John Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass., now almost forgotten, was a patriot
in our Revolution of 1775 whose career has been described more than
once by men in New York and in Berkshire County, but, as it is now
time to give more impartial views of the controversy, perhaps another
sketch of the life of this leader may encourage others to search for
clearer views of the ways by which our ancestors established the
institutions which we hope are to endure.
Daniel Brown, the father of Colonel John Brown, came from Haverhill,
Mass., to the western part of the Commonwealth in 1752, when his son
John was eight years old. He seems to have been first in the beautiful
town of Sandisfield to take part in its local government, both secular
and ecclesiastical. "Deacon Brown" is called prosperous when this new
town on the banks of the Farmington River, east of the hills of the
Housatonic, bade fair to equal Pittsfield as a trading-place. "The
Deacon" was a local magistrate under the king, when laymen served as
judges. John, his youngest son, is described as tall and powerful, an
athlete able to kick a football over the elm-tree on the college green
at New Haven when he entered at twenty-three years of age, older in
years than most college students of the year 1767.
It is believed that he prepared for college with some citizen of the
neighborhood, and it is known that he married before graduating in
1771.
While at New Haven, he was fully informed of the peculiarities of
Benedict Arnold, then a storekeeper, already disgraced in the eyes of
respectable citizens because of his desertion from the British army
and his reckless disregard for the rights of his creditors; for then
the debtor was not allowed to retain his respectability, if he failed
dishonestly. Furthermore, his self-assertion was recognized as too
often a display of arrogance and vanity. Brown's sister Elizabeth had
married Oliver Arnold, attorney-general of Rhode Island, a cousin of
Benedict, and it is reasonable to suppose that he was well informed of
Arnold's misdeeds, which thus became known to John Brown.
In 1771, when he was graduated from Yale, only twenty men were of his
class. Quite a large number of Yale graduates took part with the
patriots, and Humphreys, one of the class of 1771, was aide-de-camp to
Washington. He, I believe, is the only writer in verse who extolled
this John Brown. How often we are indebted to poets for our heroes! If
this John Brown had incited an insurrection and been hanged for
killing his fellow-men contrary to law in time of peace, "his soul
might be marching on." If, when he rode from Ticonderoga on horse at a
high rate of speed to Philadelphia, to inform the Continental Congress
that his friend Ethan Allen had taken possession of the fortress with
its guns and materials for war, some poet had described his ride, as
Longfellow portrayed Paul Revere's, the school children would still
recall Brown of Pittsfield; but, my friends, 'tis of little moment
that we are soon forgotten, if it be certain that, while we live, we
live with moral courage in the life of every day.
I do not intend to put much emphasis upon military glory. I am trying
to show that Brown's life by reason of its entire sincerity, although
at times unsuccessful, was led, so far as we can know, by "_a man
every inch a man_," holding fast to his ideals, fearless in the
assertion of truth as he saw it, and directed by high principle; that,
having all these noble attributes, his part in public affairs should
now and then be rehearsed to show the value of goodness even amid the
horrors of war.
On December 10, 1772, a few months after graduation from Yale College,
he was admitted to practise law in New York in the courts of Tryon
County, a part of which is now Montgomery County, bearing the name of
one of our noblest American generals, who led the attack on Quebec in
December, three years later, where Brown served under him as a major
of a Berkshire County regiment. Some writers call Brown king's
attorney at Caughnawaga, whether rightly I know not, nor do I know why
he came to the Mohawk Valley from Berkshire, for Pittsfield was a
growing frontier town. Perhaps Sir William Johnson's influence and his
busy settlement offered some inducement to the young attorney, but it
did not long have weight with him, for we find him in 1773 at
Pittsfield, where another attorney of Loyalist tendencies had left
town under coercion.
Before I attempt to describe the civil and military career of John
Brown from 1773 to his thirty-sixth birthday, when he was killed at
Stone Arabia, I wish to call your attention to the peculiarities of
the political situation in Berkshire County and its vicinity. On the
north the New Hampshire Grants (now Vermont) had recently been
disputed territory where local partisans, Ethan Allen and others, used
coercion to maintain the claims of settlers against New York men
claiming title. New York Colony on the west, though directed largely
by men of high character like Philip Schuyler, was torn by bitter
political differences, the Loyalist element being strong in social and
political affairs. Then, although the Berkshire towns were active from
the earliest days of 1774 in sharing with other towns the plans for
resistance to royal authority, they were very jealous of any
continuance of unnecessary power in the Provincial Congress.
