Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 14

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

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1 One of the former was named the Beaver, and was wrecked in a storm on the shore of the lake and probably near the mouth of Eighteen-mile Creek. It is believed by good authorities that the ship irons found in that locality and which were attributed to the Griffin, really belonged to the Beaver.

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FROM 1760 TO 1774.

they proceeded westward to Kanadesaga, the chief town of the Sen- ecas. There he remained some time, laboring with the natives and suffering with them in the ensuing spring from a famine caused by a scarcity of the corn crop of the preceding year. Thisdevoted mission- ary continued his self-sacrificing work among the Six Nations a num- ber of years, frequently to the great benefit of the white people, as will appear.

Sir William Johnson continued to urge upon the Lords of Trade a policy of conciliation, honesty and kindness, towards the Indians, and wielded a wide and beneficent influence. About this time he advanced the claim, which was doubtless a just one, that he had never received adequate compensation for his services, and asked for confirmation of title to lands given him by the Mohawks in the valley of that nation, and an increase in salary. The land was granted him and he continued to give much of his time to adjusting difficulties among traders and regulating affairs on the frontiers, among which Niagara was one of the most important.

In 1772 Tryon (afterwards Montgomery) county was erected, com- prising the whole State west of the east line of the present Montgom- ery county, and Erie county territory was, of course, included within its boundaries. Guy Johnson, Sir William's nephew, who was already coming into prominence, was the earliest first judge of the Common Pleas of that county.

In the few years preceding the Revolution settlement advanced very little beyond the various trading posts, everybody being intent upon making profit in furs, to the neglect of clearing away forests and tilling land. The English maintained a ship yard on Navy Island, and in the fall of 1766 one of two vessels was burned there. In 1767 Commissary McLeod, at Fort Niagara, called a small council of Senecas and other Indians, chiefly for the settlement of trouble growing out of a drunken quarrel between parties of those Indians, some of whom were wounded.

As the causes of the American Revolution against the mother coun- try became more clearly developed and hostility to royal dictation more demonstrative, the Johnsons, Sir William, his son, afterwards Sir John, and his nephew, Guy, showed their fealty to the British king. Sir William was greatly troubled over the situation and it may have hastened his death, which took place in 1774. The subsequent attitude of his son and nephew will appear as we proceed.

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CHAPTER IX.

THE REVOLUTION.

Relations of Western New York to that War-Renewed Importance of Indian Co-operation-Col. Guy Johnson's Flight-Sir John Johnson Fortifying Johnson Hall-His Final Flight to Montreal-Butler at Niagara-Campaign of 1776- British Aggressiveness in 1777-Their Important Successes-St. Leger Before Fort Schuy- ler- Massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley-Other Indian Forays-Sullivan's Expedition-The Senecas Flee to Niagara-Buffalo Creek-Seneca Settlement at that Point-Peace Treaty.

The causes leading to the appeal to arms by the American colonists against the mother country are well understood and need not be re- counted here. Their existence began years before the first gun of the Revolution was fired and continued until the forbearance of the people was exhausted, and they rebelled. The famous Declaration of Rights, prepared in Philadelphia in 1774, was sent to the English court to be received with only ridicule and threats. The battle of Lexington, where was "fired the shot heard round the world," was fought on the 19th of April, 1775-a battle of insignificant proportions, but most mo- mentous as the beginning of a struggle which was to close with the founding of the greatest republic the world has ever seen.

The frontier of Western New York had very little immediate connec- tion with the stirring events of the Revolutionary war, though the post at Fort Niagara was an important one in a military sense for either of the contesting powers to hold during that struggle It remained in un- disputed possession of the English, but the great events of the contest that gave freedom to America, were enacted far from this region.

Again the fealty of the Six Nations of Indians became an object of prime importance to two powerful nations of white men. The great influence of the Johnson family, now led by Colonel Guy (who had been appointed superintendent of Indian affairs) and Sir John, was exercised in the British interest, and soon carried over the alliance of all the Iroquois, excepting the Oneidas and Tuscaroras. The Senecas wavered for a time, but the attractions of the war path and the pay

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they were led to expect from the British soon overcame their scruples, and from 1777 they were active for the king. The statement has been placed on record that at a council held at Oswego, the agents of the British gave the Senecas numerous presents and "promised a bounty on every scalp that should be brought in."' This question has been widely discussed and never definitely settled. The Americans were no less active in their endeavors to secure an alliance with the Indians, but were soon forced to see them take up arms for the king. Fort Niagara again became the key to all the western region. There the Butlers, Johnsons, Brant and other enemies of the colonies made their headquarters, planned forays and spurred on the Indians to bloody deeds at many points between Lake Erie and Albany.

