USA > New York > Fulton County > The border warfare of New York, during the revolution; or, The annals of Tryon county > Part 17
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Then we with equal fury join the fight, Ere Phœbus gained his full meridian height ;
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Nor ceased the horrors of the bloody fray, Till he had journeyed half his evening way.
Now hand to hand, the contest is for life, With bayonet, tomahawk, sword, and scalping-knife ; No more remote the work of death we ply, And thick as hail the showering bullets fly : Full many a hardy warrior sinks supine, Yells, shrieks, groans, shouts, and thundering volleys join ; The dismal din the ringing forest fills, The sounding echo roars along the hills. Our friends and foes lie struggling in their blood, An undistinguished carnage strews the wood ;
And every streamlet drinks the crimson flood. True valor, stubbornness, and fury here, There fell revenge, despair, and spite appear ; Long raged surrounding death, and no deliverance near ; While mangled friends, not fated yet to die, Implore our aid in vain with feeble cry.
Of two departments were the assailing foes : Wild savage natives lead the first of those ; · Their almost naked frames, of various dyes, And rings of black and red surround their eyes. On one side they present a shaven head, The naked half of the vermilion red ; In spots the party-colored face they drew, Beyond description horrible to view ; Their ebon locks in braid, with paint overspread ; The silvered ears depending from the head ; Their gaudery my descriptive power exceeds, In plumes of feathers, glittering plates and beads. With them, of parricides a bloody band, Assist the ravage of their parent land ; With equal dress, and arms, and savage arts, But more than savage rancor in their hearts.
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These for the first attack their force unite, And most sustain the fury of the fight, Their rule of warfare, devastation dire, By undistinguished plunder, death, and fire ; They torture man and beast with barbarous rage, Nor tender infant spare, nor reverend sage.
O'er them a horrid monster bore command, Whose inauspicious birth disgraced our land ; By malice urged to every barbarous art ; Of cruel temper, but of coward heart.
The second was a renegado crew, Who arm and dress as Christian nations do, Led by a chief who bore the first command ; A bold invader of his native land.
Such was the bloody fight, and such the foe ; Our smaller force returned them blow for blow, By turns successfully their forced defied, And conquest wavering seemed from side to side.
The following is a description of a scene the night after the battle :
Not half the savages returned from fight ; They to their native wilds had sped their flight : Those that remained a long encampment made, And rising fires illumined all the shade ; In vengeance for their numerous brothers slain, For torture sundry prisoners they retain ; And three fell monsters, horrible to view, A fellow-prisoner from the sentries drew ; The guards before received their chief's command, To not withhold us from the slaughtering band ; But now the sufferer's fate they sympathize, And for him supplicate with earnest cries.
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I saw the General slowly passing by ; The sergeant on his knees, with tearful eye, Implored the guards might wrest him from their hands, Since now the troops could awe their lessened bands. With lifted cane the General thus replies, (While indignation sparkles from his eyes,) " Go, sirrah ! mind your orders given before, And for infernal rebels plead no more !" For help the wretched victim vainly cries, With supplicating voice and ardent eyes ; With horror chilled, I turn away my face, While instantly they bear him from the place. Dread scene ! with anguish stung I inly groan, To think the next hard lot may be my own ; And now I poring sit, now sudden start, Through anxious agitation of my heart ; In every bush the coming foe appear, Their sound in every breeze I seem to hear.
Nocturnal shades at length involve the sky, The planets faintly glimmer from on high ; When through the grove the flaming fires arise, And loud resound the tortured prisoners' cries ; Still as their pangs are more or less extreme, The bitter groan is heard, or sudden scream ; But when their natures failed, and death drew near, Their screeches faintly sounded in the ear.
Tremendous night of woe beyond compare ! I beg for death, in anguish of despair ; No gleam of hope, no rest my soul could find ; Approaching torture gnawing on my mind ; Until Aurora purpled o'er the skies, Then gentle slumber sealed awhile my eyes ;
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But troubled dreams arising in my head, My fancy to the scene of battle led. The fatal wood my weeping eyes survey, Where pale in death my slaughtered neighbors lay ; A long adieu, I cried, my brethren slain ; No more to joy my longing soul again ! Who shall protect your wives with guardian care, And babes abandoned to the rage of war ? Decrepit parents, with the feeble groan, Shall wail your fate, their country's, and their own; While, lost to all, you here unburied lay, To feast the ravens and the beasts of prey ; Yet, by your slaughter, safe arrived on shore, The storms of war shall break your peace no more; Each honest soul your memory shall revere, And pay the tribute of a tender tear.