Pittsfield by the quill of a cousin of Ethan Allen, the Rev. Thomas
Allen, asserted that the town would remain "in a state of nature" [see
Note 1] (i.e., simple democracy without representative government)
unless it obtained new privileges. If the right of nominating to
office is not vested in the people, they said, "_we are indifferent
who assumes it, whether any particular persons on this or the other
side of the water_." They did not want any bosses, but no doubt would
have voted for Governor Hughes. They were of the belief that the
government of the respective committees (County and Town, Committees
of Correspondence and Inspection) was lenient and efficacious, but
they hoped for a new Constitution "on such a broad basis of civil and
religious liberty as no length of time will corrupt as long as the sun
and moon shall endure." They wished to elect judges by votes of the
people of the county, justices of the peace by the voters of the
towns, and of course allow soldiers to elect their company officers.
Brown was chosen judge of the Common Pleas by the General Court of
Massachusetts for 1779, but never held court, probably because his
fellow-citizens were not submissive to the existing authority of the
General Court as exercised before the adoption of the new Constitution
of Massachusetts. In such a state of affairs Berkshire took her part
largely in her way when she sent men to fight the battles of the
United Colonies. Her officers and men were often too independent to
submit willingly to proper military authority, and in some trying
emergencies the Berkshire men were insubordinate or were disposed to
follow their leaders in attacks not always wisely chosen. It was
Captain Asa Douglas, of Hancock, the man who had done much to promote
the capture of Ticonderoga by skilful recruiting and by pledge of his
estate, who in May, 1776, was Chairman of a convention of Berkshire
towns which, deluded by false rumors and influenced by their own
prejudices against the noble General Schuyler, sent to General
Washington their doubts concerning his loyalty, although expressing
their hope that his name might be handed down to posterity as one of
the great pillars of the American Cause. Their hope is grandly
fulfilled, but the Berkshire men have left us with some doubt as to
their skill in judging of current events. However, on the twenty-sixth
day of May, 1776, Mark Hopkins, as Secretary of this Convention, wrote
to Washington to tell him their fears concerning Philip Schuyler were
groundless.
John Brown was twenty-nine years of age when he began his active
citizenship at Pittsfield. He had lived in Berkshire more than
one-half his life. His experience on a farm, at college, near the sea,
and for a short time in the Mohawk country among the Indians and white
men of varying views about the king, made him worthy the confidence of
Berkshire men; and he always had their support and their respect. What
his literary attainments were we cannot tell. A few letters to General
Lincoln and letters relating to military affairs which appear in the
archives give little opportunity for judging of his literary and
professional skill. The inventory of his estate, giving in detail the
names of law books, a surveyor's guide, a theological treatise, and a
Bible, with farm implements and military clothing, show something of
the life of his time, when a man was farmer, surveyor, lawyer, and
soldier altogether, and, if as active as John Brown, not much more
able to write well-considered essays and books than if he had never
seen Yale College. Alas! his fate in that regard is not unlike many
graduates of our present time, who, having fine natures, strong traits
of character, and ability enough to express themselves, are driven by
commercial or other present activities to and fro from typewriter to
telephone, often to die without using their minds calmly and without
imparting to others much that they might have given to help the world,
had they been able to have peace in the midst of their busy lives.
Pittsfield frequently employed Brown. In January, 1774, he was chosen
to instruct the representative to the General Court in reference to
the destruction of the tea at Boston. He was quite discriminating.
While he opposed the useless waste of property by disguised men, he
strongly denounced the British tyrannies. Within six months he was one
of the Committee of Correspondence and a delegate to the County
Congress at Stockbridge. In the fall of 1774 he acted as arbitrator
with others to settle disputes following the common law and the
Province laws when they did not interfere with the democracy of
Berkshire.
