USA > New York > Washington County > Washington county, New York; its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
Old Fort Edward stood close on the east bank of the Hudson, a few rods below the present railroad bridge. Nothing now (1899) remains of it, except as in the case of Fort Hardy at Schuylerville, a few slight mounds, where were the earth works, and the broken bricks and pottery which are mixed plentifully with the soil. At the best, it consisted only of a square fortified by two bastions on the east side, and by two semi- bastions on the side towards the river. It was built, as we have seen, in 1709 by the English for the protection of the northern frontier, and was called Fort Nicholson after its builder, Colonel Nicholson. After- wards, it was known as Fort Lydius. After the failure of Colonel Nicholson's remarkable, though entirely abortive, expedition for the subjugation of Canada-an expedition the organization of which cost the Colonies and that of New York in particular a vast amount of money --- the fort was abandoned and allowed to go to decay.
As before stated, in 1755, the English under General (afterward Sir William Johnson) made a forward movement towards the capture of Crown Point, and as one of the preliminary steps to this expedition General Phineas Lyman was sent forward to rebuild the fort. The site of the old fortification was abandoned, because it was too much commanded and a large redoubt, with a simple parapet and a wretched palisade was built on a more elevated spot not far distant. It stood close on the bank of the Hudson on the north side of the mouth of Fort Edward Creek. It was constructed of timber and earth. The ramparts were sixteen feet high and twenty-two feet thick and mounted
49
SKETCH OF FORT EDWARD.
six cannon; and withall, a deep fosse was excavated in front of its two sides fronting upon and being protected by the above said Creek. In addition, moreover, to the several buildings which stood inside of the walls of the fort, and which accommodated 200 men, large store- houses and barracks were reared on the island opposite to it in the river. The first received the name of Fort Lyman from its builder and was a most important dépôt for the munitions of war in the northern move- ment of the English forces; besides which it was a general rendezvous of the army, and became afterwards a large hospital for the sick and wounded. As has been mentioned, this place also received the name of "The Great Carrying Place "-the reason for this designation being that the rapids and falls in the river above the fort made it impossible to ascend any farther with the bateaux. Consequently, the goods, arms and amunition were here unloaded, and carried overland either to Wood Creek at Fort Anne, where they were reshipped and thence taken to Lake Champlain, or else to the head of Lake George and thence down that lake to the carrying place at its foot into Lake Champlain by way of Ticonderoga.
In 1755, Israel Putnam was in General Lyman's regiment as the captain of a company, and was in all probability with him in the rebuilding of the fort. At any rate, he was frequently there during 1755 and the two succeeding years, and formed in the fort a head- quarters for himself and his rangers. In 1757, he performed some heroic feats in its behalf-which will be narrated in detail in their proper place. In that year, a band of Indians approached it with the secrecy and craftiness so characteristic of the race and attempted to surprise and capture the garrison, but Putnam, then a, major, was not easily taken. He and his men were ready for the Savages and put them speedily to flight. In the winter of that same year, the fort was acci- dentally set on fire. The flames spread rapidly, and for a time, it looked as though every thing would be destroyed. The powder magazine was in great danger, as the flames were getting very near it. Putnam, thereupon, placed himself between the fire and the magazine; and for an hour and a half, fought the flames until they were finally subdued. The covering of the magazine was scortched and blackened, and the brave Putnam came out of the conflict with his face, arms and hands fearfully burned. Many weeks passed before he recovered from his injuries. Two years afterward, 1758, Putnam and a few of his followers,
[6]
50
WASHINGTON COUNTY : ITS HISTORY.
were again chased by the Indians in their canoes to a short distance below the fort. They were in a bateau and rapidly rowed down the river with their pursuers close behind them. Approaching the Falls at Fort Miller, there seemed to be no way of escape but by going over them. So the bateau was steered to the Falls and went over the verge. The Indians fired, and looked for the utter destruction of the crew, when, to their utter amazement, they were seen gliding rapidly away unharmed! Neither the leap over the Fort Miller Falls, nor the rapids below, nor their bullets had harmed their supposed victims; and henceforth, the Indians (as in the similar case of Washington at the fight of Braddock) considered Putnam as under the special protection of the Great Spirit !
