USA > New York > Washington County > Washington county, New York; its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 36
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Beyond Fort Anne, which is situated at a distance of eight miles from Fort Edward, the roads being better, we once more mounted into our vehicle, but the miserable horses, quite jaded, now made a dead stop; in vain the driver bawled and stamped and swore; his whip had been previously worn out some hours, owing to the frequent
1 This road, as I have before remarked. was probably what in the Adirondacks, is still called a "Corduroy Road." !
2 " There are upwards of twenty different kinds of oaks in America." Note by Weld.
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use he had made of it; and the animals, no longer feeling its heavy lash, seemed as determined as the mules of the Abbess of Andouilies to go no further. In this situation we could not help bantering the fellow upon the excellence of his cattle, which he had boasted so much of on setting out, and he was ready to cry with vexation at what we said, but having accidentally mentioned the sum we had paid for the carriage, his passion could no longer be restrained and it broke forth in all its fury.
It appears that he was the owner of two of the horses, and for the use of them, and for driving the carriage was to have had one-half of the hire, but the man whom he had agreed with, and paid at Albany, had given him only ten dollars as his moiety, assuring him, at the same time, that it was exactly the half of what we had given, although in reality it fell short of the sum by seven dollars and a half. Thus cheated by his companion and left in the lurch by his horses, he vowed vengeance against him on his return; but as protestations of this nature would not bring us any sooner to our journey's end, and as it was necessary that something should be immediately done if we did not wish to remain all night in the woods, we suggested an idea in the meantime, of his conducting the foremost horses as postilion, while one of our servants should drive the pair next to the wheel. This plan was not started with any degree of seriousness, for we could not have supposed that a tall, meager fellow, upwards of six feet high and clad in a pair of thin nankeen breeches, would very readily bestride the raw-bone back of a horse, covered with the profuse exu- dations which the intense heat of the weather and the labor the ani- mal had gone through necessarily excited. As much tired, however, with our pleasantries, as we were of his vehicle, and thinking of noth- ing, I believe, but how he could best get rid of us, he eagerly em- braced the proposal and accordingly, having furnished himself with a switch from an adjoining thicket, he mounted his harnessed Rosinante. In this style we proceeded, but more than once did our gigantic pos- tilion turn round to bemoan the sorry choice he had made; as often did we urge the necessity of getting out of the woods; he could make no answer. So jogging slowly along we at last reached the little town of Skenesborough, much to the amusement of every one who beheld our equipage, and much to our own satisfaction for, owing to the various accidents we had met with, such as traces breaking, bridles slipping off the heads of the horses, and the noble horses themselves
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MOSQUITOES OF SKENESBOROUGH.
sometimes slipping down, etc., etc., we had been no less than five hours in travelling the last five miles.
.
Skenesborough stands just above the junction of Wood Creek and South River, as it is called in the best maps, but which is considered as a part of Lake Champlain. At present [1796] there are only about twelve houses in the place; but if the navigation of Wood Creek is ever opened, so as to connect Lake Champlain with the North River, a scheme which has already been seriously thought of, it will, doubt- less, soon become a trading-town of considerable importance, as all the various productions of the shores of the lake will then be collected there for the New York and Albany markets. Notwithstanding all the disadvantages of a land carriage of forty miles to the North River a small portion of flour and pot-ash, the staple commodities of the state of New York,' is already sent to Skenesborough from different parts of the lake, to be forwarded to Albany. A considerable trade, also, is carried on through this place and over Lake Champlain, between New York and Canada. Furs and horses principally are sent from Canada, and in return, they get East Indian goods and various manufactures. Lake Champlain opens a very ready communi- cation between New York and the country bordering on the St. Lawrence; it is emphatically called by the Indians, CANIAD-Evi Guarunte-that is, " the mouth or door of the country."
