USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 1 > Part 11
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In pursuance of general orders issued May 10, 1810, a rifle com- pany was organized in Lieut. - Col. Cornelius J. Schermerhorn's regi- ment in this county. Joel Bristol was assigned as captain, William Carmichael as lieutenant and Wallace St. John as ensign. The orders directed that the uniform should be " green rifle frocks and plantations, with yellow fringe and buttons, black gaiters, round black hats, with yellow buttons, black loops and short green feathers." A company of artillery was organized in accordance with general orders issued Sep- tember 15, 1810, with Daniel St. John as captain, Joseph Benedict as first lieutenant and Nathan Durry as second lieutenant. Another com- pany of artillery was organized in pursuance of orders issued July 24, 1810, with Brevet Martin Van Alstyne as captain, Nathan Payne as first lieutenant and Rinier Van Alstyne as second lieutenant.
The carly militia of Rensselaer county evidently had excellent stand- ing at the headquarters in Albany, for the following highly compli- mentary order was issued by the commander in-chief April 6, 1811 :
The commander-in-chief has heard with much satisfaction of the enterprising spirit and military ambition which prevails among the officers and soldiers of the companies of riflemen in the county of Rensselaer, and it having been represented to him that there are already three companies in the brigade of militia in said county, each of which contains more than thirty men uniformed and equipped ac- cording to law, he does hereby direct that the rifle companies in the said brigade be henceforth organized into a battalion of riflemen, to be commanded by Major Wil- liam S. Parker, of Troy.
In pursuance of these orders the three companies were at once or- ganized into a brigade with the following officers: William S. Parker, First Major, Commandant; Henry Coon, Sceond Major; Stephen Wal- ren, Captain; David Bell, Captain; Joel Bristol, Captain; Jedediah Tracy, Lieutenant; James De Freest, Lieutenant; William Carmichael, Lieutenant; Sidney Dole, Ensign; Stephen Tripp, Ensign; Abraham 12
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
11. Lansing, Junior Ensign. Pursuant to general orders issued June 18, 1812, there was a general reorganization of all the militia of the State, in anticipation of their employment in the war of 1812. In this reor- ganization Tisdale Eddy of Rensselaer county was appointed Second Major in the Ninth Regiment of the Third Brigade, and Michael Van- dercook was appointed Brigade Major and Inspector in the Second Brigade.
On the 13th of April, 1812, the Rensselaer county brigade formed a part of the Third Division, which was in command of Major-General Henry Livingston. The brigade was called the Eighth Brigade of Infantry and was under the command of General Jacob A. Fort. The six regiments comprising it were commanded respectively as follows: First, Colonel Caleb Carr; Forty-third, Colonel Cornelius J. Schermer- horn; Forty-fifth, Colonel Gilbert Eddy; Seventy eighth, Colonel Joseph Dorr; Eighty-sixth, Colonel Thomas Reynolds; One hundred and Fifty-fifth, Colonel Thomas Davis.
The war in which this country and Great Britain had become in- volved in 1812 had now assumed threatening proportions and new militia companies were organized all over the country. Rensselaer county promptly fell in line, and another rifle company was organized, pursuant to orders issued by the commander-in-chief December 4, 1812. It consisted of forty two persons and was officered as follows: Junior Captain, Reuben Babcock; Lieutenant, Ellis Foster; Ensign, Henry Tracey.
It will be seen from the roster of officers of the militia of Rensselaer county in the early years of the nineteenth century that this county had more than its quota of soldiers prepared to assist in repelling any invader that might attempt to desecrate American territory. It is a matter of keeu regret that those intrusted with the duty of keeping a record of the State guard did not more carefully keep and preserve the minutes of the Rensselaer county militia.
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THE ANTI-RENT WAR.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Famous Anti-Rent Troubles in Rensselaer County and Vicinity-The Cen- tres of the Scenes of Disturbance --. Anti-Rent Associations-Refusals of the Occu- pants of Farms to Pay Rent-The Murder of Griggs-Arrest, Trial and Acquittal of Witbeck, the Alleged Murderer.
