USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 1 > Part 7
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and drove in an advanced detachment of British. There he was joined by Brown's whole force, and on the morning of the 5th the two con- tending armies were only two miles apart. A fiercely-fought and san- guinary battle followed in which 604 British and 355 Americans were killed and wounded .. It was a crushing defeat for the enemy in that section. Prompt advantage was taken of this situation and the mem- orable and successful battle of Lundy's Lane was fought and won on the 24th, in which General Scott gained undying fame; the immediate fruits of the victory, however, were not important. From the 7th to the 14th of August the British besieged Fort Erie, but the Americans successfully resisted the operations. The British force continued to invest the works, and on September 17 the Americans made a brillliant sortie from the fort and captured the advanced works of the enemy, who were driven back to Chippewa with a loss of 1,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners. These several victories, with the triumph of the American arms at Plattsburg, caused great joy throughout the country.
In October, General Izard came to the Niagara frontier with 5,000 troops and took command, his rank being higher than General Brown's. The entire force now numbered about 8,000 men. Before they could attack Drummond, he withdrew to Fort George. Early in November General Izard caused Fort Erie to be blown up and he then crossed the river and went into winter quarters at Buffalo and Black Rock. Dur- ing most of this campaign Commodore Chauncey had been blockaded at Sackett's Harbor. He suffered from sickness, but after his partial recovery went out on a cruise and blockaded Kingston Harbor. Dur- ing the occurrence of these events in Northern New York, important operations of the war were conducted in other parts of the country, the course of which need not be followed here; they are found described on the pages of general history in numerous works. The bloody battle of New Orleans, fought on the 8th of January, 1815, was the last en- gagement of the war, and a treaty of peace had been signed between the two countries on the 24th of December, 1814, which was ratified by the British government on the 28th of December, and by the United States on the 17th of February, 1815.
At the time of the breaking out of the war, Sodus Point had not ceased to be regarded as a place of great importance. Its exceptionally fine harbor and its situation on the line of east and west lake naviga- tion, seemed to assure it a future of consequence as a lake port. Its
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retention in the hands of the Americans was hence considered impera- tive. Some military stores were placed there early in the struggle and in 1813 a military force was established to guard the locality and particularly to protect the property of the government. A company of which Enoch Morse was captain, Noble Granger, lieutenant, and Mil- tøn Granger, orderly sergeant, was posted at the Point, which had been threatened by the fleet of British vessels. On the 12th of June, the fleet having retired, the local militia started for their homes. On the same day, the British fleet returned in force of some ninety vessels, and threatened a landing. To avert the impending invasion, a horse- man rode rapidly away towards South Sodus, shouting to the inhab- itants to turn out to meet the foe. A logging bee was in progress at South Sodus, and those engaged hurriedly left for the Point, some of the men not waiting to go to their homes. From Sodus village, too, where about forty men had just returned from a "raising," they all huried off to the threatened locality. The following carefully prepared account of the ensuing events was prepared in 1877 for the Everts & Ensign history of the county, and is worthy of transcription :
The space of cleared land was limited to a small area, and a dense growth of trees and brush came across the public square. This was almost impassable, save by one road north to the present lighthouse, thence west along the lake bank, bearing south and intersecting the present road. A foot path from near the site of the Methodist Church led off southwest. Part of the stores had been taken from the warehouse and lay concealed in a ravine between what is now West and Ontario streets. During the early evening, Elder Seba Norton was the leader, but Col. Elias Hill, of Lyons, arriving, he took command. The night was dark and a slight rain was falling, when it was agreed to form in the skirt of the bushes and advance upon a reconnoissance. If the enemy was met a volley was to be fired, and then "each for himself." On the high ground a little south of the present (1877) Johnson house, they heard the enemy advancing and displaying a few lights. Amasa Johnson shot down one light and drew the British random fire. A volley from the mihtia and then followed a British retreat