Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys
The
Frontiersmen of New York
by
Jeptha R. Simms
Albany, NY 1883
Volume II, Page 585.
Events of 1782.
Although the preceding year had closed with a cessation of hostilities, predatory border enterprises were continued during the spring and summer of 1782.
Christopher Yates, Major Frey, Gen. Herkimer, comments on their knowledge
The Arrest and Execution of John Parker, the Johstown Spy
Arrest of Joseph Bettys and his Companions.-Among the most daring and successful of the tory refugees on the frontiers of New York, was Jo. Bettys-as familiarly called-of the Saratoga settlements. At the commencement of difficulties he espoused the American cause, and discovered great energy and activity in the Canadian expedition under Gen. Montgomery, and his surviving officers. In the northern field he was made a prisoner, and while with the enemy in Canada, he was seduced from his patriotic position, accepted a subaltern's commission, and became a ranger and a spy-and as such, a terror among his former neighbors. He was captured in the spring of 1779, but in what manner cannot be shown. In Washington's orderly book for that year, in a portion of it copied in the December number of the Historical Record for 1873, edited by Lossing, it is stated under date of July 4th, that at a general court-martial held in April under Col. Nixon ; Isaac Depue and John King were tried and sentenced to be hung, and in the same connection-" Likewise Joseph Bettys was tried for having been a spy for Gen. Burgoyne in the service of the enemy, by coming within the American lines in the State of New York, in a secret manner, and returning again to the enemies of the United States-and for having forged a certificate to facilitate the execution thereof -found guilty and unanimously sentenced to suffer death, by being hung by the neck until he shall be dead.
" The Commander-in-chief confirms the foregoing sentences.
" This day being the anniversary of our glorious independence, will be celebrated by the firing of 13 cannon from West Point at one o'clock P. M. The Commander-in-chief thinks proper to grant a general pardon to all prisoners in his army under sentence of death. They are to be released from confinement accordingly."
It is surprising that so long a time intervened between the trial of these men, and the approval of their condemnation, but it is well known that Washington was importuned by the parents of Bettys to spare him, and with promises for his future good conduct, it is probable that he was set at liberty under the general pardon of July 4, 1779.
The Second Capture of Bettys, took place in the spring of 1782 instead of 1781, as stated in my History of Schoharie, etc. In the present town of Clifton Park resided one Fillmore, a lieutenant of militia, who possessed a fearless spirit. He was engaged, in the proper season, in making maple-sugar, and usually boiled all night, returning home in the morning to be relieved by a daughter, until he had foddered his cattle and taken breakfast. On going to the woods she was instructed, in case she saw any suspicious looking persons, to give no signs of fear, but communicate the discovery to her father as soon after as prudence allowed. One very foggy morning, when Miss Fillmore was in attendance at the sugar bush, an individual passed it, without seeing her, going in the direction of a retired dwelling occupied by a widow lady. As soon as the strange figure was out of sight, she ran home to appraise her father of the discovery. She described the man to be, a suspicious looking person, having a gun and a hairy pack.
Lieut. Fillmore, rightly suspecting the visitant to be the notorious Jo. Bettys, got two of his neighbors, named Perkins and Corey, to accompany him, and all well armed proceeded unobserved to the widow's house, one of the three going upon the back side of it, to prevent his egress. The other two burst open the door, and disclosed the object of search at the breakfast table. He had imprudently seated himself with his back toward the door, and his rifle lying across the table. The instant an entrance was forced, the lieutenant seized the villain by the collar and drew him from the table, as he was reaching for his trusty piece. He was soon overpowered by the three militiamen, and tightly bound. Before he started for Albany, he desired to smoke, and was partially loosened to afford him an opportunity. He went to the fire-place to light his pipe, and was noticed to cast something in the fire. One of his captors snatched it from the live embers, and found it to be a silver bullet which screwed together : inside of which was a message to Sir Henry Clinton from an officer in Canada, written in figures. On other testimony, and that contained within the bullet, Bettys was tried, convicted and hung, at Albany. Considering his desperate character, the enterprise of Lieut. Fillmore and his companions in arresting him, was one of the most daring performed in the whole war.
When the arrest of Bettys became known to Maj. Mitchell in the Ballston settlement, he enjoined secrecy of the affair, rightly conjecturing that he had not traversed the northern forests of New York, alone. A widow Camp living in the neighborhood, had a son in the British service, who it was thought, might possibly have accompanied Bettys. The arrest of the latter having been kept close during the day ; Kenathy Gordon, a sergeant, was entrusted by Maj. Mitchell with the search to be made the same night. Attended by John Sweatman and several other fearless neighbors, young Gordon gained access to the house of Mrs. Camp after bed-time, and enquired for her son. She declared her ignorance of his whereabouts, pretended to be highly incensed at having armed men enter her dwelling and disturb the family at midnight, and still more on being suspected of harboring an enemy.
This woman talked very patriotic, but her warmth satisfied the sergeant, who was a resolute fellow, that her son was in the house, and he went to the fireplace, seized a blazing brand and started up stairs. Young Camp and Jonathan Miller had accompanied Bettys to the neighborhood,-and were then in an upper room. Hearing the noise below, they sprang out of bed, seized their guns and leveled them. At the click of their locks, Gordon jumped down stairs, and swore if they did not descend and surrender themselves prisoners in less than five minutes, he would smoke them out. Believing he would burn the house, they concealed some money under a rafter, and then came down and submitted to Gordon's authority, who conducted them to the dwelling of Maj. Mitchell, where they were secured until morning. The prisoners had not the least suspicion that Bettys had been arrested, until after they were. On his way to the major's dwelling. Miller was heard to say he would rather be shot than to enter it. Obadiah Miller, a brother living in the vicinity, was sent for in the morning, and unexpectedly ushered into the presence of his Tory kinsman, whose visit to the neighborhood was unknown to him. His surprise was evident, and he trembled like a leaf. It leaked out in the sequel, that the two Millers were together in the woods when the attempt was made the fall before to capture the major, which he possibly suspected. The two prisoners were taken to Albany, from whence they were liberated or effected an escape.-Charles Mitchell.
Murder of the Dietz Family.-In the spring of this year, a party of 15 Indians proceeded by a circuitous route through the Schoharie settlements, without committing any hostile act to Beaver dam, Albany county, where was a small settlement, a grist-mill, etc. The settlers were mostly tories in this vicinity, except the Dietzes and Weidmans. To destroy the family of Johannes Dietz, an old gentleman who lived between the mill and a Scotch settlement at Rensselaerville, was the especial object of the invaders in making their tedious journey. The family consisted of the old gentleman and his wife, his son, Capt. William Dietz and wife, four children of the latter, a servant girl, and a lad named John Bryce, whose parents lived at Rensselaerville.
