USA > New York > Cortland County > Pioneer history; or, Cortland County and the border wars of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 2
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In 1690 Schenectady was secretly attacked by a band of French and Caughnawaga Indians. The hour chosen was the dead of night. The village was completely surrounded, and before the inhabitants were aware of it the torch had been applied, and every dwelling was being devoured by the devastating element. Then com- menced the sacrifice,-cruel, unrelenting. Murder and rapine went hand in hand. Infants had their brains dashed out, or with fathers, mothers, brothers and sis- ters, were cast into the burning dwellings, while the
22
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
red-hot flames, like ten thousand fiery serpents, wreathed their consuming folds around them. Sixty persons thus perished to appease their unhallowed wrath, while thir- ty were taken captive. The few that escaped the awful massacre fled naked through the drifting snow in the direction of Albany. Many perished on the way, and twenty-five of the unhappy fugitives lost their limbs.
To avenge the wrong, a party of young Albanians united with a tribe of the Five Nations, and pursued the invaders, overtook them, and killed and captured about thirty.
Previous to this inhuman massacre, the colony of New York had not been regarded as being in any im- mediate danger of an attack from the French. The colonists felt more especially secure, from the fact that the negociations which were then pending in Europe were likely to bring about an amicable adjustment of the difficulties originating from the conflicting claims of the two rival powers in the New World.
The red leaguers still remained firm to the English cause, and exhibited considerable tact and ingenuity in harrassing their enemies.
In 1701 a general peace was concluded between the French and the Five Nations.
In the year 1712 the Corees and Monecons, or Tusca- roras, were waging a cruel and bloody war against the Carolinas. They were defeated with great loss, and driven from their country. Thus vanquished in their endeavors to subjugate the inhabitants of those colonies, the Tuscaroras left the seat of their ancient renown and journeyed northward, and finally united their desti- nies with the confederacy of the Five Nations, receiving
23
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
a tract of land to dwell on; after which the allied pow- ers were known by the name of the Six Nations.
From the commencement of the eighteenth century down to 1750, the Jesuit missionaries were very success- ful in influencing the Six Nations to favor their cause. They dazzled their uncultivated minds with the tinselled glare of Romish ceremonies, accommodated themselves to the tastes of savages, and held out to view the rich resources, the magnificent splendor of their king's golden throne, and thus ingratiated themselves so far into their good graces as to succeed in obtaining per- mission to build forts in their territory : and when the last French war broke out in 1754, four of the tribes were found raising the tomahawk against their former friends, the British colonists; and yet, singular as it may appear, before the last decisive blow was struck which defeated the French and gave power and domin- ion to the English, the red men had abandoned the French and the " magnificence of le grand monarque," and were once more allied with the English.
CHAPTER II.
LINDESAY'S PATENT .- CHERRY VALLEY .- BRITISH OPPRESSION.
" There was heard the sound of a coming foe, There was sent through Tryon a bended bow, And a voice was heard on the free winds far, As the strong rose up at the sign of war."
GILLIES, the celebrated historian, presumes that men " in the infancy of society " were "occupied with the business of the present hour, forgetful of the past, and regardless of the future." There may have been in- stances where the truth of this declaration has appeared evident. We however doubt its general application. Not so with our Pilgrim Fathers, who two hundred years ago braved the dangers of the stormy ocean, when the May Flower came to this western continent laden with the destinies of this great nation. They left the land of persecution, where religious fanaticism and political tyranny were at their work of oppression, that they and their children might enjoy the rights and priv- ileges of freemen in the new world of promise. Not so with our patriot fathers, who, rather than endure the injustice of British tyranny, or British insolence, made bare their bosoms to the shafts of battle, and shrunk not from the bloody horrors of a seven years' war. Not so
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LINDESAY'S PATENT.