of marvellous celerity. The enemy re-embarked, having captured two men, a Mr. Britton and Harry Skinner, whom they set on shore the next day. Nathaniel Merrill and Major Farr each thought the other the enemy. . The major got entangled in fallen timber and brush and could not extricate himself until daylight. George Palmer passed Elder Norton, who had been at Monmouth and Saratoga, and the veteran refused to run. Chester Eldridge from the bushes shouted, "I am killed; I am killed." Examination showed that a bullet had cut a gash in his throat which bled profusely. One Knight was wounded, and a Mr. Terry was so badly injured as to die from the effects of a shot. Next day the enemy threw a few cannon shot, landed a small force, and took away the contents of the storehouse. The British evidently feared the presence of a heavy force, and dared not venture from the land- ing. Mr. Warner was mortally wounded by the British soldiers. All the buildings
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save one were burned. The tavern of Nathaniel Merrill, the store of Mr. Wickham, with its contents, his dwelling. the Fitzhugh house, the house of William Edus, a warehouse, and perhaps others, were destroyed. The building saved was a part of the Mansion House, then recently erected by Barakins & Hoylarts. In this house Mr. Warner was placed and there he died. It is said that the British placed a pitcher of water near him, and that the officers twice extinguished a fire kindled by the men to destroy the building. Following is a list of those at the Sodus skirmish: Elder Seba Norton, George Palmer, Byram Green, Timothy Axtell, Freeman Axtell, Knight, Terry, and Warner, Lyman Dunning, Elias Hull, Alanson M. Knapp, Amasa Johnson, Nathaniel Morrill, Major Farr, Isaac Lemmon, Robert Carothers, John Hawley, Joseph Ellis, Alanson Corey, Galuisha Harrington, Chester Eldridge, Ammi Ellsworth, Isaac Davis, Payne, Pollock, Benjamin Blanchard, Robert A. Pad- dock, Britton, Jenks Pullen, Daniel Norton, John Holcomb, Thomas Johnson, Lyman Seymour, Harry Skinner, Daniel Arms, and Alexander Knapp.
Among other citizens of Sodus, who took part in the general service were George Palmer, Daniel Norton, Alexander Morrow, Dr. Gibbs, Byram Green, and others.
This is not the record of a great battle, but it must be remembered that there were not probably 2,000 persons in the county at that time, which would indicate about 200 heads of families. It is well known that most of these took part in the war in some capacity and for longer or shorter periods. At any rate, Wayne is one of the few counties of interior and Western New York that was hallowed by the blood of the enemy in the last war with the mother country. 1
One of the companies of the carly militia was in existence at Lyons as early as 1808, having been recruited in the vicinity. It was com- manded in the year named by Capt. William Paton, Lieut. Peter Per- rine, Ensign James Beard, and Orderly Sergeant William Duncan. When the war began a large share of this company entered the service and went to the Niagara frontier. At that time' the officers were: Captain, Elias Hull; lieutenant, David Perrine; ensign, William C. Guest. The following account of the part taken by this company in the action at Sodus Point is taken from the files of the Lyons Republi- can :
At an early day Sodus Point was regarded as destined to become a place of com- mercial importance. Here was safe and commodious anchorage for vessels, and here was an outlet for the produce of a large section of country. Long lines of wagons
1 In these humble annals, let it be recorded as an act of justice, withheld by partial historians of the war, that citizen soldiers who had faltered under inefficient leaders, won laurels, vindicated this branch of national defense, when better leaders and bet- ter auspices prevailed .- Turner's Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, p. 579.
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were often to be seen passing northward through Lyons, from Phelps, Geneva, and other places, loaded with flour, pork and potatoes-in those days the principal articles of export. The declaration of war, in 1812, was received with serious alarm by the people living along our northern borders. . This was increased by tidings of the sur- render of Detroit and our northern army under General Hull, and we were illy pre- pared to meet the incursions of our hostile neighbors. There was a small fleet on Lake Ontario, but it was altogether inadequate to protect the coast. Volunteers were therefore called to defend our county. Age and youth vied with each other in filling the ranks, and soon a very formidable army appeared at Sodus Point. These were organized and placed under command of General Swift. Hastily gathered under strong excitement, hardship soon cooled their ardor and and a desire to return home prevailed. The general gave orders for a dismissal. Preliminaries were soon settled and the men freed from the restraint and the monotony of camp life.
