations, allied to the probability that he could not reach Quebec until the contest there was decided, induced Gen. Amherst to post- pone further offensive operations to a more propitious season.
4
58
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
The English squadron, destined for Quebec, had set sail about the middle of February. The command of this expedition was conferred by Mr. Pitt, upon James Wolf; the youngest man that had ever borne the commission of Major General in the British army; yet, he was selected for by far the most difficult service that the war involved. The naval command was conferred upon Admiral Saunders. The expedition arrived at Halifax, towards the close of the month of April. The force destined to act upon land under Wolf, was over 8,000. From the first landing upon the American coast, the British Admiral had anticipated the arrival of a convoy from France, destined for supplies and men, and had watched to in- tercept it, but it had eluded his vigilance and reached Quebec.
It was not until the 27th of June that the imposing force had reached the Island of Orleans, a few leagues below Quebec, and disembarked. A recent historian* has thus eloquently described the English commander's first view of Quebec, and the task that lay before him : - " Accompanied by the chief engineer, Major M. Kel- ler, and an escort of light infantry, he pushed on to the extremity of the Island nearest to Quebec. A magnificent but disheartening scene lay before him. On the summit of the highest eminence ; on the straits of the great river from whence the basin before him open- ed, the French flag waved. The crest of the rocky height was crowned with formidable works redoubted and planked. On every favorable spot, above, below, on the rugged assent, were batteries bristelling with guns. This strong-hold formed the right flank of a position eight miles in extent ; the falls and the deep and rapid stream of the Montmorency, was the left. The shoals and rocks of the St. Lawrence protected the broad front, and the rich vallies of the St. Charles, with the prosperous and beautiful villages of Charles- burg, and Beauport, gave shelter and hospitality in the rear. A crested bank of some height over the great river, marked the main line of defences from east to west, parapets planked at every favor- able spot, aided their natural strength. Crowding on this embattled bank, swarming in the irregular village streets, and formed in mass- es on the hills beyond, were 12,000 French and Canadian troops, led by the gallant Montcalm."
The scenes that followed - all the details of that protracted and
* Author of Conquest of Canada.
59
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
eventful siege -form prominent pages in our general history. It would be but repeating that with which most readers are familiar, to give them a place in these local annals.
The siege commenced on the 29th of June, and lasted with but brief intermissions, until the 18th day of September. Upon that memorable day the French, after a gallant resistance - a holding out almost unparalelled, considered in reference to time and the fierce and frequent approaches they had to resist - surrendered the great citadel of their strength in America ; the Gibraltar upon which they had fallen back in other days of untoward events : the spot they had occupied since Champlain chose it in 1608, as the seat and centre of French colonization.
The American reader has been surfeited, through English sources principally, with accounts of the bravery, the skill and the fortitude, of the besiegers and conquerors of Quebec. The story of the gal- lant Wolf, the mild, unassuming and amiable commander ; in whose character there is mixed up the finest sensibilities of our nature ; child like simplicity, with as stern heroism as Britain can boast in her long catalogue of military conquerors ; his almost shout of tri- umph, when the news reached him that the enemy was yielding, even when the film of death was upon his eyes, just as his noble spirit was about to take its flight far away from worldly conflict ; - has become as familiar as house-hold words. But little has been said, or known, in our language, of the brave defenders of the be- sieged citadel; and of him especially, the gallant but unfortunate Montcalm; whose end was as glorious as that of his conqueror ; though no shouts of victory cheered him upon his entrance into the dark valley of death.
A recent English historian,* has in this respect, set an example of magnanimity ; and to his pages are we indebted for much that is new in all that concerned the defence of Quebec. From the mo- ment the English had obtained a footing upon the Island of Orleans, the French commander was like a noble stag at bay. Confronted by a powerful force, chafed and harrassed in his preparation for de- fence ; distrustful as the result proved he had reason to be, of the courage and counsels of the Governor, Vaudreuil, who had an immediate command of the Canadian militia ; his courage was that
* Author of "Conquest of Canada."
-
60
PHELPS AND GORIIAM'S PURCHASE.
of desperation : - restive, impulsive, chivalric, to a fault. Forget- ful of superiority of rank, he said to Vaudreuil, in reference to some policy he had pursued : "You have sold your country, but while I live I will not surrender it up." Of the provincial troops, he wrote, on the eve of battle : "My Canadians without discipline, deaf to the sound of the drum, and badly armed, nothing remains for them but to fly ; and behold me beaten without resources. But one thing I can assure you, I shall not survive the probable loss of the colony. There are times when a general's only resource is to die with honor ; this is such a time. No stain shall rest upon my memory. But in defeat and death there is consolation left. The loss of the colony will one day be of more value to my country, than a victory. The conqueror shall here find a tomb ; his aggrandizement shall prove his ultimate ruin."*
Never did the general of an army, or the defender of a citadel have more upon his hands. There was disaffection among the militia to conciliate ; desertion to prevent ; a scanty and bad supply of provisions to obviate, with but fecble prospects of obtaining new supplies ; an unreaped harvest wasting in the fields, for the preser- vation of which he was obliged to spare 2,000 of his men at a crit- ical moment ; the supply of ammunition was scanty ; the vigorous and almost incessant prosecution of the seige, left him with little of that confidence which is essential to efficient action. His co- operator, and superior, (Vaudreuil,) was but a clog upon his move- ments. Yet he manfully and heroically contended against impend- ing and fearfully foreshadowed fate. IIc compelled obedience to his orders by iron rules and summary inflictions of severe penalties ; inspired by his determined impetuous bearing, terror, where duty and courage failed or flagged ; moved from point to point issuing his orders ; here to repair a breach, there to prevent desertion ; and there, to push forward attacking columns.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.