He was chosen Ensign of the Company of Minute Men, and finally
delegate to the First Provincial Congress. This Congress appointed him
to a very important Committee on Correspondence with Canada, and that
winter the committee sent him to Canada with full power to get
information, confer with Canadians, whether English or French, and
report back the condition of affairs and whether they would act with
the Colonies. This mission was peaceful in its aim. He conferred with
men from Montreal and Quebec, assuring all whom he met that the
Colonies desired peace with Great Britain, but, if war came, they
would surely respect the rights of all men to worship God in their own
way and would maintain a democratic form of government.
Mr. Brown showed himself to be diplomatic and faithful. He endured
much personal hardship and risk during the winter, and his report was
most valuable. The part of it best known is under date of March 29,
1775, wherein he recommended that, if war came, Ticonderoga should be
taken. "The people in the New Hampshire Grants," he wrote, "have
engaged to do the job." Recently it has been stated that in February,
1775, he was at Chesterfield, Mass., and that about that time he led a
party of Berkshire and Hampshire men to Deerfield and arrested a Tory
or some Tories who were suspected of being in direct communication
with General Gage at Boston. April 27, 1775, there appeared in the
Hartford _Courant_ a notice signed "John Brown" by order of the
Committee of Inspection in the towns of Pittsfield, Richmond, and
Lenox, in the following words: "Whereas Major Israel Stoddard and
Woodbridge Little Esq., both of Pittsfield in the County of Berkshire,
have fled from their respective homes and are justly esteemed the
common pests of society and incurable enemies of their country and are
supposed to be somewhere in New York Government moving sedition and
rebellion against their country, it is hereby recommended to all
friends of American liberty and to all who do not delight in the
innocent blood of their countrymen, to exert themselves that they may
be taken into custody and committed to some of his Majesty's jails
till the civil war which has broken out in this Province shall be
ended." Surely, Brown was an active partisan, though not at Lexington
in April, 1775. In May he was at Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen, not
holding any military rank. Allen commended him to the government as
fit for military command.
The oft-told tale of how Ethan Allen took the fortress, proclaiming
its capture in the name of "Almighty God and the Continental
Congress," need not be rehearsed here. Allen took possession of
Ticonderoga, its garrison, and its valuable military property with the
aid of Connecticut and Berkshire men, and at his request Brown rode
his horse rapidly to Philadelphia to announce to the Continental
Congress the capture which was attained without their authority or
aid. At this point Benedict Arnold must be referred to. In April,
1775, he had broken open an arsenal at New Haven, and with his militia
company hurried to Cambridge. As he rode one day from New Haven
towards Cambridge, he met Captain Parsons, who was going to Hartford
to plan with some Connecticut leaders for the capture of Ticonderoga.
Hearing Parsons's plan, Arnold pushed on to Watertown and got a
commission from the Massachusetts government as colonel as well as an
order for power to recruit men, for horses and ammunition. Meeting
Ethan Allen on his way to Ticonderoga, Arnold produced his
Massachusetts authority, but not his men, on the same day that Allen
was fully prepared for his work. Arnold began his interference with
the concerted plan, hoping for a separate command and the glory of
victory. He promised payments of money to Berkshire men from the
southern towns, which he failed to pay from funds given him for that
purpose. This was the beginning of an angry and long-continued dispute
between Easton, Brown's colonel, and Brown, on the one hand, and
Arnold, on the other. Unhappily for Easton and Brown, as for all men
who possess the truth about the characters of men who are undoubtedly
able to fight battles, though brutal and even wicked in their lives,
the controversy was long and bitter, but, while war exists, the common
law and legal procedure rarely have weight and even martial law
becomes ineffective.
"War is hell," said the great Sherman. Hell is irrational, as is war.
Reason fails to have even its usual part in man's destiny during all
wars. Chance has sway, and men often get what is called glory when
others, almost unknown to fame, should win the approval of all men.
Whether Washington had his doubts about Arnold's character may never
be known, but more than once he gave him opportunities to hold high
command because he fought battles through. So Lincoln, when told that
Grant drank whiskey, asked for more such whiskey for other generals.
