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 -BY- 
 
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 WATERLOO, N. Y. ^^ " 
 FEOM THE OBSERVER BOOK AND JOB PSINTING HOUSE. 
 
 1880. \ '\ .,; 
 
 S 
 
 W'^ 
 
 
u m. ram ui. 
 
 B,ev. David Craft's Historical Address, 
 
 -DELIVERED AT THE- 
 
 SENECA COUNTY CELEBRATION, 
 
 WATERLOO, N. Y. 
 
 S :E3 I> n? S3 IVE IB :E3 XI. 3x>d, 1870. 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 In tlie current of human history, there arise great events 
 which materially modify the structure of society, turn the 
 stream of national life into new channels, give a new col- 
 oring to national character, and secure development of 
 new resources. They are the events which designate his- 
 torical epochs, and become focal dates to mark the pro- 
 gress of civilization, and trace the development of social 
 and national life. 
 
 Such an event, to this country, was the Sullivan 
 Expedition. It marks the beginning of a new era in the 
 history of this Empire State. It determined, at a single 
 blow, whether white men erred men should hold domi- 
 nation over these fertile vales and along these streams, 
 and over these lakes and mountains. At a single stroke 
 it solved the question, whether the American Indian, with 
 
2 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 Ms deeply rooted prejudices, with Ms unconquerable 
 aversion to civilization, with his undisguised hatred for 
 the religion and the culture of the European, was longer 
 to stand in the way of human progress; whether he was 
 longer to maintain a barrier, as immovable as his own na- 
 ture, to the advancement of the institutions and the ideas 
 of the white man, or whether he must go down before 
 the antagonism of another race, which was every day 
 gathering new strength and preparing itself for a fresh 
 onset. 
 
 To whichever party our sympathy may cling, in whatever 
 speculations the philanthropist may indulge, whatever 
 charges of cruelty, of greed, of rapacity, may be made 
 against the white man, we shudder to think what might 
 have been the fate of free institutions on this western 
 continent, had the wager of battle between the races, at 
 that awful crisis, given victory to the vanquished. 
 
 When this country was first known to the whites, thft 
 territory bounded on the north by the St. Lawrence, on 
 the east by the Hudson and Delaware, on the south by 
 the Potomac, and on the west by the great lakes, was in- 
 habited by nations, which from their language, general 
 customs and traditions, seemed to be more closely related 
 to each othej', than to the nations which surrounded 
 them. The confederated Five Nations, or as they are 
 commonly called, the Ir.oquois, occupied the north-east 
 portion of this territory, having the Eries and Hurons on 
 the west, and on the south the Andastes, tribes living 
 along the Susquehanna. These powerful neighbors had 
 greatly diminished the strength of theIroquois,and well- 
 nigh reduced them to a condition of vassalage, and more 
 than once had even driven them from their ancestral 
 seats. 
 
 For mutual protectio|n the Five .Nations of Central 
 New York, viz: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onon- 
 dagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, entered into a 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 8 
 
 confederation, and in a rude way, anticipated tiie 
 great Federal Republic which is to-day exercising such 
 controlling power over the affairs of this continent, and 
 such mighty influence ■ over the nations of the earth. By 
 means of the mutual aid they were thus able to give each 
 other, and of the rifle, which traders sold to the, Mohawks 
 prior to 1620, the Iroquois soon began to assert their in- 
 dependence, then to make war upon their neighbors, and 
 in a few years, instead of being vassals, they became mas- 
 ■ ters,and either exterminated or broTight into subjugation, 
 not only their former conquerors, but carried their con- 
 quests to the Mississippi on the west and to the Grulf on 
 the south. 
 
 When the English assumed control of New York, they 
 authorities sent a delegation to the Great Council* of 
 the Iroquois, informing them that their difficulties with 
 the British king related to the white people alone, and 
 as it did not concern the Indians, they ought to be neutral 
 in the contest. To this policy the Great Council agreed; 
 and it was declared that some of their chiefs even offered 
 their services to the Americans, which, however, the com- 
 missioners firmly, though kindly, declined. 
 
 Sir William Johnson, Baronet, the popular British In- 
 dian agent, died June 24, 1774, and his son, John, suc- 
 ceeded to his titles and estates^ and his son-in-law. Col. 
 Guy Johnson, succeeded to the Indian agency. Col. John 
 Butler, a speculator in Indian lands, whose father had 
 been a warm friend of the Baronet's, was a near and 
 wealthy neighbor of the Johnsons ; these were all active 
 loyalists, and in connection with Sir Guy Carlton, then 
 Governor of Canada, began to persuade the Iroquois to 
 take up the hatchet in aid of the British king. The cel- 
 ebrated Mohawk warrior, Joseph Brant, who had been 
 
 *A formal conference and treaty was held by commissioners of the congres3,to-wit : 
 Gen. Schuyler, Col. Turbut Francis, Col. Wolcott, Mr. Douw and others, with the Iro- 
 quois at Albany, N. Y., August, 1775. A full account may be found in "Stone's Life ol 
 Brant;" Vol. I. Appendix No. 2. 
 
4 SENECA COUWTy CENTENNIAL 
 
 elevated to tbe military chieftaincy of his nation, and 
 won over to the side of the British government, from 
 which he had received a captain's commission, was lend- • 
 ing all of his powerful influence to the side of the 
 crown.* Rev. Samuel Kirkland, a missionary among 
 the Oneidas, succeeded, however, in preventing a part of 
 that nation, the Stockbridge Indians and a part of the 
 Tuscaroras, from taking up arms against the States, and 
 subsequently some of them joined the Americans— Cap- 
 tain Jehoiacim with a few Stockbridge Indians, and Han- 
 yerry, an Oneida, with some of his nation, being connected 
 with the Sullivan expedition as guides, as also a chief call- 
 ed Captain Print, who acted as interpreter. Without 
 going into the particulars of the negotiations, it is suffi- 
 cient to say that, through this defection of the Iroquois, 
 about 1,200 Indian warriors were brought into the field 
 to strengthen the British forces. 
 
 As early as 177.^, Sir John Johnson and Col, John But- 
 ler called a secret council of the Indians at Oswego, which 
 was attended principally by the Senecas and Cayugas, who 
 henceforth, became prominent in their opposition to the 
 Colonists, and foremost in the various marauds made 
 against the frontier settlements. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1776, Sir John Johnson 
 fled to Canada, where he was commissioned a Colonel in 
 the British service, and raised a command of two bat- 
 talions, composed mostly of Scotchmen, living near 
 Johnstown, who had accompanied him in his flight, and 
 of other American loyalists, who subsequentiy followed 
 their example. Prom the color of their uniform they 
 
 *There Is good reason also to believe that, aside from the long alliance and friend- 
 ship with the British GoTernment, the demoializlng effect of British gold and British 
 rum, and the great influence of Brant, that the Iroquois themselves had begun to feel 
 the morllfloation of haying their own subjects, aided as they often were by the Colonial 
 Government, maintain a successful revolt against their authority, and their ailiance 
 vrith the British mcant,ultlmately, the assurance of English rule over the white people 
 and of Iroquois supremacy over the Indians on this continent. 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 5 
 
 were called "Royal Greens.'' Johnson became not only- 
 one of the most active, but one of the bitterest foes of 
 his own countrjmen, of any who were engaged in the 
 contest, and was r-apeatedly the scourge of liis own former 
 neighbors. 
 
