USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 27
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+ Kingston was then a pretty, thriving village situated on a plain a short distance west of the river. It was one of the earliest Dutch settlements in the State. It was originally named Esopus, and that region was the theatre of a tragedy, already noticed, in which the Indians took a conspicuous part in Stuyvesant's time. There were Dutch trading settlers there so carly as 1616. At the time in question it was one of the larger villages in New York.
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INVASION FROM CANADA THREATENED.
is a peerless member of the Thirty-eight United States which form the Great Republic of the West.
While these civil matters were occupying the earnest attention of the people of New York, a most imposing military spectacle was seen within its borders, and filled the minds of every patriot with anxiety and alarm.
We have observed that General Burgoyne was in Canada at the close of 1776 with a large British force. He went to England early in 1777, but returned to Quebec on May 5th following. He came bearing the commission of lieutenant-general and invested with the chief command of the troops in Canada, superseding Governor Carleton. To soothe the feelings of the governor, Burgoyne bore to Carleton tokens of knight- hood which had just been bestowed upon him, and thenceforth he was known as Sir Guy Carleton.
Burgoyne was instructed to attempt the execution of the ministerial plan for the severance of New England from the other States then in revolt. He at once made preparations to invade Northern New York by the way of Lake Champlain, with a large force of Britons, Germans, Canadians, and Indians.
The vigilant Schuyler, anticipating such an invasion, had written to Washington early in the year that at least ten thousand troops, well supplied, would be required at Ticonderoga, and two thousand at Fort Stanwix (now Rome) and at other points on the Mohawk River. Schuyler also engaged two trustworthy residents of Canada to furnish him with the best intelligence of affairs there, from time to time.
Washington made strenuous efforts to strengthen the northern army. Some New York and New England troops had joined the garrison at Ticonderoga ; but when, so late as June 20th, Schuyler visited that post, he was deeply concerned to learn from General St. Clair that the garrison was still very weak, the soldiers miserably clad and fed, and that there was almost nothing in store for them. A strong redoubt had been built on Mount Independence on the opposite shore of the here narrow lake, but there were not men enough to properly man it.
At dawn on the very day when Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga (June 20th), the drums in the British camp at St. Johns, on the Sorel, beat the generale, and very soon the army which Burgoyne * had
* Sir John Burgoyne was born in England about 1730, and entered the army in his youth. He married a daughter of the Earl of Derby. He became distinguished as a soldier, served with honor in Portugal in 1762, and became a member of Parliament. With the commission of brigadier-general he arrived in Boston late in May, 1775. He returned to England late in 1776, and came back to America in the spring of 1777, and undertook the invasion of the State of New York. He and his whole army were made
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
gathered there were upon vessels bound up the lake. The wives of many of the officers accompanied their husbands, for they expected a pleasant summer journey over the country to New York, the lieutenant- general having written to General Howe that he should very soon join him on the navigable waters of the Hudson. The Indians were to spread terror over Northern New York by their atrocities, and so make conquest easy, and the voyage up the lake and the march to Albany almost a pleasure excursion.
At the same time an expedition under Colonel St. Leger, composed of regulars, Canadians, and Indians, was despatched to Lake Ontario with orders to eross it, land at Oswego, penetrate and desolate the Mohawk Valley, and join the victorious troops which might sweep down from the north into the valley of the Hudson. The Canadians and Indians were led by Sir John Johnson. At the same time a British force was to ascend the Hudson, seize the American fortifications in the Highlands, waste the country above in case of resistance, and form a junction with Burgoyne at Albany.
To alarm and distract the inhabitants in the lower valley. of the IIudson and on the seaboard, marauding expeditions were sent out from New York. Late in April a strong British foree went up the Hudson to destroy American stores at Peekskill, at the lower entrance to the Highlands. Too weak to defend them, the Americans, under General McDougal, set them on fire and retreated to the hills in the rear. A little later Governor Tryon, with about two thousand British and Tories, landed on the shores of Connecticut, penetrated the country, destroyed the stores at Danbury, and plundered and burnt that village.
With much display Burgoyne went on board the schooner Lady Mary, at St. Johns, when a discharge of eannons from her deck gave a signal for the fleet to move. His second in command was General William Phillips. The Baron de Riedesel # was the commander-in-chief
prisoners at Saratoga, when he returned to England and resumed his seat in Parliament. He became a Privy Councillor, commander-in-chief in Ireland, and retired from public life in 1784. He died in London in 1792.