Sparks, the historian, a Unitarian clergyman, when writing Arnold's
life, detailed his sins, his youthful desertion from the British army,
his financial dishonor at New Haven, his overbearing self-assertion,
and yet he added, when telling of the attitude of the members of
Congress towards Arnold, that "these stern patriots, regarding virtue
as essential to true honor, did not consider great examples of valor,
resource, and energy even of arousing and sustaining the military
ardor of a country as an adequate counterpoise to a dereliction of
principle and a compromising integrity." "How far a judicious policy
and a pure patriotism were combined on this occasion," writes Sparks,
"as to what extent party zeal contributed to warp the judgment, we
need not now inquire."
And here, my friends, is our solemn warning against war. No inquiry
will ever justify war. War is justified only upon the sad assumption
that, as men are "poor weak mortals" and naturally wicked, they will
go to war, and justice fails where might makes right. Who thinks I can
here and now fully justify John Brown as a soldier, if he was too
aggressive in attack or too ardent in his antagonism of a dastardly
traitor whom he knew through and through, but whom Washington,
Schuyler, and other generals felt obliged to support? Perhaps not
fully justify on the grounds that seem necessary to the success of
war, but I can fully support Brown as a man who fought nobly for his
country and in defence of the unprotected inhabitants of the Mohawk
Valley, who was never false to his aims as an American patriot, who
served with distinction under Allen, Montgomery, Schuyler, Arnold,
Lincoln, and Van Rensselaer, and finally died while attempting to
defend the Canajoharie settlements from the hostile attack of a
murderous foe and acting in obedience to the command of his superior
officer.
When the Massachusetts government understood the situation at Lake
Champlain, Brown was appointed major of the Berkshire Regiment, and
sent again to Canada with four scouts. This time the business was very
dangerous. The French Canadians often helped him, but he might have
been treated as a spy, and a military police chased him for many miles
with two parties of fifty men each. On his return he reached Crown
Point within a day of the time General Schuyler had expected him,
after five days on the lake in a canoe. Early in August, 1775, he
urged by letter and every other means in his power the immediate
invasion of Canada. Soon he was put in command of a flotilla on Lake
Champlain, and then followed his well-known exploits at St. Johns and
Chamblee, where he co-operated with James Livingston, a brave New
Yorker. His capture of Chamblee on the 19th of October, 1775, just
five years before his death, brought promises of reward from Congress.
Then came the reckless expedition of Ethan Allen which led to his
capture, and which has long been believed to be the result of a
failure on the part of Brown to co-operate with Allen when he could
have supported him. Here the burden of proof rests on the accusers of
Brown, and they never have had other proof than an implication drawn
from the "Allen's narrative" that he did not make his best effort to
help him, although Allen does not make any direct charge. Furthermore,
the narrative is often far from correct; and as Allen was reckless in
act and statement, and as Brown was continued in service under
Montgomery, who was friendly to him, we may infer that Brown's failure
was unavoidable. Allen's plan was not approved by Schuyler or
Montgomery. Washington hoped that Allen's misfortune "would teach a
lesson of prudence and subordination to others who may be anxious to
outshine their general officers."
It has been intimated that Brown was one of these junior officers who
chafed under the limitations set by his superiors, but he certainly
retained his position as a regimental officer, and achieved such
results in this Canadian invasion during the advance to Quebec that he
was highly commended by his associates, promised promotion by
Montgomery, and finally given his Lieutenant-colonelcy by Congress. He
took part in the attack of December 31, 1775, on Quebec, and on the
death of Montgomery served under Arnold for months, commanding a
detachment of Berkshire and other men who were willing to re-enlist if
he stayed. [See Note 2.] One of his letters written to his wife, March
15, 1776, when commanding an outpost near Quebec, says he expects to
be "another Uriah because he does not agree very well with Mr. General
Arnold." He had been "ordered to attack with his attachment of two
hundred men, one-half of whom were sick in the hospital" (his brave
brother, Captain Jacob Brown, died of small-pox). He himself marched
out with his men, but the enemy retired into their fort too soon for
him to attack them. He "expected another storm from Arnold, or to be
punished for disobedience to orders." Truly, he was not easily
subordinate to Arnold, but he was not again "set in the forefront of
the battle, that others might retire from him and that he might be
smitten and die," as David planned for Uriah, because he was truly
loyal to the cause he so nobly served, and Arnold did not dare to
destroy him.
