History of Montgomery & Fulton Counties by F. W. Beers & Co. Montgomery County, Ch6

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY

CHAPTER VI.

TRYON COUNTY ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION--THE JOHNSON'S-- PATRIOTIC-GATHERINGS AND UTTERANCES.

Perhaps in no section of the northern colonies were the loyalists so numerous or so influential at the beginning of the Revolutionary agitations as along the Mohawk valley. A state of things existed in this quarter unfavorable to the spirit of independence. Many conditions conspired to make the cause of the crown popular and powerful that were lacking in other sections, prominent among which was the almost absolute power that Sir William Johnson had obtained over the Six Nations and a large share of the white inhabitants. His domains in the Mohawk valley (including the 66,000 acres mostly in what is now Herkimer county, which in 1760 were given him by the Mohawks, and in the possession of which he was confirmed by the crown, leading to its being, called the Royal grant), were exceedingly extensive, and his influence through many subordinate officers and a numerous tenantry was correspondingly great. His opinion on all matters of importance with which he was concerned was considered that of a sage; and though not decidedly expressed, it naturally favored the government which had bestowed upon him wealth and rank. The name of Sir William Johnson, who had been the people's friend and companion in peace and their leader in war, was a tower of strength throughout Tryon County; and it was but natural that his sentiments on so momentous questions as those raised between the colonies and the crown should have persuaded to the side of the latter, or at least rendered neutral, some who would otherwise have cast in their lot with the colonists. By the Indians, not only of the Six Nations, but also of the western tribes which had fallen within the circle of his influence, the Baronet was regarded with the greatest veneration in spite of his unassuming sociability and his familiar manners, incident to a border life.

Notwithstanding that royalist influences thus seemed predominant in the Mohawk valley, the stamp act agitation and other excitements that followed it penetrated this secluded region and kindled the same patriotic flame that was beginning to glow throughout the colonies; so that the people were not uninterested spectators while the conflict of power and principle was going on upon the seaboard previous to the organization of the continental army.

Upon the death of Sir William Johnson, July 11, 1774, his son, Sir John Johnson, succeeded to his post of Major-General of the militia, as well as to his title and most of his estate, and his son-in-law, Col. Guy Johnson, became superintendent of Indian affairs. But no heir to the first Baronet's property or offices had the record or the personal qualities to enable him to sway the sceptre of Sir William. Sir John was unsocial, morose and irascible in disposition, and a man of small popularity. The Johnson's, however were strongly supported by the influence of "Miss Molly," Sir William's Mohawk housekeeper, over the tribe to which she belonged; and her efforts were seconded by the strenuous exertions of her brother Thayendanegea, better known as Joseph Brant, who had been in the service of the first Baronet during the last years of the latter's life, and upon his death became the secretary of Guy Johnson. Thus a great, though diminished influence still emanated from Johnson Hall. Its proprietor was in close official and political relations with Col. John Butler, a wealthy and influential resident of the county, and his son Walter, whose names were rendered infamous by their brutal and bloody deeds during the Revolution. The Johnson family, together with other gentlemen of the same views, owning large estates in their neighborhood, so far controlled a belt of the Mohawk valley as to measurably prevent the circulation of intelligence unfavorable to the mother country.

But the white settlers were generally the Dutch, who had gradually extended their settlements up the valley from Schenectady and occupied the eastern part of the county; and the Germans from the Palatinate who had located farther west. These people were not disposed to submit to the new-fledged aristocrats who assumed a high and mighty style in dealing with the sturdy yeoman. The Johnsons soon found that the principles avowed in rebellious Boston had taken root even in their midst; while the far-reaching influence wielded by Sir William was narrowing dow'n to a sort of feudal domination over a few hundred tenants and immediate retainers. Many of the inhabitants of Tryon County, in common with those of other parts of the country, viewed with alarm and indignation the oppressive acts of the English ministry, and deeply sympathized with the people of Boston, upon whom the iron hand of tyranny had fallen. Before Sir William had been in his grave two months a public meeting was held in the Palatine district, warmly approving the calling of a congress for mutual consultation upon the political exigencies of the colonies. The resolutions adopted breathe the genuine spirit of freedom, and must have required noble decision and courage to promulgate in so remote and defenceless a region, filled with loyalists and Indians controlled by them. They may be read as follows, from the original minutes of the meeting in the handwriting of Christopher P. Yates:

" WHEREAS, The British Parliament has lately passed an act for raising a revenue in America without the consent'of our representative, abridging the liberties and privileges of the American colonies, and, therefore, blocking up the port of Boston; the freeholders and inhabitants of and in the county of Tryon aforesaid, looking with concern and heartfelt sorrow on these alarming and calamitous conditions, do meet this 27th day of August, 1774, on that purpose at the house of Adam Loucks, Esq., at Stone Arabia, and conclude the resolutions following, viz.:

" FIRST.-That King George the Third is lawful and rightful lord and sovereign of Great Britain and the dominions thereto belonging, and that as part of his dominions, we hereby testify that we will bear true faith and allegiance to him; and that we both with our lives and fortunes, will sup port and maintain him upon the throne of his ancestors, in the justdependence of these, his colonies, upon the crown of Great Britain.

" SECOND.-That we think and consider it as our greatest happiness to be governed by the laws of Great Britain, and that with cheerfulness we will always pay submission thereunto, as far as we consistently can with the security of the constitutional rights and liberties of English subjects, which are so sacred that we cannot permit the same to be violated.

" THIRD.-That we think it is our undeniable privilege to be taxed only with our own consent, given by ourselves, or our representatives; that taxes otherwise laid and enacted are unjust and unconstitutional; that the late Acts of Parliament declarative of their right of laying internal taxes on the American colonies are obvious encroachments on the rights and liberties of the British subjects in America.

" FOURTH.-That the act for blocking up the port of Boston is oppressive and arbitrary, injurious in its principles, and particularly oppressive to the people of Boston, whom we consider as brethren suffering in the common cause.

" FIFTH.-That we will unite and join with the different districts of this county in giving whatever relief it is in our power to the distressed inhabitants of Boston, and that we will join and unite with our brethren of the rest of this colony in anything tending to support and defend our rights and liberties.

" SIXTH.-That we think the sending of delegates from the different colonies to a general Continental Congress is a salutary measure, and absolutely necessary at this alarming crisis, and that we entirely approve of the five gentlemen chosen delegates for this colony, by our brethren of New York, hereby adopting and choosing the same persons to represent this colony at the Congress.

" SEVENTH.-That we hereby engage faithfully to abide by and adhere to such restrictions and resolutions as shall be made and agreed upon by the said Congress.

" EIGHTH.-That we conceive it necessary that there be appointed a standing committee of this county to correspond with the committees of New York and Albany; and we do hereby appoint Christopher P. Yates, Isaac Paris, John Frey, and Andrew Finck, Jr., who, together with persons to be appointed by the other districts of this county, shall compose a Committee of Correspondence to convey the sentiments of this county in a set of resolves to New York.

" NINTH.-It is voted by this meeting that copies of the proceedings of this day, certified by the chairman, be transmitted to the supervisors of the different districts of this county, and we recommend it to the inhabitants of the said district to appoint persons to compose also a committee of correspondence."

At the meeting of the Continental Congress in September, 1774, a Declaration of Rights was adopted, showing wherein the colonies were subjected to injustice. It had a powerful effect in forming and defining public opinion, ana drawing the lines between patriot and tory in this inland district. It was beginning to be suspected that Col. Guy Johnson was using his official authority with the Indians to alienate them from the cause of the Americans, and induce them to declare for the King in case of a conflict. Brant, Johnson's secretary, was incessantly visiting the tribes, and holding secret conferences with the chiefs. His former friendly intercourse with the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, missionary among the Oneidas, suddenly ceased, and at the instigation of Brant, an Oneida chief, preferred charges against the clergyman before Johnson, and asked his removal. It was well known that this faithful minister was a staunch patriot, and the action of the wily Sachem could not be misunderstood. The Oneidas as a nation, however, rallied to the support of Kirkland; his removal was for a time deferred, and to his influence may be attributed the position taken by the tribe during the long Revolutionary struggle, and the signal aid which they gave to the cause of freedom.