* Baron de Riedesel was a German officer, born in 1738, and died in Brunswick in 1800. He served in the English army in the Seven Years' War in Europe under Prince Ferdinand, and became captain of Hessian Hussars in 1760. In 1767 he became adjutant- general of the Brunswick army. With the rank of major-general he commanded the Brunswickers hired by George III. of England for service in America, and landed with Burgoyne in Canada in the spring of 1775. He assisted that general in his invasion of New York, and was made a prisoner of war. His charming wife accompanied him. and after-
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BURGOYNE'S INVASION OF NEW YORK.
of the Germans. At the mouth of the Boquet River (site of Wills- borougli, in Essex County) Burgoyne feasted about four hundred Indians, to whom he made a speech, praising them for their fidelity to the king, and exhorting them to "strike at the common enemy of their sov- ereign and America." He forbade them to kill any excepting in bat- tle, or to take scalps from any but the dead. The whole invading army arrived at Crown Point on June 26th. They then numbered something less than nine thousand men, with a powerful train of artil- lerv.
The garrisons at Ticonderoga and Mount Independence had an aggregate force of not more than thirty-five hundred men, and only one in ten of them possessing a bayonet. Schuyler, who was at Albany making provision to meet the invasion of the Mohawk region, BARONESS DE RIEDESEL, had too few troops to spare a re- enforcement for St. Clair without uncovering points which, left un- protected, might allow the invaders to gain the rear of the lake fortresses. There were strong outposts around Ticonderoga, but there were not troops enough to man them ; and there were eminences that commanded the fort that were left unguarded for the same reason. Between Ticonderoga and Mount Independence was a boom which the Americans thought would effectually bar the way of British vessels ascending the lake ; but it utterly failed in the hour of need.
At Crown Point Burgoyne issued a pompous proclamation to the inhabitants of the upper Hudson Valley, which he prefaced with a list of his titles, followed by terrible threats in allusion to what the Indians might do if unrestrained. It did not frighten the people at all. They knew the character of the Indians, and regarded the proclama-
ward published an interesting account of her experience in America. The baron was exchanged in 1780 and was made lieutenant-general. His wife was a daughter of the Prussian Minister Massow. She died in Berlin in 1808. The baron's Memoirs and his wife's Letters and Journal have been translated into English and published by W. L. Stone, Esq.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
tion with contempt." St. Clair also indulged in hopes and a little boasting.
On July 1st, a bright, hot day, the invading army moved in two divisions from Crown Point to attack Forts Ticonderoga and Indepen- dence. The right wing, led by General Phillips, moved up the west side of the lake, and the left wing, composed of the Germans commanded by General Riedesel, moved up the east side. The dragoons formed the advance guard. General Burgoyne and his staff were on the schooner Royal George, from which he could watch the movements of each division. The whole force halted within three miles of Forts Ticon- deroga and Independence.
A detachment of the right wing of the army seized an eminence that commanded the road to Lake George and some mills, and they soon took possession of the crest of Mount Defiance, and planted a battery upon it, whence plunging shot might be hurled into Fort Ticonderoga from a point several hundred feet above it. This was done so secretly that the first intimation St. Clair had of it was the startling sight, at dawn on July 5th. It seemed to the Americans more like the lingering appari- tions of a night vision than the terrible reality they were compelled to acknowledge it to be.
The fort was now clearly untenable. A council of war determined that only in secret flight might the garrison hope for salvation from destruction or capture. The flight was undertaken the same night. The invalids and convalescents, stores and baggage, were sent up the lake that evening to Skenesborough (now Whitehall) on bateaux ; and at about two o'clock in the morning (Sunday, July 6th) the garrison
# The following poetical paraphrase of the proclamation was attributed to Francis Hopkinson, author of " The Battle of the Kegs :"
" I will let loose the dogs of hell, Five thousand Indians, who shall yell, And foam and tear, and griu and roar, And drench their moccasins in gore ; To these I'll give full scope and play,
From Ticonderog' to Florida. They'll scalp your heads and kick your shins,
And rip your - and flay your skins ;
And of your ears be nimble croppers, And make your thumbs tobacco-stoppers.