 Besides the regulai-ly enlisted and vuiirurmed compa- 
 nies of Greens or Rangers, a considerable number of dis;if- 
 fected people had been driven from the border settlements 
 by the Whigs, as public enemies, and became refugees 
 about the British camps and garrisons. These bj' the 
 patriots were called "Tories." They, burning with i-age 
 toward the Whigs, and frequently disguised as Indians, 
 either in company with them, or in bands by tiiemselves, 
 kept up a predatory or guerilla warfare along the front- 
 iers and in cruelty and inhumanity far exceeded the sav- 
 ages themselves. 
 
 Of Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea,as the Indians call- 
 ed him, who acted so conspicuous a part on our frontiers 
 during the Revolutionary war, a few words need be said. 
 Of more than average natural gifts, he had enjoyed pe- 
 culiar advantages fur their cultivation. His sister, Molly, 
 being the mistress of Sir William Johnson, that gentle- 
 man secured for him a fair English education, and after- 
 ward gave him a responsible position connected with tlie 
 Indian agency, which he held until the beginning of the 
 war. About that time he made a visit to England, where 
 he was received with marked attention by the nobility and 
 English peop]e,and was persuaded tliat the ancient trea- 
 ties between the Iroquois and the British bound him to 
 support the crown in its struggle with theColonies.Brant 
 returned to America an avowed ally of the British govern- 
 ment. 
 
 He was descended from a Sachem of the Mohawks, and 
 attained the high honor of being recognized as the war 
 chief of the Confederacy, a position the highest and the 
 most honorable to which an Iroquois could aspire. As 
 
6 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 the leader of his dusky warriors, he was foremost in the 
 fray, exhaustless in expedients to harass his enemy, of 
 tireless energy, of dauntless courage, of lofty and chiv- 
 alrous bearing, commanding the fullest confidence of 
 his people, a tower of strength to his friends and a terror 
 to his foes. Even after the lapse of a century, the, mere 
 mention of his name calls up recolleotions of slaughter 
 and massacres, of plunder and pillage, of burning and 
 devastation, for which men still execrate his name and 
 stigmatize his memory. 
 
 With such a horde of white men and red, of Indian 
 warriors, refugees, Tories, uniformed militia, and a few 
 regular troops, men whose passions were inflamed with 
 intensest hatred Hgainst the patriots, who were stimulated 
 10 deeds of reckless bravery by hope of plunder, who 
 were encouraged to a mad rivalry with each other in acts 
 of savage barbaiism and merciless cruelty — with such a 
 horde, whose battle-crv vvas "No quarter," and whose 
 purpose was extermination, without military discipline 
 and without susceptibility of control, let loose upon tlip 
 scattered and unprotected settleqients on the frontiers, 
 British Generals and British statesmen sought to subdue 
 the rebellion in their we.-tern colonies, and crush out lite 
 and liberty^ frcmi the new born nation. 
 
 The great event of 1777, was the invasion of Burgoyne. 
 and the defeat and capture of his array. In this cam- 
 paign the forces under Butler and Brant were with St. 
 Leger in the siege of Fort Schuyler, and were engaged in 
 the battle of Oriskany. 
 
 Although the froquois had shamefully broken their 
 pledge to remain neutral during the contest between the 
 Colonies and the mother country, yet. Congress deter- 
 mined to make a still further effort to secure their good 
 will, and sent a deputation to meet them at Johnstown in 
 March, 1778. It was estimateid that seven hundred sav- 
 ages were at this council, but of these there were only 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 7 
 
 three or four Cayagas and not a single Seneca. The latter 
 nation not only refused to attend tlie conference, but sent 
 a most insolent message, in which they afPected great sur- 
 prise, using their own language, "that while our toma- 
 hawks were sticking in their headi>, (meaning the Conti- 
 nentals,) their wounds bleeding and their eyes streaming 
 with tears for the loss of their friends at German Flats, 
 (Oriskany,) the commission should think of inviting them 
 to a treaty."' In his life of Brant, Colonel Stone snys, 
 "While the impression at the time seemed to be that the 
 Oneidas. the Tuscaroras and the Onondagas would re- 
 main neutral and restrain their warriors from taking part 
 with the British, the commissioners left the council under 
 tjie full persuasion that from the Senecas, the Cayugas, 
 and the greater part of the Mohawks,nothing but levenge 
 for their lost friends and tarnished glory ar/Orlsicany 
 and Fort Schuyler, was to be anticipated." 
 
 This year, 1778, was marked by a series of attacks on 
 the most important frontier towns in New York and 
 Pennsylvania. In January, predatory excursions were 
 begun against the settlers on the Susqueharma, and before 
 the close of spring,of more than a hundred families scat- 
 tered along the river above the Lackawanna, not one re- 
 mained. Then came the destruction of Wyoming, and 
 the piteous tale of sorrow and distress and death had 
 hardly been told when there followed in swift succession 
 the destruction of Andrustown, of the German Flats and 
 of Cherry Valley. As the terror- stricken fugitives fled to 
 the adjoiuins settlements, they told with every conceiva- 
 ble exaggeration, the story of their sufferings, and the 
 hideous cruelty and savageness of both Tory and Indian. 
 Every messenger from the frontiers brought a new tale of 
 butchery, of prisoners tortured, of scenes where every re- 
 finement of cruelty was in sharp competition with the most 
 shocking barbarism. Thig enemy in the rear, though of 
 despicable character and of but little strength, when meas- 
 
8 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 ured by the ordinary military standard, yet proved to be 
 far more annoying than the more formidable forces under 
 , Clinton and Howe. 
 
 During the winter of 177^-79, bands of savages or dis- 
 guised tories were incessantly prowling around the bor- 
 der settlements, keeping the people in constant alarm 
 and terror. Military men began to discuss the feasibility 
 of what had for a year been advocated by Washington 
 — carrying the war into the enemy's country. It was ar- 
 gued that the surest and easiest way to protect the border 
 settlements, was to weaken the power of the adversary. 
 It was known that in the fertile valleys of the Genesee 
 and along the lakes of Central New York, large crops of 
 corn and other vegetables were raised, not for the sup- 
 port of the Indians alone, but as supplies for the British 
 army. It* was thought that if these crops should be de- 
 stroyed, and the Indians driven back upon the British 
 garrisons which were maintained at Niagara and Oswego, 
 it would largely increase the expense of the British gov- 
 ernment in carrying on the war, embarrass their opera- 
 tions through the failure of their expected supplies, pi ace 
 a greater distance between the Indians and the frontiers, 
 and teach them wholesome lessons of the power of the 
 colonies to visit upon them the vengeance which their 
 cruelties deserved. The territory it was proposed to lay 
 waste was that occupied by the Senecas and Cayugas,the 
 two most powerful nations of the Iroquois, and the most 
 haughty and implacable in their enmity to the people of 
 the States. 
 
