CHAPTER VI.

Increase of disaffection in the North--Seizures of prominent citizens by

bands of loyalists from Canada--Captivity of John J. Bleecker--Plot

against General Gansevoort--Daring attempt upon General Schuyler in the

city of Albany, by John Waltermeyer--Intrepidity of Margaret

Schuyler--Arrest of loyalists at the Beaver Dams--Mysterious movements

of the enemy on Lake Champlain--Controversy with the New-Hampshire

Grants--Sketch of its origin--Outrages of the Vermont

insurgents--Declaration of Independence by the Grants--Interposition of

Congress--Its authority disregarded--Progress of the

controversy---Difficult situation of General Gansevoort--Suspected

intercourse of the Vermontese with the enemy--Letter of Governor

Clinton--Invasion of the Mohawk country by Major Ross--Warrens-bush

ravaged--March of the enemy to Johnstown--Followed by Willett with the

levies and militia--Battle of Johnstown--Ross defeated--Pursued by

Willett, and routed at Jersey field--Death of Walter N. Butler--General

progress of the war--Arnold in Virginia--Returns to the North, and

destroys Groton and New London--Siege of Yorktown and capture of

Cornwallis--Affairs of the North--Meditated treachery of

Vermont--Message of Governor Clinton--British open a correspondence with

the Vermont insurgents--Mission of Ira Allen to Canada--Separate

armistice with Vermont--Stipulations for erecting Vermont into a royal

colony--Correspondence with the enemy during the Summer--Negotiations

renewed at Skenesborough--St. Leger ascends the lake with a strong

force--An awkward occurrence for the Vermontese--Excitement at the seat

of Government of the Grants--Throwing dust in the eyes of the

people--News of the surrender of Cornwallis--Its effect in

Vermont--Causes the nasty return of St. Leger to Canada--Insurrection

in the north-eastern towns of New-York, in connexion with the

Vermontese--Troubles of General Gansevoort--Unable to quell the

insurgents--Cherokee Indians--Close of the year.

Emboldened by the feeble state of the country, and by the increased

numbers of the disaffected in the neighborhood of Albany, especially at

the north of that city, in consequence of the equivocal indications in

Vermont, the scouting parties of the enemy were exceedingly active and

audacious in their incursions. Their chief object was to seize the

persons of the most conspicuous and influential inhabitants, for transfer

into Canada as prisoners. Among the notable leaders in this species of

warfare were two bold partisans, named Joseph Bettys and John Waltermeyer.

The daring misdeeds of Bettys, if collected, would of themselves furnish

materials for a small volume. Waltermeyer was perhaps equally daring, but

less savage in his disposition. In the month of April, a party of fifteen

or sixteen of the enemy broke in upon the town of Coxsackie and the

contiguous settlements, carrying off several prisoners; among whom were

David Abeel and his son, residing a few miles south of Catskill.

At the north of Albany several active citizens were seized and carried

away in the course of the season; among whom was Mr. John J. Bleecker, of

Tomhanic, whose family had been broken up on the approach of Burgoyne,

four years previous. After the surrender of Burgoyne, Mr. Bleecker

returned to his sylvan plantation, where he had lived in tranquility until

the month of August of the present year; at which time he was surprised

in the field, while assisting his laborers in the wheat harvest, and

carried away with two of his men. The enemy having stolen upon him in

silence, and seized him without permitting an alarm, Mrs. Bleecker was

ignorant of the occurrences. But, her husband not returning, as he was

wont, on the approach of night, her suspicions were awakened that all was

not right. When she sent to the field, he was not there, nor could trace

of him or his laborers be found. But as such sudden disappearances were

not unusual, his fate was not difficult of conjecture. The neighborhood

was alarmed, and search for him made, but in vain. Mrs. Bleecker,

overwhelmed with grief, gave him up as lost, and once more set her face

for Albany. Fortunately, however, the captors of her husband fell in with

a party of militia-men from Bennington, who rescued the prisoners; and Mr.

Bleecker had the happiness to rejoin his wife after six days' absence.

[FN]

* * * * *

[FN] The joy experienced by Mrs. Bleecker on again beholding her husband,

so far overcame her as to bring on a fit of sickness, so severe as nearly

to prove fatal. Indeed, the events of 1777, particularly the loss of her

daughter, made so deep an impression upon her mind, that she never

recovered her happiness. Hence the pensive character of her writings.

She died at Tomhanic in 1783, at the early age of 31.

An attempt was also made, during the same season, to seize the person of

General Gansevoort. Although, as has already been stated, General

Gansevoort was no longer in the regular service, yet, as an experienced

officer, and the commander of the militia in that part of the state, his

services and his counsels were in continual requisition; nor was there a

more active officer in the service, regular or irregular, or one more

burdened with duties. It was therefore an object with the enemy to remove

him from his post if possible. A scheme was therefore devised to seize him

at one of the ferries which he was about to cross; the execution of which

was entrusted to a hostile partisan named Tanckrey. By some means,

however, Colonel Henry Van Rensselaer, at Half Moon, obtained information

of the project, and lost no time in admonishing the General of his danger

by letter. Having also heard of the rendezvous of Tanckrey and his gang,

Van Rensselaer despatched a detachment of troops under Major Schermerhorn,

for their apprehension. They were found at the house of a Mr. Douglass;

but before Schermerhorn's troops had surrounded the house, their approach

was discovered, and they were fired upon by the marauders; all of whom,

with a single exception, succeeded in getting off through the rear of the

house. Two of Schermerhorn's militia were wounded. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] MS. Letter of Col. Henry Van Rensselaer to General Gansevoort.

But the boldest enterprise of the kind was the projected abduction of

General Schuyler from his residence in Albany, or rather in the suburbs of

that city, in the month of August. Schuyler was not at that time in the

army, having exchanged the military for the civil service of his country

two years before. [FN-1] Still, his military exertions were almost as

great, and his counsels were as frequently sought and as highly valued,

as though he were yet in command of the department. Added to which, he

had been specially charged by the Commander-in-chief with the prosecution

of all practicable measures for intercepting the communications of the

enemy. [FN-2] Aside from this circumstance, the acquisition of a person

of his consideration as a prisoner, would have been an important object

to Sir Frederick Haldimand, the British Commander in Canada. A desperate

effort was therefore resolved upon for his capture. For this purpose John

Waltermeyer, the bold and reckless Tory partisan already mentioned, was

despatched to the neighborhood of Albany, at the head of a gang of Tories,

Canadians, and Indians. He had, as it subsequently appeared, been lurking

about the precincts of Albany for eight or ten days, sheltered by the

thick growth of low pines and shrub-oaks, which yet spread over much of

the common lands appertaining to that city; and some dark intimations had

been conveyed to General Schuyler that his person was in danger. These

premonitions, it is believed, came first from a Dutch rustic who had

fallen into the hands of Waltermeyer, and been examined as to the means

of defence and the localities of the General's house, and who had been

released only after taking an oath of secrecy. A similar caution had also

been conveyed to him by a loyalist to whom the intention of Waltermeyer

was known, but who was General Schuyler's personal friend. Of course the

General and his family were continually on the _qui vive,_ since the

frequency with which leading citizens had been decoyed into ambush and

taken, or snatched away by sudden violence, afforded ample cause for the

exercise of all possible vigilance and caution. In addition, moreover, to

his own household proper, the General had a guard of six men; three of

whom were on duty by day, and three by night.

* * * * *

[FN-1] "It was not until the Autumn of 1778 that the conduct of General

Schuyler, in the campaign of 1777, was submitted to the investigation of

a court-martial. He was acquitted of every charge with the highest honor,

and the sentence was confirmed by Congress. He shortly afterward, upon

his earnest and repeated solicitations, had leave to retire from the

army, and devoted the remainder of his life to the service of his country

in its political councils. He had previously been in Congress, and on his

return to that body, after the termination of his military life, his

talents, experience, and energy, were put in immediate requisition; and

in November, 1779, he was appointed to confer with General Washington on

the state of the southern department. In 1781 he was in the Senate of

this state; and wherever he was placed, and whatever might be the

business before him, he gave the utmost activity to measures, and left

upon them the impression of his prudence and sagacity."_Chancellor Kent._

[FN-2] Letter from Washington to General Schuyler, May 14, 1781.

It was in the evening of a sultry day in August, that the General was

sitting with his family, after supper, in the front hall of his house,

all the doors being open, when a servant entered to say that a stranger

waited to speak with him at the back gate. Such an unusual request at

once excited suspicion. The evening was so exceedingly warm that the

servants had dispersed. The three sentinels who had been relieved for the

night, were asleep in the cellar; and the three who should have been on

duty, were refreshing themselves at full length on the grass-plot in the

garden. Instead, however, of responding to the invitation to meet the

stranger at the back gate, the doors of the house were instantly closed

and fastened. The General ran to his bed-chamber for his arms; and having

hastily collected his family in an upper apartment, and discovered from

the windows that the house was surrounded by armed men, a pistol was

discharged for the purpose of alarming the neglectful guards, and

perchance the people of the city. At the same moment Mrs. Schuyler

perceived that her infant child had been left in their bustle, in the

cradle, below two flights of stairs. In an agony of apprehension she was

flying to its rescue, but the General would not permit her to leave the

apartment. The third daughter, Margaret, [FN-1] instantly rushed forth,

and descending to the nursery, which was upon the ground floor, snatched

the child from the cradle, where it was yet lying unmolested. As she was

leaving the room to return, a tomahawk was hurled at her by an unseen

hand, but with no other effect than slightly to injure her dress. On

ascending a private stairway, she was met by Waltermeyer himself, who

exclaimed--"Wench! where is your master?" She replied, with great

presence of mind--"Gone to alarm the town." The villains had not, indeed,

entered the house unopposed, for, on hearing the noise when they were

breaking in the doors, the three men in the cellar sprang up, and without

stopping to dress, rushed up stairs to the back hall, where their arms

had been left standing for convenience if wanted, and into which the

assailants were forcing their way. Most unluckily, however, the arms of

the guards were not at hand. Mrs. Church, [FN-2] who had lately returned

from Boston, perceiving that her little son [FN-3] was playing with the

muskets, and not entertaining the slightest suspicion that they would be

wanted, had caused them to be removed a few hours before the attack,

without informing the guard of the circumstance. The brave fellows had

therefore no other means of resistance, after the yielding of the doors,

than by dealing blows as soundly as they could with their fists, and also

by embarrassing the progress of the enemy otherwise as they might, while

the General was collecting his family aloft.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Afterward the first lady of the present venerable and excellent

General Stephen Van Rensselaer.

