USA > New York > Washington County > Washington county, New York; its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 13
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In Westminster Abbey, there is in the south aisle, a monument erect- ·ed to this gallant officer. The emblematic representation on the monu- ment is a figure of the Genius of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in a mournful posture, lamenting the fall of this hero, and the family arms, ornamented with military trophies. Beneath is the following in- scription. in large letters:
" The Province of Massachusett's Bay, in New England, by an order of the Great and General Court, bearing date February Ist, 1759, caused this monument to be erected to the memory of George, Lord Viscount Howe, Brigadier General of his Majesty's Forces in North America, who was slain, July 6, 1758, on the march of Ticonderoga, in the thirty- fourth year of his age; in testimony of the sense they had of his ser- vices and military virtues, and of the affection their officers and soldiers bore to his command. He lived respected and beloved; the public re- gretted his loss; to his family it is irreparable. "
Regarding the other hero, Campbell: In the Fort Edward burying ground yet (1900) stands a red sandstone slab, the oldest monument, according to Dr. Fitch, in the country; 1 and though the elements have
1 When the late Dean Stanley was in this country he spent an evening with the late Bishop Wil- liams in Hartford. The conversation had turned to the subject of the French and Indian war, and the Dean displayed great knowledge concerning the history of those days. At length Ticonderoga was mentioned, and the Englishman asked: "Did you ever hear, bishop, the story of Duncan Campbell of Inveraugh ? Well, there happened, shortly after the defeat of Edward the Pretender. to be a meeting of gentlemen in the west of Scotland, whose conversation turned upon politica subjects. It was dangerous ground, for part of them were in favor of the family of Hanover, and the rest were partisans of Charles Stuart. The discussion waxed hot, and at length swords were drawn. The quarrel was only ended when one of the contestants fell dead. There lived at that time, as they do to-day, near the place of the quarrel, the family of Campbells of Inveraugh, Duncan Campbell was then the head of the clan. and to him the unfortunate man appealed for protection. With the usual hospitality of a Highlander the Campbell granted him shelter, and swore to defend him in his misfortune. The following day the startling news came to the chief that the murdered man was his own cousin, and that he was sheltering the slaver of a kinsman. That night the cousin came to Campbell in a dream and demanded of him vengeance for his death. The honorable soul of the chieftain revolted from any treachery, and he told his guest of the dream. Again night came, and again the cousin appeared, asking for retribution. Unable to break his vow, Campbell sent his guest away to the mountains under a strong escort and trusted he would at length sleep in peace, But at dead of night came that ghastly visitor and said in tones of anger: · Duncan Campbell, we will meet at Ticonderoga.' The Highlander awoke next morning with a great feeling of relief. Ticonderoga was a word he had never heard, and whether the spirit
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beaten upon and corroded it for a century and a half, its simple legend may still be deciphered by the curious visitor, as follows:
" Here lyes the Body of Duncan Campbell of Invershaw, Esq., Major To The old Highland Regt., Aged 55 Years, Who died the 17th
July, 1758, of The Wounds He Received In The Attack of The Retrenchments of Ticonderoga, or Carillon, 8th of
July, 1758." "
In view of this grave, as I stood over it in the Fort Edward cemetery some years since, and thinking of the battle in which its occupant lost his life, Dr. Johnson's words, while writing of his visit to the Hebrides, were recalled to my mind with peculiar force:
"Far from me and my friends be such frigid philosophy, as may con- duct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been digni- fied by wisdom, bravery or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism does not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."
