USA > New York > Wayne County > Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War > Part 17
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206
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Norton ; by Isaac Davidson, Daniel Arms, Jonathan L. Pow- ell, Nicholas Pullen, Dr. Lummis, Captain Wickham, Timo- thy Axtell, and a great many others of the most reliable men of that day in Sodus.
" There was a bedstead corded up in the room where my father was carried at the Point. He was laid' on that, but afterwards, in his agony, rolled off on to the floor. It appears that he was very thirsty, and called for water con- tinually. Some kind hearted British officer no doubt heard the cry, and not only commanded to put out the fire, but to. take him the pitcher of water also. This pitcher was clenched in his hand when he died, and was found by Isaac Davidson, the first man who ventured down from the picket line to the house, after the British had left.
" About a week after the battle of Sodus Point, our troops returned from Lewiston down the Ridge, went to Sodus Point, and then to Geneva. I had an uncle among them by the name of Gastin. He took me home with him. I rode in the feed-box at the hind end of the baggage-wagon, and he fed me from his knapsack.
" My father was poor. I had no shoes and very little of anything to wear. My uncle was also poor, but he had a kind heart, and did what he could for me; yet my lot there and at Waterloo, for four or five years, was a hard one until Uncle Charles Fields, of Sodus, took me home with him.
Yours sincerely, JONATHAN WARNER."
This account differs slightly in some unimportant partic- ulars from that already given, but sustains it in its leading features. Warner must have been shot Saturday night, about 12 o'clock, and died the next afternoon. In the burn- ing and general plunder, the ยท British did not leave until some time Sunday afternoon, as it is probable Isaac David- son and others would go to the house very soon after the British had actually left, and Mr. Warner shows that his father was already dead, having lived some twenty hours after he was shot. It was Sunday evening when the boy, Daniel Warner, drove home with the body.
Asher Warner was buried in the Brick Church Cemetery, and his grave is marked by a monument erected in after years, by Jonathan Warner, and bearing the following inscription :
" In memory of Asher Warner, who fell in the battle of Sodus, June 12, 1813, while fighting in defence of his country."
207
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The date on this stone and other modern accounts, make this attack to have occurred June 12, 1813 ; and that date has been regarded as the correct one for many years past. But the weight of authority is strongly in favor of the 19th. The extracts from the newspapers already given, written only ten days after the events, are not easily set aside. Besides the numerous affidavits made in support of Mr. Wickham's claim for damages, and sworn to in 1816, all give the date as the 19th.
Extracts from these affidavits are given at the close of this chapter.
It is not possible to make a perfect list of those persons who were present at the Point in the battle. In several affi- davits made in late years with reference to pension claims, the whole number is stated at about sixty.
It seems to be very well determined that the following persons were in the line on that dark night :
Elder Seba Norton.
Daniel Arms.
George Palmer.
James Edwards.
Daniel Norton.
Wm. P. Irwin.
Timothy Axtell.
Obadiah Johnson.
Freeman Axtell.
Nicholas Pullen.
John Axtell.
Jonathan Clemens.
Charles Terry.
William Danforth.
Horace G. Terry.
Asel Latimer.
Asher Warner.
John Mansfield.
Thomas Boyd.
John Fellows.
Frederick Boyd.
John McNutt.
Elias Hull.
Mr. Aldrich.
Byram Green. Samuel Green.
Ammi Ellsworth.
Aberdeen Blanchard.
Andries Onderdonk,
John Beach.
Lyman Dunning.
Serenno Edwards.
Robert A. Paddock.
David Brayton.
William Pitcher,
Thomas Wheeler.
Amasa Johnson. e
Asher Doolittle.
Luke Johnson.
John Reed.
John Holcomb
Cornelius Chips.
Gardner Warren.
Alanson M. Knapp.
Jenks Pullen.
Chauncey Bishop.
Mr. Knight.
Nathaniel Merrill.
Amos Johnson.
Mr. Eldridge .*
* Mr. Eldridge afterwards went into the service on the lines and was killed at Queenstown-as stated by Levi Ellsworth.
208
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Jacob Van Wickle.
Hiram Payne.
Alanson Cory.
David Barclay.
Cooper Barclay.
Moses Austin.
