Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 15

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

USA > New York > Oswego County > Landmarks of Oswego County, New York > Part 15

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Meanwhile a still sharper battle had been going on to the eastward. Colonel Mitchell, with Captains Romeyn and Melvin, and the principal part of his battalion, met the en- emy in front as they landed, while Captains McIntyre and Pierce annoyed them on the flank. For near half an hour the ground was hotly contested. The cracking of mus- kets and rifles was incessant, and the bullets flew thick and fast among the saplings and underbrush. But the British, outnumbering the Americans two to one, steadily ad- vanced, and the latter as constantly fell back. Finally, Colonel Mitchell, seeing that the fort was captured and that his little force was likely to be surrounded, and the muni- tions at the falls thus exposed to seizure, gave the order to retreat. The battalion fell back in good order, and took their line of march up the river.

The enemy did not pursue. It is doubtful if they knew that the principal articles of value were at the falls, and even if they had their loss had been such, and the road through the forest was so easily defensible, that it is not probable they would have fol- lowed.

Two citizens of Oswego, Abram D. Hugunin and William Squires, who had crossed the river with their rifles and attached themselves to the American troops to aid in re- pelling the invaders, did not retreat quickly enough, and were captured. Peter D. Hu- gunin, afterwards judge, also occupied the breastwork on the west side of the river, occasionally sending a bullet from his rifle at the invaders, until the fort surrendered, when he made his escape.

When Mr. Bronson saw how matters were going, he began hastily to load some stores on his schooner, the Syren, preparatory to sinking her. A sergeant's guard came

141

ALVIN BRONSON A PRISONER.

up to the opposite side of the river and fired across at the laborers, one of the bullets passing within two feet of Mr. Bronson, and striking in the end of his warehouse. Never- theless he persisted in sinking the vessel. Meanwhile, the British burned the barracks, but could do little to the fort, as it was already in ruins. Presently Sir George Drum- mond came ashore, and he and Sir James Yeo devoted ,themselves to seizing what public property they could. They succeeded in raising the Growler and the Syren, which were the principal prizes they made. There was no systematic injury to private property, but the soldiers and sailors did considerable plundering whenever they had an opportunity.

From the storehouse of Mr. McNair, the government commissary, were taken some twelve hundred barrels of hard bread, and a quantity of other provisions, whisky, etc., but these and all the other prizes were very poor compensation for the loss suffered by the British. The work of seizure and loading went on for several hours, While Sir James was superintending the loading of some of the stores on a captured schooner, he saw Mr. Bronson walking about on the wharf, dressed as became a merchant, and sharply addressed him.

" Here, sir, I want you to furnish pilots to take those boats over the bar."

Mr. Bronson replied that all the men had left the place, and that he had no pilots under his control. With a vulgar oath, Sir James seized him by the collar, and shoved him back across the wharf, saying,

"Then go yourself and take the boat out, and if you get her aground, God damn you, I'll shoot you !" .

Without making any reply, Mr. Bronson started towards the boat. Before reaching it, however, Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, a gallant British officer, much respected on both sides of the line, who was standing a short distance away, called out,

"That is the public storekeeper, Sir James; he may be useful to us."

" Here, come back !" cried Yeo. Mr. Bronson did so, and awaited the course of events.

An hour or so later Sir James sent for Mr. Bronson, who obeyed the call, when the following conversation took place between them. Sir James began,

" You are the public storekeeper here ?"

"Yes, sir."

" And you are my prisoner ? "

"Yes, sir."

"Now, sir, I want you to tell me all about the public stores; what have been sent to Sackett's Harbor and Niagara, if any ; what have been detained at posts in the rear ; and what, if any, are concealed in the vicinity. If you will give me full and correct in- formation on these points, you can remain here; if not, you will be taken a prisoner to Quebec."

" Well, Sir James," replied Mr. Bronson, " my books and papers have been sent away for safety ; I do not think I could give you this information if I would, and I am sure it would be inconsistent with my duty for me to do so if I could."

"I have nothing to do with your duty," said the commodore ; "all I have to say is, if you give the information I want, correctly, you can stay ; if not, you go to Quebec."

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

"Very well, sir," replied the faithful storekeeper, "that settles it; I will go to Quebec."

Sir James then called Captain O'Connor, his flag-captain, and said,

" Take that man aboard the Prince Regent, and take care of him."

