USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 39
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* President Jefferson in his message to Congress, in December, 1807, proposed the application of the surplus funds in the National Treasury to the great national objects of opening canals and making turnpike roads. In his preamble Mr. Forman pointed out the fact that the State of New York possessed the best route of communication between the Atlantic and Western waters, " by means of a canal between the tide-water of the Hudson and Lake Erie."
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The resolution was adopted, and the sum of $600 was appropriated for surveys to be made under the direction of the surveyor-general. This was the first legislative movement in reference to the Erie Canal.
Surveyor-General De Witt employed Mr. Geddes to survey a route from Lake Erie to the Genesee River, and thence to the waters flowing into Seneca Lake. His favorable report attracted great attention. De Witt Clinton was then a member of the State Senate, and became deeply interested in the matter. He warmly espoused the project. So also did Stephen van Rensselaer in the Assembly. The matter rested until the next year, when, on motion of Senator Jonas Platt, commissioners were appointed to explore the whole route for a canal through the centre of the State from Lake Erie to the Hudson River .* It was accom- plished.
In April, 1811, an act was passed to provide for the " improvement of the internal navigation of the State." Efforts were made to obtain aid from the National Government and otherwise. The commissioners were authorized to make application to Congress or to any State or Territory, and request them to co-operate with New York in the project. Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton were added to the commission.
Early in December Messrs. Clinton and Morris appeared before Con- gress and endeavored to obtain an appropriation for the work, but were unsuccessful. This failure was a fortunate circumstance, for it allowed the State of New York to construct the canal alone and unaided, and so to secure to itself the undivided honor of the achievement and the undis- puted possession and control of the great work for all time. The pride and patriotism of the people of the State were effectnally appealed to, and in June, 1812, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the com- missioners to borrow $5,000,000 on the credit of the State. But the war with Great Britain, which broke out at that time, caused a suspen- sion of the work, and the law was repealed in 1814.
A few months after the restoration of peace the subject was revived. By the exertions of Thomas Eddy t a public meeting was held at New
* The commissioners were Gouverneur Morris, Stephen van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Simeon De Witt, William North, Thomas Eddy, and Peter B. Porter.
+ Thomas Eddy was a philanthropist and an eminently public-spirited man. He was born in Philadelphia in September, 1758. and died in New York City in 1827. His parents were Quakers, and he, a birthright member, remained so until his death. He made New York his residence in early life, and was a successful insurance broker there Mr. Eddy was active in originating the " Penitentiary System" of New York, and in 1801 he published an admirable work on the State prisons of New York. He was long a governor of the New York Hospital, and a director of the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane. Mr. Eddy was one of the chief promoters of the canal system in the State of
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CONSTRUCTION OF THE ERIE CANAL.
York in the autumn of 1815, which was addressed by Mr. Platt, Mr. Clinton, and others. The latter more vigorously than ever pressed upon the public attention the importance of constructing the projected canal. He devoted his wonderful energies to the subject. In a memorial of the citizens of New York, prepared by Mr. Clinton, such a powerful argu- ment in its favor was produced that not only the majority of the people of his State approved it, but of other States. Favorable action was taken by the Legislature of New
York in the spring of 1816, and a Board of Canal Commissioners was created.
In the spring of 1817 the Legis- lature authorized the beginning of the construction of the canal. The first contract was made in June, and the first spadeful of earth in the process of excavation was thrown up at Rome, Oneida Coun- ty, on July 4th. The middle sec- tion, extending from the Seneca River to Utica, including a branch from Syracuse to Onondaga Lake, was rendered navigable in October, DE WITT CLINTON. 1819. The great work was com- pleted in 1825, and the first boat-the Seneca Chief-with Mr. Clinton, then Governor of the State, on board, passed from Lake Erie to the Hudson late in the autumn of that year. The entire cost of the canal was over $9,000,000 It was a little over eight years a-building.
De Witt Clinton* had taken his seat as Governor of the State in the summer of 1817. He used all his official and private influence in favor
New York, beginning with the Inland Lock Navigation system. The Bible Society found in him an efficient friend, and he was an originator and promoter of banks for savings. His benevolent works won for him the title of the " American Howard." He lived to see the great Erie Canal in successful operation.