[FN-2] Another daughter of General Schuyler, married to John B. Church,

Esq., an English gentleman, contractor for the French army in America,

and afterward a member of Parliament. He died in 1818. [The venerable

widow of Alexander Hamilton is also a daughter of General Schuyler.]

[FN-3] The present Captain Philip Church, of Allegheny county, (N. Y.)

But to return: Miss Margaret had no sooner informed Waltermeyer that her

father had gone abroad for reinforcements, than the traitor recalled his

followers from the dining-room--where it appeared they were at the moment

engaged in bagging the plate, from which work of plunder he had in vain

urged them to desist, that they might perform the more important object

of their mission--for consultation. Just at that moment, the General threw

up a window, and with great presence of mind called out--"Come on, my

brave fellows, surround the house and secure the villains who are

plundering." [FN-1] The stratagem succeeded, and the party made a

precipitate retreat, carrying with them the three men who had vainly, and

without arms, opposed their entrance, [FN-2] one of whom had been wounded

in defending the passage, while Waltermeyer himself was slightly wounded

by one of the shots of Schuyler from the window. Thus, providentially,

was the third conspiracy against the person of General Schuyler defeated.

[FN-3] The alarm was heard in the city, for the General had fired several

shots during the affray; but before any of the citizens arrived at the

scene of action, the enemy had fled.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Letter of Schuyler to General Washington, Aug. 1781.

[FN-2] The names of the guard were, John Tubbs, John Corlies, and Hans

(John) Ward. They were carried to Canada, and when exchanged, the General

gave them each a farm in Saratoga County. Ward is still, or was very

lately, living, (Dec 1837.)

[FN-3] The particulars of this interesting adventure have been chiefly

derived by the author from Mrs. Cochran, of Oswego, the infant who was

rescued from the cradle by her sister Margaret.

From Albany, Waltermeyer directed his course to Ballston, where he arrived

at about day-break on the next morning. Taking General Gordon, of that

place, a prisoner from his bed, the Tory leader pursued his journey back

to Canada--having failed in the principal object of his expedition.

It may well be imagined that the situation of a people dwelling in such

perpetual insecurity, was exceedingly unpleasant. Nor were they in dread

only of a most subtle and wary foe from without. The disaffected were more

numerous than ever among themselves, and the inhabitants scarcely knew who

among their own neighbors could be trusted. Early in September it was

represented to General Gansevoort that the disaffected had not only become

formidable in numbers in the western and south western parts of the County

of Albany, but were harboring and administering comfort to parties of the

enemy sent from Canada, for the farther prosecution of the species of

warfare already described in the present chapter--adding to the seizure

of those men who were most active in the cause of their country, the

destruction of their dwellings, and the murder of their women and

children. [FN] Under these circumstances, Colonel Philip P. Schuyler;

with a strong detachment of militia from Gansevoort's brigade, was

despatched into the settlements designated, particularly to the Beaver

Dams, where the family of Captain Deitz had been so cruelly murdered in

1777, with orders to arrest the disaffected, and bring them to Albany,

together with their families and effects. The orders of General Gansevoort

were issued on the 9th of September. On the 16th, Colonel Schuyler

reported that he had executed his commission. From seventy to a hundred

families "of the most notoriously disaffected," were arrested and brought

into the city, where they were placed under a more vigilant surveillance

than could be exercised over them in their own township.

* * * * *

[FN] MS. order of General Gansevoort.

But while these summary proceedings were rendering the country about

Albany more secure in its internal relations, the inhabitants at the

north were for several months kept in a state of ceaseless inquietude and

alarm, by the movements of the enemy on Lake Champlain. General Heath was

at that time invested with the command of the Northern Department, his

head-quarters being in the Highlands. At Saratoga General Stark was in

command, and Lord Stirling was also at the north. But as the

Commander-in-chief had drawn the main army to Virginia, there were but

few regular troops at the disposal of those officers. The consequence was,

that with every alarm from Lake Champlain, (and the mysterious movements

of the enemy rendered those alarms most inconveniently frequent,) General

Stark was making pressing applications to General Gansevoort for

assistance. The conduct of the enemy in the lake was indeed passing

strange. It was ascertained that he had more than once ascended the lake

from St. John's, with a force sufficiently strong, in the then exposed

situation of the northern frontier, to make a formidable inroad upon the

settlements; and the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, then

arrogating to themselves the character of citizens of the _State_ of

Vermont--not being in the secrets of their leaders--were as frequently

alarmed as were those of the settlements _admitted_ by the Vermontese to

belong to New-York. Still the enemy attempted nothing beyond landing at

Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and making a few occasional and inexplicable

manoeuvres with his flotilla upon the lake. These questionable movements

were no less annoying than perplexing to the American generals. That a

descent upon some point was intended, there seemed little reason to doubt.

It was most likely to come from the north; but whenever the fleet was

withdrawn down the lake, the idea prevailed that the movements there were

intended to create a diversion, while the actual blow might be anticipated

from the west. In support of the latter opinion was positive information,

of a party of returning prisoners from Montreal, on the 19th of September,

of the movements of between two and three hundred of Sir John Johnson's

regiment, who were evidently preparing for an expedition in some

direction. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] MSS. and correspondence of General Gansevoort.

There was yet another source of distraction to the state authorities,

civil and military, threatening nothing short of hostilities between

New-York and the occupants of the New Hampshire Grants. A brief sketch of

the cause and progress of the difficulties here referred to, though

apparently foreign to the main subject of the present work, is

nevertheless deemed essential to a just understanding of the situation of

affairs in the Northern Department. Those who are versed in the early

history of New-York and Vermont, cannot be ignorant of the fact, that for

many years anterior to the war of the Revolution, a controversy had

existed between the Governors of New Hampshire and New-York respecting

the jurisdiction of the territory now constituting the State of Vermont.

This controversy was begun in 1749, and continued fifteen years; during

which period the Governor of New Hampshire was in the practice of making

grants of lands and townships in the disputed territory. In 1764 the

question was carried up to the King in council, and a decision rendered

in favor of New-York, confirming her claim to the territory north of

Massachusetts, as far east as the Connecticut river. Under this decision,

the Colonial Government of New-York unwisely gave the Order in Council a

construction of _retrospective_ operation, involving the question of

title. The grants from the Governor of New Hampshire were declared void,

and the settlers were upon this ground called on either to surrender their

charters, or to re-purchase their lands from New-York. This demand they

resisted, and with this resistance the controversy was renewed in another

form, and continued with great vehemence, and with but little

interruption, for many years. [FN-1] About the year 1770 the celebrated

Ethan Allen became conspicuous as a leader of "the Green Mountain Boys"

in these proceedings. A military organization was adopted, and the

mandates of the courts of New-York were disregarded, and its officers and

ministers of justice openly set at defiance. When the sheriff of Albany

appeared with his _posse comitatus,_ the Green Mountain Boys opposed

force to force, and drove them back. Lord Dunmore was then at the head of

the colonial government of New-York, and exerted himself actively to

maintain its territorial claim. An act of outlawry against Allen and

several of his most prominent associates was passed, and a reward of

fifty pounds offered for Allen's head. Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation,

commanding the sheriff of Albany county to apprehend the offenders, and

commit them to safe custody, that they might be brought to condign

punishment; [FN-2] but the friends of Allen were too numerous, resolute,

and faithful, to allow of his arrest, or in any manner to suffer his

personal safety to be compromised. [FN-3]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Slade's Vermont State papers, Introduction, p. 17.

[FN-2] Sparks's Life of Ethan Allen.

[FN-3] President Allen's Biographical Dictionary.

Governor Tryon, who succeeded Lord Dunmore, endeavored, both by force and

by conciliation, to pacify the people of the Grants, and bring them back

to their fealty to New-York. But in vain. Within the boundaries of the

disputed territory, the laws of New-York were inoperative. It was to no

purpose that civil suits, brought by the New-York grantees, were decided

in their favor; process could not be executed; the settlers who had

purchased farms under the New-York grantees, were forcibly driven away;

surveyors were arrested, tried under the _Lynch code,_ and banished under

the penalty of death should they ever again be caught within the bounds

of the interdicted territory; [FN-1] and those who presumed to hold

commissions of the peace under the authority of New-York, were tried by

the same courts, and inhumanly chastised with rods on their naked backs,

to the extent of two hundred stripes. [FN-2]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Sparks--Life of Allen.

[FN-2] By way of indicating their feelings toward the New-Yorkers, there

was an inn at Bennington, called the "_Green Mountain Tavern,_" the sign

of which was the skin of a catamount stuffed, and raised on a post

twenty-five feet from the ground, with its head turned toward New-York,

giving defiance to all intruders from that quarter. It was at this tavern

that that powerful and inexorable though ideal personage, _Judge Lynch,_

was wont to hold his courts before he took up his abode at the South.

Sometimes the delinquents, who were so unfortunate as to be obliged to

answer in his court for the crime of purchasing lands of the real owners,

or for acknowledging the government to which by law they belonged, were

punished by being suspended by cords in a chair, beneath the catamount,

for two hours. This was a lenient punishment. The more common one, was

the application of the "_beech seal_" to the naked back--or, in other

words, a flagellation with beechen rods.