Mr. Bronson requested O'Connor to let him go to his room to get his trunk or some clothes. The officer consented, and sent a subordinate to accompany the prisoner to his room. On their arrival there, however, he found, as he expressed it, " Jack Tar had been ahead of me," and neither clothes nor books were to be found. Mr. Bronson was then taken on board the Prince Regent.

Four other residents of Oswego were also taken as prisoners on board the fleet- Abram D. Hugunin and William Squires, the volunteer riflemen before alluded to; Eli Stevens, and Carlos Colton. Mr. Hugunin came of a warlike family, two of his brothers being then in the service,-Robert as a midshipman in the navy, and Daniel (afterwards r a member of Congress) as a lieutenant in the army.

Four of the five prisoners were grown men, but Carlos Colton was then a boy of fourteen years old, and a clerk for Mr. Bronson. It was doubtless this circumstance that caused his capture, for he was taken to another vessel from his employer, and his captors there endeavored to obtain from him the information they had failed to get from the storekeeper.

"Come, now," they said, " Mr. Bronson has owned up all about the public stores, and you may as well do so, too, and save going to Quebec."

"I don't believe a word of it," promptly replied the plucky boy. The British officers were highly amused, and soon abandoned their attempts to cajole him into giving information.

The fleet lay off the harbor all night. About midnight Sir George Drummond came on board the Prince Regent. Walking up to Mr. Bronson, where the latter stood on the deck, the high- toned major-general and knight thus accosted him, his prisoner :

"So you are the public storekeeper, are you ? You are a pretty damned son of a ! You said there were no stores concealed, and now we have found cannon sunk at your own wharf."

"I did not say so, Sir George," replied Mr. Bronson ; "I said that my books and papers were gone, which was true, and that it would not be proper for me to give any information concerning the stores, even if I could."

The general glared at him for an instant, and then broke out again :

" Damn you, you ought to be strung up to the yard-arm ! "

The insulted prisoner made no reply, and Sir George presently left him.

At daylight the next morning (the 7th) the fleet set sail for Kingston. In the course of the day, Colonel Harvey, in conversation with Mr. Bronson, apologized for the ruffianly language of Sir Geogre Drummond and Sir James Yeo, saying that they had lost heavily and gained little by the expedition ; that their friend, Captain Mulcaster, was severely wounded, and that they both felt terribly out of humor. Mulcaster was then on board the Prince Regent, and the groans of the stout sailor showed how severely he was suffering. He died of his wound, but not till two years later.

But the behavior of Sir James Yeo towards Mr. Bronson was quite in harmony with

143

RESULT OF THE FALL OF OSWEGO.

his usual style. In the beginning of the war he had sent by a paroled prisoner from the West Indies, where he was then stationed, to the gallant Captain Porter the fol- lowing message, as printed in the Philadelphia Journal of September 18, 1812:

" A passenger of the brig Lyon, from Havana to New York, is requested by Sir James Yeo to present his compliments to Captain Porter, commander of the American frigate Essex ; would be glad to have a tete-a-tete anywhere between the capes of Del- aware and Havana, where he would have the pleasure to break his own sword over his damned head and put him down forward in irons."

Captain Porter sent a courteous acceptance of this remarkable cartel, but Sir James did not come to the tete-a-tete he had requested.

The Drummonds, also, were a brutal race. Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, the brother of the bully of the Prince Regent, was killed a short time after, in the assault on Fort Erie, while crying out to his men, " Give the damned Yankees no quarter!" and pistoling with his own hand the wounded who asked for mercy.

The British fleet proceeded to Kingston, where the prisoners were kept in the guard- house a day or two. Mr. Bronson was fortunate enough to have an acquaintance there who supplied him with money for his immediate needs. After the fleet had been renovated at Kingston, Sir James Yeo blockaded Commodore Chauncey for a fortnight in Sackett's Harbor, the prisoners being kept on ship-board. At length they were dis- missed, one at a time, and sent home. Even Mr. Bronson, though holding a semi-mili- tary position, was finally released, on the representation of Commodore Chauncey that he was only a merchant in charge of public property.

The losses of the Americans in killed, wounded and missing in this battle were sixty-nine ; the British lost nineteen killed and seventy-five wounded. The bodies, with the exception of those of the British offi- cers, were collected and hastily buried. Subsequently the remains of the American soldiers were exhumed and reburied with martial honors. Fort Ontario was not again occupied until November 3, 1838.