To fully describe his conduct in denouncing Arnold and Arnold's
tergiversation and intrigues against him would lead me far afield. No
doubt his accusations interfered with Arnold's promotion by
Congress,--promotion he earned as a great leader in battle,--but as an
officer responsible for property he was repeatedly unsuccessful. Brown
again and again renewed his charges against the arch-traitor, but was
not able to get proper attention from the tribunals that should have
relieved him from Arnold's false charges. [See Note 3.]
Again and again historians declare that Arnold was led to treason
because he had been unjustly treated by the Continental Congress. What
a false view this is! He is willing enough to throw himself into
battle for glory and for his country's honor at Saratoga without
definite authority, and again he was ready for a fight or an
expedition for the relief of this valley _when he could lead_, but he
was always in trouble financially. His Philadelphia extravagances and
the increase of his indebtedness did not escape all censure.
Although Washington mildly rebuked him, he gave him new offers of high
command. It is clear to me that any such statements as are indulged in
by historians are of no weight or consequence.
I cannot help referring to Colonel Brown's hand-bill of the winter of
1776-77, published and posted in public places, wherein he attacked
Arnold with great severity, concluding with the words, "_Money is this
man's God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country_." A
prophecy! Unhappily, the same might be said of too many men of to-day.
Another incident painful to recall, but characteristic, was told to my
great-uncle in 1834 by Colonel Morgan Lewis, a friend of Colonel
Brown's, and printed elsewhere. At the camp and in the tent where
Arnold sat with other officers at some time during the Saratoga
campaign, Brown faced the arch-traitor and denounced him as a
scoundrel, and then, apologizing to those present, left the tent. His
reiterated charges were not regarded as worthy of him as a soldier,
although he had resigned from the Continental service because he could
not get justice and because Arnold was not tried for his crimes.
Schuyler deplored Brown's conduct as an accuser though respecting him
as a brave man.
I am unable to account for the record which accredits him with
thirteen months' and eighteen days' service at German Flats, New York.
From April 1, 1776, to May 18, 1777, he was Lieutenant-colonel of
Elmore's Connecticut Regiment, which was stationed at Albany and later
at Fort Stanwix. I suppose his resignation from the Continental army
was accepted about May 18, 1777, but, whatever his loyal service in
New York may have been, he again marched in September, 1777, in
command of Massachusetts militia under direction of General Lincoln,
from Pawlet, Vt., with a separate detachment to harry the British at
Ticonderoga and Lake George. On the 18th of September, 1777, early in
the day he made sudden and successful attacks on the landing-place
near Ticonderoga, Mount Defiance, and that neighborhood, demanding the
surrender of the fortress; but this time General Powel, of the
British army, made a manly reply. His captures of men and material
were very valuable. Some American prisoners were released, and a
Continental standard of colors was recaptured and sent to General
Lincoln with much delight. All the joy of conquest is expressed in his
report from Pawlet, Vt., October 4, 1777, but in his letter of
September 20, written at eleven o'clock at night to General Lincoln,
he said he was censured by officers and men for not suffering them to
make a rash attempt to carry the fortress at Ticonderoga, although on
mature consideration he thought it impossible to take possession
without too great loss of life. Here as late as 1777 appears the
tendency of the militia to be insubordinate. He withdrew from Lake
Champlain, and planned the capture of Diamond Island in Lake George, a
place where some German troops were guarding a large amount of
supplies. He had manned an armed sloop and boats, but was thwarted by
the escape of a prisoner and a sudden and violent storm on the lake.
The prisoner gave warning to the garrison, and the result of the storm
gave time for the preparation of a defence, so that after two hours'
hot engagement he withdrew after destroying some of his boats. General
Lincoln commended him highly for the success of this expedition. He
wrote to General Lincoln September 19, 1777, telling him he had given
the men all the plunder to encourage them before the attack, although
"going beyond the letter of the law." This action General Lincoln
approved.
The question of plunder and the martial law governing it must have
been a great source of trouble in this war among Indians and white men
in the invasion of Canada and the Tory invasions hereabouts. [See Note
4.] It seems probable that, when Arnold falsely charged Easton and
Brown with plundering the baggage of British officers at the Sorel, he
could easily cast a shadow because of the uncertainty about the rules
of war and the orders given by general officers. Plunder was promised
the men by recruiting officers as early in the war as when the plan
was laid by Ethan Allen to capture Ticonderoga in April or May, 1775.