A large quantity of government property lay concealed in the woods some distance from the Point. The company under Capt. Elias Hull was detailed to guard these stores. The captain had been some time in service without opportunity of dis- tinguishing himself, and conceived the time had arrived. He therefore ordered a night march down to the Point, and gave command to his men, if they met the foe, to give him one volley, and then fall back in good order behind the barrels and await the enemy's advance. Captain Hull was cautious as he was ambitious. Arrived in one of the small hollows near the Point, he halted, drew the command up in line, and sent two men, Pease and Gibbs, forward to reconnoitre. They had just reached the top of the hill when they met two platoons of British regulars marching up the opposite side. The scouts fired and gave the alarm. Captain Hull shouted, "Fire," and a wild, harmless volley whistled through the trees; then, "Retreat," and the cap- tain rapidly led the way to the rear, and took shelter under a large hemlock log, where he passed the night. The British moved quickly to the top of the hill, re- turned the fire, and, advancing on the double-quick, caught sight of the long line of barrels, which assumed the apparent character of a battery. They halted, then beat a hasty retreat, and burnt the mills on their return to the bay. The command to halt not being given several of the company were seen in Lyons early next morning and "lived to fight another day."
At a town meeting held in 1814 in Sodus, the following 'resolutions were adopted. They indicate the general feeling of all this region along the frontier :
Resolved, That we deem it inexpedient to send delegates to the convention to be held at Canandaigua the 15th of September. This town being most exposed to the enemy, it is deemed best to provide ourselves for the defense of the frontier.
Resolved, That we make immediate preparation for defense.
Resolved, That William M. Loomis, William Wickham, John Fellows, Thomas Wafer, and Ashur Doolittle be a committee for the town of Sodus.
Resolved, That a notice signed by a majority of the Committee of Safety, giving notice of the approach of the enemy, be sufficient to justify said office.
Resolved, That said committee offer a subscription to the good people of Sodus for funds to defend said town, and that such subscription be demanded only in case of the enemy obtaining command of Lake Ontario.
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This was patriotic action and shows that the people appreciated their exposed situation and were prepared to defend their homes.
A descent of the British upon Pultneyville was a part of the campaign by the British in June, 1814. Commodore Yeo was then cruising along the lake coast with his squadron, and landed a considerable force at this point. Gen. John Swift was in command of the small force of militia at that time, and sent out a flag of truce to the commander of the fleet. Under this a stipulation was made by which the invaders were allowed to take all the public property in the place, and requiring that private property and the persons of inhabitants should be respected. The government stores had been largely removed previous to this time. The British boats landed and a quantity of flour from the storehouse was taken on board, the militia remaining meanwhile stationed some distance to the rear. It was the understanding of the militia that the British would confine their operations to the warehouse and its yard; and when two or three of them came outside they were fired upon by the militia and a British officer was wounded. A signal to the fleet caused it to open fire upon the place, while the soldiers who had landed proceeded to the tavern and captured Richard White and Russell Cole, and thence to the storehouse and took Prescott Fairbanks. Cole escaped before he could be put in a boat; the others were taken to Montreal. Fairbanks was soon afterward released and White was exchanged later. It is believed that the fleet was thereupon called to other points, fort- unately for Pulteneyville, and the party who had landed hurried to their boats and rowed away. Two of the British were killed and two wounded in the little skirmish.
There are no accessible records showing in full the names or numbers of those Wayne settlers who shared in the war of 1812; but we may safely assume that nearly all able-bodied men did so. Micajah Harding, of the town of Marion, who raised a company of sharpshooters and went to the front, left a statement that the draft took nearly all the men in that town; that there were more soldiers than families. Asa Swift, who attained the military position of brevet-general, and who was the first male child born in the town of Palmyra, was in the battle of Queenston, and led a party against Fort George. He was wounded there, taken prisoner, and died shortly afterwards. He was buried on the 12th of July, 1814. William Rogers, of Williamson, served through the war, was made a major, and afterwards kept a tavern until 1816. Col. Ambrose Salisbury, who settled at East Palmyra after the war,
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was conspicuous in that conflict. He volunteered when the first call was made for volunteers; but his services were not then needed. Again a few months later he marched to the Niagara frontier as orderly sergeant of Capt. Selma Stanley's company in the 31st Regiment. At the expiration of his term of six months, he returned home; and in June, 1813, went out again as substitute for his uncle, in a company from Geneva. In later years he held the post of ensign in the militia and gradually rose to colonel in 1834. Gilbert Howell, of Lyons, was in the army and was at one period an aid to General Swift. Daniel Patterson, of Wolcott, was drafted and served at New York harbor. Ephraim Green, of Macedon, was a captain in the service. Turner says: " Most of the immediate recruits for frontier defences were drawn from the local militia of Western New York; men who left the plow in the furrow, the new fallow unfenced, their recently cultivated fields ripe for the scythe and the sickle, the axe and the maul, the rude mill, manufactory or workshop, to go out and contend with a powerful foc." The same writer testifies that "never at any period, in any exigency, did men more cheerfully or promptly take up arms, and from citizens become soldiers, than did most of the able-bodied men of all this region, on the breaking out of the war of 1812."
