USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 31
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303
SULLIVAN'S DESOLATING CAMPAIGN.
in command of a force of Continental soldiers gathered in the Wyoming Valley, where the horrible massacre occurred the previous year. He was instructed to penetrate the heart of the Iroquois country and desolate it.
Sullivan left the valley with three thousand men at the close of July, marched np the Susquehanna River, and arrived at Tioga Point on August 22d. There he was joined by General James Clinton with about sixteen hundred men, who came down from Canajoharie, on the Mohawk River, by way of Otsego Lake, debarking on the site of Cooperstown. The combined forces numbered about five thon- sand, consisting of the brigades of Generals Clinton, Hand, Maxwell, and Poor, with Proctor's artille- ry and a corps of riflemen. So tardily had the expedition moved that the British authorities had time to send regulars and Tories from Canada and Niagara to assist the Indians in opposing it.
Marching up the eastern bank of the Chemung River on the morning of August 29th, the invaders destroyed the growing crops, and at length encountered a force of regulars, Tories, and Indians, strongly fortified, not far from the site of (present) Elmira.
JOHN SULLIVAN.
The Indians were commanded
by Brant, and the remainder by Sir John Johnson," the Butlers, and Captain McDonald. A fierce engagement ensued, and it was long doubtful which party would win the laurels of victory. It was finally decided for Sullivan when Proctor's artillery was brought into play and dispersed the terrified barbarians. The invading army rested on the battle-ground that night, and the next morning pushed on in pursuit of the fugitives.
That pursuit was quick and distressing. The army after a perilous
* Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William, was born in 1742. His mother was a German girl. He was a stanch and active loyalist ; fled to Canada with several hundred followers ; in connection with the Indians desolated the Mohawk Valley and its neighbor- hood, and was defeated by General Van Rensselaer in 1780. He went to England after the war, but soon returned to Canada, where he remained in the capacity of Super intendent of Indian Affairs until his death in 1830.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
march encamped before Catharine's Town, near the head of Seneca Lake, on the morning of September 2d, and destroyed the village, the sur- rounding crops of corn, and the orchards. The flying campaign, charged with the forces of destruction, had now fairly begun. " The Indians shall see," said Sullivan, " that there is malice enough in our hearts to destroy everything that contributes to their support." His men, burn- ing with indignation, eagerly sought to avenge the cruelties of the bar- barians and Tories who had made the region of the Mohawk a " dark and bloody ground." The Indians fled before them like frightened deer to cover, and the wail of desolation was heard throughout their pleasant land, from the Susquehanna to the Genesee.
On September 14th General Sullivan and his army encamped before Genesee, the capital of the Senecas, in the beautiful Genesee Valley -- the paradise of the Six Nations. There everything indicated the pres- ence of civilization. There was not a wilderness feature in the scene. The rich intervales presented the appearance of cultivation for many generations, and the farnis, gardens, and orchards bespoke a degree of comfort and refinement that would be creditable to any civilized com- munity. But a terrible doom hung over the smiling country. The Genesee " Castle" was destroyed and the capital was laid in ashes. " The town," wrote Sullivan, " contained one hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly large and very elegant. It was beautifully situated, almost encircled with a clear flat extending a number of miles, over which extensive fields of corn were waving, together with every kind of vegetable that could be conceived."
The work of destruction now spread over the whole valley and the surrounding country. Forty Indian villages were burned ; one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn in the fields and in granaries were destroyed ; a vast number of the finest fruit-trees, the product of years of tardy growth, were cut down ; hundreds of gardens were desolated ; the inhabitants were driven into the forests to starve, and were hunted like wild beasts ; their altars were overturned ; their graves were trampled upon by strangers, and a beautiful, well-watered country, teeming with a prosperous people and just rising to the level with the productive regions of civilization, was desolated and thrown back a cen- tury within the space of a fortnight.
This chastisement awed the barbarians for the moment, but it did not crush them. In the reaction they had greater strength. It kindled the fires of deep hatred, which spread like a conflagration far among the tribes upon the borders of the great lakes and in the valley of the Ohio.
After Sullivan's campaign very few military operations occurred at
305
SIR JOHN JOHNSON AT HOME.
the North during the remainder of the year. Lafayette had been in France during the summer, and had induced the French Government to promise to send a more powerful fleet and several thousand troops to aid the Americans. Whispers of this intention reached the ears of the British Cabinet, when the evacuation of Rhode Island and the concentra- tion of British troops at New York were ordered.
