Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 6

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > New York > Oneida County > Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York; > Part 6

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Matters were now getting serious and on consultation of the officers of the garrison, it was deemed advisable to send Colonel Willett down the valley for assistance, knowing his great popularity among the patriots of that section. Accordingly, at 10 o'clock on Sunday night, August 10, Colonel Willett and Lieutenant Stockwell, carrying a small quantity of crackers and cheese, stole silently out of the sally port and started without blankets or baggage, on their perilous mission. The usually traveled route down the river was on the south side ; but that route at this time was a dangerous one as it was liable to be infested with lurking savages. They therefore crossed the river into " Factory Village " by crawling on a log, and when over the stream they were in a dense forest in pitch darkness. In rambling about they lost their way and bearings and became alarmed by the barking of a dog not far away. They discovered they were near an Indian camp, and stood per- fectly still beside a large tree for hours, not venturing to move less they should be discovered. Thus they remained until the morning star appeared. From the account which Colonel Willett published in his " Narrative" in 1831, their course was taken northerly, following the

1777-SIEGE OF FORT STANWIX -- BATTLE OF ORISKANY.

Mohawk, sometimes wading in the river, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, so as to conceal their trail. For several hours they pursued this route and then turned easterly to strike the Mohawk settlements. When night came they dare not strike a light, fearing to attract the notice of prowling Indians, and so camped in the thicket without light, fire blankets or covering. At peep of day they were on their feet again, although weary and lame from the day's travel and night's chill. Yet they kept on their journey, now proceeding more southerly, and about 9 in the morning they struck a heavy windfall where were growing large quantities of ripe blackberries. With this fruit and the crackers and cheese, with spirits, they made a hearty breakfast Simm's Fron- tiersman says, that years before the Revolution a hurricane arose in the western part of Oneida county, swept through the forest in an easterly direction across the pres- ent towns of Camden and Trenton, MARINUS WILLETT. and entering Herkimer county at a place called the "Dugway " near Poland, passed onward through Russia, Norway, and Salisbury, extending a distance of fifty or sixty miles in length with a breadth of sixty to one hundred rods, and so great was its fury that almost every tree in its course was uprooted. Its traces were visible more than half a century afterwards and a portion of the ground over which it passed is to this day called "The Hurricane." Willett and his companions must have passed northerly of Floyd and Trenton and struck " the hurricane," having climbed mountains, waded streams and penetrated an unbroken forest the whole distance of sixty or seventy miles. After their breakfast they observed the sun and the points of the compass and without other helps steered for, and about 3 P. M. reached, Fort Dayton (now Herkimer village). On their arrival it was ascertained that General Schuyler had ordered

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

a brigade of Massachusetts troops, stationed some ten miles above Albany, to the relief of Fort Stanwix, and that Gen. Benedict Arnold was to be in command. Having rested one night, Willett and Stock- well started the next morning on horseback for Albany to meet the troops and interview General Arnold. They met the same evening and it was then learned that the Ist New York Regiment was also on its way to Fort Stanwix.

As stated on a preceding page, Walter N. Butler went down the valley after the battle of Oriskany to stir up the tories. The " faithful " were summoned to meet him on Friday evening, August 15, at the house of one Shoemaker, near what is now Mohawk ; he was one of the the king's justices of the peace. Colonel Weston, who commanded at Fort Dayton, heard of this clandestine meeting and sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest the tories. The assemblage was completely sur- prised and all arrested just as Butler was in the midst of his harangue. Among the number were fourteen white soldiers, the same number of Indians, and one Han Yost Schuyler. Although the latter was a nephew of General Herkimer and of weak mind, he was yet a devoted tory. General Arnold ordered a court martial to try Butler and Schuyler as spies, for being found within the American lines. Colonel Willett was appointed judge advocate and the two were convicted and sentenced to be executed. General Arnold approved the sentence and ordered the execution to take place next morning. Han Yost Schuy- ler's brother and his widowed mother, Elizabeth Barbara (Herkimer) Schuyler, hastened to General Arnold to intercede for the pardon or reprieve of Han Yost. As the latter was half-witted, a well known tory, and as the Indians always entertained towards those of weak minds a feeling of superstitious awe, General Arnold conceived the idea of using Han Yost to frighten away the besiegers of Fort Stanwix. In the mean time the garrison had not heard a word from down the valley since the battle of Oriskany, nor from Willett and Stockwell since they left the fort on August 10, and as St. Leger was pushing the siege with vigor and had approached by sapping nearly to the ditch, the situation of the garrison was alarming. Provisions and ammunition were getting low and in this extremity General Gansevoort came to the deliberate conclusion that if no succor came, he would make a sally at night and

