USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 31
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 31
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Before stoves were used the ample fireplace had various aids in cooking. The iron crane, with its many hooks, was no bad device for pots and kettles of every kind and size. The long-handled frying pan served other purposes. Sometimes a great griddle hung from the crane. Large baking-kettles were an early article, bringing the fire above and below. Tin reflectors were sometimes used for baking meats. The writer has turned a fowl for hours-it seemed so- suspended by a string before the fire. The old brick Dutch oven, however, insured perfect cooking.
Many old men will recall the time when they molded or dipped candles for home use. or dipped splinters into melted sulphur to make matches when few honses could afford the friction match. They will remember the fire care- fully buried at night for preservation, or carried in a firepan to some place. The warming pan for cold beds in colder rooms exists yet, and many remember the foot stoves used in poorly warmed churches. Those are fewer who recall
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flint, steel and tinder for kindling fire, or pine knots and hickory bark slivers for lighting a room. Whale oil, lard oil, eamphene, burning fluid, were pro- gressive steps toward gas and electric lights.
Bees of various kinds for needed aid yet occur in rural districts, but they were many in early days and had striking social features. People met to pare apples, to spin and quilt, to chop and log wood, to husk corn and raise houses. The latter was of great importance when solid timbers made heavy and strong frames. Beside all this, bees promoted matrimony and led to honeymoons.
A list of priees from 1802 to 1806, of some leading articles of the day, ran like this: Ashes six to eight cents per bushel; pumpkins twelve eents per hundred; hay was six dollars per ton; mutton was five eents per pound, and butter one shiilling; honey was ten cents a pound, and cordwood was seventy- five cents per eord. In later days it went up to three and four dollars.
The silver coinage, till after the Mexican war, was mostly Spanish or Mexican, and was legal tender. Eight shillings made a dollar. The pounds. shillings and pence, often used. were reckoned from this, the pounds being twenty shillings of twelve and one-half cents each. Reckoning by shillings and penee is still comnon.
In rural distriets log houses still occur, but are now too costly for common use, though capable of picturesque effects. They were very comfortable and often large. Originally the floor might be the bare earth, or of split wood termed puncheon. This could be taken up if a pin or needle fell through. as the writer has known. The logs were notched near the ends. and might be hewed or left plain. The "eat and clay" chimney was built up of alternate courses of clay and sticks, plastered within. Bark or shingles formed the roof. Often there was but a single room below, and the loft was used according to family needs. This was reached by a ladder or by an inelined sapling with notches eut for the feet. A fine example of the latter is preserved on the Indian reservation.
Ox teams were largely in use, and stone boats and sleds supplied many a need. The winter was welcome to those who drew their produce to market. and the fuel delivered one winter was for the next year's supply. When people got good lumber wagons, chairs were sometimes taken from the house to seat the family for a ride, but oftener a plain board, with a blanket or cushion, supplied the seat.
The annual going of the merchants to New York was an important matter. They provided for general needs, but had many speeifie commissions. A country store of early days would be a novel sight now. Conspicious in its adornments were the loaves of white sugar, suspended from the beams over- head. If a ball game were going on in the street axe-helves in every store supplied convenient clubs for the time. Eggs were a sort of legal tender. and one or two might be handed over for some small artiele as we would pay cents now. Store pay, as distinguished from money, has its signifieance yet. Hours of labor were long and wages low, and a man worth five thousand dollars was wealthy. Money was scarce, and yet people managed to be happy.
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CHAPTER XXV.
FROM THE SALES OF LANDS TO THE END OF THE WAR OF 1812.
The immediate effect of the allotment of the military lands was to stimu- late emigration to them. Few of the veterans went, but others readily bought their lands and settled on them. Many lots were bought on speculation. Men traveled. and taverns were opened; men wanted goods or had something to sell, and stores were established for both purposes. In clearing the land sick- ness became frequent, and it is astonishing how young a doctor could make a good living. There were frequent disputes, and debts were hard to collect.
The lawyers flourished. Workmen of every kind were in demand; the only difficulty was to get money to pay them.
