The essays herein contained have been written at "odd moments," and
for divers purposes. Their chief value lies in the fact that they
illustrate, several of them by means of individual experiences, certain
typical and well-defined periods in the history of the Niagara region.
By "Niagara region," a phrase which no doubt occurs pretty often in the
following pages, I mean to designate in a historic, not a scenic, sense
the frontier territory of the Niagara from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It
is a region which has a concrete but as yet for the most part unwritten
history of its own. The value of its past to the student, as is ever the
case with "local history" in its worthy aspect, depends upon the
importance of its relation to the general history of our country. That
the Niagara region has played an important part in that history, is an
assurance wholly superfluous for even the most casual student of
American development. All that the following studies undertake is to
give a glimpse, with such fidelity as may be, of events and conditions
hereabouts existing, at periods which may fairly be termed typical.
"The Cross Bearers," a paper originally prepared as a lecture for a
class that was studying the history of the Catholic Church in America,
is, so far as I am aware, the first attempt to review in a single
narrative all of the French missions in this immediate vicinity, and the
work of the English-speaking missionary priests who said mass in the
Niagara region prior to its full organization under ecclesiastical
jurisdiction. The data are drawn from the original sources--the Jesuit
Relations, Champlain, Le Clercq, Hennepin, Charlevoix, Crespel and other
early writers whose works, in any edition, are often inaccessible to the
student. For data relating to Bishop Burke, and for other valuable
assistance, I am indebted to my friend the Very Rev. Wm. R. Harris, Dean
of St. Catharines.
"The Paschal of the Great Pinch" is an attempt to picture, in narrative
form, conditions conceived to exist at Fort Niagara in 1687-'8, when the
Marquis de Denonville made his abortive attempt to occupy that point.
Lest any reader shall be in doubt as to the genuineness of the memoirs
of the Chevalier De Tregay, I beg to assure him that Lieut. De Tregay is
no myth. His name, and practically all the facts on which my sketch is
based, will be found in the Paris Documents (IV.), "Documentary History
of the State of New York," Vol. I. This paper stands for the French
period on the Niagara; the two next following, for the British period.
"With Bolton at Fort Niagara" is almost wholly drawn from unpublished
records, chiefly the Haldimand Papers, the originals of which are in the
British Museum, but certified copies of which are readily accessible to
the student in the Archives at Ottawa. I have made but a slight study of
the great mass of material from which practically the history of the
Niagara region during the Revolution is to be written; yet it is
probable that this slight study makes known for the first time, to
students of our home history, such facts as the employment of Hessians
on the Niagara during the Revolution, the first bringing hither of the
American flag, possibly even the work and fate of Lieut. Col. Bolton
himself.
The next paper, "What Befel David Ogden," is drawn from a widely
different, though scarcely less known source. The personal narrative is
based on an obscure pamphlet by Josiah Priest, published at
Lansingburgh, N. Y., in 1840. I am aware that Priest is not altogether
trustworthy as a historian. Dr. Thos. W. Field calls him a "prolific,
needy and unscrupulous author" [_See_ "An Essay Toward an Indian
Bibliography"]; yet he concedes to his works "a large amount of historic
material obtained at some pains from sources more or less authentic." My
judgment is, that Priest is least trustworthy in his more ambitious
work; whereas his unpretentious pamphlets, wretchedly printed at a
country press sixty years ago, contain true narratives of individual
undertakings in the Revolution, Indian captivities and other pioneer
experiences, gathered by the writer direct from the hero whose
adventures he wrote down, without literary skill it is true, but also
without apparent perversion or exaggeration. The very circumstantiality
with which David Ogden's experiences are narrated is evidence of their
genuineness. Corroborative evidence is also furnished by the
lately-published muster-rolls of New York regiments during the
Revolution. In the Third Regiment of Tryon County militia, among the
enlisted men, appears the name of David Ogden ["New York in the
Revolution," 2d ed., p. 181], and there was but one David Ogden, not
merely in the Tryon County militia, but so far as these records show, in
the entire soldiery of New York State. In the same regiment there was
also a "Daniel" Ogden, Sr., possibly David's father. The name Daniel
Ogden also occurs in the list of Tryon County Rangers ["New York in the
Revolution," 2d ed., p. 186], a service in which we would naturally
expect to find one whom the Indian Brant called "the beaver hunter, that
old scouter." In short, I think we may accept David as altogether
genuine, and in his adventures--never told before, I believe, as a part
of Niagara history--may find an example of patriotic suffering and
endurance wholly typical of what many another underwent at that time and
in this region.
The "Fort Niagara Centennial Address" is here included because its most
important part relates to that period in our history immediately
following the Revolution, the "hold-over period," during which, for
thirteen years after the Treaty of 1783, the British continued to occupy
Fort Niagara and other lake posts. What I say on the negotiations
leading to the final relinquishment of Fort Niagara is based on
information gleaned from the manuscript records in London and Ottawa.
"The Journals and Journeys of an Early Buffalo Merchant" is also a
contribution to local annals from an unpublished source, being drawn
from the MS. journals of John Lay, very kindly placed in my hands by
members of his family. They afford a picture of conditions hereabouts
and elsewhere, during the years 1810-'23, which I have thought worthy of
preservation.
In the "Misadventures of Robert Marsh" I have endeavored by means of a
personal narrative to illustrate another period in our history. The
misguided Marsh fairly stands for many of the so-called Patriots whose
uprising on this border is known as Mackenzie's Rebellion of 1837-'8.
The considerable literature on this subject includes a number of
personal narratives, for the most part published in small editions and
now hard to find; but the scarcest of all, so far as my experience has
discovered, is that from which I have drawn the story of Robert Marsh:
"Seven Years of My Life, or Narrative of a Patriot Exile, who together
with eighty-two American Citizens were illegally tried for rebellion in
Upper Canada and transported to Van Dieman's Land," etc., etc. It is an
exceedingly prolix and pretentious title, after the fashion of the time,
prefacing a badly-written, poorly-printed volume of 207 pages, turned
out by the press of Faxon & Stevens, Buffalo, 1848. In view of the fact
that neither in Sabin nor any other bibliography have I found any
mention of this book, and the further fact that in fifteen years of
somewhat diligent book-hunting I have discovered but one copy, it is no
exaggeration to call Marsh's "Narrative" "scarce," if not "rare."
The incidents related in "Underground Trails" are illustrative of many
an episode at the eastern end of Lake Erie in the days preceding the
Civil War. I had the facts of the principal adventures some years ago
from the late Mr. Frank Henry of Erie, Pa., who had himself been a
participant in more than one worthy enterprise of the Underground
Railroad. Sketches based on information supplied by Mr. Henry, and
originally written out for the Erie Gazette, are the latter part of the
paper as it now stands.
The last essay, "Niagara and the Poets," is a following of "Old Trails"
chiefly in a literary sense, but it is thought its inclusion here will
not be found inappropriate to the general character of the collection.
I must add a word of grateful acknowledgment for help received from
Douglas Brymner, Dominion Archivist, at Ottawa; from the Hon. Peter A.
Porter of Niagara Falls, N. Y., Charles W. Dobbins of New York City, and
John Miller, Erie, Pa. F. H. S.
The Cross Bearers.