If after all these loving warnings,
My wishes and my bowels' yearnings, You shall remain as deaf as adder, Or grow with hostile rage the madder,
I swear by St. George and by St. Paul, I will exterminate you all. Subscribed with my manual sign,
To test these presents-JOHN BURGOYNE."
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EVACUATION OF TICONDEROGA.
crossed a floating bridge at the boom to Fort Independence, leaving almost two hundred cannons behind them. With the garrison of the latter they fled southward through the forests of Vermont, hotly pursued by the grenadier brigade of General Fraser and some of the Germans. Overtaken at Hubbardton, the Americans, after a short and sharp battle, were defeated and dispersed. St. Clair finally rallied about two thousand men, and with these reached Fort Edward, on the upper Hudson, in safety.
In the mean time Burgoyne had ordered his gun-boats and other vessels to pursue the fugitive bateaux. Before sunrise these vessels had burst asunder the boom on which the Americans relied, and the whole British flotilla engaged in the chase. The bateaux were overtaken near Skenesborough and destroyed, with all their contents, but the men escaped.
General Schuyler, who was constantly engaged in the oversight of everything in the Northern Department, was severely censured for the evacnation of Ticonderoga, when he had no connection with the event. The evacuation was done without his orders or his knowledge, for he was then at Saratoga on important public business. He was tried for the offence by a court-martial, and most honorably acquitted .*
From Skenesborongh Burgoyne sent out a boastful and arrogant proc- lamation, in which he demanded the instant submission of the people, and required them to send deputies from the several townships to meet Colonel Philip Skene + in conference at Castleton, on July 15th. He threatened them with "military executions" if they refused to obey his commands. At the same time he promised them ample protection if they should be obedient.
General Schuyler, who had hastened to Fort Edward, issued a stirring counter-proclamation, warning the people against the wiles of the enemy, whose sole object was by threats and promises to induce the inhabitants to forsake the cause of their injured country, and to assist the enemy in
* For minute particulars concerning the eminent public services of General Schuyler from 1760 until his death in 1804, see Lossing's Life and Times of Philip Schuyler, published by Henry Holt & Co., New York.
+ Philip Skene came to America with British troops in 1756, and was wounded in the attack on Ticonderoga under Abercrombie. He had entered the army in 1739. He was in command of Crown Point for a while. He planted a settlement at the head of Lake Champlain (now Whitehall) which was called Skenesborough, and there he made his resi- dence in 1770. Adhering to the British crown, he was arrested in Philadelphia, but was exchanged in 1776, and accompanied Burgoyne in his invasion of New York. He was with the British detachment defeated at Bennington, and was taken prisoner at Saratoga. The Legislature of New York confiscated his property in 1779, when he returned to England, and died there in 1810.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
forcing slavery upon the people of the United States. He warned his fellow-citizens that the invaders would bring upon them that misery which similar promises brought upon " the deluded inhabitants of New Jersey who were weak enough to confide in them, but soon experienced their fallacy by being treated indiscriminately with those virtuons citizens who came forth in defence of their country, with the most wanton barbarities, and such as hitherto hath not even disgraced barbarians. They crnelly butchered without distinction to age or sex," Schuyler continued. "They ravished children from ten to women of eighty years of age ! they burnt, pillaged, and destroyed whatever came into their power, nor did those edifices dedicated to the worship of Almighty God escape their sacrilegious fury."
Schuyler warned the people of Northern New York that this would be their fate if they heeded Burgoyne's proclamation ; and he told them distinctly that any persons holding any correspondence with the invaders, or who should accept protection from them, would be regarded and punished as traitors to their country.
Burgoyne pushed on from Skenesborough toward Fort Edward, on the upper Hudson, but met with obstructions at almost every step, which had been cast in his way by General Schuyler, who destroyed bridges and felled trees across the roads. Schuyler was then in command of not more than four thousand effective men, a number entirely inade- quate to combat a foe twice as strong in numbers and flushed with victory ; but so effectually did he employ his troops in impeding the march of the invading army that they did not arrive at Fort Edward before the close of July. Then occurred there the sad tragedy of the death of Jane McCrea, the story of which, as set afloat at that time, is familiar to all readers of American history ; but truth changed its features many years ago, and gave the story as follows :
Jane McCrea, a daughter of a clergyman in New Jersey, was visiting friends at Fort Edward at the time of the invasion. She was betrothed to a young man living near there, who was then in Burgoyne's army. When that army approached Fort Edward some prowling Indians seized Miss McCrea and her feminine friend with whom she was staying, and attempted to convey them to the British camp at Sandy Hill. They had placed them upon horses (probably by direction of the lover) and were ascending a hill when a detachment of Americans, who were sent to rescue the captives, fired upon the dusky kidnappers. One of the bullets pierced the brain of the maiden, and she fell dead from the horse. Her captors scalped her and carried her glossy tresses into the camp as a trophy. Her lover, shocked by the event, left the army and
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PERILOUS CONDITION OF BURGOYNE'S ARMY.