Such was the posture of affairs between New-York and the people of the

New Hampshire Grants, at the commencement of the Revolution. But the

battle of Lexington produced a shock which, for the time being, arrested

the prosecution of the controversy. New-York was called to nerve her arm

for a higher and nobler conflict, in the early stages of which she was

gallantly assisted by the recusant settlers of the Grants. Ethan Allen

himself struck the first blow at the north, by the capture of Ticonderoga;

and his martial companion in resisting the authorities of New-York,

Colonel Seth Warner, rendered efficient service at the battle of

Bennington. Still, the Vermontese did not forget, while New-York was

exerting her energies elsewhere, to prosecute their own designs for an

entire alienation from New-York, and a separate state organization. [FN-1]

To this end all the energies of the chief men of the Grants were directed;

and the result was, that the Declaration of Independence of the British

crown, by Congress, on the behalf of the twelve United Colonies, of July

4th, 1776, was followed by a convention of the people of the disputed

territory; which convention, on the 15th of January, 1777, declared the

New Hampshire Grants to be a free and independent State, [FN-2] and

forwarded a memorial to Congress, praying for admission into the

Confederation.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Blade's Vermont State Papers--a valuable work.

[FN-2] Idem.

Indignant at this procedure, the state of New-York sought the

interposition of Congress. The justice of the claim of New-York was fully

recognised by that body; and the memorial from the Grants was dismissed,

by a resolution "that the independent government attempted to be

established by the people of Vermont, could derive no countenance or

justification from any act or resolution of Congress." But the people of

the Grants persisted in their determination to assert and maintain their

independence. Nothing daunted, therefore, by the adverse action of

Congress, they proceeded to form a constitution and to organise a State

Government; the machinery of which was fully set in motion in the

following year, 1778.

The Legislature of New-York still attempted to assert its right of

jurisdiction, but made liberal proffers of compromise in regard to titles

of lands--offering to recognise and confirm all the titles which had

previously been in dispute. A proclamation to this effect, conceived in

the most liberal spirit, was issued by Governor Clinton, in February,

1778; avowing, however, in regard to the contumacious, "the rightful

supremacy of New-York over their persons and property, as disaffected

subjects." [FN-1] But, like every preceding effort, either of force or

conciliation, the present was of no avail. Ethan Allen issued a

counter-proclamation to the people of the Grants, and the work of their

own independent organization proceeded without serious interruption.

[FN-2] They were the more encouraged to persevere in this course, from

an impression that, although Congress could not then sanction proceedings

in regard to New-York that were clearly illegal; the New England members,

and some of the Southern also, would, nevertheless, not be very deep

mourners at their success. Roger Sherman maintained that Congress had no

right to decide the controversy, and was supposed to countenance the

proceedings of which New-York complained. Elbridge Gerry held that

Vermont was _extra-provincial,_ and had a perfect right to her

independence. [FN-3] But so thought not New-York and Governor Clinton;

and the organization of a state government revived the heart-burnings that

had subsided, and re-enkindled the fires of discord which had been

inactive during the first three or four years of the war. The causes of

irritation became daily more frequent and exasperating, until, during the

Summer and Autumn of the present year, the parties were again on the verge

of open hostilities. The people of the Grants, as they had grown in

strength, had increased in their arrogance, until they had extended their

claims to the Hudson river; and it was no diminution of the perplexities

of New-York, that strong indications appeared in several of the northern

towns, to which the people of the Grants had previously interposed not

even the shadow of a claim, of a disposition to go over to Vermont.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Slades's Vermont State Papers.

[FN-2] Respecting this manifesto, John Jay wrote to Governor

Morris--"Ethan Allen has commenced author and orator. A philippic of his

against New-York is handed about. There is quaintness, impudence, and art

in it."

[FN-3] Life of Governor Morris.

Meantime Governor Clinton, inflexibly determined to preserve the disputed

jurisdiction, was exerting himself to the utmost for that object; and in

order, apparently, to bring the question to a test, several persons were

arrested in the course of the Summer of 1781, within the territory of the

Grants, under the pretext of some military delinquency. This procedure

was the signal for another tempest. Governor Chittenden wrote to officers

of New-York, demanding the release of the prisoners taken from the

Grants--asserting their determination to maintain the government they had

"set up," [FN-1] and threatening that, in the event of an invasion of the

territory of New-York by the common enemy, unless those prisoners were

given up, they would render no assistance to New-York. This letter also

contained an admonition, "that power was not limited only to New-York."

[FN-2] Nor was this all. While the country was threatened by invasion

both from the north and the west, the spirit of the Vermont insurgents

began to spread among the militia in the northern towns east of the

Hudson, belonging to General Gansevoort's own brigade. Thus, on the one

hand, General Stark was calling upon him for assistance against the enemy

apparently approaching from Lake Champlain, at the same time that Governor

Clinton was directing him to quell the spirit of insubordination along the

line of the New Hampshire Grants; and both of these duties were to be

discharged, with a knowledge that a portion of his own command was

infected with the insurgent spirit. Added to all which was, the necessity

of watching, as with an eagle's eye, the conduct of the swarms of

loyalists within the bosom of Albany and in the towns adjacent; while for

his greater comfort, he was privately informed that the Green Mountain

Boys were maturing a plot for his abduction. Meantime the government of

the Grants had effected an organization of their own militia, and

disclosures had been made to the government of New-York, imputing to the

leading men of the Grants a design, in the event of a certain contingency,

of throwing the weight of their own forces into the scale of the Crown.

The following letter may be considered important in this connexion:--

* * * * *

[FN-1] MS. Letter from Thomas Chittenden to Captain Van Rensselaer,

among the Gansevoort papers.

[FN-2] This dark and rather awkward saying was full of meaning, as will

appear in a subsequent portion of the present chapter.

"Governor Clinton to General Gansevoort.

"_Poughkeepsie, Oct._ 18, 1781.

"Dear Sir,

"Your letter of the 15th instant was delivered to me on the evening of the

16th. I have delayed answering it, in hopes that the Legislature would

ere this have formed a quorum, and that I might have availed myself of

their advice on the subject to which it relates; but as this is not yet

the case, and it is uncertain when I shall be enabled to lay the matter

before them, I conceive it might be improper longer to defer expressing

my own sentiments to you on this subject.

"The different unwarrantable attempts, during the Summer, of the people

on the Grants to establish their usurped jurisdiction, even beyond their

former claim, and the repetition of it (alluded to in your letter,) in

direct opposition to a resolution of Congress injurious to this State and

favorable to their project of independence, and at a time when the common

enemy are advancing, can only be accounted for by what other parts of

their conduct have given us too much reason to suspect--disaffection to

the common cause. On my part, I have hitherto shown a disposition to evade

entering into any altercation with them, that might, in its most remote

consequence, give encouragement to the enemy, and expose the frontier

settlements to their ravages; and from these considerations alone I have

submitted to insults which otherwise would not have been borne with; and

I could have wished to have continued this kind of conduct until the

approaching season would have secured us against the incursions of the

common enemy. But as from the accounts contained in Colonel Van

Rensselaer's letter, it would appear that the militia embodying under Mr.

Chittenden's orders are for the service of the enemy, and that their first

object was to make you a prisoner, it would be unjustifiable to suffer

them to proceed. It is therefore my desire that you maintain your

authority throughout every part of your brigade, and for this purpose,

that you carry the laws of the State into execution against those who

shall presume to disobey your lawful orders. I would only observe that

these sentiments are founded on an idea that the accounts given by Col.

Van Rensselaer in his letter may be relied on; it being still my earnest

desire, for the reasons above explained, not to do any thing that will

bring matters to extremities, at least before the close of the campaign,

if it can consistently be avoided.

"In my last, I should have mentioned to you that it was not in my power

to send you a supply of ammunition; but, as I had reason to believe you

were gone to Saratoga, I conceived it improper to say any thing on the

subject lest my letter might miscarry. You may recollect that of the whole

supply ordered by General Washington, last Spring, for the use of the

militia, five hundred pounds is all that has been received in the state

magazine, which you will easily conceive to be far short of what was

necessary for the other exposed parts of the state. With respect to

provisions, it is equally out of my power to furnish you with any, but

what the state agent, who is now with you, may be able to procure.

"I am, with great respect and esteem,

Dear Sir,

Your most obed't serv't,

Geo. Clinton.

"_Brig. Gen. Gansevoort._"

But the controversy with the people of the Grants was suddenly

interrupted, just at this juncture, though for a short period only, by the

most formidable invasion of the Mohawk Valley which had taken place during

the present year. Indeed, it was the last irruption of the enemy into that

section of the country, of any importance, during the struggle of the

revolution.

It has been seen, from the commencement of the contest, that the Johnsons,

and those loyalists from Tryon County most intimate in their alliance

with them, appeared to be stimulated by some peculiar and ever-active

principle of hostility against the former seat of the Baronet, and the

district of country by which it was environed. Another expedition against

Johnstown was therefore secretly planned in the Summer of 1781, and

executed with such silent celerity, that on the 24th of October "the

Philistines" were actually "upon" the settlements before their approach

was suspected. This expedition was organized at Buck's Island, in the

river St. Lawrence, a few miles below the foot of Lake Ontario, and

consisted of four companies of the second battalion of Sir John Johnson's

regiment of Royal Greens, Colonel Butler's rangers, under the direction

of Major Butler, his son, and two hundred Indians--numbering in all about

one thousand men, under the command of Major Ross. [FN-1] Proceeding from

Buck's Island to Oswego, and thence through the Oneida Lake, they struck

off through the south-eastern forests from that point, and traversed the

woods with such secrecy as to break in upon Warrensbush, [FN-2] near the

junction of the Schoharie-kill with the Mohawk river, as suddenly as

though they had sprung up from the earth like the warriors from the

dragon's teeth of Cadmus, full grown, and all in arms, in a single night.

