USA > New York > Saratoga County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, New York > Part 4
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In July, 1689, the Iroquois assembled and started in great force upon
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THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
the warpath. Passing down the Mohawk to a point a short distance below Schenectady they began their journey through Saratoga county towards Quebec. They crossed Ballston Lake in canoes, then marched to the Mourning kill and descended into the valley of the Kayader- osseras, paddling to and across Saratoga Lake. Then, by way of the. Fish kill, they entered the Hudson and sped northward. On August 5 they reached Lake St. Louis, an expansion of the St. Lawrence a short distance above Montreal. Landing at Lachine in the midst of a terrific storm, late at night, they descended upon the ill-protected settlement and, with a war whoop, began the most awful massacre in Canadian history. Nearly every man, woman and child in the village was hacked to death, and the houses pillaged and burned. The garrisons in the three forts near by prepared to attack the 1,500 marauders the next morning, but word was received from Denonville for the troops to stand solely upon the defensive. Eighty men from a fort near at hand attempted to join the force assembled, but the Iroquois intercepted and almost annihilated the detachment. Late in October, after pillaging the country for miles in every direction and taking ninety prisoners, the Iroquois started homeward. On the west side of Lake St. Louis they spent an entire night in inflicting the most horrible tortures upon their prisoners, and it is even charged that in their awful rage they ate flesh from the bodies of some of their captives. They then continued their march southward, reaching the Mohawk valley in the early days of November, having lost scarcely a warrior from their ranks.
In the meantime James II had been driven from England, William of Orange had seized the throne and war had been declared between England and France. Denonville had been superseded by Count de Frontenac, and the English colonists, assisted by the Iroquois, were about to attack the French. Frontenac, instead of opposing the Iro- quois, attempted to enlist them as his friends by conquering them. In January, 1690, a regiment of French and Canadian Indians left Mon- treal and directed their march to the south. They were formed into three parties-one to strike at Albany, one at New Hampshire and one at Maine. The Albany party was the first to march. It was composed of two hundred men. Over the old trail they passed, entering Saratoga county across the river from Fort Edward late in January. At Schuy- lerville they inadvertently took the road to Schenectady, instead of following the Albany trail. February 8, about dusk, they reached the Mohawk and crossed on the ice. About midnight they silently entered
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
the gate of the stockade surrounding the village of Schenectady, sur- rounded the houses and with a mighty war-whoop began the work of massacre and destruction. Thirty eight men and boys, ten women and twelve children were killed outright. A few inhabitants escaped and fled to Albany, barefoot, in a foot of snow. Between eighty and ninety persons were captured. The next day the invaders started to return to Montreal, covering the same route over which they had come.
The first call for a General Congress of the American colonies was made by Massachusetts in 1690 in accordance with a popular demand that the colonies should organize an armed force for common defense against the French and Indians. In accordance with the call commis- sioners from the colonies of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and Maryland met in the city of New York May 1, 1690, and agreed to raise a force of 855 men to repel the French and Indian inva- sion and if possible to wrest Canada from the French. The campaign was a disastrous one. In accordance with the suggestion of the Con- gress an expedition was fitted out and placed in the command of Gen- eral Fitz-John Winthrop of Connecticut. Winthrop left Hartford July 14, 1690. August 1 the expedition, which had been joined by one hundred and fifty Mohawk Indians, reached Stillwater and encamped for the night. The next morning he proceeded to Schuylerville, where a small blockhouse was occupied by a Dutch garrison. Here he re- ceived letters from Major Peter Schuyler of Albany, who had gone on to Fort Miller. August 4 he proceeded to the latter fort. On the night of the 4th he encamped with Major Schuyler and the Mohawk chiefs hear Whitehall. But small-pox had broken out among the army of Winthrop and the Indians, and as it was evident that there would be no hostilities, it was decided, August 15, to return to Albany, de- stroying a few of the minor forts. Captain John Schuyler, however, continued on down Lake Champlain and made a raid upon the Cana- dian settlement of La Prairie. Thus ended, with no results, the first English expedition against Canada and the French. A year later Major Peter Schuyler attacked the same place, but the raid was of no practi- cal benefit to the colonies.
