Border Wars of the American Revolution by William L. Stone

CHAPTER XVIII.
The erection of an advanced post, called Fort Laurens, on the Tuscarawa, by General M'Intosh, who was directed to advance upon the Indian towns of Sandusky, has been mentioned in a preceding chapter. Colonel Gibson, who had been left in command of the fort, with a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, soon found his position rather uncomfortable, by reason of the swarms of Indians hovering about the precincts, who soon became so numerous as completely to invest the little fortress. The first hostile demonstration of the forest warriors was executed with equal cunning and success. The horses of the garrison were allowed to forage for themselves upon the herbage, among the dried prairie-grass immediately in the vicinity of the fort, wearing bells, that they might be the more easily found, if straying too far. It happened, one morning in January, that the horses had all disappeared, but the bells were heard, seemingly at no great distance. They had, in truth, been stolen by the Indians, and conveyed away. The bells, however, were taken off, and used for another purpose. Availing themselves of the tall prairie-grass, the Indians formed an ambuscade, at the farthest extremity of which they caused the bells to jingle as a decoy. The artifice was successful. A party of sixteen men was sent in pursuit of the straggling steeds, who fell into the snare. Fourteen were killed upon the spot, and the remaining two taken prisoners, one of whom returned at the close of the war, and of the other nothing was ever heard. Towards evening of the same day, the whole force of the Indians, painted, and in the full costume of war, presented themselves in full view of the garrison, by marching in single files, though at a respectful distance, across the prairie. Their number, according to a count from one of the bastions, was eight hundred and forty-seven ; altogether too great to be encountered- in the field by so small a garrison. After this display of their strength, the Indians took a position upon an elevated piece of ground at no great distance from the fort, though on the opposite side of the river. In this situation they remained several weeks, in a state rather of armed neutrality than of active hostility. Some of them would frequently approach the fort sufficiently near to hold conversations with those upon the walls. They uniformly professed a desire for peace, but protested against the encroachments of the white people upon their lands; more especially was the erection of a fort so far 'within the territory claimed by them as exclusively their own, a cause of complaint, nay, of admitted exasperation. There was with the Americans in the fort an aged friendly Indian, named John Thompson, who seemed to be in equal favour with both parties, visiting the Indian encampment at pleasure, and coming and going as he chose. They informed Thompson that they deplored the continuance of hostilities, and finally sent word by him to Colonel Gibson that they were desirous of peace, and if he would present them with a barrel of flour, they would send in their proposals the next day. The flour was sent, but the Indians, instead of fulfilling their part of the stipulation, withdrew, and entirely disappeared. They had, indeed, continued the siege as long as they could obtain subsistence, and raised it only because of the lack of supplies. Still, as the beleaguerment was begun in stratagem, so was it ended. Colonel Gibson's provisions were also running short, and, as he supposed the Indians had entirely gone off, he directed Colonel Clark, of the Pennsylvania line, with a detachment of fifteen men, to escort the invalids of the garrison, amounting to ten or a dozen men, back to Fort M'lntosh. But the Indians had left a strong party of observation lurking in the neighbourhood of the fort, and the escort had proceeded only two miles before it was fallen upon, and the whole number killed, with the exception of four, one of whom, a captain, escaped back to the fort. The bodies of the slain were interred by the garrison, on the same day, with the honours of war. A party was likewise sent out to collect the remains of the fourteen who had first fallen by the ambuscade, and bury them.
The situation of the garrison was now becoming deplorable. For two weeks the men had been reduced to half a pound of sour flour, and a like quan-
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tity of offensive meat, per diem; and for a week longer they were compelled to subsist only upon raw hides, and such roots as they could find in the circumjacent woods and prairies, when General M'lntosh most opportunely arrived to their relief, with supplies, and a re-enforcement of seven hundred men. But still they came near being immediately reduced to short allowance again, by an untoward accident causing the loss of a great portion of their fresh supplies. These supplies were transported through the wilderness upon pack-horses. The garrison, overjoyed at the arrival of succours, on their approach to within about a hundred yards of the fort manned the parapets and fired a salute of musketry. But the horses, young in the service, were affrighted at the detonation of the guns, and broke from their guides. The example was contagious, and in a moment more the whole cavalcade of pack-horses were bounding into the woods at full gallop, dashing their burdens to the ground, and scattering them over many a rood in all directions, the greater portion of which could never be recovered. But there was yet enough of provisions saved to cause the mingling of evil with the good. Very incautiously, the officers dealt out two days' rations per man, the whole "of which was devoured by the famishing soldiers, to the imminent hazard of the lives of all, and resulting in the severe sickness of many. Leaving the fort again, General M'lntosh assigned the command to Major Vernon, who remained upon the station several months. He, in turn, was left to endure the horrors of famine, until longer to endure was death; whereupon the fort was evacuated and the position abandoned, its occupation and maintenance, at the cost of great fatigue and suffering, and the expense of many lives, having been not of the least service to the country.