 In the autumn, of 1778, the New York authorities had 
 determined to send a strong force into the very heart of 
 the Iroquois country, to punish severely the Mohawks 
 and Onondagas for their breach of faith, and their cruel- 
 ties upon the patriot frontiersmen, but it was abandoned 
 on account of the lateness of the season. In September 
 however. Colonel Thomas Hartley of the Eleventh Penn- 
 
sylvania Regiment, with about two hundred men, pene- 
 trated the Indian country by the way of the West Branch, 
 the Lycoming andTowanda Creeks as far as Tioga, intend- 
 ing to form a junction with a detachment from General 
 Clinton's Brigade. But finding the enemy in force at 
 Chemung, and not meeting the expected reinforcements, 
 after recovering some property stolen by the savages, he 
 retired to Wyoming, reaching that place October 1, in 
 safety. The subject was formally brought to the attention 
 of. Congress, and that body, Feb. 27, 1779, passed a reso- 
 lution authorizing General Washington to take the most 
 effectual measures for protecting the inhabitants of the 
 States and chastising the Indians. The Commander-in- 
 Chief determined to carry out this resolution with vigor. 
 General Hand, Colonel Zebulon Butler, of Wyoming, each 
 of whom had extensive knowledge of the Indian country, 
 were consulted. Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel,) John 
 Jenkins, by profession a surveyor, who had recently been a 
 captive among the Indians, and had traveled over the very 
 country into which it was proposed to send the army, was 
 able to give information of great value, and was retained 
 as chief guide to the expedition. 
 
 The plan of the campaign contemplated the entire de- 
 struction of everything upon which the Indians depended 
 for food or shelter. The invading army was tojenter the 
 Indian country in three divisions; one from the south up 
 the Susquehanna; the other from the east down that 
 river, the third from the west by the way of the Alle- 
 ghany. These were to form a junction at some conven- 
 ient point, advance against the strongholds of the enemy 
 in such force as could not possibly be resisted, and then 
 overrun the whole Iroquois country west of the Oneida 
 villages. 
 
 In a letter to the President of Congress dated April 14, 
 1779, Washington says: "The plan of operations for the 
 campaign being determined, a commanding officer was to 
 
10 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 be appointed for the Indian expedition. This command, 
 ■according to all present appearances, will probably be of 
 the second, if not of the first, importance of the campaign. 
 The ofiicer conducting it has a flattering prospect of ac- 
 quiring more credit than can be expected by any other 
 this year; and he has the best reason to hope for success. 
 Gen. Lee, from his situation, was out of the question; 
 Gen. Schuyler, (who, by the way, would have been most 
 agreeable to me), was so uncertain of continuing in the 
 army, that I could not appoint him; Gen. Putnam I need 
 not mention. I therefore made the offer of it, for the 
 appointment could no longer be delayed, to Gen. Gates, 
 who was next in seniority, though perhaps I might have 
 avoided it, if I had been so disposed, from his having a 
 command by the special appointment of Congress. My 
 letter to hiip on the occasion, I believe you will think 
 was conceived in very candid and polite terms, and it 
 merited a different answer from the one given to it." 
 
 Washington had written to Gates on the 6th of March, 
 who answered: "Last night I had the honor of your 
 Excellency's letter. The man who undertakes the Indian 
 service, should enjoy youth and strength; requisites I do 
 mot possess. It therefore grieves me that your Excel- 
 lency should ofl:er me the only command to which I am 
 entirely .unequal. In obedience to your command I have 
 forwarded your letter to Gen. S^^llivan. 
 
 Sullivan* accepted the command and immediately be- 
 
 *Ma.ior-Geueral John Sullivan was born at Somersworth, In New Hampshire, on the 
 opposite side of the river from Berwick, in Maine, J-eljruary 18, 1740, and was at the 
 date of the expedition 39 years of age, He had acquired a good education under the di- 
 rection of his father, who was a school teacher, and commenced the praciice of law at 
 Durham, N. H., Khich continued to be his place of residence until his death. In 1773, 
 he was Major ot the New Hampshire Eegiment. In 1^74 and 1775 he was delegate to 
 Congress, and by that body was appointed Major-Geiieral in July, 1776 His courage, 
 bravery and skill were unquestioned. He enjoyed the confidence of Washington and 
 his compatricts. His oniluct in i his expedition was the subject of severe criticism in 
 certain circles, and characterized as vandal and unmililary. His usual piaciice of fir- 
 ing a ro 5-i,ing and eveuing gun, liis destruction ot tlie houses and orchards of the enemy 
 were declared to be unwi-o nnd nnsjlclierly. Sullivan bore these criticisms in patience'- 
 
01' Sullivan's expedition. 11 
 
 gan preparing the details for the expedition. It was de- 
 termined that the center or main division of the army 
 should rendezvous at Wyoming, whence baggage and sup- 
 plies could be transported to Tioga and beyond, by water. 
 This division was to be made up of three Brigades — the 
 New Jersey, commanded by Brigadier-General William 
 Maxwell,* composed of the First regiment, under Colonel 
 Matthias Ogden; the Second, under Colonel Israel Shreven; 
 the Third, commanded by Colonel Elias Dayton, and 
 the Independent or Fifth, better known from the name 
 of its commander, as Colonel Oliver Spencer's Regiment ; 
 also David Forsman' s Regiment, and Colonel Elisha Shel- 
 don' s Connecticut Riflemen, both subsequently merged 
 into Spencer's Regiment. The Second was the New 
 Hampshire Brigade, commanded by Brigadier- General 
 
 and,for the most part in silence; and such was his love for Washington, that never did 
 he allude to the fact, in his own defense, that in those things for which he was blamed, 
 he was acting under the express direction of the Comnaander-in-Chief , prefpn-ing rath- 
 er himself to suffer in silence than that his beloved Washington should bear reproach. 
 Owing to exposure in this expedition, and the derangement of his business growing 
 out of his prolonged absence in the camp, he asked le.ave to retire from the army atthe 
 clOf-e of the campaign. But his subsequent life was largely spent in public busi- 
 ness. In 1780 and 1781 he was a delegate to Congress, in 1782 was appointed Attorney- 
 Genera), and re-aopointed on the adoption of the new Constitution in 1784. In 1786 and 
 1787 he was President of the State. In 1788 be was Speaker of the House of Represen- 
 tatives of Kew Hampshire, and President of the Convention that ratified the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. In 1789 he was PrcsideDtial Elector and voted for Washing- 
 ton ; and in March of the same year was elected President of the State for the third 
 time. In 1789, he was appointed by Washington, Judge of the District Court of New 
 Hampshire, which cfllce he held until his death, January S3, 1795, in the flfty-flfth'year 
 of his age. 
 
