USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 19
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"These are to advise and require all the Inhabitants of Schinnectady and adjoining places to repair forthwith to the aforesaid City of Albany to receive their Rights and Privileges & Liberties in such manner as if the Gov- ernment of King James the 2d had never existed or any of his arbitrary Commissions or any of his Gov- ernors illegal acts had never been executed or done."
The true import of this document is made more ap- parent in this postscript to a letter written by Hendrick Cuyler, one of the members of Leisler's council of war, to the people of Schenectady :
P. S .- "We earnestly request the aid and diligence of the Noble gentlemen there [Schenectady] for the promo- tion of the Public Good in assisting those whom we now Send up at Albany's request being to the number of 50 men, of whom Jochim Staets is Commander ; not doubt- ing but the gentlemen of Shennechtady will be preferred
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to those of Albany in the approaching New Government as we pledge ourselves to speak in favor of your Dili- gence.
"We have this day resolved that you shall have no less Privileges than those of Albany in Trading and Boking which Mr Milborne will explain to you. We therefore request that you will exhibit all Dilligence in repairing together to Albany to welcome said Milborne."
On Sunday afternoon, the tenth of November, the members of the convention assembled in the city-hall. When Milborne came, he was asked at whose expense the fifty-one men had been brought to Albany. He re- plied at the expense of the people of Albany, each man having been hired at twenty-five shillings a month. The recorder, Dirck Wessells, replied, "That that was Repugnant to there Resolution and letter sent to N. Yorke ye 4th of Septembr Last, which ye sd Milborne Perruseing founde to be soe, & askd all ye People Stand- ing by if they thougt ye County of albany would be able to pay yt [that] Charge, who all unanimously an- swered no; upon which ye sd Milborne said, Then we shall fynde a way for it, and showed ye Convention his Commission Signed and Sealed.
"The Recordr told him that Such a Commission granted by a Company of Private men was of no force" in Albany, "and that he [Milborne] had no Power to doe or order any affaires in albany, but if he could shew a Commission " from their majesties, King William and Queen Mary, then the people of the city were willing to respect it.
"The Sd Milborne went on and made a long oration to ye Common People, which were got together in ye Citty hall, of Popish government and arbitrary Power, Con- demning all things which had been done and Passed in
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ye late King James Stuarts time, Particularly ye Charter of this Citty, and that there ought to be a new Election of Magistrates, &c., and many oyr things, to Stirr up ye Common People, upon which he was told that if all things were null and void wh were passed in King James time then ye Inhabitants were in a Desolate Condition, Since many Patents of houses and lands were obtained in ye Late King James time, which undoubtedly will be approved and Confirmed by there Majts, now upon ye Throne, and that there had been a free Election ac- cording to ye Charter, and further that they Plainly did Discern yt ye Sd Milborne by his Smooth tongue & Pre- tended Commissions did aim [at] nothing else but to
Raise mutiny and Sedition amongst ye People,
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therefore if things were Carried on as Milborne would have" them, "all would Runn into Confusion with ye Indians, all authority [would be] turned Upside Doune as in many Parts of ye government was done, to which ye Convention by no means could Condeshend, but were Resolved to be quiet & in Peace if Possible till ye Long expected orders from there Majts should come to hand under whom they acted, and therefore desyred ye Sd Mil- borne to desist from Such Discourse, for that they would Dispute no more with him about it, leaving all till a Law- full Power came, nott acknowlegeing him to have any, and that they should Proceed to discourse of quartering ye men who endured so much hardship by Lyeing aboard, upon which it was Concluded to meet again in ye morn- ing about 9 a clock to aggree about ye quartering of ye 51 men Sent for our assistance."
On Monday morning, when the members of the con- vention learned that the city hall was filled with a large number of excited people, they assembled in Dirck Wes- sells's residence, where they endeavored to agree with
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Jacob Milborne respecting the quartering of the soldiers on board the sloops. But as Milborne insisted that his men should be placed under the command of an officer who held no civil position and that then he should find a way for paying them for their services, the convention declined to accept his proposals.
Meanwhile the convention sent messengers to the city hall with orders to the people assembled there "to dis- perse themselfs and goe home." The latter would not comply, but elected Jochim Staets, a lieutenant of the militia-company commanded by Captain Wendell, to be the captain of the soldiers from New York. To confirm their election of this officer, who was a member of the convention, about a hundred of these excited electors, who were mostly youths and no freeholders, signed their names to the commission given to Jochim Staets.