The anti-rent troubles, which culminated in the organization of the Anti-Rent Party and the inauguration of what was known as the Anti- Rent War, form one of the most exciting chapters in the history of Rensselaer county. These troubles were not confined to Rensselaer county alone but affected thousands of farmers and landowners through- out the eastern and southeastern parts of the State of New York. The Anti-Rent War grew out of a series of disputes between landlords and tenants over leasehold tenures. As we have said the original grant of the manor of Rensselaerwyck was made by the Dutch in 1630. The grant extended from the Mohawk river at the Cohoes falls on the north twenty four miles down the Hudson river, and had a width of sixteen miles, eight miles each east and west from that stream. When the Dutch were succeeded by the English and New Netherland became New York, Thomas Dongan, governor of the colony of New York from 1683 to 1688, was instrumental in causing another grant to be made by the English government. This second grant was called the Dongan Patent and extended the manor of Rensselaerwyek twenty-four miles east and west of the Hudson, thus taking in the whole of what is now Rensselaer county, with the exception of the northern tier of towns. Under this system the occupants of the lands could not own their farms or homes but leased them for a long term of years from the proprietors, paying an annual rental therefor-" ground rent, "asit was called. Nearly all the county was occupied by husbandmen under per- petual leases, which were executed by General Stephen Van Rensse- laer, a descendant of the first patroon, Killiaen Van Rensselaer, who received the estate by entail. Under the constitutional provisions the entail ended with him.
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General Van Rensselaer was respected and beloved by all his tenants.
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
He never adopted any oppressive methods, and every farmer in the county looked upon him as his personal friend. When he came into possession of the vast estates the leases previously held by the tenants were surrendered and others given in their places. The rents were re- served in wheat, fowls and services with horses and wagons, in addi- tion to " quarter sales," which entitled the landlord to one-fourth of the proceeds of every sale; but no rights from descent were granted. General Van Rensselaer died in 1839, leaving the west manor, which embraced Albany county, to Stephen Van Rensselaer, hisoldest son by his first marriage; and the east manor, most of Rensselaer county, to William P. Van Rensselaer, his oldest son by his second marriage. Fearing that these young men would enforce the quarter-sale forfeiture, which had never been enforced by their ancestor, the tenants of the land sent a delegation to negotiate, if possible, a purchase of all the reservations in the leases and terminate their tenure. But they were too late. While this doubtless could have been done during the life of Stephen Van Rensselaer, his sons refused to consider any proposition, and the tenants in all localities at once organized to oppose the enforce- ment of the lease tenure. Anti-Rent associations were organized everywhere, and though some of the tenants were conservative men they dared not oppose the powerful enemies of the landlords; neither did they dare to pay ground rent to the Van Rensselaer brothers.
'The condition of affairs in Rensselaer county, as well as in Albany and other counties, especially in the rural districts, soon became very exciting. Confliets constantly occurred between the Anti-Renters and the authorities. Parties of the former went about the country in dis- guise and committed many depredations, often becoming a terror to the community in which they existed. As a rule the members of these bands were unknown to those not interested in the raids made. Finally the crimes committed by them became so numerous that laws were passed making it a felony for any person to wear a disguise over the face.
The first conflict between the anti-renters and the authorities which resulted in a fatality occurred in the town of Grafton, where a band of the most lawless of the anti-renters killed a man named Smith on the public highway. The affair was investigated but the authorities were unable to ascertain the authors of the crime.
The next important step on the part of the anti-renters was the or- ganization of a political party, whose policy should be to elect to office
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THE WITBECK MURDER CASE.
none but sympathizers with the cause if possible. The result was that during the five years from Ist? to 1847 the Anti-Rent party succeeded in electing about one-eighth of the members of the Legislature. Some of the most able men in the constitutional convention of 1846 were friends of the cause of the anti-renters, and through their influence there was inserted in the new constitution a clause abolishing all feudal teures and prohibiting the leasing of agricultural lands for more than twelve years. After this the condition of the tenants was ameliorated by the passage by the Legislature from time to time of laws bearing heavily upon landlords.
No sensational ineidents developed after the year 1847 or 1848, the principal efforts of the anti renters being extended toward testing in the courts the validity of titles to lands held by landlords. In 1854 Col. Walter S. Church of Albany, who already had obtained con- trol of large traets of land, purchased the rights of Stephen and Will- iam P. Van Rensselaer, subsequently bringing over one thousand suits in ejectment on a forfeiture of his leases for non-payment of rent, and recording judgments in about every case, in Rensselaer county alone. The courts sustained the contracts in every case. Three offi- cers of the law were killed in the efforts to serve processes, but the work was prosecuted to the end, until every case was settled.