The next attack was made in 1693. Late in January Governor Fron- tenac dispatched six hundred and twenty-five men, including one hun- dred regular soldiers, a number of Indians and a large band of voyag- eurs to destroy the Mohawk castles and do all the damage possible in the vicinity of Fort Orange. On the night of February 16, after having
I
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THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
passed through the eastern part of Saratoga county, they attacked two of the Mohawk towns, killed several of the inhabitants and made the rest captives.
In the meantime the alarm had been sounded by the inhabitants of the valley, and a small but well equipped force, mostly on horseback, left Albany in command of Captain John Schuyler. Major Peter Schuyler also sent out scouts to watch the movements of the enemy. February 15 the Albany company, reinforced by a body of Mohawks, reached a point near Galway. Two days later, having ascertained the whereabouts of the invaders, they proceeded to Greenfield Centre. The enemy were now only three miles away. On the eastern border of the Palmerton mountains, in the town of Wilton, they had erected a fort after the Indian fashion. Before this fort the English and Mohawks soon appeared and a battle ensued. Neither party gained an advant- age and the fight was abandoned until morning. It snowed all night. The English suffered from lack of food, but the Indians boiled and ate the body of a Frenchman who had been killed in battle. During the night the Canadians retreated, and the English, half starved, refused to pursue their enemies. A day later, however, provisions arrived from Albany and the pursuit of the French was begun. But the French, when nearly overtaken, sent word that if they were attacked they would kill all prisoners. On hearing this the pursuit was abandoned and the English and Mohawks returned home. Two years afterward, in 1695, the peace of Ryswick was declared, and there was no further contest in the Saratoga wilderness until the opening of Queen Anne's war.
In 1709, during Queen Anne's war, another expedition against Can- ada was planned. Five regiments of British regulars were to be joined by 1,200 provincial troops, who were to proceed by sea to Quebec. Troops were also to proceed from Albany against Montreal, in com- mand of General Nicholson and Colonel Vetch, a nephew of Peter Schuyler, now a British colonel. June 1 three hundred men under Colonel Schuyler proceeded to Stillwater, where they built Fort In- goldsby. They also built stockaded forts at Saratoga, below the Bat- ten kill, on the east side of the river, at Fort Miller falls, at Fort Ed- ward, and at Fort Ann, calling the latter Fort Schuyler. All were well garrisoned, the forces having been increased to 1,150 men. While at Fort Ann sickness broke out and greatly reduced the British forces, which finally returned to Albany. In 1711 another army left Albany, but intelligence being received that the Queen's naval expedition had
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
been broken up by a severe storm on the St. Lawrence, the expedition returned to Albany, having accomplished nothing.
In 1744 war was again declared between England and France. Dur- ing the period of peace the French had advanced up Lake Champlain as far as Crown Point, where they had erected Fort St. Frederick in 1731. In November, 1745, a French expedition, originally intended to attack the English settlements in the Connecticut valley, proceeded to Sara- toga On the 16th they attacked the village, killed thirty persons, took sixty prisoners and burned twenty houses. Among those killed was John Philip Schuyler, an uncle of General Philip Schuyler of Revolu- tionary fame. In 1746 the English rebuilt the fort there and named it Fort Clinton. August 29 of that year a band of French and Indians attacked a party of soldiers near the gates of the fort, killed four men and took four prisoners. June 11 of the following year an expedition from Fort St. Frederick, commanded by La Corne St. Luc, approached Fort Clinton. At daybreak the next morning a fierce battle ensued; but the French ambuscaded the English, killing twenty-eight and taking forty five prisoners. Several of the English attempted to escape by the river, but were drowned. Three or four months later Fort Clin- ton was deserted and burned by the English, leaving the French in control of the territory north of the Mohawk river. Peace was pro- claimed in May, 1748.
The final grand struggle for supremacy between the French and English began in 1754 and continued until 1763. During these years great armies marched through Saratoga county, leaving thousands of dead upon its fields. The events of this closing drama are so well known that we shall simply touch upon those campaigns which took place within or partly within the borders of Saratoga county. The first of these was the famous expedition of Sir William Johnson, in 1755.
The French had occupied Fort St. Frederick, at Crown Point, since 1731. In order to drive them thence into Canada an army of five thou- sand provincial troops was raised. In the latter part of June, 1755, this army assembled at Albany, where it was joined by a large party of Mchawk warriors under King Hendrick.1 Early in July six hundred
1 " This celebrated warrior was, for a time, the inost distinguished Indian in the colony of New York. . .