In the summer of 1775 Col. Guy Johnson, with a body of retainers and some Indians, fled westward up the Mohawk valley, and thence to Oswego, where he met a large number of Indians, with whom he counciled several days to bind them to the king's service, and then proceeded to Montreal with about 220 of the party. This was all he could transport; the remainder returned to their homes, promising to follow when called upon.' In January, 1776, Guy Johnson, Joseph Brant and a Mohawk chief, made a brief visit to England in the inter- est of the royal cause. Sir John Johnson remained, surrounded by his family and relatives, at Johnstown, where he constructed fortifications and secretly labored to perfect the coalition between the British, the Indians and the tories. As his hostility became known to the patriots, steps were taken to place him under arrest, in May, 1776. Johnson learned of this and with a large number of his tenants fled through the forest to Montreal, where they arrived after much suffering. There he was given a colonel's commission in the British army and com- manded the Royal Greens.

John Butler was sent to Niagara and was in command of the post for some time; he organized the notorious Butler's Rangers and be- came one of the most conspicuous figures in the border wars.

The results of the campaign of 1776 in New York were generally unfavorable to the Americans. The fort at St. John's, the first mili- tary post within the Canadian border, had been taken on the 3d of November, 1775, by Montgomery, who promptly pressed forward to

1 Narrative of Mary Jemison.

? Record of Indian transactions under Guy Johnson's superintendence, reprinted in Ketch- am's B. & S., Vol. 1, p. 243.

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attack Quebec. "Until Quebec is captured, Canada remains un- conquered," he wrote to the Continental Congress. On the last day of that year, amid the rigors of a Canadian winter, the army of patriots stormed the almost impregnable works; Montgomery fell; Arnold was wounded and his division captured; the assault had failed. Other im- portant events of the year were the evacuation of Boston before Wash- ington's army on March 17; the signing of the Declaration of Inde- pendence; the expulsion of the American forces from Canada; the flight of Sir John Johnson, before mentioned; the attack upon the Americans on Long Island and the retreat in August of Washington's army to New York; the evacuation of New York in October; the cap- ture of Fort Washington on the Hudson River by the British on No- vember 16; the battle of Trenton and Washington's victory in Decem- ber-almost the only bright ray to lighten the general gloom of the year. In the latter part of the season complaint was made to the British authorities that large sums of money had been expended at Niagara on the Indians gathered there, and that they had not partici- pated in the war. Butler's accounts were, however, audited at Quebec and settled.

Inspired by repeated successes the British made extensive prepara- tions for their campaign of 1777, involving the invasion of New York by an army under Gen. John Burgoyne, who had recently come over from England to supersede Gen. Guy Carleton in command in Canada; and an expedition organized under Col. Barry St. Leger, composed of regulars, Canadians and Indians, to land at Oswego and penetrate and lay waste the Mowhawk valley. The first of these movements was successful and Ticonderoga was captured on July 6, the commander, St. Clair, being forced to flee southward to near Albany.

St. Leger came to grief. The Canadians and Indians in his army were commanded by Sir John Johnson, his heart beating to revenge his ignominious expulsion from his old home. St. Leger, with his large force, made his rendezvous at Oswego, and started on his pre- tentious expedition on July 27. The first detachment, under command of Lieutenant Bird, arrived before Fort Schuyler, formerly Fort Stan- wix (on the site of the city of Rome); that work was under command of Col. Peter Gansevoort, who was joined by the brave Col. Marinus Willett and his regiment in June. Bird had with him, as a part of his forces, Brant and his Indians. The fort was most gallantly defended by its heroic garrison of about 600 men. The determined defense of