The most famous incident in the fight between Colonel Church and the tenants of his lands was the Witbeek murder case, in which the Hon. Martin I. Townsend of Troy took a prominent part. In the Troy Press of December 10, 1890, Mr. Townsend related the story of the murder and trial as follows:
Colonel Church was in his day a very notable man in the county of Rensselaer. In 1831 or 1835 a great excitement arose in the county in regard to the rents re- served upon lands in the central and more southern part of the county to the Van Rensselaer family in deeds made varying in time from the middle of the eighteenth century to 1834 or 1835. It was said that the Van Rensselaers had never received any proper grant for the lands they had obtained from the Netherlands, and that the then existing family of Van Rensselaers, claiming lands and rents growing out of them, were not the true heirs of those to whom the Netherlands had originally granted lands on the right and left banks of the Hudson.
It was also claimed that the attempt to hold them was mere usurpation, and that it was a rule of law that has been proved under the English common law that a man who took leases from others should be held to have assented to the ownership of his landlord. When the Van Rensselaers came to claim rent, they argued that they had the right to prove not only that the tenant had agreed to pay rent, but that the lessor
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
really was possessed of the land he agreed to lease. The courts held otherwise, and there was great excitement in Albany and Rensselaer counties.
Hundreds of farmers, bound by an agreement to resist the payment of rents, turned out disguised and armed to prevent the sheriff from levying on personal property to pay the rent demanded. A large number of residents of Rensselaer, as well as Delaware and other counties, were resisting the enforcement of these laws, Troops from Rensselaer county were called to the Helderberg mountains in Albany county to join the troops of that county in resisting the efforts of the rebels, and over and over again the sheriff and a posse of police sent by hun were driven back in attempts to pass into the eastern and southern parts of Rensselaer county for the collection of rents and the enforcement of processes for that purpose.
The result of these acts was a great reduction in the value of the Van Rensselaer rents, and they became scarcely available at all to their owners. Under these cir- cumstances Colonel Church and others associated with him became large purchasers of these reserved rents. Colonel Church was among the most prominent in seeking to enforce their collection. Controversies arose everywhere and sheriff's met with great difficulty in serving processes. There were many men in Rensselaer, Albany and Columbia counties who became frantic on the subject of resistance of rents and to feel inspired almost to do great work in resisting the collection, or in the lan- guage of that day, " putting down rents."
One of the most resolnte of these men was W. W. Witbeck of Greenbush, who was a large holder of land inherited from his father. With Colonel Church he had a great deal of trouble, incurring large expense and setting up such defenses as were always overruled by the courts. Judgments accumulated and his property, originally very abundant, was largely swept away by these judgments for unpaid rents. Colonel Church finally had a judgment issued turning Witbeck from one of Ins farms. The deputy sheriff who held the writ was Willard Griggs of Alps, in the town of Nassau. The land was in Greenbush, a couple of miles from the Bath ferry. It was next to impossible to get a posse of citizens in Greenbush to aid the deputy, and the law required that the posse should be summoned from among the citizens of the county. But Col. Church and Griggs collected twenty-one roughs in Albany and went to Witheck's farm to dispossess him. Witheck, his two sons and a hired man were found on the place with a few neighbors, who seemed to have been there accident- ally. When the attempt was made to get possession of the farm open resistance was offered. Pistols were fired, clubs used and missiles thrown. Mr. Giriggs was badly hurt and was taken to a neighboring house. Col. Church and the rest of the posse left. Griggs died the next morning. Pistol wounds were found on him, but the cause of death was a blow on the head, fracturing the skull. Witbeck, his sons and the hired man were arrested on the charge of murder and indicted. The trial was at Ballston, Saratoga county, a change of venue being had owing to the intense condition of public opinion i Rensselaer county. The judge was Ion. A. B. James of Ogdensburg, and the lawyers for the people were: Ilon. T. S. Banker, district attorney of Rensselaer county; Hon. William A. Beach of Troy, and Hon. Matthew Ilale of Albany. For the defense there were Hon. Henry Smith of Albany and Ilon. E. L. Fursman and myself of this city. All of the defendants were acquitted. This was the most important struggle in which Church ever was engaged and re- sulted very much to his pecuniary disadvantage. But he kept up the fight and there are now in the courts twenty-five or thirty cases in which he is plaintiff.