1777-SIEGE OF FORT STANWIX-BATTLE OF ORISKANY.

cut his way through the enemy's camp, or perish in the attempt. The Indians under Brant were also getting uneasy and discouraged and it was with difficulty that St. Leger kept them from leaving. Suddenly on the 22d of August, the garrison saw the besiegers break their camps in great haste and confusion, leave their tents with a great part of their artillery, camp equipage and baggage, including St. Leger's writing desk, and flee precipitately towards Wood Creek, over the route they had traveled in a far different manner twenty days before. General Arnold's ruse had worked like a charm. It was this: Han Yost was to hasten to Fort Stanwix with the story of his capture, trial, and sen- tence, and of his escape, showing bullet holes in his clothes as evidence of his narrow chance, and relating that Arnold with a large army was on the march and near at hand. The mother and brother offered to be retained by Arnold as hostages, the latter to be executed if the ruse failed. It was a complete success, for Han Yost and those with him so well dissembled and acted their part that the Indians were ready to be- lieve and to run. But St. Leger doubted. When Han Yost was asked the number of the troops, he shook his head mysteriously and pointed to the leaves of the forest, as indicating the number of the troops. The story had the desired effect, the Indians could no longer be re- strained and without them St. Leger was helpless. All fled and took boats at Oneida Lake, while at the first opportunity Han Yost re- turned to Fort Dayton and his brother was released.

General Arnold and his troops arrived at 4 P. M. August 23, and with four brass field pieces, banners displayed, drums beating, and music playing, marched into the fort amid the booming of cannon, the roar of musketry, and the cheers of the garrison. And thus ended the siege of Fort Stanwix, which placed the seal upon American inde- pendence.

St. Leger, with his scattered forces, hastened to Oswego and thence to Montreal ; from there he proceeded to Lake Champlain and Ticon- deroga, with the purpose of joining Burgoyne; but in that region also matters had suffered material change, to the discomfiture of the British. Burgoyne had gone southward, left Lake Champlain and George, crossed over the Hudson River, severed his connection with his base of supplies, and was foiled in his attempt to capture other supplies at Ben- 7

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

nington. By reason, among other things, of the murder and scalping of the beautiful Jane McCrea, the yeomen of the country were rising and were in between Burgoyne and his line of Canada communications, thus placing him between two fires, instead of placing Gates and Schuy- ler between St. Leger and Burgoyne, as they had intended. Within two months thereafter Burgoyne and his army were captured (October 17, 1777), on the fields of Saratoga, and the British gave up control of the Hudson, and New York was redeemed.

These and other victories, beginning at this lone fortress in the far- off wilderness, sent a glow of joy throughout the colonies, paved the way for France in less than four months thereafter to acknowledge our independence, and justly entitled the territory now within Oneida county, where the battle of Oriskany was fought and Fort Stanwix successfully defended, to be ever remembered by a patriotic and a grateful people.

During the siege, John Roof's buildings afforded shelter to the enemy, and hence were destroyed by General Gansevoort, who gave a certifi- cate of the destruction to Mr. Roof, that he might receive reimburse- ment from the government; but nothing was ever obtained by him. Colonel Willett did not return to the fort ; he did good service elsewhere in the Mohawk Valley.

General Gansevoort remained at Fort Stanwix during 1778, except- ing during occasional absences. The Indians during the year were prowling about the fort more or less, shooting any of the garrison that was found outside of the works. The inaction of the garrison made the men restless and discontented and desertions were frequent ; from the fore part of April, 1778, there had deserted from the fort three sergeants, two corporals, twenty privates, one bombadier, and two gunners. In the fore part of August of that year five more deserted and were fifty miles on their way to Canada when they were intercepted by friendly Indians and returned to the fort. A court martial was held and the five deserters were tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot. On the day of the sentence, six more deserted from the fort. After this, while a party which had been sent down for cattle were returning, six more deserted and were not captured. The sentence of the five was carried into ex- ecution August 17, 1778, at the head of the regiment. In five days

1777-SIEGE OF FORT STANWIX-BATTLE OF ORISKANY.

two more deserted. The emissaries of the enemy had much to do with this. In the spring of 1778 these emissaries were at work in the fort to ascertain its strength and betray it. The traitor, one Geake, was discovered and arrested just as he was on the point of deserting to the British ; he was tried and sentenced to be executed, but execution was delayed. In November, 1778, Colonel Van Schaack, with his regiment was ordered to Fort Stanwix and the old regiment was transferred else- where. In the fore part of 1779 Colonel Van Dyke was in command at the fort, and in February Captain Graham was in charge.