Oh ! had I too partook your calm repose, In safe retreat, beyond the power of foes, I had avoided, by a milder fate,
Dread horrors past, and tortures that await.
His own day of trial and suffering at length came on, and he thus describes it :
Now did the dreadful morn at length arise, And Sol through mists reluctant climbed the skies, When savages, for horrid sport prepared, Demand another prisoner from the guard. We saw their feared approach with mortal fright, Their scalping-knives they sharpened in our sight ; Beside the guard they sat them on the ground, And viewed, with piercing eyes, the prisoners round. As when a panther grim, with furious eye, Surveys the tender lad he dooms to die ;
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The lad beholds him, shivering with affright, Sees all resistance vain, despairs of flight ; So they on me their glaring eyelids roll, And such the feelings of my suddering soul. At length one, rising, seized me by the hand ; By him drawn forth, on trembling knees I stand ; I bid my fellows all a long adieu ;
With answering grief my wretched case they view.
They led me, bound, along the winding flood, Far in the gloomy bosomof the wood ; There (horrid sight !) a prisoner roasted lay, The carving-knife had cut his flesh away. Against a tree erect I there was bound, While they regaled themselves upon the ground ; Their shell of spirits went from hand to hand, Their friends collecting still, a numerous band.
So passed the day. What terrors in me reign ! I supplicate for instant death in vain. I think upon this breach of nature's laws, My family, my friends, my country's cause ; Around me still collect my bloody foes, Still in my mind approaching torture rose ; The skeleton in open prospect lay, Chaos of woful thought employed my wretched day.
Now on a neighboring green, high jutting o'er, Where underneath the rapid waters roar, There, round a fire, their heaps of fuel rise, Nocturnal shadows thickening in the skies. Beside the fire I tremble at the stake ; The numerous herd a spacious circle make ; And as the flames, advancing, rise in air, Within the ring my torturers repair ;
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With whoop and dance they tune the deathful song, Along the margin crowd the sportive throng ; When lo ! the failing bank, beneath the load, Broke short and plunged us headlong in the flood. In transport down the stream my course I made ; With dismal cries resounds the gloomy shade ; The floating stake adhering by a thong, With nose above the stream I steal along.
Through all the vale a fruitless search they made, And fearful howlings rung along the shade. When to the camp again their way they steer, Their distant clamor murmuring in my ear, Far down the stream, where lies a naked strand, With shivering limbs, I softly crept to land. The stake upon the shore I trailed along ; Then joyfully unbound each fettering thong, And for the neighboring road in haste depart, The hope of freedom dawning in my heart. Through gloomy thickets, far, I grope my way, And briery heaths, where pines extended lay ; Now thoughts of home my ravished soul delight, Now distant, savage yells my mind affright ; Still I my way with all my power pursued, Still did the road my anxious search elude. Long time I groped the rough, uncertain way ; Through erring course, I wandered far astray ; Nor moon, nor star, would lend a friendly ray ; Then laid me down, dejected and forlorn, To rest my weary limbs, and wait the morn ; Ere long my leafy couch I there had pressed, Exhausted nature sunk to quiet rest.
He was retaken and carried to the far west by a different tribe. The following is a description of the
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arrival of the tribe at their village, and of his running the gauntlet :
Their glad return through all the place was told ; Next morning they convene both young and old. The band, equipped in all their war parade, Into the town a formal entry made ; They led me up, triumphing with delight, With all their spoils and trophies of the fight, Except the scalps ; for these they had their pay, From British agents ere they came away,
They end their march, where, high upon the green, A numerous crowd of every age was seen ; The hoary parent bowing down with years, The mother with her tender train appears ; The youthful archer bends his little bow, And sportive striplings gambol in the row ; Warriors and hunters tricked in best array, And youthful maids their tawny charms display, With scarlet cloth, rings, beads, and ribbons gay.