Skenesborough is most dreadfully infested with mosquitoes; so many of them attacked us the first night of our sleeping there that when we arose in the morning our faces and hands were covered all over with large pustules, precisely like those of a person in the small pox. This happened too, notwithstanding that the people of the house, before we went to bed, had taken the pains possible to clear the room of them by fumigating it with the smoke of green wood, and afterwards securing the windows with gauze blinds; and even on the second night, although we destroyed many dozens of them on the walls, after a similar fumigation had been made, yet we suffered nearly as much. These insects were of a much larger size than any I saw elsewhere, and their bite was uncommonly venomous. General
1 And more particularly (especially pot-ash) Washington and Warren counties. Near Lu- zerne, in the latter county, there is a mountain called " Pot-Ash-Kettle" from the fact that its top greatly resembles an inverted kettle. This similarity, in the minds of the inhabitants of that vieinity, to the chief utensil in making their pot-ash doubtless led to the naming of that mountain.
[ 40 ]
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Washington told me that he never was so much annoyed by mosqui- toes in any part of America as in Skenesborough, for they used to bite through the thickest boot ! 1
"There are eight different kinds of mosquitoes in the Louisiana swamps and the most ferocious, though not the most poisonous of them is the huge insect com- monly called the gallinipper. This drinker of blood is a half inch long and its bill is as long as its body. It has an intricate arrangement of files, saws and chisels in this bill, all driven, it would appear, by superhuman power. It will sink its pro- boscis through a glove of ordinary thickness, if left undisturbed, will bore easily through a shirt sleeve and woolen undershirt to the arm beneath and will bite the feet through thin boots and the socks under them."
The situation of the place is indeed peculiarly favorable for them, being just on the margin of a piece of water, almost stagnant and shaded with thick woods. The mosquito is of the same species with the common gnat of England, and resembles it very closely both in size and shape. Like the gnat it lays its eggs on the surface of the water, where they are hatched in the course of a few days, unless the water is agitated, in which last case they are all destroyed. * * * Mosquitoes appear to be particularly fond of the fresh blood of Euro- peans, who always suffer much more the first year of their arrival in America than they do afterwards. The people of the country seem quite to disregard their attacks. Wherever they fix their sting, a lit- tle tumor or pustule usually arises, supposed to be occasioned by the firmentation when mixed with the blood, of a small quantity of liquor, which the insect always injects into the wound it makes with its spicula, as may be seen through a microscope, and which it probably does to render the blood more fluid. The disagreeable itching this excites is most effectually allayed by the application of volatile alkali; or if the part newly stung be scratched, and immediately bathed in cold water, that also affords considerable relief; but after the venom has been lodged for any time, scratching only increases the itching, and it may be attended with great danger. Repeated instances have occurred of people having been laid up for months, and narrowly escaping the loss of a limb, from imprudently rubbing a part which had been bitten for a long time. Great ease is also derived from
1 Nor was this semi-humorous expression on Washington's part, as exaggerated as it might at first seem. A reputable correspondent of the New York Sun, in writing recently about the mosquitoes in the Southern Bayous says:
-
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VERMONT HOMES.
opening the pustules on the second day with a lancet, and letting out the blood and watery matter."
Indeed, "South Bay," seems always to have been noted for this pest. Thus, General Rufus Putnam, (a cousin of General Israel Put- nam, and in command of Fort Edward in 1759) writing in his Journal from "South Bay" (Whitehall) under date of July 9th, 1759, says: " This night we encamped, but the mosquitoes were a very great trouble to us, we having no blankets, and I had nothing but a shirt and Indian stockings. In fact, no man can tell what an infliction these little animals were ! " 1
And now, although our traveller has left Skenesborough, it may be interesting for the reader to have a glimpse of his impressions of a farmer's life at this period. It is true, that in what I quote he is writing of the farmers in Vermont, but the same conditions which he observed then, applied equally at that time, to those in Washington County-especially, as has been seen, a part of what is now Vermont was then a portion of that county.
He writes: "Shortly after our arrival at Skenesborough, we hired a small boat of about ten tons for the purpose of crossing Lake Cham- plain, but on account of high winds, we were for three days detained at Skenesborough, a delicious feast for the hungry mosquitoes.