A land force under General Lincoln and troops sent ashore from the French fleet of D'Estaing made an attack upon Savannah, Ga., in Sep- tember, and carried on a siege until the second week in October, when it was abandoned in consequence of the sudden withdrawal of the French troops. Lincoln was compelled to cross the Savannah River into South Carolina and retreat to Charleston. Toward that city Sir Henry Clinton sailed from New York at the close of the year with five thousand troops, to open a vigorous campaign in the Carolinas.
In September the intrepid John Paul Jones, in command of the frigate Bonhomme Richard, fitted out in a French port, gained a deci- sive victory in one battle over two British frigates, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. They fought in the waters of the North Sea, off the north-eastern coast of England.
Sir John Johnson took advantage of the hot indignation of the Iroquois, kindled by Sullivan's chastisement, to make a raid into the Mohawk Valley with five hundred Tories and Indians, in May, 1780. He penetrated the country from Crown Point to the Sacandaga River, and on Sunday night, May 17th, he arrived at Johnstown. Between midnight and dawn his force, divided, began to devastate that region, burning every house excepting those which belonged to Tories. In the course of this raid many persons were slain and homes desolated. Such wild terror was spread all over that region that Sir John was enabled to accomplish the chief object of his visit-namely, the recovery of his family plate, which was buried near Johnson Hall when he fled to Canada in 1776. He recovered twenty of his negro slaves, one of whom was the man who buried the treasure. It filled two barrels, and when it was exhumed it was carried away in the knapsacks of forty soldiers. With this property, his slaves, some prisoners, and much booty, Sir John was allowed by the panic-stricken people to leave for Canada without molestation.
On hearing of this invasion, Governor Clinton, then at Poughkeepsie, ordered a pursuit. He led a division in person to Ticonderoga, where he was joined by some militia from Vermont. Eight hundred militia, under Colonel Van Schaick, pursued the fugitives from Johnstown ; but Sir John had such a start that he escaped. He had wisely avoided the lakes on his retreat, and passed through the interior of the country.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
In August the Canajoharie and Fort Plain * settlements were deso- lated by Brant and five hundred Indians and Tories. Fifty-three dwellings and many barns were burned ; sixteen inhabitants were killed ; between fifty and sixty persons, chiefly women and children, were made captive ; implements of husbandry were destroyed, and over three hundred cattle and horses were driven away.
In the autumn of 1780 an extensive expedition against the settlements in Tryon County was planned. The Indians were thirsting for revenge for the wrongs and misery inflieted upon them by Sullivan. The leaders in the expedition were Sir John Johnson, Joseph Brant, and a famous half-breed Seneca chief named Corn Planter. The Indians rendezvoused at Tioga Point, and at Unadilla they formed a junction with Sir John and his forees-regulars, Tories, and Indians-who came from Niagara and Canada by way of Oswego, bringing with them some light artillery. Their plan was to desolate the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk, and then devastate that beautiful and bountiful region down to Schenectady.
The invaders reached the Sehoharie FORT PLAIN BLOCK-HOUSE. Valley at the middle of October. The inhabitants were taken by surprise. Their barns were filled with the products of a bountiful harvest, and stacks of hay and grain were abundant. The invaders besieged the forts, but failed to capture them. Believing them to be stronger than he had supposed, and fearing re-enforcements were coming, Sir John ordered his forces to sweep the valley with the besom of destruction to the Mohawk. Everywhere they applied the torch. Every house, barn, and stack belonging to a Whig was laid in ashes. Fully one hundred thousand bushels of grain were destroyed during that one day's march. So soon as the invaders had departed the exasperated Whigs burned the spared
* After the desolation of the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys in 1778, Fort Plain was erected near the mouth of the Osquaga Creek, and became an important fortress. It stood upon a hill at the (present) village of Fort Plain. It was an irregular quadrangle in form, with earth and log bastions. It finally had a block-house (built in 1780) three stories in height pierced for musketry, the lower story for cannon. It was built of hewn logs. Each story projected about five feet beyond the one below it. The powder maga- zine was under it.
