USA > New York > Franklin County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 29
USA > New York > Jefferson County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 29
USA > New York > Lewis County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 29
USA > New York > Oswego County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 29
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 29
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"Sunday morning, Nov. 17th.
"With the dawn of day, the discharge of musketry on Wind Mill Point, recommenced and continued for an hour or more, when all became hushed. Men and teams were again busy in gathering the dead and then the numerous throng moved back to Prescott.
"Wind Mill Point is the scene of black and smouldering desola- tion, though the Wind Mill still stands unscathed by the devouring element
Jefferson county learned the news on November 21st when the Watertown North American announced that "our news from the seat of war at Prescott is of the most disastrous nature. The gallant fellows who nobly stepped forward in defense of the liberties of Canada, have either been captured or massacred. Cut off from the American shore and surrounded by from 1,500 to 3,000 slavish myrmidons, they have fallen a sacrifice."
The fact was that the "Patriots" had held out from Tuesday to Friday, knowing from the very first that their cause was a hope- less one. Instead of the Canadian militia rallying to their support, as they had expected, they found this same militia leading the
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assault against them. It was the Canadian militia who fired on the white flag, an act which so incensed Captain Sandum of the Eighty- third British regulars that he testified at the trial later if the act had been repeated he would have shot down the militia.
When the surrender was at last arranged, the Eighty-third formed in files and the captives marched between them, more as a protection against the Canadian militia than anything else. Col. Von Schoultz jumped from one of the outbuildings and attempted to escape, but he was soon captured and robbed of everything he pos- sessed including most of his clothing. Alexander Wright of Ogdens- burg refused to surrender and was shot down and stabbed through the heart. Leonard Root of Sackets Harbor hid in an oven and was burned to death when the British fired the place.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE
Into Prescott marched the victorious troops with their prisoners. Even the wounded were compelled to travel on foot. Lorenzo Finney, although badly wounded, was one of those who marched, supported by two of his companions. Monroe Wheelock, shot through the thigh, was also compelled to march. He died soon afterwards as a result of his wound and the Canadians even refused to turn his body over to his father. With the band playing in derision "Yankee Doodle," the British grenadiers with their captives, surrounded by the hooting militiamen, marched into Prescott, which was brilliantly illuminated in honor of the victory. After being marched around the streets for the edification of the villagers, the prisoners were crowded into the hold of the steamer Brockville and taken to Kings- ton. When they reached Kingston, the prisoners were tied together with ropes and again paraded around the streets, Von Schoultz at their head. Then the wounded were sent to a hospital and the others imprisoned in Fort Henry.
The battle of the Wind Mill was a hard blow for Northern New York. Twenty men were either killed in action or died later of wounds. Practically every community in Jefferson and Oswego counties and some in St. Lawrence and Lewis were touched. Eleven of the prisoners were hanged in Kingston. A number of the boys of tender ages were pardoned and allowed to return to their homes,
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while the remainder, 141 in all, were deported to the dreaded penal colony of Van Dieman's Land and it was several years before these prisoners, a few at a time, were pardoned and allowed to return to their homes. A number of them died in confinement.
The men who participated in the battle of the Wind Mill, their addresses and their fate, is given in the following list:
Killed in Action .- Nelson Butterfield, 22, Philadelphia, N. Y .; Charles E. Brown, 24, Brownville; Nathan Coffin, 27, Liverpool, Onondaga county; Rensselaer Drake, 23, Salina, Onondaga county ; Adam Empy, 40, Rossie, St. Lawrence county; Edmund Foster, 22, Alexandria ; Moses Haynes, 20, Salina; Samuel Laraby, 35, Rossie; Paul Lamear, Ogdensburg, Oscar Myer, 30, Poland; Benjamin Obrey, 18, Madrid; James Phillips, 38, Ogdensburg; Lysander Root, 27, Sackets Harbor ; - Savoy, 44, Lewisburg, Lewis county ; Tenike Venalstine, 40, Salina; Lorenzo West, 26, Salina; Alexander Wright, 21, Ogdensburg.