During the year 1757, the fort was garrisoned by colonial troops under Colonel Haviland-for the protection of the northern frontier of the county. This appears from the following extracts from an Orderly Book-the manuscript of which belonged to General Phineas Lyman, and which has only within the last few months been purchased and printed at his own expense by Dr. W. Seward Webb. In his preface to this Orderly Book Dr. Webb speaks justly of General Lyman "as a man whose sterling qualities were not recognized by his English colleagues and superiors. The credit that was owing to him was given to others ; but a study of the campaign of 1756, shows how ably he performed his part, and how much its success depended upon his efforts." Even General Johnson, as we have seen, completely ignored Lyman-a circumstance which must ever remain a blot upon that General's otherwise justly acquired fame.
EXTRACTS FROM THE ORDERLY BOOK.
" Fort Edward, July 27, 1757. Parole Fort William Henry:
The Lines are not to turn out Upon any Alarm Till ye Proper Signals are Made of ye 23d Instant. The Officer Commanding ye Covering Party at ye Brick-kill is Emmediately upon Hearing any Shots in The Woods To Take Upon Him ye Comd of the Workman and File Into ye Woods So far as ye May Judge necessary in order to Get Upon ye Enemy's Rear and at ye Same Time To Send one Man of His Party To ye Commanding Offr To Acquaint Him of it."
Parole Hallyfax
" FORT EDWARD, July 28, 1757. All ye Salers, Ship Carpenters and Boatman that Were Returned By ye Several Corps to Hold them Selves in readiness to March To ye Lake [Lake George]
51
SKETCH OF FORT EDWARD.
The Ranging Companys Being to fire at a Mark Between ye Hours of 4 and 6 o'clock. The Troops To Be Immediately Acquainted with it that They May Not Be Alarmed with it-In ye Same Time ye Com- manding offr of ye Sevl Regts may Send Such Men as Cannot Draw their Charges to Fire them off In Presence of an Uncommissined offr who will take Care that their Men Fire Their Pieces When No Accident May Happen "
Parole Lindon.1 "FORT EDWARD, NOV. IOTH 1757
Col. Haviland's Orders, All ye Massachusetts Rhod- Islanders and Conneticutts (Except ye two companys of ye Conneticut Rangers) to hold them Selves in Readiness to march as soon as Carriage can be pro- vided the men of these Corps now on Duty are to be Relieved by ye N. Yorkers. "
Mayr Rogers is to order a Guard of Rangers to post proper Sentry from it, in ye Live Stock Garden and Fire wood and No Sort of thing to be taken out of ye Garden without proper leave from Col. Haviland and no fire wood to be touch'd as they will be answerable for it and ye offender punished with the utmost Severity.
The Guard at ye Island End of ye Bridge [The one opposite Fort Edward] not to Suffer any more to pass over toward ye Garden after the Retreat-and any Preson [ person] yt [that] is known (Either of ye Troops in Garson [Garrison] or on ye Island) to put down any part of a Hut on Either Side ye water will be brought to a Court Marschal for ye Same unless he Shall have particular leave for it.
Parole Hampton.
FORT EDWARD, NOV. 10, 1757.
The Massachusetts and Rhodislanders to march Emmediately. They are to apply to Mr Lesley for carriage or proceed according to ye orders they have Recd from Lord Loudoun."
The Fort retained the name of Fort Lyman3 but a few years, when it was changed to that of Fort Edward, in honor of Edward, Duke of York, a grandson of George II, or the brother of George III. During the Revolutionary War (as it will later on be seen) it was at times held
The writer evidently was in advance of his age-having already adopted the phonetic spelling
2 Robert Rogers, born Dunbarton, N. H., about 1730; died in England in 1800. During the French War he commanded with great credit to himself, a battalion of rangers who rendered excellent service. This battalion was the model from which Rufus Putnam (a cousin of " Old Put") organ- ized the company of rangers whichi so effectively protected the Ohio Company settlements during the Indian War, 1791-1795. In 1760, Major Rogers, with 200 men, took possession of Detroit. In 1766, he was appointed by the King, Governor of Michilinacnac. He was subsequently accused of plot- ting to sell the Post to the French and was sent in irons to Montreal, tried by Court Martial and acquited, but deprived of his office. Shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution, he was arrested by Gen. Washington as a spy. Released upon parole he violated it, joined the British army and placed in command of the Queen's Rangers. In 1765 he published a " Journal of the French War." His " Journal of the Siege of Detroit " was published in 1860. He was, taken all in all, a notable character.
