USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the settlement of Steuben County, N.Y. including notices of the old pioneer settlers and their adventures, 1893 > Part 18
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legionaries who had resisted the first appeal, stood in the snow, proof against drums, fifes, and the Colonel's rhetoric. The draft to complete the corps was finally made, and the battalion started for the seat of war in high spirits. A great rabble followed their enlisted comrades to Dansville in sleighs. A very uproarious column it was. At Conhocton the army encamped. Houses, barns, pens and haystacks, overflowed with fire-eaters.
In the meantime the Canisteo country had been wide awake. Col. James Mc Burney, hearing the Brigadiers alarming horn sound- ing its portentous quavers afar off, mounted his snorting war.steed, and gathering together his boisterous myrmidons from the saw- mills and gorges, set forth in hot haste .* At Dansville, the two battalions met and united. Their descent from the forests of Steuben was like an irruption of the goths of old. The chieftain of Canisteo opened the battle after the ancient fashion, by a single combat in the presence of the combined battalions. A broad- breasted barrel of whiskey stood forth in its wooden mail, made thrice secure by hoops of seasoned hickory. This grim foe the undaunted Ostrogoth assailed with an axe, and, at the first blow, beat open his head. The barbariansset up a howl of triumph, and, crowding around, drank like the Scandinavians out of the skull of their vanquished enemy. The battle then became general. Streets and bar-rooms resounded with tremendous uproar. Dans- ville was captured, and her citizens knew no peace till the invaders sank down, from exhaustion, to dream that they had just fought a great battle on the Genesee Meadows, in which the British fled before them, scampered toward Canada like a multitude of rats, ran into the Niagara, and were now sailing around in the great whirlpool-cannon and horses, officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates-while the Prince Regent, according to the sentence of a drum-head Court Martial, was hanging by his heels from an oak tree, and the lion and unicorn, yoked-like bullocks to the triumphal car of Colonel Haight, were dragging that victorious consul around the Pulteney Square of Bath.
News arrived that the invaders had retired into Canada. The drafted battalions were discharged and returned again to their
*Col. Wm. Stephens, of Canisteo, was his Major, and Col. J. R. Stephens, of Hornellsville, Adjutant.
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homes. The Canisteo Alaric covered the retreat in a masterly manner, and saw to it that none of the Steuben County fire-eaters who had been put hors du combat by the enemy were left to the tender mercies of the Dansvillians. Certain young men who were entirely captivated by the free and vociferous spirit of the Canis- teo and followed the Goths of Col. McBurney to their own valley, relate at the present day with laughter the adventures of the re- treat, and talk of the life and hospitalities of the valley with great satisfaction.
The muster, the march, the caronse, and the retreat were the prominent features of this campaign, of which Timour the Tartar might be proud. It was known to the soldiery afterwards as the " Battle of Dansville."
THE END.
APPENDIX.
ORGANIZATION OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
The County of Steuben was detached from the old County of Ontario and constituted a separate County in the year 1796. At the time of its organiza- tion it was divided into six towns, viz : Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, Frederic- ton, Middletown and Painted Post. Since the organization, one tier of towns has been taken from the western side of the County and attached to Allegany County, the territory constituting the present town of Barrington and Starkey with part of the town of Jerusalem has been taken from the northern towns and annexed to Yates County, and one quarter of a Township, includ- ing the village of Dansville, has been given to Livingston.
COUNTY JUDGES.
William Kersey, appointed
1796 George C. Edwards, appointed
I826
James Faulkner,
1804 Ziba A. Leland,
1838
Samuel Baker,
1814 Jacob Larrowe, 1843
Thomas McBurney,
1816 |William M. Hawley,
1846
James Norton,
1823 David McMaster, elected
1847
Jacob Larrowe, elected 185 1.
COUNTY CLERKS.
George D. Cooper,
1796 |David Runisey,
1829
Henry A. Townsend,
1799 William H. Bull,
1832
1815 William Hamilton,
1838
John Wilson, Edward Howell,
1818 Paul C. Cook,
1844
John Metcalfe,
I821 Philo P. Hubbell,
1850
SHERIFFS.
William Dunn, appointed
1796 John Magee,
elected 1822
John Wilson,
1800 John Kennedy,
66
1825
Dugald Camoron,
1805 Alvah Ellas,
I828
Jacob Teeple,
1809
George Huntington,
1831
Howell Bull,
18II
John T. Andrews,
1834
Thomas McBurney,
1812
Henry Brother,
1837
Lazarus Hammond, "
1814 Hiram Potter,
1840
George McClure,
1816 Hugh Magee,
1843
Henry Shriver,
1819
Henry Brother,
1846
John Magee,
1821
Oliver Allen,
1849
Gabriel T. Harrower, elected 1852.
