USA > New York > Fulton County > The border warfare of New York, during the revolution; or, The annals of Tryon county > Part 22
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"Tall rocks and tufted knolls, their face Could on the dark blue mirror trace."
At this period, save in one or two places, no mark of civilization was visible. And though
" Each boatman bending to his oar, With measured sweep the burthen bore,"
they could not but gaze at times with delight upon the natural beauties which surrounded them.
The outlet of this lake is narrow. General Clinton
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having passed his boats through, caused a dam to be thrown across; the lake was raised several feet; a party was sent forward to clear the river of drift-wood ; when ready to move, the dam was broken up, and the boats glided swiftly down with the current.
On the 22d of August, this division arrived at Tioga, and joined the main army under General Sul- livan.
On the 26th of August, the whole army moved from Tioga up the river of that name, and on the 29th fell in with the enemy at Newtown. Here a spirited engagement took place, in which the enemy was routed; this was the only battle. When it was first announced that an army was marching into their country, the Indians laughed at their supposed folly, believing it impossible for a regular army to traverse the wilderness and drive them from their fastnesses.
On the 14th of September the army arrived at the Genesee River ; and the rich alluvial bottom lands, which now constitute the garden of this State, had even then been extensively cultivated by the Indians. Scarcely a tree was to be seen over the whole extent. Modern curiosity and enterprise had not then ren- dered familiar the mighty valleys and prairies of the West ; and officers and soldiers gazed alike with sur- prise and admiration upon the rich prospect before them. The army, as it emerged from the woods, and as company after company filed off and formed upon the plain, presented an animated and imposing spec- tacle.
The whole country of the Onondagas, the Cayugas and Senecas was overrun by this expedition. Vast
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quantities of grain were destroyed; all the Indian villages were laid waste; and it was fondly hoped that the Indians, driven back, and having lost their provisions and stores, would be prevented from making further inroads into the border settlements. This was not considered merely as a retaliatory meas- ure. The western part of New York was the gran- ary from whence the Indians and Tories drew their supplies. Cut off from these, it was thought they would be driven back into Canada, and that a stop would be put to further incursions.
Such, however, unfortunately for the frontier set- · tlements, was not the effect. In the following summer these incursions were renewed ; and they were con- tinued throughout the war. For nearly eight years the inhabitants were kept in almost constant alarm, and were the victims of this barbarous warfare until they became a peeled and scattered people. The whole valley of the Mohawk, including the valley of Schoharie, and all the settlements to the south upon the head-waters of the Susquehanna, were entirely destroyed. There was not a spot which had escaped the ravages of the enemy.
" It was the computation," says the author of the Life of Brant, " two years before the close of the war, that one third of the population had gone over to the enemy, and that one third had been driven from the country or slain in battle, and by private assassina- tion. And yet among the inhabitants of the other remaining third, in June, 1783, it was stated at a public meeting held at Fort Plain, that there were three hundred widows and two thousand orphan chil-
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dren." In great justice and truth he has added, " that no other section or district of country in the United States, of like extent, suffered in any compara- ble degree as much from the war of the Revolution as did that of the Mohawk. It was the most fre- quently invaded and overrun, and that too by an enemy far more barbarous than the native barbarians of the forest."
In the early part of 1780, the year following the expedition against the Six Nations, General Clinton was stationed upon the Hudson River. In October, of that year, and after the discovery of the treason of Arnold, General Washington wrote to General Clin- ton, then at West Point, as follows :
"As it is necessary there should be an officer in whom the State has confidence to take the general direction of affairs at Albany and on the frontier, I have fixed upon you for this purpose, and request you will proceed to Albany without delay, and assume the command. You will be particularly attentive to the post of Fort Schuyler, and do everything in your power to have it supplied with a good stock of pro- visions and stores, and you will take every other pre- caution the means at your command will permit, for the security of the frontier, giving the most early ad- vice of any incursions of the enemy."