" Major-General Phineas Lyman, after whom the fort was first named, and to whom allusion has already been made. was born at Durham, Conn .. about 1716; was graduated in 1738 at Yale College, in which he was afterwards a tutor three years; and settled as a lawyer in Suffield. He
52
WASHINGTON COUNTY : ITS HISTORY.
by the British but was the greater portion of the time in the hands of the Americans, affording protection to the farmers of the surrounding country, who frequently flocked into it when fearful of the raids of the Indians and Tories.
And now, at this point, and in order to present a sketch of Fort Edward in its entirety I must request the reader to follow me some years ahead of the time reached in this history of Washington county, to events which took place during the Revolutionary War.
At the approach of Burgoyne's army from Fort Anne it was evacuated by the Americans by order of Gen. Schuyler until after the surrender of the British Army at Saratoga. While Burgoyne lay at Fort Miller, it was occupied by General Riedesel with his Brunswicker's. While here Riedesel buried two large bateaux inside of the Fort for the benefit of Col. St. Leger in case the latter should retreat by way of this place, marking the spot by two crosses to give the appearance of two graves. St. Leger, however, fell back on Oswego, and the bateaux were after- ward found by the American Army-Riedesel was also quartered for three weeks on the garrison ground at Fort Amherst, ' at the Half-way brook between the present village of Glens Falls and Lake George."
Schuyler was greatly blamed for not defending Fort Edward, though there was really no fort to defend, as Schuyler writes to Gen. Washington in July 1777, "of Fort Edward there is nothing left but ruins. I have frequently galloped my horse in at one side and out at the other.".
Ticonderoga, as will be seen further on, had to be evacuated because it was commanded by Sugar Loaf Mountain. Fort Edward was in like
filled several public offices. In 1755, he was appointed Major-General and Commander-in-chief of the Connecticut forces and built Fort Lyman (as previously mentioned) near Fort Edward, N. Y. In 1758, he served under Abercromby. He was at the capture of Crown-Point by Amherst, and at the surrender of Montreal. In 1762, he commanded the Provincial troops in the expedition against Havana. In 1763, he went to England, as the agent of his brother officers, to receive their prize- money ; also as agent of land on the Mississippi and wasted eleven years of his life. Being deluded for years by idle promises, his mind finally sunk down to imbecility, at last his wife, who was a sister of Prest. Dwight's father, sent his second son to England to solicit his return in 1774. A tract of 20,000 acres was granted to the petitioners, Feb. 2d, 1775, after his return, he embarked with his eldest son for the Mississippi, and both died soon after their arrival at West Florida in 1775. Dwight's Travels.
1 The Fort Amherst here mentioned was a fortified camp, rather than a " Fort."
2 Madam Riedesel joined her husband at Fort Edward. "The following day passed Ticon- deroga, and about noon, arrived at Fort George [the present village of Caldwell at the head of Lake George] where we dined with Col. Anstruther, an exceeding good and amiable man, who commanded the 62d Regiment In the afternoon we seated ourselves in a calash and reached Fort Edward on the same day, which was the 14th of August (1777)-Stone's Translation of Madame Riedesel's Journal.
53
SKETCH OF FORT EDWARD.
manner commanded on all sides. Major Gerard, the Marquis de Chas- tellux who visited it in the winter of 1780, described it as situated in a basin or valley both as to the ground and encircling forests. "Such is Fort Edward," he writes " so much spoken of in Europe although it could at no time have been able to resist 500 men, with four pieces of cannon." The fact is Fort Edward was not a strong position and Kalm criticized both of these forts justly, on his visit to America in 1749. "They were " he wrote, "the result of jobs, badly located and badly built, with the design to put money into some favorite's pockets. 1"
The Marquis de Chastellux closes his description of his trip to the Fort in the following graphic and picturesque words :
"I stopped here [Fort Edward] an hour to refresh my horses, and about noon set off to proceed as far as the cataract [Glens Falls] which is eight miles beyond it. On leaving the valley, I pursued the road to Lake George, I had scarcely lost sight of Fort Edward before the spec- tacle of devastation presented itself to my eyes, and continued to do so as far as the place I stopped at. Those who were in Burgoyne's way alone experienced the horrors of his expedition. Peace and industry had con- ducted cultivators admist these ancient forests, men contented and happy before the period of this war; but on the last invasion of the Savages, the desolation has spread from Fort Schuyler [Fort Stanwix, the present village of Rome, N. Y. ] to Fort Edward. I beheld nothing around me but the remains of conflagrations; a few bricks proof against the fire, were the only indications of ruined houses and homes; whilst the fences still entire, and cleared out lands announced that these deplorable habitations had once been the abode of riches and happiness.