Meantime, while Abercromby had fled to Albany, Fort Edward had. been made through him a vast hospital and charnel-house. The re- mains of his army, however, still occupied a fortified camp on the site of Fort William Henry; and for the supply of this camp an immense. amount of stores was required. These, of course, had to be sent from
referred to a realm of the other world or was inventing words to scare him he neither knew nor cared." " Years went by, and at length Duncan Campbell found himself a major in the Scotch rangers under Abercromby in the expedition against the French on Lake George in the summer of 1758. The army, the largest ever assembled in America up to that time, had sailed down the Lake in a thousand boats and landed near its outlet. To the Scotch Major the name Ticonderoga, against which point the expedition was directed, had sounded with an awful and ominous import. His colonel, by name Gordon-Graham, who knew the story, endeavored to cheer his drooping spirits, but it was with a heavy heart that the Highland chieftain prepared his men for attack. The story of that day's disaster is well known; how the brave Lord Howe fell early in the action; how the brawny Scotchman attempted to scale the breastworks, and how at length the retreat was sounded after the loss of 2,000 men. Mortally wounded, Duncan Campbell was carried from the field, and breathed his last in the hospital at Fort Edward. Just before his death he said to Gordon- Graham: ' As I slept last night after the battle,' Colonel, ' the spirit of my cousin came to me and said, 'Duncan Campbell, we have met at Ticonderoga.' 'Such,' said the Dean, in conclusion, 'is the ghost story of Ticonderoga ' as I have heard it from the present Campbells of Inveraugh, the descendants of the unfortunate Duncan." The Bishop had listened with great interest to the tale, and at its close said: "Your story, Dean, is new to me, but I now recollect that I have seen the grave of Duncan Campbell at Fort Edward. It is marked by a crumbling slab that tells of his- death from a wound received in the attack on Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758." Thus it happened that one of the only men in England who knew the strange story of the Scotch major told it by a peculiar chance, to perhaps the only man in America who had noticed the existence of that neglected grave.
2 From this rude epitaph it will be seen that Major Campbell lingered at Fort Edward for sev- eral days after receiving his wound.
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Albany, and for their transportation, teamsters with their wagons and horses, were impressed without ceremony, greatly, of course, to the chagrin of their drivers. It is to be remembered, also, that all that part of the route above Fort Edward was through a trackless forest, "which," says Dr. Fitch, "from what has been told me, is by the de- scendants of these teamsters, still remembered as having been dark, gloomy and dismal in the extreme;" for everywhere, and behind each tree, an enemy could lurk in ambush, and fire upon the luckless travel- ler with scarcely a moment's warning. Prowling parties of Indians and Canadians, coming from Ticonderoga up Lake Champlain and South Bay, so infested the route that it was an almost daily occurrence for the transportation trains to be intercepted and plundered. Indeed, almost every step between the present Village of Sandy Hill and Lake George became tracked with blood, even that portion of Washington county near the mouth of the Battenkill, not escaping. In illustration of this last statement, the following incident, taken from a writer, known as the Sexagenary,' is in point. He relates that his father was one of the teamsters thus impressed. "When," he says, "my father reached the Battenkill," he discovered the wet print of a moccasin upon
1 This writer has never been known by his true name. He evidently, however, was well post- ed, as may be judged from his various narrations.
2 The Battenkill, one of the tributaries of the Hudson River, rises in the township of Dorset, Vermont, among the Green Mountains, and, flowing rapidly through Manchester, turns to the west in the north part of Sunderland. Thence, passing through Arlington, it crosses the County of Washington between Cambridge and Salem, Easton and Greenwich, and, after a picturesque fall, discharges its waters into the Hudson at the south-west corner of Greenwich, and about three-quarters of a mile north of the Village of Schuylerville, N. Y., on the opposite bank of that river. The designation "Battenkill," (the Indian name of which was Dionoondehowee) is a re- markable example of a name now entirely lost by contraction. Its origin (as I am sure my Wash- ington county readers would like to knowi was as follows: A Dutchman named Bartholomew Van Hogeboom was the first settler at the mouth of this creek, and it was named Bartholomew's Kill. He was usually called " Bart" or "Bat" for short, and the creek came thus to be called " Bat's Kill." It now appears on our maps and in gazetteers as Battenkill, thus giving scarcely a hint of its origin. For the benefit of the followers of old Isaack Walton, of which guild I am one, 1 hereby append a clipping from a Washington county paper. The Cambridge Post of August 15, 1887, says : Fishermen had only fair luck the first of May. At an early hour the brook was lined. The Battenkill was so high that it was impossible to do anything in it, and so resort was had to the smaller brooks. The fish were coy and did not bite well, and the total number taken was much smaller than last year. [The fish referred to is, of course, the trout.] This was partly compensated for, however, by the size of some that were taken. H. M. Wells [a resident, I believe, of Wash- ington county] was 'high brook.' lle captured a beauty at the old . Wilcox Bridge,' south of this village, 20 1-2 inches long, and weighing two pounds and thirteen ounces. James L. Smart caught a pound and a half fish in Battenkill, and John Rice one of the same weight in the ' Fur- nace Brook;' George L. Williams captured a pound fish, and Irving Willard displayed a fine mess caught, it is said, in a ' fly manner ' with a silver hackle. The snow water is running yet, and it will be some days before the fishing will be prime."