* De Witt Clinton, son of General James Clinton, was born at Little Britain, Orange County, N. Y., March 2d, 1769 ; died at Albany, February 11th, 1828. Was gradu- ated at Columbia College, and became a lawyer, but practised his profession very little. He was for a long time private secretary to his uncle, Governor George Clinton ; served in both branches of the New York Legislature, and from 1798 to 1802 was the Democratic leader in the State Senate. Between 1803 and 1814 he served as Mayor of New York City eight years. He took a very active part in promoting public education ; was one of the founders of the New York Historical Society and of the Academy of Fine Arts, and, being opposed to the War of 1812-15, he was the peace candidate for President of the
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of the canal. There was continual and powerful opposition to the proj- ect almost to the hour of its completion ; but his faith in its vast impor- tanee to his native State and the whole country never wavered. He lived not only to see it completed and to be a participant in the triumph, but to enjoy most abundant demonstration of the wisdom and sagacity which had conecived and carried ont to completion that mighty work. To De Witt Clinton more than to any other man our country is indebted for the Erie Canal ; and the city of New York owes him a debt of gratitude it can never repay for its wonderful growth in wealth and population to which that great work so powerfully contributed. It is not creditable to the citizens of the metropolis that among the many statues of eminent Americans and foreigners which appear in their public places no memorial of stone or bronze has ever been ereeted in their city in con- memoration of their great benefactor, DE WITT CLINTON.
At the beginning of 1810 the two great political parties in the State of New York were nearly equal in numerical strength. The Democrats renominated Tompkins for governor, and the Federalists nominated Jonas Platt, of Oneida, for the same office. The canvass was very active, and the election was hotly contested. The Federalists felt that if Tompkins should be re-elected their' recently gained political ascend- ancy in the State miglit be lost, perhaps forever. Yet they had strong hopes of their success. Their opponents were doubtful of the result, and both parties struggled mightily for victory. Contrary to the expec- tation of both, the Democrats completely overthrew the Federalists. Tompkins was re-elected by ten thousand majority. The Legislature was made strongly Democratic. A new Council of Appointment was chosen, and very soon there was an entire change in the incumbency of offices throughout the State. Political proscription was sweeping and severe.
Three causes combined to effect this second overthrow of the Federal Party in the State at this time-namely, 1. The adoption by the National Government of the more acceptable policy of non-intercourse instead of embargoes ; 2. The rapidly growing feeling of hostility to Great Britain because of recent events, the germ of a war party having already appeared ; and, 3. The influence of the patronage wielded by the National Government.
The quarrel between De Witt Clinton and a portion of the Democratic
United States in 1812, but was defeated by Madison. Mr. Clinton was one of the founders of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, and the most efficient promoter of the construction of the Erie Canal. He was Governor of the State in 1817-22 and 1824-28.
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CHIEF CAUSE OF THE WAR OF 1812-15.
Party in the city of New York, who made Martling's Long Room (then beginning to be known as " Tammany Hall ") their rallying-place, was then as bitter as ever. Early in 1811 Clinton was nominated for lieu- tenant-governor. The " Martling Men, " or " Tammanyites," nominated Colonel Marinus Willett, and the Federalists nominated Colonel Nicholas Fish. A majority of the Martling men evidently voted for Fish in order to defeat Clinton. The latter received in the city only 590 votes, and Willett 678, while Fish received 2044. The Federalists carried the Assembly ticket by a majority of 1400. The vote in the State was gen- erally favorable to the Democrats. Clinton was elected by the country votes.
The year 1812 was made memorable in our history by the beginning of a two years' war between the United States and Great Britain. For several years incitements to this result had abounded. The British main- tained the doctrine that a British subject can never become an alien, and they claimed the right to search neutral vessels for deserters from the royal navy, and to carry them away and impress them into the naval service of Great Britain without hindrance. The commanders of British cruisers had practically asserted this right for many years, and thousands of American seamen had been taken from American vessels on the pre- tence that they were suspected deserters, and compelled to serve under a flag which they detested. To every earnest remonstrance through the voice of diplomacy the invariable answer had been : "It is our ancient custom, and we cannot consent to suspend a right upon which the naval strength of the empire mainly depends ;" and, governed by the ethics of the mailed hand-" might makes right"-they persisted.