This was on the 24th of October. [FN-3] Warrensbush was about twenty miles

east from Fort Rensselaer, the head-quarters of Colonel Willett; so that

Ross and Butler had ample time for the work of havoc and devastation on

the south side of the river, and to cross over to the north side, before

the former could rally his forces and dispute their farther progress. Not

a moment was lost by Colonel Willett, on hearing the news, in making such

dispositions to repel the unexpected invaders, as were within his limited

means. With such forces as were in the garrison, together with such

additional recruits from the militia as could be collected in the

neighborhood, Willett marched for Fort Hunter on the same

evening--simultaneously despatching orders for the militia and levies in

contiguous posts and settlements, to follow and join him with all possible

expedition. By marching all night, the Colonel reached Fort Hunter early

in the following morning, where he learned that the enemy were already in

the occupation of Johnstown. The depth of the river was such that floats

were necessary in crossing it, and although Willett had but four hundred

and sixteen men all told--only half the enemy's number, exclusive of the

Indians--yet it was afternoon before the crossing was effected. Boss and

Butler had crossed the river some distance below Tripe's Hill the

preceding day, and moved thence directly upon Johnstown--killing and

taking the people prisoners, and destroying buildings, and cattle, and

whatsoever came in their way. Soon after ascending the hill just

mentioned, the enemy came upon a small scouting party commanded by

Lieutenant Saulkill, who was on horseback. He was fired upon by the

enemy's advance, and fell dead to the ground. His men sought safety in

flight, and succeeded. [FN-4] This was early in the morning of the 25th.

The advance of the enemy being slow, they did not arrive at the village

of Johnstown until past 12 o'clock at noon. Even then, the main body of

their forces, avoiding the town, marched round to the west, halting upon

the grounds of the Baronial hall. The enemy's baggage wagons, however,

passed through the village, and their conductors were fired upon from the

old jail--then serving the purpose of a fortress. One man only was wounded

by this consumption of ammunition.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Such is the estimate of the manuscript accounts which have been

furnished to the author. It is, however, too high, unless Major Butler

carried an erroneous statement in his pocket. According to a memorandum

found in his pocket-book, after his fall, the force of Major Ross wan

made up as follows:--Eighth regiment, twenty-five; thirty-fourth ditto,

one hundred; eighty-fourth ditto, Highlanders, thirty-six; Sir John's,

one hundred and twenty; Lake's Independents, forty, Butler's rangers,

one hundred and fifty; Yagers, twelve; Indians, one hundred and

thirty.--Total six hundred and seventy.--_Vide Letter of Colonel Willett

to Lord Stirling. Almon's Remembrancer._

[FN-2] A settlement planted by Sir Peter Warren, the uncle of Sir William

Johnson--and the first place of residence of the latter gentleman after

his arrival in America.

[FN-3] Campbell states that this invasion was in August. Major Sammons

dates it the 22d of that month. Colonel Willett gives the date of Oct.

24--which was obviously correct, since the second part of the battle was

fought in a snow-storm.

[FN-4] In one of the manuscript accounts of this battle, the fruit of my

researches in the Mohawk Valley, it is stated that Saulkill was not

connected with the scout, but was passing at the moment on his way to

Albany.

Having effected the passage of the river, Colonel Willett pushed on in

pursuit with all possible expedition. But deeming it unwise, where the

disparity of their respective forces was so great, to hazard an attack

in front with his whole force, the position of the enemy was no sooner

ascertained with certainty, than Major Rowley, of Massachusetts, was

detached with a small body of the Tryon County militia, and about sixty

levies from his own state, for the purpose, by a circuitous march, of

out-flanking the enemy, and falling upon his rear--thus attacking in front

and rear at the same time. These, and other necessary dispositions having

been adjusted, Willett advanced upon the enemy at the head of his column.

Entering an open field adjoining to that occupied by the enemy, Willett

displayed his right into line, and pressed Major Ross so closely as to

compel him to retire into the fringe of a neighboring wood. Here a

skirmishing was kept up while the remainder of the Americans were

advancing briskly in two columns, to bear a part. The battle became

spirited and general; and although the only field-piece belonging to the

Americans was taken, it was speedily re-taken, and for a time the action

proceeded with a promise of victory. But just at the crisis, the militia

of Willett were seized with one of those causeless and unaccountable

panics, which on most occasions render that description of troops worse

than useless in battle, and without any cause the whole of the right wing

turned about and fled. [FN] The field-piece was abandoned and the

ammunition wagon blown up. The former, of course, fell into the hands of

the enemy. Colonel Willett did his utmost to rally his men, but to no

purpose. They ran in the utmost confusion to the stone church in the

village. Here, having induced them to make a halt, the Colonel commenced

bringing them again into such order as best he might But the defeat would

still have been complete, had it not been for the precautionary

disposition previously made of Major Rowley. Most fortunately, as it

happened, that officer emerged from the woods, and arrived upon the field,

just in time to fall upon the enemy's rear in the very moment of their

exultation at their easy victory. Rowley pressed the attack with great

vigor and intrepidity, while the enemy were engaged in making prisoners

of the stragglers, and the Indians were scalping those who fell into

their hands. The fight was now maintained with equal obstinacy and

irregularity for a considerable time. Major Rowley was early wounded by

a shot through the ankle, and carried from the field; and the enemy were

engaged in different bodies, sometimes in small parties separated nearly

a mile from each other. In some of these contests the advantage was on

the side of the enemy, and in others the Americans were the temporary

victors. The battle continued after this fashion until near sunset, when,

finding such to be the fact, and that Rowley's detachment alone was

holding the enemy at bay, Willett was enabled to collect a respectable

force, with which he returned to the field, and again mingled in the

fight The battle was severely contested until dark, when the enemy,

pressed upon all sides, retreated in discomfiture to the woods--nor

stopped short of a mountain top, six miles distant. Among the officers

who signalised themselves on this occasion, in addition to the two

leaders, Willett and Rowley, was the brave Captain Gardenier, who fought

with such desperation at the battle of Oriskany, and was so severely

wounded in the death-struggle with one of the McDonalds. After the enemy

had retired, Colonel Willett procured lights, and caused the wounded of

the enemy, as well as his own, to be collected, and their wounds carefully

dressed. The loss of the Americans was about forty. The enemy lost about

the same number killed, and some fifty prisoners. The Tryon County

militia, under Major Rowley, behaved nobly.

* * * * *

[FN] Letter of Colonel Willett to Lord Stirling.

Knowing the direction from which Ross and Butler had approached, and that

their batteaux had been left at the Oneida Lake, Colonel Willett lost not

a moment in making arrangements to cut off their means of retreat by the

destruction of their boats, while he likewise determined, if possible, to

throw himself info their front. Having been apprised by some of Ross's

prisoners, who had made their escape in the night, that it was his

intention to strike at the frontiers of Stone Arabia, in order to obtain

a supply of provisions, Willett marched to that place on the following

morning, and encamped there that day and night, pushing forward a

detachment of troops, with instructions to proceed by forced marches to

the Oneida Lake and destroy the boats. Ascertaining, on the morning of the

27th, that Ross had avoided Stone Arabia by striking deeper into the

wilderness, Willett hastened forward to the German Flats, where he had

the mortification, on the 28th, to learn that the party ordered to the

lake had returned without performing their duty. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Willett's Letter to Lord Stirling.

While at Stone Arabia, a scouting party had been sent upon the enemy's

trail by Willett, to ascertain whether he had laid his course in the

anticipated direction, or whether he might not have inclined farther to

the north, with a view of returning directly through the wilderness to

Buck's Island. The scouts having satisfied themselves that the latter

course would be taken by Ross, hastily returned; and the result of their

observation was communicated to Willett by express. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] This scouting party was composed of Captain John Little, William

Laird, and Jacob Shew.

Immediately on the receipt of this intelligence, Willett determined, if

possible, to strike another blow. Having been joined by about sixty

warriors of the Oneida tribe, together with some additional levies and

militia-men, the Colonel selected about four hundred of his choicest

troops, and furnishing them with provisions for five days, on the 29th

struck off to the northward, along the course of the West Canada Creek.

They marched the whole of that day through a driving snow-storm, halting

at night in a thick wood on the Royal Grant Supposing it probable that the

enemy could not be far distant Jacob Sammons was detached with two Oneida

Indians to advance yet farther into the wilderness, and, under cover of

the darkness, make such discoveries as might be in their power. "It was

with much reluctance," says Sammons in his narrative, "that I undertook

this business." They had not proceeded far before the Indians discovered

the prints of footsteps. Having knelt down and scrutinised them closely,

they pronounced them fresh, and refused any longer to advance. Taking

Sammons by the arm, they entreated him to return; but he declined, and

they separated. The intrepid scout soon descried fires kindling amid the

deep forest-gloom, toward which he cautiously approached until he was

enabled to take a survey of the enemy's camp. Having obtained all

necessary information, and narrowly escaped detection withal, he returned

to the camp of the Americans. Willett had kept his troops under arms

awaiting the return of Sammons; but learning from the latter that the

enemy were well provided with bayonets, of which his own men were

deficient, a night attack upon the camp was judged imprudent, and he

bivouacked his forces on the spot. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Narrative of Jacob Sammons.