I trembled when I to the crowd was brought, The stake and flames arising in my thought ; But soon my guard, approaching to my ear, Bid me confide in him, and nothing fear.
There, in a spacious hut, on either hand, Two lengthy rows with sticks and weapons stand; Then stripped I was to pass between the rows, And each inflict at pleasure wounds and blows; My keeper gently struck, then urged my flight ; Between the ranks I fled with all my might.
As when some farmer, blest with plenteous yield, His crop of buckwheat thrashes in the field, The men and boys with flail in hand around, Clap after clap loud constant clatterings sound,
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The straw all crushed in broken pieces lie, The grains around the thrashers' faces fly ; So, as with naked frame I pass along, Resound the strokes of all the furious throng ; So by their blows my mangled skin is broke, And so the sputtering blood pursues the stroke.
Two female furies at the further end, Their brother slain in fight, my death intend ; Enraged, they maul with clubs my bleeding head, And doubtless would erelong have laid me dead ; But quickly did their father interpose, And then my keeper fended off their blows. I blessed the thought that once his death withstood, And checked my hand, when raised to shed his blood. The aged sire adopts me for his son ; Rejoiced, I put the savage habit on ; With honorary paint, in blanket dressed, I stand installed an Indian with the rest. The sire in gayest fashion shaved my head, Then to his home, rejoicing, I was led.
They used me tenderly, my wounds they healed, But deeper wounds within remain concealed ; My wife, my country, friends, and blooming child ; Exchanged for captive bands in regions wild ; These thoughts incessant did my bosom rend, And often did the painful tear descend.
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NOTE F.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GOVERNOR GEORGE CLINTON.
GEORGE CLINTON, formerly Governor of the State of New York, and Vice President of the United States, was born on the 26th July, 1739, in the county of Ulster, in the colony of New York. He was the youngest son of Colonel Charles Clinton, an emigrant from Ireland, and a gentleman of distinguished worth and high consideration.
He was educated, principally, under the eye of his father, and received the instruction of a learned min- ister of the Presbyterian church, who had graduated in the university of Aberdeen ; and, after reading law in the office of William Smith, afterward chief justice of Canada, he settled himself in that profession in the county of his nativity, where he rose to eminence.
In 1768, he took his seat as one of the members of the Colonial Assembly for the county of Ulster, and he continued an active member of that body until it was merged in the Revolution. His energy of char- acter, discriminating intellect, and undaunted courage, placed him among the chiefs of the Whig party ; and
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he was always considered possessed of a superior mind and master spirit, on which his country might rely, as an asylum in the most gloomy periods of her for- tunes.
On the 22d of April, 1775, he was chosen by the Provincial Convention of New York one of the dele- gates to the Continental Congress, and took his seat in that illustrious body on the 15th of May. On the 4th of July, 1776, he was present at the glorious declaration of independence, and assented with his usual energy and decision to that measure; but hav- ing been appointed a brigadier general in the militia, and also in the army, the exigencies of his country, at that trying hour, rendered it necessary for him to take the field in person, and he therefore retired from Congress immediately after his vote was given, and before the instrument was transcribed for the signature of the members; for which reason his name does not appear among the signers.
A constitution having been adopted for the State of New York, on the 20th April, 1777, he was chosen, at the first election under it, both governor and lieu- tenant governor, and he was continued in the former office for eighteen years, by triennial elections ; when, owing to ill health, and a respect for the republican principle of rotation in office, he declined a re-elec- tion.
During the Revolutionary war, he cordially co-op- erated with the immortal Washington, and, without his aid, the army would have been disbanded, and the northern separated from the southern States, by the intervention of British troops. He was always at
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his post in the times that tried men's souls ; at one period repelling the advances of the enemy from Canada, and at another meeting them in battle when approaching from the south. His gallant de- fense of Fort Montgomery, with a handful of men, against a powerful force commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, was equally honorable to his intrepidity and his skill.
