Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War, Part 4

Author: Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Sodus, NY : Lewis H. Clark, Hulett & Gaylord
Number of Pages: 944

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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

shore of Lake Ontario, at Oswego, or some point further east. The progress of discovery was therefore brought very near to our own section of country at this early date, 1615, five years before the Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth.

Champlain came again to Quebec in 1620, and remained four years, and while no direct account has been found showing that he then explored the southern shore of Lake Ontario, yet it is very probable that either Champlain or other French voyageurs made the first discovery of Sodus Bay and other points on this side about that date.

As thus shown, the earliest expeditions turned westward from Frontenac (now Kingston), on the north side of the lake and bearing away from the lake, penetrated as far as Lake Huron. Indeed, the general account of historical writers shows that the first white men reached Niagara Falls while journeying eastward from points previously reached on Lake Huron. They were two Jesuit mission- aries, Brebeauf and Chaumonot, and the date of the visit to the Falls was November 2, 1640.

There is, however, some evidence that Recollet Father Dallion, a Catholic missionary, was in Western New York as early as 1626, and this gives quite a basis for the theory above given, that Sodus Bay was discovered before that date .*

Between Jaques Cartier's first voyage up the St. Law- rence and the advent of La Salle in 1678, there is a period

* Shea's History of Catholic Missions, page 170 :

" In October, 1626, Father de la Roche Dallion left the Jesuits at Toanche, and set out to explore the country of the Attiwandaronk, or Neutrals. This tribe lay on both sides of the Niagara River, at peace with both Hurons and Iroquois, and like them, of the same stock and language.

"He was at first well received, and being adopted by Soharissen, the chief of the whole nation took up his residence among theni at Ounontisaston, near the Seneca border, but was soon after robbed and brutally beaten by a lawless party. By the advice of Father Brebeauf, he then abandoned the Neutrals and returned to the Huron country, after an absence of several months."

The mention of the "Seneca border" at this early date, and the fact that Champlain had been at Oswego or near there in 1615, renders it extremely probable that Father Dallion knew something of the south shore of Lake Onta- rio, and that in a stay of several months, he must have also known something of Western New York.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

of nearly one hundred and fifty years. French expeditions were frequent, certainly after 1600, and it is not probable that so magnificent a body of water as Lake Ontario remained unexplored. The operations of the Catholic mis- sionaries among the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, must have often brought those devoted men as far west as the present territory of Wayne county. It is very probable that they sometimes reached the scene of their labors, by coming from Montreal up, or along the St. Lawrence, and then by the southern shore of Lake Ontario to Sodus Bay, and over the old Indian trail via Crusoe Lake. Oswego, Sodus Bay, Pultneyville and Irondequoit were points of fre- quent visits by French traders, and undoubtedly by French missionaries, more than two hundred years ago.

The following paragraph from Turner's History of the Pultney estate, gives one of the many intimations of this fact that are scattered through the early annals of French explo- ration. It occurs in an account of the voyages of Count Frontenac, from whom Fort Frontenac (now Kingston) took its name :

" With an Italian named Tonti, Father Hennepin, a num- ber of mechanics and mariners, naval stores, and goods for the Indian trade, the Count arrived at Frontenac in the fall of 1678 ; and soon after a wooden canoe of ten tons, the first craft of European architecture that ever entered the Niagara River, bore a part of his company to the site of Fort Niagara. La Salle, followed soon after with a sail vessel, in which he had a stock of provisions, and materials for ship building ; crossed the lake, coasted along its southern shore, entered the mouth of the Genesee River or the Irondequoit Bay, and visited some of the villages of the Senecas to reconcile them to his enterprise ; and on his way from the Genesee to the Niagara River, encountered a gale and lost his vessel, saving but a part of his cargo.

" Arrived at Niagara, he erected some rude defences, estab- lished a post, and at Lewiston erected a trading station with palisades. Late in January the business of ship building was commenced at the mouth of Cayuga creek, six miles above the Falls of Niagara.

" In mid-winter, the necessity occurring, the intrepid adven- turer, on foot made the journey to Frontenac, around the head of the Lake, returning on the ice along the northern shore, with a dog and sledge for the transportation of his baggage."

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

For further illustration of the importance of these points in very early times, we refer to the accounts of DeNonville's expedition against the Senecas, which terminated in a deci- sive battle at or near what is now Victor, Ontario county, N. Y.

