USA > New York > Washington County > Washington county, New York; its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 34
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1 See Notes to New York Session Laws, April 15, 1814.
300
WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
CHAPTER XX.
1791-1810.
SETTLERS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY RESUME THEIR REGULAR VOCATIONS-THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE CHANGING OF THE COUNTY SEAT FROM FORT EDWARD TO SANDY HILL-AMUSING ANECDOTES REGARDING THIS CHANGE-EXTRACTS FROM PRESIDENT DWIGHT'S JOURNAL OF HIS TOURS THROUGH WASHINGTON COUNTY IN ISO6 AND ISIO -HIS VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THE SOCIAL STATUS OF ARGYLE AND CAMBRIDGE FROM OBSERVATIONS DERIVED FROM HIS VISIT-THE STATISTICS GIVEN BEING OF A MOST VALUABLE AND INTERESTING CHARACTER.
After the Revolutionary War, no exciting incidents-that is of un- usual moment-occurred in Washington County for many years. Of course there were many local events which were of interest to the people of the county and, also, many political squabbles and un- seemly wrangles in the elections from time to time of judges, senators and assemblymen; but, as a general rule, the settlers, thoroughly ex- hausted by the border warfare so long prevailing, were content to till their farms and smoke their pipes under their own vines and fig trees after the day's work was done-leaving to a few politicians the politi- : cal work of the county. A few men of more than usual enterprise, and actuated by a most commendable public spirit, endeavored, it is true, to increase the wealth of Washington County by originating various schemes, nearly all of which, from the causes I have stated- viz. : the stoical indifference of the farmers-were total failures. Of these different enterprises, however, perhaps the most noteworthy was one to improve the navigation of Wood Creek, by constructing a short canal so that the waters of the Hudson together with those of Lake Champlain might be connected; and towards this end, a very earnest effort was made by its promoters. Accordingly, "The North- ern Inland Lock Navigation Company" was incorporated-General Schuyler being one of the chief stockholders. General Williams, who had bought, it will be remembered, the escheated estate of Major Skeene of Whitehall, was also an active member and director of this " Northern Company." The latter began operations and, in June, 1794, went so far as to advertise for proposals "for cleaning Halfway Brook from the present landing place to its juncture with Wood Creek
301
CONTEMPT OF ADIEL SHERWOOD
from the junction aforesaid to the entrance of the canal at White- - hall." Owing, however, to a want of capital the company were obliged to stop work, and the desired communication was not made until more than thirty years later.
But the good people of Washington County had at this time plenty of gossip with which to while away their extra leisure. Thus, quite an amusing anecdote is told by Johnson as to the manner in which the permanent county-seat was changed from Fort Edward to Sandy Hill. He says: "In 1796, a term of court was held, as one had been each year for nine years, at the hotel of Adiel Sherwood, at Fort Ed- ward. This gentleman, who, it will be remembered, was the same who commanded as Captain at Fort Anne, in 1780, now united the glittering dignity of a Lieutenant-colonel of militia with the humble duties of a village tavern-keeper. The court appears to have been held in his dining-room. One day, as the dinner hour approached, Colonel Sherwood, who had, perhaps, become disgruntled at some- thing the honorable court had done, abruptly entered the room and peremptorily ordered the judges to vacate it, as he desired to have the table set for dinner.
"Judges were important personages then, and, as has been stated, the judges of Washington County were its most prominent citizens. That, after having been allowed to set up their court in a room they should be thus dictatorially ordered out of it, even by a Lieutenant- colonel of militia, was almost enough to paralyze them with horror and indignation. Sherwood, however, made so much ado that the court adjourned for the time being; but, at their next session, they proceeded to make a signal example of this irreverent offender. The record reads as follows: 'Adiel Sherwood, having been guilty of con- tempt, it is ordered that the said Adiel Sherwood be committed to the common jail of Washington County for the space of fifteen days.' "
"It is highly probable that this contempt of Colonel Sherwood had an important effect on the county-seat question, for three of the in- sulted judges were then Senators and, although the courts had been held at his house for nine years, at the very next session of the Legis- lature the place of holding them was changed to the hotel of Mary Dean, in Sandy Hill. The consequence has been that Sandy Hill has been a county seat ever since and Fort Edward has not."