189
SURROGATES.
Stephen Ross, appointed
1796 William Woods. appointed 1827
Henry A. Townsend, "
1800 Robert Campbell, Jr.," 1835
George McClure,
1805 David Rumsey, Jr., 1840
John Metcalfe,
1813 Ansel J. McCall 66
1844
James Brundage
David McMaster, elected 1847
Jacob Larrowe, elected 1851.
POPULATION OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
Population in 1790
168 |Population in 1820 21,989
1800
1,788
66
1830
33,975
66 "18IO
7,246 " IS40
46, 138
Population in 1850 62,969.
POPULATION ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1850.
FIRST ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
Bath,
6185 Pulteney, 1815
Reading,
I435 Wheeler,
I47I
Tyrone,
1894
Urbana, 2079
Prattsburgh,
2786 | Wayne,
1350
SECOND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
Bradford,
2010 Lindley, 686
Caton,
1215 Orange
1887
Campbell,
1175 Painted Post,
44 1 I
Cameron,
1663 Addison,
3723
Erwin,
1477
Woodhull,
1769
Hornby,
1314 1
Thurston, 726
THIRD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT.
Avoca,
1574
Troupsburgh,
1656
Conhocton,
2006 Greenwood,
II86
Dansville,
2545 West Union,
950
Howard,
3144 Jasper,
I749
Hornellsville,
2637
Canisteo,
2030
Hartsville,
S54 Wayland,
2067
VOTES POLLED AT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 1852.
For
For
FRANKLIN PIERCE,
68So | WINFIELD SCOTT, 5236
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, ETC.
Acres of Land improved .. .336,98 [
unimproved.
.338,415
Cash value of farms ... $13,581,268
Value of farming implements and machinery. .$ 676,792
190
LIVE STOCK.
Horses.
12,744
Asses and mules.
.4
Milch cows. 21,584
Working oxen 6,744
Other cattle.
27,162
Sheep.
156,776
Swine
23,939
Value of live stock
$ 2,155,090
PRODUCE DURING YEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1850.
Wheat, bushels of.
653,484
Rye,
16,033
Indian corn, 66
297,717
Oats,
913,948
Wool, pounds of
399,543
Peas and beans, bushels of.
45,202
Irish potatoes, bushels of.
360.725
Sweet potatoes,
245
Barley, 66
153,056
Buckwheat,
115,390
Value of orchard products.
$ 30,565
Value of produce of market gardens
$ 3,740
Butter, pounds of ..
1,918,465
Cheese, pounds of
210, 889
Hay, tons of 111,869
Clover seed, bushels of. 1,386
Other grass seeds 4,479
Hops, lbs. of 424
Flax, lbs. of.
16,24I
Flax seed, bushels of.
1,276
Silk cocoons, lbs. of
2
Maple sugar, lbs. of.
294,897
Molassses, gallons of.
3,547
Beeswax aud honey, lbs. of. .94,991
Value of home-made manufactures $ 76,287
Value of animals slaughtered
$296,798
SKETCH OF THE GENERAL HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN NEW-YORK.
The first European visitants of Western New York were the French. Dur- ing the first thirty years of the seventeenth century the English made their earliest settlements in New England and Virginia, the Dutch on the Hudson River, and the French on the St. Lawrence. One hundred and fifty years afterwards the English were lords of the Continent. At the beginning of the race, however, the French displayed a more daring genius for adventure and conquest than their competitors. While the English Colonists were yet doubtfully struggling for existence on the Atlantic shores, and the Holland- ers, with beaver-like prudence strengthened their habitations at Fort Orange
Wine, gallons of
.285
19I
and New Amsterdam, French adventurers had ascended the Great Lakes, and before the end of the seventeenth century, crossed thence to the Mississippi, descended that river to its mouth, and established trading posts and missions half way across the continent .*
During the first century of French dominion in Canada, their relations with the fierce proprietor of Western New York were not peaceful. Cham- plain, the founder of Quebec, soon after his advent to Canada, gave mortal offence to the Five Nations, by assisting their enemies, the Hurons and Algon- quins in a battle near Ticonderoga, where the fire-arms of the Europeans gained for their confederates victory over the Iroquois. From that time down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, the implacable enmity of the red leaguers harassed the colonists of Canada. The expeditions of the French Governors into the territory of their foes gained for them little beside disgrace. From about the year 1700, however, the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, and the prudence of the Governors preserved peace between the former beligerents, and neutrality on the part of the savages in the con- tests of France and Great Britain. When the great rivals joined in the final struggle of 1754, the four Western tribes of the Six Nationst even took up the hatchet for the French. Ten years later the English were supreme in North America.