The force was organized on the north side of the Lake, at Kingston, (Frontenac) or some other strong hold of the French in that direction, and consisted of regular French troops and friendly Indians. At Fort Niagara and further west a similar force was gathered which moved eastward, and met DeNonville's army, at Irondequoit Bay. Thence the march was overland southward to the scene of the battle.

The accounts show that DeNonville crossed the lake from " Cataracony " to La Famine Bay, the latter of which is below Oswego. From there to Irondequoit Bay, the main army had coasted by slow stages, encamping on shore when night over- took them. They arrived at Irondequoit Bay, July 10, 1687. The narrative says :

" Their last and most considerable halt was upon the pres- ent site of Pultneyville, Wayne county, N. Y. From this period that became a prominent stopping place for French batteauxmen, and after them for the English lake coasters. The species of apple tree which the French introduced in this region, was growing there, and there was the remains of an old log building, when white settlement commenced. The place was known as Appleboom, before its present name was conferred."

It probably has no connection with early French explora- tion, but we mention the fact that a few years ago Andrew Erasmusson, of Pultneyville, while hoeing corn in a field on the west side of the road, just north of Williamson Corners, found a Spanish milled silver dollar, dated 1726. It was thoroughly crusted with dirt, and needed to be washed and cleaned before it could be read. The name Appleboom owes its origin to the fact that an apple tree, supposed to have been set out, or the seed planted by early French voy- ageurs, stood upon the extreme point of the bank west of the creek, at Pultneyville. It was partially undermined, and a long limb projected from it over the water, in about the oblique position the " boom " on a vessel occupies. It became

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

a land mark, and gave name to this point. Captain Horatio Throop, and his brother Washington Throop, concur in this explanation as the one they heard in their boyhood, from old navigators, though the tree had even then disappeared.

At Pultneyville, in possession of Henry M. Griffin, is a French axe, of peculiar pattern. It was brought there by Thomas Fish, deceased. It was one of a small quantity, said to be fifteen or twenty, found about 1814, on the banks of the creek west of the present vinegar factory. They were taken from under a rotten hemlock log.

Sodus Bay was of much greater note, in early times, than would be indicated by the brief mention which we can make in a work limited to one line of historical research. It was the Bay of the Goigouens, the Bay of the Cayugas; an Indian trail, (and probably it was the route of early traders and missionaries,) led from the bay up the stream that flows in from the south ; then by a short carrying place at some point, a stream was reached that flows into Crusoe Lake; then through Crusoe outlet to the Seneca river, and up the Seneca to Cayuga lake. Probably also there was another route by a short carrying place from the head waters of the stream that flows into the bay, across to some creek flowing into the Clyde river.

From a biographical sketch of M. Picquet, "King's Mis- sionary and Prefect Apostolic to Canada," it appears that in June, 1751, " he made a voyage around Lake Ontario, in a King's canoe." In returning from Niagara, along the south shore of the lake, he made close observations with reference to maintaining the future power of France along this line. The narrative says :

" He desired greatly that Choeguen (Oswego,) were destroyed, and the English prevented re-building it; and in order that we should be absolutely masters of the south side of Lake Ontario, he proposed erecting a fort near there, at the Bay of the Cayugas, (Sodus Bay,) which would make a very good harbor, and furnish a very fine anchorage. No place is better adapted for a fort."

If there had previously been a Fort at Sodus Bay it might have been expected that M. Picquet in the above sugges- tion would have spoken of rebuilding or repairing instead

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

of establishing one. Still there is evidence that there had been a Fort at that place at some earlier date. In a cor- respondence between this French Governor of Canada and the English Governor of New York, the former under date of July 20, 1727, says :

" You cannot be ignorant of the possession during a very considerable time which the King, my master, has of all the Lands of Canada, of which those of the Lake Ontario and the adjacent lands make a part, and in which he has built forts, and made other settlements in different places, as are those of Denonville, at the entrance of the River of Niagara, that of Frontenac, another called LaFamine, that which is called the Fort-des-Sables, another at the Bay of the Cayugas, at Oswego, &c., &c., without any opposition, they having been one and all of them possessed by the French, who alone having had a right and have had possession of carry- ing on the trade there."