retired to Canada, carrying with him the precious locks of his affianced. He lived, a moody bachelor, until he was an old man.
The body of Miss McCrea was recovered by her friends, and was buried at Fort Edward. A tale of romance and horror concerning the manner of her death went abroad. In September an open letter of General Gates (who had superseded Schuyler in command) to Burgoyne, full of exaggerations and holding the latter responsible for the death of the maiden, gave great currency to the story ; and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young men, burning with indignation and a spirit of ven- geance because of the outrage, flocked to the American camp.
Schuyler continually fell back before the pressure of Burgoyne's superior numbers, made stronger by discipline, until, in August, he resolved to make a stand near Stillwater, on the Hudson, and there establish a fortified camp for recruits, who were coming in rapidly. Burgoyne was evidently becoming weaker as he departed farther from his now precarious supplies. His army was soon in an almost starving condition, and menaced on every side by constantly increasing enemies.
Necessity now compelled Burgoyne to make a bold stroke for food, forage, and conquest. Ile was informed that the Americans had a large quantity of stores at Bennington, in Vermont. He sent a detachment of Germans, Canadians, Tories, and Indians, under Lieutenant-Colonel Breyman, to seize these supplies, procure horses, and organize the Tories in that region. This force was met by New Hampshire militia and others under General John Starke a short distance from Bennington, and on August 16th (1777) a severe battle occurred. The invaders were defeated and dispersed, and about seven lmndred of them became prisoners. Many of the Canadians and Indians deserted, and the survivors marched back in most melancholy mood.
This was a disastrous expedition for the invaders. It greatly inspirited the patriots, disheartened the Tories, and depressed the spirits of the whole of Burgoyne's army. It crippled his movements when it was all- important that he should go forward with celerity, for St. Leger, whom he had sent by way of Lake Ontario and Oswego to invade the Mohawk Valley, was then besieging Fort Stanwix (then called Fort Schuyler), with the expectation of soon meeting the lieutenant-general at Albany. His plans were frustrated. It was perilous for him to remain where he was ; it would be perilous to move forward. His troops had to be fed with provisions brought from England by way of Canada and Lakes Champlain and George and a land journey through the forests. Let us leave Burgoyne in this dilemma and take a glance at passing events in the Mohawk Valley.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
CHAPTER XIX.
IN order to moderate the zeal of the Tories and to encourage and support the Whigs of Tryon County, Fort Schuyler (on the site of Rome, N. Y.) had been garrisoned by seven hundred and fifty men, commanded by Colonel Peter Gansevoort. In July (1777) Colo- nel Marinus Willett, an active and judicious officer, joined the garri- son with his regiment. Another re-enforcement arrived soon after- ward with provisions sufficient to subsist the garrison for at least six weeks.
JOSEPII BRANT.
Brigadier-General Nicholas Her- kimer, a venerable citizen sixty- five years old, was then in command of the Tryon County militia. The Mohawk chief, Brant," had re- turned from Canada in the spring and placed himself at the head of a band of Indian marauders in the vicinity of the head-waters of the Susquehanna River, and the briga- dier had watched him for several weeks with sleepless vigilance.
At the beginning of August Colonel St. Leger, with a motley host of Tories and Canadians-the " Johnson (or Royal) Greens"-commanded by Colonels Sir John Johnson, Claas, and Butler, and Indians led by
* Joseph Brant (Thay-en-da-ne-gea) was an eminent Mohawk chief, born about 1752, and died at the western end of Lake Ontario, in Canada, in 1807. Sir William Johnson had him educated by Dr. Wheelock at Hanover, N. H. He engaged in the war against Pontiac in 1763. He became secretary to Guy Johnson. In 1776 he went to England and offered his own and his people's services in suppressing the rebellion in the colonies. He and most of the Mohawks remained friends of the crown throughout the war. After the war he prevailed on the Six Nations to make a permanent peace with the new govern- ment. He went to England a second time, in 1786, in the interest of his people, who were settled on a reservation on the Grand River, in Canada. His remains rest beneath a
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BATTLE OF ORISKANY.