 *Brigadier-General William Maxwell, Commandant of the Jersey line, was a gentle- 
 man of refinement and an officer of high character. Of his personal history but little 
 is known. It is believed he was born in Ireland, but at an early age was brought by his 
 parents to New Jersey. When quite j oung he entered the mi itary service, and at the 
 Jbreakingout of the Eevolutionary war was nvids Colonel of the Second Battalion of 
 the First Establishment, was with Montgomery in his Canada Campaign, promoted to 
 Brigadier-General October, 1776, and commanded the Jersey Brigade in the battles of 
 Brandywlne and Germantown, and indeed all the battles in which the Jersey Brigade 
 was eng.'!gcil, w til he resigned his commission, July, 1780. He died November, 1798. 
 
12 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 Enoch. Poor,* comprising from that State, the First Regi- 
 ment, Tinder Colonel Joseph Cilley ; the Second, com- 
 manded by Lieutenant-Colonel George Reid ; the Third, 
 or Scammel' s Regiment, under command of Lieutenant 
 Colonel Henry Dearborn; and the Second New York, 
 commanded by Colonel Phillip Van Cortlandt. The 
 third was a Brigade of Light Troops, under Briga- 
 dier-General Edward Hand, :t;composed-of the Eleventh 
 Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Adam Hubley; the German Regiment, or what 
 there was left of it, commanded by Major Daniel Burk- 
 hardt; Captain Simon Spalding's Independent Wy- 
 oming company ; the Wyoming militia, under Captain, 
 
 *Brigadier-General Enoch Poor was born in Andover," Mass., June 21, 1736 but for 
 mo.st of his lite resided in Exeter,N. H. Immediately after the battle of L|exington,\ew 
 Hampshire resolved to raise three regiments, the third being placed under the com- 
 mand of Col. Poor. He wa? promoted to the rank of Brigadier by commission, ()ated 
 February 21, 1777. In the indecisive but hard-fought battle of StiIlwater,General Poor's 
 Brigade was so closely engaged that it suffered more than two-thii-ds of thewhole Amer- 
 ican loss in killed, wounded and missing. At the battle ot Saratosa, General Poor led 
 the attack. The vigor and gallantry of the charge, supported by an adroit and furious 
 onset from Colonel Morgan, could not be resisted and the British lino was soon broken. 
 The year after the Sullivan Campaign, two brigades of Light Infantry chosen from 
 thewhole army were formcd,the commanclof one of which, at the request of La Fay- 
 ette, was given to Gen. Poor. He died of fever September 9, 17*0, in camp at Hacken- 
 sack, N. J., where he was buried the next day with military honors, greatly lamented 
 by the army in which he was deservedly popular. General Washington declared him to 
 be "an officer of distinguished mei it, who as a citizen and a soldier, had every claim to 
 the esteem of his country.'- It has been mentioned as no small tribute to his memory, 
 that the Marquis La Fayttte, on his second visit to this country, at a public entertain- 
 ment, should have proposed the sentiment, "The memory of Light Infantry Poor and 
 Yorktown Scammel." 
 
 JBrigadler-General Edward Hand, though the youngest of the Brigadiers, held the 
 most important position in the command, next to Sullivan himself. Eorn in Ireland 
 the last day of 1744, he entered the British army as Ensign, served for two years in his 
 regiment in this country.then resigned and settled in Pennsylvania. At the beginning 
 of the Eevolulion he entered the Continental service as Lieutenant-Colonel, but was 
 made Colonel of a rifle corps in 177G, was in the battles of Long Island and Tre/.lon, 
 and in the summer and fall of 1777 was in command at littsburg, where he acquired 
 such knowledge cf the Indian country and their modes of warfare as made his services 
 indispensable to the expedition. Washington placed great confidence in his judgment 
 and consulted him freely in regard to Hie feasibility of the enterprise. In 1780 he suc- 
 ceeded Scammel as Adjutant Scneial of the aimy, and held the position until the close 
 of the war. He was Known as a lover of fine horses and an excellent horseman He 
 died in Lancaster County, Pa., September 3, 1802, aged .58 years. 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITIOIiT. 13 
 
 (afterward Colonel,) Jolin Franklin, and Schott's Kifle 
 Corps, witli Captain SeHa in command. It was expected 
 that the Pennsylvania and some other companies would 
 be filled up by enlistment, when the whole number would 
 be about 3,500 men. There was also a section of Artil- 
 lery under command of Colonel Thomas Proctor* of Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 The right division of the army was the Hew York Bri- 
 gade, commanded by Brigadier-General James Clinton, 
 consisting of the Third Regiment, under Colonel Peter 
 Gansevoort, who in 1777 gained great renown for his he- 
 roic defense of Port Schuyler against St. Leger ; the 
 Fourth, or Livingston' s Regiment, under Lieutenant Col- 
 onel Frederick Weissenfeldt, the Fifth, or Independent 
 Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lewis Dubois ; the 
 Sixth Massachusetts, or Alden's Regiment, commanded 
 by Major Whiting ; Colonel Ichabod Alden having been 
 killed, the autumn previous, at Cherry Valley, and Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Stacia being a prisoner with the enemy ; 
 the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel William Butler ; six companies of Morgan's Rifle- 
 men, with Major James Parr the senior ofiicer, and a small 
 command under Colonel John Harper. The nominal 
 strength of the Brigade was about 1,600 men. 
 
 The left division was to consist of troops at Pittsburg, 
 numbering about 600 or 800 men, under command of Col- 
 onel Broadhead. As this force never became connected 
 with the main army, and never received orders from Gen- 
 eral Sullivan, nothing further need be said of it. 
 
 Sullivan reached Easton, Pennsylvania, May 7, and the 
 
 ♦Colonel Thomas Proctor was bom in Ireland, but in early life came to Philadel 
 phia, where he worked at the trade of a carpenter, until the beginning of the war, 
 when ho raised a company, was commissioned captain, and was sopn promoted to Col- 
 onel. He was a man of great execulive ability and was frequently serviceable to the 
 government in other than a military capacity. In 1791, he was sent on a mission to the 
 Western Indians, which he performed to the satisfaction of the government. The 
 journal kept while on this mission is printed in the New Series of Pennsylvania Ar- 
 chives, Volume VI. 
 