It would seem, moreover, that the question of good roads attracted as much of the public attention then as at the present time, though
302
WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
there was then no organization of "Bicyclists " to petition the Legis- lature, and by their votes threaten with dire displeasure and non- election to office all men who refused to vote as they dictated. By a law passed in March, 1799, the general management of the roads in the county was vested in three superintendents of highways, appointed by the council of appointment. To these superintendents appeals lay from the town commissioners. Still another important movement in regard to highways was the beginning of turnpikes. "The North- ern Turnpike Company," the first operated within this county, was incorporated on the Ist day of April, 1799. It had for its object the building of a turnpike from Lansingburgh, through Cambridge, Salem and Hebron, to the house of Hezakiah Searling in the town of Granville, and among its directors were William Hay, Edward Wells, Jr., David Long, Martin Van Buskirk, John Williams and Edward Savage. The company immediately went to work and not only built the road to the designated point, but continued it northward, through Hampton, to the state line, connecting with a similar road to Bur- lington, Vermont. This company also built a branch from Salem northwestward to the state line, and another from Granvilie to White- hall.
DR. DWIGHT'S TOURS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN 1806- 1810.
Perhaps the most instructive means of obtaining an insight into the physical and social conditions of any county is, by reading the travels of persons who have been through it, especially if they are men of shrewdness of observation and honesty of purpose. It is for this reason, that I now present to the reader two accounts of tours through Washington County made respectively in 1806 and 1810, by that distinguished traveller and educator, Timothy Dwight, perhaps the most illustrious of all Yale's presidents. I am sure, also, that the Washington County reader-if he has been in rapport with me through all of this history-will appreciate the following extracts from Presi- dent Dwight's Travels-more especially, as the work has, for very many years, been out of print, and is now very difficult of access-it being found in only a very few private and public libraries. They will be found of intense interest and well worth careful perusal.
303
TRAVEL'S OF PRESIDENT DWIGHT.
President Dwight, therefore, regarding his tour through Washing- ton County, in 1806, writes as follows : 1
"From Fair Haven we entered the township of Hampton, Wash- ington County, in the state of New York. Our road lay along Pult- ney [sic. ] river, through a succession of beautiful intervals, divided into a number of valuable farms and ornamented by several neat houses. The hill immediately west of this river is also near its northern termination, an elegant piece of ground, well cultivated and crowned in a picturesque manner by a church on its summit. The mouth of Pultney river forms East Bay, one of the southern ter- minations of Lake Champlain, and the principal part of the southern boundary of Fair Haven. The other parts of the township of Hamp- ton are rough and disagreeable. In 1790 this township contained 463 inhabitants; in 1800, 700, and in 1810, 820.
"In the year 1806 we crossed Pultney river, about nine or ten miles from Granville. * * * This place, which is situated imme- diately south of Hampton, is a much pleasanter and better township than Pultney. A considerable part of it lies on the branches of the Pawlet river, which has its origin in Dorset, in the county of Rut- land, Vt., and empties its waters into Lake Champlain at South Bay. The houses are built in a scattered manner, yet there is a small vil- lage, principally on the eastern side of one of these branches. Its general appearance is that of moderate thrift. It presents a fine view of the range of mountains between Lake Champlain and Lake George. A revival of religion took place here in 1806.
"Granville, like most other townships in the state of New York, is extensive, and contained in 1790, 2,240 inhabitants; in 1800, 3, 175, and in 1810, 3,717.