302
OPERATIONS IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY.
houses and other property of the Tories. The Schoharie Valley was made a smoking ruin. Several persons were slain during the raid. Sir John remained two days at Fort Hunter, at the month of the Schoharie Creek, and destroyed everything belonging to the Whigs in the neighbor- hood ; and on October 18th he began a destructive march up the Mohawk Valley. He burned Caughnawaga and every dwell- ing on both sides of the river as far as Fort Plain. On the morning of the 19th he sent a detachment to attack a small stockade called Fort Paris, in Stone Ara- bia, about three miles north of the river.
When Governor Clinton (then at Albany) heard of the invasion of the Schoharie Valley he hastened with a Memory strong body of militia, accompanied by VIV COLEKUIN BROWN General Robert van Rensselaer, to the who was killed in Battle on the aid of the people of the smitten region. 19 day of= October 1186- They arrived at Caughnawaga while it was at Patatine in theCounty of Montgomery in flames. There Clinton gave the chief JE 736. - command of the troops to Van Rensselaer. The latter, apprised of the intended at- tack upon Fort Paris, ordered its com- mander, Colonel Brown (distinguished COLONEL BROWN'S MONUMENT. in former campaigns), to march out and meet the invaders. He did so about a mile from (present) Palatine Bridge, was overpowered by superior numbers, and with forty of his soldiers was slain. The remainder of his troops fled to Fort Plain."
# Colonel John Brown was a citizen of Massachusetts, a graduate of Yale College, and a lawyer by profession. He accompanied the expedition to Canada in 1776, and was specially distinguished in the capture of Fort Chambly. He hung on the rear of Burgoyne's army in 1777, destroying his stores, and so efficiently assisting in the work of his capture. No mention was made of these services in official reports, as Arnold, who had at that time the ear of Gates, prejudiced that officer against him. Colonel Brown and his slain companions were buried in the grounds adjoining the church in Stone Arabia, and fifty-six years afterward (1836), on the anniversary of the battle, a small monument erected on the spot by Mr. Henry Brown, a son of Colonel Brown, of Berk- shire, Mass., was dedicated. There was a large concourse of citizens assembled in the church on the occasion, when an address was pronounced by Mr. Gerrit L. Roof, then a young lawyer of Canajoharie, and afterward a clergyman. The above engraving is from a drawing made for the late Dr. Franklin B. Hough, who wrote an interesting and valu- able narrative of " The Northern Invasion," of which only eighty copies were printed by the " Bradford Club," of New York.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
Sir John desolated Stone Arabia. He halted to rest at a place called " Klock's Field." General Van Rensselaer was in pursuit of him with fifteen hundred men, including a body of Oneidas, led by Chief Louis, whom Congress had commissioned a colonel. Van Rensselaer's move- ments were so tardy that the invaders were rested before he was ready to attack them. Toward evening a general battle began, when a furious charge made by the patriots caused the invaders to give way and fly. It was now twilight, and Van Rensselaer would not allow his impatient troops to pursue until the next morning, when the fugitives were followed by the whole body of the victors as far as the German Flats, where they halted.
Van Rensselaer ordered the Oneidas and Captain Mckean, with some volunteers, to press on in advance, promising to follow immediately in their support. They had nearly overtaken the fugitives when the pur- suers learned that Van Rensselaer had abandoned the pursuit. They retraced their steps as an act of safety, and Sir John and his invading party, who had inflicted such unutterable miseries upon the inhabitants of Tryon County, were allowed to escape to Canada by way of Oswego.
Meanwhile Major Carleton of the British army, with one thousand regulars, Tories, and Indians, went up Lake Champlain, captured and burned Fort Anne, between the head of the lake and the Hudson, and sent forward marauding and incendiary parties toward Fort Edward. At the same time Carleton himself pushed on to the head of Lake George, and captured and destroyed Fort George there. A part of the expedition had landed at Crown Point and made its way through the forest to attack Schenectady, but proceeded no farther than the settle- ment at Ballston, which they desolated. At about the same time another expedition sent out from Canada fell upon the upper settlements of the Connecticut Valley. These expeditions avoided doing injury to the inhabitants on the New Hampshire Grants (Vermont), because the leaders of those people were then coquetting with the British authorities in Canada. For what purpose will appear hereafter.