"Yea," it is recorded, "ye People were so Rageing and mutinous that some of ye Convention being in ye Citty hall, were forced to withdraw themselfs, being threatened and menaced that they were in danger of their life, all of which was occasioned by ye Instigation of Jacob Milborne."
Perceiving that the municipal and county officials could not be induced to comply with his demands, Jacob Milborne, on Wednesday, marched his soldiers into the city from Martin Garretson's island where they had bivouacked since Monday. The burghers, who had be- come his partisans, received the men from New York, it is said, into their "houses without billeting or lawful authority."
On Friday, as it is recorded, he marched them to the front of the fort, where he made a demand that the gate of the fort should be opened. He "was answered by ye Mayr, Pieter Schuyler, Esqr, Commandr of ye sd fort,
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Thatt he kept ye Same for there Majes King william & queen mary, & Commanded " him to depart "in there Majes name with his Seditious Company." Then the angry emissary attempted to force the gate open, and had so far succeeded that he had one of his feet inside of it, when he was pushed away and the gate was again shut and barred. He then marched his soldiers away, but after a time returned, his men having in the mean time loaded their guns with bullets. When he arrived the second time in front of the fort, a protest was read from one of the bastions to him, in which it was de- clared that " the Convention of ye Civil & Military officers of ye Citty & County of Albany now p'sent in ye fort doe therefore Protest hereby in their Majes King William & Queen Maryes name, before god and ye world against ye sd Milborne and his Seditious Troops, for all Dam- mages, Murthers, Bloodsheds, Plunderings, and oyr mis- chieffs which may Ensue by his Rebellious actions and charge him & them forthwith to withdraw themselves from there sd Majes fort."
While these things were happening, a number of Mo- hawk Indians, who were standing near the fort and watch- ing with eager eyes the tumult at the fort-gate, became greatly excited, and sent word to Pieter Schuyler that if Milborne did not depart with his company that they would fire upon the disburbers. "Whereupon ye Mayr Desyred Doctor Dellius & ye Recorder to goe to ye Indians to Pacify and quiet them for ye Bussinesse was yt [that] a Person without Power or authority would be Master over the gentn here which they would nott admitt ; the In- dians answered goe and tell him if he come out of ye gates we will fyre upon him, which Doctor Dellius forthwith Communicated to ye sd Milborne at ye head of his Compe in ye Presence of a great many Burgers who made no
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further attempt to goe to ye fort, but Marched doune the towne and Dismissed his men."
On Saturday, the sixteenth of November, some of the citizens who had become Milborne's partisans, signed an agreement with him for the payment of the expenses of his soldiers, who unwillingly accepted Jochim Staets as their captain. It is said that Jacob Milborne then de- parted for New York, leaving the company in a state of disorganization.
On Monday, the twenty-fifth of November, Captain Jonathan Bull with eighty-seven men from Connecticut for the defence of Albany arrived at Greenbush, and the next day marched with flying colors into the city where he "was recd by ye Mayr & aldermen att ye gate & bid welcome He drew up his men in ye middle of ye Broad [State] Street, gave three volleys & was ans- wered by 3 gunns from ye fort ; ye men were orderly quartered in ye Citty and extreamly well accepted."
On the following Friday, Lieutenant Enos Talmadge of the Connecticut company was sent with twenty-four men to Schenectady to do guard-duty. Captain Staets meanwhile became so arrogant that the refused to take part in the defence of the city, and went to Schenectady with some persons of his faction. The authorities thought it "convenient to keep a day extraordinary for fasting and prayer," and ordered that Wednesday, the fourth of December, should be duly observed as a day of prayer and fasting, when the people should pray to the Almighty God, to free them from the bloody sword of their enemies and especially from the inhuman barbarity of the heathen.