But, notwithstanding the untoward result of General M'lntosh's expedition, the Indian branch of the service opened auspiciously the present year elsewhere, and first in a region yet deeper in the West than Fort Laurens. Colonel Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, a rough, bad-tempered, and cruel officer, who had signalized himself by the exertion of a malignant influence over the Indians, and had provoked them to take up the hatchet against the Americans by every possible means-instigating them to deeds of blood by large rewards-had projected a powerful Indian expedition against the Virginia frontier, to be executed early in the spring. With this design, at the close of the preceding autumn Hamilton left Detroit, and took post at St. Vincent's, on the Wabash, in order to act earlier and more efficiently immediately after the breaking up of winter. But his purpose was most happily defeated by a blow from a direction which he did not anticipate. Colonel Clarke, who was yet with a small force in command of Kaskaskias, having learned in February that Hamilton had weakened himself by despatching many of his Indians in different directions to annoy the frontiers of the states, formed the bold. resolution of attacking him in his quarters. After a difficult movement by land and water, at the head of one hundred and thirty men, Clarke suddenly arrived before St. Vincent's. The town at once submitted, and on the following day Colonel Hamilton and the garrison surrendered themselves prisoners of war. It was the good fortune of Colonel Clarke, also, to intercept and capture a valuable convoy of provisions and stores coming to St. Vincent's from Detroit. Hamilton was transferred to Virginia, where the Council of the Commonwealth instituted an inquiry into the inhuman conduct imputed to him, and his confinement in irons, on a diet of bread and water, was recommended. The plans of the enemy were not a little disconcerted by this small, though brilliant affair; and peace with several of the Indian tribes in that direction was the immediate consequence.
In the mean time, and before this disaster befell the Detroit expedition, some bold winter emprise was projected by Joseph Brant, which, in consequence, probably, of the capture of Hamilton, miscarried, or, rather, was not attempted to be put in execution. There is reason to suppose that a part of his project was to strike a blow upon the Oneidas themselves, unless they could be seduced from their neutrality, amounting, as it did, almost to an alliance with the United States.* But this faithful tribe were neither to be coaxed nor driven from the stand they had maintained since the beginning of the controversy. On the 16th and 17th of January, the Oneidas and Tuscaroras held a council, to deliberate upon the invitations of the Quiquogas and Captain Brant, the result of which they communicated to Colonel Van Dyck on the following day. They informed that efficient officer that, after giving permission to any of their tribe who desired to join the enemy to withdraw, there was a unanimous resolution of the council " to stand by each other in defence of their lives and liberty, against any enemy that might be disposed to attack them." Seven of the principal Onondaga chiefs, who had hitherto been considered as neutrals, being at the time in Oneida, on their way to Fort Schuyler, it was determined to call them in to the council, and acquaint them with the above resolution. It was
* On the 9th of April, 1779, Congress passed a resolution granting the commission of captain to four of the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians, and eight commissions of lieutenants. Subsequently, the then principal Oneida chief, Louis Atayataroughta, was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel. Louis, or "Colonel Louis," as he was afterward called, was the representative of three races, being part Indian, part Negro, and part white man. A few other commissions were issued to those Indians in the course of the war. The greater number served faithfully. Some were killed, and three of the lieutenants deserted to the enemy, and exchanged their commissions for the same rank in the British service.
accordingly done, by the transmission of a large black belt of wampum. The Onondagas replied, "That they were very glad to hear the resolution which their children, the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, had made, and were determined to join them to oppose any invader."
The Onondagas farther engaged, upon their return home, to effect a final separation in their tribe, and insist that every one should declare for one side or the other. The conduct of most of the Onondagas had been from the first equivocal, often openly hostile. But those present at this council manifested a better feeling, and joined in the request of the Oneidas for troops to aid in their protection. The Oneidas, on this occasion, placed great confidence in the professions of their Onondaga brethren, and were in high spirits at the result of the council.
There was other evidence, not only of the intention of Thayendanegea to make a powerful Indian descent upon the Mohawk during this winter, but of the supposed fidelity of these Onondagas to the United States. About the middle of February, General Clinton having, through various channels, and by several expresses, received information at Albany of such a design, marched to Schenectady with Colonel Van Schaick's regiment, ordering the latter as far up the Mohawk as Caughnawaga, there to await the event. On the 36th of February, Captain Copp, of Fort Van Dyck, wrote to Captain Graham, then in charge of Fort Schuyler, announcing that two of the Oneida messengers, of distinguished (Indian) families, had just returned from Niagara, where they had obtained positive evidence of Brant's purpose. The Mohawk chief had received expresses announcing that the Shawanese and Delawares were to strike a simultaneous blow upon the frontier of Virginia;* and Brant himself was to lead
*The project of Colonel Hamilton, frustrated by his capture.