14 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 next day writes to Washington, saying, "I will do every- 
 thing in my power to set the wheels in motion, and make 
 the necessary preparations for the army to move oh." He 
 adds, "the expedition is no secret in this quarter. A ser- 
 geant of Spencer's who was made prisoner at Mohaca- 
 moe and carried to Chemung, has Just returned ; he says 
 they [the enemy] know of the expedition and are taking 
 every step to destroy the communications on the Susque- 
 hanna. * * * I think the sooner we can get into the 
 country the better." This last sentence is in allusion to 
 the verbal instructions of Washington not to hasten his 
 march from Easton until it was known what would be 
 the future movement of D' Estaing, then in the West In- 
 dies, who was expected soon to sail north, and with 
 whom the Commander-in-Chief wished to be ready to co- 
 operate in striking some decisive blow upon the enemy. 
 Sullivan was also directed to so time his movements that 
 he should destroy the crops before the enemy could gather 
 them, and at the same time be so late that they could nei- 
 ther rebuild nor replant. There was no need, however, to 
 caution against too much haste, as it was past the middle 
 of June before the road was opened from Easton to Wy- 
 oming. 
 
 In the meanwhile, some of the Jersey troops were in a 
 state of mutiny because the authorities of that State had 
 not only neglected to provide for the depreciation of the 
 currency, but had failed to pay even the nominal sum in 
 the almost worthless Continental paper money, due them 
 for their services. It required aU the address of the offi- 
 cers to quiet the minds of the soldiers, and Washington 
 declared that nothing had occurred during the war, which 
 so filled him with alarm. Spies from the enemy were also 
 busily at work amongst the disaffected soldiers urging 
 them to desert the army and betray their country. The 
 apprehension of some of these and the execution of the 
 ringleaders; put a stop to further desertion. 
 
OF sullivak's expedition. 15 
 
 Difficulties of another sort began to present themselves. 
 Many people in Pennsylvania had opposed the expedi- 
 tion from the first. The Quakers of Philadelphia, opposed 
 to all war on principle, were specially averse to all meas- 
 ures which looked toward punishing the Indians, who, they 
 alleged, were far more deserving of pity than blame for 
 any excesses of which they might be guilty ; while what 
 was known in that State, in the Wyoming controversy, as 
 the Pennamite party, which included men possessing large 
 wealth and much political influence, who held title under 
 Pennsylvania for considerable tracts of land in the Wy- 
 oming Valley, upon which the Connecticut people had 
 settled, while they professed to commiserate the sufferings 
 of the people, did not hesitate to express their satisfac- 
 tion at being clear of the hated "Intruders," and their 
 perfect willingness, that the Indians should keep them out 
 of the disputed territory until the war was over. This op- 
 position began to show itself early in the campaign, in the 
 lack of hearty co-operation and the failure to furnish either 
 their quota of men or supplies for the army. 
 
 On the 12th of June, Sullivan wrote to Washington, giv- 
 ing him, in detail, the difficulties he had been compelled 
 to meet, who in reply says, (June 21st,) "I am very sorry 
 you are like to be disappointed in the independent com- 
 panies expected from Pennsylvania, . and that you have 
 encountered greater difficulties than you looked for. I 
 am satisfied that every exertion in your power will be 
 made and I hope that your eventual operations will be 
 attended with fewer obstacles." 
 
 On the 18th of June, Sullivan broke camp at Easton,and, 
 on the evening of the 23d, arrived at Wyoming. Here, in- 
 stead of finding the siipplies he had expected, a new dis- 
 appointment awaited him. Of the salted meat, not a 
 pound was fit to eat.* Of the cattle, many of them were 
 
 *It is but just to say that the reason rendered for this was that the meat was neces- 
 sarily packed in caslcs made of green lumbo'-, whiob soured the brine and spoiled the 
 meat, notwithstanuing the utmost precautions wtre used. 
 
16 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 too poor to walk and some could not even stand. Every- 
 tMng pertaining to tlie Commissary's Department was in 
 a deplorable condition, and the clothing department was 
 in no better. On the 21st of July, Sullivan writes that 
 more than a third of his soldiers have not a shirt to their 
 backs. 
 
 As early as May 19, Colonel Pickering, then on General 
 Washington's staff, wrote to Joseph Reed, President of 
 the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, stating 
 the necessity of hastening forward the supplies for the 
 army, and adds, "we expected ere this time that aU the 
 stores would have been at least on their way to Esther- 
 ton, but for want of wagons three-fourths of them are in 
 this city." The next day the Board ask that they may 
 have immediately from eighty to one hundred wagons to 
 convey supplies to the SusG[uehanna. On the 31st of May, 
 General Washington himself writes to President Reed 
 urging that the stores be sent forward with all expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 Instead of exerting themselves to forward the supplies 
 so urgently demanded, and which had been faithfully 
 promised beforehand, the authorities complained that the 
 requisitions of SuUivan were exorbitant and threatened 
 to prefer charges against him before Congress. 
 
 Sullivan says also -that the Executive Council of Penn- 
 sylvania engaged to furnish seven hundred and twenty 
 rangers and riflemen, and on the 21st of July, ' 'hot a man of 
 them had joined the army,nor are any about to do it.'*' The 
 excuses rendered were that the Quartermaster paid such 
 large wages for boatmen, that no one could be persuaded 
 into the military service— and Sullivan was further told 
 that he had men enough for his expedition, although it 
 was the opinion of both himself and Washington, that 
 his force was too smaU for the exigencies of the 'cam- 
 paign. 
 
 The Commander at once set about with great vigor to 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 17 
 
 supply his army with, the necessary stores and means for 
 their transportation. Boats were secured, four hundred 
 and fifty boatmen were enlisted, and soldiers were detailed, 
 who, under the direction of Gen. Hand and other oflicers, 
 were busily engaged for six weeks in collecting the sup- 
 plies which he expected would be in Wyoming on his ar- 
 rival there. 
 
 Sullivan was by no means the only ofiicer who com- 
 plained of dehnquency and criminal neglect in the 
 State Commissary Department. In a letter to President 
 Reed, of July 22, William Maclay, the Lieutenant of 
 Northumberland, says : "I wish not to complain of any 
 one, nor would be understood so. I, however, know the 
 vsTetched slothfulness of many who are engaged in the 
 public department, and would rather do a piece of busi- 
 ness myself than have the trouble of calling on them." 
 Under date of July 14, Colonel Hubley writes to Presi- 
 dent Reed : ' "Our expedition is carrying on rather slow, 
 ovring to the delay of our provisions, &c. I sincerely 
 pity General Sullivan's situation. People who are not 
 acquainted with the reasons of the delay, I'm informed, 
 censure him, which is absolutely cruel and unjust. JS' o man 
 can be more assiduous than he is. Unless some steps are 
 taken to find out and make an example of the delinquent, 
 [Quartermasters and Commissaries] I fear our expedition 
 Avill be reduced to a much less compass than was intend- 
 ed. ' ' July 30th he writes again : ' 'To-morrow we march, 
 and I am sorry to say exceedingly ill provided to carry 
 through the extensive expedition. The same unparalleled 
 conduct of those employed in supplying this army,, seems 
 still to exist. I hope to see the day when the delinquents 
 will be brought to proper punishment. My regiment I 
 fear will be almost totally naked before we can possibly 
 return. I have scarcely a coat or blanket for every 
 seventh man. The state stores are all issued and deliver- 
 ed to the regiment." The testimony on all sides is, that 
 
18 SBWECA COUNTT CENTENNIAL 
 
 the Commissary Department was in the hands of men, 
 who were either entirely incapable or grossly negligent. 
 Of course great allowance should be made for the de- 
 pressed condition of the country, the worthlessness of 
 the currency, and the poverty of the people,' but the real 
 cause was mainly to be found in the coldness and real 
 disfavor with which the State authorities regarded the 
 expedition, and the entirely inadequate idea they had of 
 its extent and necessities. 
 