. He was born about the year 1680, and generally dwelt at the Upper Castle of the Mohawk nation, although for a time he resided near the present residence of Nicholas Yost, on the north side of the Mohawk, below the Nose. He was one of the most sagacious and active sachems of his time. He stood high in the confidence of Sir William Johnson, with whom he was engaged in many perilous enterprises against the Canadian French; and under whose command
1
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THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
men proceeded to the site of old Fort Nicholson and erected a new fort which was named Fort Lyman,' in honor of the officer in command of the advance troops. Another detachment of the army soon afterward built Fort Miller,2 at the rapids above Saratoga.
August 8 General Johnson left Albany with the artillery, command- ing in person. The latter part of the month he reached the head of Lake George, intending to pass through to the outlet and fortify Ticon- deroga, better to enable him to operate against Crown Point. But the French had beaten him, had strongly fortified that point and garrisoned it with 3,000 men, under command of Baron Dieskau. The latter, ex- pecting an immediate attack, dispatched a force of 1, 700 men to capture Fort Edward, drop down the river and menace Albany. September 7 he pushed down to within seven miles of Fort Edward, then changed his plans and moved to the southern extremity of French mountain, where he encamped over night.
Learning of Dieskau's movements, on the morning of the 8th Gen- eral Johnson sent out Colonel Ephraim Williams 3 with a thousand troops and King Hendrick with two hundred Mohawk Indians. After marching four miles they fell into an ambuscade of the enemy, who opened a terrific fire. Colonel Williams at once changed the position of his men, but found himself in another trap. He fell, and Hendrick soon followed him. Men were cut down by the score, and the little army soon retreated precipitately. The dead bodies of Williams and Hendrick were left on the field.
Soon Dieskau's army reached the English encampment, which had been hastily barricaded by logs. The camp was assailed in front and on both flanks. Johnson was wounded early in the fight, and General Lyman assumed command. After four hours of desperate fighting
helped in the battle of Lake George, September 8, 1755, covered with glory. In the November number of the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1655, is the following notice of his death: 'The whole body of our Indians were prodigiously exasperated against the French and their Indians, occa- sioned by the death of the famous Hendrick, a renowned Indian warrior among the Mohawks, and one of their sachems, or kings, who was slain in the battle, and whose son upon being told that his father was killed, giving the usual Indian groan upon such occasions, and suddenly putting his hand on his left breast, swore his father was still alive in that place, and stood there in his son.'"-Simms's Border Wars of New York, 1845.
1 The name was soon afterward changed to Fort Edward, in honor of Edward, Duke of York, grandson of George II. It stood upon the east bank of the Hudson, on the north side of Fort Edward creek.
2 Named after Colonel Miller, commander of the force which built it.
3 Colonel Williams was born at Newton, Mass., February 24, 1715. He served in King George's war; built Fort Massachusetts ncar Williamstown, Mass .; founded a free school at Williamstown which afterwards became Williams College.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Dieskau ordered a retreat, and he was severely wounded during his flight. The French retreated to the ground where the morning's en- gagement had occurred and prepared to encamp for the night. Mean- time Colonel Blanchard, in charge of Fort Edward garrison, two hun- dred of whom had been ranging the woods, hearing the cannonading, hastened to the scene. At nightfall they reached the French camp as a number of French soldiers were refreshing themselves at a pool. They fired on the enemy, and so great was the slaughter at the first fire that the pool became as a mass of blood.1 The French soon rallied, but after a sharp fight fled in rout, leaving their packs and baggage, besides a number of prisoners, in the hands of the victors. This ended the fighting. The rout of the French army was complete. The French loss was seven hundred killed, while the English lost two hundred and thirty. This engagement was one of the most important and decisive in the history of the country.
Early in the summer of 1756 Colonel Seth Winslow, with 6,000 troops, marched from Albany to Stillwater, where he erected a sub- stantial fort on the site of old Fort Ingoldsby, which he named Fort Winslow. He spent the summer at Lake George, and returned to Albany in the fall, having accomplished nothing.