The affair of the Chesapeake and Leopard, in 1807, in which the officers of the latter (a British frigate) forcibly boarded the former (an American frigate) and carried off some seamen, one an American, under pretence that they were deserters, aronsed a war spirit in the United States. It was again awakened in 1809 by the disavowal by the British Government of an arrangement made in good faith with the British Minister at Washington concerning a repeal of an Order in Council, already alluded to ; and again in 1811, when British cruisers were sent to prowl along the American coast with authority to seize American merchant vessels and send them to England as lawful prizes.
These recent outrages, coupled with those of the past, and that of inciting the Indians in the North-west to make war on the frontier settle- ments of the United States beyond the Ohio River, became unendurable. On June 20th, 1812, President Madison, by the authority of Congress, issued a declaration of war against Great Britain, and Congress made
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provision accordingly. A large majority of that body and the people of the republic favored the measure, yet there was general anxiety to avoid the calamity of war if possible. There was also a large and powerful party, composed chiefly of Federalists, who were decidedly opposed to hostilities, and considered the declaration of war as premature. There was also an active faction known as the " Peace Party," pledged to cast obstacles in the way of the Government so long as hostilities should last. This disloyal faction was exceedingly mischievous during the whole war.
The authorities of several States took positive action against affording aid to the Government in carrying on the war. The governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut refused to comply with the requisition of the National Government for militia, and set the President at defiance. The governors of two or three other States approved their course, and others were lukewarm, while others took their places promptly on the side of the National Government. The Legisla- ture of Pennsylvania rebuked the governors of the three New England States ; that of Ohio did the same, and said : " The man who would desert a just cause is unworthy to defend it." The governor of the then new State of Louisiana, just admitted into the Union, said : " If ever war was justifiable, the one which our country has declared is that war. If ever a people had cause to repose in the confidence of their Government, we are the people." Vermont was also loyal, and the Governor of the State of New York (Mr. Tompkins), which then con- tained a population of fully one million, exhorted the people to give a hearty support to the National Government. The New York delegates in Congress did not vote for a declaration of war.
During the war that ensued the inhabitants of New York bore their full share of the burdens imposed, as active participants in the stirring events or as passive sufferers of calamities incident to a state of war. In that contest, as in former times, the northern frontiers of the State were peculiarly exposed to invasion by land and water.
At the time of the declaration of war the troops and military defences on the northern frontier of New York possessed very little aggregate strength. So on the other side. There were only about fifteen hundred regular troops in Upper Canada, but in Lower Canada there were about six thousand. At the foot of Lake Erie, opposite Buffalo, was Fort Erie, with a small garrison. At near the mouth of the Niagara River was Fort George, a small earthwork with wooden palisades, mounting a few guns not heavier than nine-pounders ; and a little above Niagara Falls was Fort Chippewa, a small stockade. At York (now Toronto), on the north shore of Lake Ontario, was an old fort and a block-house,
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DETROIT SURRENDERED TO THE BRITISH.
and at the eastern extremity of the lake, near Kingston, was a small battery of nine-pounders.
There was very little hostile movement on the soil of New York, excepting that of preparation, until mid-autumn in the year 1812. War had actually begun in the West and on the ocean. Colonel William Hull, then Governor of Michigan, was commissioned a brigadier-general and authorized to invade Canada on its western frontier in the summer of 1812. Ile crossed the Detroit River with a small force and encamped at Sandwich, but was soon compelled to return to Detroit, where he was menaced by a British force under General Sir Isaac Brock early in August. Alarmed by intelligence from the north, he surrendered his whole army and the territory to the British on August 16th. Meanwhile Fort Mackinaw, one of the strongest posts of the United States in the North- west, had been surprised and captured (July 17th) by an allied force of British and Indians. An escort of supplies for Hull, under Major Van Horne, had been defeated below Detroit, and Fort Dearborn, on the site of the (present) great city of Chicago, had been taken by Indians, and most of the garrison, with women and children, had been slaughtered.