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the fort, the movement of General Herkimer up the valley to its relief, and the ensuing bloody battle of Oriskany; the relief of the garrison by Arnold and Larned, and the raising of the siege, can only be men- tioned here; their details illumine some of the most interesting pages of our history, and the events themselves were especially important to the success of the American armies. The remnant of the discomfited British soldiery that had left Oswego a few weeks earlier full of confi- dence in approaching victory, now hurried down the turbulent stream, frustrated and disappointed, their artillery left in the trenches before Schuyler, and their red allies bewailing the slaughter of their breth- ren. St. Leger took his regulars to Montreal; Butler and Brant re- turned to Niagara, and Johnson went with his Royal Greens to Oswe- gatchie. Burgoyne's surrender on the Hudson, October 17, closed the military operations of the year.

The so-called massacre of Wyoming took place in July, 1778, when a motley host of tories and Indians under the general command of Colo- nel Butler, entered the valley. The locality had already sent two com- panies into the Continental army, leaving only old men, women and youths, with a few soldiers for its defense. On July 3d these to the number of about 400, marched up the valley in an effort to surprise the invaders. They were attacked by the Indians and tories, and very soon more than 200 of their scalps were in the hands of the enemy. The night that followed was filled with horror. Prisoners were tortured and slaughtered and fugitives were in constant fear of death. During the night of July 4, after a few of the fugitives, who had taken shelter in what was called Forty Fort (near Wilkesbarre) had been offered humane terms of surrender, the Indians overran the valley and completed the work of plunder, burning and murder. Almost every house in the valley was given to the flames and the survivors of the residents fled to the Wilkes- barre mountains. In this affair the Senecas formed the main body of the Indians and well performed the part assigned them. Brant was not present.

In the same year (1778), on November 11, in the midst of a storm of sleet, a band of Indians and tories, the former led by Brant and the latter by Walter N. Butler (son of Col. John Butler), fell upon Cherry Valley, Otsego county, and slaughtered thirty-two of the inhabitants, mostly women and children, with sixteen soldiers in a little garrison. Nearly forty men, women and children were carried away captives. "Butler was the arch fiend on this occasion, and would listen to no appeals

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of the more humane Brant for mercy on the innocent and helpless."' Many of those taken captive suffered terribly in the march through the inclement weather.

To chastise the Indians in some measure for their repeated atrocities, an expedition was made against the Onondagas in the spring of 1779, under Colonels Van Schaick and Martinus Willet; it resulted in the de- struction of their dwellings and crops, but otherwise served only to further exasperate the savages, who fled from their villages, as usual.

Later in the same year a similar but much more extensive expedition was organized, with the same object in view-the punishment of the Indians. This expedition was directed against the Senecas, with the capture of Fort Niagara as a consequent possibility. General Wash- ington placed Gen. John Sullivan in command of about 3,000 Conti- nental soldiers, gathered in Wyoming valley and the surrounding region, with orders to march against the Senecas, and leave nothing but des- olation in his path. Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point August 22, and was there joined by Gen. James Clinton with 1,600 men. The expe- dition was slow in its early movements, giving the British opportunity to send a force to the aid of the Indians. The latter fortified them- selves at Newtown (Elmira) and a battle was fought in which the Americans were victorious. The march was then continued into the Genesee country. There Sullivan found a condition of the country that greatly astonished him. The Indian village contained 128 houses, " mostly large and very elegant," surrounded by a flat extending for miles, "over which extensive fields of corn were waving, together with every kind of vegetable," as the record has it. The torch and the axe were applied everywhere, and the beautiful scene was soon transformed into a picture of dreary desolation. The corn destroyed was estimated at 160,000 bushels. Orchards were cut down, one of which is said to have contained 1,500 trees. The Indians pursued their usual tactics in the face of such expeditions and fled. Sullivan and his army retraced their steps eastward, leaving Niagara untouched. Why he did not continue and capture the post is not known, for it could, without doubt, have been easily taken at that time. The Senecas were completely humbled and broken up by this expedition and fled to Niagara.

During the year 1780 several important forays were planned and ex- ecuted against the border settlements. Taking advantage of the desire

1 Lossing's Cyclo. U. S. Hist., Vol. 1, p. 235.

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for vengeance aroused in the Indians by Sullivan's campaign, Sir John Johnson made a raid into the Mohawk valley from Crown Point in May of this year. Arriving at Johnstown, his former home, he burned every house in that section excepting those of tories; slew many per- sons, recovered his buried valuables at Johnson Hall, took twenty of his former slaves and with his booty and a few prisoners, hastened back to Canada.