When Jacob Leisler received the order of the twenty- ninth of July addressed to Lieutenant-governor Nichol- son "and in his absence to such as for the time being
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take care for preserving the Peace and administering the Laws in their Matys Province of New York in America," to proclaim William & Mary, the prince and the princess of Orange, king and queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, and the supreme lord and lady of the prov- ince of New York, he immediately claimed the authority, in the absence of Lieutenant-governor Nicholson, to ex- ecute the orders of their majesties' council. He there- fore, on the twenty-eighth of December, wrote "To ye Military and Civill officers and ye Protestant freemen In- habitants of ye Citty and County of Albanie," saying : "I having Received orders from his Maje King William for taking care of this Government, have Commissionated Capt Jochim Staas to take into his Possession Fort Orange and keep ye Souldiers in good order and Discipline, and yt ye Magistracy may be in a good Decorum have Ordered and doe hereby Order that free Elections be forth- with made for a Mayor and Aldermen whom I have Signified to Capt Staas with whom Pray Correspond."
When the members of the convention learned from Captain Staets that Leisler had no other authority than that assumed by him and that he had sent a copy of the proclamation to Captain Staets which had come into his hands addressed to Lieutenant-governor Nicholson who was then in England, they resolved " not to suffer ye Least Innovation or Alteration in ye government " of the city and the county until the commands of their majesties came to them. They also drew up a protest in which they recited that "Jacob Leysler of ye City of N. Yorke Merchant " had " for some monthes past assumed to him- self a Power to Command there Majes Fort at N: Yorke * without ye Least Commission or Authority de- rived to him from ye Crowne of England ; whose Ambition and Restlesse Spiritt, together with Diverse of his associ-
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ates " had "Indefaticably strove and Endeavored to bring there Majes King William and Queen Marys Loveing sub- jects in ye City and County of albany unto ye same Confu- sion and Slavery, upon Pretence to Redeem them from Ar- bitrary Power, and to free them from ye Yoke of Popery," and that he had attempted to delude the common people by assuming that he was intrusted with the care of the province and the administration of the laws in the ab- sence of Lieutenant-general Nicholson, and that he con- tinued "to make new Confusion * by sending orders and Commissions to Jochim Staes, *
* * in- tending thereby to subvert ye government " of the city, "and Turn all upside Downe." Therefore, as the signers of the protest declared, "to Prevent Such Confusion, Inno- vation, and Alteration," and not "to Incurr there Majes Displeasure for our too much Lenity, Wee doe in his Majes King Williams name, forewarn, Discharge, forbid, and Prohibite ye sd Jochim Staas and his associates upon Pain of Rebellion to Convein or cause any meeting or assembly of People to come together, * * * and therefore in ye Behalfe of there Majes Leidge People of ye said Citty and County we do Protest against ye sd Jochim Staets and his associates for all Bloodshedds, Plunderings, Rob- beries, mischeeffs, Dammages, Losses, Detriments that may henceforth Ensue by his or there Irregular and Illegal Proceedings."
To impress the minds of the people with the signifi- cance of these statements, the protest was published on the thirteenth of January, 1690, with the following public ceremony :
"The Mayr with ye Recordr .and Aldermen and ye Justices and ye Common Councill marched from there Majes Fort ( The marshall going before with a white Rod) accompanied with diverse of ye Antient Citizens,
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with a guarde of fifty inhabitants in arms. The Mayr as ye Kings Leift [lieutenant], together with ye Recordr, alderman Shaik, and Capt Marte Gerritse, Justice of ye Peace, as soon as they came within ye Citty Gates, went with their Swords Pointed. Then followed ye other aldermen and Justices and Common Councill and Sun- drey Citizens and then the guards, and in this Posture with Drumms Beateing came to ye Plain Before ye Church where ye Bell Rung thrice. Then the Mayor made a speech to ye Citizens which flokd together, showing the Reasons why he came there in Such manner. Then ye Protest was Read in English and Dutch. This being done they all went in ye Same Posture through ye Prin- ciple Streets of ye Citty and so up to ye fort, where ye guardes were Dismissed and thankd by ye Mayr, ye Pre- sent Commander of ye fort, for ye Service they had done there Majes King William and Queen Mary that day, and ye Protest [was] sent by ye Marshall to be affixed at ye Porch of ye Church."
At this time it was known that the French had a large force of soldiers and Indians at Montreal, and that the season of the year was most favorable for an attack upon Albany, if they intended to invade the province. About forty Mohawk Indians were a week later sent north ward as far as Lake Champlain as scouts, who were instructed to bring as quickly as possible any intelligence they might obtain of the movements of the French to- ward Albany. The inhabitants of Schenectady had be- come so distracted and disunited by Leisler's agents that they were little concerned respecting the insecure situa- tion of the village on the frontier of the province. For their want of vigilance, they paid a bloody penalty.