Willett lost no time in advancing on the following morning, with a view

of bringing the enemy to an engagement. But the latter had been as early

on foot as himself, so that it was not until one o'clock in the afternoon

that the Americans came up with a small party of the enemy's rear,

consisting of about forty men, together with a few Indians, who had been

detached from his main body for the purpose of obtaining provisions. A

smart brush ensued, during which some of the enemy were killed, others

were taken prisoners, while the residue fled. Among the prisoners was a

Tory lieutenant named John Rykeman. Pursuing on the enemy's trail, the

Americans came up with his main body in a place called Jerseyfield, on the

north side of the Canada Creek. A running fight ensued, but the enemy made

a very feeble resistance--exhibiting symptoms of terror, and attempting to

retreat at a dog-trot by Indian files. Late in the afternoon, as they

crossed the Creek to the west or south-western side, Butler attempted to

rally his forces and make a stand. A brisk engagement ensued, the parties

being on opposite sides of the Creek; during which about twenty of the

enemy fell. Among them was their bold and enterprising but cruel leader,

Walter N. Butler. He was brought down by the rifle of an Oneida Indian,

who, happening to recognize him as he was looking at the battle from

behind a tree, took deliberate aim, and shot him through his hat and the

upper part of his head. Butler fell, and his troops fled in the utmost

confusion. The warrior, who made the successful shot, sprang first across

the Creek in the general rush, and running directly up to Butler,

discovered that he was not dead, but sorely wounded. He was in a sitting

posture near the tree, and writhing in great agony. The Indian advanced,

and while Butler looked him full in the face, shot him again through the

eye, and immediately took his scalp. The Oneidas no sooner saw the

bleeding trophy, than they set up the scalp-yell, and stripping the body,

left it lying upon the face, and pressed forward in pursuit of the

fugitive host. On coming to the guard, where Rykeman and the other

prisoners were confined, the Indian attempted to flout the unhappy

prisoner by slapping the scalp of his late commander in his face; but the

lieutenant avoided the blow. The pursuit was closely followed up; but

darkness and fatigue compelled the Colonel to relinquish it until morning.

The enemy, however, continued their flight throughout the night. [FN-1]

And, truly, never were men reduced to a condition more deplorable. The

weather was cold, and they had yet a dreary and pathless wilderness of

eighty miles to traverse, without food, and without even blankets--having

been compelled to cast them away to facilitate their escape. [FN-2] But,

scattered and broken as they were, and having the start of one night, it

was judged inexpedient to give longer pursuit; especially as Willett's

own troops were supplied with provisions for but two days more. The

victory was, moreover, already complete. The Colonel therefore wheeled

about, and led his little army back in triumph to Fort Dayton. The loss of

the Americans in the pursuit was only one man. That of the enemy was

never known. In the language of Colonel Willett's official despatches,

"the fields of Johnstown, the brooks and rivers, the hills and mountains,

the deep and gloomy marshes through which they had to pass, these only

could tell; and, perhaps, the officers who detached them on the

expedition."

* * * * *

[FN-1] "Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that,

notwithstanding the enemy had been four days in the wilderness, with only

half a pound of horse-flesh per man per day, yet in this famished

situation they trotted thirty miles before they stopped. Many of them,

indeed, fell a sacrifice to such treatment."--_Col. Willett's Letter to

Lord Stirling._

[FN-2] "In this situation I left the unfortunate Major Rom; unfortunate

I call him, for he was surely so in taking charge of such a fine

detachment of men to execute so dirty and trifling a piece of business

as he was sent on, at such immense hazard and exquisite toil. . . . We

left them in a situation, perhaps, more suited to their demerit than a

musket, a ball, a tomahawk, or captivity."--_Col. Willett's Letter to Lord

Stirling._

In re-passing the battle-ground, the body of Butler was discovered as it

had been left; and there, without sepulture, it was suffered to

remain. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Various statements of the circumstances attending the death of

Walter N. Butler have been published. Marshall, in his Life of

Washington, states it thus--"In the party at Canada Creek, was Major

Walter Butler, the person who perpetrated the massacre at Cherry Valley.

His entreaties for quarter were disregarded; and he fell a victim of that

vengeance which his own savage temper had directed against himself."

According to Colonel Willett's account, he was shot dead at once, having

no time to implore for mercy. President Dwight, in his travels, given an

account corresponding with the following by Campbell:--"He was pursued by

a small party of Oneida Indians; when he arrived at West Canada Creek,

about fifteen miles above Herkimer, he swam his horse across the stream,

and then turning round, defied his pursuers, who were on the opposite

side. An Oneida immediately discharged his rifle and wounded him, and he

fell. Throwing down his rifle and his blanket, the Indian plunged into

the Creek and swam across; as soon as he had gained the opposite bank,

he raised his tomahawk, and with a yell, sprang like a tiger upon his

fallen foe. Butler supplicated, though in vain, for mercy; the Oneida,

with his uplifted axe, shouted, in his broken English,--'Sherry Valley!

remember Sherry Valley!' and then buried it in his brains." It is

apprehended that neither of these statements is exactly correct. The

account in the text has been drawn by the author from the manuscript

statements of Philip Graft, who was a spectator of the transaction, then

attached to the company of Captain Peter Van Rensselaer, who was stationed

at Fort Herkimer, and was engaged in this expedition. The statement of

Jacob Simmons corresponds with that of Graft, though less circumstantial.

So perished Walter N. Butler, one of the greatest scourges, as he was one

of the most fearless men, of his native county. No other event of the

whole war created so much joy in the Mohawk Valley as the news of his

decease. He is represented to have been of a morose temperament,

possessing strong passions, and of a vindictive disposition. He was

disliked, as has already more than once appeared, by Joseph Brant, who

included him among those whom he considered greater savages than the

savages themselves. It is quite probable, however, that Walter Butler may

have possessed other and better qualities, his friends being judges, than

have been awarded to him by his enemies. It has been asserted, that after

the massacre of Cherry Valley General Haldimand refused to see him. But

this fact may well be questioned, inasmuch as Haldimand not only approved

but encouraged the despatching of a similar expedition against the

scarcely offending Oneidas, who had removed, and were living peaceably in

the neighborhood of Schenectady.

This expedition of Ross and Butler closed the active warlike operations at

the north for that year; but while the events traced in the few preceding

pages were in progress, others were occurring in a different quarter of

the country, both in themselves and in their results of far greater

moment. In the bird's-eye glance taken of the progress of the war in other

parts of the confederacy during the first quarter of the year, Arnold was

left at Portsmouth, contiguous to Norfolk. He afterward made various

movements of the character heretofore described; visiting Richmond again,

and committing outrages there and elsewhere. On the death of the British

Major General Phillips, the traitor succeeded to the command of the King's

troops in Virginia, and maintained himself there against the Baron

Steuben, and afterward against the Marquis de Lafayette, [FN-1] until Lord

Cornwallis, having traversed North Carolina, and entered Virginia, formed

a junction with him, and assumed the command; sending Arnold from his

presence to Portsmouth as soon as possible. After his return to New-York,

Arnold led another piratical expedition, early in September, against New

London and Groton. The former town was burnt, and Fort Griswold, on the

opposite side of the river, having been carried by assault, was the scene

of a bloody massacre; the brave Ledyard, who commanded, being thrust

through with his own sword. [FN-2]

* * * * *

[FN-1] On succeeding to the command of Phillips, Arnold addressed a

letter to the Marquis de Lafayette; but the latter informed the officer

who bore it, that he would not receive a letter from the traitor. Indeed,

Arnold was despised by the officers in the British service; and how could

it be otherwise? Even Sir Henry Clinton had no confidence in him: and in

detaching him to the south, had taken special care to send Colonel

Dundas and Colonel Simcoe, two experienced officers, with him, with

instructions to Arnold to consult them in regard to every measure and

every operation he might desire to undertake.

[FN-2] "It has been said, that Arnold, while New London was in flames,

stood in the belfry of a steeple and witnessed the conflagration; thus,

like Nero, delighted with the ruin he had caused, the distresses he had

inflicted, the blood of his slaughtered countrymen, the agonies of the

expiring patriot, the widow's tears, and the orphan's cries. And, what

adds to the enormity, is, that he stood almost in sight of the spot

where he drew his first breath."--_Sparks._

Meantime, the American Commander-in-chief was meditating a blow, which,

if successful, could not but have an important, and perhaps a decisive,

bearing upon the great question of his country's final emancipation. While

the Marquis de Lafayette was circumventing and perplexing Cornwallis in

Virginia, Washington was preparing for an attempt upon the citadel of the

British power in the United States--New-York. This design, as has been

formerly stated, had been projected the season before, immediately after

the arrival of the Count de Rochambeau with the French army of alliance,

in Rhode Island. But so many difficulties arose, and so many supervening

obstacles were to be overcome, that, in obedience to stern necessity, the

project was for that year abandoned. With the opening of the Spring of the

present year it was revived, and after the respective commanders had held

another personal consultation, the French army moved from Rhode Island

across the country to the Hudson. But other obstacles arose, which

compelled an entire change in the plan of the campaign. Fortunately,

however, the British commander in New-York was not quick to discover the

change, and the demonstration served to divert his attention from the

right object until it became too late to repair his error. The combined

French and American forces, by an unsuspected but effectual basis of

operations, had been tending as upon a central point toward Virginia,

until, before he was aware of serious danger, Earl Cornwallis found

himself shut up in Yorktown. The event was fatal to him and to the cause

of his master. The post was completely invested by the 30th of September.

On the 9th of October the French and Americans opened their batteries.

And on the 19th, his two advanced redoubts having been carried by storm

a few days before, despairing of receiving the promised succors from Sir

Henry Clinton, and having, moreover, failed in a well-concerted attempt

to evacuate the fortress by night, Lord Cornwallis, submitting to

necessity, absolute and inevitable, surrendered by capitulation. The loss

of the enemy during the siege was five hundred and fifty-two, killed,

wounded, and missing; and the number of prisoners taken, exclusive of the

seamen, who were surrendered to the Count de Grasse, was seven thousand

and seventy-three, of of whom five thousand nine hundred and fifty were

rank and file.