Isaac Davidson.
William Young.
Major Farr.
Stephen Bushnell.
Christopher Britton.
Harry Skinner.
Citizens of the Point whose property was in danger were doubtless in the skirmish that night. Captain Wickham prior to his settlement here had been in the U. S. Navy. At the time of the destruction of the village he was in New York buying goods. As there were many who reached the Point the next day, their descendants in hearing the matter talked over may have supposed some to have been there the night before who were not. The name of Isaac Davidson is in the above list. He was then the miller at Dr. Lummis' grist-mill, now Preston's-and in the early evening as he once told the editor of this volume, he was locked into the mill by another man who was leaving and supposed that all were gone ; that he got out and went to the Point in time for the exchange of shots at midnight, is probable enough to sus- tain the statement made in various affidavits with reference to his claim to a pension and that of others.
The destruction of the village Sunday morning was wit- nessed by various Americans, who were powerless to inter- fere. Timothy Axtell once related to the writer that he saw the landing, the capture of the flour and the burning of the place from what is now known as Margaretta Point, or somewhere along the shore of the Bay on the South.
The enemy were evidently in a hurry, not even then in daylight knowing what force might suddenly attack them from the woods. The flour was partly on the second floor of the warehouse. They rolled it out without lowering it, and barrels that broke were left. They secured but little. The most of the supplies, pork, flour and whiskey had been carried back into the woods, on the low ground between the present site of the Episcopal church and Lummis Hall. Daniel Arms had been very active in removing these supplies and though the various lists of names do not include him as being at the Point that night yet there is no doubt but that he was there.
209
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The British put on shore the prisoners taken, Farr, Britton and Saulter, not caring to retain them.
The family of Col. Fitzhugh (he himself having died in 1810) passed the night in great suspense. Living on the hill overlooking the bay a mile south, they had buried or other- wise secreted all their plate or other valuables. . They hung bed-quilts over all the windows to prevent any ray of light finding its way out. The widow, the children and the ser- vants had no sleep that night. The next morning they saw the smoke of the burning village darkening the sky, and it was only when the sails of the British fleet were seen disap- pearing in the distance that they experienced a sense of relief and concluded that their home was not to be a target for Eng- lish cannon.
Timothy Axtell, when the alarm was given, went to a neigh- bors to borrow a gun. The man being absent from home the wife refused to lend the weapon. It lay on hooks over the door, whereupon Axtell took it without further ceremony. Afterwards the man sued Axtell before a justice of the peace at Canandaigua, and obtained 62 cents damages.
Lossing, in his " Field Book of the War of 1812," gives the following account of this affair. It is not entirely correct, as will be seen below, but as an extract from a work which occu- pies a prominent place in many public libraries, it is worthy of notice.
Speaking of the operations of the British fleet upon Lake Ontario, he says:
"Sailing eastward they appeared off Sodus Bay on Friday, " the 18th of June, and on the following evening a party of " about one hundred, fully armed, landed at Sodus Point " (now in Wayne county) for the purpose of destroying the " American stores known to be deposited there. These had " been removed to a place of concealment a little back of the " village. The enemy were exasperated on finding the store- " houses empty, and threatened to destroy the village if the " place of concealment of their contents should not be re- " vealed. The women and children fled in alarm. A "negro, compelled by threats, gave the enemy the desired "information ; and they were marching in the direction of " the stores when they were confronted [at a bridge over a "ravine] by forty men under command of Capt. [Turner] of " Lyons. A sharp skirmish occurred in which each party lost
210
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
" two men. Both parties fell back, and the foiled British, as " they returned to their vessels, burned the public store- " houses, five dwellings and the old Williamson Hotel. " They laid waste property valued at about $25,000. From " Sodus the British squadron continued its course eastward " and appeared off Oswego with a wish to enter the harbor " and seize or destroy stores there, but Sir James, who was a " cautious commander, did not venture in, and on the morn- " ing of the 21st the squadron turned westward and for " several days lay off the Niagara River."