The following are the particulars of his gallant con- duct at the storming of Forts Montgomery and Clin- ton, in October, 1777 :
" When the British reinforcements, under General Robertson, amounting to nearly two thousand men, arrived from Europe, Sir Henry Clinton used the greatest exertion, and availed himself of every favor- able circumstance, to put these troops into immediate operation. Many were sent to suitable vessels, and united in the expedition, which consisted of about four thousand men, against the forts in the Highlands. Having made the necessary arrangements, he moved up the North River, and landed on the 4th of Octo- ber at Tarrytown, purposely to impress General Put- nam, under whose command a thousand continental troops had been left, with a belief that his post at Peekskill was the object of attack. At eight o'clock at night the general communicated the intelligence to Governor Clinton, of the arrival of the British, and at the same time expressed his opinion respecting their destination. The designs of Sir Henry were imme- diately perceived by the governor, who prorogued the Assembly on the following day, and arrived that night at Fort Montgomery. The British troops, in the
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mean time, were secretly conveyed across the river, and assaults upon our forts were meditated to be made on the 6th, which were accordingly put in execution, by attacking the American advanced party at Doodle- town, about two miles and a half from Fort Mont- gomery. The Americans received the fire of the British, and retreated to Fort Clinton. The enemy then advanced to the west side of the mountain, in order to attack our troops in the rear. Governor Clin- ton immediately ordered out a detachment of one hundred men toward Doodletown, and another of sixty, with a brass field-piece, to an elegible spot on another road. They were both soon attacked by the whole force of the enemy, and compelled to fall back. It has been remarked that the talents, as well as the temper of a commander, are put to as severe a test in conducting a retreat, as in achieving a victory. The truth of this Governor Clinton experienced, when, with great bravery, and the most perfect order, he re- tired till he reached the fort. He lost no time in placing his men in the best manner that circum- stances would permit. His post, however, as well as Fort Clinton, in a few minutes were invaded on every side. In the midst of this disheartening and appalling disaster he was summoned, when the sun was only an hour high, to surrender; but his gallant spirit sternly refused to obey the call. In a short time after the British made a general and most desperate attack on both posts, which was received by the Americans with undismayed courage and resistance. Officers and men, militia and continentals, all behaved alike brave. An incessant fire was kept up till dusk, when our
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troops were overpowered by numbers, who forced the lines and redoubts at both posts. Many of the Ameri- cans fought their way out ; others accidentally mixed with the enemy, and thus made their escape effectu- ally ; for, besides being favored by the night, they knew the various avenues in the mountains. The Governor, as well as his brother, General James Clin- ton, who was wounded, were not taken."
The administration of Governor Clinton was char- acterized by wisdom and patriotism. He was a re- publican in principle and practice. After a retire- ment of five years, he was called by the citizens of the city and county of New York to represent them in the Assembly of the State; and to his influence and popularity may be ascribed, in a great degree, the change in his native State, which finally produced the important political revolution of 1801.
At that period, much against his inclination, but from motives of patriotism, he consented to an elec- tion as governor and in 1805 he was chosen Vice President of the United States, in which office he con- tinued until his death, presiding with great dignity in the Senate, and evincing, by his votes and his opinions, his decided hostility to constructive authority, and to innovations on the established principles of republican government.
He died at Washington, when attending to his duties as Vice President, and was interred in that city, where a monument was erected by the filial piety of his children, with this inscription, written by his nephew :
" To the memory of George Clinton. He was born
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in the State of New York on the 26th of July, 1739, and died in the city of Washington, on the 20th of April, 1812, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a soldier and statesman of the Revolution. Emi- nent in council, and distinguished in war, he filled with unexampled usefulness, purity, and ability, among many other offices, those of Governor of his native State, and of Vice-President of the United States. While he lived, his virtue, wisdom, and valor were the pride, the ornament, and security of his country ; and when he died, he left an illustrious ex- ample of a well-spent life, worthy of all imitation.
" There are few men who will occupy as renowned a place in the history of his country as George Clin- ton ; and the progress of time will increase the public veneration, and thicken the laurels that cover his monument."*
* American Biographical Dictionary.
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NOTE G.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER.
The following Biographical Sketch of Gen. Philip Schuyler is taken from the Address of Chancellor Kent before the New York Histori- cal Society. It is a beautiful outline of the life of that distinguished man; and I trust that no apology is necessary for inserting it at length.