with the dauntless champions, who, from the day of pe- ril when they wrestled with the savage for his birth- right, to the day of glory when they proclaimed a new charter to man, were giving a new nation to the world. Not so with the annointed few who came to sow the good seed, to grapple with infidelity as they rallied around the banner of the cross and descried on the far- off shore of the heavenly Canaan that celestial diadem that was bought with the hues of Calvary. Not so with the early pioneers of our country, who abandoned the soft endearments of home, social ties, and struggled to form new settlements in the wilderness, where before the hand of civilization had not contributed its strength to rear the domestic domicil. They toiled, not alone for themselves, but for their children-for posterity. We glory in the achievements of such men. We take pride in witnessing their success. They are the great bene- factors of mankind-nature's true noblemen. And it will be our humble effort " to rescue from oblivion the names" of those who first warred with the mountain oak, or enriched our valleys by hardy toil; and it will be, too, our province and pleasure to record the deeds of those stern actors, over whose labors the rust of time has gathered, and over whose hallowed dust the green turf has grown, and wild flowers have sprung up in beautiful luxuriance. Nor shall we pass unmindful by those whose whitened locks and trembling limbs point like sentinels to the tomb. We should cherish their worth, emulate their virtues,-for they toiled that we might enjoy the rich fruits of their labor.
Albany county, in 1771, embraced all the northern and western part of the province of New York, extend-
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LINDESAY'S PATENT.
ing from the Hudson river to the Niagara. Tryon county was organized in 1772. It was named in honor of Sir William Tryon, the provincial governor. It em- braced in its boundaries a very large territory of coun- try, containing all that part of the State lying west of a north and south line running nearly through the centre of the present county of Schoharie. The county seat was at Johnstown, the residence of Sir Wm. Johnson.
By examining our State map, it will be seen that Tryon was made up in part of Franklin, Hamilton, Ful- ton, Montgomery, Delaware, Ulster, Sullivan, and Orange, and the whole of St. Lawrence, Lewis, Herki- mer, Otsego, Broome, Chenango, Madison, Cortland, On- ondaga, Oneida, Oswego, Cayuga, Wayne, Seneca, Tompkins, Schuyler, Chemung, Tioga, Steuben, Yates, Ontario, Monroe, Livingston, Alleghany, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, and Chautauque coun- ties. It was changed to Montgomery in 1784.
The boundary between the British and Indian terri- tory, as agreed upon in the treaty of 1768, run from Fort Stanwix, near Oneida creek, southward to the Susquehanna and Delaware.
Various portions of country embraced within the boundary lines of Tryon county have been hallowed and consecrated by the toils, the sacrifices and blood of those who fought and fell in freedom's holy cause. The blood chills as we look back to those days of rapine and carnage, and the pulse throbs with wild emotion as we recur to the stealthy march and midnight massacre- scenes which have made our country classic to those who delight in the recital of tales which send the blood curdling to the heart.
27
LINDESAY'S PATENT.
We see the long defile of painted savages as they wind along the Indian trail,-now issuing from the dark forest upon some defenceless settlement; now robbing some happy home of its brightest jewels, or applying the midnight torch to the pioneer's domicil, while sav- age yells rend the heavens and mingle in horrid discord with the groans of the dying who have fallen by the intruder's hand.
The Revolutionary struggle has lent an additional charm to those battle fields where freedom and tyranny met and struggled for the mastery ; fields hallowed by time, and made consecrate by the uncoffined bones of many a brave warrior. No country presents such scenes of grandeur and glory. In no country has pas- sion stamped its vitality, energy, and sublimity more indelibly in popular traditions and in historic reminis- cences.
In the early part of the 18th century, about 3000 German Palitinates, under the protection of Queen Anne, emigrated to this country. A large number of them made locations in Pennsylvania, while a few passed from Albany, by way of the Helderberg, in 1713, to the rich flats which border Scoharie creek. Here, wearied and wayworn, they paused for rest. Explora- tions were made, and finally a settlement agreed upon. In 1722, the country bordering the Mohawk had become dotted with small settlements, and the footprints of civilization had reached the German Flats.
In 1738 a patent was granted by the Lieutenant Governor of the province of New York to John Linde- say, Joseph Roseboom, Lendert Gansevoort, and Sabrant Van Schaick. This patent contained 8,000 acres of
28
CHERRY VALLEY.
land, situated in the northern part of the [now] county of Otsego, and embraced a part of the town and village of Cherry Valley.
In 1739 Cherry Valley was founded by John Linde- say, a Scotch emigrant. In a few years improvements were so far made as to render the little band of pioneers comparatively comfortable, though they had endured the horrors of an almost living, lingering death by star- vation.