Those of the Six Nations who adhered to the crown made their head- quarters in the country of the Senecas, and thence made raids into the valleys of Mohawk, Wyoming and Schoharie. Washington, Schuyler, Clinton and others felt that a country which furnished so much aid and comfort to the enemy should be thoroughly devastated, and accordingly the memorable " Sullivan" campaign of 1779 was planned to include an invasion of the country of the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. Those nations possessed large fields of great productiveness, extensive gardens and orchards, and lived in frame houses, raised peaches, pears, apples, plums, melons, cranberries, squashes, grapes, beans, tobacco and corn, in great profusion. This Indian country embraced some fifty or sixty towns and all were in a prosperous condition. An expedition was planned to go into that country via Canajoharie and Elmira and the inland lakes. As preliminary, an armed force of 600 started in April of that year, in charge of Colonels Willett and Van Schaack from Fort Stanwix, via Wood Creek and Oneida Lake, for the Onondaga country to lay it in waste. This expedition left Fort Stanwix April 18, and was gone eighteen days, traveled ISo miles, and thoroughly ac- complished its work, burning buildings and destroying cattle and grain. In August of that year the expedition which has passed into history as the " Sullivan expedition" penetrated the country of the Senecas, left destruction in its track and substantially broke the backbone of the Confederacy. More than forty towns were burned, which included 700 buildings, 160,000 bushels of corn were destroyed, gardens were laid waste, 1,500 fruit trees were leveled to the ground, cattle were killed or driven away, and the inhabitants compelled to flee to Canada. The army found the Indian country .a garden and left it a desert.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

William Colbraith was a captain in the Sullivan expedition ; he was the first sheriff of Herkimer county, and the first one of Oneida county. His residence was about half way between the business portion of Rome and the "village of Stanwix."

For the raid of Sullivan, Brant and Sir John Johnson and the Butlers paid the Mohawk valley in kind. The garrison in Fort Stanwix in 1780 was not of much practical use. In the spring of 1781, by reason of floods in the river and fire, the fort was ruined and abandoned. Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October, 1781, practically ending the war. In February, 1783, Colonel Willett was sent by Washington from the Mohawk valley via Fort Stanwix and Wood Creek to capture Oswego by surprise. The expedition crossed Oneida Lake on the ice ; the snow was very deep and the expedition was not successful. When Colonel Willett returned to Albany he heard the joyful news proclaimed by the clerk by the ringing of the city bell.

And now, after seven long years, peace reigned again in the land. The valley of the Mohawk had suffered more than any other like extent of country in the whole thirteen colonies. Statistics show that in this valley during the war, 700 buildings were burned, 1,200 farms left un- cultivated, thousands of horses and cattle killed or stolen, millions of bushels of grain destroyed, 354 families abandoned their homes, 613 persons deserted to the enemy, 197 killed at their homes, 121 taken cap- tives, 300 women made widows, and 2,000 children made orphans. This valley has justly earned the appellation of "the dark and bloody ground."

At the close of the war General Washington and Governor Clinton, with other officers, made a tour up the Hudson and the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix, thence over the portage to Wood Creek and Oneida Lake, and thence to the head waters of the Susquehanna and to Otsego Lake and return. Both became owners of land in Oneida county, in Westmore- land and New Hartford.

1783 TO 1788-EMIGRATION WESTWARD.

CHAPTER VII.

1783 TO 1788-EMIGRATION WESTWARD.

The " old French War," the travel up the Mohawk and through New York, the trade with the Indians, the early settlement around Fort Stan- wix from 1760 to the summer of 1777, the siege of that fort, the battle of Oriskany, and the war of the Revolution. all gave Central New York a prominence in the history of the country, not surpassed by that of any other section in the thirteen colonies. These historical facts made the territory of the Oneidas (now Oneida county), its streams, location, scenery, soil, its beauty and fertility, as familiar as " household words," to the people down the valley of the Mohawk, but more especially to those of the New England States, whose men had been in trade, travel. and war through this section. The Revolutionary war had closed but a few months before men past middle life, with large families, broke up their old homes in New England and made their way on foot, in ox carts, and by canoes up the Mohawk. to found new homes and make perma- nent settlements in the region now marked by the boundaries of Oneida county ; overleaping the Mohawk settlements and pushing their way into the wilderness thirty miles westward from the nearest neighbor and habitation, they commenced anew the battle of life, to fell the forest, clear up the land, till the soil, erect log cabins, and to eventually make the wilderness to blossom like the rose; and in place of the forest, the savage, and wild beasts, make it the abode of a civilized and an enlight- ened race and to be occupied by cultivated fields, by towns, villages and cities. Peace was concluded in September, 1783; the United States armies disbanded in December thereafter and in March, 1784. emigra- tion commenced its course from New England to flow towards the set- ting sun and to settle in the former territory of the Oneidas.