The sound of the cannonading on this occasion was heard for miles around Oswego, causing intense alarm and anxiety, which did not subside until after the close of the war. After the battle most of the militia which had arrived too late to be of assistance, returned home carrying news of the disaster through the settlements. Dread of a renewal of Indian atrocities and all the other horrors of a border war . drove many to leave their homes and flee farther into the interior. The memory of many instances of temporary flight, some pathetic and others amusing, have been kept alive in fireside stories. When, on the day following the battle, it was learned that the British had retired and that no hostile Indians had appeared, most of the frightened families returned to their homes.

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

One outcome of this attack, which was profitable in a small way, was the gathering by boys and men of the large number of cannon balls that had been fired into the woods by the British. Most of these were bought by Dr. Deodatus Clark, father of E. W. Clark, who then lived on a farm just within the present eastern city line. He sold them to Judge Joshua Forman at Onondaga Hollow, who had a contract for supplying the government.1

Colonel Mitchell, on his retreat, proceeded to Oswego Falls to guard the stores at that point, obstructing the road over which he passed with fallen trees. Captain Woolsey and a few other naval officers accompanied him. It was now, more than ever, important to remove the stores to Sackett's Harbor, and especially the guns for the vessels. To attempt this by way of the lake, now patrolled by the victorious British fleet, was clearly impracticable. In the emergency Woolsey sent a proposal to Commodore Chauncey to transport them along the lake shore in open boats to the mouth of Stony Creek, about twelve miles westward from Sackett's Harbor ; thence up that creek and overland to Henderson Bay. Chauncey approved the plan and General Gaines ordered the troops to co-operate in the work. The task was accom- plished and in a very dramatic manner.

Such of the large guns as had not already been passed over the falls were taken over in scows, and they, with the remainder of the precious freight, were loaded into nineteen large open boats. Of the large guns there were twenty-two long thirty-two pounders, ten twenty-four-pounders and three forty-two-pounder carronades. With these was also the main cable for the Superior, weighing 9,600 pounds, and which completely loaded one of the boats. The flotilla was manned by a strong force of oarsmen, and carried besides 130 riflemen under Major Daniel Appling. A body of 150 Oneida warriors was engaged to meet the boats at the mouth of Salmon River.

On the 28th of May the flotilla left the harbor at sunset and began

i Mr. Johnson, in his History of Oswego county (p. 67), states that Mr. Forman paid a good price for these balls, as they were better than he could cast at his furnace. The fact is, that while Judge Forman had such a contract with the government and the balls fired by the British were generally better than the Americans could produce, he did not have a furnace at Onondaga Hol low at all. The furnace alluded to, and from which a large quantity of cannon shot were sent to Oswego, was owned and operated by Nicholas Mickles, one of the most prominent pioneers of Onondaga Valley

145

TRANSFER OF STORES TO SACKETT'S HARBOR.

its eastward voyage with a God speed from the people in the little village. By arduous rowing the mouth of Salmon River was reached at dawn next morning, where the faithful Oneidas met the boats as agreed ; but in a fog that rose in the latter part of the night one of the boats was unfortunately lost, and soon fell into the hands of the British cruisers: The character of its cargo and its location when found told the story to the enemy, and the cruiser turned her prow towards the blockading squadron with every sail set. Meanwhile the vigilant Woolsey, discovering the loss of the boat, clearly foresaw the probable result. He determined to make a desperate effort to reach the mouth of Big Sandy Creek in the town of Ellisburg, Jefferson county, with his fleet of boats, and at the same time hurried off a messenger to Sackett's Harbor to request a reinforcement of troops. The boats again put out and the oarsmen bent ardently to their task, the Oneida warriors keeping along abreast on the shore as an escort. At noon the flotilla reached the shelter of Big Sandy Creek and proceeded a mile or more up the south branch of the stream.

When Sir James Yeo learned of the expedition from his cruiser that had captured the lost boat, he sent two gun boats, three cutters, and a gig to intercept the Americans. The squadron cruised along the lake shore in search of their prey, and towards night first learned of Woolsey's presence in Big Sandy Creek. The same afternoon a com- pany of cavalry and one of artillery dashed through the woods from Sackett's Harbor, followed, a little later, by a company of infantry. They made immediate preparations to give the enemy a warm recep- tion. Big Sandy Creek in that vicinity flows through a flat country and its banks were then covered with thick bushes. The boats lay just above a considerable bend in the stream, and near them were stationed the troops from Sackett's Harbor, while just below the bend and in the thick bushes were hidden the riflemen and the Indians.