The effects of the war on the inhabitants of Wayne county were momentous. In the first place, it almost stopped immigration. People who dwelt in the better protected Eastern States and portions of this State, were not disposed to jeopardize their lives and property on the frontier. A few adventurous families, who had already made arrange- ments to remove westward, persisted in their purpose and on some occasions met refugees, both soldiers and civilians, fleeing from the frontier. While many of the settlers had left their homes on account of sickness, privation and hardship prior to the breaking out of the war, the number was augmented by the event, though many who left, returned after the close of the conflict.
The high prices that prevailed for whatever could be sold by the the settlers during the war and the active markets created through its influence, were some compensation for the hardships and anxieties of the people. None of the settlements had increased and in many locali- ties the opposite was true, while improvement in all material respects almost ceased. All of Western New York was left in a deplorable con- dition by the war; and many sections showed its devastating effects much more than Wayne county. But after the establishment of peace
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the country responded quickly to better conditions, and the year 1815 was devoted to recovery from the paralyzing effects of the conflict. Those who had fled from their homes and those who had entered the service, returned; the high prices of the necessaries of life dropped rapidly, and all the avocations of peace were taken up with renewed energy.
Improvement in public roads and bridges; building of churches and schools; clearing the lands and the tillage of those already cleared; establishment of mills and places for trade progressed with encouraging speed, only to receive a severe check by the memorable cold season of 1816-17. The summer of 1816 has probably never been equaled for cold, severe frosts occurring as late as June and destroying crops every where. Fields had the appearance in many places of having been burned over, so complete was the destruction of all vegetation. The hopes and dependence of the settlers were dissipated. The wheat harvest was light and protracted till later than usual, and many families actually suffered for food. The price of wheat rose to from $2 to $3 per bushel, and the lightness of the crop kept up the price even after the harvest. Some settlers paid the Indians on the Genesee River $2 a bushel for corn that they had kept over from 1815. In some of the newer settlements wheat and corn were shelled out while "in the milk" and boiled and eaten instead of bread, while others subsisted largely on milk and the roots and herbs of forest and field.
The following season was an especially fruitful one and the condition of the people would have changed suddenly from destitution to com- parative luxury, had there been ready markets for surplus produce. As it was the relief was wide-spread and gratefully appreciated. Such was the condition of the people in Wayne county and adjacent territory, when the first whisperings began to be heard of the possibility of there being constructed a great water way from Lake Erie to the sea, which should pass through the very heart of this great fertile region, and enable the farmers and manufacturers and the merchants to place their products and their wares upon immense boats to be easily wafted to the best markets of the country. The history of that great enterprise is left for another chapter.
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CHAPTER VIL.
Further Improvement in Means of Transportation-Discussion of the "Grand Canal"-Investigation and Surveys-Progress and Completion of the Great Work- Its Effect Upon Wayne County-Other Public Improvements-The First Railroad- The Railroads of Wayne County-Brief History of Mormonism-Inception of Spir- itualism.
The reader of the foregoing chapters cannot have failed to perceive the supreme importance to the inhabitants of Wayne county of better means of transportation and communication between their homes and the eastern markets, and the consequent deep interest manifested by them in the preliminary discussions, surveys, etc., which finally cul- minated in the construction of the Erie Canal. Not that they were for several years convinced of the practicability of the future accom- plishment of the great work, for they were not. It is the destiny of all daring innovations and new and important projects, to call out the sneers and ridicule and opposition of the pessimists; and the Erie Canal was no exception to this universal experience. Outside of a few prac- tical engineers and men who had gained a knowledge of the feasibility and existence of similar waterways in other countries, the masses of the people were unbelievers and scoffers, and even the well-informed long doubted the success of the various measures necessary to the completion of the project.