These events aroused the most intense indignation throughout the country. Volunteers from Kentucky and Ohio pressed toward the North-west to retrieve the disaster at Detroit, and the most active preparations were made for an invasion of Canada on the Niagara frontier.
The authorities of the State of New York had been vigilant ever since light war-clouds had been seen in the political firmament, so early as 1807. In order to enforce the revenue laws on the Canadian frontier, the Governor of New York, in February, 1808, ordered five hundred stand of arms to be deposited at Champion, in (present) Jefferson County, and the following year he caused an arsenal to be built at Watertown, on the Black River, twelve miles from Sackett's Harbor.
By a general order issued from the War Department on April 21st, 1812, the detached militia of the State of New York were arranged in two divisions and eight brigades. Stephen van Rensselaer (the patroon), of Albany, was commissioned major-general and assigned to the com- mand of the First Division, and Benjamin Mooers, of Plattsburg, was appointed to the same office and assigned to the command of the Second Division. The commanders of the eight brigades were : Gerard Steddi- ford, of the city of New York ; Reuben Hopkins, of Orange County ; Micajah Pettis, of Washington County ; Richard Dodge, of Montgomery
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County ; Jacob Brown,* of Jefferson County ; Daniel Miller, of Cort- land County ; William Wadsworth, of Ontario County, and George McClure, of Steuben County.
In May a regiment, commanded by Colonel C. P. Bellinger, was sta- tioned at Saekett's Harbor, and in June the first detachment of New York's quota of militia called for by the President was placed under the command of General Brown, who was charged with the defenee of the northern frontier from Oswego to Lake St. Francis, a distance of about two hundred miles.
An armed brig named Oneida had been built at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, in 1809, by Christian Bergh and Henry Eckford, to enforce the revenue laws. In the spring of 1812 she captured several British vessels-violators of these laws. Retaliation followed. When news of the declaration of war reached Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence, eight American trading vessels were lying there. They tried to escape to Lake Ontario, bearing away some frightened families. Two of them were captured by armed men in boats led by a Canadian partisan, and were plundered and burnt. The other six returned to Ogdensburg. This was the beginning of war on the northern frontier of New York.
Lieutenant Melanethon Woolsey was in command of the Oneida, and he and General Brown were vested with full authority to repel invasion from Canada and to protect the inhabitants on the frontier. Re-enforce- ments of militia were called out from the northern counties, and measures were taken to concentrate a considerable force at Ogdensburg and Cape Vincent, for the twofold purpose of guarding the frontier and keeping Kingston, the chief military station of the British on the lake, in a state of continual alarm.
Late in July a squadron of five small British armed vessels entered Sackett's Harbor. They carried an aggregate of eighty-two guns. The Oneida was in the harbor, and seemed to be in great peril. Woolsey attempted to gain the lake, but failed. He moored his vessel to a position where her broadside of nine guns might be brought to bear on
* Jacob Brown was born in Pennsylvania in May, 1775, of Quaker parentage. He died in Washington City in February, 1828. He was first a school-teacher, then a land surveyor, and finally became a lawyer. While General Hamilton was acting chief com- mander of the army intended to fight the French in 1798, Brown was his secretary. He settled upon lands he had purchased on the Black River, not far from Sackett's Harbor, and was the founder of Brownsville. He became a county judge, a militia general, and was placed in command of the northern frontier of New York in 1812. He performed eminent service during the war, and received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal. He was made general-in-chief of the army in 1821. At his death his remains were interred in the Congressional burying-ground.
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A CONTEST AT SACKETT'S HARBOR.
the enemy. The remainder of her guns were taken out and placed in battery on land. An iron thirty-two-pounder had already been placed in a battery, with three nine-pounders, on a rocky bluff at the foot of the main street of the village. It had long been lying in the mud near by, and was named the Old Sow. These guns, with two nine-pounders and two six-pounders, constituted the artillery for the defence of the harbor. The soldiers consisted of a few regulars, three hundred inilitia, and a portion of the crew of the Oneida, with Woolsey at their head.