The enemy arrived at Dietz's just before night, and surprised and killed all the family, except Capt. Dietz and young Bryce, then 12 or 14 years old. Robert Bryce, a brother of John, 11 years old, had been sent on horseback that day to the mill at Beaver dam with a grist, in company with several other lads on the same errand. Their grain was ground, but as it was nearly sundown they all concluded to tarry with the miller over night, except Bryce, who was resolved to return as far as Dietz's, three miles toward his home, and stay with his brother. He arrived just at twilight near the house, when an Indian sprang from a covert by the road side, and seized his bridle reins. A short time before his arrival, the family had been led out of the house to be murdered, agreeable to a savage custom, perhaps that their mangled remains may terrify surviving friends ; and as the horse, with Robert still on him, was led near the house, the lad discovered the disfigured bodies of all the family, except Capt. Dietz and his own brother, who were tied to a tree near by.
The enemy, after plundering the dwelling of such articles as they desired, set it on fire, and, with the outbuildings, it was soon reduced to ashes. Securing the scalps of the eight bleeding victims, or $64 worth of American blood in an English market-after placing their plunder on a number of horses belonging to the Dietzes, and that of young Bryce, on which his grist was retained for food-they started forward on their tedious journey to Canada. They traveled about two miles and encamped for the night, distant from the paternal house of the Bryce boys about a mile. Little did their parents dream of the fate and future prospects of their sons. By dawn of day next morning, the journey was resumed. The Indians desired to take the southern route to Niagara, and hoped to gain the sources of the Schoharie without molestation. Tidings of the untimely fate of this family were next day communicated to the Schoharie forts, and a body of troops was dispatched by Col. Vrooman in pursuit.
Lieut. John Jost Dietz, a relative of the family, who was sent from the Lower fort with a party to bury the dead, met them in a wagon owned by a neighbor. The bodies had been mutilated by hogs, and presented a most revolting appearance. They were all deposited in one grave, in a yard attached to a small Reformed Dutch church, then standing not far distant from the place of massacre.
Suspecting the route the invaders would take, the Americans proceeded up the river, and towards night, on the second day after the massacre, fell in with and fired upon them near the head waters of the Schoharie. Several of the Indians were wounded, but they all effected their escape with their prisoners. They however abandoned their horses and plunder at the onset, which were restored to the surviving friends of the family. The Indian who claimed ownership to the person of Robert Bryce, was badly wounded in one leg by the fire of the Schoharie troops, and being unable to keep up with the party, journeyed with his prisoner and two of his partizans at a much slower pace. On arriving at the Indian settlements in western New York, Robert was initiated into the cruel mysteries of gantlet-running : receiving a lesson in which school, on one occasion, nearly cost him his life. He was taken to Nine Mile Landing on Lake Ontario ; sold to a Scotchman, the captain of a sloop, for fifteen dollars ; was removed to Detroit, from whence he was liberated and returned home, after the proclamation of peace, in company with his brother and several hundred prisoners liberated at the same time.
The treatment of Capt. Dietz and the elder Bryce was more severe than that of Robert. Their party were greatly straightened for food on their way, and for several days lived on winter-green, birch-bark, and, possibly, a few esculent roots and wild berries. On the Susquehanna river, near the mouth of the Unadilla, a deer was shot, which providentially saved them from starving. Their progress at this period was very slow, as they were compelled daily to spend much of their time in hunting food. They journeyed through the Chemung and Genesee valleys, and at villages, the prisoners were compelled to endure the running ordeal. Added to the stripes of his foes and the gnawings of hunger, Capt. Dietz suffered the most severe mental agony. He was not only doomed to see the blood-stained scalps of his honored parents, his bosom companion and four lovely children stretched in hoops to tan in the sun, as was the custom, but often to have them slapped in his face by the Indian who bore them, in the most insulting manner.
George Warner, who was captured the same season, informed the writer that he saw Capt. Dietz in his confinement at Niagara, and conversed with him. The latter appeared heart-stricken and in a decline, under which he sunk to the grave not long after. He told Capt. Warner (the latter was a military captain after the war) where a certain amount of money had been concealed near their dwelling. Capt. Warner afterwards understood the treasure had been recovered.-Priests narative and Col. Wm. Dietz of Schoharie, corroborated by others.
Another Victim.-Early on the morning of July 4th, Adam Vrooman (a namesake and cousin of "Pull Foot Vrooman," and son of Isaac Vrooman, who was killed the preceding fall), went from the Upper Schoharie fort,accompanied by Pr?? (bad print here. ajb) Feeck, (the man who discovered the rear of the British army on the morning of Johnson's invasion,) to drive cattle to a pasture near the dwelling of the late Cornelius Vrooman. Feek was driving the cattle as his companion went forward to open the gate ; and as the latter was in the act of so doing, he received several bullets from a party of seven Indians and tories concealed in ambush, and fell dead. Feeck fled, and although fired at by the enemy, he reached the fort, nearly a mile distant, in safety. On the same morning, Joseph Brown, who had left the Upper fort on the same errand as had Vrooman and Feeck, was captured by the same party and hurried off to Canada. A band of rangers left the fort on the return of Feeck, and soon struck the trail of the enemy ; but the latter having stolen a number of horses in the neighborhood, effected their escape.-Mrs. Van Slyck and Josias E. Vrooman.
An Invasion of Adam Crysler.-On the morning of July 26, 1782, the tory Captain, Adam Crysler, accompanied by his brother William, another Tory named Peter Erkert, and 22 Indians, appeared in Foxescreek valley. They had tarried the preceding night, as was believed, at the dwelling of a Tory in the vicinity, whose family and property were left unmolested. Early in the morning the destructives approached the house of Jacob Zimmer, which was one of the first stone dwellings erected in Schoharie county.*
Jacob Zimmer, Sr., was absent when the enemy arrived at his house, as was also his son Peter; the latter, however, had not left the neighborhood. Crysler was sadly disappointed in not finding the elder Zimmer at home. His namesake was tomahawked and scalped in the presence of his wife and mother-two who could feel most keenly his loss. The women were not captured, and the enemy, after plundering the house, set it on fire, as also they did the barn, and then proceeded down the creek. The former was extinguished by the women,
* This house, situated a little distance from the hamlet called Gallupville, which dwelling was for many years owned and occupied by Theobald Hllts, unfortunately took fire on the 9th day of March, 1843, and with most of its contents soon became a heap of ruins. Mr. Zimmer was a patriot, a man of influence, and well known in the country, having been associated as patentee with John Lawyer and others in the purchase and sale of extensive tracts of land in Albany county. To secure such a prisoner (possibly one of the Schoharie council of safety at the time) was an object not to be overlooked by the Tory chief; he accordingly led his destructives to Zlmmer's house. Mr. Zimmer had two sons, Jacob and Peter, living with him, who were young men grown-the former of whom had a wife also at his father's.
after the barn-burners had left, but the barn was reduced to ashes. Proceeding a little distance from the house, the party met Peter Zimmer and took him prisoner. Peter enquired of his captors if they had seen his brother Jacob, and was answered that they had left him at home with the women, but did not tell him that the trophy already secured for a British market, was the scalp of his near relative. A Hessian, who had entered New York as a soldier under Burgoyne, and who had chosen to desert and remain in the country, was at work for the Zimmers at the time of Crysler's invasion, and was also murdered, as his scalp would command eight dollars in Canada. Blood was said to have been visible on a stone beside the road where this poor Hessian was slain, for a great length of time afterwards.