. The inhabitants of Wayne county, as well as those in other districts along the line of the proposed canal, continued their efforts in opening and improving highways, and clung persistently to the settled belief that over them, or by way of Lake Ontario, the transportation of their surplus products and their incoming merchandise must continue in- definitely. In this connection a legislative act of April 15, 1816, named commissioners to lay out a road from "the bridge at the Canandaigua outlet to Great Sodus Bay, where vessels that navigate Lake Ontario can conveniently come." Another act of the same month and year, designated commissioners to open a road "from the bridge crossing the Genesee River opposite the village of Rochester on the most direct
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and eligible route to the Four Corners, on the Ridge road, in the town of Murray " (then in Genesee county). Prior to the enactment of these laws, and on March 31, 1815, the Legislature had incorporated the Montezuma Turnpike and Bridge Company, which was authorized to build a road from Throopville to the village of Montezuma, and "from the west side of the marsh lying along the border of the Sen- eca River opposite said village of Montezuma to the village of Pal- myra." This company was afterwards authorized to extend their road eastward to Camillus in Onondaga county.
On the 14th of March, 1817, the Oswego Falls and Sodus Bay Turn- pike Company was incorporated, its purpose being to construct a road from "the west side of the Oswego River, near the termination of the road from Utica," to Port Glasgow, "on the eastern shore of Sodus Bay."
Again, in April, 1819 (in which month and year the village of Pal- myra was incorporated), the Sodus Bay Bridge Company was incor- porated, to build a bridge "over Great Sodus Bay at or near the route of the Niagara Ridge or State Road, in the town of Wolcott." On the 22d of March, 1822, commissioners were named by the Legislature to lay out a road "from Adams' Mills, in the town of Wolcott, and from Cooper's Mills, in the town of Sterling, to the bridge over the Seneca River in the town of Conquest," aud thence "to the State Prison in Auburn." A year later, April 3, 1823, commissioners were appointed to lay out a road from near Oswego Falls to Hannibal, and thence through Sterling to Wolcott Cemetery " (to connect) "with one of the present roads leading to the bridge at the head of Sodus Bay."
The reader will clearly observe the general trend of these several improvements; they were a part of the general struggle to obtain bet- ter means of communication with the East, a struggle that was to largely cease after the opening of the Erie Canal.
It is not necessary in these pages to enter into a lengthy and detailed account of the inception and progress of the canal. Every intelligent reader has been made familiar with it through one or more of the very numerous publications in which its history is found. The subject of water communication from the Hudson River westward was discussed some years prior to the beginning of the present century, and in 1792 the Western Inland and Lock Navigation Company was organized, and within the next few years completed the canal around the rapids at Little Falls and improved the channels of the Mohawk and Wood
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Creek, greatly facilitating navigation from the Hudson to Oneida Lake and conferring vast benefit on the State at large.
The claim is made that Gouverneur Morris suggested the construc- tion of a canal westward to Lake Erie to Simeon De Witt, then sur- veyor-general, as early as 1803, and that De Witt, like most others at that time, considered the scheme wildly visionary. 1 Morris talked with James Geddes, a practical engineer of Onondaga county, about the project, and he believed the scheme a feasible one, and began cor- respondence with other engineers on the subject, thus awakening gen- eral interest. In 1805 Jesse Hawley, a native of Connecticut, was buy- ing wheat in the Genesee Valley, transporting it to a mill at Seneca Falls, and thence carrying the flour to the Albany market. However he may have become impressed with the desirability of a canal, he wrote a series of newspaper articles in favor of the undertaking, which created considerable favorable influence. The subject finally became a political issue and was taken in hand by. Hon. Josuha Forman, of Syracuse, who was elected to the Assembly on the "canal ticket." Mr. Forman from that time on until the canal was an accomplished fact was its enthusiastic advocate, and to him as much as to any other person is due the credit for the great work. He secured a small appro- priation of $600 and Mr. Geddes received authority to make a prelim- inary survey. As between the two proposed routes, the one by way of Lake Ontario and the other direct to Lake Erie, Mr. Geddes reported in favor of the latter. This took the line directly along or across the southern part of Wayne county, and we quote as follows regarding the local features of the project :
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