We give the following additional extracts from ancient documents containing allusions to Sodus Bay :

From Colonial History of New York, Vol. 3, pp. 433, 434.

Examination of Adandidaghko, an Indian prisoner sent from Albany to New York, 1687, Sept. the first. X * * * " A few days after (he had disposed of his peltry), the French came and gave him and all the Indians in the Christian's Castle, each thirty bullets and a double handful of powder, and bad them appeare att a French Gents house, neare Mont Royall; the Christian Indians being about one hundred and twenty or thirty strong ; in the meane time the French and other Nations of Indians all appeared att Mont Royall, and the second day after that the Govr himselfe: the number of the French being two' thousand and of all the Indians one thousand. The army went all by water" - in boats and canoes, three days from Mont Royall to Kadraghkie - thence to an island - thence to Cadranganhie where "about nine the clock the next morning they saw ten Onnandages at Asan- hage :* the Govr gave orders not to meddle with them, upon which the Onnondagas gave a greate shout and went their way, and the army went a long the shore side to a passage that goes to the Cayouges : the day following they saw a brigantine att anker, &c., &c."

The expression "along the shore side to a passage that goes to the Cayouges," undoubtedly refers to Sodus Bay

* Probably Gainhouagué or Salmon river, Oswego Co.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

and to the ancient Indian trail, from there via Crusoe Lake and the Seneca river to the Canton of the Cayuga Indians.

The following letter was written at the " Bay of the Cay- ugas," or Sodus Bay :

From Colonial History of New York. Vol. 9, p. 838. M. de Joncaire to M. de la Fresniere.

Copy of a letter from Sieur de Joncaire to Sieur de la Frenière, the King's Commandant at Fort Frontenac,* dated Bay of the Cayugas, 14 June, 1709.

SIR,-Affairs are in such confusion here, that I do not con- sider my soldiers safe. I send them to you to await me at your fort, because, should things take a bad turn for us, I can escape alone more readily than if I have them with me. It is not necessary, however, to alarm Canada yet, as there is no need to despair. I shall be with you in twenty or twenty- five days at farthest, and if I exceed that time, please send my canoe to Montreal. Letters for the General will be found in my portfolio, which my wife will take care to deliver to him. If, however, you think proper to forward them sooner, St. Louis will hand them to you. But I beg of you that my soldiers may not be the bearers of them, calculating with certainty to find them with you when I arrive, unless I exceed 25 days. The Rev. Father de Lamberville + has placed us in a terrible state of embarrassment by his flight. Yesterday I was leaving for Montreal in the best possible spirits. Now I am not certain if I shall ever see you again. I am sir, and dear friend,

Your most humble and most obedient servant,

[Signed,] DE JONCAIRE.

The memorandum next given shows that Sodus Bay was " a convenient rendezvous for all the tribes" of the Iroquois. This opens up to the imagination a brilliant picture of council fires on the shores of the Bay, and the dusky representatives of the great Confederacy gathered around them in grave debate :

From Vol. 9 Colonial History, p. 951. (Letter of 10th June, 1725.)

M. Bégon, who is at Quebec, states that he has sent car- penters, blacksmiths and other mechanics, to build the two

* Now Kingston.

+ The date of this letter, 1709, indicates that Rev. Father de Lamberville labored in the territory of the Cayugas, or Senecas, later than is stated in Shea's History. The table in Shea's appendix places the death of the younger Lam- berville as "after 1705." The above letter implies that he was still laboring as a missionary, in 1709.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Barks : the timber, has been cut, barked and sawed during the winter.

That M. de Longueuil has written to him from Fort Frontenac, the ninth of May, that no trading post had as yet been established at Choueguen,* and that all the Iro- quois Chiefs when assembled at Seneca, had concluded, in their Council to forbid that establishment, and that they had sent a belt to the English, which has prevented the carrying out of that project.

He has also stated that he was about to set out for the bay of the Cayugas, where we would meet all the Iroquois ; that being the most convenient rendezvous for all the tribes."

The following extract of three years later date shows that the French did not succeed in preventing the English from establishing a post at Choueguen [Oswego,] for the question now discussed was the propriety of establishing a French fort at Sodus Bay to checkmate the English :

From Vol. 9, Colonial History, pages IOII.

"Abstracts of Messrs. de Beauharnois and d'Aigremont's dispatches and orders thereupon.