In 1740 the snow fell, during the middle winter month, to the depth of several feet, precluding all in- tercourse or communication between the settlers of Cherry Valley and those bordering the Mohawk. Mr. Lindesay and family were placed in a most critical and truly alarming condition. Unprepared for the close quar- ters to which the severity of the weather had reduced them,-without food, with scanty raiment, and none of the conveniences which were calculated to encourage or improve their unhappy condition,-they looked on all around as one wide waste of dreary, blank desolation. He looked upon his wife, the partner of his early love, and as he saw the pearly tear start from her once sparkling eye, and steal its way down her pallid cheek, where he was wont to see the blush of vestal modesty start, he inwardly prayed that a good Providence might protect, and that the angel of mercy might rend aside the curtain that hid the present from the unknown future. And his children-who will protect and answer to their appeals for food ? The cold, bleak blast, as it comes on its storm-beaten pinions, sweeping over the great lakes and wide-spread prairies, moans and howls among the tops of the forest trees, and
29
CHERRY VALLEY.
sends a colder chill to the sinking heart of the stricken parent.
'Tis night ! The sky is filled with snow, the wind sings its sad requiem. Without, all is cold and cheer- less. Within the frugal home of our ill-protected pioneer sits an aged Indian of the Iroquois tribe. He is listening to the sad tale of the starving family. Touched with pity, the tear of sympathy steals down his furrowed cheek. His majestic form rises from the oaken chair. He is resolved to alleviate their suffer- ings. He pauses but a moment to light his pipe, or calumet of peace, as an indication of friendship with the pale face, then stroking the flaxen hair of the little infant that sat upon its mother's knee, and waving a good-bye with his brawny hand, he left the confines of the pioneer's little empire with slow and measured pace. His course is in the direction of the magnificent Mohawk.
And now, amid the darkness and solitude of a bleak winter's night, the native red man, dressed in the simple Indian garb, wearing heavy snow-shoes, is wending his lonely way to his rustic home, embosomed amid an am- phitheatre of hills just back of that majestic river. Could we have fathomed the thoughts of that "aged hemlock," we should have learned that his mind was deeply impressed with the forlorn situation of his white friends, whose relief was the immediate object of his night march through the drifting snow. His sentiments and grateful emotions were akin to those which ac- tuated the simple aboriginals long before their minds were polluted with the inhumanity of the transatlantic lords, whose object was the subjugation and annihila-
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CHERRY VALLEY.
tion of the red men of the wilderness. In due time the old scarred warrior returned laden with provisions, which he freely presented to Mr. Lindesay and family. With what grateful emotions they were received can be better imagined than told.
Mr. Lindesay was deserving of the Indian's friend- ship, for it had been his endeavor to cultivate the good will of his tawny brethren.
The old Indian made him frequent visits during that long and unpropitious winter, and continued to relieve the wants of himself and family - an act worthy of being written in letters of living light on the tablets of immortality.
The enterprising and spirit-stirring Harpers settled at Harpersfield in 1768. They had received a patent for twenty-two thousand acres of land, located in the present county of Delaware.
At about the same time settlements were made near Unadilla, and scattered families were found locating in various parts of the "plains,"-at Springfield, Middle- field,* Laurens, and Otego.f The population of Cherry Valley fell a little short of 300, and the whole of Tryon county did not exceed 10,000 when the British lion began to thunder defiance on the continent of America.
As yet the citizens of Tryon county had made no open resistance to the measures of the crown of Great Britain, political or ecclesiastical. They did, however, believe in the true and real freedom of all mankind- the right of speech, and the freedom of the press- those inherent rights which are God-given and inalien-
* Early called Freetown Martin. t Old England District.
1
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BRITISH OPPRESSION.
able. They justly complained of the course which had been taken by the British authorities to incite, with foreign gold and foreign rum, the ruthless savage against the infant, and defenceless matron. They had time and again heard the Indian war-whoop, and had vainly sought the protection of the dear ones at home, for in that horrid yell they heard the doom of their wives and children.