"Arrived at the height of the cataract it was necessary for us to quit our sledges and walk a mile to the Hudson River. The snow was fifteen inches deep, which rendered this walk rather difficult and obliged us to proceed in Indian file in order to break a path. Each of us put ourselves alternately at the head of this little column, as the wild geese relieve each other to occupy the summit of the angle they form in their flight. The sight of the cataract was, however, an ample recompense. The Mohawk River at the Cohoes seems to fall from its own dead weight ; that of the Hudson frets and becomes enraged. It foams and forms a whirlpool, and flies like a serpent making its escape, still continuing its menaces by horrible hisses.
1 By this remark of Kalm, it would seem as if the political contractors of the present day for the building of our public works, are not much worse than those of an earlier period. Yet it is the fashion to hold up the past as being so much superior to the present in purity and uprightness.
54
WASHINGTON COUNTY : ITS HISTORY.
" It was near two when we regained or sledges, having two and twenty miles to return to Saratoga, so that we trod back our steps as fast as possible, but we still had to halt at Fort Edward to refresh our horses. We employed this time, as we had done in the morning, in warming ourselves by the fires of the officers who commanded the garrison. There are five in number, and have about one hundred and fifty soldiers. They are stationed in this desert for the whole winter; and I leave the reader to imagine whether the garrison be much more gay than the two most melancholy ones of Gravalines or Briancon, our own in France. We set off again in an hour, and we had not gone far, before, just before dark, I had the satisfaction of seeing the first game I had met on my journey. It was a bevy of quails. They were perched to the number of seven upon a fence. I got out of my sledge to have a nearer view of them. They suffered me to approach within four paces; and to make them rise I was obliged to throw my cane at them ; they all went off together in a flight similiar to that of partridges, and like them they are sedentary."
Fort Edward, in fact, seems always to have been a point of unusual interest to distinguished travellers. Thus, in 1796, President Dwight of Yale College visited the place.1 He thus speaks of it :
"Fort Edward was planned by Captain Ayres2 an engineer on the British Service, and completed by Gen. Schuyler 3 in the year 1755, principally with a design to check Savage incursions, and to be a depot for millitary stores and to protect the persons employed in transporting them. We found the work almost entire. It is built of earth, in the form of an irregular square, with three small bastions on the north, west, northeast and southeast angles and a counterfeit on the southwest. On two sides it was fronted by a ditch ; under the third runs the Hudson the fourth is the bank of a deep sunk rivulet. From a sudden attack, therefore, it was well secured ; but being in the neighborhood of several higher grounds, could not have been defended against artillery half an hour 4 Its original name was Fort Lyman; derived from Major General
1 In giving these extracts from the works of eminent tourists, I have taken for granted that the inhabitants of Washington county would be glad to know how a part of their county was viewed at this time.
2 Captain William Eyre, is here referred to-a distinguished engineer of that day, and one of Gen. Braddock's most skillful artillerists. His services will again be alluded to.
3 A mistake. It was completed by General Lyman.
4 This it will be remembered was the opinion of the Marquis de Chantellux, an account of whose visit is given in this chapter.
55
SKETCH OF FORT EDWARD).
Lyman, who at that time commanded the New England forces encamped here."
" And, Dr. Benjamin Silliman of Yale College also thus speaks of a visit he made to Fort Edward in 1819. He says :
" At this Fort [Fort Edward] we first observed the canal which is destined to connect the head waters of Lake Champlain with those of the Hudson. It is now on the point of being united with this river, and they are constructing the walls of the canal of a very handsome hewn stone, which is obtained, as I am informed, near Fort Anne and presents to the eye aided by a magnifier very minute plates and veins. It is of a dark hue and is shaped into handsome blocks by the tools of the workmen. I was gratified to see such firm and massy walls, constructed of this stone ; indeed, in point of solidity and beauty, they would do honor to the modern wet docks of Great Britain. It is intended to have a lock at this place, where there is a considerable descent into the Hudson.