" We dined at Granville, and after dinner rode through Westfield [now Fort Ann] and Kingsbury to Sandy Hill. Westfield is a very large and unpleasant tract of land. The soil is chiefly clay, and in- differently fertile, the surface composed of hills and valleys, devoid of beauty, the settlements recent and thinly scattered, the houses chiefly log huts, and the inhabitants poor and unthrifty .? To complete the dullness of this tract, the few streams which we saw were exactly
1 These extracts, as will be seen, give some very valuable statistics.
2 It is very pleasant to note in this connection, that the course of years has brought a decided change in this regard-the inhabitants of Westfield (Fort Ann) being now among the most thrifty people of Washington County.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY
like those mentioned in the description of Addison and Bridport [in Vermont.] Most of them were successions of puddles, lying in a loathsome bed of clay between steep, ragged banks, and of the color of dirty suds. So offensive were these waters that, although dis- tressed with heat and thirst, our horses, whenever they approached them in order to drink, suddenly drew back with indications of dis- gust. A person accustomed only to the limpid streams of New Eng- land can form no conception of the disagreeableness of this fact. We ourselves suffered from it greatly, for although parched with thirst and faint with the unusual heat, we were unable, for a great distance, to find anything which we could drink.
" Westfield contained in 1790, 2, 103 inhabitants; in 1800, 2,502, and in 1810, 3, 110.
" In this tract we crossed Wood Creek and entered the Skeensbor- ough road, about eight miles below that village. We had taken this circuitous route to avoid that settlement, which we were told was distressed with sickness. For some time our road lay along the northern bank of this stream and became much more agreeable, par- ticularly as we were sheltered by a continued forest from the intense beams of the sun.
"About a mile before we arrived at Fort Anne, [that is, the village] over a hill, jutting into the creek [Wood Creek] named ' Battle-hill.' Here the Americans, retreating before the army of General Burgoyne, attacked a British regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hill, with great spirit and would probably have taken or destroyed the whole corps had they not been deceived into a belief that their ene- mies had received a reinforcement.1
"At the village of Fort Anne we stopped to examine the spot where the fortification, formerly known by this name, was erected. It was built in order to facilitate an intended expedition against Canada in 1709, and stood just at the bend where the eastern course of the creek commences. It was merely an enclosure of strong palisades, suffi- cient, however, to check the savages in their incursions from South Bay upon Hudson River. For canoes and batteaux the creek is navi- gable to this spot. The stumps of the palisades, if I may so call them, were still remaining, and recalled to my mind some of the painful
1 For a detailed account of this action the reader is referred to the chapter treating upon this battle.
305
BURGOYNE'S MILITARY ROAD.
impressions which it had received concerning Indian ravages in the years of childhood.
" The village of Fort Anne is built chiefly on a single street, run- ning from north to south. The houses are recently, and for so new a settlement, neatly built. The inhabitants hope that this will here- after be a place of considerable business.
"From Fort Anne to Sandy Hill, ten miles, the soil is principally clay. About three miles of the road are causeyed [causewayed] with logs, [we call them now "corduroy-roads"]-a work of immense labor, performed, if we may trust public accounts, by the army of General Burgoyne; but, as I was told on the spot, by the American army. I have also been repeatedly told, and I presume with truth, that this causey [ causeway] was built by the British and Provincial troops in the last Canadian war.' The ground is so miry that an army could not have passed over it without a causey. In the Revolutionary war, the Americans probably repaired it, and the soldiers of General Burgoyne may have added to the repairs. The state of the ground has been also exhibited as so savage and difficult, so broken with creeks and marshes, that the army of General Burgoyne could hardly advance more than a mile in a day. There is not a single stream here of any importance. It is further said, that this army was obliged to construct no less than forty bridges. The word 'bridges,' here must, however, denote little passages over rills of the smallest magnitude, for there is not a single bridge, of any size on the road. Even with this explanation, the number must be doubled, if not tripled. The principal difficulty found here by General Burgoyne was, I presume, this: the Americans in their retreat felled as many trees as they could across the road, and the army was obliged to take this road because there was no other. To the British soldiers, who were unskilled in cutting timber, the removal of these obstructions must have been a very laborious and difficult work. Had there not been a causey here before this period, the Americans, themselves, could not have passed through this country, for the marsh and the forest must have ob- structed their passage as much as the British. But, as they are accus-
1 Dr. Dwight, or rather his informant, is here in error. As I have shown in my chapters on Burgoyne's Campaign, all of these roads-extending down to Stillwater, were built through the woods by Burgoyne's skillful engineers and as I then stated, all of these roads used at the pres- ent day, follow out precisely those made through the primeval forest by Burgoyne's army.
