USA > New York > Niagara County > Outpost of empires; a short history of Niagara County > Part 9
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The attack on Lewiston was a horror repeated many times as British and Indians burned American settlements. And the de- struction of Lewiston and the story of the Gillet family give a good picture of what the British and Indian attacks were like during the winter of 1813.
The Gillet family ex- perienced the horror of Indian warfare
The night of December 18, 1813, Mrs. Gillet was alone with the four younger children- Orville, ten; Jervis, seven; Alfred, four; and the baby. Her husband, Solomon, and
their oldest boy, Miles, had reported to Fort Gray to guard Lewis- ton against the expected attack by British and Indians.
Night comes early in December and soon after supper Mrs. Gillet put the children to bed. She left the bedroom door partly open so she could hear them if they called. Then she sat before the fire knitting while firelight played on the log walls of her home. From the ceiling hung ears of corn, dried venison, and pumpkin rings. It was quiet before the fire, except for the ticking of the grandfather clock and the crackling of burning logs.
She felt uneasy without her husband and Miles nearby. And she worried about the children as they slept quietly in the other room. Like most people of Niagara County she knew McClure had burned Newark and she expected the British to strike back. As the grandfather clock ticked toward midnight she dozed in the chair; the knitting slipped from her hands. It was a restless sleep that did not last long and she awakened, still feeling uneasy. Again she dozed.
Down the river, men waited for the cannon signal from Fort Niagara. British and Indians crouched in the dark winter morning, their breath steaming in the December air. Their faces were tense and their ears strained for the cannon sound. They grunted or mumbled as they squatted impatiently in the cold. Their officers walked about on frozen snow that crunched underfoot. They all waited for the sound for action-the time when their tomahawks and scalping knives would cut down the people of Lewiston.
When the far-off boom of the cannon reached them, officers gave low-voiced commands. Silently, swiftly, they moved toward Lewis- ton. Meanwhile the force at Five Mile Meadow tomahawked and scalped the few families at Youngstown, put homes to the torch and then moved toward Lewiston.
Back in Lewiston, sometime toward morning, the faint boom of the cannon brought Mrs. Gillet wide awake from her fitful doz- ing. She awoke her ten year old son Orville. His warm feet stung on the cold floor as he stood dressing quickly in the dark. With his father and Miles gone, it was his job to help with the milking and other chores. The sky had a faint touch of gray as Orville, rubbing sleep from his eyes, followed his mother outside. Cold nipped his fingers and cheeks. On the way to. the barn, his low shoes squeaked on the frozen snow. And he could hear Brindle and Suky moving around in the barn, impatient to be milked. Once inside, Orville warmed as he milked with a steady rhythm.
They had just finished milking when a Mohawk war-cry echoed from the river. They dropped the milk pails. One pail tipped
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over and warm, steaming milk spilled onto the dirt floor. Terrified, Mrs. Gillet started for the cabin and her sleeping children, with Orville close behind.
Three Indians came charging toward them as they were leav- ing the barn. They shoved Orville and his mother back into the barn. Orville and his mother stared wide-eyed as two Indians began ripping the barn apart looking for whiskey. The Indian guarding them picked up the partly filled pail and gulped the rich, foamy milk.
When the Indian's face was hidden by the pail, Orville slipped out of the barn. Keeping haystacks between himself and the In- dians, he started for the woods. He ran as only terror can make a boy run. A minute or two passed before the Indians saw he was gone. Two Indians started after him, but he had a long lead. They halted and fired, but he was out of musket range. They soon gave up the chase and returned to the slaughter at Lewiston.
Running and then walking, and then running again, Orville headed inland away from the river and Lewiston. Snow in the woods slowed his running. He kept looking backward for a sign of Indians. He imagined them lurking behind every large tree ready to pounce upon him.
After three or four miles, he came to a log house. Breathless, stumbling with exhaustion, he burst into the house. It was empty. The owners had fled, leaving their still-warm breakfast on the table. Orville sank to the floor gasping air. He glanced fearfully around the room and noticed drops of blood on the floor. Looking at his feet, he saw more blood. The sharp crust of ice on the snow had cut his ankles. In his terror he had felt no pain. He tried to stop the oozing blood.
