USA > New York > Ulster County > Kingston > The history of Kingston, New York : from its early settlement to the year 1820 > Part 34
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"I am Gentlm with great regard " Your most obedt Hum Servt " ROBT R LIVINGSTON"
The preceding letter of Mr. Livingston was read at the meeting of the trustees of Kingston held at the house of Tobias Van Steen- bergh, Jr., on Friday, the 27th day of March, 1778, and it was thereupon "Ordered that Mr Cockburn be requested to attend this Board, in order to enable the Trustees to make the location of the lands contained in the above grant."
Mr. Cockburn attended with a map of the Hardenbergh Patent, when it was resolved that the location of the said lands be made either on the Schoharie Kill, or between the Packatakan branch and the Delaware or Fishkill, in Lots Nos. 39 and 40, or in such other place as a committee to be appointed for that purpose shall judge most valuable in quality and situation.
Mr. Henry Jansen and Mr. Philip Houghteling, two of the trustees, were appointed a committee to view and locate the lands to be donated by Mr. Chancellor Livingston, and employ Mr. Cockburn to survey the same.
At a meeting of the trustees held on the 12th day of February,
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1779, the speaker stated that the chancellor had requested that the five thousand acres to be donated should be located as early as practicable. The trustees at once ordered that Mr. Cockburn be requested to attend with his map in order to make the location. Accordingly, at the next meeting, on the 15th day of April, 1779, Mr. Cockburn attended with a map of the Great Patent, and aftei. full consultation with Mr. Cockburn, Peter Dumont, Jr., and Peter Hynpagh, they located the tract at a place called the Platte- kill, near Packatakan, in Great Lots Nos. 39 and 40. And Mr. Tappen was designated to draw the deed and wait on his honor the chancellor therewith for execution.
At a meeting of the trustees on the 18th day of October, 1782, a deed was received, duly executed by the Hon. Robert R. Livings- ton to the trustees, for five thousand acres of land, as located by them as before stated, as a donation to the suffering inhabitants of Kingston. The deed was at once ordered to be accepted, and a letter of thanks prepared and sent to the said Hon. Robert R. Livingston for his benevolence.
The trustees by resolution directed Mr. Tappen, their clerk, to inquire by letter of Chancellor Livingston what character of suf- ferers he designed to benefit by his real estate donation. The re- ply does not appear in the records, but on the 19th day of June, 1786, the trustees by resolution appointed Andries De Witt. Edward Schoonmaker, and Benjamin Low a committee " to make a list and estimate of the persons entitled to and having an interest in the donation of lands made by Chancellor Livingston to the Inhabitants and residents of this town, who are the sufferers in the late conflagration of the said town."
Subsequently, under the direction of the trustees, the tract was divided into fifty-acre lots, and then arranged into ten classes of ten lots each. The allotment of the several classes is set forth in the Appendix, as giving an official statement of the greater part of the heads of families who suffered at the conflagration. It evi- dently does not include all, as there were more than one hundred sufferers.
Notwithstanding the trials through which the town of Kingston had passed. we find their patriotism and zeal in the cause of their beloved country was neither mitigated nor abated, for at the annual election of trustees held on the first Tuesday of March, 1779, little more than a year after their town had been laid in. ashes, the trustees-elect immediately qualified, and at once " Ordered that the Treasurer deliver to Edward Schoonmaker one thousand two hun- dred pounds to put in the Continental loan office and procure a certificate for the same."
After the surrender of Burgoyne and the burning of Kingston,
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Sir Henry Clinton hastily abandoned his marauding expedition and returned to New York, and thus ended the operations of the British regular troops in this vicinity. But Ulster County was not thereby relieved entirely from the horrors of bloody strife. The Indian allies of the British, and the Tory blood-hounds, stirred up by British emissaries, were constantly menacing the border settlements, which required continual watching and action. Al- though but little humanity and much brutality during that war was exhibited under cover of the British red-coat, still, that was not to be compared with the brutality of the Tories, who, covering themselves with war paint in imitation of the savage warriors, appeared thereby to divest themselves of every vestige of humanity, and to aim at throwing the brutality and heartlessness of the In- dian far in the shade. Sometimes a feeling of humanity was aroused, as in the case of Brant, when in one of his raids he found a number of helpless school children in terror, weeping around the corpse of their. murdered school-mistress ; he dashed his ex- emption mark of black paint upon the clothing of each one of them, and told them to hold that up when an Indian appeared, and they would not be harmed. Then with a savage war-whoop he rushed into the woods. Many Indians passed, but the children remained uninjured.
