The upper Hudson River has various falls providing good water-power,
which are largely availed of by paper-mills. The famous Fort Edward,
one of these noted paper-making towns, is but a short distance from
Saratoga. The railroad, leading from Saratoga and the south to Lake
Champlain and the north, here crosses the Hudson in a region of great
historic interest. This was the beginning of the portage in early
times between the river and the lake, the railway route following the
ancient Indian trail. The two waters are actually connected by the
Champlain Canal, and, curiously enough, this makes New England an
island, thus realizing the belief of the original explorers. Rev.
Robert Cushman, who preached the first sermon before the Massachusetts
Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621, afterwards published it with an
introduction describing New England, in which he says: "So far as we
can find, it is an island, and near about the quantity of England,
being cut out from the mainland in America, as England is from the
main of Europe, by a great arm of the sea (Hudson's River) which
entereth in forty degrees and runneth up northwest and by west, and
goeth out either into the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) or else into the
Bay of Canada (Gulf of St. Lawrence)." There can still be seen at Fort
Edward traces of the ramparts of the old fort commanding the portage,
which was held and fought for in the eighteenth century. Originally a
noble domain around it of one thousand square miles was granted to
"our loving subject, the Reverend Godfridius Dellius, Minister of the
Gospell att our city of Albany," for "the annual rent of one Raccoon
Skin." The old gentleman, however, fell from grace, and the domain was
taken away from him and the New York Legislature suspended him from
the ministry for "deluding the Mohawk Indians, and illegal and
surreptitious obtaining of said grant." Then it went to his successor,
Rev. John Lydius, who lived in the quaint "Lydius House" in Albany.
The first fort was built soon after Lydius took possession, and in
1744 he established a fur-trading station. A military road was then
constructed from Saratoga to Whitehall on Lake Champlain, here
crossing the river, and it was commanded by three forts, one at this
crossing. The French destroyed the first fort, but Sir William Johnson
made a successful expedition into the Lake Champlain district in 1755,
and built here the strong post of Fort Edward. It was an important
work during the whole French and Indian War, lasting seven years, and
it was here that Lord Amherst organized the army which conquered
Canada in 1759.
At Fort Edward first appeared as a British soldier one of the greatest
heroes of the Revolution, Israel Putnam. He had joined Sir William
Johnson's expedition as captain in a Connecticut regiment. He
performed here a daring exploit; the wooden barracks had caught fire
and the garrison vainly tried to subdue the flames, which approached
the powder magazine, and the danger was frightful. The water-gate was
opened, and the soldiers in line passed buckets of water up from the
river, when Putnam mounted the roof of the next building to the
magazine and threw the water on the fire. The commander, fearing for
his life, ordered him to desist, but he would not leave until he felt
the roof giving away. Then he got alongside the magazine, its timbers
already charred, and hurled bucket after bucket upon it, with final
success, the magazine being saved and an explosion prevented. The fire
was quenched, but the burnt and blistered hero was for a month a
sufferer in the hospital. Putnam had an adventure at the rapids a few
miles below Fort Edward, where he was out with a scouting party, and
being alongside the bank alone in his boat, was surprised by the
Indians. He could not cross the river above the rapids quickly enough
to elude their muskets, and the only escape was down the cataract.
Without hesitation, to the astonishment of the savages, his boat shot
directly down the foaming, whirling current, amid eddies and over
rugged rocks, and in a few moments he had escaped them, and was
floating on the tranquil river below. Believing him to be protected by
the Great Spirit, they dared not follow. Shortly afterwards, returning
from a scout on Lake Champlain, Putnam's party was surprised, and the
Indians captured and bound him to a tree. While thus situated, a
battle between his friends and the enemy raged for an hour around the
tree, he being under the hottest fire, but he was unscathed. The
Indians were beaten and had to retreat, but they took their captive
along, determined to have vengeance by roasting him alive. He was
again tied to a tree, and the fire had been kindled and was blazing
when the French commander, Molang, discovered and rescued him. Thus
was Putnam seasoned for his great work in the Revolution.
The tragic murder of poor Jenny McCrea is also associated with Fort
Edward. This post in the Revolution was held in 1777 by an American
garrison, who retired before the advance of Burgoyne's army
southward. Jenny McCrea, the graceful and winning daughter of a
Presbyterian clergyman, who was betrothed to an officer in Burgoyne's
army, was visiting a widow lady at Fort Edward. In order to secure
Indian co-operation, Burgoyne had offered bounties for prisoners and
scalps, at the same time forbidding the killing of unarmed persons. He
found it difficult, however, to restrain the savages, who went about
in small bodies seeking captives, and one of these parties, prowling
around Fort Edward, entered the house where Jenny was staying and
carried off Jenny and her friend. An alarm was given, and troops sent
after them. The Indians had caught two horses, on one of which Jenny
was mounted, when the pursuers assailed them with a volley of bullets.
The Indians were unhurt, but the fair captive was mortally wounded and
fell, and, as tradition relates, expired at the foot of a huge pine
tree, which remained a memorial of the tragedy for nearly a century.
The savages thus lost their prisoner, but they quickly scalped her,
and taking her long black tresses, bathed in blood, to Burgoyne's
camp, they claimed reward. They were accused of her murder, but denied
it, and the horrid tale, magnified by repetition, caused the greatest
indignation. General Gates issued an address, charging Burgoyne with
hiring savages to scalp Europeans and their descendants, and
describing Jenny as having been "dressed to meet her promised
husband, but met her murderers." For this crime, it was added,
Burgoyne had "paid the price of blood." Poor Jenny's murder, with
Burgoyne's defeat, was employed most effectively by the opposition in
the British House of Commons, Chatham and Burke eloquently denouncing
the barbarity and merciless cruelties of his unfortunate campaign. Her
lover declined longer to stay in Burgoyne's army, but retired to
Canada, living there till old age. Jenny's remains are interred in the
beautiful cemetery overlooking the Hudson above Fort Edward, marked by
a monument recording her murder by a band of Indians at the age of
seventeen, and reciting that the memorial was erected "To record one
of the most thrilling incidents in the annals of the American
Revolution; to do justice to the fame of the gallant British officer
to whom she was affianced; and as a simple tribute to the memory of
the departed." This gentle maiden's sacrifice was of priceless value
in producing the revulsion of sentiment in Europe that had so much to
do with the final success of the Revolution.