In the summer of 1757 Montcalm made a brilliant campaign in the country of Lake George. With a splendid force of 6,000 French and Canadians and 1,700 Indians he proceeded up the Sorel River, entered Lake Champlain and reached Ticonderoga. The object of his expedi- tion was to capture and destroy Fort William Henry, on Lake George. August 2 General Webb, commanding the English forces, sent Colonel Monroe from Fort Edward, with his regiment, to take command of the garrison at Fort William Henry. The garrison at this time numbered 2,200 men, four hundred and fifty of whom occupied the fort, the re- mainder being posted in the fortified camp near the forts. The main army, about 4,500 men, remained under Webb's command at Fort Edward. August 3 Montcalm invested the fort. Monroe sent repeat- edly to Webb, asking for reinforcements, but the latter, one of the most worthless officers in the English army, did not even reply to these requests, though he knew of the superior force of the French at hand. Early in June General Johnson, realizing the weakness of the American position at this important point, had obtained permission from Webb to march to the relief of Fort William Henry, but his force had scarcely
1 This pond has since borne the name of " Bloody Pond."
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THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WAR.
begun their march when they were ordered back to the posts. August 9 Monroe was compelled to surrender. The ammunition was nearly exhausted and half the guns were burst. Montcalm granted honorable terms of surrender, but when the English forces evacuated the fort the Indians, in true savage style, fell upon the unarmed men and mas- sacred hundreds of them. Montcalm strove to put a stop to the butchery, but the savages could not be controlled. The remnant of the garrison finally reached Fort Edward in small parties, and Mont- calm, chagrined over the treachery of his Indian allies, burned the fort and retired to Ticonderoga. At the close of the war, after two years of reverses to the English cause, France possessed twenty times as much American territory as England and Spain together. The British flag had been disgraced by the imbecility of worthless English officers.
English arms met with better success during the succeeding two years. In 1758, after the siege of Louisburg and its capitulation, Abercrombie started on his expedition. July 5, 15,000 men under Lord Howe reached Lake George and embarked for Ticonderoga. On the morning of the 6th, when the English were nearing the fort, they fell in with the French picket line, numbering no more than three hundred men. In the skirmish that ensued the French were overwhelmed, but not until they had inflicted on the English a great loss in the death of Lord Howe. Stricken with grief, the soldiers in the latter's command began a retreat to the landing.
On the morning of the 8th the English engineer reported falsely that the fortifications of Ticonderoga were trifling. Again the army was put in motion, and when just beyond the reach of the French guns, the divisions were arranged to carry the place by assault. For more than four hours column after column dashed against the enemy's breastworks, which were found to be strong and well constructed. At six o'clock in the evening the repulse of the English was finally effected. The carnage was awful, the English loss amounting to 1916 in killed and wounded. In no battle in the Revolutionary war did the British have so large a force engaged or meet so terrible a loss.
Still the English might have returned and captured the fort, for they outnumbered the French three to one. But the weak Abercrom- bie returned to Fort George, at the head of the lake, and contented himself with sending a force of 3,000 men under Colonel Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac. The fort capitulated, counterbalancing Aber- crombie's dismal failure at Ticonderoga.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
In 1759 the gallant Amherst superseded Abercrombie as commander- in-chief of the British forces. In June of that year, at the head of 12, 000 men, he advanced to Lake George, where he began the construction of Fort George. The total French forces on Lakes George and Champlain now numbered but 2,000 men. July 22 Amherst invested Fort Ticon- deroga without firing a gun. Four days later the French blew up Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, and retired to Crown Point, leaving the heavy artillery under a guard of twenty men. Upon the approach of the English forces they fled, and the entire French army retreated to the mouth of Lake Champlain. The remainder of that summer Amherst spent in rebuilding the splendid fortifications at Lake George, Ticon- deroga and Crown Point.
Thus closed the campaign of 1758 and the conflict in Eastern New York. Though the treaty of peace was not signed until February 10, 1763, Saratoga county and its environments were spared any further horrors of war until the famous campaign of General Burgoyne in 1777, the first decisive battle in the war of the Revolution.
CHAPTER IV.
Settlements in Saratoga County Prior to the War of the Revolution-The Earliest Permanent Settlement Made Along the Banks of the Hudson North of Half Moon Point, and Across the River from Schenectady-The March of Progress Northward Along the Hudson-Some of the Early Pioneers.