Search will be made in vain for a similar tale in reference to any one of the paint-bedaubed Tories. The hatred of their country and of their liberty-loving countrymen appeared to have blunted all the finer feelings of their nature. Tradition gives a tale of a Tory and an Indian in one of these raids. Having entered a house, they found a child sleeping sweetly in a cradle. The infant's smile in its sleep made the Indian draw back and withhold the intended blow with the tomahawk ; but the Tory, marking the hesitation of the Indian, stepped forward, and in a single blow clave the skull of the sleeping innocent.
Some of them in the hypocritical guise of friends served as spies for the Indians, to gain knowledge and carry information to their savage friends in order to facilitate deadly raids, and to designate the proposed victims and the most favorable time, so that in the border settlement no man was safe who openly advocated the principles of liberty, and indeed even to disclose them in private. Such were some of the hardships under which the war for inde- pendence was prosecuted. The following is given as an example : In 1777, in the vicinity of Pine Bush, in the town of Rochester, near the extreme northern border of the town, three families re- sided in the neighborhood of each other, respectively named Baker, Miller, and Shurter. Shurter was one day approached and charged with being a Tory ; he denied it, and gave strong assurances of at-
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tachment to the cause of freedom. Not many days elapsed before the report of firearms was heard in that vicinity, and soon the smoke and flames of several conflagrations were seen ascending heavenward. The neighboring townsmen rushed to the scene to find the houses and outbuildings in flames or in ashes, Shurter lying in one place with his brains dashed out, Miller in another perfo- rated with bullets. Baker was never found or heard of, probably carried away for torture to enliven some of the midnight savage orgies.
Scarcely a year passed during the entire Revolutionary War but the border settlements of Ulster County were visited to a greater or less extent by these savage raids. In the early part of the war they were not conducted under any organized expedition, but were carried on by small predatory bands of Indians, with Tory allies, for marauding and robbing purposes, and to procure scalps for redemp- tion by British heroes. Many sensational stories have been written in reference to those raids, but a few only will be noticed here. None of them actually reached the territory of Kingston, but the assistance of its inhabitants was necessary in furnishing money and troops for protection. Block-houses were built, and houses in suitable localities in the neighborhood of settlements picketed and turned into forts, as places of refuge for the inhabitants in case of danger. Patrol parties were constantly kept out scouring the woods as a protection against surprises, to whom the block-houses and forts afforded necessary shelter. Yet notwithstanding all these precautions the wily savages frequently eluded their vigilance. During the early period of the war, and until the fall of 1777, when the defeat and capture of Burgoyne put an end to the hopes of British victories in that quarter, the British had drawn their Indian allies to their assistance in the northern part of the State and along the northern frontier settlements. But after that, in 1778 and 1779, expeditions under Brant and Johnson were organ- ized for havoc and destruction along the borders of Ulster and Orange.
In the fall of 1778 Brant, with a band of Indians and Tories, appeared on the frontiers of the county of Ulster and carried dis- may through the settlements. The inhabitants with their families rushed to the interior, and to the forts, block-houses, and other places of safety. The approach of the savages was heralded by the burning of buildings and the screams of the unfortunates who had found no place of safety.
One of the forts in the valley on the west of the Shawangunk Mountains was called Fort Gumaer. Captain Cuddeback, who was in charge, had only nine men with him besides the women and children who had come there for protection. Feeling that his
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force was not sufficient to resist an attack by the savages, he re- sorted to a ruse for a display of strength. The fort being on a plateau having a commanding view for a considerable distance all around, he dressed up the women who were with him with hats and coats so as to resemble men, and armed them with guns and sticks. As soon as the Indians appeared in the distance he paraded his whole force in Indian file outside, and in full view of the distant Indians marched from the rear to the front of the fort, and enter- ing the fort, at once closed the barriers and made preparations for defence. The Indians passed them by without attack, simply firing a few shots upon their onward march, without injury to any one, and continuing their depredations and destruction as they proceeded.