In 1771 the county of Albany embraced all the northern and western part of the province of New York, and extended from the Hudson river to the Niagara. In1 1772 the county of Tryon was formed. It embraced all that part of the state lying west of a North and South line running nearly through the centre of the present county of Schoharie. It was named in honor of Sir William Tryon, the provincial governor. The boundary between the British and Indian territory as agreed upon in the treaty of 1768, ran from Fort Stanwix, near Oneida Creek, southward to the Susquehanna and Dela- ware.
The settlement of this district was commenced early in the 18th century, when nearly three thousand German Palatinates emigrated to this country under patronage of Queen Anne. Most of them settled in Pennsylvania; a few made their way in 1773 from Albany over the Helderberg to the bottom lands of Schoharie creek and there effected a settlement. Small colonies from here and from Albany established themselves in various places along the Mohawk, and in 1772 had extended as far up as the German Flats, near where stands the village of Herkimer.
In 1739, Mr. John Lindsay, a Scotch gentleman, founded the settlement at
* Date of Cartier's Voyage to Hochalaga (Montreal ) Settlement at Quebec,
1534
1608
" Plymouth,
1620
" New York,
1613
" Jamestown,
1607
Marquette's Voyage down the Mississippi,
1673
La Salle's Western Explorations,
1682
+The Tuscaroras joined the Five Nations iu 1712.
192
Cherry Valley, which in a few years became the home of a most worthy and intelligent community, mostly of Scotch and " Scotch-Irish " origin.
The gallant family of Harpers settled at Harpersfield in 1768, and about the same time settlements were planted near Unadilla, and scattered families took up their residence in other districts. The population of Cherry Valley was short of three hundred, and that of all Tryon county not far fron ten thousand inhabitants when the Revolution opened
For twenty years previous to the Revolutionary war, Sir William Johnson lived at Johnstown, the capital of Tryon county, by far the most no.able man bearing a British commission in the American provinces. Emigrating from Ireland in the year 1737, as agent for the Mohawk estate of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, he early obtained distinguished reputation and influence -rose to high military command, and in the last French war, by his victory over Baron Dieskau, at Lake George, and his successful seige of Fort Niag- ara, gained fame, fortune, and a Baronetcy. From that time till near the rupture between the Crown and the Colonies, he lived at Johnson Hall, near Johnstown, Superintendent of Indian affairs for the Northern provinces, with princely wealth and power, displaying an administrative genius super- ior to any which had before been at the service of the British government in America. In the year 1774. an Indian Council was held at Johnstown, at which were present a large number of the warriors of the Six Nations, besides many civil dignitaries of the provinces of New York and New Jersey. In the midst of the council Sir William suddenly died. On the 13th of July he was borne from the Hall to his grave, followed by a great concourse of citi- zens and Indians, and lamented by all.
At the time of his decease, his department included 130,000 Indians, of whom 25,420 were fighting men. The Six Nations numbered about 10.000 and had two thousand bold and skillful warriors. Colonel Guy Johnson, son- in-law of the late Superintendent, succeeded Sir William in this important post.
In a few months the long gathering political agitations of the Eastern provinces broke out into open and determined rebellion. The patriots of Tryon county hailed with enthusiasm the tidings from Boston, and met to express sympathy with their friends in New England, and to organize for similar measures. Guy Johnson became leader of the loyalists. Sharp discussions and correspondence between him and the revolutionary committee followed and in a few months Colonel Johnson abandoned his residence at Guy Park, and attended by a formidable body of Indian and Tory adherents, among whom were Col. Claus, the Butlers and Brant, made his head quar- ters at Fort Stanwix, afterwards at Oswego, and finally at Montreal. To the latter place Sir John Johnson, the son and heir of Sir William, followed him with a body of three hundred loyalists, chiefly Scotch.
Then followed the bloody border wars of New York and Pennsylvania. The British Government having determined to commit the dastardly and dis- gusting wickedness of setting ten thousand savages upon the scattered frontier
.
193
settlements of the United Colonies, found in the Johnsons and Butlers fit dis- pensers of massacre to the Northern borders. A brief notice of the incur- sions into Western New York, must suffice in this place.
It was not till the campaign of 1777 that the citizens of Tryon county felt the power which had been enlisted against them. Rumors of savage inva- sion it is true liad alarıned them, and a reported concentration of Indians at Oquago (now Windsor) on the Susquehanna, excited at one time much apprehension. In July of that year Gen. Herkimer, of the Tryon county militia, marched to Unadilla with 300 men, and there held an interview with Brant, the celebrated war-chief, wlio also appeared with a force of warriors. The Indians manifested a decided leaning toward the English, and the con- ference, after nearly becoming a deadly affray, terminated.