The flag-ship of the attacking squadron was the Royal George. When the vessels were near enough for action the battle was begun by a shot from the big iron cannon on shore. It was harmless, and drew peals of derisive laughter from the crew of the flag-ship, followed by two shots. Firing was kept up for about two hours, the squadron standing, off and on, out of range of the smaller guns. Most of the enemy's shot had fallen against the rocks below the battery. At length a thirty-two-pound ball came over the bluff, struck the earth, and ploughed a deep furrow. It was picked up by a sergeant, who ran with it to Captain Vaughan, who was in command of the Old Sow, exclaiming :
"I've been playing ball with the redcoats, and have caught 'em out. See if the British can catch back again."
The ball exactly fitted the old cannon, while those which had been sent did not. At that moment the Royal George was nearing, to give a broadside, when the big gun sent back the captive ball with such force and precision that it struck her stern, raked her completely, sent splinters as high as her mizzen-topsail, and killed fourteen men and wounded eighteen.
The flag-ship had already received a shot that went through her sides, and another between wind and water. Two other vessels had been severely crippled, and a signal for retreat was speedily given. The squadron sailed out on the lake while the band on shore played " Yankee Doodle" in the liveliest manner, and the soldiers and citizens cheered the retreating enemy in their departure. It was a serene Sabbath morning, and at evening the village was as quiet as ever.
The command of Lake Ontario was now an object of great importance to both parties, and each put forth extraordinary exertions to that end. To obtain this advantage required the speediest preparation. The six American trading vessels were yet at Ogdensburg. To save and arm them was an important object to the Americans ; to destroy them was an equally important object to the British. The latter sent two armed vessels down the St. Lawrence to destroy them ; the Americans sent a small force to protect them. The belligerents met eleven miles above
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Ogdensburg and fought three hours, when the British vessels withdrew to the Canada shore. The armistice that soon followed allowed the six vessels to be taken to the lake and converted into warriors.
Captain Isaac Chauncey was appointed commander-in-chief of the navy to be created on Lake Ontario. In September (1812) he sent forty ship- carpenters to Sackett's Harbor, with Henry Eckford * at their head. Others soon followed. Commander Woolsey was directed to purchase merchant vessels for the service. Later, in September, one hundred officers and men, with guns and other munitions of war, left New York for Sackett's Harbor, and very soon a respectable little Ameri- can fleet was afloat on the lake. At the same time the British had been busy at Kingston in creating a navy having a weight of metal double that of the Americans.
During the summer of 1812 the National Government matured a HENRY DEARBORN. plan for the invasion of Canada on the Niagara frontier. The militia of the State of New York under General Van Rensselaer were ordered to concentrate near the Niagara River, chiefly at Lewiston ; and from that point the first demonstration against the neighboring province from New York was made. In contemplation of such a movement, the British posted troops in a strong position at Queenstown, opposite Lewiston.
General Dearborn, t the commander-in-chief of the Northern Depart-
* Henry Eckford was a famous naval constructor. He was born in Scotland in March, 1775, and died in Constantinople in November, 1832. He learned the art of ship-building at Quebec, and began the business on his own account at New York in 1796, where he soon took the lead in his profession. He constructed many vessels for the Government during the War of 1812-15, and soon afterward built the steamship Robert Fulton, in which, in 1822, he made the first successful trip in a craft of that kind, to New Orleans and Havana. He was naval constructor at the Brooklyn Navy-Yard several years, and afterward made ships of war for European powers. In 1831 he built a war vessel for the Sultan of Turkey, and, going to Constantinople, organized a navy-yard there.
+ Henry Dearborn was born in New Hampshire in February, 1751, and died at Roxbury, Mass., in June, 1829. He became a physician, studied military science, and joined the little patriot army at Cambridge with sixty volunteers on the day after the skirmish at Lexington. As a captain in Stark's regiment he fought at Bunker (Breed's) Hill, accompanied Arnold in his expedition against Quebec, and was made prisoner
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