USA > New York > Wayne County > Military history of Wayne County, N.Y. : the County in the Civil War > Part 9
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England being then at war with Spain, Havana was blockaded by a fleet consisting of one fifty gun ship, one frigate, twenty guns, and two sloops of war. The fleet lay on and off, convoying merchant vessels from the Bermuda Islands, and sending their prizes which they captured.
" In July our repairs were completed. On the 18th, we sailed in a north-east direction, to get into the track of the Bermuda fleet, which convoyed heavy loaded merchant vessels that often fell behind and might thus be captured by a privateer. We followed in the wake of the fleet four days, when one of the frigates dropped astern and we did the same. We considered our situation critical and hazardous. Night coming on, we changed our course more to the south in hopes of making a prize of an East India ship, but found none. We then took a westerly course toward the con-
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
tinent. When about twenty miles from shore, we were hotly chased by a British armed vessel. Our Captain said ; ' Boys, she carries too heavy metal for us, head for the shore ; she will require more depth of water than we.' Our vessel grounded, (the order being given to put the helm hard a starboard) ; we secured a level position. The British vessel also grounded and careened over. The action lasted twenty minutes, we firing at the side of their vessel, they firing over our heads and into our sails. When the British colors came down, their Captain hailed us, asking for our boat. The reply was, 'use your own boat.' They answered that their boat was shot away, and they were in a sinking condition. We manned a boat and sent it to them. Our shot had riddled the side of their vessel.
"Her crew consisted of ninety men and fifty-two Ameri- can prisoners. Our men took command. In the middle of the night, I was landed on the beach in charge of the money, twenty small leather bags, containing 8,900 Spanish milled dollars; one man was with me. In the morning a company of militia came, led by the noise of the action. We were at Cape Hatteras. The British prisoners were taken to Northampton Jail, the Americans were released.
" In a day or two a severe storm broke both vessels to pieces. This was in November, 1783. Here ended a cruise of thirteen months. If not so brilliant as some, it was attended with constant danger. At twenty-one years of age, I possessed a roving spirit of adventure, a love for the sea and an eagerness to redress the wrongs of my country. From the time I left Long Island until I was wrecked on the coast of Virginia, there was continual danger of losing my life or of being captured."
James Reeves died in East Palmyra, and was buried on the old Reeves homestead.
ROSE.
Thaddeus Collins went into the American army during the Revolutionary war, at the age of sixteen, from Long . Meadow, Mass., or Brimfield, and served three years. He afterwards settled in Rose Valley. In the War of 1812, he, with others, went to Sodus Point to assist in the defence of that place. He died at Rose, September 4, 1828, aged sixty-six years. Mr. Collins was an early resident of Phelps, having probably settled there about 1798, and came to Rose in 1812 or '13.
Ezekiel Pratt was a Revolutionary soldier of this town.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Joel Bishop .- He was born in Connecticut, October 2, 1759 ; enlisted in the Revolutionary army at the age of seven- teen, and served nearly seven years. He was taken prisoner and confined in New York City several months, where he suffered severely, being so nearly starved to death that he ate scraps of leather, pieces of old shoes. He was in several battles, and in one of them seven bul- lets passed through his clothing ; in another, a charge of buckshot went through his cap, cutting off a portion of his hair close as if shaved with a razor. In 1784, he married Phobe Avery, and in the winter of 1811-'12, settled just south of the present village of North Rose. His grandson, Chauncey E. Bishop, now lives in a new house on the identical site of the original log house. In 1837, he removed to Havana, Huron county, Ohio, where he died April 17, 1839. His family con- sisted of four sons and nine daughters, all of whom grew to adult age, married and raised families. The mother of Hon. Jackson Valentine was one of the daughters. Another of his daughters taught the first school in Rose. He was five feet nine inches in height, and weighed one hundred and fifty-two pounds. He was a man of high honor, great activity, energy, personal courage and benevolence .*
John Sherman .- Private in the Revolutionary army. His widow, Chloe Sherman, drew a pension of $48 a year, commencing March 4, 1848. Widow had resided in Rose thirty-eight years in 1849. John Sherman died November 28, 1832, aged seventy-eight years.
John Rose, who died in the town of Rose, July 3, 1863, at the advanced age of one hundred and three years, was not (as some have supposed) one of the pioneers of Wayne county, nor was he related to the family from which the town of Rose took its name. He was, however, a Revolutionary soldier, and had been for more than eighty years a professed Christian. He retained his faculties unimpaired to the close of his long life.