THE Dutch family of Schuyler stands conspicuous in our colonial annals. Col. Peter Schuyler was mayor of Albany, and commander of the northern militia in 1690. He was distinguished for his probity and activity in all the various duties of civil and mili- tary life. No man understood better the relation of the colony with the Five Nations of Indians, or had inore decided influence with that confederacy. He had frequently chastised the Canadian French for their destructive incursions upon the frontier settle- ments ; and his zeal and energy were rewarded by a seat in the provincial council ; and the House of As- sembly gave their testimony to the British court of his faithful services and good reputation. It was this same vigilant officer who gave intelligence to the in-
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habitants of Deerfield, on Connecticut River, of the designs of the French and Indians upon them, some short time before the destruction of that village in 1704. In 1720, as president of the council, he became acting governor of the colony for a short time, previ- ous to the accession of Gov. Burnet. His son, Col. Philip Schuyler, was an active and efficient member of Assembly, for the city and county of Albany, in 1743. But the Philip Schuyler to whom I particularly allude, and who in a subsequent age shed such signal lustre upon the family name, was born at Albany in the year 1733, and at an early age he began to dis- play his active mind and military spirit. He was a captain in the New York levies at Fort Edward, in 1755, and accompanied the British army in the expe- dition down Lake George, in the summer of 1758. He was with Lord Howe when he fell by the fire of the enemy, on landing at the north end of the lake, and he was appointed (as he himself informed me) to convey the body of that young and lamented noble- man to Albany, where he was buried, with appropri- ate solemnities, in the Episcopal Church.
We next find him under the title of Col. Schuyler, in company with his compatriot, George Clinton, in the year 1768, on the floor of the House of Assembly, taking an active share in all their vehement discus- sions. Neither of them was to be overawed or seduced from a bold and determined defense of the constitu- tional rights of the colonies, and of an adherence to the letter and spirit of the councils of the union. The struggle in the House of Assembly between the min- isterial and the whig parties, was brought to a crisis
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in the months of February and March, 1775; and in that memorable contest, Philip Schuyler and George Clinton, together with Nathaniel Woodhull, of Long Island, acted distinguished parts. On the motions to give the thanks of the House to the delegates from the colony in the Continental Congress of September, 1774, and to thank the merchants and inhabitants of the colony for their adherence to the non-importa- tion, and the association recommended by Congress, those patriots found themselves in the minority. But their courage and resolution gained strength from de- feat.
On the 3d of March, Col. Schuyler moved declara- tory resolutions that the act 4 Geo. III. imposing du- ties for raising a revenue in America ; and for the ex- tending the jurisdiction of Admiralty courts ; and for depriving his majesty's subjects in America of trial by jury ; and for holding up an injurious discrimina- tion between the subjects of Great Britain and those of the colonies, were great grievances. The govern- ment party seem to have fled the question, and to have left in the House only the scanty number of nine members, and the resolutions were carried by a vote of seven to two. But their opponents immediately rallied, and eleven distinct divisions, on different mo- tions, were afterwards taken in the course of that sin- gle day, and entered on the journal ; and they related to all the momentous points then in controversy be- tween Great Britain and the United Colonies. It was a sharp and hard-fought contest for fundamental prin- ciples ; and a more solemn and eventful debate rarely ever happened on the floor of a deliberative assembly.
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The House consisted on that day of twenty-four mem- bers, and the ministerial majority was exactly in the ratio of two to one ; and. the intrepidity, talents, and services of the three members I have named, and espe- cially of Schuyler and Clinton, were above all praise, and laid the foundation for those lavish marks of honor and confidence which their countrymen were after- ward so eager to bestow.
The resistance of the majority of the House was fairly broken down, and essentially controlled by the efforts of the minority and the energy of public opin- ion. A series of resolutions, declaratory of American grievances, were passed, and petitions to the King and Parliament adopted, not indeed in all respects such as the leaders of the minority wished, (for all their amendments were voted down,) but they were never- theless grounded upon the principles of the American Revolution. They declared that the claims of taxa- tion and absolute sovereignty, on the part of the Brit- ish Parliament, and the extension of admiralty juris- diction, were grievances, and unconstitutional meas- ures ; and that the act of Parliament, shutting up the port of Boston, and altering the charter of that colony, also was a grievance.
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