The morning being unusually foggy, the light of Zimmer's house was not discovered by the citizens below, and as they had refrained from firing, their proximity was unsuspected.
At this period, Johannes Becker, one of the earliest German settlers on Foxescreek, was still living about two miles below Zimmer, and with or near him five sons, Joseph, Major of militia ; * George, John, Jacob, and William, and one daughter named Maria. The three brothers, John, Jacob, and William Becker, went on the morning of Crysler's invasion, to work in a cornfield on the north side of the creek. Arriving at the field, they found they had but two hoes, and John, the eldest, sent William, the youngest of the three, then twenty-two years old, to the house for another hoe. He soon returned with a report that the women were hoeing a patch of cabbage, and did not like to part with it. As previously stated, many of the farmers concealed their hay and grain in the woods during the war, to avoid the enemy's fire-brand. The day before this invasion, the brothers had been cutting brush to make room for several hay stacks, and to open a road to the place, some distance from the house.
When William returned without the hoe, John told him he could go and finish the road in the woods, make bars, etc.
* Joseph Becker had two sons, George three, John one, and Jacob four; nearly all of whom were residents of Schoharie county in 1845. Johannes Becker died soon after the war was over, and Major Becker, his oldest son, died Aug. 21st, 1806, the latter in the 68th year of his age.
William started, but was called back by John, who told him to stay and hoe with Jacob, saying that he would go and finish the other work himself, as then he would be sure of its being done to suit him ! John was afterwards found dead, lying upon the brush he had been cutting, and appeared not to have moved after he received the blow of a tomahawk. The brim and lower part of his hat crown were cut open, and the weapon had penetrated the brain. It was supposed that an Indian had stolen up behind him unobserved, and felled him to the earth, where he scalped and left him. As the enemy went directly from Zimmer's to the field where the Becker brothers had been at work the day before, it was supposed that their place of labor had been communicated by some tory in the settlement. Soon after John had left his brothers hoeing, William discovered the enemy in the upper side of the field, approaching them, and directed Jacob's attention that way. Both at the same instant let fall their hoes and ran towards home. Rightly conjecturing that their foes would, if possible, cut off their retreat to the house, they ran directly to the bank of the creek not far above the house, and opposite a small island that has since disappeared. At this place the stream was deep, and they had to diverge from the shore to the island. They dashed down the bank with an impetus that carried them both into the water, and Jacob fell down, but regaining his feet he reached the log, crossed, and ran up on the south side of the island, hotly pursued by a single Indian, who had to make the same circuit to cross or else swim the stream-the others having gone below to bead them, supposing they would run to the house.
Jacob, who was closely followed by the warrior with uplifted tomahawk, on arriving at a place on the southern shore of the island, which terminated boldly, sprang down the bank and remained quiet. William ran but a few rods beyond his brother, and also secreted himself beneath the bank. The pursuing Indian ran to within a few feet of where Jacob lay, halted, and looked up the stream in vain, to catch another glimpse of the fugitives-little suspecting that one of them was almost within reach of him-near where he had last seen him, and who doubtless was still visible had he looked down. He gave up the chase, crossed the island, passing very near the concealment of William, gained the north bank 'of the creek, and hastened to join his companions below. The Indians did not fire on the young men, as they hoped to surprise Maj. Becker and some others near by. The brothers remained concealed until the firing began at the house, and then crossed the creek and went into the woods, east of their corn-field. When the enemy left the valley, they passed so near the concealed brothers, that the latter distinctly heard them talk.
Maj. Becker, at that period, owned and occupied a substantial stone dwelling, the residence of his son Henry-in 1845-late judge of the county ; and near it stood a grist-mill owned by him, which was one of the earliest mills in Schoharie county. The dwelling is pleasantly situated upon a knoll on the south side of the creek, at a little distance from the Albany road, and had at that period a gambrel roof. A hall passed through it from north to south, with a door at each end. The house contained five front and five rear windows ; and at that time two chamber windows in the east gable end, since altered. The upper part of the house was unfinished and all in one room ; and the windows were barricaded nearly to the top with oak plank. The front door was closed up with plank, and the back door, then the only entrance to the house, strengthened by a false door also of oak, to arrest the bullets of an enemy. Just before Crysler and his murderers arrived at Maj. Becker's, Henry, his son, then nine years old, Jacob Zimmer, Jr. (nephew of the one murdered), and several other boys about the same age, had been a little distance southeast of the house to drive hogs to a pasture. On their return, and when within 10 or 15 rods of the house, one of the boys said to the rest : "See the rifle-men over there ; they are painted like the Indians ! " The Schoharie rangers, when on a scout, were often clad much like Indians ; but young Becker instantly recognized the party to be a band of savages. A few rods above the house was a small island of perhaps an acre, separated from the bank southeast of the dwelling, by a deep pool of stagnant water, over which was the trunk of a tree. The enemy being upon the island, had to make quite a circuit or cross the log, which could only be done in single file. This gave the boys a little start and they ran to the house shouting : "Indians! Indians!" They could easily have been shot, as they were but a few rods distant from the enemy, but the latter still hoped, to surprise a militia major, which would doubtless have been done, had not the boys discovered their approach.
Maj. Becker chanced to be engaged back of the house, caught the alarm, and running in seized his gun, entered the southwest room, thrust it through a loop-hole above one of the windows, and fired on the invaders, breaking an Indian's arm. As the boys ran into the hall door, they encountered several children within ; and all tumbled in a heap. Maj. Backer's wife, who was a woman of the times, sprang to the plank door which fastened with a ring and bolt, drew it too, and held it ajar with the bolt in her hand. John Hutt, as the enemy approached, was at the western end of the house making a whiffletree. Mrs. Becker continued to hold the door open for Hutt, who took the alarm from the furious barking of three large dogs belonging to the inmates of the house, which had met and were giving battle to the invaders, who halted to shoot them. As Hutt neared the door, a large Indian sprang to seize him, but the former raising the missile which he had retained in his hand, the latter recoiled and he sprang into the door, which was quickly bolted by the Major's Spartan wife. Had not Mrs. Becker possessed great presence of mind, and the dogs met the enemy, Hutt must have either been slain or captured. The shot of Maj. Becker may also have damped the ardor of the assailants, George Shell, another Schoharie soldier, was fortunately in the house at the time, and assisted in its defense.
