USA > New York > The old New York frontier : its wars with Indians and Tories, its missionary schools, pioneers, and land titles, 1614-1800 > Part 12
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to whom he represented himself as a friend. Gain- ing their confidence, he obtained an admission from them that they contemplated the destruction of the Johnston Settlement. Colonel Harper, who appears to have been returning alone, hastened to his home, where he obtained seventeen men and went back to surprise the Indians while they were asleep at night. He captured ten men and took them to Albany. The Rev. Stephen Fenn, for many years a minister at Harpersfield, who had the account from Harper himself, has described as follows the capture of these men :
Daylight was beginning to appear in the east. When they came to the enemy, they lay in a circle with their feet towards the fire in a deep sleep; their arms and all their implements of death were stacked up, according to the Indian custom, where they lay themselves for the night ; these the colonel secured by carrying them off a distance and laying them down ; then each man, taking his rope in hand, placed himself by his fellow; the colonel rapped his man softly and said, " come, it is time for men of business to be on their way," and then each one sprang upon his man, and, after a most severe struggle, they secured the whole number of the enemy.
This capture was made at the mouth of the creek, near where Colliers now is. One of the Indians was known as Peter. Harper had traded with him before the war. Having spent the winter in New York or Canada, Brant did not reach Oghwaga this year until a few weeks after Harper returned. He then found about 700 Indians assembled at the place, and the number was expected soon to increase, as in fact it did, after Brant had invaded the Mo- hawk Valley, and brought down fifty head of cattle. It is believed that Brant and Colonel Johnson had
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had a disagreement early in the year, and that Brant's coming was the result of it. Stone represents that Brant was now advanced to " his place as the prin- cipal war chief of the Iroquois Confederacy," but later investigations have shown that his authority did not then, or afterward, extend much beyond the Mohawks, although on certain occasions he had other Indians under his leadership and he was often described as " the great captain of the Six Nations."
Brant soon found himself in full command at Oghwaga, and late in May advanced up the valley, accompanied by seventy or eighty warriors, and per- haps by one hundred. At Unadilla, still remained several families. On hearing of Brant's approach, one of the Sliters mounted a horse and rode in haste to Cherry Valley to ask for aid. A sergeant and forty men returned with him and encamped on ground adjoining Mr. Sliter's home on the Unadilla side of the river. On Brant's arrival, on June 2d, Sliter and his five sons, Cornelius, Nicholas, Con-
rad, Peter, and James, were ploughing. Brant de-
manded provisions. If he could not get them peaceably he "must take them by force." One of the Sliters crossed the river, and invited him to the Sliter house for a conference. Brant declined, and then extended the same hospitality to the white men, assuring them they would not be harmed.
Under this assurance, the settlers finally crossed. They at once found themselves surrounded by Ind- ians. Mr. Johnston spoke a few words favoring peace, and urging the red men to take a neutral atti- tude in the war ; but Brant replied : " I am a man for war. I have taken my oath with the King, and will not make a treaty with you." A family tradition is that Mr. Johnston in the course of this interview as-
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sured Brant, with his fist closed, that he was not afraid of him. Further efforts for conciliation only showed that Brant was not to be moved. Food he must and would have, and the settlers had to yield. Some eight or ten head of horned cattle, including one of the steers Sliter had been ploughing with, some sheep, hogs, and a large quantity of provisions were turned over to the hungry Indians. When some of them secretly took away wearing apparel hanging on clothes-lines, Brant was appealed to for protec- tion. " Ha ! these Indians," said he, " I cannot con- trol them."
Brant closed this interview by requiring the set- tlers to leave the country or declare themselves for the English cause. One statement is that he gave them forty-eight hours in which to go away ; another that he gave them eight days. "So long," said he, " they shall be safe. If any others want to join us I will protect them, and they may stay." Carr, Dingman, and Woodcock are said to have concluded to remain, but the names Dingman and Woodcock are found among those who fought on the side of the patriots. The Johnstons, McMasters, and Sli- ters at once declined to accept Brant's conditions, and having buried their tools and other articles removed to Cherry Valley. In July Mr. Johnston went to Kingston with Colonel Harper and made affidavit to these occurrences. Three other families at the settlement are said to have declared for the patriots, but their names have been lost. Of Carr it is known that he afterward supplied Brant with pro- visions, among which probably were products of his grist-mill.