The British squadron hung near the mouth of the creek through the night of the 28th, doubtless confident of capturing their rich prize with ease in the morning. When daylight appeared their vessels pro- ceeded up the creek, and upon coming in sight of the American boats, opened a sharp cannonade. The boats, setting low in the water, were little harmed. Then landing a flanking party on either bank, the 19

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

whole force of the enemy moved forward, pouring grape and canister into the bushes. Many of the Indians fled when the artillery fire began, while the riflemen lay flat upon the ground to escape the bullets, and awaited their time for action. As the vessels came toward the ambush, the riflemen arose and poured upon them a rapid fire. Many of the flankers fell under the storm of lead ; the boats were raked; and at the same moment the Americans opened their artillery on the enemy. The remainder of the story is briefly told. In ten minutes after the Americans opened fire the British commander surrendered his whole force, having lost eighteen killed and about fifty wounded, with 170 prisoners. One rifleman and one Indian wounded was the entire loss of the Americans. The victory was complete and the capture large and important. The American cannon and the cable were trans- ported to Sackett's Harbor by land ; the vessels there were soon armed : and Commodore Chauncey, suffering from illness, was carried on board on the 3Ist of July, and his squadron sailed up the lake. He blockaded Kingston, and vainly tried to draw Sir James Yeo into action. With the completion at Kingston in September of a man-of-war of 112 guns, Chauncey prudently returned to Sackett's Harbor, where prompt measures were adopted to build vessels large enough to cope with those of the enemy.1 The keels of two first-class frigates were laid, and one of these was far advanced when peace was declared. When the lake was closed by ice that winter the war had ended on the northern frontier.

Other principal military operations of 1814, ending with the final victory of General Jackson in New Orleans January 8, 1815, were those at Fort Erie July 3, and August 13-15; at Lundy's Lane July 25; on Lake Champlain and at Plattsburg September II ; at Chippewa Octo - ber 15, and the victories of Decatur and others on the sea.

A treaty of peace was agreed to between commissioners of the United States and those of Great Britain, at Ghent, December 24, 1814; and ratifications were exchanged at Washington, February 17, 1815. It provided for a mutual restoration of all conquered territory, and for three commissions-one to settle the title to islands in Passamaquoddy Bay ; one to lay out the northeastern boundary of the United States

I Alvin Bronson defined the struggles for the conquest of Lake Ontario as "a war of ship- builders," during which first one side and then the other built larger vessels than those pre- viously existing.

147

THE COLD SEASON.

as far as the St. Lawrence ; and the other to run the line through that river and the lakes to the Lake of the Woods. The settlement of other minor matters was also embraced in the treaty.

The reception of the news spread joy throughout the land, although the treaty was criticised in some quarters, chiefly because immunity from search or impressment had not been secured. The news of the peace reached New York city February 11, 1815, and banquets and illumina- tions followed, not alone in the metropolis, but in all principal cities. No one is living to tell us what he saw in Oswego when the news finally came slowly northward ; but we may well believe that in proportion to the population, the joy and exultation was not surpassed any where else in the country.

CHAPTER XI.

Suffering from the Cold Season of 1816-Settlements in Oswego County-The First Steamboat on Lake Ontario -- Discussion of Canal Projects -- Their Importance to the Future of Oswego County-Policy of Improving River Navigation-The Erie Canal Begun -- Other Public Improvements -- Canal from Oswego to Syracuse -- Its Influence on this County -- Alvin Bronson and his Work-The First Church Building-The First Congressman -- Beginning of Harbor Improvements -- Opening of the Canal -- The Welland Canal -- Effect on Agriculture -- Speculative Period 1836-7-The Patriot War -- Appropriation for Restoring Fort Ontario-County Agricultural Society -- The First Propeller on the Lakes -- Coming of the Railroads -- Plank Roads and their Influence.