Orville rested long enough to catch his breath. Then, stuffing his mouth with cornbread, he continued his flight. Terror of Indians on his trail kept him fleeing most of the day. He passed other de- serted cabins with doors open and belongings left about by fleeing settlers. He spent the night in one. Sick, cold, weak, he dropped off to a troubled sleep. Next morning, as soon as he could see, he was on his way, continually glancing backward. At nightfall of the second day he staggered to the door of a Methodist minister. The minister helped the ragged and exhausted boy into the safety of his home.
Back in Lewiston, the Indians pushed his mother from the barn to the cabin. They tore, smashed, and ripped until they found a jug of whiskey. Mrs. Gillet knew about drunken Indians and expected to feel a tomahawk or knife at any moment. She didn't know how
many more minutes the children would be safe.
Through the open door she saw a British officer and decided to seek his protection. As the Mohawks waited eagerly for their turn at the whiskey jug, she sprang for the door with the two youngest children in her arms. Seven-year-old Jervis followed. Jumping to the door, the Indians threw their muskets to their shoulders and fired. Jervis stumbled and fell. In seconds, one Indian scalped him and dangled the scalp in his mother's face. The officer, who saw the act, shielded her from more harm but did not release her.
For several days she lived in terror, with little sleep and no food. One night, while drunken Indian guards slept, she escaped. Carrying her baby and taking four year old Alfred by the hand she started inland. She decided to make her way to her father's farm, near the Hudson River, almost three hundred miles away.
Without food or money, and with two small children, she set out on foot through the deep snow of the forest. Riding with settlers when she could, and accepting food and shelter from friendly pio- neers, she struggled eastward. After two months of hardship, she reached her father's farm near the Hudson.
In June, 1814, the Methodist minister visited her father's farm and told her about Orville. When the war ended in 1814, her hus- band was released from prison. He returned to Lewiston and found his home charred ruins, his wife and children gone. He decided to see his wife's family and headed eastward. Finally he reached the farm near the Hudson River.
They never saw their other son, Miles, again. He was killed the morning Lewiston was attacked. After the war, the Gillets, like hundreds of others, returned to Niagara County to rebuild homes and farms.
We have seen what war was like in Lewiston. However, Lewis- ton was not the only place attacked that day, December 19, 1813. Much of the rest of Niagara County also went up in flames.
Ridge Road became a place of horror and death
Another place of horror that day was the Ridge Road, the main escape route east from Lewiston. Along the Ridge Road hun- dreds of settlers fled in terror of their lives -old and young, women and children. Fleeing from their beds, many were half dressed, without shoes and stockings in the snow. Walking, running, riding, they streamed down the road on horse- back, in wagons, and in sleighs, each was trying to pass the other. Wagons and sleighs overturned, spilling riders into the snow. They rose and pushed onward in a blind panic to escape the Mohawks chasing them.
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Mohawk hatchets and scalping knives ended the lives of those who fell behind. For eight miles the horror continued. Many who escaped owed their lives to the friendly Tuscarora Indians. The Tuscaroras hid among rocks and in thickets and slowed down the Mohawks by yelling and shooting.
After it was all over, the road from Lewiston was a nightmare. Some broken wagons and sleighs were tipped over in the snow; belongings were scattered over the road. Dead and dying animals lay in their blood. Bodies of some settlers, tomahawked and scalped, sprawled in twisted shapes upon the snow. And wolves started to feed upon the dead.
And so the area was destroyed. The American soldiers could not stop this slaughter. The home guard and militia were not pre- pared to fight. Many times green troops fled at the sight of the enemy without firing a shot. And the militia was the first to flee, not even waiting to warn others. No forts ... no army ... it was a sad day for the Americans. Settlers paid a dreadful price for not being prepared.
Manchester and Fort Schlosser were destroyed The enemy moved along the Lake Road, robbing and burning. They spread destruc- tion as far east as Eighteen Mile Creek and up the creek to Van Horn's mills. From Lewiston, they swept southward to Manchester. They burned it along with nearby Fort Schlosser. Americans offered some fight at Manchester. But General Riall and his Mohawks drove them south- ward toward Buffalo. Riall finally halted at Tonawanda Creek.
More horror befell the American settlers. With no armies or sheriffs to stop them, gangs of men roamed the woodlands, seeking lonely cabins and settlers unable to protect themselves. The gangs robbed them of their valuables.