" There is a village at Fort Edward bearing the same name, and I ought to have remarked that there are villages at Stillwater, Saratoga,1 and Fort Miller; but there is nothing particularly interesting in any of them. Fort Edward, however, is memorable on account of its former importance. It is situated near the great bend of the Hudson, and formed the immediate connection with Lake George, which is sixteen miles, and with Lake Champlain, twenty-two miles distant. It was originally only an entrenched camp, but as its situation was important, it was soon converted into a regular fort. The walls appear to be, in some places, still twenty feet high, notwithstanding what time and the plow have done to reduce them; for the interior of the Fort, and the parapet are now in some places, planted with potatoes.
" In the last French War, it was an important station; and, in Gen. Burgoyne's campaign, it formed the medium of communication with Lake George, whence the provisions were brought forward for the use of the British Army, which was detained on this account at and near Fort Edward for six weeks-by which means, they lost the best part of the season for millitary operations; and as they moved down the river they relinquished the connection with Fort Edward and Lake George, and were never able to recover it."
After the French War, the fortification at Fort Edward became so dilapidated, that it was seldom occupied by any of the troops that were
1 This does not refer, of course, to the present watering place of Saratoga springs.
56
WASHINGTON COUNTY : ITS HISTORY.
from time to time stationed there. Canada being now conquered it was supposed that there would be no further use for it; and accordingly, just before the Revolutionary War, a Dr. Smythe erected from the debris of the Fort, " The Red House," as it was called, for his dwelling. 1 Burgoyne occupied this house as his headquarters when at this place.
In closing the early history of this classic town-Fort Edward-it may be of interest to give the following very interesting incident, written by the late Jonathan Eastman of Concord, N. H., in regard to Bur- goyne, which is given at length in the " Memoirs of General Stark " published at Concord, N. H. in 1831. Eastman writes :
" Just below Fort Edward, on the margin of a small brook, falling into the Hudson, the Americans 2 discovered there three graves neatly turfed, and having at the head-boards the names of three British officers. In walking over them, they sounded hollow and upon digging, the soldiers discovered three fine bateaux each capable of containing fifty men. They were well covered with boards; and were intended by some of Burgoyne's party to aid a retreat."
It will be seen, however, by referring to the letter of General Riedesel (Burgoyne's German ally) published in vol. I of my Memoirs of that General, that Eastman is mistaken in thinking that these bateaux were designed to facilitate Burgoyne's retreat-an idea that the British General, when at Fort Edward, never for a moment entertained." The real object in burying these bateaux was to aid Col. Barry St. Leger in crossing the Hudson in case that through the failure of his expedition against Fort Stanwix, it should become necessary for him to retreat into Canada. In any event this precaution was useless, as St. Leger, after his defeat by General Herkimer, retired into Canada by way of Oswego.1
1 This house is still (1900) standing in a fair state of preservation, near the five combined locks of the canal east of Sandy Hill.
2 By " Americans," the writer refers to those troops under Stark who by a detour had taken possession of Fort Edward-thus aiding in surrounding Burgoyne and thus partly compelling him to surrender. This circumstance of the burial of the bateaux is referred to a page or two back.
3 " British never retreat" was what, it will be re:nembared, Burgoyne had pompously pro- claimed from Fort Edward.
+ See my " Burgoyne's Campaign and St. Leger's Expedition."
57
THE FRENCH WAR CONTINUED.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FRENCH WAR CONTINUED - MAJOR GENERAL JOHNSON'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE FRENCH AND HIS DEFEAT OF BARON DIESKAU - THE MORAL AND PHYSICAL RESULTS OF HIS VICTORY.
The reader, after this long digression, may, perhaps, remember that in the beginning of the last chapter, Major General Johnson was on the eve of setting out from Albany-the rendezvous of the army-for Crown Point to take command of the fourth expedition which had been planned by Braddock and the Royal Governors at Alexandria.
It had been the intention of Johnson to have gone forward at the same time as Gen. Lyman; and he would have done so, had he not been detained by the leaky condition of the bateaux, and also by difficulties which arose at this time between himself and Governor Shirley of Massa- chusetts, on account of the latter, in defiance of the wishes of Johnson, employing Col. Lydius at Fort Edward in Indian diplomacy. Before, therefore, Johnson could join his army, the dissensions sown among the Indians by Lydius must be healed. This caused a delay of several days; and even then just as he had arranged everything, as he supposed to the satisfaction of the Six Nations, a deputation came to him on the eve of his departure, refusing to proceed with him farther, until matters had been explained to them more clearly.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.