General Clinton repaired to Albany, and took the direction of affairs in the northern department, accord- ing to the instructions of the commander-in-chief. That post had been one of great responsibility during the whole of the war, and at the time of General Clinton's appointment it had not lost its importance.
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The spring of 1781 found the American army, and especially that portion of it stationed at the north and west, almost destitute of provisions. This arose in part from some defective arrangement in the com- missary department, and in part from the fact, that the whole Mohawk valley had been laid waste, which was one of the best sources of supplies in the earlier part of the war. General Clinton communi- cated intelligence of the destitute condition of the army to General Washington, early in the spring of that year, and, under date of May 4th, the comman- der-in-chief replied, saying, "he had received and read his letter, and transmitted it to Congress to aid in enforcing his own suggestions. That measures must be taken to procure provisions, and where per- suasion, entreaty and requisition fail, coercion must be used, rather than the garrison of Fort Schuyler shall fall, and the frontier be again desolated and laid waste. I am persuaded the State will make a great effort to afford a supply of flour for the troops in that quarter ; and I confess I see no other alternative under our present circumstances."
Coercion was used in order to procure supplies of provisions, and coercion saved the American army from dismemberment during the summer of 1781.
· In a letter of a subsequent date, General Washing- ton says, " whenever any quantity arrives you may depend upon having a full proportion of it, being de- termined to share our last morsel with you, and sup- port your posts, if possible, at all hazards and extremi- ties."
The situation of the army at the north was deplo-
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rable indeed. The different detachments were sta- tioned not where they were needed for defense, but where they could procure supplies of provisions. The enemy, taking advantage of the trials and sufferings of the soldiers, made great efforts to produce disaffec- tion and desertion in their ranks. Emissaries were sent among them, and the Tories, especially, were active in their efforts. In this they were but too suc- cessful, and General Clinton, in a letter dated in May, says, that unless the army is relieved, so preva- lent is the spirit of desertion, every post must be abandoned and the country depopulated.
Under this impression, General Clinton determined upon taking decisive measures, which should strike terror into the hearts of the disaffected and Tories, and by executing summary punishment, to prevent, at least, their active interference in causing the deser- tion of the soldiers.
The following letter to Captain Du Bois, under date of June 1st, 1781, will more fully convey his views :
" SIR : I have received your letter of yesterday. From good information, I am well convinced that parties of the enemy are out on the recruiting service, and that they are protected, harbored, and subsisted, by the disaffected people on the frontiers. I am informed by a letter this morning received from the commanding officer at Johnstown, that several Tories have been apprehended at that place for encouraging our soldiers to desert, and for subsisting them in their habitations until they can have an opportunity to join
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the enemy. I therefore desire, that as soon as you can be thoroughly convinced of any disaffected persons in your quarter being guilty of either seducing any of our soldiers to desert, or subsisting or harboring them when deserted, you will not be at the pains of taking them prisoners, but kill them on the spot. If, also, you should find any of them to harbor parties from the enemy, by which means any of our good frontier inhabitants do in person get killed, you will also retaliate vengeance on them, life for life.
"I have issued and forwarded these orders to the different posts, which you may promulge, and not secrete, that the Tories may know their fate for their future misbehavior.
" I soon expect better supplies of men and provis- ions."
These measures, it is believed, had a salutary effect.
General Clinton continued in command at Albany until August, 1781, when he embarked the troops immediately under his command, for the purpose of joining the commander-in-chief, and was succeeded in the command of the northern army by General Stark.
In the winter or spring of 1782, some promotions were made by the Continental Congress, by which a junior officer took precedence over General Clinton. The veteran soldier could not brook what he deemed a great injury. He solicited and obtained leave to withdraw from the active duties of the camp. In a letter dated April 10, 1782, General Clinton says :
" At an early period of the war I entered into the
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service of my country, and I have continued in it during all the vicissitudes of fortune, and am conscious that I have exerted my best endeavors to serve it with fidelity. I have never sought emolument or promotion, and as the different commands I have held were unsolicited, I might have reasonably expected, if my services were no longer wanted, to have been indulged at least with a decent dismission."