By Christmas of 1813, most American frontier settlements lay in black ruins. Within three weeks of the burning of Newark by General McClure, the British had their revenge. The result of years of heart breaking work by thousands of people was destroyed in a few days. Homes, belongings, food, animals, and human life were gone in billowing clouds of smoke.
The war ends
What success did the United States have?
The year 1814 was a brighter year for the Americans. They had learned some terrible lessons in 1812 and 1813. Blundering,
stupid, and cowardly commanders had been swept out of the militia. Tough fighting men of judgment replaced them. The militia also lost their foolish notions of glory and parades. Slowly, under fire, they shaped into fighting men. Each time they saw British and Indians, they waited a little longer before running. Soon they stopped running altogether.
In 1814 militia men proved themselves in battle. New Yorkers under General Jacob Brown refused to retreat under terrific pounding in the bloody battle of Lundy's Lane, Ontario. They stayed on the field and mauled the British until both sides with- drew, exhausted. At Chippewa, Ontario, the British received another shock as Americans fought with a fury that sent British forces reeling backward. And Americans fought bravely and well under General Peter B. Porter and Colonel Winfield Scott in other battles.
What did the peace treaty settle?
The end of the war came in 1814 with the signing in Belgium of the Treaty of Ghent. The United States did not get Canada. Nor did the United States force the British to agree to stop seizing American cargoes and seamen. But the British had defeated the French and their need for seamen and the necessity of preventing supplies from reaching France had passed. The British did bring an end to Indian raids in the West.
After the war, settlers returned to Niagara County. In the next two chapters, we will read how they rebuilt homes, shops, and farms, and how some of the present villages, cities, and towns grew up.
7. Settlements take root along lake, river, and creek
Most towns in Niagara County started beside lakes, rivers, or creeks. Settlements took root along waterways for a number of reasons. For one thing there was the need for transportation. In a roadless wilderness, traveling by water was quicker, easier, and safer than by land. Another reason for settling near creeks and rivers was water power, which for many years turned the wheels of early flour and saw mills. And there was a final reason why settlers lived by waterways, although it seems strange to us today.
Many settlers were uneasy about living in the forest. They had come from areas of the East where neighbors were within shouting
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distance. In the thick and gloomy forests of Niagara County it was a different story. Neighbors were few and distant. With the dark and threatening forest pressing in on them, they felt safer living close to the water's edge.
Lake Ontario invites settlement
The largest body of water touching Niagara County is Lake Ontario. The lake was a comfort to early settlers. When gazing northward, they were not so depressed by the dark and strangling forest at their backs. For miles, water and sky spread before them, finally meeting the horizon. The lake was a comforting bond with other struggling settlements hugging the shore.
What settlements grew along the shore?
After 1805 Somerset Near the northeast shore of Niagara and Olcott were founded
County lies Somerset, among the apple and peach orchards close by the lake. But in 1810, when Jacob Fitts tracked into the area, it was woods and swamps. Fitts, filled with dreams of a new home, came west from New Jersey. Within a few years after he arrived, others followed and built their cabins south of his farm. These settlers cut Somerset village from the forest. Some years later, David Barker settled in the woods a mile south of Somerset. The site is now the village of Barker.
From Somerset a narrow beach of pebbles and scattered drift wood winds westward to Eighteen Mile Creek; so named because of its distance from Fort Niagara. Long ago, the creek, pouring from the forest into Lake Ontario, formed a small bay. Here was a small harbor, edged with cattails, that would shelter boats and docks from pounding lake storms, and the creek would provide water power. At the mouth of this creek Olcott grew up.
In 1807, two Canadians, William Chambers and John Brewer, sailed into Eighteen Mile Creek. They felled trees and raised cabins close to its mouth. The following year, Burgoyne Kemp, and a small party herding cattle and sheep, also trailed to the creek mouth. And in 1810 another pioneer, James Van Horn, arrived. The scattered cabins they raised formed a settlement called Kempville, which was later re-named Olcott.
Olcott showed early signs of becoming an important village. The creek made a good harbor. And the lake was a route for ship- ping timber and crops to markets in Canada and eastern New York State. By 1814, Olcott had a flourmill and a sawmill, a general store, ships' docks, and a tavern. It could even boast of a doctor, a person greatly needed in early settlements.