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IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
CHAPTER IX.
Rensselaer County in the War of the Rebellion -- Organization in Troy of the First Regiment of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served in the War- History of the Second Regiment-Operations of the Thirtieth, One-hundred and Sixty-ninth, and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiments-The Twenty-first New York, or the Griswold Cavalry.
To the county of Rensselaer, and particularly to the city of Troy, belongs the eredit of organizing the first volunteer regiment of Union soldiers which served in the War of the Rebellion. Months before the inauguration of hostilities by the firing upon Fort Sumter the patriotic citizens of Troy resolved to offer their services to the government to assist in the preservation of the Union; for the air was full of portent- ous rumors and many predicted that a resort to arms would be neces- sary before the rebellious believers in the right of secession could be induced to lay down their arms Three months before the first gun of that bloody war had been fired at Charleston the Freeman cadets were organized, the first formal meeting being held at the Mansion house in Troy on the evening of January 11, 1861. Five days later organiza- tion was perfected by the election of John W. Armitage as captain, George A. Hitchcock as first lieutenant and Charles 11. Woodruff as second lieutenant. There is no record in history of the organization of any military company for this express purpose before this date.
The day on which the bombardment of Fort Sumter occurred, April 12, 1861, the news was carried to Troy by telegraph and the wildest excitement prevailed. Nothing but talk of war was heard on every side. One company having already been organized, the loyal citizens at once took steps to form a regiment for the aid of the government. Within the next two or three days the national colors floated to the spring breezes from all the public buildings in the city and from busi- ness houses and dwellings. A martial feeling pervaded the whole at- mosphere. On the evening of Monday April 15, a largely attended mass meeting of citizens was held in Harmony hall for the purpose of endorsing the attitude of the national administration and to tender it
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
the support of Trojans in its efforts to crush the rebellion. The Ilon. John A. Griswold was chairman of the meeting and he and the Ilon. Martin I, Townsend and the Hon. Isaac MeConthe, jr., made addresses which voiced the patriotic sentiment of the meeting. Resolutions were adopted pledging volunteers and money for the aid of the government and condemning the Southern States for their treason in seceding from the Union. So great was the crowd in the hall and in the streets, where thousands of men waited while the meeting was in progress, that it was deemed advisable to make an early adjournment and repair to some place where the multitude could be accommodated.
The meeting accordingly reconvened in the Union depot, where an- other strong and patriotic speech was made by Mr. Townsend, who pictured in eloquent phrases the great danger that menaced the nation through the ill-advised course pursued by the rebel States. Speeches were also made by Clarence Buel and George W. Demers, who urged upon those present the necessity of tendering immediate assistance to the nation in its critical hour.
The two mass meetings had the desired effect, if indeed they were needed to aronse the patriotism of the men of Troy. The next day en- listing offices were opened at the following places: At No. 2 Second street, by Captain John W. Armitage; at the Troy Citizens Corps's armory, by William A. Olmstead; at No. 132 River street, by John Arts; at No. 4 Chatham square, by Michael Cassidy; at the corner of Adams and Fourth streets, by William McConihe; at the Troy City Artillery's armory, by Captain Sidney A. Park; at the Rendezvous, by George H. Otis; at No. 123 Congress street, by William B. Tibbits; at Lansingburgh, by George W. Wilson; and at Green Island, by Joseph G. MeNatt. The required number of men having been enlisted by Captain Armitage April 18, he went that day to the State capital and tendered the services of his command to Governor Morgan-the first company offered to and accepted by the State in response to the call of President Lincoln. On that evening the Troy Common Council appro- priated the sum of $10,000 for the support of the families of the enlisted men while they were engaged in the war; and at the same time a mass meeting was held in Harmony hall to provide means for the same pur- pose. The citizens quickly responded to the call, and within two days the fund amounted to more than $26,000. .