In April Brant again took the war path, his main purpose being a raid into the Schoharie country. Leaving Niagara in the early spring with his followers, he reached his destination and destroyed one vil- lage, a second one being saved by the cool falsehood of one of his prisoners, who represented that a large force of Continentals had just arrived there. Brant returned to Niagara bringing many prisoners. When the party reached the western part of the State Brant sent a runner ahead to apprise the Indians of his approach with prisoners. It is believed by good authority that his purpose in this was the humane one of having the garrison meet him at the Indian settlements, one of which was Lewiston, and thus protect his prisoners from tortures that they otherwise might have had to suffer. The prisoners were thus protected and kept in confinement at Montreal, Quebec and Halifax until 1783. Only a short time after Brant's arrival another party of prisoners came on from the east and were compelled to run the gaunt- let, but under such favorable conditions that they did not suffer severely. One of these captives was a Captain Snyder, who wrote of the condition of the fort, etc. He mentions Johnson, the two Butlers and Brant, and said that the fort at that time was a work of considera- ble magnitude, enclosing an area of six to eight acres, and of great strength. The garrison at that time consisted approximately of sixty British regulars, 400 loyalists, and 1,200 Indians including women and children. These Indians probably fared better than they ever had before.

The journal kept by Sullivan of his campaign against the Senecas, from which a few brief quotations have been made herein, shows that the Senecas had made considerable progress in the arts of peace; they were turning to agriculture in its simpler features, to supply a part of their physical wants, all of which had formerly been gratified by the chase. It was this fact that made the results of the expedition of such paramount importance to both the American cause and to the Senecas, and sent the latter fleeing to their employers at Niagara for sustenance.

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They were there fed from the British commissary through the terribly severe winter. In a letter dated July 26, 1780, from Col. Guy Johnson to Lord Germain, upon Indian affairs, is found the following :

The large body that was to be provided for at this post, during the last winter, in consequence of the rebel invasion, and the destruction of many Indian towns, occa- sioned much expense, and great consumption of provisions, which I have endeav- ored as far as consistent with the service, and the Commander-in-Chief afforded his assistance for re-establishing them, and enabling them to plant, as early as he could; to promote which, as well as to forward parties, I have lately visited their new settlements; one on the Ohio route is increasing fast, and I have already in- duced above twelve hundred of their people to settle and plant these places, which will lessen the burden of expenses. '

It was on this "Ohio Route," mentioned above, that was located one of the principal Indian settlements, and one in which the reader of these pages is especially interested. This was at Buffalo Creek. The date of this first permanent settlement of some of the Senecas at this point was probably in May or early in June, 1780. During that season they cleared some ground and raised a little corn.

The " Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Benjamin Gilbert and his Family,"" contains slight reference to the settlement at Buffalo Creek, to which point several of the members of the family were brought by their captors. While, without doubt, the Senecas had huts on the creek previous to this time, for temporary use on their hunting and fishing expeditions, they had no permanent abiding place there until the date in question-the spring of 1780. These Senecas were under the leadership of Siangarochti, or Sayengaraghta (known also as Old King), an aged sachem. The squaws at once built some log huts and began tilling the ground, as before stated.

1 Buffalo and the Senecas, Ketcham, Vol. I, pp. 358-59.

? This narrative is well known, it having been published in book form. The Gilbert family consisted of fifteen persons who were captured in April. 1780, by eleven Indians, at their home in Northampton county, Pa. The buildings and other property were burned, after which the In- dians took the horses and their captives and hurried away. Their journey through the country to Fort Niagara was an experience of terrible suffering. On May 15 the party reached Kanadesaga, which had been burned by Sullivan. There the elder Gilbert was painted black, indicating that he was to be killed. On the 17th they crossed the Genesee River and on the 21st they heard the morning gun at Fort Niagara. They were destitute of food and delayed there a day until a sup- ply was brought from the fort. This was at an encampment, or village, between Lewiston and Niagara. There they were visited by Captains Dace and Powell from the fort, who were instru- mental in having the prisoners taken in a boat to Niagara on the following day. There they saw Col. Guy Johnson and Col. Butler. On the 25th, just a month after their capture. Benjamin Gil- bert and his wife, and Jesse, a son, were given up to Johnson. According to the published narra- tive, none of the other captives was liberated at that time. Jesse Gilbert's wife was ultimately liberated principally through efforts of British officers at the fort. Others were taken to Mon- treal as herein noted.