Brant's stay continued for several days after the Johnstons and Sliters had gone. He burned some
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of the abandoned dwellings, and along the Unadilla River extended his hostile sway. Gould estimates the population of the settlement before hostilities began, at twenty, or one-sixth the entire population at that time of the lands out of which was to be cre- ated Delaware County ; but this estimate could not have included the families on the Unadilla side of the stream. With the usual allowance of five or six souls to a family, the total for both sides of the stream would be at least twice that number.
Brant, being now master of the situation, sent word to all settlers that if they did not declare for the King, he would seize them and their property. A friendly Indian hastened to warn the Ogdens in Otego, as well as men at the mouth of the Ouleout, and they fled in haste, some to Middlefield, and others to Cherry Valley. The father of the Ogdens on this journey paddled a canoe up the river while his wife and son David drove the oxen and a cow on shore.
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IV
General Herkimer's Conference with Brant
1777
I N driving out these settlers, Brant had taken the first hostile step in the Susquehanna Valley in the border warfare of the Revolution. Else- where in the country, war had now become a famil- iar calamity. Since the Cherry Valley meeting, held just after the Concord fight, events of large import had occurred. Washington had arrived in Cam- bridge as Commander-in-chief, and had forced the British to evacuate Boston. The Declaration of Independence had been signed. On Long Island the American army under Putnam had fought in a losing battle. Harlem Heights and White Plains had witnessed engagements. Washington had crossed the Hudson and the Jersey meadows, and had forced the Hessians to surrender at Trenton. The battle of Princeton had been fought, and Fred- eric the Great, old, battle-scarred, and renowned, declared one of these movements to be the most brilliant he had ever observed, and sent Washing- ton a sword.
After the flight of the Susquehanna settlers, sev- eral Tories proceeded to Unadilla and rendered aid to Brant. A road was marked through the wilder- ness straight to Esopus on the Hudson, now King- ston-an early foreshadowing of the Esopus turn- pike ending at the river-bridge in Bainbridge-by
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which other Tories from Ulster and Orange coun- ties were expected to come in and reinforce the Ind- ians. Brant was reported to have declared that he would soon be in a position not to fear the ap- proach of 3,000 men.
The inhabitants of Harpersfield, believing they stood in danger of an early invasion, addressed a let- ter to the Council of Safety, declaring that "the late irruptions and hostilities committed at Unadilla by Joseph Brant with a party of Indians and Tories have so alarmed the well-affected inhabitants of this and the neighboring settlements, who are now the entire frontier of this State, that, except your hon- ors doth afford us immediate protection, we shall be obliged to leave our settlements to save our lives and families." There was " not a man on the out- side of us but such as have taken protection of Brant."
General Nicholas Herkimer, then the military chief of Tryon County, was as well acquainted with Brant as Colonel Harper was. His rank was that of brigadier, and he had been in command of the militia of the county since September of the previ- ous year. It was decided that he should go to Unadilla to confer with the Indians, the decision being the result of a conference held by General Schuyler, Colonel Van Schaick, and other officers. Colonel Van Schaick, with 150 men, went with him as far as Cherry Valley, but was unable to proceed farther for want of provisions. General Schuyler stood ready to follow should a greater force be needed .*
" In Herkimer's party were the Rev. William Johnston, Colonel Johnston, his son, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cox, with others whose names are already familiar in this history, or are afterward to become so. In the first battalion of militia was Samuel Clyde, a captain, and Henry
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Herkimer had with him altogether 380 men. From Canajoharie the little army proceeded south- ward along Bowman's Creek, and thence from Cherry Valley to Otsego Lake and the Susquehanna, reach- ing Unadilla late in June. At a point about four miles below the present village of Unadilla a halt was made near the railroad bridge that crosses the Susquehanna, and a messenger was sent forward to Oghwaga to inquire if Brant would come up for a friendly conference. Brant sent back an Indian who asked sarcastically if all the soldiers with Gen- eral Herkimer desired to speak with Brant. Her- kimer, having declared his peaceable intentions, it was arranged that Brant should advance. Eight days later the Mohawk chief reached the meeting- place, with a party of warriors, one statement plac- ing their numbers at 137 and another at 500 .*
