Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 11

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410

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1 Stone's Life of Sir William Johnson, vol. II, p. 268.

2 Having wrung from Pontiac a promise to meet Sir William Johnson the next spring at Oswego, there to ratify a lasting peace on behalf of the Ottawa Confederacy, Croghan left Detroit the latter part of September, and arrived at Johnson Hall the middle of October .- [Stone's Life of Johnson, vol. II, p. 251.

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

council, which was held in the open air beneath a canopy of evergreens. " The appearance of the council upon that summer's morning was ex ceedingly picturesque. At one end of the leafy canopy the manly form of the superintendent, wrapped in his scarlet blanket bordered with gold lace, and surrounded by the glittering uniforms of the British officers, was seen with hand extended in welcome to the great Ottawa, who, standing erect in conscious power, his rich plumes waving over the circle of his warriors, accepted the proferred hand with an air in which defiance and respect were singularly blended. Around, stretched at length upon the grass, lay the proud chiefs of the Six Nations, gazing with curious eye upon the man who had come hundreds of miles to smoke the calumet with their beloved superintendent." 1

After presenting three strings of wampum and expressing condolence to the Hurons on the recent death of their great chief, Sir William dis- missed the meeting. On the following day the council again gathered and smoked the great calumet previously sent to Johnson by Pontiac through Croghan's hands, and Sir William made a speech to the assemblage. At the close of the address Pontiac thanked the speaker for his words, every one of which he pronounced good, and promised his reply on the following day. He kept his promise, and then delivered a characteristic Indian oration. One paragraph we quote as indicating the new relations which Pontiac assumed towards the Indians :

"I am now speaking on behalf of all the western nations I command, and in their name take you by the hand. You may be assured that whatever I now agree upon will be a law to them, and I take the Almighty to witness, that what I am going to say I am determined to steadfastly perform; for it seems that he who made the universe would have it so. While I had the French king by the hand, I kept a fast hold of it; and now having you, father, by the hand, I still do the same, in conjunc- tion with all the western nations in my district, whom I shall acquaint with every transaction of this congress as soon as I return, and who will readily comply with any - thing I desire." ?

Pontiac accompanied this statement by handing to Sir William a large belt of six rolls of wampum.

This interchange of speeches and good fellowship continued several days, when, on the last day of August, Pontiac and his imposing retinue

1 Stone's Life of Johnson, vol. II, p. 275.

2 Stone's Life of Johnson, vol. II, p. 278-

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON.

launched their canoes, laden with presents, each chief carrying a silver medal bearing the inscription, "A pledge of peace and friendship with Great Britain, confirmed in 1766," and began their summer journey to their western homes, their paddles keeping time to a weird Indian song.1

From this time to the beginning of the Revolution peace reigned over Oswego and other frontier posts, and trade with the Indians was carried on with constantly increasing volume. While antagonistic re- lations and conditions continued at intervals at various points between different tribes of Indians, and particularly between settlers and Indians, hostilities did not extend to the vicinity of Oswego. In December, 1767, three Cherokee chiefs, six warriors and an interpreter arrived at New York on their way to Johnson Hall, to make complaint of the murder of some of their people by the Iroquois. Ambitious settlers were also crossing the Alleghanies and locating on lands along the Monongahela. They were ordered by General Gage to remove, but paid no attention to the command, and proceeded with their farming operations, in contravention of the treaty of 1763. Sir William John- son advised a cession from the Indians and payment for their lands, as the only means of averting war. Pennsylvania voted £2,500 to Johnson to distribute among the Indians, who were incensed at the loss of their kindred along the frontier. Johnson declined to act in the matter, and insisted that the enforcement of good laws was the surest guarantee of peace. His tact and his great influence with the Indians averted an outbreak.

Sir William Johnson eventually acquired a great tract of the Mohawk country which embraced land on the north side of the Mohawk River lying between the East and West Canada creeks. This tract contained 60,000 acres (Lossing says 100,000), and constituted what has been known as the Royal Grant. The transfer was sanctioned by royal letters patent in 1767.

As another means of further establishing and continuing peaceful relations between the English and the Indians a meeting was held on September 19, 1768, at Fort Stanwix, whither Sir William, his three

1 Pontiac was slain in the summer of 1769 by the tomahawk of an Illinois Indian, whether through Indian jealousy or the prompting of an English trader is not known ; but most probably the former.