One great local source of irritation was the retention of the forts at Oswego and Niagara by Great Britain, and her avowed antagonism to any forts or even settlements on or near Lake Ontario to be held by Amerieans. They could not pass Oswego without examination. The fort was in poor con- dition when Vanderkemp was there in 1792, but he said: "I saw, nevertheless, in this paltry, despieable fortress, seven barrels of salt, taken from an Ameri- ean Bateau by an American run-away, now a Brittish custom-house offieer. It is forsooth ! a port of entry, which a sturdy Yankee might pass without a fee." Some did.
One reason for holding these two posts coneerned the Six Nations. Dor- chester wrote to Sir John Johnson, December 14. 1786, that their opinion was to be learned about these forts. If they were indifferent they might be given up, but if the Americans tried to take them by force, resistance must be made. In another letter in January, 1787, he said Oswego should have a battalion instead of fifty men. Then it could hold out till relieved by the Canadian militia. If the posts were given up the Americans could reduce the Indians, and Canada would Jose most of the fur trade. A little later he thought Ameri- can posts at Sodus and Erie would hurt this trade. They must be stopped.
In March. 1790, Dorchester thought the troops raised by the United States, ostensibly to subdue the Indians, might be to attack the frontier posts and secure the fur trade. Fort Ontario could not be made defensible.
When Simcoe came to office in Canada he proved a fire-eater. May 4, 1794, he wrote to Dorchester that the Onondagas intended to quit their country privately, and go to Buffalo creek, by way of Oswego. This would alarm the Genesees. "and particularly Danforth, the most virulent enemy of Great Britain in that country." June 2 a report was made of "Oswego sur- rounded by lawless banditti. fomented by Danforth, probably by higher author- ity. Boats plundered, and the Kings subjects detained; complaints sent to the Gov. of N. Y. Reported that Oswego is to be attacked; firing heard on Thurs- day." August 5, Simcoe reported that "N. Y. is establishing posts at Fort Stanwix, Ft. Brewerton and Oswego Falls, and means to erect a post to cover the Onondaga Salt Works." He resented also the application of the French
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colonists in Jefferson county, for flour, and a similar application of Williamson at Sodus bay. It was against the King's interest. He would send officers to Sodus to protest against an American settlement there, and perhaps others to Oswego and Hungry bay. The progress of Wayne's army must be stopped : but it was not.
This is the British side of the account. and they knew what was going on to some extent. The people of Onondaga were alarmed and held a meeting at Morehouse's tavern to see what should be done. Jonathan Russell was sent to Albany to report the situation. In the middle of May General William North, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, Adj. General David Van Horne and Baron Steuben were sent to the spot. The militia were reviewed by them at More- house's, and then they went to Salt Point and ordered the erection of a block house there, which was soon built. It was of squared oak logs, with a stoekade around it of large cedar posts. The site was a bluff on the right of the present Oswego canal bridge. almost in front of the pump house. The State supplied a six-pounder and other arms and munitions, and Captain Jonathan Russell's grenadiers, mostly from Pompey, garrisoned it for a time. A depot for military stores was placed near Jamesville. and all men and boys over fourteen were ordered to be ready for any call. Three men were also drafted from each military company as minute men. They were armed at the military depot.
The Salina block house at last became a storehouse for salt. One was to have been built at Three River point. Another was built at Brewerton by Oliver Stevens for the state. and long remained there, part of it still standing in 1850. After the alarm had passed it was used as a dwelling till 1811. It had a trench and a stockade of stout logs about four rods from the house. The gate was toward the river.
Mr. James Geddes with his men attended the review at Salt Point and re- turned unconcerned. He said : "Not so with the people of Salt Point; for while the bloek house and stockade was building before their eyes, at the expense and by the authority of the State, it seemed that as loyal people they could be no less than afraid. And one afternoon terror took such hold of them that all the houses were emptied, and men, women and children all took to the woods, and spent that night and the following there for safety." The firing of a salute at Oswego on King George's birthday also created alarm.
No special cause for this excitement appears in the Canadian Archives. though plundered boats are mentioned, but the current Ameriean story is that Sir John Johnson had ordered a boat load of stores from Albany in the spring of 1794. This was seized at Three Rivers by a large band of men, who divided the cargo among them. Johnson was angry at this, hastened to Oswego and told his wrongs. The British were also angry, and agreed that Johnson should raise a band of soldiers and Indians in Canada and destroy the Onondaga settlement. Other eireumstanees are added, but no allusion to this is in the Canadian documents beyond the general statement above.