[See Note 5.]
In the early part of the summer of 1780 rumors were received tending
to show that Sir John Johnson might again invade the Mohawk Valley,
this time by way of Lake Ontario and Lake Oneida. Therefore, on the
twenty-second day of June, 1780, the General Court of Massachusetts,
at the earnest request of General Washington, directed that 4,726 men
should be raised from the militia by draft, lot or voluntary
enlistment, to serve three months in New York territory after they
arrived at Claverack on the Hudson. These levies, by reason of
apparent danger to the cause in Rhode Island, with the exception of
315 or more men raised in Berkshire County, were sent to General Heath
at Tiverton, R.I. Various meagre statements are in print in reference
to the men who served under Brown at this time. I find in the
Massachusetts Archives the names of officers and privates, in all 381
men, who served in the Mohawk Valley probably after August 5, 1780.
[See Note 4.] It may be that some of his men were stationed in
different forts or block-houses in other places than Stone Arabia, and
that only 217 men of the Berkshire Regiment were in the battle of
October 19, 1780. The killed and wounded are all from three of the
five companies. [See Note 4.] Some writers say that Colonel Brown had
New York men with him, and one statement refers to Captain John
Kasselman, of Tryon County Rangers, as being in conference with Brown
on the day he fell. [See Note 4.]
Each soldier was equipped at his own expense with a good fire-arm,
with a steel or iron ramrod and a spring to retain the same, a worm
priming wire and brush, and a bayonet fitted to his gun, a scabbard
and belt therefor, and a cutting sword or a tomahawk or hatchet, a
pouch containing a cartridge-box that will hold fifteen rounds of
cartridges at least, a one-hundred buckshot, a jack-knife and tow for
wadding, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaden balls fitted to
his gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle sufficient
to hold one quart.
Long after the Stone Arabia fight, claims were presented to the
General Court of Massachusetts for felt hats, coats, vests, linen
overalls, shirts, shoes, blankets, canteens, and handkerchiefs, and of
course for muskets,--all lost on the 19th of October, 1780.
Brown's major was Oliver Root, his adjutant James Easton, Jr., son of
his old colonel. Dr. Oliver Brewster was surgeon, and Elias Willard
quartermaster. He assumed command July 14, 1780, at Claverack, and
marched probably August 5 to some of the Mohawk settlements or forts.
His mission was to protect various neighborhoods from sudden raids.
September 5 he was sent with two hundred men from Fort Rensselaer to
Fort Schuyler to guard twelve boats with provisions for the relief of
the garrison. September 11 he is reported as one of the officers of
Van Rensselaer's force at Fort Rensselaer (part of which--a well
preserved stone house--remains at Canajoharie under the care of young
citizens of that town, being the place where the Tryon County
Committee of patriots met). I cannot tell where he was for the month
prior to the 19th of October, when he was in command at Fort Paris, a
palisaded enclosure of stone block-houses fit for a garrison of over
two hundred men, built in 1776-77 by Captain Christian Getman's
Rangers on a most commanding position on the beautiful plateau called
Stone Arabia, north of the Mohawk between Garoga Creek and Johnstown,
where Sir William Johnson's baronial hall was. The fort was more than
a dozen miles from Johnstown, and was named for Isaac Paris, who took
part in the terrible affair at Oriskany. Sir John Johnson and his
career in Tryon County and elsewhere in New York is well known. To me
the whole subject of Indian warfare in all our wars seems to open
every possible avenue to the extremest horrors and brutalities of war.
Philip Schuyler, one of the noblest men who ever lived in New York
State, had from his early youth been friendly to Indians. In fact,
before he reached twenty-one years of age, he was given a chief's name
among the Oneidas for his services to that tribe. His skill and
patience made him all important in making treaties and negotiations
with "_The Six Nations_" and other Indians. The Patriots very early
realized that the Indians were to become a stumbling-block to any
attempt at treating with Canada or maintaining what is called
civilized warfare (can any warfare be civilized?). Schuyler, Hawley,
Oliver Wolcott, and other distinguished men of high character
attempted in vain to hold the Indians to neutrality. Congress at one
time voted that Indians should not be employed in the service
excepting where a whole nation, after full consideration, decided to
act together. At another time Congress asked Schuyler to employ two
thousand Indians for military service. Sir John Johnson's career, his
apparent acquiescence in Schuyler's demands, his conduct when taking
and when breaking his parole, his apology being that the Patriots had
no established authority, and his repeated invasions of this country
showed him to be the growth of the treachery which is bred among men
who use the sordid and brutal nature of savages for evil purposes.