SAVANNAH.
Richard Damewood, of Savannah, was a soldier of the Revo- lution, and died at Montezuma.
Samuel Thompson, was a soldier of the Revolution, and died in Savannah.
* H. H. Wheeler furnishes another notice of Mr. Bishop. (See Butler.)
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
SODUS.
2
Obadiah Johnson was a Revolutionary soldier. He was born in New Marlboro, and had twelve children, of whom William, deceased a few years since in the eastern part of Sodus, was the youngest, born in 1799. Mrs. Phœbe Johnson, widow of William, and still living at an advanced age, states that Obadiah Johnson came to Sodus at the time local history reports his son, Mark Johnson, to have settled at " Johnson's Corners." He is buried somewhere on the old Johnson farm, possibly in the dilapidated burial place at the Whitbeck school- house. Of his Revolutionary service, we have but little account. It is current tradition in the family that he was in the battles of Monmouth and Brandywine. He was in the battle at Sodus Point on the night of June 12, 1813, and died not long after that.
Joshua Danford came from New Hampshire in early life to Rensselaer county, near Troy. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and received his pay in Conti- nental currency, which was so nearly worthless that a hundred dollars would scarcely buy a pair of boots. He settled in Sodus in the spring of 1810, on the place afterwards known for many years as the Danford farm. He died February 22, 1815, and is buried in the Bush- nell burying-ground.
Joseph Green was twenty-one years old when the Revolu- tionary war broke out. He was one of the forty men who marched to the Plymouth County Court House and compelled the Royal Court to disperse. He served through the war, was in several prominent battles, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. Joseph Green settled in East Windsor, Mass., afterwards moved to Williamstown to educate his children. He passed his last years in Sodus with his son, Hon. Byram Green, and died June 12, 1835, aged eighty-one. He was buried in the old village cemetery. Though entitled to a pension under the law of 1830-'31, he declined to apply. He was a Captain in the army, and served under General Stark.
John Norris enlisted in the Revolutionary army on the day that he became twenty-one, in the year 1776. He served through the war; was present at the battle of Mon- mouth. He died January 31, 1846, aged ninety-one years, lacking three days, and his grave is in Sodus Rural Cemetery.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Lemuel Higgins, father of Mrs. Byram Green, was also a Revolutionary soldier during the latter years of the war, and was a prisoner for some months. He died November 2, 1824, aged fifty-nine, and was buried in the old village cemetery.
Elder Seba Norton, the pioneer Baptist minister, was a soldier of the Revolution. He settled in Sodus about 1803. He was married in 1778, when a little over eighteen. When he decided to join the army, his wife and mother and sisters caught a black sheep and a white one, and sheared some wool from both. They sat up all night, carded, spun and knit for him two long pairs of stock- ings, in time for him to start at noon the next day. He was present at Valley Forge, in the noted winter en- campment, when men marked their way over the frozen ground with blood from their bare feet. In 1812, the old soldiers of Sodus and vicinity formed a company known as Silver Grays. At their meeting to elect their officers, Elder Norton was chosen Captain. Mr. Nichols, of Williamson, though a Major in the Revolution, when chosen Corporal, stepped out briskly, saying, “ I con- sider it an honor to serve under Captain Norton." Captain Norton was at the Point at the battle in 1813, and having command at first, divided the men into squads of ten each, placed them in different ambuscades, pointing out the way to retreat if assailed. When Captain Hall took command, he changed the plan and formed them in one company, marching abreast in a single line. August 9, 1835, Elder Norton died, and was buried in the Brick Church Cemetery.
Simeon Kent, who came from Long Island to East Palmyra in early times, was a soldier of the Revolution. Owing to the loss of necessary papers he failed to secure a pen- sion ; but he was in the Continental army during nearly the whole of the war. In 1812 he was called out and served at Sodus Point and probably at Pultneyville. His family have often heard Mr. Kent in his old age talk over with Andries Onderdonk their adventures together at Sodus Point and up the lake shore to Pultneyville. Mr. Kent was the father of Mrs. Stephen Hopkins, of Sodus, and died at their house on the Shaker tract at the age of eighty-nine, and was buried in the Rural Cemetery at Sodus village.