The next year, 1779, Brant made another incursion, and during that raid occurred the celebrated battle of Minisink, in which so many of the citizens of Goshen were slaughtered, and to whose memory an appropriate and fine monument adorns the public square in that village.
These raids, together with the horrible massacre in the Wyom- ing Valley in 1778, exhibited to the commander-in-chief the neces- sity of summary Indian punishment to break their power for evil and protect the inhabitants of the border territory. Accordingly an expedition was organized for that purpose, and the command intrusted to General John Sullivan. The expedition consisted of four brigades, including General James Clinton's brigade, which comprised four New York regiments.
The Second New York Regiment, under command of Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt, was in camp at Wawarsing, and on May 4th struck their tents under orders of march to Wyoming. When about starting the colonel discovered smoke ascending in a southerly direction, and received a messenger with information that the Indians were at a settlement about six miles distant, Fantine Kill, which they were burning and destroying. Colonel Van Cortlandt at once marched to their relief. He found Brant was there with about one hundred and fifty Indians, but on the approach of Colonel Van Cortlandt he with his followers fled to the mountains. In that raid by the Indians the widow of Isaac Bevier and her two sons were killed, also the entire family of Michael Socks, consisting of seven or eight persons.
The Indians had also attacked the house of Jesse Bevier, but the inmates succeeded in defending themselves until relieved by Colonel Van Cortlandt. On the 7th of May the regiment again struck their tents and marched to join the rest of the expedition.
In three weeks' time the expedition broke the strength and com- pletely subdued the tribes of the hostile Indians, so that they sued
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for peace and the burial of the hatchet. Predatory bands still loitered round in small numbers, robbing and murdering where they could, even until some time after the close of the Revolutionary struggle. They were not the representatives of any tribe, but vir- tually outlaws and outcasts, generally aided and assisted by their painted Tory associates.
In 1780 there was an Indian known by the synonym of " Shanks Ben" hovering about the frontier with a few Indian followers and bloodthirsty Tories. He was the terror of the country, and always succeeded in evading pursuit and capture. Negroes he never injured unless by some specific act they aroused his anger, but woe to the white man or woman who came within his power.
In 1780 Johannis Jansen, who was a colonel appointed in the early period of the war in command of a regiment of Ulster County militia, and who had rendered service to his country as such, was at home at his farm residence in Shawangunk. The house was a large stone one, with a wing containing the kitchen, and standing on the north side of the road upon a slight elevation above the flat skirting the Shawangunk Mountains. Early one Monday morning, in the warm season of the year, when he had gone to his barn, he discovered some Indians and a Tory prowling around. He at once, being unarmed, rushed toward the house, and they after him, but did not fire for fear of alarming the neighborhood. When he reached the house he was almost within their grasp. But he suc- ceeded in getting inside of the kitchen and slamming the door shut, but could not fasten it. He held it shut against the Indian force by pressing against it with his arms and head. One of the Indians then seized a broad-axe which lay near and gave blow after blow upon the door. The door, with Colonel Jansen's strength, still withstood the battering. The colonel then called upon his wife to get him his gun and pistols. The Indians then left the door, and the colonel stepped into the main building, closed the door behind him, and with his gun and pistols awaited their entrance.
They entered the kitchen, ransacked that and the cellar, but made no attempt to enter the main building. A young lady from New York, who was stopping in the neighborhood with a connection of hers and who was engaged to do some spinning, came to com- mence her work while the Indians were in possession of the kitchen, and on entering it she was immediately seized and taken prisoner, and they, of course, were deaf to all her entreaties for release.