It is rather probable that the people were vaguely uneasy over hostilities in the West. where Wayne was making his way after the defeats of St. Clair and Harmar. In the movements there Indians and Americans were alike inter-
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ested. Fortunately Wayne was victorious and the clouds passed away. The peace which followed led the way to the surrender of Oswego, Niagara and Detroit.
At the same time there was lawlessness. The phinder of Johnson's boats seems well sustained, though not his consequent action. The laying of tolls at Oswego was unjust and exasperating, and it is said that some boats had been seized and confiscated, informers having reported their intention of running the fort. Two of these spies had been seized and publicly whipped at Salt Point. With the surrender of Oswego in 1796 this irritation ceased.
In this whole affair of the posts the first intention on the part of Great Britain seems to have been to give them up at once. Delay brought other thoughts. By holding them the whole of the great lakes might be secured. If the Indians would not yield, a new boundary might be drawn, and Simeoe did not hesitate to say that thus the Genesee valley might be included in Canada. With Wayne's victory this hope vanished. In 1796 the American flag floated at Niagara and Oswego, and New York regained its natural frontier.
Nothing occurred here to disturb the peaceful development of the country till the war of 1812 drew near. The alleged right of search and the impress- ment of American seamen made this inevitable. Insulted and injured by both France and Great Britain the new nation had to prove its manhood like a new boy at school. It gave and received blows, and then was let alone. No one exactly yielded. but shook hands and became friends.
The making of roads. improvement of navigation, military organizations. the manufacture of salt, etc .. are separately treated, but some incidental re- ferences may be made to them from time to time. Meantime there was the usual progress of a new country. Farms were eleared, villages founded, mills of all kinds built, churches and schools provided, industries established. means of transportation found, stores opened everywhere to supply local wants. The air of long culture was lacking, and prosperity was of a ernde kind. The optimist passed through and saw a land of promise. The pessimist plodded after and growled at every step.
Oswego was alarmed when war seemed near. It affected Onondaga differ- ently, for Onondaga had become a county in 1794, and had developed, while Oswego was still in British hands. When the war began it was yet partly in- eluded in our limits, and the interests of both were one, being practically on the frontier.
The old Onondaga arsenal, on the hillside at East Onondaga, is the sole military vestige of that war, the only historie ruin of which we can boast. It was built preparatory to the war of 1812, pursuant to a law of 1808, authoriz- ing the governor to deposit five hundred stand of arms here, to be used on the frontier in case of invasion. It was a substantial but rather plain stone edifice. on a plateau formed by retaining walls. A well known artist, Mr. George K. Knapp of Syracuse, has painted a series of views, representing this at various times.
The deed for the land was given by Cornelius and Deborah Longstreet. November 23, 1809. the consideration being five dollars. It conveyed part of
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Lot 120, and embraced an acre and a half of land. together with "the right of passing to and from the said premises in any manner and in any direction which the said People or their proper Agent or Officer shall from time to time elect and also the right of making and Repairing from time to time such road or roads as the said People or their proper Agent or Officer shall also choose to occupy."
The land was deeded to "the said people for the purpose of erecting an Arsenal or other Pablick building or buildings for the use and benefit of the said people." This was witnessed by William II. Sabin and John Adams, and ae- knowledged before Judge Asa Danforth. It was filed by Archibald Campbell, Deputy Secretary of State, January 14, 1812.
The building was two stories and a half high, surmounted by wooden cannon, which long ago decayed; the roof has long been gone, and a large part of the walls. Strong makes the date of erection 1810, which is probably correct. During the civil war General JJohn A. Green had State arms deposited there, but it has not been used since. Steps were taken at one time by the Ilistorical Association for its possession and preservation. and later the Daughters of the Revolution took up the matter, but the decay goes on.
Mickles' furnace was also a prominent feature in that war. and kept up business till the death of Nicholas Mickles in 1827. It was on the west side of the west road from Syracuse to Onondaga Valley, just north of where the Onondaga Hill road turns off, in Elmwood Park. During the war Mr. Mickles east shot and shell for the army and navy. Elisha and Dioclesian Alvord shipped these from Salina to Oswego and Sackett's Harbor. Clark said that a large quantity was once lying at the furnace. and was wanted on Lake On- tario. Secretary of War Armstrong looked at the map, on which the creek appeared as Onondaga river. and ordered a vessel to go up Oswego river and this to Onondaga Hollow, and remove the stores to Oswego. The falls at Fulton interfered with this order, and it was not carried out.