In a few days afterwards it became necessary for the General to issue a proclamation, announcing impending invasion. Burgoyne with his well appointed army of 7,500 regular troops beside Canadian and Indian auxilar- ies, had reached Ticonderoga on his march from Montreal to N. York, and Gen. St. Leger with about 2000 soldiers and savages began his marchi from Oswego, with orders to take Fort Schuyler, and pass down the Mohawk to Johnstown, and to fortify himself there. On the 3d of August he arrived before Fort Schuyler, and found the garrison under Col. Gansevoort, pre- pared for a determined resistance. Gen. Herkimer with 800 militia marched to reinforce the garrison. Apprised of this, St. Leger detached a body of soldiers and Tories under Brant and Col. Butler to watch his approach, and if possible to intercept his march. A desperate hand-to-hand battle was fought on the 6th of August in the woods at Oriskany, a few miles from the Fort. The militia were surprised, and suffered severely for their negligence. The rear division of the column gave way at the first attack, and fled. The forward division had no alternative but to fight. "Facing out in every direction they sought shelter under the trees, and returned the fire of the enemy with spirit. In the beginning of the battle, the Indians, whenever they saw that a gun was fired from behind a tree, rushed up and tomahawked the person thus firing before he had time to reload his gun. To counteract this, two men were ordered to station themselves behind one tree, the one reserving his fire till the Indian ran up. In this way the Indians were made to suffer severely in return. The fighting had continued for some time, and the Indians had begun to give way, when Major Watts, a brother-in-law of Sir John Johnson, brought up a reinforcement consisting of a detachment of Johnson's Greens. The blood of the Germans boiled with indignation at the sight of these meu. Many of the Greens were personally known to them. They had fled their country and were now returned in arms to subdue it. Their presence under any circumstances would have kindled up the resent- ment of these militia, but coming up as they now did in aid of a retreating foe, called into exercise the most bitter feelings of hostility .- They fired on them as they advanced, and then rushing from behind their covers attacked them with their bayonets, and those who had none with the butt end of
.
194
their muskets. This contest was maintained hand to hand for nearly half an hour .- The Greens made a manful resistance, but were finally obliged to give way before the dreadful fury of their assailants, with the loss of thirty killed upon the spot where they first entered."-(Annals of Tryon County.)
The Americans lost in killed nearly 200, and about as many wounded and prisoners. The Indians according to their own statement lost 100 warriors killed ; and the tories and regulars about the same number. Gen. Herkimer was wounded, and a few days after the battle died. During the battle an efficient sally was made from the Fort by Col. Willet. On the 22d of August, St. Leger, alarmed at the rumored approach of Arnold, abandoned the seige, and retired in great confusion, leaving behind a great part of his baggage.
In the summer of 1778, Brant made his head quarters at Oquago and Una- dilla, and there mustered a band of Indians and Tories, ready for any bar- barity which might offer. The inhabitants of Cherry Valley threw up rude fortifications, of the need of which the hovering parties of enemies gave warning. Several attacks and skirmishes occurred along the frontiers. In July of this year, Col. John Butler made the celebrated incursion into Wyom- ing. After ravaging that ill-fated valley, Col. Butler returned to Niagara, but the Indians again took their station at Oquago. In the month of No- vember Cap. Walter Butler, a son of the devastator of Wyoming, to gratify a personal resentment, obtained from his father a detachment of 200 " Butler Rangers," and permission to employ the 500 Indians which Brant commanded at Oquago. Under circumstances which proved the Tory commander to be the most pitiless barbarian of the troop, their united forces assailed the little settlement of Cherry Valley, on the morning of the 11th November. Through the inexcusable neglect of the officer in command of the Fort, the farmers were surprised in their houses, with several officers from the Fort, who were their lodgers. The commander of the post, refusing to yield himself a pris- oner, fell by the tomahawk. A piteous scene of massacre and devastation followed. The Senecas, the most untameable of the savages, with some tories, were first in the fray, and slew without mercy or discrimination. Brant and his Mohawks, less inhuman here than their barbarous or renegade allies, plied their hatchets with less fury. The buildings and stacks of hay and grain were fired. The troops in the Fort repelled the attack of the enemy, but were not strong enough to sally from their entrenchments. At night the Indians had begun their march homeward, with about forty prisoners. On the following day a detachment of militia arrived from the Mohawk, and the last prowling parties of Indians disappeared. The Annalist of Tryon County says, "the most wanton acts of cruelty had been committed, but the detail is too horrible and I will not pursue it further. The whole settlement exhibited an aspect of entire and complete desolation. The cocks crew from the tops of the forest trees, and the dogs howled through the fields and woods. The inhabitants who escaped with the prisoners who were set at liberty, abandoned the settlement."*