English establishment at Choueguen, on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Ist October, 1728. Messrs. de Beauharnois and d'Aigre- mont observe that they will adopt the best measures to ren- der the post of Choueguen useless to the trade of the English, that, to effect that, orders have been issued obliging the canoes of the French Voyageurs on their way down from the upper country, to pass along the north shore of Lake Ontario, which orders will be strictly enforced, and such measures pursued as will tend to the same end.

They propose forming a new establishment in the bay of the Cayugas, 8x9 leagues west of the river Choueguen, by means whereof the English post would decline so that it would be abandoned. To defray this expense, they demand a grant of 38047 li.

It is to be apprehended that the English will form this establishment, and if they be not anticipated, France may possibly lose the south part of the Lake.

The matter was discussed by the home government and a discussion against establishing a fort seems to have been reached as shown in the following memorandum :

Decision of the Minister submitted to the King, by whom it is approved.

* Oswego.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

It appears proper to stay the measures which have been adopted to render the post at Choueguen useless to the English.

As for the proposed establishment at the bay of the Cayu- gas, it does not appear very necessary, for independent of its cost, which would be greater than is proposed, it would occasion an annual expense besides; it would even be diffi- cult to establish it on account of the opposition and jealousy of the Iroquois, which would be fomented by the English. Even were it attended with success, there is no doubt but the English would immediately set up another post along- side of it.

This decision was not satisfactory, however, to those who originally proposed the fort as appears from this subse- quent opinion :

From Vol. 9, Colonial History, page 1013.

Messrs. de Beauharnoisan d d'Aigremont in a special des- patch repeat their opinion of the importance of founding a post at the bay of the Cayugas, to offset the English post on the Chouguen river.

We give yet another extract, partially describing Sodus Bay, and alluding to the project of a trading post or fort :

From Vol. 9, Colonial History, p. 1012.

This memoir (of Sieur de Chaussegros) contains reasons for its constructions (of posts) at La Galette, or at Lake Ontario ; he represents that some 8 or 9 English (leagues ?) west of the river Choueguen is a large bay called the Cay- ugas, situate in a beautiful country, which he visited in 1726, and found, on sounding, that large ships could anchor and be quite safe there; that the harbor is like that of Louis- burg, with this difference only, that Louisburg is oval, whilst the bay of the Cavugas is almost circular, having at its head a large river, which leads to the village or country of the Cayugas. The entrance to this bay, which is narrower than that of Louisburg, is formed by two landsplits; they are appropriately called the Peninsulas, and inclose this bay." The post was not approved of.

We thus have at least a glimpse of those early times, "two hundred years ago," showing that Sodus, Pultneyville, and probably other points along the northern border of Wayne county, were the camping grounds of armies, and the resting places of voyaguers, traders and missionaries.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Amid these scenes of the long forgotten past, there is ample room for the imagination to weave many a romance, and people once again the beautiful shores of the bay, and the fair coasts of Appleboom, with the stalwart forms of daring explorers and priests clad in the robes of the Catho- lic church.

The first Christian worship on these then wild shores was undoubtedly in accordance with the forms prescribed by the Catholic ritual ; and masses were said and vespers sung in rude chapels beside these silvery waters.

CHAPTER III.

INDIAN OCCUPATION OF WAYNE COUNTY - SUPPOSED SITE OF FORTS - INDIAN RELICS.

A T the time of the early settlement, there seem to have been few or no Indians living with any degree of per- manency upon the present territory of Wayne county. The traditions of the old people still living, as well as many published reminiscences, all mention the presence of Indians, but they were evidently migratory parties, hunting for a few weeks, or raising patches of corn, going and coming irregularly.

When Lemuel Spear settled a mile above Palmyra village, in February, 1790, the flats near him had been cultivated somewhat by Indians the year before. The accounts of other early families, speak of trafficking with the Indians, of bar- tering for venison, and for other products of the forest. In the winters, for a few years following the arrival of early settlers, the Indians camped upon the flats above Palmyra. They are described as having been peaceable, good neigh- bors ; engaged in hunting and trapping, occasionally getting a beaver and selling their furs to traders.

Of this same period, Stephen Durfee, as given in Turner's History of the Pultney estate, said :

" The Indians were hunting, trapping and camping in our neighborhood, in all the earliest years. The flats of the Ganargwa and the adjoining uplands, were favorite hunting grounds."