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306
WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
tomed to labors of this nature, they think little of them. Hence, before General Burgoyne marched through this tract, the world never heard anything concerning the tremendous obstacles, which here so formidably opposed the progress of an army.1 As to the savage na- ture of the place, there is a marsh here, not a whit more embarrassing than marshes generally are; and the forest, elsewhere, is much less shaggy and difficult than a great part of American forests. The causey is in tolerable preservation and with an additional covering of earth would furnish a pleasant road.
"Kingsbury is a large township, containing, besides other settle- ments, tivo villages, Kingsbury and Sandy Hill. The village of Kingsbury is built on high ground, sloping handsomely towards the southeast. From twenty to thirty houses are assembled here, if I do not misremember, around a small, decent church. Their appearance indicates that the inhabitants are in comfortable circumstances. An extensive and in some respects interesting prospect is presented on this spot to the eye of the traveller.
" Sandy Hill lies about five miles from Kingsbury on the Hudson, where that river, terminating its eastern course, makes a remarkable bend to the south, a direction which it follows from this place to the ocean. The site of the village is a pine plain, elevated from one hun- dred to two hundred feet above the bed of the river. It contains, perhaps, twenty houses, several of them neat. The two great roads, from the eastern side of Lake Champlain and the western side of Lake George, in their progress towards New York, unite here and make it a place of frequent resort and some trade. It is often visited by gentlemen and ladies in their excursions to Lake George; a scene of pre-eminent beauty, which I shall have occasion to describe more particularly hereafter. We lodged in a miserable inn, the proprietor of a much better one being occupied in building a house, and there- fore, unable to receive us.
"In 1790 Kingsbury contained 1, 120 inhabitants; in 1800, 1,651, and in 1810, 2,272.
1 This account by President Dwight would seem rather to belittle the herculean efforts of Schuyler to retard the British march, as related in a previous chapter. Still, it should be remem- bered, that even Dwight was, as a New England man, greatly prejudiced against any good com- ing out of New York !
307
GLENS FALLS IN 1806.
"Thursday, October 4th, 1806, we left Sandy Hill' and rode two miles and a half up the Hudson to see the cataract called, from a res- pectable man living in the neighborhood, Glen's Falls. The road to this spot passes along the north bank of the river.
" The rock over which the Hudson descends at this place, is a vast mass of blue lime-stone, horizontally stratified, and, I believe, exactly resembles that which produces the Falls of Niagara." How far this stratum extends northward and westward I am ignorant. Down the river it reaches certainly as far as Fort Edward.
" The river at this place runs due east and is forty rods in breadth. Almost immediately above the cataract is erected a dam, eight or ten feet in height, for the accommodation of a long train of mills on the north, and a small number on the south bank. Below the dam. the mass of limestone extends, perhaps thirty or forty rods down the mid- dle of the stream, leaving a channel on each side. That on the north is about one-third of the breadth of the river; that on the south, where narrowest, is perhaps a tenth and, where widest, is divided into two by another part of the rock. The breadth of both, taken altogether, is not far from that of the north channel.
" The part of this rock which is nearest to the dam, is washed by the stream, and its surface is wrought everywhere into small figures resembling shells.3 A short distance below the dam it is covered with earth for about twelve or fifteen rods each way and, to a consid- erable extent, with pines and underwood. Below the road which, between the bridges, crosses this ground, the rock is divided into two arms, with a deep channel between them hollowed out by the stream and by the weather. One bridge crosses the north channel and two the south, in a direction from northwest to southeast.
" The perpendicular descent of the water at this place is seventy feet. The forms in which it descends are various, beyond those of
1 Although, it may not be entirely germane to speak of this, yet 1 cannot refrain, in this con- nection, to say a word regarding the late Mrs. Charles Stone of Sandy Hill-who was ever-and, perhaps. more than any other resident of that place, specially interested in everything relating to the historical reminiscences of that village. As I have said before, in my account of Jane McCrea, she gave me much information, and I only deeply regret that she is not living to read this history and my acknowledgment of her labors.
% In this the writer errs. The Glens Falls formation is the Trenton and the Niagara is a much later limestone.