At a place distant two miles west from the meet- ing-place on the Sidney side, Brant formed his own camp, and went forward to arrange for the interview, which took place at a point midway between the two encampments, each leader having with him a body- guard of fifty men. Herkimer asked to be allowed to proceed farther down the river, but he was told
Scramling, a second lieutenant. In the third, David McMaster was a first lieutenant and afterward captain, while James McMaster was a second lieutenant, Jeremiah Swartz, a first lieutenant, Abraham Hodges, a captain, and Amos Bennett, an ensign. In the fourth, Hanyost Her- kimer was a colonel, George F. Hellner, a second lieutenant, and George Herkimer, a captain. Of the fifth regiment, John Harper was the colonel with Daniel Ogden, a second lieutenant, and Thomas Cully, an ensign. In the regiment of Frederick Fischer, Captain David McMaster's company, served as privates William Hanna and Jeremiah Burch; in Captain Yates's company, Jonathan Spencer and Orange Spencer; in Colonel Van " Veghten's " (Vechten's) regiment, Abimeleck Arnold, and in Colonel Willett's, John, Peter, and Abraham Woodcock.
* Stone says 500, and Brant told Herkimer he had that number. Prob- ably 137 was the number who came up to the Fort Stanwix line, the others remaining at Oghwaga.
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he could not go west of the boundary-line. With Brant, besides his body-guard, were his nephew, William Johnson, Mollie Brant's son ; an Indian chief ; man named Pool; a Tory, named Captain Bull, and another person, described as a smart young fellow with curly hair, half Indian and half negro.
A temporary shed, capable of seating 200 per- sons, was erected for the interview, all the arms hav- ing been left by both parties in their respective en- campments. Herkimer's camp was on the Houck flat above the site of Sidney village, near the railroad bridge. The meeting-place was on the Bradley farm, one-fourth of a mile above the railroad station. In this locality still exists one of several knolls as- sociated with Indian history. Relics have been found there, and apple-trees of great size once grew upon its summit. The camp of Brant was below the village, on the elevated plateau now the farm of Milton C. Johnston, a descendant of the dominie.
A detailed account of the interview exists in an affidavit made by Colonel Harper, in July, 1777. He says Herkimer " delivered a speech tending to peace with the Indians nations," to which Brant re- plied that he was "thankful the General was so peaceably disposed, but as the Indians were hungry, they could not speak until they had eaten." Brant and his chiefs then retired to the encampment, to refresh themselves. They returned with "upward of 130 warriors-to wit, about 136 or 137." Brant repeated his expression of pleasure over Herkimer's peaceable intentions, but added that " by their num- bers, they appeared to be disposed for war," and if that was the case he " was ready for them." Stone, on the authority of a statement of facts collected by L. Ford, says Brant remarked to Herkimer, " all
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these men have come on a friendly visit too. They all want to see the poor Indian. It is very kind."
Brant stated the grounds of Indian complaint, and his sincerity cannot be questioned. First, he said the Mohawks remaining in the Mohawk Valley were confined to one place, and not allowed to pass with freedom along the river. He made no specific refer- ence to the Fort Stanwix treaty, but a clause in the deed, as already said, had provided that " lands oc- cupied by the Mohawks around their villages, as well as by any other nation affected by this cession, may effectually remain to them and their posterity." The next item of complaint was that " their minister, Mr. Stuart, had not liberty to pass and repass as formerly, so that they could not carry on their worship." *
Brant's next complaint was that forts had been erected on Indian territory. General Herkimer asked if the Indians would be content, if these com- plaints were satisfied, to which Brant replied that the Indians were in covenant with the King, as their fathers had been. They "were steady and not changeable as the wind." After the war, Brant wrote to Sir Evan Nepeau, the British Under-Sec- retary of State :
When I joined the English in the beginning of the war it was purely on account of my forefathers' engagements with the King. I always looked upon those engagements as covenants between the King and the Indian nations, and
* The Rev. John Stuart or Stewart, was a son of an Irish Presbyte- rian and a native of Harrisburgh. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, had studied for orders in the Church of England and in 1770 had been ordained. He labored for many years among the Mo- hawks and made translations into their language of the Gospels and the Catechism. Suspected of inciting the Indians against the patriots, his house and church had been plundered and he was finally expelled from the settlements. After the war he went to Canada, where he laid the foundations of the Episcopal Church in the upper province.