The Johnson family and their associates having promptly sided with the crown, made active efforts to smother the spirit of liberty, which was evidently gaining strength, but by a measure of their own adoption, they managed to fan into full blaze, instead of extinguishing the spark that had been struck in the Palatine District. In the spring of 1775, just before the second Congress assembled at Philadelphia, the exciting intelligence of the encounter at Lexington was received in Johnstown, during a session of court. The loyalists, thereupon, thinking it time to assert themselves, undertook a demonstration against the colonial Congress, by circulating for signature a declaration disapproving of the proceedings of that body in the preceding autumn. This provoked a spirited altercation, but the movers in the affair succeeded in obtaining the signatures of a majority of the grand jurors and magistrates of the county. This procedure of the tones threw the whigs, who comprised a considerable majority of the white population of Tryon county, into a fever of excitement and indignation. They judged the time had arrived for a decided step, and public meetings were called, and committees appointed in all the districts, and sub-committees in nearly every precinct.

The first mass meeting of the whigs was broken up by the violent interference of the tories. Some three hundred patriots had assembled unarmed at Caughnawaga to proclaim their sentiments and raise a liberty pole, a most offensive object to Tory eyes. Before their purpose was accomplished, Sir John Johnson and Cols. Claus, Guy Johnson and Butler, with a large number of their retainers, armed with swords and pistols, arrived on the ground. Guy Johnson mounted a high stoop and harangued the crowd with great vehemence. He expatiated on the strength of the king and government, and the folly of revolt. A single British ship, he said, could destroy all the navy that the colonies might set afloat. He had not a conciliatory word for the people, but denounced their proceedings in virulent and abusive language. Among the leading whigs present were Sampson Sammons, a wealthy farmer, living a little north of the place of meeting, and two of his sons, Jacob and Frederick. Johnson's speech so irritated Jacob, that he interrupted the speaker by pronouncing him a liar and a villian. Johnson leaped from his rostrum and seized young Sammons by the throat. A struggle followed, in which Sammons was felled to the ground by a blow from a loaded whip-handle, producing a momentary stupor. Recovering he found one of Johnson's servants sitting astride his body. Flinging him off he sprung up and renewed the fight. Pistols were presented to his breast, but he was destined to suffer much more rough handling for his country's sake, and they were not fired. He was, however, knocked down again and severely beaten by the Tories. Meanwhile, his unarmed companions had dispersed, and on escaping from the clutches of the Johnson men, Sammons was satisfied to retire to his father's house, bearing upon his body the first scars of the Revolutionary contest in the county of Tryon.

A crowded and spirited whig meeting was held shortly after in the church at Cherry Valley. The orator of the occasion was a resident named Thomas Spencer, who had served as an Indian interpreter. He delivered fl rude but forcible speech, and resolutions were adopted strongly condemning the conduct of the Johnstown tories, and explicitly approving the proceedings of the Continental Congress. A second meeting at the house of Adam Loucks, fearing that the Johnstown tory declaration might pass for the voice of the county, if no notice was taken of it, adopted an article of association, endorsing the action of Congress, and pledging the signers to its support. A committee to correspond with those of other districts was appointed, consisting of Christopher P. Yates, John Frey, Isaac Paris, Andrew Finck, Jr., Andrew Reeber, Peter Waggoner, Anthony Van Vechten, Daniel McDougall, Jacob Klock, George Ecker, Jr., Harmanus Van Slyck, and Christopher W. Fox.

Adam Loucks, at whose house this meeting was held, lived on what is now known as the Graft farm, (being occupied by Erwin Graff,) some two miles from Palatine Bridge. Loucks was a Justice of the Peace, upon the bench at the sitting of the first "Court of General Quarter Sessions" at Johnstown.