 On the evening of the 13th of July, thirty -three of the 
 German Regiment deserted, on the plea that their term 
 of enlistment had expired. They were apprehended, 
 brought back, tried by court martial, the leaders con- 
 demned to suffer death, and the others to severe punish- 
 ment. On the petition of the criminals, with the promise ;| 
 to serve faithfully until properly discharged, and the 
 recommendation of a board of officers, they were pardon- 
 ed, and cheerfully took their places in the ranks. 
 
 The movements of Sullivan had not been unobserved 
 by the enemy, who naturally concluded that the gather- 
 ing of such a force and the collection of such extensive 
 stores indicated some offensive movement, and that the 
 invasion, which they had treated with so much ridicule, 
 might be a more serious affair than they had anticipated. 
 
 Bold and desperate measures were undertaken to divert 
 the attention of the General, divide his force, and, if 
 possible, embarrass or delay his movements, by making 
 vigorous attacks on the right and on the left of him, 
 
 For the protection of the scattered settlements on the 
 West Branch of the Susquehanna, a fort had been erected 
 fifteen miles above ]N orthumberland, called Freeland's 
 Fort. On the 28th of July one hundred British soldiers 
 under command of Captain Macdonald, and two hun- 
 dred Indians, invested the fort. Captain Hawkins Boon 
 a few miles below, hearing the firing, started with thirty 
 men for the relief of the garrison. Before reachino- there 1 
 
OP STJLLIVAW'S EXPEDITIOJS-. 19 
 
 the garrison, which, consisted of thirty -two men, sur- 
 rendered, and Captain Boon's party were surrounded by 
 the enemy and fourteen of his men were slain. Great 
 panic ensued, and express after express arrived at Wyom- 
 ing beseeching Sullivan to send them aid. In reply he 
 wrote to Colonel Cook : ' 'iSTothing could afford me more 
 pleasure than to relieve the' distressed, or to have it in 
 my power to add to the safety of your settlement, but 
 should I comply with the requisition made by you, it 
 would effectually answer the intention of the enemy and 
 destroy the grand object of this expedition. To-morrow 
 the army moves from this place, and by carrying the war 
 immediately into the Indian country, it* will most cer- 
 tainly draw them out of yours." 
 
 The same week Brant with a party of warriors fell 
 upon the Minisink settlements in Orange Co., N. Y., 
 killing several of the inhabitants and making others 
 prisoners. One hundred and fifty Orange County mili- 
 tia marching for their relief, were decoyed into an am- 
 bush and more than a hundred of them slain. An attack 
 followed on the settlement of Lackawaxen, which was 
 broken up with the loss of several lives and a number 
 taken prisoners. Sullivan, however, was too good a Gen- 
 eral to divide his force in the presence of the enemy. lie 
 detached not a man from his main body, but hastened 
 the preparations for his departure. 
 
 ' On the last day of July, everything being in readiness 
 so far as circumstances would allow, about one o' clock in 
 the afternoon, the army broke camp at Wyoming and be- 
 gan its forward march. Two Captains, six Subalterns, 
 and one hundred men were left as the garrison for Wyo- 
 ming under command of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who 
 was charged with forwarding snch supplies as might be 
 collected. The Artillery consisted of eight brass pieces, 
 viz : two six-pounders, four three-pounders, two howit- 
 zers, carrying five and a half -inch shells, and a light piece 
 
20 SENECA COUNTS' CENTElSTlSriAL 
 
 for carrying either shot or shell, called a cohorn.* The 
 artillery, amimanition, the salted provisioiis,flour,liquors, 
 and heavy baggage were loaded on two hundred and four- 
 teen boats, t manned by four hundred and fifty enlisted 
 boatmen, Colonel Proctor's Regiment, and two hun- 
 dred and fifty soldiers ; all under the command of Colonel 
 Proctor. To General Hand and his light troops was 
 assigned the post of honor, the front of the column, which 
 was directed to keep about a mile in advance of the main 
 body. Advanced and flanking parties were kept out 
 to guard against surprise from the enemy, and the bri- 
 gade was so arranged as to be instantly effective in case 
 of sudden attack. Then followed the pack horses about 
 twelve hundred in number and seven hundred beef cattle, 
 then Maxwell's Brigade advancing by its right in files, 
 sections or platoons according to the nature of the coun- 
 try, then Poor's Brigade advancing by the left in the 
 same manner. A regiment taken alternately from Max- 
 well' s and Poor' s Brigades was detailed as rear guard. 
 Sixty men under Captain Gifford of the Third Jersey 
 Regiment were directed to go up the west side of the 
 river to prevent any surprise or interruption from that 
 quarter ; and four light boats, well manned, were ordered 
 to keep abreast of them and bring them over to the main 
 body, in case of an attack by a superior force. 
 
 The firing of a gun from the "Adventure," Colonel 
 Proctor's flag boat, at 1 o'clock, p. m. was the signal for 
 the fleet to weigh anchor. In a few moments the whole 
 army was in motion, with flags flying, drums beating, 
 
 *A Cohorn is a small brass piece mounted on a wooden block with handles.so that It 
 could be carried a short distance by hand. Colonel Proctor conceived the idea of put- 
 ting legs under it, and placing it on board one of the light boats which was to precede 
 the fleet, called it the "Grasshopper," because the reaction of the discharge threw it 
 over backwards. 
 
 tA difl-erent number of boats has been given by other writers and by the journalists 
 of the Campaign. I have folloivod Colonel Proctor's own account as published in the 
 Pennsylvania Archives, Nc^\ Series, IV., 557, Chaplain Eogera gives the number one 
 hundred and twenty. 
 