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the main expedition direct to the Mohawk, while another diversion -was to be created by sending a smaller force round by the Unadilla, to fall upon the settlements of Schoharie. In regard to the fidelity of the Onondagas, it was stated by the Oneida chiefs that fourteen of that nation had been despatched to Niagara by the chiefs of the tribe, to persuade their brethren, who had taken up the hatchet -with the Mohawks, to return. But these fourteen messengers had not been permitted to come back themselves, and the Onondagas were apprehensive that they and all their people at Niagara had been made prisoners. The uneasiness in Tryon county was greatly increased under these circumstances. Major Jelles Fonda wrote to General Clinton that there were yet three hundred Tory families in the northern part of that settlement, affording aid and comfort to the hostile refugees, who kept up a continual intercourse with them, across through the woods, or by Lake Champlain to Canada. For greater security, therefore, he urged permission to build a strong blockhouse, and station fifty rangers within it, on the Sacondaga River, directly north of Johnstown.
Captain Brant, however, either abandoned or deferred the threatened invasion. The winter, consequently, passed away without any. serious disturbance in that region. But, notwithstanding all the fair professions of the Onondagas, their treachery had become alike so manifest and so injurious as to render it expedient, immediately on the opening of the spring, to make them a signal example to their red brethren. Accordingly, early in April an expedition was detailed upon this service by General Clinton, with the approbation of the commander-in-chief, consisting of detachments from the regiments of Colonels Van Schaick and Gansevoort, to the number of five hundred men, under the conduct of the former. The troops were moved as expeditiously as possible to Fort Schuyler, and thirty batteaux were simultaneously ordered thither to transport them down Wood Creek, and through the Oneida Lake to Three Rivers. Colonel Van Schaick's instructions were very full and explicit upon every point. The design was to proceed as rapidly and cautiously as possible, in order to take the Indians by surprise ; for which purpose, on the morning of the departure of the expedition, it was to be announced that its destination was against Oswego. Colonel Van Schaick was directed to barn and utterly destroy the village and castle of the Onondagas, together with all their cattle and effects; but he was strictly enjoined to make as many prisoners as possible, and put none to death who could be taken alive. The following passage occurs in the instructions of General Clinton on this occasion, which is worthy of preservation : "Bad as the savages are, they never violate the chastity of any women, their prisoners. Although I have very little apprehension that any of the soldiers will so far forget their character as to attempt such a crime on the Indian women who may fall into their hands, yet it will be well to take measures to prevent such a stain upon our army." This injunction speaks volumes in praise of the soldier who wrote it.
The orders to Colonel Van Schaick were issued on the 9th of April, and so rapidly were the necessary arrangements expedited, that everything was in readiness for the departure from Fort Schuyler on the 18th. During the evening of that day, the batteaux, with the necessary stores, were silently removed across the carrying-place to Wood Creek, and all things there placed in order. The troops were early in motion on the morning of the 19th, and a thick mist contributed essentially in covering the movement, had there been any spies lurking about to make observation. The number of men embarked, including officers, was five hundred and fifty-eight. Their progress to the Oneida Lake was considerably impeded, by reason of trees which had fallen across the creek, so that much of the first day's journey was performed by the troops on foot. The passage of the Oneida Lake was effected as expeditiously as possible ; and although they encountered a strong and excessively disagreeable headwind, they nevertheless reached the Onondaga Landing, opposite to old Fort Brewington, with the whole flotilla, by three o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th. Leaving a suitable guard with the boats, the little army pushed immediately forward, and, despite the obstacles in traversing a deep-tangled forest, the soil resembling a morass, they marched nine miles without halting. The night was dark, wet, and cold; but knowing well the wariness of the enemy and the celerity of their movements, and how frequently they were prepared to strike when least expected, the troops were necessarily precluded from kindling fires, and obliged to sleep on their arms. The march was resumed very early on the morning of the 21st, and, in order to save time, they were obliged to ford an arm of the Onondaga Lake, about two hundred yards wide and four feet in depth. Arriving at the estuary of Onondaga Creek, at the head of the lake. Captain Graham, commanding the advanced guard, captured one of the warriors of the tribe; and although they were now within two or three miles of the village and castle, this was the first Indian seen, or who was apprized of the approach of the expedition. Captain Graham was now directed again to advance with all possible rapidity and caution, for the purpose of surrounding the lower castle, while the residue of the main force was divided into small detachments, and hurried forward for the purpose of falling upon the other towns in such rapid succession as, if possible, to take all the villages by surprise. This chain of villages extended through the valley of the Onondaga Creek for the distance of ten miles. The tribe had once been among the most powerful of the Aganuschioni, or confederated people of the Five Nations. Situated in the centre of the confederacy, to the Onondagas, time immemorial, had been committed the keeping of the great council fire. This fire had been extinguished in 1693 by Count Frontenac, who then came against it at the head of a powerful expedition from Montreal, and utterly destroyed the village. It had again been put out in the spring of 1777, and was now doomed to a third