Lossing adds this note :
" Capt. Luther Redfield, of Clyde, Wayne county, in a let- ter to the author, written in February, 1860, when the old soldier was about 86 years of age, says :
" In a log house a few rods north of the present Presbyter- "ian church, in the village of Junius, public worship was " being held on Sunday, [June 13,*] following the attack. " The attack was the Saturday evening before. As the " afternoon service was about to commence a horseman " came dashing up at full speed with the news of the British " invasion.
" Luther Redfield was a Captain in the regiment of Colonel " Philetus Swift. There were also several non commissioned " officers in the church.
"These were sent to arouse the military of the neighbor- " hood, and by 5 o'clock Captain Redfield was on the march " with about one hundred men. They halted most of the " night a few miles north of Lyons, but resumed their march " by moonlight, towards morning. They arrived at Sodus a " little after sunrise, on Monday morning. The British were " gone from the village, but the fleet was still in sight.
"The company remained about a week at Sodus Point, and " were then discharged."
The account given by Lossing, mingles the events of Saturday evening and Sunday morning in a confused way ; and the story of the interview with a negro, about the con- cealment of the stores, has no support in local tradition.
The author of this volume, born in Sodus, has conversed with a score or more of those who were in the engagement at the Point, and never heard such an incident mentioned, until recently.
An affidavit found elsewhere, gives probably the true story as to the information given by the negro.
* Should be 20th.
2II
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The following is probably a correct statement of the hos- tile forces on Lake Ontario in the fall of 1813 :
AMERICAN SQUADRON.
Corvette ship, General Pike, carrying 28 guns. 66 Ship Madison, 24
Brig Oneida,
18 66
Schooner Sylph,
66
IO 66
66 Governor Tompkins,
4
66
Conquest, 66
2
,
66
2
.. . Pert,
66
I
66 Lady of the Lake,
66
I
90
BRITISH SQUADRON.
Ship General Wolfe,
carrying 27 guns.
24
66
Brig Earl Moira,
18 66
A new Brig,
IS 66
Schooner Prince Regent,
16
6
Sir Sidney Smith,
66
18
Growler, captured from the Americans, 66
3
66 John, captured from the Americans, 66
2
I26
There was an alarm in relation to Sodus Point, in May, 1814, as appears by the following :
From the Ontario Messenger of May 10, 1814.
Oswego having been taken by the British, the Messenger says :
" In addition to the above, we learn that Col. Swift's regi- ment of militia marched, on Sunday last, (May 8,) for the protection of Sodus, and an express left here on Sunday evening, to give timely notice of the approach of the enemy at the Genesee river.'
ATTACK UPON PULTNEYVILLE.
In a history of the war between the United States and Great Britain, which. went through three editions in the next year after the close of the war we find the following paragraph :
66
Ontario,
66
Royal George,
212
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
"On the 15th of May, 1814, the enemy landed several hun- " dred men at Pultneyville, (which is on the margin of Lake " Ontario,) and took possession of 100 barrels damaged flour, " which were in a store close by the lake. General Swift, on " hearing of the advance of the enemy, reached Pultneyville " with about 130 volunteers and militia; but deeming the " force too small to oppose a numerous enemy, within range " of the guns of his fleet, he did not dispute the possession of "the damaged flour; but finding the enemy proceeding to " other depredations, he commenced a fire on him from an " adjacent wood, which wounded several and compelled him " to re-embark, when a cannonade commenced from the fleet "on the town, without doing material injury. A large "quantity of flour was deposited about a mile from the " town, which the enemy chose to forego the plunder of, " rather than trust himself in the woods with General Swift " and his riflemen."
The above paragraph was doubtless condensed from the following article that was published in the Ontario Messen- ger of Canandaigua, about two weeks after the event. This appears from the similarity of the language used :
" On Saturday morning (15th ult.,) the British squadron was discovered making towards Pultneyville, and informa- tion was sent to General Swift, who repaired thither in the course of the succeeding night with 130 volunteers and militia.
" On Sunday a flag was sent on shore demanding a peace- able surrender of all public property and threatening an im- mediate destruction of the village (which is on the margin of the Lake) in case of refusal. General Swift returned for answer that he should oppose any attempt to land by all the means in his power.
" Soon after the return of this flag General Swift was induced by the pressing solicitations and entreaties of the inhabitants of the town to permit one of the citizens to go to the enemy with a flag of truce and offer up the surrender of the property contained in a storehouse at the water's edge, consisting of about 100 barrels of flour considerably dam- aged, on condition that the commanding officers would stipulate not to take any other nor molest the inhabitants.