Despite these early signs of growth, Olcott gradually became less important. In 1825, the Grand Erie Canal was completed. It reduced the role of the lake as a trade route. Thus Olcott and its harbor became of less importance. Since the completion of the canal, Olcott has remained a small village. Its beaches, however, draw many visitors every summer.
Burt and Newfane began near Eighteen Mile Creek
A mile south of Olcott is the village of Burt. This village owes its birth to the Van Horn family. They raised a sawmill, a flourmill, and later a woolen mill. They dammed the creek to provide water power to run their mills. The mills and the group of cabins about them became known as Van Horn's Mills. Later the name was changed to Burt, in honor of Burt Van Horn, who played an important part in the history of the settlement and the county.
Three miles south of Burt, Newfane also edges Eighteen Mile Creek. Arthur Patterson cleared land here in 1823 and later sold it to new settlers. Otis Hathaway, surveyor and land buyer, laid out the village. It was first known as Charlotte, in honor of Char- lotte Davis, daughter of an early settler, George Davis. Later it was called Charlotteville, and finally, about 1900, Newfane.
During the War of 1812, British and Indians burned most of the cabins and settlements along the Eighteen Mile Creek, includ- ing Newfane. A house near the Van Horn mill escaped because the Indians decided to drink brandy before burning it. Following the war, settlers rebuilt the village. Other mills gradually joined the Van Horn mills in Newfane. In time the Charlotte woolen mills, (now the Lockport Felt Company), under the leadership of the late William H. Lee, became the most important industry in Newfane. Wilson's harbor con- Seven miles west of Olcott, two branches tributed to its growth of Twelve Mile Creek flow into Lake On- tario. Steep banks rim the inlet and provide one of the best natural harbors along the lake in Niagara County. Close by the creek mouth is the village of Wilson.
Named for its founder, Reuben Wilson, the village is located on the East Branch of Twelve Mile Creek. Reuben and his family left Massachusetts in 1807 and settled near Toronto, Canada. In Canada, Wilson made friends with the John Eastman family and Gilbert Purdy. Together the tiny group faced the wilderness. Three years of endless toil and suffering did not seem to make life more comfortable. They began talking of moving to New York where conditions might be better. Finally, Wilson, Eastman, and Purdy decided to move to Niagara County. They built flat-bottomed boats to cross Lake Ontario, and they gathered their belongings. 61
In April the lake was free enough of ice for a safe crossing. On April 10, 1810 they set sail, planning to row and sail around the western end of Lake Ontario to Niagara County. In the early morn- ing mist their boats, crowded with tools, animals, furniture, and excited children, glided out onto the lake.
The west wind carried a touch of spring as it filled the sails. Gradually home and shore narrowed to a thin line and dropped below the horizon. In the East, an orange red sun climbed slowly from the lake. Southward, the glistening water spread before them. Sometimes the boats pitched and rolled. Waves broke against the sides, drenching the voyagers. The rigging creaked under the strain of the pressing wind. One of the boys sprawled in the bow of Wilson's boat, watching for ice in the blue-green water. Reuben, gripping the tiller, carefully searched the sky for signs of a sudden storm. His wife held the children close by, fearing they might tum- ble into the lake.
For weeks they rowed and sailed around the western end of the lake. At night they glided ashore, camping on strange and lonely beaches. Then late one June afternoon, a faint blue line appeared on the horizon; it darkened to green as they neard shore. Sailing closer, they noticed amid the green a hazy grey outline that turned out to be the stone walls of Fort Niagara.
At Fort Niagara, Reuben spent his last fifty cents for supplies. A few days later, the small group sailed eastward toward Twelve Mile Creek and the land purchased from the Holland Land Com- pany. They glided along the shore lined with steep banks and oak forests. The men searched the banks for a landing while the chil- dren's excited voices broke the stillness and echoed along the lake shore.
Pushing their flat-bottomed boats along the lake shore east of Twelve Mile Creek, they found a landing and unloaded. For shel- ters, while they built cabins, they used the boats. Turning them upside down, they set them on poles and enclosed the sides with bark and boughs. In raising their cabins they had help from Stephen Sheldon, who had settled nearby in 1809. Gilbert Purdy moved further east, so the Wilsons and Eastmans worked through a sweltering summer clearing land and planting crops. By fall they had the cabins up and crops growing. After the fall harvest, it looked as if their food would carry them through the first winter.