* In the summer of 1781, Col. Willett.met and defeated Major Ross and Walter Butler,
195
During the same year, McDonald, a tory, with 300 Indians and tories was ravaging the Dutch settlements of Schoharie .- " What shall be done?" said Col. Harper, the bold partisan, to Col. Vroeman, the commander of the Fort, while the enemy were scouring the country around. "Oh, nothing at all," the officer replied, "we be so weak we cannot do anything " Col. Harper ordered his horse and laid liis course for Albany-he rode right down through the enemy who were scattered over all the country. At Fox's Creek he put up at a tory tavern for the night. He retired to bed after having locked the door. Soon there was a loud rapping at the door. "What is wanted ?" "We want to see Col. Harper." The Col. arose and unlocked the door, seated himself on the bed, and laid his sword and pistols before hini. In stepped four men. "Step one inch over that inark," said the Colonel, " and you are dead men." After talking a little time with him they left the room. He again secured the door, and sat on his bed till daylight appeared. He then ordered his horse, mounted and rode for Albany, and the enemy were round the house. An Indian followed him almost into Albany, taking to his heels when the Colonel wheeled round and presented his pistol. Next morn- ing the Schoharie people heard a tremendous shrieking and yelling, and looking out, saw the enterprising partisan amongst the enemy with a troop of horse .- The men in the fort rushed out, and the country was soon cleared of the whole crew of the marauders.
The narrow limits allowed to this portion of the volume, warn that no further space can be occupied with a detail of the incidents of the Border Wars of New York. In 1779, Gen. Sullivan made his well known expedi- tion into the territory of the Indians. During the remaining years of the war the frontiers were sorely harrassed. Bands of savages and loyalists incessantly emerged from the forests to ravage, burn and kill. And if they succeeded in bringing dreadful misery upon the homes of the borderers, it was not without resolute resistance on the part of the latter. Under the lead of Willett, the Harpers and other partisans not less sagacious than deter- mined, the marauders often felt to their discomfiture the rifles of the fron- tiers ; and the well authenticated traditions of individual daring and adventure, rivals in interest the annals of knight-errantry.
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, emigration began to pene- trate Western New York from three quarters. Pennsylvanians, particularly
and Johnson Hall. In the rapid retreat which followed, Capt. Butler was pursued by a small party of Oneida Indiaus who adhered, alone of the Six Nations, to the American side. Swimming his horse across the West Canada Creek, he turned and defied his pur- suers. " An Oneida immediately discharged his rifle and wounded him and he fell. Throwing down his rifle and his blanket, the Indian plunged into the the creek and swam across. As soon as he had gained the opposite bank, he raised his tomahawk, and with a yell, sprang like a tiger upon his fallen foe. Butler supplicated, though in vain for mercy. The Oneida with his uplifted axe, shouted in broken English, " Sherry Valley ! remember Sherry Valley !" and then buried it in his brains. He tore the scalp from the head of his victim, still quivering in the agonies of death, and ere the remainder of the Oneidas had joined him, the spirit of Walter Butler had gone to give up its account. The place where he crossed is called Butler's Ford to this day."-(Annals of Tryon County.)
196
inhabitants of the region of Wyoming, pushed up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, where, diverging, some made settlements along the Chemung and Canisteo, while others established themselves on the East branch of the Susquehanna and its tributaries. Adventurers from the East, crossing from New England or the Hudson river counties to Unadilla, dropped down the river in canoes and settled along the Susquehanna or Chemung, or travelled into the upper Genesee country. Yet another band took the ancient road through the Mohawk valley to Oneida Lake, then on to Canadesaga.
In May, 1784, Hugh White passing the boundary of civilization settled at Whitestown, near Utica. In the same year James Dean settled at Rome. In 1786, a Mr, Webster, became the first white settler of the territory now comprised in the county of Onondaga. In 1788, Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, located at Onondaga Hollow. In 1793, John L. Hardenburgh settled on the site of the city of Auburn. In 1789, James Bennett and John Harris established a ferry at Cayuga Lake. In 1787, Jemima Wilkinson's disciples made their first settlement on the outlet of Crooked Lake one mile South of the present village of Dresden. On their arrival at Geneva from the East they found, says a local historian, but a solitary log house, and that not fin- ished, inhabited by one Jennings.
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