He did not retire from the army entirely, but joined again the commander-in-chief, and was present at the evacuation of New York, where he took leave of General Washington, and retired to his farm at Little Britain. . The war was happily terminated, and peace again reigned along the borders.
Then followed what has been well denominated the night of the confederation. In the midst of war, and while pressed by foes from without, the inefficiency of the articles of confederation were not so fully realized. But now darkness shrouded the future, or if that fu- ture portended aught, it portended a broken and dis- membered confederacy.
The convention which assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of forming a federal constitution, arose like the day-star upon this benight- ed land. The convention of New York, called to ratify this constitution presented by the convention of Philadelphia, assembled at Poughkeepsie in June, 1788, and it embraced men, in themselves a host, and the mention of whose names should excite emotions of patriotism and of pride in the bosom of every New Yorker. There were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, George Clinton, John Lansing, Robert R. Livingston,
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James Clinton, Melancthon Smith, James Duane, Samuel Jones, with others of less note, but well known in those times for their sterling patriotism. Among the number were Christopher P. Yates and John Frey, to whom I have heretofore alluded, and who represented in convention the then county of Montgomery.
George Clinton and General James Clinton were delegates from Ulster County. George Clinton was unanimously chosen president of the convention. The debates were continued for six weeks, with all the talent and address of the distinguished speakers whose names I have mentioned.
On the side of the constitution were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and Robert R. Livingston, and opposed to its unconditional adoption were George Clinton, Melancthon Smith and John Lansing. General James Clinton united with his brother George, and to the last they both persisted in their opposition, even when many of those who at first acted with them had joined the other party, and were in favor of an unconditional adoption of the constitu- tion.
George Clinton stated, that in times of trouble and difficulty men were always in danger of passing to extremes ; that while he admitted the confederation to be weak and inefficient, and entirely inadequate for the purposes of union, he at the same time feared that the new constitution, proposed to be adopted, would give too much power to the federal government. The sturdy democrat foresaw that powers were confer- red upon the executive of the Union by that constitu-
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tion which could be used, with almost irresistible force, for good or for evil; and had his life been spared to have witnessed its operation until the close of the first half century of its existence, he would have learned that his prophesy, to some extent at least, had become history. It was under the views above stated that both the Clintons voted in convention against the unconditional adoption of the present fede- ral constitution. They were in favor of a modifica- tion, or of only a qualified adoption.
When the constitution was adopted and became the supreme law of the land, they both supported and cherished it with their usual decision and energy of character.
General James Clinton was afterwads called to fill several imporant stations. He was elected a member of the State Senate, a member of the convention to revise the constitution, and was appointed a commis- sioner to run the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania. While engaged in this latter service he was treated with marked attention by the Indians in the western part of New York, in consequence of his having been, as they considered, a brave soldier. They recollected him as having been engaged in Sul- livan's expedition, and described his dress and the horse which he rode in the battle of Newtown ; and they offered to bestow upon him a tract of land, and desired his permission to apply to the legislature for liberty to make a conveyance to him. Their offer was declined, but it was a flattering compliment, com- ing as it did from those who had been enemies, and
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whose country had been laid waste partly by his instrumentality.
With the exceptions above mentioned, the residue of General Clinton's life, after the war, was spent in peaceful retirement upon his estate at Little Britian.
He died at his residence in 1812, just at the com- mencement of another war. He had seen his coun- try under all the vicissitudes of good and evil fortune. The pen of his illustrious son has recorded his epitaph, and thus beautifully sums up his character : " His life was principally devoted to the military service of his country, and he had filled with fidelity and honor several distinguished civil offices.