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One member of the Gilbert family who was brought to Buffalo Creek was Elizabeth Peart, wife of Thomas Peart, son of the elder Mrs. Gil- bert by a former husband. She had been adopted by a Seneca family, while her child, less than a year old, was taken from her and adopted by another family living near Fort Niagara. Near the close of the winter of 1780-81 the Indians at Buffalo Creek were compelled to go to Fort Niagara for provisions, and she accompanied them to see her child. She learned that it had been bought by a white family. By practicing various deceptions, and with the aid of Captain Powell, she finally escaped to Montreal with her husband and children. In the same spring another body of Indians came to Buffalo Creek, having with them Abner and Elizabeth Gilbert, the two young children of the family. This band, however, settled some distance from the other and the children were not permitted to visit each other. In July of that year the family having Abner Gilbert went to "Butlersburg" (or Butlersbury), a little village opposite Fort Niagara, which was named after Colonel Butier. Butler purchased the child for various presents, the boy to be delivered within twenty days. The squaw took him back to Buffalo Creek, but returned with him before the expiration of the stipulated period and the children were sent to Montreal. Rebecca and Benjamin Gilbert, jr., were not released until the next year (1782).

White men soon followed the Indians to their village at Buffalo Creek for purposes of trade. In the family of Sir William Johnson were two sons by his Indian wife, Molly Brant, named William and Peter; both are mentioned in the records of Johnson's time, and both accompanied Col. Guy Johnson on his flight to Canada in 1775. In the early part of the winter of 1780-81, according to the Gilbert narrative, two British officers, Captain Powell and a Lieutenant Johnson, visited the Seneca settlement at Buffalo Creek. Their errand was, probably, to assist in firmly establishing the Senecas, and possibly to open trade on their own account; incidentally they made strenuous efforts to obtain the re- lease of Rebecca and Benjamin Gilbert, in which the were unsuccess- ful. It has been claimed by several writers that the Lieutenant John- son (or Johnston, as he wrote his name), was the half-breed son of Sir William, just mentioned. It is not positively known that he was not, but many facts and cirumstances point to the contrary. Other writers assume that Johnston wa's a half brother of Captain Powell, who had married Jane Moore, a Cherry Valley captive, and it is quite probable that he was. At about the period now under consideration Johnston

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married a Seneca wife; he had a son John who was a young man when Buffalo was laid out in 1803.

The war of the Revolution continued with its march of notable events, but their record is a part of general history and possesses little interest in this immediate connection. Brant made some desultory and unimportant forays from Niagara during the winter and spring of 1780-81, but aside from this the frontier was quiet. In 1782 hostilities between the two countries approached their close. Demonstrations of conciliation were made by England, but Washington prudently kept the country in a state of defense until peace was finally established.

The arrangements for a peace treaty began with the agreement for the cessation of hostilities made in Paris in November, 1782, and signed by commissioners January 20, 1783. On March 24, 1784, a letter was received in this country from General La Fayette announcing a general peace. Congress issued a proclamation April 11, declaring a cessation of military operations on sea and land. But England submitted to defeat with bad grace. Under the treaty the boundary between the possessions of the two nations was to run along the 45th parallel, and in the middle of St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie; but the mother country objected to the Americans oc- cupying the posts on the frontier to the south of this line. That coun- try also set up a claim that the United States government had not the power to enforce observance of a commercial treaty, and therefore re- fused to join in the execution of one. These matters, in connection with the fact that debts due to British subjects from Americans were in many instances left unpaid, and confiscated property was not re- turned to royalists from whom it had been taken by Americans, were made the basis of the astonishing condition of affairs that existed for thirteen years after the peace, during which period a nation unsuccess- ful in war, occupied and held fortified military posts within the lines of the victorious country. The frontier was not formally surrendered until July, 1796.

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 14

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017