VOL. II NO. 6
THE
MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
DECEMBER, 1905
WILLIAM ABBATT
281 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
Published Monthly $5.00 a Year 50 Cents a Number
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
VOL. II. DECEMBER, 1905. NO. 6
CONTENTS
SULLIVAN’S GREAT MARCH INTO THE INDIAN COUNTRY
(_Second Paper_)
REV. W. E. GRIFFIS, L.H.D. 365
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS (_Conclusion_)
REV. LIVINGSTON ROWE SCHUYLER 379
RELICS OF COM. JOHN BARRY IN PHILADELPHIA 386
BUSHNELL’S “TURTLE”
B. J. HENDRICK 389
ANTHONY WALTON WHITE (_Concluded from January Number_)
A. S. GRAHAM 394
WHERE ARE EVANGELINE AND GABRIEL BURIED?
MARTIN I. J. GRIFFIN 403
CAPTAIN JAMES DUNCAN’S DIARY OF THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN
_Communicated by_ W. F. BOOGHER 407
A PORT OF THE LAST CENTURY
N. R. BENEDICT 417
INDIANA COUNTY NAMES 420
INDIAN LEGENDS: _IV._ THE DANCING GHOSTS
(The Late) CHARLES LANMAN 424
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Letter of Washington to Dr. Stuart 427
Letter of Joseph Trumbull to Christopher Varick 429
Letter of Washington to Benjamin Harrison 429
MINOR TOPICS
A Ward Election in New York in 1739 431
A Liquor License in New York in 1739 432
THE NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 432
BOOK NOTICES 432
* * * * *
Entered as second-class matter, March 1, 1905, at the Post Office at
New York, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
_Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt_
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
VOL. II DECEMBER, 1905 NO. 6
SULLIVAN’S GREAT MARCH INTO THE INDIAN COUNTRY
_II._
CHAPTER IV--_Concluded_.
Sullivan having heard nothing from either Brodhead or Clinton, became
especially anxious about the latter, fearing that he might be waylaid
by a union of the Tories under Butler and McDonald with Brant’s forces.
On the 16th of August, he sent forward a picked force of nine hundred
men, under Generals Poor and Hand, with the Coehorn mortar and eight
days’ rations, to advance and meet the right wing. Marching to Owego,
then an Indian village, and to Choconut, containing fifty long houses,
they heard at sunset of the 18th, Clinton’s evening gun. This they
answered with their Coehorn. Between the present city of Binghamton
and Owego the two forces met and the forest resounded with sounds of
mutual acclaim and welcome to brothers in arms. The place of their
junction, as we see on the map, is named Union, now a flourishing
village. Then the host, the flotilla in boats and the men along the
flats and heights, moved down the Susquehanna in fine array. As the
united forces of men from three states thus drew near the camp at Tioga
Point, Sullivan ordered out the whole army to give them welcome. The
fifers and drummers furnished lively music and a _feu de joie_, by the
infantry drawn up in single line, completed the ceremonies. This was at
noon on Sunday, 21st, and on the site of the present village of Athens.
Previous to the arrival of Clinton’s brigade, Sullivan (August 11) had
sent westward up the river valley, a party of eight of his bravest
officers and men, to reconnoiter the Indian town of Chemung. This
collection of bark houses was built on the first great river flat above
the village in Chemung county, at present called by that name. Keeping
away from the trail they reached the hill top and looked down upon the
town, finding everything in confusion. The Indians fearing an immediate
attack in force, were getting ready to move westward. When this
scouting party returned to the main camp at three o’clock the next day,
Sullivan ordered his whole force to be ready to march at a moment’s
notice. At 8 P. M., August 12, he started with most of his force on
a night march and pushed on through swamps and forests. At morning
finding themselves in a fog, they also discovered that the enemy had
fled.
General Hand asked that he be allowed to take Colonel Hubley’s regiment
and the Wyoming companies to pursue the foe. This request was granted
and our men pushed eagerly on. In spite of all wariness, Captain Bush’s
company of the Eleventh Pennsylvania got into an Indian ambush, and six
of the Continentals were killed and nine wounded. Our men rallied and
drove the Indians off the ground with a loss equal to their own. Then
they began destroying sixty acres of standing corn, then in the milk,
by cutting down the stalks. While at this work they were again fired on
by the Indians in hiding, and one man was killed and five were wounded.
Forty acres of maize were left untouched for the future use of the
army, and then the whole force returned, greatly wearied with fatigue
and the extreme heat. The bodies of the dead were brought back to camp
for decent burial.
It was a sad occasion, when in the forest, the seven slain were buried
in one grave, which, as was usual, had all outward marks obliterated,
so that the savages could not exhume and mutilate the corpses. Then
their comrades fired memorial vollies. Thus perished by the bullets
of the enemy the first of the men in Sullivan’s main expedition. Two
days afterwards, a corporal and four men, who were guarding cattle on
Queen Esther’s plains, were fired on by sneaking Indians. One was shot
dead and one wounded. In the rude hospital, quickly built out of green
wood, within the lines of the diamond-shaped Fort Sullivan, the fifteen
wounded men found shelter and care. In 1897, in digging foundations for
the edifice of the Tioga Point Historical Society, at Athens, Pa., the
bones of the buried Continentals were exhumed, and with other relics of
1779 are now under glass in the cases of the Spalding Museum.
Having his whole effective force under his direct command, Sullivan
reorganized the army, and announced both the order of march and the
order of battle. The light troops under General Hand were to form the
advance, the riflemen acting as scouts. Poor’s brigade was to guard
the right and Maxwell’s brigade the left of the army, Clinton’s brigade
forming the rear guard. The park of nine pieces of artillery was placed
in the center, with three columns of pack horses on either side. A
morning and evening gun was to be fired daily and on account of the
length and narrowness of the moving line through the woods, a horn,
instead of drums, was to announce the orders to march or halt. The
corps of engineers and surveyors were to measure each rod of ground
traversed, and maps of the region traversed were to be made.
In the fort, Colonel Shreve was left with a garrison of two hundred and
fifty men of the New Jersey regiment. It was ordered that when further
supplies should come up from Wyoming, Captain Reed should proceed up
the Chemung Valley, build a fort where Newtown Creek joins the river
(at Elmira), and there await the return of the army from the Genesee
valley.
The army was now eager to move into the unknown wilderness. The route
was up the Chemung river, into the Seneca country, and through the Land
of Lakes. There was no hope of reinforcements or relief, and, in case
of defeat, of any quarter from the foe. Over paths never trodden by any
white man, save the lone trader, trapper, or captive, they must now
find much of their food and rely wholly on their own valor. How brave
must these men have been, and how equally worthy of fame and honor, was
this expedition in comparison with Sherman’s march through Georgia to
the sea in 1864.
(It is to be noted that in the Centennial celebration of 1879, General
William Tecumseh Sherman, was present in the Chemung valley, with words
of memorial and congratulations to the thousands present, as well
as with praise of the men of 1779 who had given him so inspiring a
precedent of success.)