extinction, equally summary and complete with the former. But although the expedition of Colonel Van Schaick had been thus far, and was throughout, admirably conducted, the surprise was not as complete as had been intended. While Captain Graham's company was securing a few prisoners taken in the outskirts of the village, near the principal castle, means were found by the wily adversary to give the alarm in advance. The tidings, of course, flew from village to village with greater rapidity than the several detachments of troops could equal, and the Indians scattered off to the woods in all directions. But such was the precipitancy of their flight, that they carried nothing with them, not even their arms. Still, thirty-three of their number were taken prisoners, and twelve killed. Three villages, consisting of about fifty houses, were burned to the ground, and a large quantity of provisions, consisting chiefly of beans and corn, destroyed. Nearly one hundred muskets were taken among the booty, and several rifles, together with a considerable quantity of ammunition. Their swivel at the council-house was rendered useless, and their cattle and horses were destroyed. The work of destruction having been completed, the detachment immediately commenced its return to Fort Schuyler. It was fired upon in the afternoon by a small party of Indians in the woods, but without injury, while one of the enemy fell by the return fire. On Saturday, the 24th, the troops were all back again at Fort Schuyler, having performed a journey, going and returning, of one hundred and eighty miles, and effected their object without the loss of a single man.
At this distance of time, from the very imperfect data afforded by written history, this expedition against the Onondagas appears like a harsh, if not an unnecessary measure. But, notwithstanding the professions of this nation, those in the direction of public affairs at that period unquestionably felt its chastisement to be a work of Stern necessity. General Schuyler had written that, unless some exemplary blow should be inflicted upon the hostiles of the Six Nations, Schenectady would shortly become the boundary of the American settlements in that direction. The enterprise had, moreover, the sanction of the commander-in-chief; while nothing could be more humane, in regard to a warlike expedition, than the instructions of General Clinton.
It is, perhaps, a coincidence worth noting, that on the very day on which Colonel Van Schaick departed from Fort Schuyler for Onondaga, the lower section of the Mohawk Valley was thrown into alarm by the sudden appearance of an Indian force simultaneously on both sides of the river, in the vicinity of Palatine. On the south side, a party rushed down upon the settlement, took three prisoners, together with several horses, and drove the inhabitants into Fort Plank. At the very same hour, another division of the savages made a descent upon the back part of Stone-Arabia, where, in the onset, they burned two houses and murdered one man. The next house in their course belonged to Captain Richer. The occupants were Richer, his wife and two sons, and an old man. The captain and his two boys, being armed, on the near approach of the Indians gave them a warm reception. A sharp action ensued. The old man, being unarmed, was killed; as also was one of the brave boys, a lad seventeen years of age. Captain Richer was severely wounded, and his arm was broken; his other son was also wounded in the elbow, and his wife in one of her legs. And yet, notwithstanding that the whole garrison was either killed or wounded, the Indians retreated on the loss of two of their number.
On the same day, a party of Senecas appeared in Schoharie, made prisoners of Mr. Lawyer and Mr. Cowley, and plundered their houses. The panic was again general; the people flying to the forts for safety, and the Committee of Palatine writing immediately to General Clinton, at Albany, for assistance. The general was an officer of great activity, and so rapidly did he move in cases of alarm, that he traversed the Mohawk Valley with Colonel Gansevoort's regiment and the Schenectady militia, and was back at Albany again on the 28th. The Indians who appeared on the south side were from the West; those on the north side were Mohawks from Canada. General Clinton, in his despatches to the governor, his brother, expressed an opinion that, but for his timely movement on that occasion, the enemy would have driven the settlements all in upon Schenectady.
On the 30th of April, Lieutenants M'Clellan and Hardenburgh returned to Fort Schuyler from an unsuccessful expedition, at the head of a body of Indians, against the small British garrison at Oswegatchie. It was their intention to take the fort by surprise ; but, falling in prematurely with some straggling Indians, several shots were imprudently exchanged, by reason of which their approach became known to the garrison. They then attempted by stratagem to draw the enemy from the fort, and partly succeeded, but could not induce them to venture far enough from their works to cut them off; and on approaching the fort themselves, the assailants were so warmly received by cannister and grape as to be compelled to retreat without unnecessary delay. The only service performed was to send a Caughnawaga Indian into Canada with a letter in French, by " a French general," probably the Marquis de Lafayette, addressed to the Canadians, and written in the preceding autumn. This expedition was despatched from Fort Schuyler on the day before Colonel Van Schaick moved upon Onondaga ; and, from a letter addressed by General Clinton, six weeks afterward, to General Sullivan, there is reason to believe one object was to get clear of the Oneida Indians then in the fort, until Colonel Van Schaick should have proceeded so far upon his expedition that they or their people would not be able to give the Onondagas notice of his approach. All the Indians still remaining in Fort Schuyler on the 17th were detained expressly for that object of precaution. General Clinton conceded their usefulness as scouts and spies upon the British forces; but, he observed," Their attachment to one another is too strong to admit of their being of any service when employed against their fellows." This testimony is certainly not discreditable to the Indian character as such.