It would have been perfectly natural, and in fact no more than even-handed

justice, had the recent massacre at Fort Griswold been avenged on this

occasion. But, happily, it was otherwise ordered; and the triumph was

rendered still more memorable by the fact, that not a drop of blood was

shed save in action. "Incapable," said Colonel Hamilton, (who led the

advance of the Americans in the assault,) "of imitating examples of

barbarity, and forgetting recent provocation, the soldiers spared every

man that ceased to resist." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Colonel Alexander Hamilton's report--Marshall.

The joy at this surrender of a second army was as great as universal. The

thanks of Congress were voted to the Commander-in-chief, to the Count de

Rochambeau, and the Count de Grasse, and to the other principal officers

of the different corps, and the men under them. It was also resolved by

Congress to erect a marble column at Yorktown, with designs emblematic of

the alliance of France and the United States--to be inscribed with a

narrative of the event thus commemorated. But, like all other monumental

structures by Congress, it yet exists only on paper.

The Commander-in-chief availed himself of the occasion to pardon and set

at liberty all military offenders under arrest. Ever ready and forward to

acknowledge the interposition of the hand of Providence in the direction

of human events, this truly great commander closed his orders in reference

to this event, in the following impressive manner: "Divine service shall

be performed to-morrow in the different brigades and divisions. The

Commander-in-chief recommends that all the troops not upon duty, do

assist at it with a serious deportment, and that sensibility of heart,

which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of

Divine Providence in our favor claims."

Recurring, again, to the progress of events at the North, the enigmatical

conduct of the British commander in Canada, and the mysterious movements

of his forces upon Lake Champlain, remain to be explained. On the 9th of

November, General Heath, commanding the department, issued the following

general order; a copy of which has been preserved among General

Gansevoort's papers:--

"_Head-Quarters, Continental Village, Nov._ 9, 1781.

"The General has the pleasure of acquainting this army, that the enemy

have been completely disappointed in their designs on the northern

frontiers of this State, in consequence of the measures adopted to

receive them in the vicinity of the lakes, in which the General is much

indebted to Major General Lord Stirling, Brigadier General Stark, and the

other officers and soldiers, both of the regular troops and the militia,

who, with great zeal and alertness, pressed to meet the enemy. That part

of their force which was coming by way of the lakes has not dared to land

on this side of them.

"Major Ross, who had advanced from the westward as far as Johnstown, with

a body of between six and seven hundred regular troops, Rangers, Yagers,

and Indians, was met by Colonel Willett, defeated, and pursued into the

wilderness, where many of them probably must perish; the number of the

enemy killed is not known. Major Butler, who has frequently distressed

the frontiers, is among the slain. A number of prisoners, chiefly British,

have been taken and sent in.

"The General presents his thanks to Colonel Willett, whose address,

gallantry, and persevering activity exhibited on this occasion, do him

the highest honor; and while the conduct of the officers and soldiers in

general, who were with Colonel Willett, deserves high commendation, the

General expresses a particular approbation of the behavior of Major

Rowley, and the brave levies and militia under his immediate command,

who, at a critical moment, not only did honor to themselves, but rendered

a most essential service to their country.

"Transcript from general orders:

Thos. Fred. Jackson,

_Aid-de-camp._"

General Heath, and many others, doubtless supposed that the anticipated

invasion had been averted by the dispositions of Lord Stirling, and

Generals Stark and Gansevoort, as set forth in the first paragraph of

these general orders; but the facts of the case, without detracting an

iota from the distinguished merits of those officers, will inevitably

lead to a different conclusion.

A summary view of the controversy between New-York and the people of the

New Hampshire Grants, has already been given--in addition to which several

incidental allusions have been made to the equivocal movements and

intentions of Ethan Allen. Reference was also made, by way of a note in

the preceding chapter, to a special message from Governor Clinton to the

Legislature of New-York, communicating important information respecting

the designs of Allen and his associates, which had been derived from two

prisoners who had escaped from Canada in the Autumn of the present

year--John Edgar and David Abeel. The substance of the statements of these

men was, that several of the leading men of the New Hampshire Grants were

forming an alliance with the King's officers in Canada. Among these

leaders were Ethan and Ira Allen, and the two Fays. A man named Sherwood,

and Doctor Smith of Albany, whose name has already been mentioned, were

the agents of the negotiation on the part of Great Britain, and their

consultations were sometimes held at Castleton, on the Grants, and

sometimes in Canada. According to the statement of Edgar, it was

understood that the Grants were to furnish the King with a force of two

thousand men. Mr. Abeel's information was, that fifteen hundred was the

number of men to be furnished, under the command of Ethan Allen. Mr. Abeel

also stated that Ethan Allen was then in Canada upon that business, and

that he had seen Major Fay at the Isle au Noix, on board of one of the

King's vessels; and that he, Fay, had exchanged upward of thirty Hessians,

who had deserted from Burgoyne's army, delivering them up to the British

authorities. The statements of Edgar and Abeel, the latter of whom had

been taken a prisoner at Catskill the preceding Spring, were given under

the sanction of an oath; and although they were not fellow-prisoners, and

had derived their information from different sources; and although

escaping at different times, under dissimilar circumstances, and by routes

widely apart, yet there was a strong coincidence between them. A third

account submitted to the Legislature by the Governor was somewhat

different, and more particular as to the terms of the proposed

arrangement. In this paper it was stated, first, that the territory

claimed by the Vermontese should be formed into a distinct colony or

government. Secondly, that the form of government should be similar to

that of Connecticut, save that the nomination of the Governor should be

vested in the crown. Thirdly, that they should be allowed to remain

neutral, unless the war should be carried within their own territory.

Fourthly, they were to raise two battalions, to be in the pay of the

crown, but to be called into service only for the defence of the Colony.

Fifthly, they were to be allowed a free trade with Canada. General

Haldimand had not deemed himself at liberty to decide definitively upon

propositions of so much importance, and had accordingly transmitted them

to England for the royal consideration. An answer was then expected. Such

was the purport of the intelligence; and such was the weight of the

testimony, that the Governor did not hesitate to assert that they "proved

a treasonable and dangerous intercourse and connexion between the leaders

of the revolt in the north-eastern part of the State, and the common

enemy." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] These and other documents may be found in Almon's Remembrancer,

Vol. ix.--for 1732.

The fact is, according to the admissions, and the documents published by

the Vermont historians themselves, [FN-1] that the people of Vermont,

though doubtless for the most part attached to the cause of their country,

nevertheless looked upon New-York "as a more detested enemy" than Great

Britain; [FN-2] and the officers of the latter were not slow in their

efforts to avail themselves of the schism. Accordingly, Colonel Beverley

Robinson sought to open a correspondence with Ethan Allen as early as

March, 1780. The first letter was handed to Allen in Arlington, but was

not answered. A second letter from Robinson was received by Allen in

February, 1781, which, with the first, he enclosed to Congress in March,

accompanied by a letter plainly asserting the right of Vermont to agree to

a cessation of hostilities with Great Britain, provided its claims, as a

State, were still to be rejected by Congress. It does not appear, however,

that the threat had any effect upon that body.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Slade's State Papers.

[FN-2] Idem.

In the months of April and May following, the Governor and Council of

Vermont commissioned Colonel Ira Allen, a brother of Ethan, to proceed to

the Isle au Noix, to settle a cartel with the British in Canada, and also,

if possible, to negotiate an armistice in favor of Vermont. The

arrangements for this negotiation were conducted with the most profound

secrecy; only eight persons being cognizant of the procedure. [FN-1]

Colonel Allen, accompanied by one subaltern, [FN-2] two sergeants, and

sixteen privates, departed upon his mission on the first of May; and

having arrived at the Isle au Noix, entered at once upon his

business--negotiating with Major Dundas, the commander of that post, only

on the subject of an exchange of prisoners, but more privately with

Captain Sherwood and George Smith, Esq. on the subject of an armistice.

The stay of Allen at the island was protracted for a considerable time,

and the conferences with the two commissioners, Sherwood and Smith, on the

subject of the political relations of Vermont, were frequent, but

perfectly confidential; Allen carefully avoiding to write any thing, to

guard against accidents. But from the beginning, it seems to have been

perfectly understood by both parties that they were treating "for an

armistice, and to concert measures to establish Vermont as a colony under

the crown of Great Britain." [FN-3] In the course of the consultations,

Allen freely declared "that such was the extreme hatred of Vermont to the

state of New-York, that rather than yield to it, they would see Congress

subjected to the British government, provided Vermont could be a distinct

colony under the crown on safe and honorable terms." He added, "that the

people of Vermont were not disposed any longer to assist in establishing

a government in America which might subject them and their posterity to

New-York, whose government was more detested than any other in the known

world." [FN-4] These were encouraging representations in the ears of his

Majesty's officers; and, after a negotiation of seventeen days, the cartel

was arranged, and an armistice verbally agreed upon, by virtue of which

hostilities were to cease between the British forces and the people under

the jurisdiction of Vermont, until after the next session of the

Legislature of Vermont, and even longer, if prospects were satisfactory

to the Commander-in-chief in Canada. Moreover, as Vermont had then

extended her claims of territory to the Hudson river, all that portion of

New-York lying east of the river, and north of the western termination of

the north line of Massachusetts, was included in the armistice. It was

also stipulated that, during the armistice, the leaders in Vermont were

to prepare the people by degrees for a change of government, and that the

British officers were to have free communication through the territory of

the new State--as it claimed to be. [FN-5]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Samuel Safford, Ethan Allen,

Ira Allen, Timothy Brownson, John Fassett, and Joseph Fay.

[FN-2] Lieutenant Simeon Lyman.

[FN-3] Political History of Vermont, published by Ira Allen in London,

in 1798.

[FN-4] Allen's Political History of Vermont.

[FN-5] Idem.