It is interesting to me that Lieutenant-colonel Mellen led
Massachusetts militia to Fort Schuyler to aid Gansevoort, and that,
when in August, 1777, Arnold set out to the relief of Gansevoort he
led Massachusetts volunteers from Colonel Learned's battalion, and
that again in the summer and fall of 1780 Brown led Massachusetts men
to defend this neighborhood from the murderous invasion of Sir John
Johnson. At Oriskany, Herkimer was hurried into action by his inferior
officers in the manner characteristic of the independent and valorous
spirit of his time, and Oriskany in 1777 was one of the most brutal
conflicts between Tories and Patriots. Sullivan's retaliating
expedition of July, 1778, was as bad in its character and effects as
anything ever done on behalf of any cause, good or bad. The
destruction of many Indian villages by Sullivan and General James
Clinton was no doubt thorough, but of little avail, although it was
thought wise to retaliate for the horrors of Wyoming.
Early in May, 1780, the information came to this neighborhood that Sir
John Johnson was moving from Lake Champlain towards Johnstown with a
considerable force, that Brant was marching against the Canajoharie
settlements with a body of savages and that the Tories would join
them. Johnson landed at Bulwagga Bay, near Crown Point, and, pushing
through the forest and down the valley of the Sacandoga, he appeared
near Johnstown. On the 21st of May, 1780, his forces divided, and
poured into the lower valley of the Mohawk along a line of ten miles.
From Tribes Hill upward they plundered, murdered, and destroyed. Every
man capable of bearing arms was said to have been killed. Johnson
withdrew hastily, as he was pursued by militia. Of course hundreds of
people fled to Albany and Schenectady. Governor Clinton hurried at the
head of troops from Kingston to Fort George, and, ordering others to
meet him at Ticonderoga, he pushed on to Crown Point, but was too late
to capture Sir John.
Brant delayed his attack until late in July, 1780, and then made a
feigned attack on Fort Schuyler. General Van Rensselaer, then at Stone
Arabia, hastened to the relief of Fort Schuyler, and Brant in early
August fell upon the Canajoharie settlements and destroyed them
mercilessly. Troops were sent from Albany to protect the settlements,
but they were not sufficient.
September 7 an extra session of the New York legislature sat at
Poughkeepsie, and authorized Governor Clinton to order out such number
of militia as he thought necessary. Brigadier-General James Clinton
was assigned command at Albany and authorized to call for assistance
from the brigades of Generals Ten-Broeck and Van Rensselaer. As I have
already said, Colonel Brown on the 18th of October was in command at
Fort Paris, subject to orders of General Robert Van Rensselaer. Fort
Paris was two or three miles north of the Mohawk. In September and
early October Sir John Johnson led his forces by way of the Oswego
River, Oneida Lake, and across country to the Susquehanna Valley. He
ravaged the Schoharie Valley, laid siege to Middle Fort
unsuccessfully, then, turning north, raided all the country from Fort
Hunter. He let loose his forces for the general purpose of
devastation. He again did his work thoroughly,--brutally, as was
customary in Indian warfare at that time. Major Jelles Fonda, one of
the victims of this ruthless destruction, who had been a confidential
officer under Sir William Johnson, was absent, being a State senator.
Sir John's forces burned his homestead, "The Nose," at Palatine, and
destroyed, it is said, $60,000 worth of his property. On the night of
October 18 Sir John encamped with his forces nearly opposite or rather
above the Nose, and on the 19th he crossed the river to the north at
Keder's Rifts, near Spraker's Basin. A detachment of 150 men proceeded
at once against Fort Paris, but, after marching two miles, the main
body joined them.