* * We at length set off about one o'clock, but from the channel being very narrow,2 it was impossible to make much way tacking. We got no further than six miles before sun-set. We then stopped and having landed, walked up to some farm houses, which appeared on the Vermont shore, to procure provisions; for the boat- man had told us it was quite unnecessary to take in any at Skenes- borough, as there were excellent houses close to the shore the whole way, where we could get whatever we wished. At the first we went to, which was a comfortable log-house, neither bread, nor meat, nor milk, nor eggs were to be had; the house was crowded with children of all ages, and the people, I suppose, thought they had but little enough for themselves. At a second house, we found a venerable old man at the door, reading a newspaper, who civilly offered it to us for our perusal, and began to talk about the politics of the day. We thanked him for his offer, but gave him to understand, at the same
1 Rufus Putnam's Dairy, Pg. 36. Joel Munsell Sons, Albany, N. Y., 1886.
2 And it is so to this day.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
time, that a loaf of bread would be much more acceptable. Bread there was none; we got a new Vermont cheese, however. A third house now remained in sight, and we made a third attempt at procur- ing something to eat. This one was nearly half a mile off, but, alas! it afforded still less than the last, the people having nothing to dispose of but a little milk. With the milk and the cheese, therefore, we re- turned to our boat, and adding thereto some biscuits and wine, which we had luckily on board, the whole afforded us a frugal repast.
The people at the American farm-houses will cheerfully lie three in a bed, rather than suffer a stranger to go away who comes to seek for a lodging. As all these houses, however, which we had visited, were crowded with inhabitants, we felt no great inclination to ask for ac- commodation at any of them, but determined to sleep aboard our little vessel. But even this was a luxury after our accommodations at Skenesborough (out of the way of mosquitoes) and our ears not being assailed by the noise even of a single one the whole night.
The next morning we stopped at one house to breakfast and at an- other to dine. At neither of these, although they bore the name of taverns, were we able to procure much more than at the houses where we had stopped the preceding evening. At the first we got a little milk and about two pounds of bread, absolutely the whole of what was in the house, and at the second, a few eggs and some cold salted fat pork, but not a morsel of bread was to be had. The wretched ap- pearance, also, of this last habitation was very striking. It consisted of a wooden frame, merely with a few boards nailed against it-the crevices between which were the only apertures for the admission of light, except the door, and the roof was so leaky, that we were sprinkled with the rain even as we sat at the fireside. That people can live in such a manner, who have the necessaries and conveniences of life within their reach, as much as any others in the world, is really most astonishing. It is, however, to be accounted for by that desire of making money, which is the predominant feature in the character of the Americans in general, and leads the petty farmer in particular to suffer numberless inconveniences, when he gains by so doing. If he can sell the produce of his land to advantage, he keeps as small a part of it as possible for himself, and lives the whole year round upon salt provisions, bad bread and the fish he can catch in the rivers or lakes in the neighborhood. If he has built a comfortable house for himself, he readily quits it, as soon as finished, for money, and goes
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WAR OF 1812-15.
to live in a mere hovel in the woods till he gets time to build another. Money is his idol, and to procure it, he gladly foregoes every self- gratification.
From this miserable habitation we departed as soon as the rain was over, and the wind coming round in our favor, we got as far as Ticon- deroga that night." * *
CHAPTER XXI.
1812-1878.
WAR OF ISI2-15-WASHINGTON COUNTY AFFECTED BY IT IN ITS GENERAL INDUSTRIES- THE NEWS OF PEACE HERALDED WITH JOY-PRESIDENT WAYLAND'S AND " PETER PARLEY'S" ACCOUNT OF IT-THE MEXICAN WAR AND THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY WASHINGTON COUNTY-THE CIVIL WAR-SKETCHES OF THE DIFFERENT REGIMENTS AND COMPANIES ENLISTED IN THE COUNTY AND THE NAMES OF THEIR OFFICERS AND THOSE WHO DIED-THE CHAMPLAIN CANAL COMPLETED TO WHITEHALL AND ITS EFFECT ON THE GENERAL PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTY-ALSO A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE RAILROAD FROM SARATOGA SPRINGS TO WHITEHALL IN 1846.