In April, 1783, Congress issued its proclamation announcing a cessa- tion of hostilities. In the summer of that year Washington visited that

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

locality. July 15 he wrote from his headquarters at Newburgh, to Gen- eral Schuyler. saying he had entertained a desire to visit the northern part of the State, and that he had made an arrangement with Governor Clinton to make a tour and reconnoiter those places where the most remarkable posts were established, and the ground which had become famous by the war in 1777, and that he should set out by water on the Hudson July 18, and proceed to Albany. Under date of July 16, 1783, Washington wrote to Congress to the same effect and mentioned his intention to visit Ticonderaga, Crown Point, Lake Champlain, Fort Stanwix, etc. General Washington made the tour to Lake Champlain by the Hudson ; he then returned to Schenectady, and thence went to Fort Stanwix. On his return trip he reached Newburgh August 5 ; that day he wrote to the president of Congress saying :

My tour northward and westward to Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) and my movements having been pretty rapid, my horses which had not yet arrived would be so much fatigued they will need several days rest.

He writes further :

I have directed ten months' provisions for five hundred men to be laid up at Fort Herkimer and ordered Colonel Willett to repair the roads and remove obstructions in the rivers, build houses for the reception of the provisions and stores at the " carry- ing place " [Fort Stanwix] between the Mohawk and Wood Creek.

At that time the cessation of hostilities was awaiting the action of the two governments, with a view to peace. In October, 1783. General Washington wrote from Princeton to an old friend (Chevalier Chas- telleux) as follows :

I have lately made a tour to Lake Champlain and returned to Schenectady; thence I proceeded up the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix and crossed over to Wood Creek. 1 then traversed the country to the eastern branch of the Susquehanna and viewed Otsego Lake and the portage between it and Canajoharic.

Ilistory does not record with exactness whether the Father of his Country made this trip up the Mohawk by water or on horseback, but it is presumable the latter, as General Washington says in his aforesaid letter to Congress, his horses are much fatigued, and besides, on foot or on horseback was the only way he could have gone from Oneida Lake to Otsego Lake. Nor is it mentioned where he stayed over night on his route to Fort Stanwix, nor the names of those who accompanied him.

1783 TO 1788-EMIGRATION WESTWARD.

Campbell's Annals of Tryon County says he was accompanied by Gen- eral Hand and many other officers of the New York line.

In the spring of 1784 emigration commenced. The first to start from New England was Hugh White. He had been selectman of Middle- town, Conn., from 1779 to 1783, and was commissary in the army of the Revolution during a portion of the war. He became part owner of the Sadequahada Patent, along with Zephaniah Platt (father of Judge Platt), Ezra L'Hommedieu, and Melancthon Smith, and by an arrange- ment between them, the owners were to meet on the patent in June, 1784, at the mouth of Sauquoit Creek (Whitesboro), and divide the land

among themselves. Mr. White started from Middletown in April or May, 1784 ; at that time he was fifty one years old and had eight chil- dren. Four sons, one daughter and a daughter in-law, accompanied him on his journey up the Mohawk. One of the sons, with two yokes of oxen, preceded him by land to Albany, where they met, and thence with the teams, they kept even pace with the bateau up the Mohawk. As the party proceeded they found on their way many farms which had been devasted and abandoned and the charred remains of buildings, all of which told a sad and fearful tale of the ravages of war and the suffer- ings of the inhabitants of the Mohawk valley. At a vacant farm known as " Shoemaker's," near the present village of Mohawk, in Herkimer county, the party stopped to plant corn. It was a thoughtful measure, inasmuch as the pioneers were going to a region covered with a forest. This "Shoemaker's," was the same place where Walter N. Butler, Han Yost Schuyler and others were arrested just after the battle of Oriskany, as narrated in a formie chapter. The time the party was thus engaged in planting corn was about May 20 , 1784 While thus engaged, an- other party of pioneer emigrants on their way up the Mohawk from Connecticut passed the White family, and became in fact the first actual settlers in Oneida county. The names of those comprising the second party will be given later on. When the corn was planted, the White family moved on and arrived at Whitesboro June 4, 1784; another ac- count says June 25. That summer Hugh White built a log house and a log barn, partitioned the land with the other owners, cleared off a few acres, and then returned to " Shoemaker's " in the fall, to gather the crop of corn planted in the spring. It was a good yield. In January,