The inmates of the dwelling consisting of the three men named, Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Adam Zimmer, possibly one or two other women, and some eight or ten children, went up stairs. The Major took his station at the southwest corner window, which commanded the enemy's approach to his barn, assigned to Hutt the eastern gable windows, and to Shell the northwest window opposite his own, which commanded their approach to the mill, which stood a few rods twin the house upon ground occupied by the race-way of the present mill. The lower sash of the upper windows was also secured by plank. The enemy immediately ran round the eastern end of the house and there gained temporary shelter, some under the creek bank, some behind a fence, and others behind a small log building standing at a little distance southeast of the house, used as a store-room. The enemy fired numerous balls in at the windows, 28 entering the window Hutt was stationed at. He was a bold, vigilant fellow, and often incurred the censure of Maj. Becker for exposing his person so much about the window, telling him that the force of the enemy was unknown, but their own was three men, the loss of one being one-third of their strength. Hutt, however, could not be restrained by the prudent counsels of the Major, and kept constantly returning the shots of the enemy. Discovering through a cranny of the log building the hat of one of his foes, Hutt sent a bullet through the brim of it close to the crown. This hat, it was afterwards ascertained, was on the head of Capt. Crysler. The balls of the enemy cut the air around the head of Hutt, but fortunately without injury.
While a part of the invaders were firing in at the windows, one of their number was discovered by Shell crawling along the bank of the creek, which was then steeper than at present, with a brand of fire, intent on burning the mill. Shell was an eccentric fellow, and had acquired the habit of thinking out loud. Aiming his rifle at the foe, he was heard by several in the room to think much as follows : "Ah! that's what you're at, is it ? you go a little further and you'll catch it. Now, look out ; I'll give it to you. When you get there, you get it ; there, there, that will do!" In the midst of his soliloquy, his bead in motion, crack went his line ; and he continued : "There, he has it, he's down, one less, you won't come again ; now burn the mill will you, you infernal Indian !"
After
continuing the attack for sometime, the enemy" attempted to fire the
building. They placed a wheel-narrow under the water conductor leading from
the gutter at the northeast corner of the house, to within three or four feet
of the ground, and piling on combustibles, set fire to them, which quickly
communicated with the wooden spoilt, and threatened the destruction of the
building. It was impossible for the inmates of the house to fire on their
foes while applying the incendiary torch, without exposing themselves to almost
certain death, a some of the Indians were constantly on the look-out for such
an exposure. As the flame began to ascend the gutter toward the roof, Maj.
Becker, who had no inclination to be burned alive, set about forcing off the
corner of it with a piece of scantling, which fortune placed in the chamber,
while his wife
went into the cellar to procure water. On entering the cellar, she found an
outside cellar door upon the north side of the building, standing wide open,
where the enemy might have entered without danger, had they gone round the
building. Fastening the door, and procuring a pail of water, she returned
to the chamber. 
<-Major Becker's house invaded by the enemy.
For a time the roof, which was nailed on with heavy wrought nails as was the ancient custom, baffled all the major's effort, but it at length yielded, and he sand down exhausted. As the shingles fell to the ground, the Indians gathered them up, exclaiming: "Yok-wah!" Thank you! And added in their dialect, "we can kindle it now." a hole being made, water was thrown down and the spout was extinguished. The enemy soon had it blazing again with additional combustibles, and then remarked, also in their own tongue: "Chock-wot de wink-wock!" It now burns like tobacco! It was again put out, and again enkindled and put out, until the spout had burned off above their reach, when they abandoned further attempts to set the house on fire. Supposing their firing would be heard at the Lower fort, some three miles distant, the assailants took French leave of the premises about nine o'clock, A. M., and entered the forest ; having been about the Becker house for several hours.
The father and mother of the Becker brothers, with a child of Shell (who was in the stone bouse), who lived just below Maj. Becker, and where Robert Coats resided in 1845, taking the alarm on the enemy's approach, fled towards the fort along the southern bank of the creek. They were discovered, and fired on by the invaders, and several balls struck a fence near them, before they were out of danger ; but the enemy being so intent on the capture of Maj. Becker, and plunder of his house, did not pursue them and they escaped. Adam Zimmer and John Enders, who fled on the approach of the enemy from the vicinity of Maj. Becker's, carried news of the invasion to the Lower fort, then commanded by Capt. Brown ; when a party of Americans under Lieut. Snyder sallied forth, and arrived just after Crysler and his followers had left. The state of the atmosphere was such, that, the firing at Becker's was heard at the Middle fort, six or seven miles distant and not heard at the Lower fort, less than half as remote.
After the enemy retired from Becker's, the supposed Indian whom Shell had shot, was found to have fallen partly in the water and was not dead. He was taken into the house, and doctor Werth called to examine his wound, who pronounced it mortal ; the ball having passed diagonally through the body at the shoulders. The man was now discovered to be a painted tory instead of an Indian, and was shortly after recognized to be Erkert, a Scotch cooper, who had made flour barrels for Maj. Becker before the war. The Major, on making the recognition, accused the tory of ingratitude. Said he : " When you came to me for work, I employed you, and always paid you well, and now you come with a band of savages to murder me and my family ; plunder and burn my buildings." The man appeared very penitent as certain death was before him, expressed his sorrow for the course he had taken, and said " he did not then care which succeeded, King or Congress." He was scalped in the afternoon by a friendly Indian named Yan (a son of David, who was killed by the cavalry under Col. Harper, in 1777), and on the following morning he was summoned to the bar of his Maker, to render an account " for the deeds done in the body." The victims of Crysler's invasion at Foxescreek, were buried in rough boxes with their clothes on. After this attack on Maj. Becker's dwelling, it was palisaded.-Jacob and William Becker, who escaped by flight; Judge Becker and Jacob Zimmer, Jr., two of the boys who discovered the enemy near the house, and the manuscript of Judge Hager.
John Snyder, known after the war as " Schoharie John," and Peter Mann, of Foxescreek, were captured in the morning by Crysler and party, as the former were returning from Beaverdam ; Mann was, however, liberated in Kneiskern's dorf. The enemy proceeded from the estuary of Cobelskill and Schoharie, up the former stream.