The War of 1812-15, declared between the United States and Great Britain found Washington County struggling under the same depres- sion and embarrassments which, at this time, affected the general in- dustries, not only of the county but of the country at large. The war, however, was a most excellent thing for the financial interests of the county, especially as the demands created by the necessities of the general government changed this stagnation to an unusual business activity. As an example of this, among many others, may be men- tioned the culture of flax. That article, now, in the slang of the present day of speculators in Wall street, received a most decided "boom." Flax, like wool. had for several years been specially a yield of Washington County, though produced, hitherto, in very small quantities, such, indeed, as could be manufactured by the little flax " spinning wheel and loom,"1 of each family-every farmer generally
1 A representation of one of these wheels and loom, owned by iny mother, is represented in one of the bas relievos of the Saratoga Monument, in the tablet in which is pictured the " Women of the Revolution" spinning flax for the clothes of the volunteers.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
sowing a few square rods of that commodity. In May, 1812, however, when this rise of prices for wool began, a Mr. James Whiteside of Cambridge sowed three acres of flax. Upon this tremendous innova- tion regarding the usual crops, "all his neighbors," says Johnson, "were astounded and predicted that the labor of raising and dressing the crop, would be so great as to more than use up any price which might be obtained for it." These foreboding's were false, for despite all such awful prognostications, the value of the flax constantly con- tinued to rise until the dressed flax was sold at the hitherto unprece- dented sum of eighteen and three-fourths cents per pound-thus giv- ing to the raiser a handsome profit. As a consequence, the raising of flax very soon became an important industry in Washington County, especially in its southern part, and even when prices after the war, fell, its cultivation was still found profitable-attaining a magnitude of no small importance, by becoming a source of income by no means to the farmers, of insignificance.
The woolen manufacture also continued to flourish. Under a state law of the period, a premium of forty dollars was paid in 1813, to Lø Scott Woodworth of Cambridge, for the best woolen cloth made in the county, and another of thirty-five dollars to Adam Cleveland of Salem for the second best. The next year the first premium was car- ried off by Alexander McNish, and the second by Reuben Wheeler, both of Salem. The law vested the power of awarding the prizes in the judges of the common pleas in each county, "rather a curious tribunal," as Johnson justly says, "as we should now think, to per- form such a duty." It should be remembered, however, that at that time the judges were nearly all farmers and business men, and per- haps, as competent to decide on the value of woolen cloth, as any other five men in the county.
At the same time Washington County was by no means wanting in patriotism. Two military rendezvous were established, on the first sub- stantiated rumor of the war, in Washington and Warren counties-one at Sandy Hill and the other at Glens Falls-for the enlistment of sol- diers in the infantry and cavalry service of the United States-at which stations, says Dr. A. W. Holden in his admirable Historical Centennial address, many enlisted who never returned, they either making their homes in the new settlements of the west, or finding a last resting-place on the battle-fields of their country.
In August, 1814, wild and more definite rumors of the war were
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PREVOST'S INVASION.
born on the breeze1 from the northern borders-thus reproducing- though, in a very slight degree-the times when a rumor of an attack by the savages was carried to the firesides and family altars of their grandfathers and grandmothers.
On the Ist of September, 1814, Sir General Prevost entered New York state by way of Plattsburgh, with an army of 14, 000 picked and disciplined troops-the flower, in fact of the British army-accom- panied by a fleet of seventeen vessels, and advanced slowly up Lake Champlain, and on the 11th landed near Cumberland Head.
Meanwhile, the tidings of the invasion swept, like a tornado, through northern New York. Speaking of the manner in which these tidings were received, Johnson writes that "the War of 1812 was a dreary, dragging, dwindling contest, marked alike by the extreme apathy of the people." On the contrary, Dr. A. W. Holden, in his Centennial address-from which I have before quoted-says that "the militia promptly responded-Washington and Warren counties being almost depopulated of their male citizens." Of these two some- what contradictory opinions, I am, however, (with all due deference to Johnson, to whose valuable history of Washington County I have constantly given credit) inclined to the opinion of Dr. Holden. The success of the American troops was due, as Dr. Holden remarks, in a great degree, to the boldness, daring and bravery of the militia, who, in the language of their opponents "did not know enough to run," and who, from "the rent and bloody fragments of a signal de- feat," gathered the laurels of a signal victory. 2
1 I say, advisedly. "on the breeze"-the latter expression being here used synonomously with "unknown sources" for it is a very singular fact, never accounted for, that rumors of disaster frequently come seemingly by no known or authorized heralds. Thus, after the Battle of Water- 100. the disastrous defeat of Napoleon's army was known on the London Stock Exchange several hours before it could have been received by any known means of transmission-and this is only one instance, of many of a similar character, that could be cited.