"He was an officer in the revolutionary war, and the war preceding, and at the close of the former was a major general in the army of the United States. He was a good man and a sincere patriot, performing in the most exemplary manner all the duties of life, and he died, as he had lived, without fear and without reproach."
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NOTE O.
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS,
Delivered at Cherry Valley, Otsego County, N. Y., July 4th, 1840, by William W. Campbell.
THE announcement that the great poet, novelist, and historian of Scotland was no more, produced a thrilling emotion throughout the civilized world. Gift- ed pens in both hemispheres paid noble tributes to his memory, and the beautiful idea was conceived of grouping together and presenting at a single glance the most prominent characters, both fictitious and histori- cal, which had been created and adorned by the genius of the immortal SCOTT. While he lay in state in the proud halls of Abbotsford, there passed in long pro- cession the monarch with his retinue, displaying the pomp and pageantry of the Middle Ages-the belted knight clad in steel, marching with a warrior's step, and accompanied by his lady love-old men and maidens-noble and ignoble, the Jew, the Christian, and the Pagan-each in their turn, as they moved past, casting a last look upon the mortal remains of
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him whose name, as long as letters endure, can never perish from the earth. But as they come up in review before our own minds, do we not intuitively select some of the most humble and lowly as objects of im- itation and of love. Forgetting the proud array of titles and of names, we call up with earnest and ad- miring feelings the artless simplicity and heroic forti- tude of that noble specimen of female character, the Jeanie Deans in the Heart of Mid-Lothian.
My fellow citizens, we are assembled this day at the close of the first century since the settlement of Cherry Valley. We are here on the anniversary of our nation's birthday to mark down the closing hours of that century, and, ere they are all numbered, to sketch out and place on record the scenes, and actions, and events, and characters to which it has given birth in our little valley. It has become my duty, as it is my pleasure, to make up that record which may aid in fixing this day as a landmark for the guidance and direction of those who may come after us. If in the brief review of the century which is just passing away I shall present no gorgeous spectacle-no long train of titled lords and warrior knights, I may be able to sketch characters which shall commend themselves by their intelligence, their morals, their courage, and their undying patriotism. Plain and humble though they may have been, and confined within a narrow sphere of action, they were eminent in their respec- tive stations-they discharged with ability the duties which devolved upon them, and have passed away and left their impress upon this the place of their and your habitation.
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Most of the first settlers of this valley, though originally from Scotland, emigrated to North America from Ireland. Some of them came in what was called the Londonderry emigration. A portion of this body of emigrants landed in the spring of 1719, at Casco Bay, near the present city of Porland, in Maine. Like most of the New England colonists, they sought a home and a place to worship God. Immediately upon landing from their vessel, under the open heaven, and upon the sea-shore, they commenced the wor- ship of their Creator. The sands of a new continent were beneath their feet. The waves of the Atlantic were dashing around them. The sky of the new world was over them.
" The perfect world by Adam trod, Was the first temple built by God ; His fiat laid the corner-stone, And heaved its pillars one by one."
In this temple our fathers first worshipped God in this western land. Standing on the shore of the ocean, with their little bark riding near them, they raised their voices and sung the 137th psalm of the sweet singer of Israel. As they looked back upon the homes of their youth-upon the friends and kindred left behind-upon the blessings and comforts of civil- ization, well might they sing: " By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the wil- lows in the midst thereof."
But they looked forward with hope and constancy, and as they remembered their covenant vows, and
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their determination to observe and maintain their re- ligious duties, they also united and sung, in the sub- lime language of the Psalmist : " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
On application made by this colony to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, a tract of land was granted them, to which they removed in the sum- mer of the same year. The settlement was named after the place from whence they sailed, and still re- tains the name of Londonderry, now in the southern part of New Hampshire. The colonists immediately organized a society, settled a minister, and commenced laying broad and deep the foundations of religion and of civil order. Many of the early settlers of Cherry Valley removed from this Londonderry colony in 1741-2; the first actual settlement having been made by Mr. Lindesay, one of the patentees, in 1740.