On the following day, in the present town of Cobelskill, George Warner, Jr., who was engaged in shifting horses from one field to another, was captured by Crysler and his destructives, who directed their course from thence to the Susquehanna. Warner instantly recognized as one of the master spirits among his captors, the Schoharie chief, Seth's Henry, who still carried upon his arm the indelible evidence of -Sawyer's ' strike for liberty,' when a captive in his hands. The second day after leaving Cobelskill, the whole party were obliged to subsist on horse flesh without bread or seasoning of any kind. Warner, who communicated these facts to the author, said he ate on the way to Niagara, of a deer, a wolf, a rattlesnake, and a hen hawk, but without bread or salt. The two captives, Zimmer and Warner, were tightly bound, and generally fared alike while on their journey. They had, for some days, contemplated making their escape, and complaining that they could not travel on account of their cords, they were a little loosened, which favored their plan. They concluded they ought, in justice, to communicate their intention to their fellow prisoner, although he was not bound, and give him a chance to escape with them, if he chose to embrace it. But a short time after their intention was communicated to a third person, the conspirators for liberty were more firmly bound than ever, and were afterwards continually watched until they arrived at Niagara. Nights they were pinioned so tight that they could not get their hands together ; and were secured by a rope tied to a tree or pole, upon which rope an Indian always laid down.
On their way, the party passed several rattle snakes, which the Indians avoided disturbing ; and at the narrows on the Chemung, which were barely wide enough for a road, they, with no little difficulty, made a circuit to pass one. The New York Indians had a superstitious notion, that to harm a rattlesnake was ominous of evil, and they never did it, unless to use the reptile for medicinal purposes, or prevent starvation. While on their journey, Snyder, from some cause, had angry words with one of the savages, and the latter several times twirled a tomahawk over his head, and drew a scalping knife round the crown threateningly ; but they made up friends and renewed their march. The Schoharie prisoners also passed on their way, another party of Indians, who were killing a prisoner in a singular manner. His captors had tied his wrists together and drawn them over his knees, after which a stick was passed under his knees and over the wrists, and a rope tied to it between them, and thrown over the limb of a tree. His tormentors then drew him up a distance and let him fall by slacking the rope ; continuing their hellish sport until the concussion extinguished the vital spark.
Soon after the party passed the outlet of Seneca lake, Capt. Crysler told the prisoners, tauntingly, how soon the King would conquer the rebels. Warner listened with impatience for a time, and being unable to retain his feelings, replied : " I do not believe the King will ever conquer the colonies ; in the French war Great Britain and America united were hardly able to compete with France ; and now, since France and America are united, I do not believe it possible for England to conquer them." This conversation took place in the evening, and Warner observed, while speaking, that a frown rested upon the brows of the dusky warriors and their lawless Captain. Warner soon after heard the tory give orders in the Indian tongue, which he understood, to have his bands tightened. In the morning, he expostulated with Crysler for so doing, who was very angry and declared, that " for those cursed words he should hang at noon." Accordingly a noose was made in a rope, and the rest of it coiled and placed around his neck, which he was compelled to wear; As may be supposed, he traveled the forest with a heavy heart, still he looked upon the gallows with no little indifference, as it would end his bodily torments, and relieve him from the treatment of an unfeeling royalist. About 10 o'clock, A. M., the party halted, as Warner supposed, to anticipate the time of his execution, but, contrary to his expectation, the rope was taken off without any explanation.
Warner and Zimmer, on arriving at the Indian villages in Western New York, were subjected to the cruelties their customs indicted on captives. The first treatment of the kind they received was from a gad in the hands of Molly Brant, who embraced every opportunity during the war to insult and injure captive Americans. Soon after Molly had vented her spleen upon the two bound captives, they arrived at the Indian castle, where they had to run the gantlet. When the lines were formed, an Indian chief called Abraham, who recognized Warner, stepped up to him and asked him, in German, where he was from. He replied, Schoharie. " Do you know George Warner of Cobelskill?" continued the Indian. "He is my father," replied young Warner. This Indian, as Warner after-wards learned, had often partaken of his father's hospitality before the war. Said the Indian : " When you run, the boys will get before you, but you must run over them or push them one side ; they will not hurt you any the more for it, and when you get through, run to a wigwam and you will not again be hurt." Their fellow prisoner was not compelled to run, and as it happened, Zimmer started first. As the Indian had anticipated, the boys ran before him and he was receiving a severe castigation, when Warner, forcing his way past him, ran down several of the living obstacles, and was near the end of the lines almost untouched ; where stood a large boy, who, as he bounded along, dealt him a blow upon his head, which felled him senseless to the ground, Zimmer, who had not heard the conversation between Warner and the Indian, and feared to harm the boys, followed his companion closely in the path he had opened, and arrived at the goal of delivery, without serious injury.
On arriving within half a mile of Niagara, Peter Ball, who had removed at the beginning of the war to Canada, from the vicinity of Schoharie, saw and recognized Warner, and led him away from the squaws and young Indians, who were besetting him at every step with some missile. Zimmer saw on the journey, his brother's scalp, -with those of the other similar trophies of Crysler's invasion, stretched upon hoops to dry ; and on arriving at Niagara, saw them deposited, with bushels of similar British merchandise, made up of the crown scalps of both sexes and all ages. There were about 200 prisoners confined at Niagara when Warmer and Zimmer were there, many of whom fared hard, and several of whom died for want of food and proper treatment. Among the prisoners confined at Niagara there were nearly 100 Virginia riflemen, some of whom, to say the least, feared nothing in this world.
Warner, for a considerable time, worked for a man living near Niagara, as did also Christian Price, a spirited Virginian. In the latter part of the war, several Indians were found dead at different times, early in the morning, but the author of those midnight mysteries, although the prisoners were often accused of them, were never discovered, notwithstanding numbers were sometimes in the secret. Among the victims who were thus sacrificed in revenge of the cruelties and indignities meted to the American prisoners, was a young Indian, sixteen or seventeen years old, known about the fort as William Johnson. He was a half-breed, said to have been a son of Sir Wm. Johnson, after whom he was called, by a squaw. This namesake of the Baronet, was one morning discovered in a barrel of rain -water, under the conductor of a house, into which he had unaccountably fallen head first and drowned. Several prisoners were suspected of being accessory to the death of this Indian, but free masonry was then at its zenith. The tories on one occasion gave a stump to the prisoners to wrestle. Price, who was a muscular, athletic fellow, accepted the challenge and walked into the ring to wrestle with the acknowledged bully. The prisoner, with ease, threw the braggadocio in a very feeling manner, and the sport was soon ended. Warner was retained a prisoner until peace was proclaimed, and with twenty-three others ran away from Niagara one Sunday night. They halted at Oswego, purchased provisions of the British soldiers, and made the best of their way home through the forest. Zimmer returned home a short time before Warner, on parole. Snyder, on arriving in Canada, enlisted into the British service, as his friends have stated, to afford him an opportunity to desert and return home.