" Before the return of this flag the enemy sent their boats with several hundred men on shore, who took possession of the flour in the store and were proceeding to further depre- dations.
" General Swift, whose force was too inferior to justify an open attack (and which if attempted must have exposed
213
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
his men to the guns of the whole fleet) commenced a fire upon them from an adjacent wood, which wounded several and became so harrassing as to induce them to re-embark, when they commenced a cannonade from the fleet upon the town, which was continued for some time but with no other injury than a few shot-holes through the houses. Three hundred barrels of good flour had been removed back from the storehouse a few days before leaving the damaged
flour, which was the only booty the enemy obtained. The 300 barrels were carried back of the town, of which the enemy were appraised by some prisoners they had taken. But they chose to forego the plunder of it rather than risk themselves in the wood with General Swift and his riflemen."
From memoranda among the papers of the late William Rogers it appears that his battalion was called out several times to guard the stores at Pultneyville. One order calling the men out was issued July 8, 1813, and another one December 21, 1813. On each occasion the battalion was under arms two or three days.
When the news was received that the British fleet was hovering along the Southern shore of Lake Ontario early in May, 1814,-a small force of militia were sent to Pultney- ville for the defense of the place.
Probably Major Rogers' Battalion was called out as it had been on the two occasions mentioned above. The published account quoted also shows that a special alarm was given on Saturday morning which called General Swift to the place with additional men. They arrived Saturday night. The next morning the lake and land were covered with a thick fog. General Swift paraded his militia in the principal street on the morning of Sunday, and was giving them something of a drill when the fog lifted and disclosed the British fleet anchored in front of the village. The Ameri- cans might have been cut to pieces by a broadside from the British guns but the fleet had been in the fog as well as the village, and the surprise was doubtless mutual. The militia finished their drill by a movement not laid down in the manual of arms.
In other words "they took to the woods;" though that may not be the military phrase appropriate to the situa- tion. The steps that followed next are not very clearly set-
214
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
tled in local tradition but negotiations took place. Samuel Ledyard drew up a written stipulation surrendering this government property in the warehouse .*
The order of procedure is supposed to have been as fol- fows: The British sent a boat ashore under a flag of truce bringing a written demand for the surrender of the place. Russell Whipple, Andrew Cornwall and Samuel Ledyard, responded with a white handkerchief on a stick and received the officers. The British boat returned to the fleet. Gen. Swift indignantly refused to sign any agreement for sur- rendering the public property, and proposed to make the best defense possible-but finally did sign the paper drawn up by Samuel Ledyard or authorized it. Under a flag of truce a boat was then sent out to the fleet in which Samuel Led- yard, Russell Whipple and probably Edward Phelps car- ried the stipulation of surrender. It was accepted. This is not quite the statement of the newspaper account, but the difference is of little or no importance. The capitula- tion stipulated that the flour in the Ledyard warehouse should be delivered up without resistance This warehouse was the west one of the two that stood until a few years ago in the rear of the present Reynold's store. The store of Mr. Ledyard in 1814 was about on the site of the present dwelling-house which stands just north of the Post-office building. At that time there was a fence on the north side of the street enclosing a yard around the warehouse. It is generally claimed that the stipulation made with the enemy required them to not only respect private property and refrain from any injury to the inhabitants but to remain upon the grounds around the warehouse while taking the flour. The agreement was completed and the British landed and engaged in taking the flour.t
* T. Scott Ledyard states that he has always understood that his father drew up the article of capitulation on the top of his hat while going out in the boat. If so he must have had General Swift's authority to sign it for him or had his signature in blank. At this distance of time there are of course many of these minor points that can neither be accurately determined nor reconciled with each other.
+ The British though they afterwards scattered and committed depredations, yet in landing drew up in order before the warehouse and asked for the Amer- ican officers in command to formally deliver to them the flour. No one appear- ing, either with the permission of the citizens who had made the negotiations or without it, they began to load the flour into their boats.