Comte de Frontenac had now at Montreal a body of soldiers about one hundred in number and about as many
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Indians, under the command of Sieur Le Moyne de Sainte Helene and Lieutenant Daillebout de Mantet, to attack Albany. This force departed from Montreal about the beginning of February, 1690. When the party arrived at a place where there was a trail leading to Corlear, as Schenectady was called, the French officers abandoned the intention of attacking Albany and by the advice of the Indians determined to fall upon the former place. On the night of the eighth of February, about eleven o'clock, the unseen enemy reached the silent village. Four squaws, discovered in a wigwam near the palisaded place, gave the invaders information that hastened the doom of the sleeping inhabitants. The weather was extremely cold. The French officers led their soldiers and Indians through an open gate into the village. "The signal of attack was given Indian fashion, and the entire force rushed on simultaneously. M. de Mantet placed himself at the head of a detachment, and reached a small fort where the garrison was under arms. The gate was burst in with considerable difficulty, the whole [structure] set on fire, and all who defended the place slaughtered.
"The sack of the town began a moment before the attack on the fort. Few houses made any resistance. * The massacre lasted two hours. The remainder of the night was spent in placing sentinels, and in taking some repose. In order to occupy the savages, who would otherwise have taken to drink and thus ren- dered themselves incapable for defence, the houses had already been set on fire." Two dwellings were not burned. "All the rest were consumed. The lives of between fifty and sixty persons, old men, women, and children, were spared, they having escaped the first fury of the attack. * There were upward of eighty well-built and well-furnished houses in the town.
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" The return march began with thirty prisoners.
* * The French lost but twenty-one men, namely four Indians and seventeen Frenchmen. Only one In- dian and one Frenchman were killed at the capture of the town. The others were lost on the road." These paragraphs are a part of a French account of the attack on Schenectady.
The following account of the reception of the news at Albany of this horrifying occurrence appears in the re- cords under the date of Sunday, the ninth of February :
"This morning about 5 a Clock ye alarm was brought by Symon Schermerhoorn who was shott threw his Thigh, yt [that] ye french and Indians had murthered ye People of Skinnechtady ; haveing got into ye Towne about 11 or 12 a Clock, there being no Watch Kept (ye Inhabitants being so negligent and Refractory) and yt he had much adoe to Escape they being very numerous.
"The alarm being given all People Repared to there Post, ye fort fyred severall gunns to give ye alarm to ye farmers but few heard, there being such an Extream Snow above Knee Deep. Severall ye people haveing Escaped ye Cruelty of ye french and there Indians came Running here & told us ye Village was a fyre and yt they had much adoe to Escape for all ye Streets were full of french and Indians, & yt many People were murthered, and yt ye enemy were marching hither, which news was Con- tinually Confirmed till afternoon. * Some horse- men [were] sent out to Discover ye Enemies force and there march but were forced to Return ye snow being so deep. This night we gott a letter from Skin- nechtady Informing us yt the Enemy yt had done yt Mis- chieffe there, were about one hundred and fifty or 200 men but that there were 1400 men in all; One army for Albany & anoyr for Sopus which hindred much ye
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marching of any force out of ye Citty fearing yt ye enemy might watch such an opportunity."
The horrors of the night-attack upon Schenectady are thus depicted by Pieter Schuyler, the mayor of Albany, in a letter, dated the fifteenth of February : "No tongue can express the Cruelties that were committed. The whole Village was instantly in a Blaze. Women with Child [were] riped open, and their Infants cast into the Flames, or dashed against the Posts of the Doors. Sixty Persons perished in the Massacre, and twenty-seven were carried into Captivity. The rest fled naked towards Al- bany, thro' a deep Snow which fell that very Night in a terrible Storm ; and twenty-five of these Fugitives lost their Limbs in the Flight, thro' the Severity of the Frost."