If the American prisoners at Niagara usually fared hard, they occasionally had an hour of merriment, as the following anecdote will show :
A Tory Wedding.-Among the Tories who removed from Schoharie county to Niagara, in the beginning of the war, was a man named Cockle, who had a pretty daughter called Peggy. On a certain occasion an Irishman named Patrick Tuffts, who worked much in Col. Butler's garden, and who was a dissipated simple fellow, was made the butt of no little pleasantry. The farce was set on foot by a British officer, and the matter principally conducted by him. Tuffts was induced to make love to the charming Peggy, who, agreeably to, previous arrangements, reciprocated the sentiment, and at an appointed time, agreed to marry him. Christian Price, previously mentioned, who in features somewhat resembled the fair toryess, was in the secret, and on the evening appointed, changed dresses with her, so that, to use the words of a guest, " Peggy was Price and Price was Peggy." At the hour appointed, the guests, who were numerous, for many of the prisoners were invited, assembled at the house of an influential Tory Stephen Secutt, a sergeant, a shrewd fellow, acted the ministerial part. The couple stood up before Secutt, who, with no little sang-froid, performed the marriage ceremony ; at the close of which he received from the happified son of Erin a silver dollar-a rarity in those days-to compensate for his official services.
Ample provision had been made by the officers and soldiers, and when the knot was pronounced tied, wine sparkled in many a cup. After the party had been drinking for sometime, and the groom and bride had received many happy salutations, the tones of a violin greeted the ear, and the party prepared for a dance. The bride, who had been sitting awhile in the lap of Tuffts, who was " half seas over," arose to dance with a guest as partner. In the midst of the dance Mistress Tuffts allowed her partner certain liberties, which the groom, being told by a guest was very improper, arose to resent. Bounding into the figure with a rash oath, he changed it into a reel by knocking down his wife. Mistress Tuffts sprang from the floor and ran out of the room to doff the petticoat and gown, and soon after returned as Christian Price, to bathe a black eye with a glass of wine; Tuffts, poor fellow, was soon to be seen staggering amid the delighted company, inquiring for his wife. At length he inquired of Warner if he had seen her. " You have no wife," was the answer. " Yes I have-eh," said Tuffts, " I'm lawfully married-eh. Did I not pay a silver dollar to be married-eh ?" " Yes, you are married," said Warner, "to Christian Price." This was a poser, and he could not at first credit the story, but after being ridiculed by the whole party, and jeered until nearly sober, he withdrew from the scene of merriment made at his expense, to mourn over the result of his precipitate marriage, which had wedded him to a man, and taken from him his only dollar. Had he ever seen the Latin line so often quoted, he would no doubt have exclaimed, on counting over his beads and retiring to rest, O Temporal! O Mores ! !- George Warner.
The Second Captivity of George Cough.-The patriotism of some men on the frontiers of New York, was severely tested in the Revolution. They were not only subjected to privations, constant calls to supply garrisons, poor families and often those whose male members were in the ranks of the foe, but they were subjected to repeated invasions of the enemy, sometimes reducing them in an hour from comfortable circumstances to beggary or captivity-if, in fact, their very names were not to be stricken from life by the sharpened hatchet. And yet, like Job, they could meet those crushing- calamities with unbending integrity, without faltering in their course, or bowing down to the iron calf royalty would set up. Of this class was George Cough, of Philadelphia Bush, who had removed thither from Philadelphia about nine years before the war began, and when the country around him was a forest. When the national difficulties began all the families in that settlement were comfortably situated.
The farm on which Cough resided in the war, has long been known as the Peter McKinlay farm, in the present town of Mayfield, on the road leading from Johnstown to Fondasbush. Six-mile-tree, on Sir William Johnson's road from Johnstown to Summer House Point, stood a little distance from Cough's dwelling ; about half a mile east of which, the road swept off more northerly to the Point, eight miles farther. A road at this period ran from Philadelphia Bush to the river at Tribe's Hill, and the pioneer settlers at Fish House, in going to Schenectada, had to make the circuit of Summer House Point, there being no wagon road before the war, from Fish House to Fondasbush. Several years prior to the war, a log school house was erected at Philadelphia Bush, and its first teacher was a German named Brydaberg, who taught in German, but left the school at the beginning of difficulties. Early in the war, an Englishman became its teacher, but at the end of a few weeks, he became superstitiously alarmed and left it. He remained to write after school, and left the house to go home about sun down, when his attention was arrested and his fears peculiarly excited by the unusual appearance of the sky. He went hastily to Mr. Cough's, and much agitated, called out the family to look at the heavens ; which he said seemed as an army with banners marching to battle, and forewarning him to quit the school, which he unceremoniously did. The appearance of a fading sun light on a moving vapor, was indeed a magnificent display of ethereal chemistry, well calculated to awaken the romantic imaginings of a timid mind. Nor was this by any means an isolated case. Superstitious fears were constantly awakened in the war, and few were the communities not disturbed by significant signs-originating in some seeming unaccountable phenomena in nature.
The school house mentioned, if not used in the war for the purpose designed, was not unoccupied. After hostilities began, Capt. Winne, with part of a company of soldiers, used it for a time as a temporary fort, after which it was occupied as a dwelling, first by John Bracken, who removed to Canada, next by one Cadman, a patriot. He had two son-in-laws of his political faith. Samuel Loss and Jacobus De La Martin. The last occupant in the war was Andrew Bowman, after his captivity of 1778.
Recapture of George Cough.-Mr. Cough was surprised a second time, on his farm, on the first Friday (3d) of May, 1782, at which time he was in his 6d year. The family consisted of himself and wife, sons George and Christopher, 13 and 11 years, etc., and three daughters, Christina, Catharine and Mary, all older than the boys. The surprise took place about 1 P. M., at which time Mr. Cough was plowing in peas in a field. In clearing land at that period, it was a common occurrence to girdle some of the largest trees, and leave them standing for the wind to throw down afterwards. A large maple had thus fallen in the meadow, not far from the pea-field, and the boys were gathering the branches around the trunk so as to be less in the way while cutting hay, and preparatory to burning after harvest. Andrew Bowman was at work for Mr. Cough that day, and was engaged in taking potatoes from a hole, where hurried in the fall, not far from where Mr. Cough was at work.
While all were thus engaged, the lads discovered a party of Indians emerging from the adjoining woods. George attempted to escape by flight, but at the end of a few rods he was headed, and with his father and brother became a prisoner. The enemy consisted of 13 young athletic St. Regis Indians, and having left their blankets in the woods so as not to be cumbered by them in running, they were entirely naked except in a breech-clout about the loins, and moccasins: being hideously painted and terribly armed, they presented in their approach a most appalling spectacle to the captors. They were all armed with guns, hatchets and knives except one, who having no gun, was armed with a long spear. In scaling a log fence which skirted the field, it fell under their weight with a crash-hearing which Bowman ran out of the potato hole to learn the cause of the noise, just in time to become a prisoner. In leaping the fence, said my informant,* they appeared to come upon us like flying angels ! Had the old worthy said, like telegraphed devils, methinks the trope would have been truer to life.