Judge Daniel Dorsey, who arrived at Lyons, in 1801, engaged largely in trade. His goods were brought from Baltimore. A large proportion of his early trade was with the Indians, who used to encamp along the banks of the Outlet and at Sodus. There were often as many as thirty Indian huts along where William street, of Lyons village, now crosses the canal,

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

INDIAN ATTACK.

In the winter of 1788-'89, John Swift and Colonel John Jenkins purchased Township 12, R. 2, now Palmyra, and commenced the survey of it into farm lots, in March. Jenkins being a practical surveyor, built a camp on the bank of Ganargwa creek, about two miles below the present vil- lage of Palmyra .* His assistants were his nephew, Alpheus Harris, Solomon Earle, Daniel Ransom and Mr. Baker. One morning, about two o'clock, the party being asleep in their bunks, their fire giving light enough to show their several positions, a party of four Tuscarora Indians and a squaw stealthily approached, and the Indians, putting their guns through the open spaces in the logs, selected their victims and fired. Baker was killed. Earle was lying upon his back, with his hand upon his breast. A ball passed through his hand, scathed his breast, mutilated his nose, and lodged under the frontal sinus between his eyes.

Jenkins and Ransom escaped unhurt and made a vigorous resistance; Jenkins attacking the murderers with his sur- veyors' staff and Ransom with an axe, they drove them off, capturing two of their rifles and a tomahawk.

In the morning they buried their dead companion t- carried Earle to John Decker Robinson's, near Vienna, and gave the alarm. The Indians were pursued and two cap- tured on the Chemung river. They were tried by a lynch court or committee, condemned to death and executed. The execution was a barbarous affair, worthy of a new country, lacking civil government. The condemned were taken into the woods, blindfolded, and a man appointed to execute each with a tomahawk. The first man succeeded at a single blow ; the other failed. The athletic Indian parried the blow, and ran only to be pounded to death by a posse of pursuers, with stones and pine knots.}

* The camp was on the farm now owned by Nelson Reeves, near a spring of water, north of the railroad.

+ This grave was known in the early years, but in later times has been obliterated. It was not far from the Spring of Water.

# This account of the punishment of Baker's murderers, is from Turner's History. Other traditions state that after the arrest, the prisoners were being taken to Whitestown jail, but proving troublesome, and attempting to escape, were put to death on the way.

MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

The man Earle recovered from his wounds, and was for many years, a ferryman at the Seneca outlet. One of the Indians that escaped, lived in after years upon the Genesee river. He died of small-pox in 1812. He carried through life a scar upon his face, where he was struck by the sur- veyors' staff.

This is the only story of Indian attack upon early settlers in Wayne county, which has come down to the present time. There were various alarms and many fears of what might happen, especially about the years 1793 and 1794, when Indian wars at the west created general uneasiness, and British claims to the soil and jurisdiction along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, had not yet been abandoned.

Early settlers of Sodus found wandering Indians there in the same manner as those of Palmyra and Lyons, but none claiming to occupy or possess a right to the soil.

Mrs. Richards, who settled about 1795, on what is now the William Vosburg farm, stated to the writer that Indians often staid at her house ; that they were always peaceable and well disposed ; that she was never afraid of them.

James Sergeant, who was born in Sodus, in 1804, says that in his childhood, there were many Indians coming and going. At one time there was quite a large camp of them near where the brick meeting-house now stands.

This is doubtless a fair statement of the case, with refer- ence to the entire county. No resident Indians were here after the advent of the white men, in 1789, but many tran- sient hunting or trading parties were coming and going, for ten or fifteen years ; all quiet and friendly.

There was, however, an occasional attempt to steal the property of the white settlers. It is related in East Palmyra, that the Indians on one occasion, seized a calf belonging to Humphrey Sherman. They carried it to a canoe in the Ganargwa, but the calf, bawling lustily, Sherman pursued, plunged into the creek, grasped the canoe, compelled the Indians to yield up their booty, and took his calf home in triumph.

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Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War, Part 4

Author: Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.) Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Sodus, NY : Lewis H. Clark, Hulett & Gaylord Number of Pages: 944

Author: Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Sodus, NY : Lewis H. Clark, Hulett & Gaylord
Number of Pages: 944