215
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The American militia was divided into two companies. One under command of Major Wm. Rogers was posted under the bank along by Craggs present grist-mill. This company moved during the skirmish to the east and halted in what is now Washington Throop's seven-acre-field. The other company was commanded by General Swift and were stationed in the ravine that crosses Jay street south of the present residence of Mrs. Owen.
The British officers and soldiers soon exceeded the limits assigned to them in the agreement. They were in the street and in the bar-room of the Whipple tavern. One or more went as far as Mr. Williams' house, who lived about on the site of the present Methodist church. Others went to the house of Andrew Cornwall, the building that stood west of the Union church down to 1880. There they forced an entrance, thrust a bayonet through the door, and damaged milk and other supplies. Believing these movements to be a violation of the agreement, General Swift may have ordered the militia to fire, but it is generally agreed that the first shot was unau- thorized .* James Seeley came out of the woods near the
* It is a long disputed and perhaps a never-to-be-settled question whether there was a breach of the stipulations of surrender by the British or not. The newspaper account given above states that the British attacked the place before the pending negotiations were completed. That before the return of the boat with the American flag they landed several hundred men and commenced taking the stores ; if so, that would be a violation of the flag of truce, and justified the firing upon them by the Americans. This newspaper account was written within two weeks after the event, and if the unknown writer was an impartial witness, having no object in coloring the facts, it would be testimony far out- weighing tradition. Still local tradition is so strong and it has been so univer- sally stated for the last fifty years, that a stipulation was signed and that the British commenced taking the flour in pursuance thereof, that we are obliged to accept that view. There are men now living at Pultneyville who remember back to within a very few years of the events, and sons of men who made the negotiations. A stipulation must have been signed. There is and has been, universal agreement at Pultneyville upon that fact. The wording of the stipu- lation is somewhat in doubt. If the British were limited to the warehouse yard and they "got over the fence," they violated the agreement and that justified the Americans' fire upon them. If they were not confined to the exact yard, and yet commenced depredations upon private property, that justified the Ameri- can's fire. If they did not, then the Americans violated the agreenient by firing upon the British. Yet both the newspaper account and local tradition agree that in one or the other of the two ways mentioned the British did violate the terms of the surrender and the Americans were justified in firing upon them.
216
MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
house of Mrs Owen, and seeing "a red coat " near the well of the Whipple tavern, (a well now covered by a portion of the house,) deliberately fired at him .* The shot passed through his arm. There was instant commotion. The British sol- diers, who are said to have landed from their Batteaux with unloaded guns, loaded forthwith. There was a scattering of both sides. In the scuffle the British seized as prisoners, Richard White, bartender ; Prescott Fairbanks, Mr. Led- yard's clerk, and Russell Cole. The latter jumped away in front of Ledyard's store, dashed around it to the creek and swam over to the other side. While all this was occurring, Mr. Brockway stepped out from the woods and fired upon a Batteaux that carried a swivel gun and was lying near the shore, opposite the foot of Jay street. The swivel gun returned the fire promptly, and the second or third time it was prematurely discharged, and severely wounded one or more British soldiers. Not many minutes elapsed before the enemy, having loaded and regained their boats, commenced a scattering musketry fire, paying their particular respects to the bushes into which Russell Cole had escaped. An old ashery on that side of the creek bore marks of bullets for some years.
A British soldier up stairs in the tavern, who, (as tradition states it) was attempting to break open a chest containing the Masonic paraphernalia, lost his life by the fire of his own men. Shot in the back while kneeling at the chest, he was dead when the retreat was ordered. Either with or without orders the Americans returned the musketry fire to some extent. Simultaneously with the opening of the firing on land a cannonade was begun from the vessels of the fleet ; at first with elevated range throwing balls in a few instances a mile south. Then when they supposed they had stopped recruits from coming in they fired some distance to the west
* Mr. Ansel Cornwall, whose father was walking with the officer at the time the latter was wounded, states that they were a little further west, near Mr. Cragg's present house. There had been some firing in the woods just before, and to the officer's question what that meant, Mr. Cornwall had replied that he presumed the boys were shooting pigeons. As the officer was struck, he said : " I think the boys mean to have some fun," and turning to Mr. Cornwall or others he added : "Take care of yourselves, there may be some sharp work," or some remark of that kind.
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