OF SULLIVAN^ S EXPEDITION. 21 
 
 fifes screaming, and Colonel Proctor's regimental band 
 playing a lively air. Passing the fort a salute of thirteen 
 guns was fired which was answered by a like number 
 from the fleet. When the whole line got in motion the 
 distance from front to rear was about two miles, and 
 sometimes farther, while the fleet was spread out at least 
 an equal distance. Owing to unskillful loading or mis- 
 management, the fleet experienced great diflBculty in 
 making headway against the rapid current of the Susque- 
 hanna: and equal difficulty was experienced with the 
 pack horses, the lading either being badly packed, or 
 the slings improperly adjusted, packs were frequently 
 falling off, or the horses liable to stumble and fall. 
 
 On the 9th of August, the army encamped at Sheshe- 
 quin, on the llth* forded the Susquehanna, a mile below 
 the junction, crossed the Tioga or Chemung, and encamped 
 at Tioga, the site of an Indian town, on the peninsula, 
 between the rivers. In this day' s march the army passed 
 over the remains of Queen Esther's town,t which was 
 
 *The places and dates of encampment from Wyoming to Sheshequln are as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 July 31, Lackawanna, present Coxton, Luzerne County, Pa. 
 
 August 1 and 2, Quialutimunck, near R insom t>tatlon, Luzerne County, Pa. ' 
 
 August 3, Tunkhannook, Wyoming County, Pa. 
 
 August*, Van derLippes, Black \Salnut, Wyoming County, Pa. 
 
 Augusts, 6, 7, Wyalusiiig, Biadlord County, Pa. 
 
 August 8, Wysox and Standing Stone, BradfO! d County, Pa. 
 
 August 9, Slicshequin, Bradfoid County, Pa. 
 
 tQueen Estlier, whose palace and village was bnrnod by Colohel Thomas Hartley in 
 the Autumn of 1778, and who made herself notorious by her barbaious conduct at 
 Wyoming; was the grand-daughter of Madame Montour,daughter of French Margaret, 
 and sis-ter of Catherine, whose town was at the head of Seneca Lake. She was the wife 
 of Echobund, (or Eghobund,] n ho was the chief or king of the village of ShcBhcquin,on 
 the site of present Ulster, Bradford County, Pa., built about 1^65. It was for a number 
 of years the seat of a Moravian mission, which in 1772 was removed farther west. Af- 
 ter the place was abandoned by the Moravians and their converts, Echobund with the 
 remnant of his class moved four or five miles farther up the river, where he probably 
 died. Queen Esther flzured prominently in the Susquehanna Valley, until the Sullivan 
 expedition, after which her name is seldom mentioned. She died on the eastern shore of 
 Caj uga Lake, about the beginning of the present century. Her only son was slain at 
 ^yyoming, the day before the battle. 
 
22 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 situated on the west side Of the Susquehanna, at its junc- 
 tion with the Tioga or Chemung. 
 
 On the first flat above the present village of Chemung, 
 stood the Indian town Chemung in 1779. The old town, 
 abandoned a number of years previous, was nearly three 
 miles below, and near the present village. Sullivan de- 
 termined, if possible, to surprise this town and destroy 
 it, and thus prevent it from being used as a rendezvous for 
 parties to commit depredations upon his camp. Accord- 
 ingly the same evening of his arrival at Tioga, (August 
 11th,) Captain John W. Cummings of the Second New 
 Jersey Regiment, Lieutenant Jenkins, the guide. Captain 
 Franklin of the Wyoming militia and five others were 
 sent to^reconnoitre Chemung. Carefully they threaded 
 their way through the tangled forests, avoiding the trail, 
 yet keeping sufiiciently near it not to lose their way, 
 watchful of an ambush and listening for the footfall of a 
 foe, they made their way to the crest of the high hill now 
 owned by Miles C. Baldwin, Esq., where they could look 
 down upon the town. There all was bustle and confusion. 
 The Indians were evidently expecting an attack, and 
 were hastening to a place of safety. The scouts returned 
 the next day, about three o'clock p. m. On hearing their 
 report the Commander-in-chief issued orders. for the sol- 
 diers to be in readiness to march at a moment's notice, 
 and at eight p. m., (August ISth,) with the greater part 
 of the troops under Generals Poor and Hand, Sullivan 
 set out from Tioga, leaving General Maxwell in command 
 of the camp. The soldiers took one day' s rations in their 
 haversacks, and carried the little cohorn by hand, all the 
 way to Chemung and back to camp. 
 
 Mght marches are always attended with great fatigue 
 and many inconveniences, but here these were greatly aug- 
 mented. The path lay through deep woods and tangled 
 thickets, down into dark valleys and over precipitous 
 hills ; at one time the soldiers are floundering through a 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 23 
 
 swamp, at another feeling their way along a narrow path 
 on the hillside where there is scarcely room for two to 
 walk abreast, and where a single misstep would plunge 
 headlong the unfortunate comrade upon the rocks hun- 
 dreds of feet below — the day begins to dawn ere the tired 
 troops reached the last IN arrows. Covered by the' fog, 
 however, they pushed on their way , General Hand taking 
 a little more circuitous route to strike the town in the rear, 
 whUe General Poor advanced upon the front. But, lo ! 
 the bird had flown. Only two or three straggling Indians 
 were discovered, and these ran away as soon as our men 
 came in sight, which was a little before sunrise. 
 
 At his own request, General Hand was permitted to 
 pursue the retreating enemy, with Hubley's Regiment 
 and the Wyoming troops, the latter a little in front. He 
 had advanced about a mile, when, as the company of 
 Captain Bush, which was the right of the regiment, and 
 the Wyoming companies pressing on rapidly and possibly 
 with too little caution, had just reached the broken 
 ground above Chemung, known as the "Hog-Backs, "they 
 were fired upon by the Indians in ambush, killing six men, 
 viz : one sergeant, one drummer, and four privates, all of the 
 Eleventh Pennsylvania, wounding Captain Franklin, Cap- 
 tain Car bury, Adjutant Huston and six rank and file. 
 Our men returned the fire, pushed up the hill on a run, and 
 < he enemy beat a hasty retreat. It was afterwards known 
 that the Indians had three killed and a number wounded. 
 General Hand was recalled by orders from Sullivan. 
 
 Nearly one hundred acres of excellent corn, just in the 
 mUk, were near this town, the greater part of which Gen- 
 eral Poor was ordered to destroy. A party of the enemy 
 on the other side of the.river fired upon the troops just 
 as they were entering a field, killing one and wounding 
 five. About forty acres of corn were left for the future ^ 
 use of the army, the rest destroyed, the town burned, the 
 troops returned to their encampment,reaching Tioga near 
 
24 . SENECA COtTWTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 evening of the 13th, greatly wearied with the fatigue of 
 the journey and the extreme heat of the weather. The 
 casualties were seven killed and fourteen wounded. All 
 were brought to Tioga, where the slain were buried with, 
 military honors in one grave, Chaplain Rogers officiating 
 at the religious services. 
 