Died of Wounds in Hospital .- John Bromley, 38, Depauville; Frederick Millow, Germany; Monroe Wheelock, 23, Watertown.
Escaped Before Capture .- Jonah Woodruff, William Hathaway, Benjamin Fulton, - Tracy, and an unidentified Pole.
Captured .- Samuel Austin 21, Alexander Bay, pardoned; Charles Allen, 24, Scriba, pardoned; David Allen, Volney, trans- ported; Philip Alger, 23, Salina, wounded and released without trial; Dorepheus Abbey, 48, Pamelia, hanged; Duncan Anderson, Lyme, hanged; Orlin Blodget, 19, Philadelphia, transported; John Bradley, 28, Sackets Harbor, transported; Thomas Baker, 47, Hannibal, trans- ported; John Berry, 42, Oswego, pardoned; Chauncey Bugbee, Lyme, transported; Hiram Barlow, 19, Morristown, pardoned; George T. Brown, 23, Evans Mills, transported; Rouse Bennett, 19, Norway, Herkimer county, pardoned; George Blondin, 21, Lower Canada, par- doned; Ernest Barance, 40, Poland, wounded and pardoned; Chri- topher Buckley, 30, Salina, hanged.
Hiram Colton, 19, Philadelphia, wounded and released without trial; Philip Coonrod, 21, Salina, pardoned; Lysander Curtis, 35, Ogdensburg, transported and died in Van Dieman's Land; Robert G. Collins, 32, Ogdensburg, transported ; Eli Clark, 61, Oswego, released ; Charles F. Crossman, 19, Watertown, pardoned; Pascal Carpenter,
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21, LeRay, pardoned; John Cronkhite, 20, Alexandria, transported ; Calvin S. Clark, 19, Fort Covington, pardoned; Peter Cranker, 19, Orleans, pardoned; Hugh Calhoun, 35, Salina, transported; Truman Chipman, 44, Upper Canada, pardoned; Nathan Coffin, 27, Liverpool, transported; Levi Chipman, 45, Upper Canada, released; James Cummings, 40, Orleans, released on account of insanity; Leonard Delano, 26, Watertown, wounded and transported; Joseph Drum- mond, 22, Salina, pardoned; Dave Defield, 22, Salina, pardoned; Joseph Dodge, 28, Salina, pardoned; William Denio, 21, LeRay, par- doned; Luther Darby, 48, Watertown, transported; Aaron Dresser, 24, Alexandria, transported.
John Elmore, 19, LeRay, pardoned; Selah Evans, 35, LeRay, wounded and released; Eben Fellows, 23, Dexter, transported; Michael Friar, 23, Clay, transported; Lorenzo E. Finney, 21, wounded; William Gates, 24, Lyme, transported; Emmanuel Garri- son, 26, Brownville, transported; Gideon Goodrich, 43, Salina, trans- ported; Nelson Griggs, 28, Salina, transported; Jerry Griggs, 21, Salina, transported; John Gilman, 38, Brownville, transported; David Gould, 24, Alexandria, pardoned; Cornelius Goodrich, 18, Salina, pardoned after seven years in the penitentiary; Francis Ganyo, 18, Lower Canada, released; John Graves, 25, Plattsburgh, released; Daniel George, 28, Lyme, hanged; Daniel D. Heustis, 32, Watertown, transported; Charles Hovey, 22, Lyme, pardoned; Ed- mund Holmes, 24, Plattsburgh, pardoned; Garret Hicks, 45, Alex- andria, transported; Hiram Hall, 17, Orleans, seven years in the penitentiary; David House, 26, Alexandria, transported; Jacob Herald, France, wounded and released; James Inglish, 28, Adams, transported.