When Sir Henry Clinton sailed for the South at the close of 1779 he left the German General Knyphausen in command at New York. The fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot, carrying two thousand marines, bore Clinton's troops. They went first to the coast of Georgia, but soon proceeded to Charleston Harbor and prepared to besiege that city, where General Lincoln was in command of a considerable body of troops. The city, the army, citizens, four hundred cannons, and a large quantity of stores were surrendered on May 12th. The Baron de Kalb had been sent with troops to assist Lincoln, but did not arrive in time.
309
THE BRITISH IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The fall of Charleston paralyzed the people of South Carolina. Three British detachments proceeded to take possession of the State. Lord Cornwallis was appointed to the chief command in that region. Clinton proclaimed a general truce, and pardon and protection for all who should accept it. The silence of fear overspread the country for a while. Mis- taking this lull in the storm of resistance for absolute submission and permanent tranquillity, Clinton, with a large part of his army, sailed in the fleet of Arbuthnot for New York early in June.
Cornwallis unwisely began a reign of terror to overawe the panie- stricken patriots. His course aronsed their fiercest indignation, and so soon as an army, first under De Kalb and then commanded by Gates, approached the borders of their State they flew to arms. Energetic partisan leaders like Marion, Sumter, Piekens, and others now appeared, and South Carolina and Upper Georgia became a theatre of active war- fare, until Gates was beaten and his armny was dispersed in a battle with Cornwallis, near Camden. This disaster seemed again to paralyze the people, and the State lay prone for a while at the feet of the invader.
Cornwallis, now confident of his power, proceeded to invade North Carolina. It was begun, but was soon checked by the defeat of a body of Tory militia, led by Major Patrick Ferguson, in a battle on King's Mountain (October 7th), by the mountaineers of the Carolinas. At the same time Marion and Sumter were keeping British regulars and Tories exceedingly lively in an attitude of defence, until they became thoroughly alarmed. The British called Marion the " Swamp Fox" and Sumter the " South Carolina Game Cock."
While these operations were going on in the South and in the State of New York the American people were inspirited by the presence on their shores of a large land and naval foree sent by. France to aid them. They arrived at Newport, R. I., on July 10th, 1780. The fleet was com- manded by Admiral Ternay. It bore six thousand troops, commanded by Lieutenant-General Count de Rochambeau. This event made Sir Henry Clinton more circumspect and cantions. He had been trying to entice Washington, after he left his winter quarters at Morristown, N. J., to fight ; now he changed his course of action, and endeavored to gain, by complotting with a traitor, what he had failed to do by arms.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
CHAPTER XXII.
BENEDICT ARNOLD was in command of the important post of West Point, in the Hudson Highlands, late in the summer of 1780. Ile was a brave soldier, and had fought nobly for the independence of his country. But he was never a true patriot, or he would never have become a traitor. He lacked vir- tue, and became the slave and the victim of passions unrestrained by conscience.
Arnold was military governor at Philadelphia in the summer of 1778. He there married a beautiful maiden (Miss Shippen), only eighteen years of age. He was forty-eight. He lived in splendor at an expense far BENEDICT ARNOLD.' beyond his means, became involved in debt, and to meet the demands of his creditors he engaged in practices which caused him to be charged with dishonesty and malfeasance in office. He was tried by a court-
* Benedict Arnold, a brave soldier who became a conspicuous traitor, was born at Norwich, Conn., January 3d, 1741 ; died in London, June 14th, 1804. Apprenticed to an apothecary, he ran away ; enlisted as a soldier ; deserted ; engaged a few years in the business of a bookseller and druggist in New Haven, and a trader with the West Indies. After the affair at Lexington he raised a company of volunteers, and accompanied Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga. He performed gallant service in naval warfare on Lake Champlain the following year. Meanwhile he had made a perilous march through the wilderness from the Kennebec River to Quebec ; engaged in the siege of that city ; was badly wounded ; was chiefly instrumental in winning the battles that resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne, and was again wounded in these conflicts. While in command as military governor at Philadelphia he opened a treasonable correspondence with the British. His attempt to betray West Point failed, and he escaped to the British lines. He served in the British army in predatory warfare upon his countrymen ; went to England, where he was despised by all honorable men ; became for a while a resident of St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he was hung in effigy. He soon returned to England, where he lived in obscurity. One of his sons became a lieutenant-general in the British army.