Asa Hewitt, (grandfather of Spencer Hewitt,) was in the Revolutionary army as a musician blowing a fife for five years. He died in Sodus and is buried in the Bushnell burial ground.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Jonathan Clemons (great grandfather of Fred. W. Clemons, of the Palmyra Courier,) was born in Rutland, Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1754. Died in Sodus, April 18, 1841, aged eighty-seven years. He was the son of Edward Clemons, who was also a soldier of the Revolu- tion. Jonathan Clemons, the year before his death, walked to Geneva and back to Sodus upon a visit to his relatives in the former place. His discharge, signed by General Washington, is in possession of Fred. W. Clemons. The latter also has the commission given to his grandfather, John Temple Clemons, February 17, 1820, by Governor De Witt Clinton as First Lieutenant in a company of the Eighteenth New York Artillery.
Colonel Peregrine Fitzhugh .-- He entered the Revolutionary army as Lieutenant of the Third Regiment of Dragoons of the Virginia Continental line, and was soon after pro- moted to Captain. Two years prior to the close of the war he was appointed Aid-de-Camp to the Commander- in-Chief, General Washington, and served in that capac- ity until the declaration of peacc. Colonel Fitzhugh was from a distinguished family. His father held a commission in the British army, and rather than fight against the colonies resigned his place. Colonel Pere- grine Fitzhugh settled at Hagerstown, Maryland, at the close of the war. He came to Geneva in 1799, and resided there three years, improving the lands purchased some time before at Sodus Point. He removed to the Point in 1803, his homestead being on the beautiful and commanding height opposite the Point to the south, now occupied by William E. Sill. He died in the midst of his enterprises October 23, 1810, and his grave is in the old burial ground on the banks of the lake. His widow, who was a daughter of Samuel Lloyd Chew, of Ann Arundel, Maryland, survived him forty-four years and died at the age of eighty-nine, June 4, 1854. Colonel Fitzhugh, holding an intimate personal relation with General Washington, had among his papers several auto- graph letters from him and many important memoranda. It is a matter of regret that these were lost, together with other papers of Colonel Fitzhugh, his commissions, his swords and his uniform by the fire which destroyed the dwelling of Mrs. Fitzhugh at Sodus Point in the year 1846.
Philip Demarest, was a Revolutionary soldier. He lived on the place now owned by Richard Milner. He died April 18, 1845, aged eighty-four years; and was buried in the old grave yard at Sodus village.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Robert McCollum was a soldier of the Revolution, and was buried in the Brick church cemetery.
Amos Gilbert was the father of the Deacon John Gilbert whose death at the advanced age of ninety-three, occur- red at Lyons last year (1882.) Amos Gilbert was a Revolutionary soldier as stated by those who knew him well after his settlement in Sodus. He was buried in the Brick church cemetery, though the site of the grave is not now determined. (See a notice by his grandson, Dr. Gilbert, under head of Lyons.)
Matthew Clark, who settled near the present site of the brick meeting-house, was a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs. Phœbe Johnson states that she has often heard Mr. Clark talk over his revolutionary exploits with William Johnson, Amos Gilbert and others. Matthew Clark is buried in the Brick church burial ground, but the place can hardly be identified. He was in Sodus as early as 1803, for a letter was advertised for him that year at the Canandaigua post-office. He was one of the founders of the Presbyterian church of Lyons, and subsequently of Sodus.
Samuel Blair was a Revolutionary soldier. He probably belonged to the Massachusetts line in the Continental army. He came to Sodus at an early day and was for many years a well known citizen of the eastern part of the town. He died in 1828, and is buried in the Brick church cemetery .*
The Rev. William Stone died in Sodus, March 20, 1840, aged nearly eighty-one years. He was a native of Guilford, Conn., great-great-grand son of Gov. William Leete, of Col- onial days, and his father a great grand-son of Rev. Samuel Stone, founder of Hartford. He served as a private in the Revolutionary war, and in the battles of Brandywine, Mon- mouth and others. At Brandywine, he stood near General Nash when that fire-eater fell. He was a thorough Greek and Hebrew scholar, and had such a fondness for books that the late Gen. Wilcox, of Killingworth, Conn., says he always would remember him, as he carried the works of Josephus in his knapsack. Entering the Congregational ministry, he was stationed at Claremont, N. H. From the east he per-
* Adrastus Snedaker, of Clyde, has a Revolutionary relic in his possession, viz : a chain used by his grandfather, Samuel Blair, before, during and after the Revolutionary war. The age of this chain must be very nearly if not quite one hundred years.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
formed a voluntary mission through all the original States, save Rhode Island, into Florida, spending one-and-a-half years in the two Carolinas. Whilst South, he encountered several thrilling adventures. At one time chased by robbers, at another by panthers. Returning north he preached in New Paltz, Ulster county, N. Y., then at Jericho, (now Bainbridge.) Afterwards was settled in Burlington, Otsego county, a fellow laborer of his kinsman, the Rev. Daniel Nash. In 1807, he moved to Redfield, (now Oswego county,) and preaching there several years, returned to Burlington, and in 1817, removed to the town of Junius, Seneca county, and from thence to Sodus, in 1818. In that and the follow- ing year, he was in the employ of the Albany Missionary Society, in the Western counties of New York, bordering upon Pennsylvania, and by the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York, in 1820-'21. Suffering from an acci- dent from the falling of a tree, he was unable to continue his ministerial labors during the last eighteen years of his life. Says a writer who knew him well : " During all the changes of his location, and the other vicissitudes of his life, there are. two objects he never forgot,-His God, and the Classics."