Enjoying the name of freemen, they felt that they were becoming mere vassals to an arbitrary power. They knew that the hand that should aid and assist them was wielding an influence to crush and destroy them. . They were sensible that the parent government had stretched a rod over them, and had threatened them with a despot's revenge ; and long before the Revolutionary curtain rose on the memorable plains of Lexington, the Tryon county freemen were found en- gaged in holding meetings, and denouncing the arbi- trary measures of the king and his governors, and freely took part with their brethren in other colonies in utter- ing their opposition to the Stamp act, and various other anti-republican measures which had emanated from the British Parliament. And they resolved to give their adhesion to those measures which finally resulted in the calling of a Congress, which convened in the city of New York in 1665.
After the death of Sir William Johnson, which oc- curred in the midst of an Indian council, held at Johns- town, July 11th, 1774, the difficulties increased, and rapine and massacre were of more frequent occurrence. He had possessed a powerful and commanding influence over the Indians, and displayed an administrative gen-
32
BRITISH OPPRESSION.
ius superior to any who had before been at the service of the British government in America.
Convened at this war council were a large number of the most active and rebellious spirits of the Six Nations, besides numerous high civil dignitaries of the provinces of New York and New Jersey.
Sir William had held the office of Superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern provinces for upwards of twenty years ; and, at the time of his decease, his department included 130,000 Indians, more than one fifth of whom were "fighting men." The Six Nations numbered about 10,000, and could bring into action over 2,000 bold and skillful warriors.
Col. Guy Johnson, son-in-law of Sir William, was his successor in office. But he was a man of an entirely different temperament, possessing but a small share of his talent and judgment, was illiberal, crafty, full of vain-glory, and delighted in playing the tyrant.
The political elements which, for a long time, had been gathering in the eastern provinces, broke forth in a spirit of angry defiance, which was hailed by the Tryon county friends of freedom with a spirit bordering on enthusiasm. They exhibited a devoted love of country worthy of freemen. To animate their New England friends, and cheer them on in the good work of reform, they forthwith met and organized an associ- ation, the avowed object of which was to diffuse a spirit of opposition to the kingly sway and menacing power of British tyranny in the provinces of the New World. They were resolved to enjoy the freedom of their own views, and assist in propagating the principles of equal and exact justice to all men. And yet they knew not
33
BRITISH OPPRESSION.
but that they would be hunted down with savage ven- geance, and that infamy would cling unrelentingly to their names. But what had this to do with freemen? They were opposed to taxation without their consent, and were resolved to cherish the sentiment while a single " arm could beat the larum to rebellion."
Guy Johnson became the leader of the loyalists. Discussions sharp and spirited took place between them, until finally the Colonel discovered the deter- mined will of the revolutionists, and becoming satis- fied of his waning influence, abandoned his royal palace at Guy Park, and with a formidable band of tory and Indian adherents, such as Col. Claus, Brant, and the Butlers, made his head-quarters at Fort Stanwix, sub- sequently at Oswego, and finally at Montreal. Here Sir John Johnson followed with a body of three hundred loyalists, chiefly Scotch.
England, excited to madness by the daring effort, covered our country not only with her own legions, but the insurrectionary negro, the Hessian, the savage, and the dastardly parricidal American tory, all ani- mated by a reckless spirit of revenge, blighting our fair fields and waging a cruel war against the helpless woman and innocent child. But our immense forests, interminable plains, extensive rivers, with the exalted spirit which prompted to emigration, had imparted to the naturalized American a principle of noble indepen- dence, invincible firmness, and a daring intrepidity, which exhibited to astonished Europe a picture of the moral sublime.
The provincial supporters of the royal throne united with the home government in the determination, black-
3
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BRITISH OPPRESSION.
hearted and infamous, cruel and cowardly as it was, of setting ten thousand reckless, pampered, paid savages upon the scattered frontier settlements of the United Colonies, to glut their unhallowed desire for blood, to rob, plunder, and massacre the defenceless citizen, to strike terror into the peaceful and unguarded commu- nity of republican pioneers, to destroy their property, fire their dwellings, tomahawk and scalp the weak, the innocent and decrepit, to torture their prisoners in the most barbarous and unrelenting manner, to dig out their eyes, cut off their tongues, or roast them alive in the devouring element that was consuming their otherwise peaceful homes ; and as the red-hot flames lit up the heavens with a lurid glare, to yell and shout like incar- nate devils over their work of devastation and death.