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as sacred things : therefore I was not to be frightened by the threats of the rebels at that time."
When the negotiations had reached this point, Colonel Cox, one of Herkimer's officers, in an im- petuous way, remarked that the affair must then be regarded as settled. Cox and Brant had long been unfriendly and a strained state of feeling still existed. Brant became irritated at Cox's remark and sarcas- tically asked if he were not "the son-in-law of old George Kloch." Cox replied testily : "Yes, and what is that to you, you d-d Indian." Thereupon Brant gave the signal for his men to return to camp, from which they discharged a volley of musketry.
Brant himself still remained with Herkimer, and Herkimer wishing to avoid an engagement, again assured him he was for peace. Brant sent a messen- ger to his men, ordering them to make no further demonstration without word from him, and one of his orators then delivered an oration declaring that the Indians " were ready to come to action," this statement being made " in a most threatening post- ure." " I have five hundred warriors," said Brant, " at my command and can in an instant destroy you and your party ; but we are old neighbors, and I will not." And with fine bravado he said it, considering that two-thirds of them were probably twenty-five miles down the river-at Oghwaga. Herkimer again assured him he had come on a peaceable mission, and wished to secure such Tories and deserters as re- mained in the valley. Brant insisted that they must not be disturbed, as they were subjects of the King .*
* Another account of this interview exists in the affidavit of John Dusler, who was a private in the militia. It was made in 1833, and is as follows :
"Gen. Herkimer and Col. Cox, after they had fixed upon a time, met
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On June 28, Herkimer returned to Cherry Valley, and on the following day, Brant, with some spear- men, put the town of Unadilla in the hands of Tories. In their possession and his it long re- mained.
That General Herkimer's peaceful mission would fail men who understood the grievances of the Ind- ians might have anticipated. It does not appear that, aside from a few cattle, he gave the Indians any presents, whereas the English from early times had supplied them with clothing, implements, and food. Stone says Brant " taunted Gen. Herkimer with the poverty of the Continental government, which he said was not able to give the Indians a blanket." Harper's version of this is, that Brant remarked how General Schuyler at the German Flatts conference had made bold threats to the Ind- ians and "at the same time was not able to afford them the linen to put a shirt on their backs."
The statement has been made that Herkimer ar-
Brant and they had a talk. Neither party was allowed to bring guns to the place where they were talking. There was a place covered for them to talk under, and a place for a table. There were men stationed out to keep guard, and the Indians had seats made of boards under the trees, that they sat on, but without arms."
" General Herkimer and Captain Brant talked awhile. Then Colonel Cox spoke and said 'damn him,' and 'let him go.' Brant mentioned this in Indian to his men, who were close by. They all at once sprang up and shouted, putting their hands on their mouths as they hallooed, and then ran off, and directly they heard them firing off their pieces, General Herkimer took Brant by the arm and told him not to mind what Cox said : that they were old neighbors, and ought not to be spilling each others' blood, etc. He talked very nice to him. Brant was mode- rate too.
" The day before this public meeting, Gen. Herkimer and Brant had talked a good deal together about the business. Understood there was a treaty made, and that Brant would come back and live on the river again. They returned the same way as far as Otego: then Col. Billinger's regiment went home by a place called the Butternuts. They were gone in all the time about 17 or 18 days."-Brant MSS. in the Draper Collection.
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ranged to have Brant shot during this meeting, which, if true, would have put a lasting stain upon his name; but Joseph Wagner, one of the men whom he is said to have selected for the pur- pose, told Lossing that the arrangement was one of precaution only. On the evening of the first day of the conference, after the outbreak due to Colonel Cox's remark, Herkimer decided that, in case Brant showed an unmistakable purpose to fight the next day, Wagner, and Abraham and George Herkimer should seize or kill him. Herkimer's reasons for avoiding battle are not definitely known. Probably his instructions restrained him, for he was a brave man, as he was soon to show on a famous field. The conference closed in an ominous manner, as described by Campbell :
The sun shone forth without a cloud to obscure it, and as the rays gilded the tops of the forest trees, or were re- flected from the waters of the Susquehanna, they imparted a rich tint to the wild scenery with which they were sur- rounded. The echo of the war whoop had scarcely died away, before the heavens became black and a violent storm of hail and rain obliged each party to withdraw and seek the nearest shelter.