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

1785, Mr. White returned to Middletown for his wife and other son and the two daughters and then came back to his new home in the wilder- ness. For years thereafter all of the State west of Utica was known as the " Whitestown Country." It is glory enough for all future genera- tions to be thus honored, aside from other honors so nobly earned, so rightly deserved, and so worthily bestowed. The persons who passed the White family at " Shoemaker's." as before stated, were James Dean, Andrew Blanchard, and Jedediah Phelps. They started from Connecti- cut in April, 1784, and reached Schenectady May 3, and thence pro- ceeded via Mohawk River, Fort Stanwix and down Wood Creek to a point near its junction with Fish Creek where they arrived May 13, 1784. The Oneida Indians had the year before given to Mr. Dean a tract of land two miles square, with the right to make the selection any- where in their territory. Ile selected the tract within what is now the town of Vienna, north side of Wood Creek, about a mile from its junc- tion with Fish Creek. It was an unfortunate selection, as it turned out. Mr. Phelps was a silversmith and brass founder and he intended to en- gage in that business, and to manufacture rings and brooches for the Indians and Indian trade. Mr. Dean erected a log house close by Wood Creek, and Mr Phelps built a log shop near by for his business ; they made a small clearing and then and there commenced the first actual settlement of Oneida county, after the Revolution. At that time Mr. Dean was unmarried and not quite thirty six years old. Mr. Phelps was thirty-one, had a wife and two children, the oldest six and the other four years of age. Andrew Blanchard eventually located in Kirkland, and in 1788 was married in that town to Anna Cook. In the same year that Hugh White located at Whitesboro, and Dean and Phelps in Vienna, the three families, Damooth or Damuth, Real, and Weaver, who had settled in Deerfield in 1773 and were driven out in 1776, came back to Deerfield Corners and located, bringing with them George Damuth.

All of these families had seen service in the war of the Revolution and all were true patriots. Mark Damuth (who came in 1773) was captain of a company ; Mr. Weaver (or Weber) was taken prisoner near Herkimer by a band of tories and Indians and taken to Canada, and for nine months was confined in prison in Quebec, and so closely that he did not for that time see the sun, moon, or stars. From Quebec he was

1783 TO 1788- EMIGRATION WESTWARD.

taken to England and there detained two years. Descendants of those and other Weavers who came to Deerfield yet reside in Deerfield and in Utica and are prominent citizens ; worthy sons of patriotic sires. Real Creek, which empties into the Mohawk opposite Utica, received its name from that Jan Christian Real whose house stood upon its banks when it was burned by the Indians in 1776.

The next thing of importance, in the order of time, which occurred within the present limits of Oneida county was a treaty with the Indians at Fort Stanwix. The State and National governments were not as yet in good working order, and the relations of each towards the various nations of the Iroquois Confederacy were not well defined or agreed upon. The Indian commissioners in behalf of the State of New York were trying most of the summer of 1784 to get a council of the Six Nations convened, with a view to treat with them. In the mean time Congress was moving in the same direction and for a similar purpose. The Indians kept aloof and were adverse to treating with a State, but generally disposed to meet " thirteen fires " and hold a treaty of peace jointly with them. The State and National authorities were seemingly but not actually in collision with each other. The Ist of September, 1784, the State Board of Commissioners met at Fort Stanwix deputies from the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras held back, but after a while deputies from those two nations came in. It was October 22, 1784, before a treaty was made, and then only as to giving up captives and regulating boundaries. Brant, Red Jacket (a Seneca chief), and Cornplanter, and Governor Clinton, La Fayette and others were present, and also other notable per- sonages. Red Jacket made a fiery and eloquent speech against the Indians ceding any of their lands. Brant left before the session was concluded to go on business to Canada, and nothing particular was ac- complished except to fix the western boundary of the Six Nations. No land was ceded. The United States commissioners were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. That treaty was made with the United States, and none with the State, and it was the first treaty made by the Six Nations with the United States after the war.

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Our county and its people; a descriptive work on Oneida county, New York;, Part 6

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co. Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Wager, Daniel Elbridge, 1823-1896
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: [Boston] : The Boston history co.
Number of Pages: 1612