The Onondagas, fired with indignation at the destruction of their villages and castle, and the putting out of the great council-fire which they had so long kept burning at their national altar, resolved upon summary vengeance. To this end, three hundred of their warriors were speedily upon the warpath, bending their steps to the valley of the Schoharie Kill. The settlement of Cobleskill, which had suffered so severely the preceding year, situated about ten miles west of the Schoharie Kill, and yet comprising nineteen German families, was the first object of attack. But they were prevented from taking the place by surprise, in consequence of two of their number straggling a considerable distance in advance of the main body, who were discovered by a scout of two of the Cobleskill militia. One of the Indians was shot, and the other fled; and the scouts hastened home to give the alarm. Intelligence of the enemy's approach was immediately despatched to Schoharie, with a request for assistance. A captain of the Continental army was thereupon sent to Cobleskill with a detachment of regular troops. On the following morning a party of Indians sallied out of the woods, and after approaching the settlement, suddenly returned. They were pursued by a small detachment of troops to the edge of the forest, where their reception was so sharp as to compel a retreat. The captain himself immediately marched to the scene of action with the whole of his little band, together with fifteen volunteers of the militia. The Indians receded before the whites for a time, and continued the deception by showing themselves at first in small numbers on the skirt of the forest, until they had accomplished the identical purpose they had in view. The captain and his men pursued, without any knowledge of the disparity of numbers they had to encounter, until the Indians had drawn them sufficiently within their toils to make a stand. Their numbers now multiplied rapidly, and the battle became animated. The captain fell wounded, and was soon afterward killed. His men, panic-stricken, instantly fled; but in the twinkling of an eye, a cloud of several hundred savages, until then in concealment, rose up on all sides of Ahem, pouring in a deadly shower of rifle balls, and making the forest ring with their appalling yells. The inhabitants of the settlement, on perceiving the disaster which had befallen the troops, fled in the direction of Schoharie with a portion of the fugitive soldiers. Their flight was facilitated, or, rather, they were prevented from being overtaken, by seven of the captain's brave fellows, who took possession of a deserted house, and made a resolute defence. From the windows
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of their castle they fired briskly upon the Indians, and, bringing them to a pause, detained them until the inhabitants had made good their flight to Schoharie. Unable to drive the soldiers from the house, the Indians at length applied the brand, and the brave fellows were burned to death within its walls. The whole settlement was then plundered and burned by the Indians. But they did not proceed farther towards Schoharie. The loss of the whites was twenty-two killed and two taken prisoners. The bodies of the slain were found the next day, sadly mutilated; and in the hand of one of them the Indians had placed a roll of Continental bills, a severe satire upon the description of money for which the soldiers were serving. The great fact, however, that it was the CAUSE, and not the PAY, which kept the Americans in the field, could scarcely be appreciated by the forest warriors. They were led in this battle by a Tory, who was subsequently killed by the celebrated Murphy. Their loss was severe, but to what extent was not known. Thus was amply avenged the destruction of Onondaga.
During the month of April, the inhabitants of Monongalia, on the northwestern Virginia border and the western part of Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of Fort Pitt, had been severely harassed by the Indians, and numbers of the people murdered. These individual murders were the more cruel, inasmuch as they could have no effect upon the result of the pending contest. The snatching away of prisoners by these petty expeditions was a different affair; and often served a twofold purpose, enabling the enemy frequently to extort information, and, by a silent operation, continually increasing the number of prisoners in their hands for exchange. But, whether murdered outright or carried into captivity, the trials of the inhabitants upon a frontier, thus hourly exposed to dangers of the most appalling description, can scarcely be appreciated by those who have not been placed in similar peril.