Henry Johnson, 29, New York, pardoned; John M. Jones, 35, Philadelphia, pardoned; Joseph Lefort, 29, Lyme, transported; Daniel Liscomb, 40, Lyme, transported; Samuel Livingstone, 40, Lis- bon, transported; Joseph Lee, 21, Palermo, pardoned; Andrew Leeper, 44, Lyme, transported; Hiram Loop, Schroeple, Oswego county, transported; Sylvester A. Lawton, 28, Lyme, hanged; Le- man L. Leach, 40, Salina, hanged; Oliver Lawton, 22, Saratoga Springs, pardoned; Peter Myer, 20, Salina, released; Sebastian Myer, Rochester, pardoned; Calvin Matthews, 25, Lysander, transported;
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Andrew Moore, 26, Adams, wounded and transported; Justus Mer- riam, 18, Brownville, released; Jehiel H. Martin, 32, Oswego, trans- ported; Phares Miller, 18, LeRay, pardoned; John Morrisett, 20, Lower Canada, wounded and transported; Chauncey Matthews, 25, Liverpool, transported; Foster Martin, 34, Antwerp, transported; Alonzo Myatt, 18, Lower Canada, released; Joseph Norris, 26, Rossie, acquitted.
Lawrence O'Reilly, 46, Lyme, not recorded; Alson Owen, 27, Palermo, transported and died in Van Dieman's Land; Oliver Obrey, 21, Madrid, wounded, sentence not recorded; William O'Neill, 42, Alexandria, acquitted; John Okonski, 32, Poland, pardoned; Jacon Putnam, 24, Palermo, pardoned; Asa Priest, 45, Auburn, transported and died at sea ; Gayus Powers, 24, Brownville, released; Ira Polley, 22, Lyme, transported; Levi Putnam, 24, Lyme, pardoned, Joel Peeler, 41, Rutland, hanged; Russell Phelps, 38, Lyme, hanged; Tim- othy Rawson, 24, Alexandria, pardoned; William Reynolds, 19, Or- leans, transported; Asa H. Richardson, 24, Upper Canada, trans- ported; Edgar Rogers, 18, Watertown, released; Andrew Richardson, 28, Rossie, pardoned; Solomon Reynolds, 38, Warren county, trans- ported; Orson Rogers, 19, Philadelphia, wounded, released; Charles Rogers, Philadelphia, record not given; Baptiste Raza, 20, Lower Canada, released.
Charles Smith, 21, Lyme, pardoned; John G. Swansberg, 28, Alexandria, transported; Price Senter, 18, Genesee, pardoned; Hiram Sharp, 25, Salina, transported; Andrew Smith, 21, Orleans, par- doned; William Stebbins, 18, Brownville, pardoned; James L. Snow, 20, Hastings, released; Henry Shaw, 28, Philadelphia, transported; Orin W. Smith, 32, Orleans, transported; Joseph W. Stewart, 25, Pennsylvania, transported; Thomas Stockton, 40, Rutland, trans- ported ; William D. Sweet, 19, Alexandria Bay, transported; Sylvanus Sweet, 21, Alexandria, hanged; Oliver Tucker, 22, Rutland, par- doned; Joseph Thompson, 26, Lyme, record not given; Abner B. Townsend, 19, Philadelphia, pardoned; Samuel Tibbets, 25, Salina, record not given; John Thompson, 27, Madrid, transported; Nelson Traux, 20, Antwerp, pardoned ; John Thompson, 24, Morristown, par- doned; Giles Thomas, 27, Salina, wounded and released; George Van Amber, 23, Alexandria, pardoned; Charles Van Wermer, 21, Ellis-
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burg, pardoned; Martin Van Slyke, 23, Watertown, acquitted; Hunter C. Vaughan, 19, Sackets Harbor, pardoned; Nicholas A. S. Von Schoultz, Poland, hanged.