A young man by the name of Scott was stopping at Mr. Jansen's at the time, and had left the house before the Indians arrived. Mrs. Jansen, who was up-stairs, called loudly to Miss Hardenbergh, who was in another room, and inquired where Scott was. Miss
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Hardenbergh replied in a loud voice that he had gone to Mr. Sparks's. . The Indians overhearing the question and reply, and knowing that Sparks was a near neighbor, suspected that he had gone for assistance. They at once gathered their booty, drove some of the negroes before them, and dragging the lady captive with them escaped to the mountain.
The attacking party consisted of "Shanks Ben," three other Indians, and a Tory painted in Indian style.
On their retreat, after putting an end to the cries and screams of their lady captive with the tomahawk, they proceeded up the mountain, and when near the summit saw a party consisting of an old man by the name of Mentz, his son and daughter. They suc- ceeded in capturing and murdering the old man and his daughter, but the son escaped by jumping down a precipice. With a sprained ankle and much pain he reached Colonel Jansen's, where he found a number of the neighbors assembled. They at once started up the mountain, and found the murdered victims on the mountain-top ; but the Tory and his Indian allies escaped their vengeance.
During the Revolutionary struggle Captain Jeremiah Snyder with his family resided near the Kaatsban Church, in the north- erly part of the then town of Kingston. Some time in the year 1779 he, with his son Elias and three others, were out upon a scouting party ransacking the neighborhood in quest of Tories, and to ascertain whether any enemies were prowling around. In the course of their wandering Captain Snyder and Anthony Van Schaack became separated from the rest of the party. They moved along very cautiously through the forest, but for some time saw no living creature. At length passing under the brow of a cliff, they were suddenly startled by the discharge of musketry, and five bullets penetrated the earth near the person of the captain. They looked up and saw the enemy on the top of the rock, who ordered them to lay down their arms ; but as their muskets were discharged, they preferred the chances of escape. They ran for their lives, and both escaped unhurt, although in all thirteen deliberate shots were fired at them.
The next year, 1780, the Indian, "Shanks Ben," who figured in the attack upon Colonel Jansen as before related, was with a num- ber of his Indian and Tory followers on a marauding expedition through the mountains. On the 6th of May they came suddenly upon Captain Snyder and his son Elias when they were working in a field near the homestead. Snyder and his son at once started on a run to escape, but they soon found their escape cut off by the enemy appearing in every direction and surrendered. Captain Snyder surrendered to John Runnip, one of the pursuing party, at which the flanking party were very wroth, thinking they were
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entitled to his capture. A rule existed among the Indians that the one who first laid hands on a prisoner or obtained his scalp should be entitled to the reward from the British Government. A dispute as to the right was generally terminated by the death of the prisoner. The leader of the flanking party, being thus disap- pointed. advanced in a threatening attitude and struck his toma- hawk at the head of the captain, but fortunately it glanced off and made only a deep cut near the ear. Runnip interfered, and event- ually saved the captain's life.
After the capture they all proceeded to the house, which they found deserted, the family having sought shelter and a hiding- place in the woods. They made a general sack of the premises. The buildings were then fired, and the marauding party with their plunder set out for the mountains, carrying the captain and Elias away with them as prisoners. This occurred within four or five hundred yards of the residence of a Tory, who saw what he deemed sport, and kept out of hearing of any cry for help. The Indians and Tories proceeded with their captives and booty, crossing the Cauterskill where Palenville now stands. They passed to the south of Pine Orchard between two lakes, and thence to the east branch of the Schoharie Kill, which they crossed, and there bivouacked for the night.
The next morning the Tories and Indians separated, the former taking the Continental money and guns, of which they had robbed the captain, while the Indians proceeded with the captives and the rest of the booty on their journey for Niagara, under the leadership of Runnip, who assumed the command. On the 9th of May they ascended a lofty peak of the mountains where the snow, compact and hard, still lay four feet deep ; toward sunset they reached the east branch of the Delaware River.
Two of the Indians then set off for Poghatoghhon (Middletown) in quest of potatoes, which the settlers, in their haste to abandon the country the fall previous, had left in the ground, and which were found to be still in a good state of preservation. Four other Indians proceeded to fell an elm-tree for a bark canoe, and two others were left in charge of the captives.