In the next year more settlers came, drawn by the lake that was 62 such a good trade route. The lake was soon a highway for Wilson
farmers. They piled their boats with produce and then sailed hun- dreds of miles northeast to markets in Montreal, Canada, return- ing with boats low in the water with supplies. Another market for Wilson farmers was Hamilton, Ontario, where they had their grain ground into flour.
More families moved in and the village lost the raw look of the first years. But Wilson's growth came to a sudden stop in 1812. The British, sweeping eastward, burned it and took Reuben and some other villagers prisoners. The British released Wilson and the others eight days later. Then Reuben and the other settlers trudged eastward, away from the fighting. Within a few weeks, however, they returned to their homes and began rebuilding those that were destroyed.
Following the War of 1812, starvation threatened many of the new families in Wilson. Crops failed in 1816 because of freezing weather in July and August. Old-timers had little enough food for their own families and could not sell food to new settlers. But somehow most settlers lived through the bad years. The year 1818 brought abundant crops and a flood of new settlers. Pioneer farm- ers then had crops to feed the newcomers until they could harvest their own crops.
When the war and the starvation period passed, the settlement grew more rapidly. The Wilson family had an important part in this growth. In 1816, Wilson bought Sheldon's sawmill, built the year before. Luther, Reuben's son, operated the mill and built a house nearby. He increased the mill's output of lumber. With the lumber from his mill, Luther started a boat-building industry. Not only did he ship his own lumber to Montreal, but he also shipped other settlers' products as well. The Wilsons also opened a general store to serve the surrounding settlers.
Education in Wilson began in 1815. By that year enough fami- lies had arrived to start a school. Children went to school in a de- serted log shack. Dr. Warner, town physician, was also school master. Thirty-one years later, in 1846, Luther Wilson helped organize the Wilson Collegiate Institute. In 1869, the Institute became Wilson Union School, and about 1900 the Union School became Wilson High School.
As with other towns along the lake shore, the finishing of the Erie Canal in 1825 decided the future of Wilson. Farmers now had closer markets for crops than Canada, although Luther Wilson's shipping industry was still important. Wilson has remained a farming community with some light industry. However, many people think the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Niagara Power Project will bring changes and new growth to Wilson.
KEY
Railroads
Barge
Roads
Bridges
Creeks
SOMERSET
OLCOTT
BARKER
BURT
NEWFANE
YOUNGSTOWN
RANSOM VILLE
WRIGHTS A COR.
MIDDLEPORT
GASPORT
MODEL CITY
DICKERSONVILLE
LEWISTON
PEKIN
LOCKPORT
SANBORN
NIAGARA FALLS
BURGHOLZ
PENDLETON
76
TRANSPORTATION ROUTES
TONAWANDA
Communities
3 lane Highways
-
WILSON
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Settlements develop on the banks of the Niagara River
West of Wilson, the lake shore, cut by several more creeks, finally reaches the Niagara River. Signs of the river appear before the river itself does. A half mile or so off the river mouth, lake and river roll together over a sand bar, forming a line of foaming water. And near the foot of Fort Niagara's walls, the water, carrying branches and other things from the river, pounds against the foot of the walls.
Just south of the fort, the mighty river rushing north carved a small harbor from the sloping bank. On the banks above this harbor is Youngstown.
What is the history of Youngstown?
Soon after Americans took Fort Niagara from the British in 1796, a number of shacks were built nearby. The settlement was a stop-over for travelers, boatmen, traders, ex-soldiers, and drovers. They were a rough, bearded, and dirty bunch who spent their spare time drinking, gambling, and fighting. But gradually settlers with families arrived. Under the influence of women, shacks and trash heaps nearby disappeared, and the settlement tamed a bit.
Cooke's ferry and Lemuel Cooke was one of the early settlers Young's store helped at Youngstown. Cooke joined the army for give the town its start free transportation to Niagara County. He served his army hitch at Fort Niagara and stayed on after his discharge. Cooke operated a ferry between Fort Niagara and Newark, across the river, until 1802, when he moved to Lewiston. However, Youngstown got its name from John Young, not from Lemuel Cooke. Young was a Britisher who had fought Americans in the Revolution. After the war he settled in Newark. He owned a store and property in Youngstown. Settlers from the surrounding woods shopped at Young's store and gradually the settlement took the name Youngstown.
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