October 18 General Van Rensselaer found Caughnawaga in flames. He was
in camp on a hill near Stanton Place in Florida, perhaps twenty miles
from Fort Paris, when he heard that that fort was to be attacked the
next morning. 'Tis said he sent a messenger with a letter to Colonel
Brown and another to Colonel Dubois at Fort Plain, telling Brown to
march out of the fort at nine o'clock the next morning and hold the
enemy in check, while Dubois and he with his force were to co-operate.
Furthermore, it is said, Brown's officers and men advised him to
disobey the order, as that was not the time to leave the fort.
However, he marched forth at the head of his detachment, but, being
deceived by the false advice of persons pretending to be patriots, he
was led to turn aside from the road upon which he marched out into a
somewhat narrow clearing in the forest near a small work called Fort
Keyser, and was killed nearly two miles from Fort Paris, being
attacked on every side in what amounted to an ambuscade.
Captain John Ziele, of the Second Regiment of Tryon County militia,
Colonel Klock's Regiment, had charge of Fort Keyser that day; and
after Brown's defeat George Spraker, John Wafel, Joseph and Conrad
Spraker, William Wafel, and Warner (?) Dygert, with two or three other
young men, were ready to defend the place from attack, but the enemy
fled, whereupon William Wafel, Joseph and Conrad Spraker, and W.
Dygert proceeded to where Brown lay and carried his body to Fort
Keyser. His scalp was entirely removed, and he was stripped of all
his clothing excepting a ruffled shirt. After hard fighting, thirty
men or more being killed, some of his men got back to Fort Paris and
defended themselves successfully, thus saving the refugees therein
from harm. Major Root was in command, and acted skilfully and bravely.
Mr. Grider describes the battle as a running or moving fight extending
from the eastward to the south-west at least across six farms, and you
all know how valuable the evidence is showing that the large boulder
with its inscription was the stone behind which six men found refuge
and shelter until surrounded and killed.
Washington wrote to the Continental Congress: "It is thought, and
perhaps not without foundation, that this invasion [of the Mohawk
Valley] was made by Sir John Johnson upon the supposition that
Arnold's treachery was successful."
If Johnson acted upon that supposition, Arnold was in some measure the
cause of Brown's death, but, however that may be, _John Brown died
honorably after living honorably at Stone Arabia the 19th of October,
1780,--it is said between nine o'clock and ten o'clock in the
morning_.
I said that poets had not presented him to popular imagination, but
his devoted classmate at Yale, David Humphreys, aide-de-camp to
General Washington in 1780, wrote verses to his memory. Among his
words are these:--
"And scarce Columbia's arms the fight sustains,
While her best blood gushed from a thousand veins.
Then thine, O Brown, that purpled wide the ground,
Pursued the knife through many a ghastly wound.
Ah! hapless friend, permit the tender tear
To flow e'en now, for none flowed on thy bier,
Where cold and mangled, under northern skies,
To famished wolves a prey, thy body lies,
Which erst so fair and tall in youthful grace,
Strength in thy nerves and beauty in thy face,
Stood like a tower till, struck by the swift ball,
Then what availed to ward th' untimely fall,
The force of limbs, the mind so well informed,
The taste refined, the breast with friendship warmed
(That friendship which our earliest years began),
When the dark bands from thee expiring tore
Thy long hair, mingled with the spouting gore."
We do not know whether the news of Arnold's flight from West Point
September 25 reached Brown's ears. Perhaps, if it did, he would have
appreciated the patriotic and lofty self-control of Washington when
the next day he wrote to Rochambeau: "General Arnold, who has sullied
his former glory by the blackest treason, has escaped to the enemy."
"This is an event that occasions me equal regret and mortification,
but traitors are the growth of every country in a revolution of the
present nature. It is more to be wondered at that the catalogue is so
small than that there have been found a few."
Arnold's flight to the enemy was his flight from what all men,
excepting Brown and a few others [see Note 6], supposed was his soul's
desire; _i.e._, to serve the people of America to the death. For
twenty-one years after 1780 he lived, pursuing a checkered career.
John Fiske said he often looked at the sword given him for his valor
at Saratoga, and bemoaned the results of his treason. However that may
be, his name is remembered with harshness and disgust, the result of
an untruthful life.