The Rensselaer County Agricultural and Manufacturers' society hav- ing offered the use of its buildings and grounds to the volunteer com-
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Justus Miller
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ORGANIZATION OF THE SECOND REGIMENT.
panies, on the following Monday, April 22, the four companies organ- ized by Captains Armitage, Olmstead, Otis and Wilson, all under command of Colonel Joseph B. Carr, marched to the fair grounds of the society, there to rendezvous until the completion of the organiza- tion of the regiment. The next day the remaining companies en- camped there with them. April 24 Lieutenant George L. Willard, U. S. A., then on the staff of General John E. Wool, was chosen colonel; Joseph B. Carr was chosen lientenant-colonel, and R. Wells Kenyon was chosen major. Through a elerical error made in the order of fil- ing the papers in the office of the adjutant-general the regiment was designated as the Second Regiment of New York State Volunteers, while it should have been called the First Regiment, as it in reality was. On the same day Colonel Willard appointed Captain Timothy Quinn of the Republican Guards to the office of adjutant of the regi- ment, and Charles L. MacArthur of the Troy Citizens Corps to the office of quartermaster.
When Colonel Willard was appointed to the command of the regi- ment he accepted the honor conferred upon him, with the proviso that the War Department would allow him, an officer in the Regular Army, to retain the position. But the regiment was doomed to disappoint- ment, for soon after he received orders from headquarters in Washing- ton to resign his command as an officer of volunteers, which order he obeyed May 6; and May 10. Joseph B. Carr was elected colonel, R. Wells Kenyon, lieutenant colonel and Richard D. Bloss major. Dr. Reed B. Bontecou was appointed surgeon and Dr. Le Roy McLean assistant surgeon, The regiment now numbered thirty-seven com- missioned officers and 225 enlisted men, and organization having been perfected it was mustered into the service of the United States for two years May 14, 1861, by Captain L. Sitgreaves of the Topographical Engineer Corps of the United States Army. The company officers on the day on which the regiment was mnstered in were as follows:
Company A .- Captain John W. Armitage, First Lieutenant Calvin W. Link, Second Lieutenant George A. Hitchcock.
Company B .-- Captain William A. Olmstead, First Lieutenant T. Clement Had- dock, Second Lieutenant Lee Churchill.
Company C .- Captain George II. Otis, First Lieutenant S. D. Perkins, Second Lieutenant, William HI. Pitt.
Company D .- Captain Michael Cassidy, First Lieutenant John Maguire, Second Lieutenant John McCaffrey.
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LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.
Company E .- Captain George W. Wilson, First Lieutenant John 11. Quackenbush, Second Lieutenant Edgar T. Wilson.
Company F .- Captain Sidney W. Park, First Lieutenant James A. Cross, Second Lieutenant Ilenry Harrison.
Company G .- Captain William B. Tibbits, First Lieutenant James A. Savage, Second Lieutenant Thomas Sullivan.
Company H .- Captain Joseph G. MeNutt, First Lieutenant Thomas O'Brien, Second Lieutenant William McPheters.
Company I .- Captam William MeConihe, First Lieutenant Joseph Lafuira, See- ond Lieutenant George Taffe.
Company K .- Captain John Arts, First Lieutenant Henry Jansen, Second Lieu- tenant August Kolbe.
The scene of the departure of the Second Regiment for the seat of war on the morning of Saturday, May 18, was one of the most memo- rable incidents in the history of Troy. Practically the entire popula- tion turned out and the streets were wellnigh impassable to all except the brave volunteer soldiers. The regiment left the fair grounds, which had been named Camp Willard in honor of the first commanding officer, and marched through River street to Washington square, thence down Second street to the court house, where the Hon. George Gould presented a beautiful regimental flag to the command, in behalf of a number of the women of Troy; and the Rev. J. T. Duryea pre- sented to Colonel Carr, in behalf of the Rensselaer County Bible So- ciety, a handsomely bound Bible. The regiment was escorted by Do- ring's band, sixty police officers, the Troy Citizens Corps, the Troy City Artillery, the Irish Volunteers, the Columbian Guards, the Jack- son Guards, the Wool Guards, Washington Volunteers, Premier En- gine company, Torrent Engine company, Niagara Engine company, La Fayette Engine Company, Rough and Ready Engine company, Trojan look and Ladder company, Franklin Hose company, Joseph C. Taylor Hose company, and the members of the Common Council. At the wharf at the foot of Albany street the regiment embarked on a barge for Albany, under the escort of the Troy Citizens Corps and Doring's band, from which city it left Sunday evening for New York on the steamboat New World. William Kemp was appointed pay- master of the regiment by Governor Morgan June 7, filling that office until the government discharged the paymasters appointed by the various States.
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