The frontier towns of the county of Ulster were likewise not a little annoyed, in the early part of May, by a detachment of thirty or forty of Butler's rangers, who, from their knowledge of the country, were supposed to have fled to the royal standard from that neighbourhood. On the 4th of May, four dwelling-houses and five barns were burned by them in Fantine Kill. Six of the inhabitants were murdered, besides three or four more who were supposed to be burned in their houses. Colonel Philip Van Courtlandt, stationed at that time with one of the New-York regiments at Warwasing, went in pursuit of the traitors ; but although he twice came in sight of them upon the crest of a mountain, they were too dexterous in thridding the forests to allow him to overtake them; and the colonel had scarcely turned back from the pursuit before they fell upon the town of Woodstock, in the neighbourhood of Kingston, where they burned several houses and committed other depredations. They made a few prisoners, some of whom were carried away; while others were compelled, by the upraised hatchet, to take an oath not to serve in arms against the king.
In order to preserve unbroken a narrative of the principal Indian campaign of the present year, it is necessary somewhat to anticipate the progress of events, by recording in this place the particulars of the celebrated invasion of Minisink, and the bloody battle that immediately ensued near the Delaware.* The brave Count Pulaski, with his battalion of cavalry, had been stationed at Minisink during the preceding winter ; but in the month of February he was ordered to South Carolina, to join the army of Gen-
*Minisink, for an inland American Town, is very ancient. It is situated about ten miles west of Goshen, in the county of Orange (N.Y.) on the Navisink River, and among what are called the Shawangunk Mountains. It is bordered on the southwest by both the State of New Jersery and Pennsylvania. The Walkill also rises in this town. Its history, previous to the war of the Revolution, is full of interest. A severe battle was fought with the Indians in Miniskink, July 22, 1669, the bloody horrors of which yet live in the traditions of that neighbourhood.
eral Lincoln. Left thus wholly unprotected, save by its own people, Captain Brant determined to make a descent upon it, for the purpose of taking both plunder and prisoners. Accordingly, on the 20th of July, or, rather, during the night of the 19th, the crafty Mohawk stole upon the slumbering town, at the head of sixty Indians and twenty-seven Tory warriors disguised as Indians, which was a very common practice with the Loyalists when acting with the savages. This was only a detachment of a much larger force which Brant had left among the mountains between Minisink and the Delaware. Such was the silence of their approach, that several houses were already in flames when the inhabitants awoke to their situation. Thus surprised, and wholly unprepared, all who could escape fled in consternation, leaving the invaders to riot upon the spoil. Ten houses and twelve barns were burned, together with a small stockade fort and two mills. Several persons were killed, and others taken prisoners. The farms of the settlement were laid waste, the cattle driven away, and all the booty carried off which the invaders could remove. Having thus succeeded in his immediate object, Brant lost no time in leading his party back to the main body of his warriors, whom he had left at Grassy Brook.
No sooner had the fugitives from Minisink arrived at Goshen with the intelligence, than Dr. Tusten, the colonel of the local militia, issued orders to the officers of his command to meet him at Minisink on the following day, with as many volunteers as they could raise. The order was promptly obeyed, and a body of one hundred and forty-nine men met their colonel at the designated rendezvous at the time appointed, including many of the principal gentlemen of the county. A council of war was held to determine upon the expediency of a pursuit. Colonel Tusten was himself opposed to the proposition, with so feeble a command, and with the certainty, if they overtook the enemy, of being obliged to encounter an officer combining, with his acknowledged prowess, so much of subtlety as characterized the movements of the Mohawk chief. His force, moreover, was believed to be greatly superior to theirs in numbers, and to include many Tories as well acquainted with the country as themselves. The colonel, therefore, preferred waiting for the re-enforcements which would be sure soon to arrive, the more especially as the volunteers already with him were but ill provided with arms and ammunition. Others, however, were for immediate pursuit. They affected to hold the Indians in contempt, insisted that they would not fight, and maintained that a recapture of the plunder they had taken would be an easy achievement. Town-meeting counsels in the conduct of war are not usually the wisest, as will appear in the sequel. The majority of Tusten's command were evidently determined to pursue the enemy ; but their deliberations were cut short by Major Meeker, who mounted his horse, flourished his sword, and tauntingly called out, "Let the brave men follow me, the cowards may stay behind!" It may readily be supposed that such an appeal to an excited multitude would decide the question, as it did. The line of march was immediately taken up, and after proceeding seventeen miles the same evening, they encamped for the night. On the morning of the 22d they were joined by a small re-enforcement under Colonel Hathorn, of the Warwick regiment, who, as the senior of Colonel Tusten, took the command. When they had advanced a few miles, to Halfway Brook, they came upon the Indian encampment of the preceding night, and another council was held there. Colonels Hathorn, Tusten, and others, whose valour was governed by prudence, were opposed to advancing farther, as the number of Indian fires, and the extent of ground they had occupied, removed all doubt as to the superiority of their numbers. A scene similar to that which had broken up the former council was acted at this place, and with the same result. The voice of prudence was compelled to yield to that of bravado.