But, notwithstanding the veil of secrecy drawn over the proceedings, dark

suspicions got afloat that all was not right. The sincere Whigs among the

people of the Grants became alarmed, and were apprehensive that they might

be sold ere yet they were aware of it. When the Legislature met, the

people whose jealousies had been awakened, flocked to the place of

meeting to ascertain whether all was well; and it was only by much

dissimulation on the part of those in the secret, that the friends of the

Union were pacified. There were also other spectators present, from

different States, who felt an equal interest to ascertain whether the

great cause of the nation was not in danger of being compromised. The

result was, that the agents succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of

the people; and so adroit was their management, that the Allens held

communication with the enemy during the whole Summer without detection.

On more than one occasion, British guards, of several men, came to the

very precincts of Arlington, delivering and receiving packages in the

twilight.

In September the negotiations were renewed, the commissioners of both

parties meeting secretly at Skenesborough, within the territory of

New-York, and farther progress was made in the terms of the arrangement,

by which Vermont was in due time to throw herself "into the arms of her

legitimate sovereign." Sir Frederick Haldimand, however, was becoming

impatient of longer delay; and a strenuous effort was made for an

immediate and open declaration on the part of Vermont. To this proposition

the Vermont commissioners, Ira Allen, Joseph Fay, and a third person,

whose name is not given, pleaded that there had not yet been time to

prepare the people for so great a change, and that they should require the

repose of the approaching Winter for that object. It was at length

stipulated, however, that inasmuch as the royal authority had been

received by Sir Frederick Haldimand for that purpose, an army might

ascend the lake, with proclamations offering to confirm Vermont as a

colony under the crown, upon the principles and conditions heretofore

indicated, on the return of the people to their allegiance; the

commissioners interposing a request, that the General commanding the

expedition would endeavor to ascertain the temper of the people before

the proclamation should be actually distributed.

The Legislature of the Grants assembled at Charlestown in October.

Meantime General St. Leger, agreeably to the arrangement with Allen and

Fay, ascended the lake to Ticonderoga with a strong force, where he

rested. In order to save appearances, the Vermontese had stationed a

military force on the opposite shore, under the command of General Enos,

to whom was necessarily confided the secret. But on neither side would it

answer to entrust that secret to the subordinates. _They_ must, of course,

regard each other as enemies in good faith; and the fact that they did so

consider themselves, was productive of an affair which placed the

Vermontese in a peculiarly awkward predicament The circumstances were

these: In order to preserve at least the mimicry of war, scouts and

patrols were occasionally sent out by both parties. Unluckily one of these

Vermont patrols happened one day to encounter a similar party from the

army of St. Leger. Shots were exchanged with hearty goodwill; the Vermont

sergeant fell, and his men retreated. The body was decently interred by

order of General St. Leger, who sent his clothes to General Enos,

accompanied by an open letter apologizing for the occurrence, and

expressing his regret at the result.

It was hardly probable that an unsealed letter would pass through many

hands, and its contents remain unknown to all save the person to whom it

was addressed. Such, certainly, was not the fact in regard to the letter

in question. Its contents transpired; and great was the surprise at the

civility of General St. Leger in sending back the sergeant's clothes, and

deploring his death. A messenger was despatched by General Enos to

Governor Chittenden at Charlestown, who, not being in the secrets of his

employers, failed not, with honest simplicity, to proclaim the

circumstances of the sergeant's death, and the extraordinary message of

General St. Leger. The consequence was excitement among the people

assembled at Charlestown, attended with a kindling feeling of distrust.

"Why should General St Leger send back the clothes?" "Why regret the

death of an enemy?" were questions more easily asked by the people, than

capable of being safely and ingenuously answered by their leaders. The

consequence was, a popular clamor unpleasant to the ears of the initiated.

Major Runnels confronted Colonel Ira Allen, and demanded to know why St.

Leger was sorry for the death of the sergeant? Allen's answer was evasive

and unsatisfactory. The Major repeated the question, and Allen replied

that he had better go to St. Leger at the head of his regiment, and

demand the reason, for his sorrow, in person. A sharp altercation ensued,

which had the effect, for a short time, of diverting the attention of the

people from the dispatches which they had been clamoring to have read.

These were precious moments for the Governor and the negotiators with the

enemy. The Board of War was convened, the members of which were all in the

secret, and a set of pretended letters were hastily prepared from such

portions of General Enos's dispatches as would serve the purpose in hand,

which were read publicly to the Legislature and the people; and which had

the effect of allaying the excitement and hushing suspicion into silence.

Meantime a rumor of the capture of Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown was

wafted along upon the southern breeze; the effect of which was such upon

the people, as to induce Allen and Fay to write to the British

commissioners with St Leger, that it would be imprudent at that particular

conjuncture for him to promulgate the royal proclamation, and urging delay

to a more auspicious moment The messenger with these despatches had not

been longer than an hour at the head-quarters of St. Leger at Ticonderoga,

before the rumor respecting Cornwallis was confirmed by an express. The

effect was prodigious. All ideas or farther operations in that quarter

were instantly abandoned; and before evening of the same day, St. Leger's

troops and stores were re-embarked, and with a fair wind he made sail

immediately, back to St. John's.

From this narrative of facts, as disclosed in London many years afterward

by Colonel Ira Allen himself, it will be seen at once that General Heath

was in error, when, in his general orders of November 9th, he attributed

the inaction of General St. Leger, and his ultimate retreat, to the

preparations of Lord Stirling, and Generals Stark and Gansevoort, for his

reception. The digression which has been judged necessary to elucidate

this portion of the operations in the north, during the Summer and Autumn

of 1781, may by some readers be thought wide of the leading design of the

present work. Still, it is believed that to a majority of the public, the

facts detailed in this connexion will be new, as they must be curious in

the estimation of all. They are at the same time held to be essential to

a just appreciation of the difficulties with which the military officers

in the Northern Department, and the Government of the State of New-York,

were obliged to contend during the period under consideration. Strong

light is also reflected by them upon that portion of the history of the

war itself with which they are interblended. Every close reader of

American history is aware that there was a correspondence, of some

description, between the leaders of the people occupying the New Hampshire

Grants and the common enemy, during the later years of the Revolutionary

war. But neither the precise character, nor the extent, of that

correspondence, has been generally understood; while it has, for obvious

reasons, been the desire of those most directly concerned in those

matters, to represent the whole as a game of dissembling with an enemy

who had attempted to tamper with the patriotic sons of the Green

Mountains. [F-1] Be this as it may, it is in the secret proceedings of the

Vermont conspirators, that the key is found to the mysterious movements

of the enemy on Lake Champlain, which had so greatly harassed the American

commanders at the north during that Autumn. It was known that St. Leger

was upon the lake in great force; and having landed at Ticonderoga, to all

human calculation an invasion was intended, which the country was then

ill prepared to resist. At times he was apparently balancing upon what

point to move. With the means of striking, he did not strike; and his

dilatoriness, and apparent indecision, were alike inexplicable. The

effect was to keep the northern part of the state in constant alarm, and

to harass the militia by frequent calls to the field, against an enemy

hovering upon the shore of the lake, always, apparently, just ready to

make a descent, and yet idling away the season without farther

demonstration. Much greater quietness might have been enjoyed by the

people of New-York, so far as the common enemy was concerned, had it been

known that his hands were fettered by an armistice with a contiguous

territory, claiming to be an American state, and professing at the same

time to be at open war with the self-same enemy with whom the government

of the said territory was at that moment in secret alliance. [FN-2] When

to this singularly embarrassing position, those other difficulties which

have been passed in review are added, such as an exhausted and ravaged

country; an unfed, unclothed, unpaid and deserting army; [FN-3] extensive

disaffection among the people immediately at home; continual irruptions of

hostile partisan bands in every quarter; mobs of insurgents setting the

laws at defiance in one direction; the militia regiments in the district

thus lawless, more than half disposed to join the disorganizers; with an

actual and somewhat formidable invasion from the west; it must be

conceived that both civil and military authorities were laboring under a

complication of evils, requiring for their control all that prudence and

energy, discretion, perseverance and courage, combined, could accomplish.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Sparks, adopting the views of earlier writers, has noticed the

case in this favorable aspect in his late sketch of the Life of Ethan

Allen. The author certainly agrees with Mr. Sparks in the opinion that

"there was never any serious intention on the part of the Vermontese to

listen to the British proposals." But with great deference, after a full

examination of the case, the same cannot be said of the _leaders_ of the

Vermontese. _They_ had determined that New-York should be dismembered;

and if they could not force themselves into the confederation as a State,

they were willing to fall back into the arms of Great Britain as a

Colony. But it is very certain, from the conduct of the people of the

Grants when they heard of St. Leger's regrets at the killing of the

sergeant, that they were prepared for no such arrangement.

[FN-2] Of course General Heath was not aware of the proceedings of the

Vermontese when he issued his general orders above cited, nor was the

Government of New-York acquainted with them. Although, from the necessity

of the case, a considerable number of the Vermont leaders must have been

in the secret, it was nevertheless exceedingly well kept. It was not

until the month of March of the following year, (1782,) that Governor

Clinton communicated the affidavits of Edgar and Abeel to the

Legislature, the substance of which has been embodied in the preceding

narrative. Those affidavits explained the threats murmured by Ethan

Allen, when in Albany the Spring before. They also explained the threat

contained in a letter from Governor Chittenden, referred to in a

preceding page, while they strengthened the suspicions that had for

months been entertained by General Schuyler and Governor Clinton. But it

was not until years had elapsed that the whole truth came out.

[FN-3] "From the post of Saratoga to that of Dobbs's Ferry inclusive, I

believe there it not at this moment one day's supply of meat for the army

on hand. Supplies, particularly of beef cattle, must be speedily and

regularly provided, or our posts cannot be maintained, nor the army kept

in the field much longer."--_Letter of Washington to President Weere of

New Hampshire._

With the discomfiture and retreat of Major Ross on the one hand, and the

return of St. Leger to St. John's on the other, all active operations

ceased with the enemy at the north. But the difficulties of the state

Government with the New Hampshire Grants were on the increase; and the

controversy ran so high, that by the 1st of December an insurrection broke

out in the regiments of Colonel John Van Rensselaer and Colonel Henry K.