2 The late Chancellor Walworth of Saratoga Springs, who was in this action, has often cor- roborated to me this statement.
The following anecdotes given by Johnson, in this connection, do not seem to bear out the above statement of Dr. Holden, 1, also. am inclined to think them of mythical value. Still, as coming from such a thorough investigator, as the author of " Washington County," I reproduce them here in full.
"There are some queer stories told regarding the movements of those who went from Wash- ington County. which tend to show that the so often vaunted superiority of 'the good old times' did not extend to military valor. Tradition stoutly asserts that one battalion occupied twelve days in marching from its place of organization to Whitehall; but that on hearing then that the battle had been fought, it only took one day to march back again. Of an eminent general of the period, it is said that he mistook the stern for the prow of his vessel, and went the wrong way on
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WASHINGTON COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
One of the regiments from the eastern part of the county was com- manded by Lieutenant-Colonel John McClary of Salem, but Major William Root of Hebron, was the officer in command when it was called out. It rendezvoused at West Hebron, marched thence to Sandy Hill, and thence to Whitehall. Indeed, the last mentioned place was the general rendezvous for all this section of the county, as it had also been for McDonough's fleet. The regiment, of whose movements, says Johnson, we happen to know from Hon. John McDonald, who was a member of it, sailed from Whitehall in two sloops just before the Battle of Plattsburgh. He says that he does not believe there were six effective muskets in the regiment! The arrangement was for them to go to the arsenal at Burlington, Vt., and receive arms, and thence to Plattsburgh to receive the enemy. "But just before reaching the former place, the thunder of cannon was heard. After a brief but furious combat, the warlike sounds ceased, and then the soldiers on board the sloops were in a tremor of anxiety to know which side was victorious. Soon, however, a light vessel came flying up the lake, bearing the news that the so called " Mistress of the Seas" had been lowered before the Yankee bunt- ing." This set all fears at rest, and messengers were at once des- patched through Washington Country, and thence to New York and Washington, conveying the glorious news of the defeat of the British. This settled the matter, and, with the retreat of Prevost, as before stated, all fears were at an end.
Washington County, in common with many of her sister counties, had by the war suffered terribly in the depreciation of its agricultural products-notwithstanding the rise in flax to which allusion has been made; and now, that peace had once more spread her wings over the country, no other county rejoiced more than she. In fact the awful gloom over her people had been something fearful. Illustrative of this the following graphic description from the pen of the late Presi- dent Francis Wayland, then a student in New York City, of the man- ner in which the news of peace was received, is typical of the revul- sion of feeling not only in New York City, but in the country at large. President Wayland writes:
Lake Champlain, when he heard the cannon at Plattsburgh. It must be said, however, that not only were the militia freshly drawn from their fields. entirely unversed in war, but that they were often unprovided with arms or ammunition, without which it would be difficult for anyone to fight."
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CLOSE OF WAR OF 1812.
" It so chanced that at the close of the last war with Great Britain I was temporarily a resident of New York. The prospects of the nation were shrouded in gloom. We had been, for two or three years at war with the mightiest nation on earth, and as she had now con- cluded a peace with the continent of Europe, we were obliged to cope with her single handed. Our harbors were blockaded; our communi- cations coastwise between our ports were cut off; our ships were rotting in every creek and cove where they could find a place of security : our immense annnal products were mouldering in our ware- houses; the sources of profitable labor were dried up; our currency was reduced to irredeemable paper ; the extreme portions of our coun- try were becoming hostile to each other,' and the differences of politi- cal opinion were embittering the peace of every household; the credit of the government was exhausted; no one could discern the means by which it could much longer be protracted.
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