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

deputies (Guy Johnson, Daniel Claus, and George Croghan), and Gov- ernor Franklin of New Jersey went. Johnson took with him twenty large bateaux, loaded with such presents as were best suited to pro- pitiate the Indians. Commissioners from Virginia awaited them at the fort, and on the following day Lieutenant-Governor Penn arrived with the Pennsylvania commissioners. Messrs. Wharton and Trent were also present, representing traders who had suffered in the Pontiac war. By the first of October 800 Indians had assembled. The object of this council was to fix a "property line" between the white men and Indians, a measure that had been advocated by Johnson in 1765. Sir William presented the subject to the Indians, and the representatives of the Six Nations retired for consultation. After six days of private conference the speaker for the Indians reported on the line which they had fixed upon as the boundary. This line was not in accordance with the instructions of the Board of Trade. The line finally established began at the junction of Canada Creek 1 (a branch of Wood Creek) and Wood Creek, a little west of Rome, and extended thence south - ward to the Susquehanna River. It gave to the English the carrying- place at Fort Stanwix between the Mohawk River and Oneida Lake, which was one of the points especially in controversy. It was not continued northward from Wood Creek, as Sir William claimed the land in that direction was owned by the Mohawks and Oneidas, with whom an agreement would be made at another time. The matter was concluded November 5, 1768, and the line was ratified by Johnson in July, 1770. It left the entire territory of Oswego county, Indian ter- ritory.2 The northern terminus of the "property line" appears upon the map herewith presented.

1 The Canada Creek here mentioned must not be confounded with the West Canada Creek. Col. Guy Johnson, who was a party to this treaty of 1768, three years thereafter (or in 1771), made a map of the Iroquois country, upon which he laid down the " property line" as agreed upon. On that map Wood Creek is laid down as running into the east end of Oneida Lake, and as having a branch coming in from the north about midway between Fort Stanwix and Oneida Lake, which branch on the map is called " Canada Cr." This is the Canada Creek referred to in the treaty, and its junction with Wood Creek was the northern terminus of the "property line." This map ap- pears in Winsor's Narr. and Crit. Hist. of Am., vol. VI, p. 609. See also Mag. Atn. Hist. vol. XVII, P. 49.

2 This treaty recognized as Indian domain all the lands lying north and west of the Ohio and Alleghany rivers to Kittaning ; thence in a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susquehanna ; thence following that stream through the Alleghanies, by way of Burnett Hills and the eastern branch of the Susquehanna and the Delaware into New York, to a line parallel with the Nonaderha (Unadilla) and thence north to Wood Creek, east of Oneida Lake .-- [Col. Hist., vol. VIII, p. 135.

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Fort Ontario

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Royal Block House

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Section of Old Map showing Onondaga and Oneida Indian Country, Early Patents in the Mohawk Valley, and the Unsettled Region around Lake Ontario and the Oswego River.

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Salmon R

Fish U

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Onondaga Falls

Pieters Hole

Quaquendena Fe Brewington

TAKE INDYDA

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Old Oneyata Cast

Carolana

Canadasscoa

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Senekas R

Salt Lake

Opfriscany Patent Granted to T Wenhamn yC.

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Rapid

102

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

Sir William Johnson was now a most distinguished person-a baronet of the British realm, superintendent of Indian affairs, a member of His Majesty's council, a major-general of militia, and a great land holder.1

A project of dividing Albany county was broached first in the Assembly by Philip Schuyler in the spring of 1769. While this proj- ect was favored by Sir William Johnson, he earnestly objected to the proposed line of division. "Albany county," he wrote, "is much too large, but the manner in which it is proposed to be divided is in many respects extremely inconvenient, and it would prove disagreeable to about all the inhabitants. The only rational boundary, it has appeared to me, would be at the west bounds of the township of Schnectady." Again in the spring of 1772 the subject was brought forward, and on January 2, Johnson forwarded to the Assembly by James De Lancey a second petition, praying for a division and naming boundaries that would be satisfactory to the petitioners. Toward the close of that year's session a bill was passed by which all that part of Albany county west of the present east line of Montgomery county was erected into Tryon county. The county seat was fixed at Johnstown, the home of Sir William, who had the naming of nearly all the county officers. A jail and court-house were erected at once, the latter of which is still in use. Col. Philip Schuyler called on Johnson to aid him in the division of the new county into districts. In his prompt reply Sir William named five districts-Mohawk, Stone Arabia, Canajoharie, Kingsland, and German Flats Of this new county of Tryon our Oswego county territory was, of course, a part.