Charles S. Wilson, 23, Lyme, pardoned; Stephen S. Wright, 23, Denmark, Lewis county, wounded and transported; Nathan Whiting, 45, Liverpool, transported; Charles Woodruff, 21, Salina, pardoned; Joseph Wagner, 24, Salina, pardoned; Riley Whitney, 28, LeRay, transported; Simeon Webster, 21, Salina, pardoned; William Wolcott, 20, Clay, wounded and pardoned; Jeremiah Winegar, 59, Brownville, record not given; Sampson A. Wiley, 20, Watertown, pardoned; Ed- ward A. Wilson, 21, Ogdensburg, transported; Henry E. Wilkey, 20, Orleans, pardoned; Samuel Washburn, 23, Oswego, transported; Bemis Woodbury, 22, Auburn, wounded and transported; Patrick White, 25, Lower Canada, transported; Martin Woodruff, 34, Salina, hanged.
Col. Von Schoultz was the first of the "patriots" to be tried. He pleaded guilty and impressed even the Canadians with his bravery and calmnness in the face of certain death. Von Schoultz admitted that he had been deceived and that it had been represented to him that the Canadians were oppressed and seeking freedom from Eng- land. He was convinced now of his mistake and urged others not to fall into the same error. Four days later, Col. Abbey of Pamelia and Daniel George of Lyme were led to the gallows. Then Col. Woodruff of Salina was executed to be followed soon by Joel Peeler of Rutland and Sylvanus Sweet of Alexandria. The next to suffer the death penalty were Christopher Buckley of Onondaga county, Syl- vester Lawton of Lyme, Russell Phelps of Lyme and Duncan Ander- son of Lyme. Then Leman Leach of Onondaga county was hanged.
In the meantime "Admiral" William Johnston of the "Patriot" navy was having troubles of his own and getting into the public prints once more. In the custody of U. S. Marshal Garrow, he and "General" Birge were brought to Auburn, where the "Lion of the Thousand Islands," as the Auburn papers called him, attracted con- siderably more attention than the "Patriot" general who had been careful to remain safely in Ogdensburg during the battle of the Wind Mill. Both Johnston and Birge escaped from the American Hotel in Auburn where they were confined, and a reward of $500
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was promptly offered for Johnston's recapture and $50 for Birge. Johnston was recaptured and confined in Albany for a time, but soon was at large once more.
VAN DIEMAN'S LAND
There was gloom all through the North when it became known that the British authorities had transported so many North Country men and boys to Van Dieman's Land. A rude song came into exist- ence in Northern New York at this period, one verse of which ran:
"They say to Van Dieman's Land he has gone, To be sold as a slave and will never return,
They have torn from my bosom the man I adore;
I am now filled with sorrow and tortured with woe."
It was a 160-day voyage from Quebec to Van Dieman's Land. There the exiles suffered cruelties almost beyond belief. They were harnessed to heavy wagons like horses and compelled to draw loads of stone under the lash of harsh keepers. Flogging was the common punishment for the most trifling infractions and seventy-five lashes was considered a light sentence. After about two years of this sort of thing, the prisoners who had good records were given "tickets of leave." That is, they had liberty within certain limits, and could hire themselves out to work. In the meantime their friends in America had been busy and Edward Everett, the American minister in London, was untiring in his efforts in behalf of the miserable convicts in Van Dieman's Land. Through his efforts pardons were eventually granted to all the American prisoners, but no provision was made to get them to their homes. The Americans waited their chance, sometimes for months. They shipped on whaling vessels, and in various other ways managed to eventually get to an American port. George T. Brown was pardoned in 1844, six years after the battle of the Wind Mill. He secured passage on an American Whaler in the hope of eventually getting home, but it was three years before the vessel finally made port at New Bedford. Nine years after he had left with the "Patriots" for the invasion of Canada, Brown appeared at Theresa.
HOME OF SILAS WRIGHT 1845 GOVERNOR 1846
THE SILAS WRIGHT HOME, STILL STANDING AT CANTON-INSET, SILAS WRIGHT, U. S. SENATOR, 1833-1844, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, 1845-1846
THE HOUSE THAT JOSEPH BONAPARTE BUILT AT NATURAL BRIDGE, N. Y .- INSET, JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAIN, AND BROTHER OF NAPOLEON
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For several years after the battle of the Wind Mill there was bitter feeling between the people of the Northern countries and Canada. The Hunter lodges continued to be strong for some time. There was a near-riot in Oswego in 1839, at which time the "Pa- triots" seized a cannon belonging to the state. Gen. Winfield Scott was sent to the border. He addressed a public meeting in Ogdens- burg and bent his efforts to create a better feeling as between the two nations. Gradually saner heads prevailed. President Tyler issued a proclamation calling upon all good citizens to refrain from attending Hunters meetings and the excitement subsided.