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
one of the rocks. They were contident from this circumstance that hostile Indians were near them. Soon after this discovery a report of a musket informed them that the enemy was near. I should have men- tioned that a small escort was marching down the west side of the Hud- son to protect the wagons; and, therefore, when this firing was heard, a party of us was sent over the river to ascertain the cause of the firing. They were not unsuccessful; for, in a garden belonging to a Mr. De Ruyter,' the body of a dead man was found, which was still warm. His scalp had been taken off, and from appearances, he seemed to have been shot while in the act of weeding one of his garden beds. This established the alarming fact that the French, taking advantage of Montcalm's victory, had boldly extended their incursions within the lines of the English posts." This incident is here especially mentioned as showing that Washington county was already beginning to be set. tled.
Another teamster who, although a resident of Albany, was often called into service in the Commissary's Department, also met with a remarkable and dangerous experience. His grandson, Colonel Fort- long a respected resident of Fort Edward-gave an account of it to Dr. Fitch. I give it entire to show the reader the vicissitudes and dangers to which the early settlers of Washington county were exposed in those trying times. Col. Fort says: "On one occasion, having discharged his load at Lake George, and being anxious to get back to his home with all speed, my grandfather, though the day was far spent, started on his return. He became aware, however, of the temerity of this step, when, as night was drawing near, he heard the report of a gun not far distant from him, and soon afterward passed the body of a dead man beside the road. But it was now equally as hazardous to return to the Lake as to go forward. He, therefore, continued upon his dangerous way in those dreary woods," but had only proceeded about two miles south of Bloody Pond, when night came on, and so dark that it became impossible for him to distinguish the road. There was, therefore, no alternative but for him to stop all alone in the forest until morning. He, accordingly, unharnessed his horses, and, turning their heads to the wagon, tied them. Then, wrapping himself in a blanket, he laid down in
1 This Mr. De Ruyter was an ancestor of Mr. DeRidder of the Citizens National Bank in Saratoga Springs, N. V.
" I have walked the same path as Colonel Fort, in the dark, and it was dreary enough, though 1 had no fear of a bullet from a lurking savage !
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DEFEAT OF ABERCROMBY.
the wagon-box. But, on second thought, pursuaded that the noise of the wagon must have been heard, and that an enemy was pursuing him, and was, perhaps, near by, he noiselessly crept from the wagon, and laid himself upon the reaches under the wagon-box, as the most secure spot he could find. He had laid there about an hour, when two Indians stealthily approached, probably supposing he was now asleep, and cautiously felt about in the box. At this time, my grandfather's heart was thumping so violently that it seemed to him they would surely hear the noise it made. He might now have shot down one of the In- dians, and stood an equal chance for his life in a grapple with the other; but his only weapon was a rude pistol made from the butt of an old gun-barrel set in a straight stock, and by no means sure of fire; be- sides, other Indians might be at hand to rush to the spot, should an alarm be given. So he laid still-all but his heart, which continued beating. The Indians finding he was not in the wagon-box, gave a grunt ; and helping themselves to a few light articles, withdrew. My grandfather had now become so stiff and sore from his confined posi- tion, that he could endure it no longer. He, therefore, crept away into a neighboring thicket in the forest, where he laid till morning. He then started on, and to his great relief, was soon overtaken by four other wagons, with an escort of ten soldiers, which made the remainder of his journey safe. After the war, he settled upon a fine and well- known farm a mile below North Hoosic, and, retaining his bodily and mental powers in a remarkable degree, died there in 1822, aged ninety- two years."
Great was the consternation among the Colonists, at the repulse of the gallant army (which, at great sacrifice, they had contributed so much to raise) that had so recently gone forth from among them, as they supposed, to a sure victory. A panic seized the inhabitants along the whole of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. Every rumor, no matter how wild or absurd, was quickly spread, and eagerly believed. A small party of Indians who had attacked a convoy of wagoners at Half-Way Brook between Fort Edward and Lake George, was magni- fied by the excited citizens of Albany into a large army following the retreating footsteps of the English; and when, a few days later, the same party waylaid and defeated a body of rangers under Rogers and Putnam who had been sent out to intercept them, the rumor reached the settlements that the French army was on its march to Albany, and had advanced as far as Fort Edward. In Schenectady and Albany, the
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WASHINGTON COUNTY : ITS HISTORY.
militia, by order of Sir William Johnson, were called out, and the guards doubled; while for additional. protection, large numbers of men, especially detailed for that purpose and stationed in block-houses, kept . a sharp watch by night and by day.