Many years before the Indian inhabitants relinquished control of what is now Saratoga county, families of industrious whites settled in various parts of the county and founded homes. These pioneers came principally from England, Scotland, the North of Ireland and from the Netherlands. There were a few French families, some Can- adians and some from other localities- Massachusetts, Connecticut and the city of Albany. Few settlements were made, however, ex- cepting those in the extreme southern part of the county, until Great Britain had driven France from Canada and the long series of bloody French and Indian wars had come to a conclusion.
But many white men had visited and partially explored the interior of the county long before permanent settlements were there effected.
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EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In the fall of 1609 Henry Hudson ascended the river which bears his name and probably reached the shallow water near the present site of Waterford, though the journal of his journey makes no mention of his having landed at that point. The immortal Jesuit father, Isaac Jogues, and his companions, René Goupil and Guillame Couture, who were the first white men to see the waters of Lake George, were carried prison- ers by the Indians through Saratoga county's territory to the Indian castles on the Mohawk. This was in August, 1642. In October, 1666, the Marquis de Tracy followed the same trail with his little army to meet the Mohawks and avenge the death of his young friend Chazy. In 1646 Father Jogues made a second journey over the same trail, this time going as a missionary to the savages who, four years before, had sub- jected him to the most horrible tortures. The trail followed by both these travelers ran from the Hudson at Glens Falls along the foot of Mount McGregor, then crossed the whole length of Greenfield, passed near Lake Desolation and continued through Providence and Galway to Caughnawaga (Fonda), in the Mohawk valley.
The early records of the county are so vague and meagre that the location of the first permanent settlements in the county cannot be ac- curately stated; but a concensus of the opinions of the most reliable writers, founded on the colonial records, is to the effect that the first settlements were made in the extreme southeastern part of the county, on the banks of the Hudson, within a few years after the settlement of the country about Albany. These settlements were begun by the Dutch near Waterford some time not far from the middle of the sev- enteenth century, and possibly earlier than that date, though it is ex- tremely improbable that any permanent homes were established there prior to the year 1640.1 It is probable, however, that as early as 1628 or 1629 regular trips were made by the traders of Beverwyck to Half Moon Point, as the latter place was less than three hours' journey from the Fort. Beside this, the Mohawks made Half Moon Point a rendez- vous for trading with other tribes and among themselves, and the pass- age across the river was rendered comparatively easy by a ford from the Point across to Haver Island on the south.
The names of the early Dutch settlers of Waterford-that is to say, the heads of the families-doubtless are included in the following taken from the census of the city and county of Albany in 1720: Jacobus
1 This may be assumed from the early records of the doings of the traders of Beverwyck, as Albany was then known.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Van Schoonhoven, Evert Van Ness, Daniel Fort, Cornelius Van Buren, Cornelius Van Ness, Isaac Ouderkirk, Lavinus Harmense, Teunis Harmense, Winant Vandenburgh, Roolif Gerritse, Hendrick Roolifse, John De Voe, Daniel Van Olinda, Eldert Ouderkirk and Cornelius Vandenburgh. These were enrolled as residents of Half Moon, but as the name Half Moon Point was then applied to what is now Waterford, and possibly adjacent territory of inconsiderable proportions on the north, it is safe to assume that this list is a fairly accurate statement of the heads of families in Waterford and the country adjoining it on the north and west in that year.
A very old record shows that on June 6, 1677, Jan Jacobus Van Noorstrant purchased from the widow of Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick a tract of land "bounded south by the fourth sprout of the Mohawk, west by Roelef Gerritse Vandewerker's land, north by the little creek close by Roelef Gerritse Vandewerker's house, and east by the river, containing about seven morgens of land." The limits of this purchase are very nearly identical with those of the existing corporation of Waterford. Going back still a little farther, November 23, 1669, Goosen Gerritse Schoonhoven or Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick sold a tract of land in Half Moon to Philip Pieter Schuyler. It is probable that the sale was made by Van Schoonhoven, as he and Philip Pieter Schuyler had received permission years before to buy from the Indians what is now Waterford, in order that immigrants from Connecticut might not purchase it and locate there. Van Schoonhoven's purchase undoubtedly was the first investment, with legal authority, of land on the present site of Waterford, and, furthermore, the evidence tends to show that he possessed practically the entire town.
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