The "Patriot War" failed because there was no general desire in Canada for independence from Great Britain. There were discon- tented spirits, of course, but the opposition was largely to the Cana- dian governors and not to Great Britain. Certain abuses were cor- rected and conditions gradually became better. The hanging of the American prisoners at Kingston was an act which would hardly be tolerated today, but harsh as it was it had the effect of ending once and for all "Patriot" invasions of Canada. The Canadian papers of the period always referred to the "Patriots" as pirates or brigands. Of course they were not that, but were simply young men grossly deceived by certain disappointed Canadian politicians. "The "Pa- triots" thought they were going to liberate a people from tyranny. They paid for their mistake on the gallows of Fort Henry or in Van Dieman's Land.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE REIGN OF SILAS WRIGHT
THE STORY OF THE COUNTRY LAWYER FROM CANTON WHO BECAME A LEADING NATIONAL FIGURE-THE ANTI-MASONIC CRUSADE-THE AL- BANY REGENCY-HOW THE DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SILAS WRIGHT DIVIDED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
In all the political history of the North Country no man ever exerted the influence of Silas Wright. For nearly twenty years and indeed to the very moment of his death, he held the Northern counties in the hollow of his hand, and so firm was his hold upon the affec- tions of the people of not only his own section but the entire state that he was a leading issue in a state election which occurred three months after his death. Silas Wright took a section of the state which was naturally conservative, which inclined towards the Fed- eralist party as long as there was such a party and then followed the banner of DeWitt Clinton whom the old-time Federalists generally supported, and he put it into the Democratic column. Excepting for the year of the great Whig landslide in 1840, it never wavered in its support of Martin Van Buren and the Albany Regency. Year after year, election after election, the great personal popularity and tremendous political power of Silas Wright kept St. Lawrence, Jef- ferson, Lewis and Oswego counties Democratic, and even on occa- sion swung Franklin county the same way, although Franklin was the home county of Wright's greatest foeman, Luther Bradish, the Whig leader.
Here was a plain, country lawyer, never a polished speaker and in no sense of the word a great intellectual light, yet had he lived he would surely have been president of the United States. As it was he served in the State Senate and the United States House of Representatives, he was comptroller of the state at a time when the
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office of comptroller was second only to that of governor, he served in the Senate of the United States and was chief spokesman there for Andrew Jackson at a time when that body contained such bril- liant figures as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Thomas Hart Benton, and he was elected governor of New York at a time when it was very doubtful if any other Democrat could be elected.
Here was a man who was offered and rejected an appointment to the United States supreme court, who was offered and rejected an appointment as secretary of the treasury, who refused to consent to be nominated for president of the United States and who actually refused to accept after he had been nominated by the Democrats in 1844 for vice-president. Silas Wright rejected more offices than the average politician ever aspires to hold, and when at last he was defeated for re-election as governor of New York, his defeat caused a breach in the Democratic party that was never healed.
Silas Wright's great popularity was due first of all to the fact that he was a man of the people. He was the great Commoner of his time, scarcely more wealthy than his lowliest constituent, as plain and unassuming in his manner as the humblest farmer. It was as plain "Sile" Wright that he made his first campaigns and it was as plain "Sile" Wright that he returned to Canton after one of the most noteworthy political careers of his day, to take up his axe and start clearing his farm. "Farmer" Wright, his neighbors called him, but the newspapers ofter referred to him as the Cato of Amer- ica, because he liked the homely, simple things of life and because his first love was the soil. It is doubtful if any statesman of our pre-Civil War period outside of Andrew Jackson ever had the devo- tion of the common people as had Silas Wright.