The four prisoners were hurried into the woods by about half the Indians, to where they had left their clothing, and the rest ran to plunder the dwellings, out of sight of the laborers. Mrs. Bowman and her children were at the Cough dwelling, and soon her own was rifled of its most valuable contents and set on fire. As the enemy approached the Cough dwelling, all its inmates except Mrs. Cough and her daughter Catharine, fled from it and secreted themselves in the forest unharmed. No injury or gross indignity was offered to either of the two ladies in the house, which was quickly sacked, and the Indians joined their companions. For some reason the house was not fired,
* George Cough, Jr., one of the captives named, and now (1851) an intelligent and conscientious citizen of Fulton county. The facts in this connection were noted from his lips June 4, 1850; and on the 6th of February preceding, he was 81 years old.
but the burning school house communicated fire to a fence, which would have done the work for the dwelling, had not the flames been extinguished by the women.
Among the pillage at Cough's was a piece of linen cloth cut from the loom, some 30 ells (20 yds.) in length, which Christina was weaving for Michael Swobe, living toward Johnstown. One of the horses, used by Mr. Cough, was taken by the enemy, and its fellow left before the plow. The stolen horse slipped its bridle fastening at the first halt the enemy made-returned home and was secured the next day.
After the Indians had disappeared, Mrs. Cough started for the field to learn the fate of her husband, at which time Catharine fled to a neighbor's, where she staid all night. Mrs. Cough, not finding her husband or sons, became delirious. The horse yet in the furrow she set at liberty, and obtaining the sheet from which her husband had sown his grain, she wound it about her person, and in a state of frenzy wandered about the field till dark, when spreading the sheet on a stone heap she laid upon it all night. Her daughters Christina and Mary, with Mrs. Bowman and her children, came from the woods at night fall and slept under a barrack, fearing to go to the house. The next morning the members of the Cough family got together and went to the Lodowick Putman place, half way to Johnstown.
The enemy and prisoners started directly for Canada, proceeding over the mountain north of Mayfield. They forded the Sacondaga some ten miles above Northville, the captives all taking hold of a long pole, to enable them to stem the current, except the lad Christopher, who was borne on the back of a stout Indian. Fearing pursuit the journey was continued all night, the prisoners being led by the hand. There still remained some snow on the ground in the woods ; and as the captives were clad in summer garments, unused to exposure to night air, and compelled to ford streams, they suffered from the cold ; observing which their captives twice essayed to halt. The first time they stopped and sat down beside a fallen hemlock, when with some design unknown they armed the prisoners. They evidently did not consider the place well chosen for a halt, for after a few minutes they again set forward with increased speed, over great inequalities of footing-following a path that would have seemed formidable with daylight.
At the end of a mile or two more the party halted around a dry treetop, which the enemy ignited so quickly as to astonish the prisoners. The crackling limbs soon shed a ray of comfort, and the light to cheer the solitude, when the report of a musket echoed among the mountains, evidently fired not far off. In an instant the Indians were on their feet, and a suppressed murmur of consultation followed. If the prisoners were amazed at the brevity of time in which the fire was kindled, they were equally astonished to see it extinguished and the march resumed. By whom the gun was fired was never known to the prisoners. It may have been a signal of distress from a returning captive ; or, what is quite probable, it was discharged by some party on a similar expedition to that of the one alarmed. Apprehensive of pursuit and loss of the profits of the expedition, the captors chose to advance in ignorance of the signal. The party without halting to rest and scarcely to drink, continued their march until near sunset the next day, having traveled, as Bowman told his companions, a distance of 70 miles from home. Possibly it may have been 50. Feeling secure from pursuit, the forward Indian cast down his pack and his companions threw theirs upon it, when a signal was given the prisoners to sit down-a welcome token. Preparations were made for a night's rest, a fire kindled and hemlock boughs cut to sleep on.
While preparations were making for the night, supper included, Bowman told Mr. Cough he meant there to take French leave of his captors, and unobserved by them he took occasion to obtain three handkerchiefs, from a pack of plunder made at his house, two of which he tied about his neck, placing the third in his shirt-bosom. They were the property of his wife. The Indians are guided so much by looks and gestures, that they often divine the workings of the mind, and this enabled them to suspect Bowman's intention. Accordingly, before occupying their hemlock bed, his foes tied his hands behind him, fastening the cord to another one, the end of which was tied to Mr. Cough's coat, while upon the other end several of the party laid down. Being greatly fatigued, the party all slept soundly except Bowman, who had a furlough from Morpheus for another night. At peep of day it was found he had freed himself and gone. Two armed Indians were soon upon his trail, but as he had had a start of nearly all night, at the end of a few hours they returned. He had a constitution like an Indian's, ran much of the way back, and before dark reached the settlement.
While the two Indians were looking for Bowman, the rest of the party took breakfast. For some days they all lived upon provisions obtained at the plundered dwellings, and several loaves of bread were thrust through and carried on the spear of the one thus armed. On the second morning Mr. Cough was compelled to bear a small pack, and young George was given a gun found at Bowman's to carry, but as he stumbled with it he was soon relieved of its care. The party now proceeded leisurely, halting at streams to drink, crossing at the larger ones in the manner before described. When water was not conveniently obtained, a warrior would tap a birch tree with his hatchet, insert a piece of bark, and from it all would slake their thirst. If either of the prisoners chanced to lean upon his elbow, his master would quickly inquire : "You sick? If you sick me kill you !" proving sorry comforters to the jaded boys.
At the end of three days and a half from the settlement, the Indians made known to their captives by motions and broken English, that in three days more they would go in canoes. Soon after their stock of provisions was gone, they came to part of a moose the enemy had concealed in going down, and not long after to the carcass of a bear they had slain, from both of which they replenished their larder. Arriving at a body of water, the party crossed in two canoes they had left, one of bark and the other made by straining the skin of a moose over a frame of wood, the pelt was cut loose and taken along. In the afternoon of the third day as forewarned, the party struck a marsh with a mountain upon one side of it. The water was nearly a foot deep in a part of the marsh and very cold, but as it was in their route they traveled it for several hours arriving just at night upon the shore of a lake.
The Indians now began a terrific whooping and firing. They would load their guns with the greatest possible dispatch, compel the prisoners to fire them of, and at each discharge they would indulge a joyous shout that made the forest resound. In a little while two canoes were seen approaching, each managed by a squaw. All entered the canoes, and in the fading twilight were ferried to an island nearly half a mile distant, where the returning warriors were greeted by one man and half a dozen squaws-several of them cumbered with papooses. There were three huts on the island and the prisoners were taken to separate ones.