Down till within a few months of his death, he daily studied the scriptures in the originals. His body lies sleeping in the old village cemetery at Sodus, in the joyful hope of a glori- ous resurrection.
WALWORTH.
John Barber is mentioned as a Revolutionary soldier. He was born in Pelham, Mass., came to Walworth in 1804; removed to Lyons, his son John Barber Jr., being then County Clerk. John Barber, Sen., died June 24, 1840, at Adrian, Michigan, and is buried in Lyons. He was in several hard fought battles, and was taken pris- oner at White Plains.
WILLIAMSON.
Andrew Stewart served in Continental army while living in ·Massachusetts, settled in Williamson ; died in 1818, aged ninety-two; buried in Pultneyville cemetery.
From the Wayne Sentinel.
Died in Williamson on Monday, May 18, 1828, Mr. Azariah Chappell, a soldier of the Revolution, aged seventy-six ; and near the same time his wife, Jerusha, died, aged seventy-one.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Adam Tincklepaugh, who settled in Williamson, near the pres- ent place of Reuben Nash, in 1810, was a soldier of the Revolution. He was at Pultneyville in the war of 1812. He died about the year 1829, and is buried in the Will- iamson cemetery.
WOLCOTT.
Chester Dutton of Concordia, Kansas, sends the following memorandum :
" Lambert Woodruff, son of Capt. John and Hannah (Lam- " bert) Woodruff, was born in Connecticut in that part of " the town of Waterbury which is now Watertown, in " 1763. While yet a mere boy, he was with Washington " in the winter encampment of Valley Forge. His father, " Capt. John Woodruff, was at the same time in command " of a company on the Hudson, and his three older broth- " ers were also in the service and meanwhile the Captain's " wife, with her youngest boy and a hired man, was gath- " ering the corn, at home, out of the snow. Capt. John " Woodruff was great-grand-father to my Brother, Will- " iam, and myself, and also to both of our wives. Prob- " ably few men of military age went through that seven " years of war without some taste of service. Three " great-grand-fathers of William and myself were Captains " in command, viz : Thomas Dutton, John Woodruff and " Stephen Matthews, all of Watertown. Our other great " grand-father, David Punderson of New Haven was dead, " but his son-in-law, Capt. Joseph Mansfield, raised and " commanded a company. Our grand-fathers, Thomas " Dutton and Phineas Matthews, served at the age of six- " teen, in their fathers' companies. Previous to the war " of 1812, Lambert Woodruff settled in Wolcott. His " deeds bear date March 9th, 1811. The purchase, how- " ever, had been made several years before. I do not lay " my hand on the contract, just at present, but about 1807, " Uncle Lambert distributed these lots among his sons " and daughters, reserving to himself lot 380, upon which " he erected the buildings which were occupied by my " family until our removal west. He died there in the " summer of 1843, and was buried in the "Old Burying " Ground" on the west side of the creek, below the mills." Jonathan Melvin, who resided in Wolcott for a time and built the first mill was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He removed back to Phelps and died at the resi- dence of his son on Melvin Hill.
Thomas Hale, a soldier of the Revolution came to Huron in 1812 and settled on what is known as the old Benjamin farm. Buried in Huron cemetery.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
John David Arne was a soldier of the Revolution. His history is a romantic one. He was a German, a native of the province of Hesse Cassel. As a boy of sixteen he was induced to enlist by a cousin older than he, an officer in the Hessian Contingent furnished to King George for service against the Colonies. In this country he became interested in the cause of the Colonies and finally deserted and joined the Union Army. But little is known of his service. He passed his last years with his son, Dr. David Arne, of Wolcott, and is buried in the Butler Cemetery.