Captain Tyler, who had some knowledge of the woods, was sent forward at the head of a small scouting party, to follow the trail of the Indians, and to ascertain, if possible, their movements, since it was evident that they could not be far in advance. The captain had proceeded but a short distance before he fell from the fire of an unseen enemy. This circumstance occasioned considerable alarm; but the volunteers, nevertheless, pressed eagerly forward, and it was not long before they emerged upon the hills of the Delaware, in full view of that river, upon the eastern bank of which, at the distance of three fourths of a mile, tho Indians were seen deliberately marching in the direction of a fording-place near the mouth of the Lackawaxen. This discovery was made at about 9 o'clock in the morning. The intention of Brant to cross at the fording-place was evident; and it was afterward ascertained that his booty had already been sent thither in advance.
The determination was immediately formed by Colonel Hathorn to intercept the enemy at the fording-place, for which purpose instant dispositions were made. But, owing to intervening woods and hills, the opposing bodies soon lost sight of each other, and an adroit movement on the part of Brant gave him an advantage which it was impossible for the Americans to regain. Anticipating the design of Hathorn, the moment the Americans were out of sight Brant wheeled to the right, and, by thridding a ravine across which Hathorn had passed, threw himself into his rear, by which means he was enabled deliberately to select his ground for a battle and form an ambuscade. Disappointed in not finding the enemy, the Americans were brought to a stand, when the enemy disclosed himself partially, in a quarter altogether unexpected. According to the American account, the first shot was fired upon an Indian, who was known, and who was mounted upon a horse stolen at Minisink. The Indian fell, and the firing soon became general: the enemy contriving, in the early part of the engagement, to cut off from the main body of Hathorn's troops a detachment comprising one third of his whole number. The conflict was long and obstinate. The number of the enemy being several times greater than that of the Goshen militia, the latter were surrounded, and ultimately hemmed within the circumference of an acre of ground. Being short of ammunition, Hathorn's orders were strict that no man should fire until very sure that his powder would not be lost. The battle commenced about 11 o'clock in the morning, and was maintained until the going down of the sun; both parties fighting after the Indian fashion, every man for himself, and the whole keeping up an irregular fire from behind rocks and trees as best they could. About sunset the ammunition of the militia was expended, and the survivors attempted to retreat, but many of them were cut down. Doctor Tusten was engaged behind a cliff of rocks in dressing the wounded when the retreat commenced. There were seventeen disabled men under his care at the moment, whose cries for protection and mercy were of the most moving description. The Indians fell upon them, however, and they all, together with the doctor, perished under the tomahawk. Among the slain were many of the first citizens of Goshen, and of the whole number that went forth, only about thirty returned to tell the melancholy story.* Sev-
* Among the slain were Jones, Little, Duncan, Wisner, Vail, Townsend, and Knapp. In 1822 the people of Orange county collected the bones, which until then had been left to bleach on the battle-field, and caused them to be buried. The funeral procession numbered twelve thousand people, among -whom was Major Poppino, one of the survivors of the battle, then nearly one hundred years old.
eral of the fugitives were shot while attempting to escape by swimming the Delaware.
Brant has been severely censured for the cruelties perpetrated, or alleged to have been perpetrated, in this battle. He always maintained that he had been unjustly blamed, and that his conduct had been the subject of unjust reproach. He stated that, having ascertained that the Goshen militia were in pursuit of him, determined to give him battle, he, of course, prepared himself for the reception. Still, having obtained the supplies he needed, his own object was accomplished. He also stated, that on the near approach of the Americans, he rose, and presented himself openly and fairly to their view, addressed himself to their commanding officer, and demanded their surrender, promising, at the same time, to treat them kindly as prisoners of war. He assured them, frankly, that his force in ambush was sufficient to overpower and destroy them; that then, before any blood had been shed, he could control his warriors; but should the battle commence, he could not answer for the consequences. But, he said, while he was thus parleying with them, he was fired upon, and narrowly escaped being shot down, the ball piercing the outer fold of his belt. Immediately upon receiving the shot, he retired, and secreted himself among his-warriors. The militia, imboldened by his disappearance, seeing no other enemy, and disbelieving what he had told them, rushed forward heedlessly until they were completely within his power. In crossing a creek they had broken their order, and before they could form again on the other side, Brant gave the well-known signal of the war-whoop. Quick as the lightning's flash, his dark cloud of warriors were upon their feet. Having fired once, they sprang forward, tomahawk in hand. The conflict was fierce and bloody. Few escaped, and several of the prisoners were killed. There was one who, during the battle, saved himself by means which Brant said were dishonourable. By some process or other, though not a Free Mason, he had acquired a knowledge of the master mason's grand hailing signal of distress; and having been informed that Brant was a member of the brotherhood, he gave the mystic sign. Faithful to his pledge, the chieftain interposed and saved his life. Discovering the imposture afterward, he was very indignant. Still, he spared his life, and the prisoner ultimately returned to his friends after a long captivity.