A wayside memorial, mentioned in the chapter on cemeteries, is not far off, on the south side of the Seneca turnpike, close by Hopper's Glen. The late William Kirkpatrick and Major Theodore HI. Poole took an interest in this. The latter had a letter from the Adjutant General's office in Washington about one grave there, the letter being dated July 9, 1889. "The records of the office show that Captain Benjamin Braneh, United States Light Artillery, died October 14, 1814. at Onondaga Hollow, New York. Captain Arthur W. Thorn- ton, United States Light Artillery, was at that time absent from the company. sick, at the same place; but he died in 1836. in Florida. There is no record of the death of any other man of the United States Light Artillery in October, 1814 when a detachment of the company passed through Onondaga. From the data furnished it cannot be determined who the other deceased soldier, herein re- ferred to, is." It appeared later.
Captain Thornton bought the burial plot of Amasa Cole. the day that Cap- tain Branch died. The company was then eneamped on the green at Onondaga
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Hill. Captain Branch was a Virginian and had recently served at Plattsburg.
The other soldier was Captain Henry Crouch of Conhoeton, an officer of the New York volunteer militia, who died of small pox, April 22, 1815. He had been captured at Fort Erie. September 17. 1814. taken to Quebee and Halifax, and then sent to Salem. Massachusetts. On his way home he was taken ill at Leonard's Inn. Marcellus. When the cause was ascertained he was taken to a suitable place and well cared for, but died fourteen days after he was taken sick. The Cayuga Patriot of May 10, 1815, in giving a full account said: "He was decently interred by the side of a brother officer, at a distance of five miles from the place of his death." Ilis servant recovered.
There is another eurious memento of the period here, though not of the war. In his field book of the War of 1812, p. 854. Lossing said: "The Wash- ington Benevolent Societies (Federalist associations) had made Napoleon's disasters the subject of orations and toasts on the anniversary of Washington's birthday (22d of February, 1814) ; and in Albany, where the Dutch element was very predominant in the population, the emancipation of Holland from his thrall was celebrated. Religious services were held in the Dutch church on the occasion, and a sermon was preached by the pastor. Rev. Dr. Bradford. These were followed by a dinner at the Eagle Inn. These Washington Benevolent Societies originated in Philadelphia very soon after the declaration of war in the summer of 1812. They were political organizations. with attractive social and benevolent features. The first organization was fully completed on the 22d of February, 1813. under the title of the Washington Benevolent Society of Pennsylvania, and each member was required to sign the Constitution and the following declaration : 'We. each of us, de hereby declare that we are firm- ly attached to the Constitution of the United States and to that of Pennsyl- vania; to the principles of a free republican government. and to those which regulated the publie conduet of GEORGE WASHINGTON; that we will. each of us, to the best of our ability, and so far as may be consistent with our re- ligious principles respectively, preserve the rights and liberties of our country against all foreign and domestic violence, frand, and usurpation; and that. as members of the Washington Benevolent Society, we will in all things comply with its regulations, support its principles, and enforce its views.' . . These associations rapidly multiplied throughout the country during the war, but - disappeared with the demise of the old Federalist party."
Two certificates of membership have been found here which do not at all agree in date with Mr. Lossing's statement. The New York societies were earlier. In one the title page is gone and the date and place not filled in. It certifies that Asa Woodruff has been made a member, Reuben Folger being president. and William Hudson secretary. This belongs to the Onondaga Historieal Association. The other is or was owned by Joseph Drake of Syra- euse, and is complete in every way. The title page is this: "Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States. Printed at the Balance Press, No. 80, State Street, Albany, 1811." A head of Washington is the frontispiece in both and both have the address. The certificate reads: "No. 83. This certifies that Mr. Richard Adams, of the Town of Onondaga, has been
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regularly admitted a Member of the 'Washington Benevolent Society of the County of Onondaga,' instituted on the 29th day of October, 1810. July 8, 1811.
Gordon Needham, President.
John D. Bissell, Secretary."