After the interview, Brant remained in the neigh- borhood of Unadilla, fortifying the place and com- mitting depredations on settlers who were still there. The ten or a dozen cattle which Herkimer gave them, Wagner says the Indians " slaughtered incon- tinently." But they were soon in want of food, and Brant sought assistance from Percifer Carr of Edmes- ton, to whom he wrote the following letter on July 6 :
I understand that you are a friend to government, with sum of the settlers at the Butternuts, which is the reason
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of my applying to you and those people for sum provisions and shall be glad you would send me what you can spare, no matter what sort, for which you shall be paid, you keep- ing an account of the whole. From your Friend and Humble Serv'nt,
JOSEPH BRANT.
In this Unadilla conference Brant acted only for the Mohawks. The Iroquois had failed to adopt a resolution favoring united action friendly to the English. The Oneida chiefs firmly resisted a war measure and the organic law of the League required unanimous consent. It was agreed, however, that each nation should act in its own way. The Senecas remained inactive until drawn into the conflict by the battle of Oriskany, two months after the Una- dilla conference. Nor do the Cayugas and Onon- dagas appear to have taken any steps favorable to the English until after Oriskany, when the whole New York frontier was hopelessly plunged into that long series of border conflicts by which it was at last made desolate.
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V
The Battle of Oriskany
1777
T HE Revolution had now reached a critical period. In the previous summer, the Brit- ish, evacuating Boston, had arrived in the harbor of New York, with a large fleet of war- ships and 30,000 men, prepared to enter upon a campaign for the capture of the Hudson Valley. Early in 1777, a vast enterprise was formed. The main army of the British under Burgoyne was to descend from Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. Another force was to ascend the Hudson valley from New York, and a third, composed of Indians, Tories, and regulars, was to come on from Montreal under Barry St. Leger, by way of Oswego, to the Mohawk Valley, thence making its way east and joining Bur- goyne. It was confidently believed that the capture of the Hudson Valley, which formed the key to the main conflict in America, could thus be effected. It is St. Leger's part in that memorable campaign which directly concerns this history.
Early in the summer, 400 regular British troops, including Hessians, had assembled at Oswego, under Sir John Johnson and Colonel Daniel Claus, the husband of Sir John's sister. Meanwhile, 600 Tories and Canadians, who had come together on Carleton Island, near the head of the St. Lawrence, proceeded to Oswego. Brant, after writing his letter to Percifer Carr, had started for Oswego, ac-
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companied by about 300 Indians, his route being along the Unadilla River.
At Oswego had gathered a few hundred other Indians, who, at a council some weeks before, had been informed that the King of England was a man of great power, that they should never want for food and clothing, if they adhered to him, and that rum should be " as plentiful as water in Lake On- tario." Each warrior received a suit of clothes, a brass kettle,* a gun, a tomahawk, powder and money, and a bounty was offered on every white man's scalp they might take. Writing of the Senecas, Mary Jemison says, thus richly clad and equipped, they became " full of the fire of war, and anxious to encounter their enemies."
Oswego was already an ancient rendezvous. Here Frontenac had landed in 1792, when he spread destruction among the Onondagas and extinguished the central Council Fire of the Six Nations. From times still earlier it had had importance. Here, in 1616, Champlain had disembarked to make his campaign against the Indians in Central New York, and here, in the seventeenth century, the Jesuit priests had arrived from the north, to begin their work of planting Christianity among the heathen. Indeed it is here that the Iroquois themselves are believed to have first settled, when they came to central New York.
In 1721, Governor Burnet planted a small trad- ing settlement at Oswego, as an outpost against the French. He met with opposition, but in 1726 was able to build a fort. Twenty years afterward Sir William Johnson employed Oswego as one of his
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