This gloom was soon dissipated by the brilliant victories which fol- lowed. It were bootless, however, and not to the purpose in a History of Washington County, to go into details regarding the subsequent conquest of Canada and its formal surrender to the English by the Peace of 1763. Suffice it to say, for the benefit of the reader, that all the expeditions planned by that great Commonner, Pitt, were entirely successful; but, although the fall of Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh) placed the result of the war beyond all doubt; yet Niagara, Ticonderoga and Crown-Point were still in the possession of the French; and until those posts had been relinquished by the latter, it was evident there could be no security for the frontiers. It was, therefore, determined by Pitt, that while the early summer should witness the reduction of Niagara and the forts upon Lake Champlain, General Wolfe, by a bold push, should make himself master of Quebec. In accordance with this plan, the military operations of this year were entrusted to Sir Jeffries Amherst, who, late in the fall of 1758, had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in America, in place of Abercromby who, as we have seen, had been recalled. To sound judgment, he united deter- mined energy; and while the operations of his mind were slow, they were reliable, methodical, and though, perhaps, at times, plodding, yet when necessity arose for decisive action, he was not found wanting. On the 22d of July, 1759, he appeared with eleven thousand men before Ticon- deroga. The French, thereupon, knowing all resistence to be hopeless, blew up their walls and retired to Crown-Point. Amherst, with habit- utal caution tarried several days to repair the walls: and on the fourth of August, embarked on the Lake and took possession of Crown-Point, which the French had also abandoned at his approach. Meanwhile, Niagara had fallen; and all that remained in the hands of the enemy was Quebec. This citadel at length gave way under the attack of General Wolfe though at the expense of his death, and that also of the gallant Montcalm; and the shattered army of the French, fleeing to Montreal, Admiral Saunders, with one thousand prisoners. bore away for England. Thus were the English left in undisputed possession of the basin of the Ohio; and the evening guns, from the waters of Lake Erie to the confluence of the Ohio with the Mississippi, saluted
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THE FALL OF QUEBEC.
the flag of England which now waved proudly in the evening breeze.
The news of the fall of Quebec was hailed both in England and America with acclamations of joy. In England, a day was set apart for public thanksgiving: and in America the Colonists burned bonfires throughout the land. Yet amid all of these rejoicings, the glory of the victory was fringed with gloom for the loss of the gallant Wolfe; and with the universal delight, was mingled a deep and heartfelt sorrow at his untimely end. Parliament commemorated his services in a monu- ment in Westminster Abbey; and Massachusetts, holding him in kindly remembrance, voted to his memory a marble statue. The young general was worthy of all these expressions of affection. To a passion- ate fondness for his profession of arms, and a warm love for polite letters, he united a singular modesty; and though he possessed a reputa- tion wide as the civilized world, yet, in the quaint language of Jeremy Taylor, " as if he knew nothing of it, he had a low opinion of himself, and, like a fair taper, when he shined to all the room, yet about his own station, he had cast a shadow and a cloud, and he shined to everybody but himself." '
1 The Canadian Government having so far (1900) declined to take any action with regard to the future of the historic Plains of Abraham, the scene of Wolfe's victory and death, the nuns of the U'rsuline convent, who are its freehold proprietaries, have had, recently, the property surveyed and laid out in building lots. The action is the cause (so says Canadian paper) of the utmost indigna- tion not only throughout the Dominion of Canada, but, also, in many parts of Great Britain and the United States, if one may judge by the protests from historical societies and others received by the Quebec Literary and Historical Society, which is taking a leading part in the agitation against the execution of the project. Some of the American protests say that the Anglo-Saxon popu - lation of the United States are equally the heirs with Englishmen and Canadians of Runnymede and the Plains of Abraham, and that Wolfe's great victory over Montcalm decided the fate not only of what is now the Dominion of Canada, but also of the entire North American continent. Recent researches have brought to light both the origin of the name of these plains and the title to the property of the Ursuline nuns. In 1648 and 1652 one Adrien Duchesne, who had obtained a grant from the French Government of thirty acres of this