On Monday, Captain Bull, taking with him a detail of soldiers from the different companies in Albany, pro- ceeded to the burned village to succor the suffering peo- ple and to bury the dead. He was instructed, if he found any friendly Indians there, to take them and to pursue the retreating enemy and to "use all means Imaginable to Rescue ye Prisoners." When the Connecticut officer undertook his depressing task of interring the bloody, blackened, frozen bodies that lay in the ashes of the con- sumed buildings, he found those of Lieutenant Enos Talmadge, Sergeant Church, and the other members of his company who had been killed while gallantly de- fending the palisaded fort, which the French soldiers under Lieutenant Daillebout de Mantet first assailed.
Fearful that the French might again invade the pro- vince, it was resolved by the convention of Albany to persuade the Mohawks to move to Schenectady and build a castle there, and also to solicit the " Indians of Skach- kook to come & live & Plant upon Marte gerritse Island " [now Van Rensselaer Island].
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On the second of March, the convention commissioned Robert Livingston and Captain Gerret Teunise to go to the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut and to treat and consult with their governors and councils respecting such things as were "Requisite for there Majes King William & Queen Maryes Service & ye Safety of there subjects " in the city and county of Albany, and to show the officers the "necessity of joyning all forces
to invade * * Canida by Sea & Land." These commissioners were also instructed "to desyre such assistance & supply from them " as were needed.
Two days thereafter, Jacob Leisler and his council commissioned Johannes de Bruyn, Johannes Provoost, and Jacob Milborne to proceed to Albany with one hun- dred and sixty soldiers and to obtain possession of Fort Orange, as Fort Albany was then called, and to superin- tend, order and control the affairs of King William's gov- ernment. When these commissioners arrived in Albany and made known their mission to the convention, its members were so divided in opinion respecting the pro- priety of recognizing Leisler's assumed authority as lieu- tenant-governor of the province that they, after much discussion, determined that if Milborne and his associates would agree to perform certain stipulations that they would consent to grant what the former demanded.
Robert Livingston, writing to Sir Edmund Andros, from Hartford, Connecticut, on the fourteenth of April, 1690, speaks of the manner in which Leisler's delegates observed the articles of capitulation, signed by them on the twentieth of March : "I had letters last week from home. * * * They have surrendered ye fort to Leis- ler's party ; for this Collony [Connecticut] drew off ye Company yt [that] was there as soon as ye N. Yorke forces *
* * came up, and [Connecticut] advised
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them to submit to Leysler as also did Boston, calling him Leift. Governor, and [said] yt we could not expect any assistance till we had submitted, for every one of our neighbors drew back there hands." The disheartened official relates that the New York commissioners failed to pay the English soldiers garrisoning Fort Orange and ejected them, except thirteen, "among ye rest poor Sharpe," who was lame, "being wounded with a great gunn yt splitt when ye alarm came of Shinnectady." "They of Albany" he writes, "agree wel enough with ye New Yorke Commissioners concerning ye carying on ye war. Albany furnishes 140 men, Sopus 60, N. Yorke 200, yt goe out in a months time against ye enemy with ye 5 nations towards Canida. * *
"As soon as 'Leisler' heard of my goeing from Al- bany to these Colonies, he sends to this Colony and Bos- ton to apprehend me, writeing warrants, conts [contain- ing] many false and pernicious lyes, yt I should have spoke, this and that, against ye Prince of Orange, think- ing by yt means to render me odious to these Colonies, yt they should not send supplyes, and then he could manage Albany at his pleasure."
In this letter to Governor Andros, the persecuted Al- banian further remarks: "I have noe more to add but pray your Excell. to be mindfull of my concerns about ye Albany expedition, yt His Majesty may send orders to settle and pay all these arrears, else I am undone ; for there is about 400 £ I am out, besides what I have ye mortgage for, and I have since these revolutions advanced considerable expecting every day a settlemt. Brother Cortlant and I have maintained ye Kings souldiers at Al- bany till ye 12 of March 1639 exclus: and now they turn them out like doggs, and tell them, 'let ye Convention pay yow,' who administred * ye oath of alle-
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gience to them for King William and Q. Mary, for none elce were admitted to stay but them that took yt oath, because they should have nothing to object against us." 1
Leisler, having at last obtained from the authorities of Albany a recognition of his claim to administer the government of the province, permitted Pieter Schuyler to retain the office of mayor. Johannes Cuyler was ap- pointed town-clerk in the place of Robert Livingston, and Captain Jochim Staets given the command of Fort Orange, then garrisoned with sixty men.
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