Little happened at Oswego till June, 1813, when a British fleet appeared. opening fire on Fort Ontario, but soon retiring. May 5, 1814, it eame again with an armament of two hundred and twenty guns. Colonel Mitchell was there with three hundred men and five old cannon. Stores had been stopped at Oswego Falls. some removed and some concealed. There was little to defend or defend with, but he sent off horsemen for aid. The sehooner Growler was sunk at once, and a squad of men was sent to the shore with an old twelve- pounder. The fleet anchored a short distance off and fifteen boats approached the shore. The old cannon went off with terrible effect, and all the boats that could went back to the ships. which quickly disappeared.
Next morning they came back, part of them coming near the mouth of the river. A landing was soon effected. and Colonel Mitchell, finding the fort could not be defended. soon fought in the open field. After a struggle there he retreated up the river in good order, to defend the stores at Oswego Falls. There was no pursuit. The enemy raised the Growler, took what stores they evuld and departed.
All heavy stores intended for Saekett's Harbor had to be carried through Oneida lake and river to Oswego, and thence to their destination in any way possible. This led to the battle of Sandy creek, where a fleet of boats with naval stores was attacked. The enemy was repulsed and a safe landing place reached, but one great cable was too much for ordinary means. It weighed nine thousand six hundred pounds, and was twenty-one inches around. The distance to Saekett's Harbor was sixteen miles, and two hundred men bore it on their shoulder, marching a mile at a time.
One ineident must not be forgotten. In a previous war the Onondagas fought against the Americans; now they fought for them. They lit a council fire at Onondaga, September 28. 1812, to which they invited the Oneidas, Tuscaroras and their white brethren. They said to the President of the United States :
"Brother,-We see that the tomahawk is lifted up between you and the British; we are uneasy about it, and therefore we have met and deter- mined to tell you our minds about it.
"Brother, -- At the close of the late war, Gen. Washington told us to be sober, and attend to agriculture, and to refrain from shedding blood. Our good prophet of the Seneca tribe. who is now with us in this council. has given us the same advice, and our tribes have entered into a league to follow this advice. We wish to hold fast to it. and not to take any part in the contest between your people and the British.
.
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"We have been repeatedly told by your agents, that it was your wish that we should remain neutral, and therefore we are much surprised and dis- appointed at the council held lately at Buffalo creek, in being invited to take up the tomahawk.
"Brother,-You must not suppose, from what we have now told you. that we are unfriendly to you or to your people. We are your decided friends. We reside among your people. Your friends are our friends, and your enemies are our enemies. In the former war betwen your people and the British, some of us took up the tomahawk on their side. When the peace took place we buried it deep, and it shall never be raised against you and your people.
"Brother,-We are few in number, and can do but little, but our hearts are good. and we are willing to do what we can; and if you want onr assist- ance, say so, and we will go with your people to battle. We are anxious to ' know your wishes respecting us as soon as possible, because some of our young men are uneasy, and we fear they may disperse among different tribes, and be hostile to you. Pray direct your communication to the chiefs and warriors of the respective tribes, to be left at Onondaga Post Office."
This was witnessed by Ephraim Webster. Indian agent and interpreter. Jasper Hopper, elerk of Onondaga county; Thaddius Patchin, captain of ar- tillery, and Polaski King, justice of peace. It was signed by sixteen chiefs and warriors. Many Onondagas went to the frontier, the names of some ap- pearing among the killed and wounded. Among the former was Hohaho- agua, or Captain La Fort, from whom the noted La Forts of later days were deseended. Clark said he was made the Indian leader at the battle of Chip- pewa. July 6. 1814. but this was a mistake, Captain Pollard being unanimously chosen. Old Tawhisquanta. or Spring the Trap, commonly called Captain John, and old Onondaga chief, had hoped for this honor, though seventy-five years old. He was not even named, and was ent to the heart, realizing all at onee that he had passed the dead line. The tears rolled down his cheeks as he said to Mr. Tyler : "They think me too old, and that I am good for noth- ing." Sadly he left the council and went back to Onondaga. He did not live long. having strayed away in the spring of 1816, and dying in the bushes on the west side of Onondaga lake. It was the "eold year." when frost came in every month. It was sickly, too, and the Onondagas held a council to know why the Great Spirit was angry. Clark adds: "It was decided that it was because Capt. John lay cold, and the white people were solicited to turn out and bury him, which they did on the spot where he expired." This was opposite Liverpool. "There was a place near the first gate on the plank road. north of Salina. formerly known as Capt. John's bear trap, a spot where he had been accustomed to bait and trap these animals."
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