There was another occurrence of deep and thrilling interest connected with this battle, the particulars of which were related in after years by Brant himself, while on a visit to the city of New-York. Among those who were grievously wounded was Lieutenant-colonel Gabriel Wisner, a gentleman of great respectability, a magistrate, serving among the Goshen volunteers. In surveying the battlefield, the situation of Wisner arrested the attention of the Indian commander, who examined his condition. The chief saw that he was wounded past hope of recovery; but he was, nevertheless, in the full possession of his faculties, and was even able to converse. Believing his case to be altogether beyond the power of medical and surgical skill, and having no means of carrying him away, Brant reflected a moment upon his own course of duty. He was disposed to save his life if he could, and yet felt that it was impossible. To leave him thus helpless and alone upon the field, in the possession of his senses to a degree enabling him to appreciate all the horrors of his situation, would be the height of cruelty. Added to which was the moral certainty that the wolves abounding in the forest, guided by the scent of blood, would soon be gorging themselves alike upon the wounded and the dead. The thought, therefore, that Wisner might be torn in pieces while yet alive, seemed to him even more than savage cruelty. Under these distressing circumstances and considerations, the chief argued with himself that true humanity required a speedy termination of his sufferings. Having formed this conclusion, the next point was to compass his death without inflicting additional torture upon his feelings. With this view, he engaged Wisner in conversation, and, while diverting his attention, struck him dead in an instant, and unperceived, with his hatchet. It was but a savage exhibition of humanity; but there was benevolence in the intention, however strangely reasoned; and the motive of the final blow is to be applauded, notwithstanding the shudder caused by its contemplation.
From Minisink, by a rapid movement, Brant fell upon a settlement on the south side of the Mohawk, where, on the 2d of August, he made a few prisoners, the name of one of whom was House. This man, with his companions, was carried back into the woods, and left in charge of the Indians, while Brant, with four or five of his warriors, went off upon some secret enterprise. On the fourth day after his absence, he returned, attended by his four warriors, but on horseback himself, having been wounded in the foot by a musket-shot. The wound, however, was not like that of Achilles, in the heel, but by a buckshot in the ball of the great toe, and therefore in a place less equivocal for a soldier's honour. They then commenced their march in the direction of Tioga; but as House became too lame by walking to continue the journey on foot, the Indians proposed killing him. To this Brant objected; and having been acquainted with House before the war, he released him on condition of his taking an oath of neutrality, which was written by the chief in the Indian language. House signed the oath, and Brant witnessed it. He was then released, and being somewhere in the vicinity of Otsego Lake, where General Clinton was then making preparations for his celebrated descent of the Susquehanna, House came into Clinton's camp on the 8th of August, the day previous to his embarcation.
Contemporaneously with these occurrences, and while, as will subsequently appear, the attention of the American officers was directed to more important movements, the Indians and Tories once more broke in upon the Pennsylvania border, in Northampton, Lyconia, and the neighbourhood of Sunbury. In a succession of petty affairs between the 1st and 21st of July, several neighbourhoods were destroyed and mills burned. On the 17th, all the principal houses in the township of Munsey were burned. Two persons were killed on that day, and four had been killed a few days previous, besides several taken prisoners. On the 20th, three, men were killed by a small party hovering about Freeland's Fort, situated on the west branch of the Susquehanna, seventeen miles from Sunbury. On the 38th, five days after the affair of Minisink, this little defence, which was garrisoned by only thirty men, and about fifty women and children, who had sought refuge within its walls, was invested by one of the M'Donalds, at the head of two hundred Indians, and one hundred troops, calling themselves regulars. But, although wearing the British uniform, it was believed that they were American Loyalists. The enemy met with less resistance during this irruption than would have been the case, but for the circumstance that the greater part of the men had been draughted for the boat service of General Sullivan, who was then at Wyoming, preparing to enter the Seneca country. Fort Freeland was too weak of itself, and too weakly garrisoned, to hold out long against such a disparity of force. Captain Hawkins Boone, a brave officer, stationed with thirty men at a distance of some miles, marched to the relief of the fort immediately on hearing of the investment The garrison had surrendered before his arrival Boone, nevertheless, gave battle to the enemy; but, overpowered by numbers, he was slain, together with eighteen of his men, whose scalps were carried as trophies into the fort. Two other officers, Captains Dougherty and Hamilton, were also killed. By the terms of capitulation, M'Donald stipulated to spare the women and children, and allow them to depart. The fort, and the houses in its vicinity, were then burned.
Meantime, the Shawanese were continuing their depredations upon the Ohio border of Virginia, with results certainly not unfavourable to the former.
With these incidents closes the present volume. The second will open with a narrative of the most formidable Indian campaign undertaken during the contest for American Independence.
End of Vol. I