" These do not resemble shells. They are veritable shells-showing that the ocean, at one time, covered all of this part of the continent. Mr. C. C. Lester and myself have a number of these fossils in our cabinets.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
any other cataract within my knowledge. All the conceivable grada- tions of falling water, from the mighty torrent to the showery jet d'eau, are here united in a wonderful and fascinating combination. In the channel on the north side, twenty rods in breadth near the dam and about twelve at the bridge, the greatest mass of water des- cends in four principal streams, divided by three large prominences of the rock, and in several small ones. The prevailing appearance here is that of sublimity, as the river descends either in great sheets or violent torrents. There are, however, several fine cascades in this compartment, and the effect of the whole is not a little increased by innumerable streams, torrents and jets from the long succession of mills on the north shore.
" The southern division of this scene is, however, a still finer object than the northern. On the north side of this channel the river has worn a ragged, perpendicular chasm through the rock, about thirty feet in breadth, eight or ten rods in length and fifty or sixty feet in depth. Through this opening pours a single torrent in a mass of foam, and is joined by ten or twelve currents, rushing from the south- ern side with every variety of foam, and with a beauty and magnifi- cence incapable of being described.
"On the eastern part of the island, below the road, the water has worn three passages beneath the surface quite through the rocky points which border the channel mentioned above; two through the ·northern arm of the island, and one through the southern. These passages are about three rods in length, and sufficiently wide and high for a man to pass conveniently through them. The surface of the rock above them is smooth and entire. I was at a loss to conceive what cause has produced these passages, as their direction was exactly at right angles with the current. In the year 1802, when I visited these falls the third time, I found a fourth passage, cut through one of the same arms, in all respects similar to those which I have men- tioned. If it existed at all in the year 1798, it was so small that it was not only unobserved by us, but had never been discovered by any of the neighboring inhabitants. So remarkable a fact induced me to search for the cause, and I soon became satisfied. This stratum of limestone, by means of the obliquity of other streets, the eye receives no impression of regularity. The houses [i. e. Fort Edward] are chiefly ancient structures of brick, in the Dutch style, the roofs sharp;
309
SARATOGA TO SANDY HILL.
the ends toward the street and the architecture uncouth.1 A great number of them have but one story. There are three churches here, a Dutch, a Presbyterian and an Episcopal-all of them ordinary build- ings. The town [Fort Edward] is compact, and one or two of the streets are paved. The number of inhabitants in this township was in 1790, 4,228 and in 1800, 5,289."
In 1810, four years afterward, President Dwight again passed through Washington County of which tour he writes as follows:
"The journey from Saratoga to Sandy Hill is very pleasant, ex- cept that the road is indifferent in many places; a part of it being heavily encumbered with mud, and another part with sand. The face of the country is very similar to that, which I have already des- cribed.
"Several of the intervals which we passed on this part of our jour- ney, exhibit strong proofs of the manner in which they were formed. A bare inspection of them evinced beyond debate, that they were at first islands, which rose above the surface at some distance from the bank and were gradually extended toward it. The part which finally united each to the bank was last formed, and continued to be a chan- nel to the stream longer than any other spot on the interval. Accord- ingly, this part of these grounds was almost without an exception lower than the rest.
" Before the year 1783 there were few settlements in this region. The expedition of General Burgoyne obliged the inhabitants to fly, destroyed their buildings and fences, and plundered them of their cattle and their property. Since that event, the number of planters has greatly increased, and they have greatly advanced in prosperity and wealth. Northumberland, however, is still in an infant state; many of the houses being built of logs, the fields imperfectly cleared, the girdled trees remaining, and the enclosures formed of logs and rubbish. These proofs of a recent settlement will soon vanish and be followed by a superior cultivation.
" Three miles above Carpenter's stood Fort Miller- a small picketed work, built in 1756 or 1757 to check the incursions of the Savages. Its remains have almost disappeared " and the spot where it stood is
1 What will our friends of Fort Edward say to this !
2 Not quite, as they are still (1900) plainly to be traced.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
now a cornfield.1 At this place there is a sprightly fall in the Hud- son, down which General Putnam is said to have descended in a small boat. Opposite this spot General Burgoyne spent nearly two months in his long journey from Skeensborough to Saratoga.
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