MILITARY LANDS.
This name is applied in common usage to the tracts of land given to officers and men who served in the Revolu- tionary army from the State of New York.
The Continental Congress, under date of September 16, 1776, resolved to raise eighty-eight Battalions of troops, and of these four were assigned as the quota of the Province of New York. A bounty of twenty dollars was offered in cash and also a bounty in land, as follows :
To a Colonel, 500 acres. 450 66
" Lieutenant-Colonel,
Major,
400
Captain, 300
" Lieutenant,
200
Ensign,
150
" Non-commissioned officer and soldier, each, 100 66
After the close of the war, and under date of March 27, 1788, the Legislature of the State of New York assumed the fulfillment of this promise of Congress, and added to the bounty to be granted as follows :
To a Major-General, 5,500 acres.
Brigadier-General,
4,250
Colonel, 2,500
Lieutenant-Colonel,
2,250 66
Major,
2,000
Captain,
1,500
Regimental Surgeon,
1,500 66
Chaplain,
2,000
Every Subaltern and Sur- geon's mate, 1,000
Non-Commissioned officers and privates, each, 500
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The Legislature provided that for this purpose townships should be laid out to be divided into one hundred lots of six hundred acres each. One half of each lot drawn by a soldier was to be improved at the rate of five acres for every hundred within a term of five years, if such lots are sold by the original grantee ; or within ten years if retained by him.
These townships were to be located upon the territory reserved by the act of the Legislature passed July 25, 1782.
It was several years before the plan was fully executed and various acts of the Legislature became necessary to locate the lands, authorize a balloting and guard the same from unauthorized claimants.
The Commissioners of the Land Office were vested with the requisite authority for the distribution of the lands, and under date of April 22, 1789, they passed a resolution directing the Surveyor-General to lay out twenty-five town- ships. This was done during that year, and at a meeting of the Land Commissioners held in New York, July 3, 1790, a report of the survey was made. Classical names were given to these townships, which have since become the names of organized towns. They were as follows :
No. 1-Lysander,
No. 14-Tully,
2-Hannibal,
66 15-Fabius,
66 3-Cato,
66 16-Ovid,
66 4-Brutus,
17-Milton,
66 5-Camillus,
18-Locke,
6-Cicero
66 19-Homer,
7-Manlius,
66 20-Solon,
8-Aurelius,
21-Hector,
9-Marcellus,
22-Ulysses,
66 IO-Pompey,
23-Dryden,
II-Romulus,
24-Virgil,
66 12-Scipio,
25-Cincinnatus.
13-Sempronius,
The Board proceeded to determine what persons were en_ titled to share in this bounty, and appointed Lewis A. Scott and Robert Harper, to draw the tickets from the respective boxes. It was found that some of the lands thus drawn were the same as had already been granted to Massachusetts, or to Phelps and Gorham, holding title from that State. The military lands were all east of the Pre-emption line that 8
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MILITARY HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
bounded the Massachusetts tract, but in compensating Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, or their successors, for lands lost by the error of the first Pre-emption line, they had re- ceived several grants upon these same military lands further east. To avoid this conflict, the Land Commissioners directed the. Surveyor-General to lay out three more town- ships. It was also necessary to supply claimants who had not proved their claims at the first drawing. These three were: No. 26, Junius ; No. 27, Galen ; No. 28, Sterling.
The report in relation to Junius was adopted by the Land Board, January 29, 1791 ; in relation to Galen, August 10, 1792 ; in relation to number 28, September II, 1794, and the name Sterling voted January 16, 1795.
The Continental offer to a private which the State assumed, was one hundred acres, and that of the State five hundred acres -- total, six hundred. In some cases an assign- ment of the Continental bounty to the one drawing, had not been obtained, and the claimant received only five hundred acres.
In preparation for the drawing, the Board had employed Michael Connelly to make a complete roster of the soldiers from New York ; a very interesting document preserved in the office of the Secretary of State, and printed copies of which were made in 1825.
Many soldiers whose bounty land was given by these acts, had died in the service or after the close of the war prior to the distribution of the land. The patents in such cases were delivered to their heirs, or to attorneys or assignees.
Township number 27 was set apart especially for surgeons, hospital stewards and others connected with the medical staff of the army ; hence the name of Galen was exceedingly appropriate.
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