Silas Wright's honesty was proverbial. No trait of his charac- ter was stressed more than that during his life. It was recognized by all his friends, and the newspapers constantly referred to it. But today it would seem that his loyalty to his friends and to his party was his most distinguishing characteristic. There is no finer thing in American political history than the loyalty of Silas Wright to Martin Van Buren. It was because of this loyalty that Wright refused to be nominated for president and, because he was incensed at the Baltimore convention rejecting Van Buren for Polk in 1844,
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he refused to run after the convention had nominated him for vice- president. "I am every day risking your standing and fortunes in a public sense upon my own judgment," wrote Senator Wright to Van Buren. "Most likely I shall one of these days by some bungling movement, or wrong vote, or in some other way break your neck and destroy your future prospects."
But Wright never did. He was Martin Van Buren's greatest asset and this the Little Magician clearly appreciated. Many years afterwards Van Buren in discussing his relations with Silas Wright wrote these words :
"The true character and unprecedentedly equal tenor of the close relations that existed between Silas Wright and myself, from the beginning to the end of our acquaintance, were, in their day, ap- preciated, but not thoroughly understood even by our mutual friends. There never was a single occasion, in all the troublesome and trying political scenes through which we passed, side by side, that dis- turbed with even a momentary ruffle, the calm confidence of my feelings towards him or that inspired me with apprehension of any interruption or diminution of the respect and esteem which he, in turn, uniformly manifested towards me. My deference to his judg- ment in many things and especially in such as had political relations, was all but absolute, and never have I been tempted for a moment to regard myself as superior to him, in any good quality of the head or heart; indeed I believe he had no superior in the sincerity, sim- plicity and strength of his public and private virtues, and in that important attribute of a truly admirable statesman, perfect dis- interestedness,-he stood above any man I ever knew. I have often remarked to my friends, that in all our long and confidential inter- course, embracing consultations in almost every gradation of his career, it never appeared to me that the question, how a contemplated political step might affect the individual interests of Silas Wright, had occupied his mind for a moment."
That was Silas Wright,-one who placed his full faith in the virtue of the people, a true commoner, a loyal friend, a shrewd poli- tician and a courageous statesman. His political genius won him a place in the Albany Regency and in Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet," but it was his whole-hearted devotion to what he considered the
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best interests of the people that brought him popular esteem such as few men of his day or any other have enjoyed.
THE ANTI-MASONIC PARTY
No history of Northern New York would be complete without considering the career of Silas Wright. The political history of the North revolved about his robust figure from the time of the collapse of the Anti-Masonic movement almost to the days of the Free Soilers. And to understand Silas Wright and his times it is necessary to know something of the political history of the North Country which formed the background for his amazing career. There was no stranger thing in the history of New York state than the Anti-Masonic movement which swept Western and Northern New York, like a prairie fire. It was something more than a political movement. It was a crusade. It upset the whole political picture of the state. It brought into political prominence such men as Thurlow Weed and Luther Bradish. From 1827 to 1834 the Anti- Masons were a force to be reckoned with in Northern and Western New York. Particularly in the eighth senatorial district embrac- ing the Finger Lake region were the Anti-Masons strong, but they were strong also all through Northern New York and particularly in Franklin county.
In 1826 a Mason named William Morgan, residing in Batavia, announced his intention of breaking his Masonic vows and publish- ing the secrets of the fraternity. A determined effort was made to secure the manuscript but it was published. While the struggle was in progress Morgan disappeared. The Masons as a fraternity have always denied being a party to Morgan's disappearance, but for many years there was a belief especially prevalent in Western and Northern New York that he had been murdered. One story was that he was taken out in a boat at Niagara and dumped overboard. All sorts of wild tales were told. One rumor had it that Morgan was imprisoned for a time in the old stone, Masonic hall at Sackets Har- bor. Another had it that he had turned Turk and was living in Smyrna.
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