The establishment of the property line did not long suffice to pre- serve inviolate the Indian territory. The influx of new settlers and the avarice of traders led to encroachments which soon provoked com- plaints. At a congress of the Six Nations at Johnson Hall, in June and July, 1774, a Seneca orator complained that the whites and traders encroached upon their territory, followed their people to their hunting grounds with goods and liquor, " when they not only impose on us at

1 Sir William died July 11, 1774. He was greatly exercised previous to his death over the prospective war with Great Britain, and had he lived, without a doubt, would have espoused the royal cause. His estates passed to his son, Sir John Johnson, and his nephew and son-in-law, Col. Guy Johnson. While they could and did inherit and hold for a time his vast property, neither of them inherited his many excellent qualities, as their later actions proved.

103

BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

pleasure, but by the means of carrying these articles to our scattered people, obstruct our endeavors to collect them. We are sorry to observe to you that your people are as ungovernable, or rather more so, than ours."

The continued and alarming encroachments on the Indian domain prepared the way for the hostility against the colonists during the war of the Revolution, which soon followed. The Indians had adopted a settled and well-understood policy, involving resistance to further en- croachments ; and the Iroquois, who had hitherto preserved a uniform friendship toward the colonists, now, with the exception of the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, and possibly a few others, opposed them. Eighteen hun- dred of their warriors allied themselves with the British, and only 220 with the colonists. The atrocities of the former, under the leadership of Johnson, Butler, and Brant, who succeeded King Hendrik as chief of the Mohawks, will long be remembered in both New York and Pennsylvania.

CHAPTER VIII.

Approach of the Revolution -- Discouraging Condition of the Colonists -- Adherence of the Johnsons to the Royal Cause -- Guy Johnson at Oswego-The Campaign of 1776 -Preparations of the British for the campaign of 1777-St. Leger's Expedition -- Brant at Oswego -- Alarm of the Colonists -- Investment of Fort Stanwix-Its Gallant Defense -Surrender of Burgoyne-Destruction of Fort Ontario-Expedition against the Onon- dagas-Sullivan's Expedition-John Johnson's Mohawk Valley Raid-Willett's Winter Expedition to Fort Ontario.

The causes leading up to the final appeal to arms by the American colonies against the mother country are well understood, and need not be recounted here. Their existence began years before the first gun of the Revolution was fired, when at last the patience and forbearance of the colonists were exhausted, and they rebelled. The famous Declaration of Rights, prepared in Philadelphia in September, 1774, was sent to the English court only to be received with ridicule and threats. The battle of Lexington, where was "fired the shot heard round the world," was fought on the 19th of April, 1775-a battle of

104

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

insignificant proportions, but most momentous as the beginning of a struggle which was to close with the founding of the greatest republic the world has ever seen.

Seeking nearer home for conditions surrounding the rising of the curtain on the great military drama, we find little that could have been encouraging to the colonists. The influence of the Johnsons in the Mohawk valley ; their close alliance with the afterward notorious tories, John Butler and his son Walter N .; the probable and expected adherence of the latter to England; and the extensive disaffection of the Indians ; all were ominous of coming trouble in Tryon county. In this instance the expected was what occurred. Guy Johnson began intriguing with the Indians, planning and inciting warfare against the Americans, supported by the elder Butler, who was a man of wealth and influence. Sir John Johnson quietly fortified Johnson Hall, the large square stone structure near Johnstown in which Sir William had lived, and there gathered around him a large body of retainers, whose inclinations were largely identical with his own. Both the Johnsons were watched, however, and their conduct was denounced by the local Whig Committee to the Provincial Congress in New York. This com- mittee addressed the following letter to Sir John on the 26th of October, 1775 :

Honorable Sir :

As we find particular reason to be convinced of your opinion in the questions here- after expressed, we require you, that you'll please to oblige us with your sentiments thereupon in a few lines by our messengers, the bearers hereof, Messrs. Ebenezer Cox, James McMaster, and John James Klock, members of our committee.