The patent of Cherry Valley was granted in 1738, by George Clark, then lieutenant governor of the province of New York, with consent of the council, to John Lindesay, Jacob Roseboom, and others. The patentees probably re-leased a portion of the land to Governor Clark, as we find tiers of lots still owned by his lineal descendants in this county.
It has been cause of speculation and inquiry, why the patentees sought a patent of land so remote as this place then was, lying, as it did, beyond unoccupied lands more eligibly situated and of greater value. It has been said that Mr. Lindesay, the principal paten-
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tee, was pleased with the wild and romantic features of the country, which were not unlike his native Scotland. We can easily imagine that at that early day, ere the woodman's axe had broken into the for- est, the scene which our little valley presented was one of quiet and picturesque beauty. Here was the purling brook, the cascade, the rock and dell, the the beautiful forest tree, the blossoming cherry, and the wild mountain flower. The tall and graceful elm rose conspicuous in the valley, while the dark foliage of the rock maple and the evergreen marked the eleva- tion of the surrounding hills. From the summit of those hills the eye took in at a glance a large part of the valley of the Mohawk, and, stretching on beyond, were seen the Sacondaga mountains on the north, and far away in the northeast the Green Mountains of Ver- mont. A few German families were scatterod along the banks of the Mohawk, but on leaving that river the emigrant or settler found himself at once in the midst of the virgin forest. The whole country called by us the great west, the vast valley of the Mississippi, was almost a terra incognita, an unknown land. An occasional adventurer had made his way into the inte- rior, and had engaged in traffick with the aboriginal inhabitants, who claimed as owners, and roamed over the wide valleys and prairies. A few others, less hardy and enterprising, had passed along the shores of the great lakes, and, like Moses upon Mount Pisgah, caught a distant view of the promised land. A few French from Canada had intermarried with the native population, and introduced some slight features of civilization among the red men of the forest. With
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these exceptions, the whole country west of Cherry Valley, reaching on to the Pacific Ocean, was one un- broken wilderness.
Attracted more perhaps by the beauty of the scenery than by the fertility of the soil, here Mr. Lindesay took up his abode in the summer of 1740. An Indian foot-path afforded him communication with the Mo- hawk River. The winter which followed was one of great severity. Long ere spring revisited the valley his provisions were exhausted. The snow had fallen to a great depth, and had entirely interrupted his intercourse with the settlements of the Mohawk. The fierce winds howled around his frail dwelling. The gigantic forest trees glistened with the frosts of win- ter. The beauty of the summer scene had faded away. He realized in their greatest extent the dan- gers and trials of a borderer. A lingering death for himself and family by starvation was before him. At this critical period an Indian arrived from the Mohawk River on snow-shoes. This Indian returned and pro- cured provisions, which he carried to Mr. Lindesay upon his back, and thus saved the lives of the first family which settled in this valley.
About the time of his first settlement, Mr. Linde- say conferred with the Rev. Samuel Dunlop, a native of Ireland, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, upon the subject of adding to the settlement through his influence with his countrymen at home and in this country. Mr. Dunlop went to Ireland and returned in 1742. He was married in Ireland, and his young wife came with him to pitch their tents in the wilder- ness. At the same time Mr. Dickson and Mr. Galt,
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and families, arrived in company with Mr. Dunlop from Ireland, and Mr. Ramsey and James Campbell with their families, in the same year arrived from Londonderry in New Hampshire. Mr. Dickson and Mr. Galt purchased farms in the south part of the patent ; Mr. Ramsey in the western part, and James Campbell purchased a farm north of the village, now owned by his grandson James S. Campbell, Esq. Mr. Dunlop purchased the farm formerly owned and occupied by Dr. Joseph White, and now owned and occupied by his son-in-law Jacob Livingston, Esq.
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