Brant, arrived before Fort Schuyler from Oswego, and began a close siege .* Herkimer with his militia, eight hundred strong, hastened to the assistance of the garrison, sending them word that he was coming. Encouraged by this news, Colonel Willett made a sortie with a part of two regiments. He fell upon the " Greens" so suddenly and furiously that they were compelled to fly in confusion. Sir John had not time to put on his coat. His papers, baggage, clothing, blankets, and camp equipage, sufficient in bulk to fill twenty wagons, were the spoils of victory. The trophies were five British flags. A portion of the " Greens" had gone to meet Herkimer and his men.
On the morning of August 6th Herkimer and his little force were marching, in fancied security, at Oriskany, a few miles west of Utica, when they fell into an ambush of Tories and Indians. They were assailed at all points by pikes, hatchets, and rifle-balls. Herkimer's rear- guard broke and fled ; the remainder sustained a fierce conflict for more than an hour, interrupted about fifteen minutes by a sudden thunder- storm. A bullet shattered the leg of the brave old commander, t and
liandsome mausoleum near a church built on the reservation. His son John was active on the side of the British in the Eastern movements of the War of 1812.
In October, 1886, a slightly colossal statue of Brant, nine feet in height, in Indian costume, was unveiled on the Mohawk reservation at Brantford, on the Grand River, Ontario, Canada. The likeness we give of the chief is from a miniature, exquisitely painted on ivory, from life, when Brant was in London in 1785-86. It is in possession of the Brant family, and has ever been considered the best likeness of him ever painted.
Colonel William L. Stone, the eminent journalist of New York fifty or sixty years ago, has made the students of the history of our Commonwealth his debtors by his elaborate biographies of both Brant and the great Seneca chief, Red Jacket, the most conspicuous representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy.
* The garrison was without a flag when the invaders appeared. One was soon sup- plied, in pattern that was uniform with the prescription of the Continental Congress, by resolution, adopted a few weeks before-" thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and thirteen stars displayed upon a blue field." Shirts were cut up to form the white stripes ; bits of scarlet cloth were joined for the red stripes, and the blue ground for the stars was composed of a portion of a cloth cloak belonging to Captain Abraham Swartwout, of Duchess County, N. Y., who was then in the fort. It is believed this was the first garrison flag displayed after the passage of the resolution of Congress on June 14th, 1777.
+ Nicholas Herkimer (Herkheimer) was born about 1727, and died in 1777. He was a son of a Palatine who settled below Little Falls, in the Mohawk Valley, in the reign of Queen Anne, and was one of the patentees of present Herkimer County. In 1758 Nicholas was made a lieutenant of provincials, and was in command of Fort Herkimer in that year. He was appointed colonel of the first battalion of Tryon County militia in 1775 ; also chairman of the County Committee of Safety, and in September, 1776, was made a brigadier-general by the Provincial Convention of New York. He died at his home ten days after he was wounded at the battle of Oriskany. The Continental Congress voted to erect a monument to his memory of the value of $500, but it has never been done.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
killed the horse upon which he was riding. Seated upon his saddle at the foot of a tree, he calmly gave orders. At length the Indians, hear- ing the firing occasioned by Willett's sortie, fled to the deep woods in a panic, and were soon followed by the equally alarmed Tories, leaving the patriots masters of the field. Herkimer was taken to his home below the Little Falls of the Mohawk, where he soon afterward died from excessive bleeding from his wound, the result of bad surgery.
The siege of Fort Schuyler was vigorously pressed by St. Leger. On August 9th he made a formal demand for the surrender of the fort. It was refused. Fearing the assailants might be re-enforced, and that his own provisions might fail, Gansevoort sent Lieutenant-Colo- nel Willett * to Schuyler to ask him to furnish relief. Willett, with a single companion, who was an expert in woodcraft, left the fort stealthily during a series of MARINUS WILLETT. heavy thunder-storms. He reached the quarters of Schuyler at Still- water on the 12th, and revealed the urgency of the case to the general.
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