The Indians, after giving their friends a narrative of their enterprise, prepared for a feast, and for that purpose killed a dog, the repast for an Indian. The captors were allowed to sleep while the delicacy was preparing, but were called up to partake of it. The boys who did not know what the dainty flesh was, partook of it with gusto, but their father having seen the dog slain and its hair burned off preparatory to cooking could not eat. Previous to their going on the war path, the Indians had been engaged in trapping and had secured considerable fur. They remained on the island three days, in which time they constructed five additional bark canoes, each capable to carry seven or eight persons, yet so light as to be transported at carrying places by two men. With traps, furs, border plunder and " Poughkeepsie baggage" in the canoes, they broke up the island encampment and glided from the lake down its outlet.
They kept to the westward of Lakes George and Champlain, probably passing from Hamilton county into St. Lawrence, transporting their canoes and luggage around rapids and from one water course to another, until they came to Racket river, passing down that to the village of the St. Regis Indians, situated on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, about 70 miles above Montreal, where the prisoners arrived three weeks after their surprise. They were not compelled to run the gantlet, there being a British officer there to see that prisoners were not abused. Soon after their arrival, they were treated to liquor by a French trader, who manifested sympathy for their condition. The officer at St. Regis asked Mr. Cough if he had not been there before ? Answering that he had been, four years before, he further enquired if he had been abused which caused him then to leave ? He replied that he did not wish to live among the Indians. " If your fare is not good," said the officer, " report to me." He did so report, and received an assurance that he should be sent to Montreal within ten days. He and his son Christopher, who had been separated, were sent thither at the time specified, making the journey by water- in one day
Preparatory to taking their prisoners to Montreal, the Indians painted their heads with grease and Spanish brown, and to set off the lad Christopher to advantage, they shaved the most of his head, tying a tuft of feathers in a remaining lock of hair. He cried at being metamorphosed into an Indian, and to reconcile him he received several presents-all of which were taken from him at Montreal, except a brooch. George did not go down with his father, but went in a canoe containing two Indians and two squaws. At several little taverns along the river, the party landed to get rum, and about two miles from the city the liquor began to operate, one of the Indians fiercely quarreled with his squaw, when the canoe ran ashore and he drew her from it by the hair of her head, inflicting numerous blows upon her-when the other Indian separated them. This was just at dusk, and the captive afraid to tarry with his drunken masters, ran to a dwelling not far off to claim protection. He was not suffered to remain in the house, but was permitted to sleep in a barn. At day-light he hastened to the shore, where he found the Indians awake, much sobered,, and just ready to discuss the merits of the bottle of discord ; and his return so pleased them, that they treated him for his integrity. The squaws had taken the canoe in the night and gone on to Montreal, and soon after the prisoner joined them, the Indians proceeded thither on foot.
The prisoners were delivered to Col. Campbell, and for their capture the Indians received from the government a half-joe-$4 each-and some presents to make a further compensation for the enterprise. As the captives needed clothing. Col. C. furnished each with a cloth coat, two pair of pants and a pair of shirts, one each of cotton and linen, and sent them to a prison-house, where they found about a dozen prisoners, some of whom had been retained in Canada several years, suffering great hardships. Mr. Cough's son Henry, who was captured with him in 1778, was confined on Prison island, where he died the next spring. While the Coughs were retained at Montreal, the prisoners obtained bread at a bakers, but meat was dealt out to them in the prison by a woman.
The mother of John Parker, whose arrest and execution I have elsewhere shown as occurring in the spring of 1782, was at Montreal when Mr. Cough was, and having been a neighbor before the war she went to the prison to see him. She inquired of him, if the rebels had hung her John ? Mr. Cough told her he had been tried and sentenced, but had not been executed to his knowledge. A few days after, she was seen approaching the prison accompanied by her only daughter, Nancy, bemoaning terribly. She sought out Mr. Cough, and said to him with great earnestness : " The rebels have hung my John! I have five sons more,* and they shall all go with the Indians to kill the d- rebels ! Yes, and I'll go with them and eat my belly full of their flesh, and drink my belly full of their blood ! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo ! " She left the prison bewailing her severe loss through the street, threatening vengeance on the friends of liberty. A Lieutenant,-who had charge of the prisoners, and had been present at the interview of Mrs. Parker and Cough, inquired of the latter if he knew that woman ? And on being assured that he did, the officer added : " Well, she's certainly a very rugged woman." The whole union was rife with affliction when the heel of war was upon it, and few were the domestic altars not bruised by it.
The Parker boys were daily in the habit of saluting the prisoners of their acquaintance whom they chanced to meet in the street, with the harsh epithet of d- rebels ! for which low revenge they were often censured by British soldiers, and not unfrequently by other tories.
A man named Frazier, who had been an officer of some rank, then residing several miles from Montreal, though in sight, made an arrangement to have the three Coughs work for him, which they did until fall. They often saw while there some of their former neighbors, among whom were Susannah Wormwood Dunbar, mother, as believed, of two of Sir William Johnson's children ; Molly, wife of John Brocken, who removed from the Philadelphia Bush school house early in the war-Susannah was living with Mrs. Brocken ; Mrs. John Howell, and John Cough, whose flight to Canada the fall before, is elsewhere shown. They also saw Michael Reid, who was captured when Henry Stoner was killed, as elsewhere stated.
* William, James, Thomas, Isaac and Robert. All that were old enough were in the service of the enemy.
Return of Prisoners.-In the fall of 1782, the prisoners in and around Montreal-200 or 300-were exchanged for their foes held captive in the State, at which time Mr. Cough received $20 from his late employer. They were liberated the day before their departure, and such as had friends in the city shared their hospitality. Mr. Cough and sons partook the hospitality of the Howell family over night; a family that had gone from their own neighborhood. The liberated captives spent the night in feasting, dancing and merriment. In the morning they crossed the river and found carts ready to carry their baggage to St. Johns, on the River Sorel, where they remained over night. From thence they embarked on two sloops, 12 boats accompanying them up the lake filled with canoes for the southerly end of the journey. The captives were landed at Skenesborough-now White Hall-and being there supplied with provisions, they were left to foot it home in snow six inches deep, as best they could. A German family from Kentucky, consisting of a man, wife and four children, came with the Coughs, parting company near the Gen. Schuyler place at Stillwater. Mr. Cough and sons were welcomed by their friends at home about the first of December, three weeks after leaving Montreal, and about seven months from their captivity. He was agreeably surprised on reaching his home, to find that the good management of his wife and daughter had secured the family from want. They planted corn and potatoes, and assisted by Michael Swobe and Henry Frank-the latter entered the State under Burgoyne-they cut and secured some hay. But what those women did, thousands of others did in that war for liberty ; they toiled in-doors and out, sending their daily prayers to Heaven for the protection and success of their captive or war-clad kinsmen-without which coadjutors, the chains of tyranny could not have been riven. The Senr. Cough died in 1802, and his son, my informant, died March 11, 1852.
<-Maj.
Nicholas Stoner, as seen hunting in the forest.