The Johnsons were in possession of great wealth, and had long lived in princely grandeur. Allied by mar- riage to families of foreign birth and royal blood, and holding important posts by British appointment, shrewd, sagacious and artful, they were found, when united with the Butlers, fit dispensers of massacre to the northern frontiers.
Little thought the British king as he sat upon his throne of regal grandeur, fattening on the blood and bones of murdered and oppressed humanity, that in prosecuting and urging forward the bloody frontier wars of New York and Pennsylvania he was digging his grave of moral infamy, or that the haughty foe, after waging for years a cruel and unrelenting warfare, was to be driven from our shore in sullen gloom and disap- pointment, having lost the brightest jewels that glit- tered in his crown of royalty. He did not for a moment
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BRITISH OPPRESSION.
presume that the heroic actors against whom he warred were destined to gain an immortality of fame and glory, in consequence of the noble and exalted stand they had taken in defense of home, kindred, and country-that their names were to be honored through successive generations,-the penman's theme and the poet's inspira- tion,-or that when the historian should write his coun- try's annals, he would erect to them a monument, at whose base the falsehoods and prejudices of their ene- mies should wither, and around whose summit the light- nings of immortality would play.
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CHAPTER III.
BORDER WARS-BRITISH INFLUENCE-BATTLE OF ORIS- KANY-SIEGE OF FORT SCHUYLER.
" Heard ye not the battle horn ? Reaper, leave thy golden corn, Leave it for the birds of heaven, Swords must flash, and shields be riven ! Leave it for the winds to shed- Arm ! ere Tryon's turf grows red !
" Mother ! stay thou not thy boy ! He must learn the battle's joy. Sister ! bring the sword and spear, Give thy brother word of cheer I Maiden ! bid thy lover part, Tryon calls the strong in heart."
BORDER warfare, in all ages and in all countries, has presented an unrestrained exhibition of human passion; and the frontier wars of New York exhibit to the mor- alist one of the darkest pages that has yet seen the light, embodying a mass of depravity and misery, which the mind of man contemplates with mingled emotions of amazement, horror and disgust ; and presenting a picture of weakness and wickedness, of turpitude and guilt, which has few parallels in any work of fiction. Humanity mourned over these devastations upon the beauty and brightness of her primeval empire, and lifted aloud her voice for their abatement.
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BORDER WARFARE.
The British possessed a very decided advantage over the colonists. They had agents who were appointed and paid by the king, to traffic and cooperate with the Indians in every possible way. The Indians were taught to believe that the king was their natural ruler and protector ; that it was the object and intention of the colonists to defeat, if possible, the English, and then wage an exterminating war against the red men; that, unless they united with the king's people, and assisted in conquering the revolutionists, their hunting grounds would be taken from them, their villages burnt, their homes pillaged, and themselves tortured, massa- cred, or made menial slaves to wear the white man's chains and the tyrant's fetters. Presents in great pro- fusion were frequently made in the name of their royal father, to these unlettered aborigines ; and we are not surprised that a favorable impression should have been made, or that the savages were preengaged in favor of English tyranny, nor do we regard them as having been alone to blame. Far from it. The cupidity and base mendacity of the royal leaders were continually urging forward marauding parties, and instigating them to massacre and blood ! And bitter were the fruits of these unhallowed attempts in Tryon county.
Though the stealthy incursions of the Indians had been severely felt by the inhabitants, previous to the campaign of 1777, they were afterwards attended with a more deadly vengeance.
In July of that year, General Herkimer marched to Unadilla at the head of 380 men of the Tryon county militia, and was there met by Brant, having with him 130 men. A conference was had between Gen. Herki-
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BORDER WARFARE.
mer and Capt. Brant, which finally terminated without tending to the furtherance of the American or Repub- lican cause, leaving no doubt, in the minds of those present, of the determination of Brant and his followers to unite their destinies with the tories.
On the 17th of July, Gen. Herkimer issued his cele- brated proclamation. It breathed the true spirit of the patriot, and was worthy of having emanated from the head and heart of the gallant hero who penned it; and it was very generally well received, notwithstanding the tory spirit which had been infused into the minds of a number of influential citizens, through the agency of the Johnsons, Col. Claus, and Walter Butler, son of Col. John Butler, of Wyoming notoriety.
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