An Indian bark canoe was soon built. The process was as fol- lows : After the elm was felled the bark was ripped up to the length of the proposed canoe. The Indians then removed it with the utmost care from the trunk to prevent its bursting, after which they chipped off the rough outside so as to make it pliable, and bent it over, the inside out, with stays of green withes fastened to the bottom and sides in the manner of ribs to preserve the shape. A spot on each side near one end was pared away so as to double up, and this being done, it assumed the form of a bow with a sharp
£
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point. The stern was constructed in the same way. To prevent leakage at the donblings and knot-holes they pounded slippery elm bark into a jelly and calked them. After constructing their canoe in this way, and making their paddles by splitting a small white ash-tree, the eight Indians and their prisoners embarked therein the next day, Wednesday, and drifted down the east branch of the Delaware to Shehawcon (now Hancock), at the junction of the two branches of the Delaware. At this place they abandoned their canoe and continued their journey westward on foot. After marching a few miles, Runnip, one of the Indians, was seized with a violent attack of the fever and ague, which detained them until the next morning. At noon on Saturday they struck the Susque- hanna about sixty miles above Tioga Point. Here one of the Indians killed a rattlesnake and brought it to Runnip. "He skinned it, cleaned it, chopped it up in small pieces, made a soup of it, drank the soup and ate the flesh -- and was a well man."
Here they constructed another bark canoe and floated down the current to Tioga Point. There they left the canoe and marched along the banks of the Chemung River. They passed the breast- work which the Indians had thrown up to resist the invasion of General Sullivan, and between that and the Genesee Flats Runnip pointed out two mounds which were alongside the path, and which were the graves of a scouting party of thirty-six men belonging to Sullivan's army which had been intercepted and killed by the Indians. At the Genesee Flats they met John Young and Freder- ick Rowe, two Tories from Saugerties, on their way to the frontier in company with Indians. Young had lived a number of years within a mile of Captain Snyder's.
The Indians again resumed the journey with their prisoners, and finally delivered them over to the British at Fort Niagara. After spending some time in captivity, first at Niagara, then at Montreal, and afterward on an island in the St. Lawrence, they made their escape and reached home shortly before the close of the war.
The five Continental regiments which were raised in the State of New York in the early part of the war made a record which should be appropriately noticed. In them were officers and troops from Kingston, as well as other portions of Ulster County.
The first, third, and fourth of the regiments were at Saratoga under Gates in 1777, and a portion of them at the forts in the Highlands under James Clinton. In July, 1778, the five regiments were brigaded under General James Clinton. In 1779 the third regiment, under General Clinton, formed a part of the expedition against the Six Nations. They were consolidated in two regiments . on the 1st of January, 1781.
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Of those regiments Mr. Ruttenber, in an address before the His- torical Society at Newburgh, said : "In their ranks were those who had borne the banner Excelsior from Quebec to Yorktown. Returning from the latter they were conspicuous in the entertain- ment of our French allies at Peekskill. As a part of the right wing (Gen (fates) 2nd Division Gen St Clair, First Brigade Col Cortlandt, they took up quarters in the New Windsor encampment in November 1982. They had long been and continued to be the pride of the State-the pride of the Army-the pride of Baron Steuben-the pride of Washington, who in 1782 wrote thus, 'The commander in chief cannot conceal the pleasure he receives from finding the two regiments of New York in the best order possible, by the report of the Inspector General, which also concurs with his own observation.' "
There does not appear to be any specific record of what services were rendered in the war by the citizens of the town of Kingston after the destruction of their village, and after the scene of the war was removed from their immediate locality ; still, they were not ex- empt from the trials of the conflict, nor from impending and appre- hended dangers.
At a meeting of the trustees held on the 12th day of January, 1781, the following resolution was passed and adopted :
On motion of Mr. De Witt, seconded by Mr. Tappen, after recit- ing " That as the frontier parts of this county are at present with- out any troops, and no prospect to have them supplied by men, before the next campaign, or even then, and consequently the enemy may make such inroads into the interior of the country as they may see cause
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