Van Rensselaer, in the north-eastern towns of the State; while the

regiment of Colonel Peter Yates--also belonging to the brigade of General

Gansevoort--was in a condition not much better. These disturbances arose

in Schaghticoke, Hoosic, and a place called St. Coych, and parts adjacent,

belonging then to the county of Albany; but being on the east side of the

Hudson, north of the parallel of the northern line of Massachusetts, the

Government of the New Hampshire Grants had extended its aegis over that

section of country, claiming jurisdiction, as heretofore stated, to the

Hudson river. General Gansevoort was apprised of the insurrection on the

5th. He immediately directed Colonels Yates and Henry K. Van Rensselaer,

whose regiments, at that time, were the least affected with the insurgent

spirit, to collect such troops as they could, and repair to St. Coych, to

the assistance of Colonel John Van Rensselaer. An express being dispatched

to the Governor, at Poughkeepsie, with the unwelcome information, and a

request for directions what course to pursue in the emergency, the return

of the messenger brought very explicit orders from the indomitable chief

magistrate:--"I perfectly approve of your conduct," said the Governor;

"and have only to add, that should the force already detached prove

insufficient to quell the insurrection, you will make such addition to it

as to render it effectual. I have transmitted to General Robert Van

Rensselaer the information, and have directed him, in case it should be

necessary, on your application, to give assistance from his brigade."

[FN-1] Although the fact had not been stated in the dispatches forwarded

to Governor Clinton, that the movement was beyond doubt sympathetic with,

or instigated from, the Grants, yet the Governor was at no loss at once to

attribute it to the "usurped government of that pretended State;" [FN-2]

and it was his resolute determination to oppose force to force, and, in

regard to the Grants themselves, to repel force by force.

* * * * *

[FN-1] MS. letter of Governor Clinton to General Gansevoort, Dec 11,

1781.

[FN-2] Idem.

Gansevoort did not receive his instructions from the Governor until the

15th. Meantime Colonels Yates and Henry Van Rensselaer had made no

progress in quelling the insurrection; the insurgents, on the other hand,

being on the increase, and having thrown up a block-house for defence. On

the 16th General Gansevoort took the field himself, repairing in the first

instance to the head-quarters of General Stark at Saratoga, in order to

obtain a detachment of troops and a field-piece. But the troops of Stark

were too naked to move from their quarters; and it was thought improper

for him to interfere without an order from General Heath. [FN-1]

Gansevoort then crossed over to the east side of the river, in order to

place himself at the head of such militia as he could muster in

Schaghticoke and Hoosic; but was soon met by Colonel Yates, in full

retreat from the house of Colonel John Van Rensselaer. He had been able

to raise but eighty men to put down the insurgents of John Van

Rensselaer's regiment; and on arriving at St. Coych, he discovered a force

of five hundred men advancing from the Grants to the assistance of the

rebels. Gansevoort retired five miles farther, in order to find

comfortable quarters for his men, and then attempted, but without success,

to open a correspondence with the leader of the insurgents. Calls had been

made upon four regiments, viz. those of Colonels Yates, and Henry K. Van

Rensselaer, as heretofore stated, and upon Colonel Van Vechten and Major

Taylor. But from the whole no greater force than eighty men could be

raised. Of Colonel Van Vechten's regiment, only himself, a few officers,

and one private could be brought into the field. Under these discouraging

circumstances, the General was compelled to relinquish the expedition, and

the insurgents remained the victors, to the no small terror of those of

the inhabitants who were well-disposed, inasmuch as they were apprehensive

of being taken prisoners and carried away, as had been the case with

others, should they refuse taking the oath of allegiance to the government

of Vermont. [FN-2] Thus terminated the military events of the north, of

all descriptions, for the year 1781.

* * * * *

[FN-1] In his official report upon the subject, Gansevoort rather

distrusted whether Stark assigned the true reason for withholding his

aid on this occasion. Governor Chittenden, of the Grants, having just

addressed him a letter requesting him not to interfere with hie troops.

[FN-2] The materials for this rapid sketch of the insurrection of Dec.

1781, at the north-east of Albany, have been drawn from the Gansevoort

papers, which are broken and imperfect. The controversy with Vermont was

continued, with greater or less force, and in different ways, for several

years. But a calm and powerful letter from General Washington to Governor

Chittenden, written early in January, 1782, had great influence in

causing the government of the Grants to relinquish the territory of

New-York, twenty miles broad, upon the eastern side of the Hudson, upon

which they had seized. The leaders who had entered upon the

correspondence with the enemy in Canada, continued an interchange of

communications during several months of the following year; but the

course of things soon stripped that strange negotiation of its danger,

and rendered it of no importance. Meantime, although Governor Clinton was

fully determined to subdue the refractory spirits of the Green Mountains,

the latter continued to gain strength and friends, and as their local

government became settled, it was for the most part wisely and

efficiently administered. Time and again the question was brought before

Congress, where nobody cared to act upon it definitively. Hamilton, Jay,

and Governeur Morris, all seemed to think it the part of wisdom to allow

the secession and independence of Vermont. Things remained in an

unsettled state, however, until after the adoption of the federal

constitution by New-York in 1788, after which the controversy was

amicably adjusted; Vermont agreeing to pay thirty thousand dollars as a

full indemnification to persons in New-York holding titles to lands

within its boundaries.

There yet remain a few occurrences, connected with the Indian operations

of the year, to be noted before closing the present chapter. It was in

the Spring of this year that what was called the Coshocton campaign of

Colonel Brodhead was performed, and was attended by circumstances that

cannot be recalled with other than painful emotions. [FN-1] It had at

different times been the purpose of the Commander-in-chief that Colonel

Brodhead should penetrate through the Ohio territory to Detroit; but that

design was never accomplished. The expedition now under review was led by

Brodhead against the villages of the unfriendly Delaware Indians at the

forks of the Muskingum. In passing through the settlement of the

Moravian Indians at Salem, under the religious care of the Rev. Mr.

Heckewelder, some of Brodhead's men manifested a hostile disposition

toward those inoffensive noncombatants; but their hostile feelings were

repressed by Brodhead, whose exertions were seconded by Colonel Shepherd,

of Wheeling. The towns against which the Americans were proceeding were

under the control of Captain Pipe, who had espoused the cause of the crown

at the instigation of McKee, Elliott, and Girty. On approaching Coshocton,

Brodhead's forces were divided into three divisions; and so secret and

rapid was their march, that the villages on the eastern bank of the river

were fallen upon, and all the Indians who were at home taken, without

firing a gun. [FN-2] The immediate object of this visitation was to

punish, as it was alleged, the Indians of those towns for some recent

cruelties of unwonted atrocity. They had made a late incursion upon the

frontiers of Virginia, in the course of which a considerable number of

prisoners were taken; but, having been disappointed in the measure of

their success, in a moment of rage they bound all the adult male captives

to trees, and put them to death by torture, amidst the tears and

lamentations of their families. [FN-3] It was now Colonel Brodhead's

design to inflict summary vengeance for those murders. He had with him a

friendly Delaware chief, named _Pekillon,_ who pointed out sixteen of the

captive warriors, upon whom he charged the murders in question. A council

of war was convened in the evening, which decided that those sixteen

warriors should be put to death. They were therefore bound, and despatched

with tomahawk and spear, and scalped. [FN-4]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Doddridge, in his Indian Wars, dates the expedition referred to

in 1790. Drake, who follows Heckewelder, states that it occurred in 1781.

[FN-2] Doddridge.

[FN-3] Drake.

[FN-4] Doddridge.

A heavy rain had swollen the river, so that Colonel Brodhead could not

cross over to the villages upon the opposite side. On the following

morning an Indian presented himself upon the other side, and called for

an interview with the "Great Captain," meaning the commander of the

expedition. Colonel Brodhead presented himself, and inquired what he

wanted. "I want peace," was the reply. "Send over some of your chiefs,"

said the Colonel. "Maybe you kill," rejoined the Indian. "They shall not

be killed," was the answer. A fine-looking sachem thereupon crossed the

river, and while engaged in conversation with Colonel Brodhead, a white

savage, named Wetzel, stole treacherously behind the unsuspecting warrior,

and struck him dead to the earth. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Doddridge.

Some ten or twelve prisoners were taken from another village farther up

the river; and Brodhead commenced his return on the same day, committing

the prisoners to a guard of militia. They had not proceeded far, however,

before the barbarian guards began to butcher their captives; and all,

save a few women and children, were presently despatched in cold blood.

[FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Idem.

Glancing yet farther south, the Cherokee Indians having again become

troublesome, and made an incursion into South Carolina, massacring some

of the inhabitants and burning their houses, General Pickens proceeded

into their own country, and inflicted upon them severe and summary

chastisement. In the space of fourteen days, at the head of less than

four hundred men, he killed upward of forty of the Indians, and destroyed

thirteen towns. His troops were mounted men, who charged rapidly upon the

Indians, cutting them down with their sabres with great effect. Unused to

this mode of warfare, they sued immediately for peace.

The fall of Cornwallis was, in fact, the last important act of that great

drama--The American Revolution. Although the British were yet in

considerable force in New-York, and were likewise in the occupancy of

various posts in the southern states, still the season for active

operations was past; and after the loss of the army of Cornwallis, they

were not in sufficient force in the north to resist the troops that could

now be directed against them. The campaigning of the year 1781, and in

fact of the war of the Revolution, were therefore at an end. Still, there

were other belligerent incidents occurring for months afterward, the

record of which will require another chapter.