We want to know whether you will allow that the inhabitants of Johnstown and Kingsborough, may form themselves into companies according to the regulations of our Continental Congress, for the defense of our country's cause; and whether your honor would be ready himself to give his personal assistance to the same purpose.

Also, whether you pretend a prerogative to our county court-house and gaol, and would hinder or interrupt the committee, to make use of the same public houses, to our want and service in the common cause.

We don't doubt you will comply with our reasonable requests, and therefore oblige, Honorable Sir,

Your obedient and humble servants, By order of the committee, NICHOLAS HERKIMER, Chairman.

105

DEPARTURE OF THE JOHNSONS.

In the mean time, in June, Col. Guy Johnson left the lower Mohawk valley, where he had lived, went westward to Fort Stanwix and thence to Oswego, where he arrived on the 17th. He was accompanied by most of the Mohawk Indians ; by Joseph Brant, their chief, who was then acting as secretary for Johnson; by Col. John Butler and a few others. Their purpose was to hold a grand council at Oswego. On their arrival they found there was no garrison in the fort and no sup- plies. To provide the latter, Johnson, previous to his arrival, had written to Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg) and Niagara, and a small sloop came from the latter place with ninety barrels of provisions. As Johnson's army numbered almost 2,000 Indians and 100 white men,1 it will be seen that this was only temporary relief. The Indians could, however, in an emergency make themselves nearly self-sustaining.

Again Oswego witnessed the characteristic and picturesque scenes attendant upon a grand Indian council. The deliberations were not concluded until July 8, and resulted, of course, to Johnson's satisfac- tion. On the IIth Johnson and his white companions (excepting But- ler, who went to Niagara and was given command of that post), with the Mohawk portion of the Indians, set sail in a little sloop and a few small boats and made their way to the head of the St. Lawrence and thence down the river to Montreal, where they all entered the service of the British king. The other Indians returned to their homes, leav- ing Oswego substantially deserted.

While this event was giving a little temporary life to the post at the mouth of the Oswego River, Sir John Johnson remained in Johnstown, where he continued a secret but effective hostility against the Ameri- cans, perfecting the coalition between the British and the Indians and the tories. Convinced at last of his hostile intentions, Gen. Philip Schuyler, then in command of Northern New York, wrote Johnson in January, 1776, to the effect that his acts were well known and demanded a meeting. The baronet's reply was unsatisfactory, and a correspond- ence followed, as a result of which Johnson signed a parole of honor that he would not take up arms against the Americans, and would not

1 This is the number stated in British documents and may have included squaws and children. Johnson himself in a letter gave the number of warriors as 1,340. It is probable that the larger portion of the Indians who adhered to the royal cause were with Johnson, for that was the con- sistent place for them, and he was consistently their leader.

106

LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY

go to the westward of the German Flats and Kingsland districts. His Scotch retainers surrendered their arms and gave up six of their num- ber as hostages. Johnson violated this parole,1 continued his acts of hostility, and finally, in May, 1776, steps were taken to place him under arrest. Johnson was informed of this by his friends in Albany, and fled through the forests, reaching Montreal after a journey replete with ter- rible hardships. There he was made a colonel in the British army and became an open enemy of the Americans, as colonel of a regiment called the Royal Greens.

The results of the campaign of 1776 in New York were generally unfavorable to the Americans. The fort at St. Johns, the first military post within the Canadian border, had been taken on the 3d of Novem- ber, 1775, by Montgomery, who promptly pressed forward to attack Quebec. "Until Quebec is captured, Canada remains unconquered," he wrote the Continental Congress. On the last day of the year, amid the rigors of a Canadian winter, the army of patriots stormed the almost impregnable works-Montgomery fell-Arnold was wounded and his division captured. The enterprise had failed.

The more important events of the year 1776 were the evacuation of Boston before Washington's army on March 17; the signing of the Declaration of Independence; the expulsion of the American forces from Canada, their ranks decimated by small-pox; the flight of Sir John Johnson before noted; the attack upon the Americans on Long Island, and the retreat in August of Washington's army to New York ; the evacuation of New York by Washington's army in October ; the capture of Fort Washington on the Hudson River by the British, No- vember 16; the battle of Trenton and victory of Washington in De- cember-almost the only bright ray to lighten the general gloom of the year. None of these events had a direct bearing upon the history of Oswego county.