Following the war, a period of peace longer than it had ever before enjoyed settled down upon Oswego. Immigration, which had ceased during the conflict, slowly revived ; commerce came to life ; and grad- ually there began an era of growth which was to continue through many prosperous years. Unfortunately the summer of 1816 was one of such extreme cold as to cut off a large part of the crops. Snow fell in this region in May, and on the 9th of June there was a heavy frost at many points, while the entire season was most unpropitious. Provisions of all kinds commanded enormous prices ; flour at one period in midsummer reaching $16 per barrel. Want was general, while in many individual cases, suffering was extreme.

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

It was in March of this year that the act of the Legislature erecting Oswego county was passed, as quoted in full in Chapter I. The towns in existence within the boundaries of the county in 1816 were Hannibal, Scriba, New Haven, Volney, Mexico, Richland, Redfield, Williamstown and Constantia, in each of which considerable settlements had been made. A small hamlet stood on the site of Mexico village, with neither store nor tavern ; and a similar one at Colosse (first called Mexico Four Corners) ; while on the site of Pulaski village there was a cluster of log houses. Colosse had a post office, one of the earliest in the county, and for many years a spirited rivalry existed between it and other near-by villages, its inhabitants entertaining the belief that it would become an important commercial center. (See later history of Mexico town). The location of the county seat, which has been almost invariably a cause of contention in newly organized counties, was urgently sought, not only by Oswego, which possessed every material advantage except centrality, but by all of these other aspiring settle- ments. The result of the controversy was the division of the county into two jury districts (eastern and western), with provisions for a court house in each. It was then anticipated that eventually each of these districts would be made a separate county. The commissioners appointed by the act selected Oswego and Pulaski as the sites for the court-houses, which were erected later, as described in the chapter devoted to the Bar and Judiciary. The first officers commissioned for the new county by the Council of Appointment were as follows: Barnet Mooney, first judge ; Henry Williams, Smith Dunlap, Peter D. Hugunin, Davis Easton and Edmund Hawks, judges ; Daniel Hawks, jr., assistant justice ; Elias Brewster, surrogate; James Adams, county clerk ; John S. Davis, sheriff. The population of the county was be- tween 6,000 and 7,000.

During the same season, when many of the inhabitants of the new county were suffering for the necessaries of life on account of the failure of crops and lack of money with which to pay the enormous ruling prices, a work was in progress in the success of which Oswego was destined largely to participate. Ten years earlier Robert Fulton had built on the Hudson River his first steamboat. As soon as the utility of the steamboat was established, it was seen that one of its widest fields

149

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.

of usefulness would be our great lakes. The village of Sackett's Har- bor, now one of the most somnolent communities in this State, in 1816 was a bustling, active place, and among its inhabitants were many prominent men. Commodore Woolsey and Gen. Jacob Brown were there, and they associated with others in constructing the first steam- boat west of the Hudson River. The work commanded the watchful interest of the people of Oswego county. The boat was finished in the winter of 1816-17. Her capacity was 400 tons and she was named the Ontario. In the spring of the latter year the new steamer put to sea and within a few hours, amid the most exuberent manifestations of joy from the assembled inhabitants, steamed into Oswego harbor. A general celebration followed, with bonfires, illuminations and congratu- lations, which continued until the boat left the harbor on the following morning. In the next season the steamer Frontenac was built at Kings- ton, and its successors multiplied rapidly.

Coincident with the arrival of the Ontario at Oswego was the passage on April 15. 1817, of an act which authorized the opening of " Navi- gable communications between Lakes Erie and Champlain, and the Atlantic Ocean, by means of canals connected with the Hudson River," and provided funds for that purpose. Under this act the Erie and Champlain Canals were built, and so the policy of the State as to its internal navigation was fixed. It is safe to say that when, by the slow travel of that time, the knowledge of the passage of this act reached Oswego from Albany, it was not received with any of the demonstra- tions of joy which hailed the advent of the Ontario.

Nature had apparently determined the route of communication be- tween the tide water of the Hudson and the great lakes. The great Appalachian chain, extending from Cape Gaspé at the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head waters of the Alabama River, formed the watershed which separated the streams flowing into the St. Lawrence, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, from those flowing into the Atlantic. At one point, in the present city of Rome, this watershed was so depressed and narrowed that the Mohawk, flowing on the easterly side of it, and Wood Creek, flowing on the westerly side, approached within less than one mile of each other, and the elevation between them was so slight that at the season of their annual flood their

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 15

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