land, transferred it, in two lots, to Abra - ham Martin, who was described at the time as Pilot for the St. Lawrence to the King of France In 1650 twelve acres of land were conceded to Martin by the Compagnie de la Nouvelle, France, This Abraham Martin was a man of considerable note in the infant colony, and Champlain, the French Governor of New France and the founder of Quebee, stood sponsor to one of his children. He was frequently referred to in the parish register of Quebec of his time and in the journal of the Jesuits as Maitre Abraham, and thus the property owned by him, which was destined to be- come the scene of one of the world's most famous battles, came to be known as the Plainsof Abra- ham. After his death his heirs, in 1667, sold thirty-two acres of his property, comprising the site of the future battle-field, to the U'rsuline nuns. In 1852 the War Department of the British Govern- ment leased this property from the nuns for a period of ninety-nine years, paying a rental there- for of two hundred dollars a year. It is the approaching expiration of this lease in igor that gives the nuns of the convent the opportunity to attempt the act of publie desecration so loudly con- demned from one end of the country to the other. Property has undoubtedly increased in valle in the vicinity of the plains, and the government of the country will suffer much in public esti- mation if it does not step in before it is too late, and either purchase, by expropriation or other- wise, the entire property, or else renew a lease of it upon whatever terms are possible Strange
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CHAPTER X.
1758.
CLOSE OF THE FRENCH WAR - PUTNAM CAPTURED AND A PRISONER IN CANADA -- THE QUACKENBOSS ADVENTURE NEAR SANDY HILL - LESSONS DERIVED FROM THE WAR.
In the three preceding chapters, I have endeavored to present a suc- cinet account of the several campaigns-ending with the Peace of 1763- which were undertaken for the subjugation of Canada; and in order that they might be presented in a comprehensive view, and as a whole, I have given them in sequence. Now, however, in this chapter, I pro- pose to give an account of one or two forays of the Partizans on the American side, as well as the Indian massacres which occurred in Washington county during those great campaigns, so that these, being considered separately, may not confuse the reader.
After the defeat of Abercromby, as related in the last chapter, the war of predatory forays between the French and English again began. On the 30th of July, 1758, our old friend, La Corn de St. Luc, with a large force of Canadians and Indians, destroyed a train between
to say, the same Ursuline nuns possess other remarkable relies of the conflict between Montcalm and Wolfe. In the chapel of their convent, beneath an imposing marble bearing an inscription compiled under the direction of the French Academy, are interred the mortal remains of Mont- calm, with the exception of the skull. This, as many American sight-seers may know from experience, is preserved under a glass case in the parlor of the convent and frequently shown to. visitors. The grave in which the body of the French general reposed for many years was a cavity beneath the flooring of the convent chapel, which had been excavated by a cannon-bali fired from the invading fleet. Up to the time of the withdrawal of the British troops from Canada in 1871; the- Plains of Abraham were used as a drill and parade ground. Then, like the citadel itself, they were- kept in exquisite order; and a distinguished author relates that "a sweet girl from Boston one day said to Colonel Nicol, the commandant of Quebec: . We are very much obliged to you for all the. trouble and expense this fine place has cost you, and for the care you take of it. We are, really, you know it's all for us'" And, adds the writer already quoted: "Great was the pity that the gallant commandant, whose single demerit consists in being an old bachelor, did not try to secure this fair hostage for the future good behavior of her countrymen." Since 1871 the lease of the plains has. been turned over by the British authorities to the Canadian Government. Many unavailing efforts have been lately made by French writers to detract from the value and importance of Wolfe's great victory. Abbe Ferland thus attributes treason to Captain de Vergor, the French officer who was in charge of the post at the summit of the steep ascent from the St. Lawrence to. the plains, where Wolfe and his men clambered up and took the captain prisoner. The French- Canadian historian, Garneau, estimates the strength of Wolfe's army at 8000 and Montcalm's at 4.500. Colonel Beatson, of the Royal Engineers, in a history of the Plains of Abraham, published by him at Gibraltar, places the number of Montcalm's force at 7,500, and Wolfe's at 4,828. The more modern estimate of Bancroft gives the strength of 5000 fighting men to each of the two armies.
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