311
THE TREASON OF GENERAL ARNOLD.
martial, and sentenced to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief of the armies. It was done by Washington in the most delicate manner.
Vengeful feelings took possession of the heart and mind of Arnold, which led him to make an attempt to betray his country. He made treasonable overtures secretly to Sir Henry Clinton, and held treasonable correspondence for several months, under assumed names, with Major André, Clinton's adjutant-general. Before they met face to face Arnold promised to surrender the post of West Point and its dependencies (of which, on his earnest solicitation, he had been made commander in Angust) into the hands of the enemy. The possession of West Point . by the British would secure the control of the Hudson ; cut off New England from the rest of the States ; facilitate intercourse with Canada, and lead to the speedy accomplishment of all that the expeditions of Burgoyne and St. Leger were expected to effect. Arnold agreed to strike this deadly blow at the liberties of his patriotic countrymen for the consideration of a brigadier's commission in the royal army and $50,000 in gold.
The time chosen for the consummation of this unholy bargain was late in September, 1780, when Washington would be in Hartford, Conn., conferring with the French officers. Arrangements were made for a personal interview between Arnold and Andre to conclude a final settle- ment of the details. The place selected by Arnold for the interview was a lonely spot not far below Haverstraw, on the west side of the Hudson, and the time midnight, September 20th.
Andre aseended the river on the sloop-of-war Vulture, and was taken ashore in a boat * sent by Arnold, in charge of his friend, Joshua Hett Smith, who lived between Haverstraw and Stony Point. The com- plotters met in the dark. Andre's uniform was concealed by a surtout. He had been instructed to neither carry nor feteh any papers. The con- ference was protracted. Day dawned and it was not ended. Arnold persuaded André to accompany him to Smith's house to complete the arrangements, without informing him that the dwelling was within the American lines. Meanwhile the Vulture had been driven down the river by cannonading from Teller's Point, on the eastern shore.
* On the morning at first fixed for his execution (October 1st, 1780) Major André made a pen-and-ink sketch representing his conveyance to the shore from the Vulture in a small boat. There are two persons in the boat besides the oarsman. This sketch, with " J. A., fecit, Oct. 1, 1780," written in a corner, was found on his table after his execu- tion, on October 2d ; also a pen-and-ink sketch of his own portrait sitting at a table. His servant delivered these sketches to Colonel Crosbie, of the Twenty-second Regiment, on his return to New York.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
At Smith's house the final arrangements were made. Clinton was to aseend the river with a powerful force, when Arnold, after making a show of resistance, should surrender the post, pleading as an excuse the weakness of the garrison.
This wieked scheme perfected, André was anxious to return to the Vulture that night, but Smith refused to go so far down the river, and it was arranged for the adjutant-general to return to New York by land. Exchanging his uniform for a suit supplied by Smith, and accompanied by that gentleman, he crossed the river at the King's Ferry at twilight, bearing the following passport :
" Permit Mr. John Anderson [an assumed name] to pass the guards to the White Plains, or below, if he chooses, he being on public B. ARNOLD, M. G."
business.
In violation of his instructions, Andre had received from Arnold some papers explanatory of the condition of West Point and its dependencies, and concealed thein in his stockings beneath his feet. He and his attendants passed the night near the Croton River. The next morning he journeyed on alone on horseback, and soon reached the neutral ground in Westchester County.
Near Tarrytown three young militiamen-John Paulding, Isaac van Wart, and David Williams-were playing cards on the edge of a wood when Andre approached. Paulding, dressed in a British trooper's coat, stepped into the road and hailed him. The young man had been a prisoner a short time, and had been stripped of his better farmer's eoat and given the old red one he had on. The traveller, misled by this coat, said :
" Gentlemen, I hope you belong to our party."
" Which party ?" asked Paulding.
" The lower party."
" We do."
Thus completely thrown off his gnard, Andre avowed himself to be a British officer, when they said :
" We are Americans."
Astonished and alarmed, Andre now exhibited Arnold's passport. The young men shook their heads. He had avowed himself a Britishi offieer. His speech confirmed the truth of that avowal. Their sus- picions that he might be a spy were aroused. They invited him to dis- mount, and then proceeded to search him. Pulling off his boots, the tell-tale papers were discovered.
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