Inspired by their repeated successes, the British made extensive preparations for the campaign of 1777. One conspicuous feature of

1 We apprehend no doubt can exist whether the affair of Sir John Johnson is within your im- mediate cognizance. He held a commission as brigadier-general of the militia and, it is said, an- other commission as major-general. That he hath shamefully broken his parole is evident, but whether it would be more proper to have him returned or exchanged, is entirely in your excel- lency's prudence .- [Letter from the Prov. Cong. to General Washington ; Stone's Life of Johnson vol. II, p. 508.

107

ST. LEGER'S INVASION.

their plans was the invasion of this State by a large army from the north under Gen. John Burgoyne. The latter had recently returned from England with his commission and had superseded in Canada Gen. Guy Carleton. General Schuyler anticipated this invasion, and be- sought Washington to send more troops to Central and Northern New York to garrison Ticonderoga and Fort Stanwix, and to protect other points in the Mohawk valley. Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga June 20, the same morning on which Burgoyne's army set sail up Lake Champlain. Ticonderoga was under the immediate command of Gen- eral St. Clair, who was forced to evacuate the work; fled with his army towards Fort Edward ; was defeated in a battle at Hubbardton; reached Fort Edward; and thence was pressed down the Hudson River nearly to Albany.

In the mean time an expedition, organized in Canada under Col. Barry St. Leger, composed of regulars, Canadians and Indians, was dis- patched to Lake Ontario, with orders to cross, land at Oswego, pene- trate and desolate the Mohawk valley, and join the army of Burgoyne that was expected from the north. The Canadians and Indians were led by Sir John Johnson in person, his heart beating to revenge his ignominious expulsion from his old home. It is probable that Sir John, with his Royal Greens, and Colonel Claus (Guy Johnson's deputy) ar- rived at Oswego as early as June to prepare for their part in the con- templated expedition. Col. Guy Johnson was then in New York, whence he sent Brant to arouse the Indians. In July Brant arrived at Oswego with a band of followers, where they were soon joined by other parties of warriors of the Six Nations. Butler came from Niagara to take part in the council to be held. In the course of the deliberations he urged the warriors to join the expedition, promising them ample re- ward, and assuring them that the colonies were weak and would soon be subdued. His pledges and a liberal distribution of presents accom- plished the purpose. The Indians returned to their home, filled with enthusiasm for the war path. About the time the council closed, St. Leger arrived and once more Oswego was filled with martial sights and sounds.

Throughout Tryon county anxiety and alarm prevailed. The news of the approaching invasion was carried . to the people by a friendly

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

half-breed Oneida, who had been present at the Oswego council. He urged and entreated the dwellers in the valley and his brethren of the Oneidas to rise and hasten to Fort Schuyler to repel the invaders. Said he, " We, the good friends of the country, are of opinion, that if more force appears at Fort Schuyler, the enemy will not move from Oswego to invade these frontiers." 1 The advice came too late. In fact toryism was rank throughout the valley. It was becoming the general belief that the patriot cause would fail. The Oneidas preserved their neutral- ity, following the counsel of General Schuyler. General Herkimer issued a proclamation, calling to arms the militia and people of Tryon county for the defense of the frontier, but the response was neither prompt nor enthusiastic.

On July 27 the first detachment of St. Leger's army left Oswego under command of Lieutenant Bird, the main body following the next day. Again the Oswego River bore southward an army of nearly 2,000 men. Lieutenant Bird had constant trouble with his Indians. In his diary he notes his arrival at Three Rivers on the 28th, where he was overtaken by seventy or eighty Messesaugues. They had lingered behind, stolen two oxen, and refused to proceed until they had a feast. Bird left them and continued on nine miles farther, where he camped. The location of this camp was at Nine Mile Point, in the present town of Constantia. Next day he reached Wood Creek. Here the Senecas refused to go forward to Fort Schuyler unless small parties were sent on in advance. Bird wrote a message back to St. Leger, detailing his movements and announcing his intention to hasten forward at all hazards, and invest the fort. Following is St. Leger's reply :

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 11

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410