 We can hardly imagine a scene in military experience 
 more tenderly solemn than this, when, after the fatigues 
 of that long march and conflict, in the terrible heat of 
 that August day, just at sunset, beneath the "shadows 
 ofj^ature's leafy temples," more than an hundred miles 
 distant from the home q^ a white man, these dust be- 
 grimmed soldiers gather in silence and in sorrow, to con- 
 sign their comrades, the first to fall by the enemy's bul- 
 lets in the campaign, to the rest of their quiet graves. 
 With what readiness they listen as their chaplain pro- 
 nounces the brief discourse, and how reverently they bow 
 their heads as he "went to prayer." We can well be- 
 lieve it was no exaggeration when he records in his 
 journal " The regiment very solemn and attentive. The 
 scene was exceedingly affecting." These were among 
 the heroes who sleep in nameless graves. No living soul' 
 knows the exact place where their ashes lie, and probably 
 no one knows the name of a single one of the slain. * 
 
 For the protection of the stores and boats to be left at 
 Tioga during the absence of the army, a fortification was 
 erected, which the soldiers, in honor of their commander, 
 called Fort Sullivan. The site selected was near the cen- 
 tre of the present village of Athens, where the two rivers 
 approach very near each other. Four strong block 
 houses set in the angles of a parallelogram served as 
 bastions for the work, the two opposite ones resting on 
 the bank of each river, and the other two about midway 
 
 t 
 
 ♦Joseph Davis and Ezekiel Davis both of Amherst, of the Third Company of alley's 
 Regiment, who were reported killed previous to August rstli, may have been two of 
 them. 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 25 
 
 between, and at a distance of about one Imndred yards 
 from each, other. TTie curtain was made by setting logs 
 endwise into the ground, the whole being surrounded by 
 a ditch, making a work of ample strength for the place. 
 
 The 'Sew York Government had determined, prior to 
 the Sullivan expedition, to send a strong force against the 
 Iroquois, by the way of the Mohawk, and General GUnton 
 was making pr^eparations accordingly. After this expedi- 
 tion was determined upon, it was thought best to punish 
 the Onondagas for their repeated treachery and cruelty. 
 General Schuyler, then in command at Albany, with the 
 approval of Washington, therefore, directed General 
 Clinton to send out a strong detachment and destroy their 
 towns and break up their haunts. Accordingly on the 
 19th of April, 1779, Colonel Van Shaick, commanding the 
 First ISew York Regiment, with a detachment of five 
 hundred and tiftyreight men including officers, made a 
 forced march to their towns, which were taken partly 
 by surprise; twelve Indians were slain, thirty- three taken 
 prisoners, their three villages entirely destroyed with a 
 considerable quantity of corn, beans and other vegetables, 
 most of their arms captured, a swivel at the council 
 house disabled, their council lire extinguished, and the 
 troops returned after an absence of six days, having 
 made a journey of 180 miles, without the loss of a single 
 man. 
 
 General Clinton,* with his brigade and stores, encamp- 
 ed at lake Otsego, the headwaters of the Susquehanna, 
 the early part of July, where, awaiting Orders from Gen- 
 eral Sullivan, he remained until the 9th of August. Lest 
 
 *Brigadier-General JameB CUnton,the brother of one Governor and the father of an- 
 other, is a name intimately blended with the civil and military history of the State of 
 New York. He was born in Orange County, N. Y., August 9, 1786. In the French and' 
 Indian war, 1756, he distinguished himself, serving under Uradstreet, with the rank of 
 Captain. With the rank of Colonel he was with Montgomery in the invasion of Canada, 
 In 1776 he was promoted to be Brigadier General.and held various Important commands 
 prior to the Expedition. After the war he held several civil positions.and died in Orange 
 County, N. Y., greatly beloved and honored, December, 1813. 
 
26 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 the river would be rendered unnavigable by the drought 
 which frequently occurs in July and August, he had 
 thrown a dam across the outlet of the lake by which its 
 waters were raised about four feet above usual high wa- 
 ter mark. On the 8th of August, the boats, two hundred 
 and fifty in number, were taken into the Susquehanna, 
 loaded with the stores and two small cannon, and man- 
 ned with three men to each boat. On the next day, 
 the dam was broken up, and on the flood thus created the 
 fleet floated grandly over the shoals and bars which 
 abound in the upper part of, the stream, and the army 
 took up its course, by easy "marches, for Tioga. Not 
 reaching there as soon as expected, and Clinton having 
 expressed fears that his advance would be impeded by 
 the enemy, on the 16th, Sullivan ordered a detachment of 
 nine hundred men, properly officered, under command of 
 General Poor, to go up the river, and render Clinton all 
 needful aid in reaching Tioga. The brigade met the de- 
 tachment on the morning of the i9th, near the present 
 village of Union, when they proceeded together to Fort 
 Sullivan, which they reached about noon on Sunday the 
 22d, and were welcomed with salvos of artillery, and the 
 cheers of the men, while Colonel Proctor's band enlivened 
 the scene by playing martial airs. Colonel Pawling with 
 a regiment of levies was to have joined Clinton at Ana- 
 quaga, but failing to make connection, returned to War- 
 warsing, * 
 
 *The following are the dates and places of encampment of this division on the march 
 from the foot of Otsego Lake to Tioga 
 
 August 9, Burrows Farms, sixteen miles from the Lake. 
 
 August 10, Yokeham's, five miles farther down the river, also called Van Valken- 
 berg's. 
 
 August U, Ogden's Farm, distance, fourteen miles. 
 
 August 12, Unadilla, distance, seventeen miles. ' 
 
 August 13, Conihunto, distance, fourteen miles. 
 
 August 14, 15 and 16, Onoquaga,distance eight miles.in the present town of Colevllle, 
 Broome County, N. Y. While here, on the 16th, General Clinton, sent the Fourth Penn- 
 sylvania Regiment, under command of Major Church, to meet Colonel Pawling who 
 was expected to meet the detachment at this point with four hundred militia. After 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 27 
 
 • 
 
 On the arrival of Clinton, preparations for the onward 
 movement of the army v^ere prosecuted with great vigor. 
 Some changes were made in the organization of the army. 
 The Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment and the companies of 
 riflemen were transferred to Hand's Brigade. Alden's 
 Regiment was transferred from Clinton's to Poor's and 
 Cortland's from Poor's to Clinton's Brigade. The rifle- 
 men, commanded by Major James Parr, were formed 
 into an advance guard; and a pioneer corps was or- 
 ganized under Captains Selin and Ballard. The Ger- 
 man Battalion was reorganized into four companies 
 of twenty -five men each; two of these companies 
 with two hundred picked men in addition, formed the 
 right flanking division commanded by Colonel Dubois and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Regnier, the whole under the direc- 
 tion of Greneial Poor. An equal number under the 
 direction of General Maxwell and commanded by Colo- 
 nel Ogden and Lieutenant-Colonel Willet formed the left 
 flanking division. The flour and ammunition were packed 
 in canvas sacks made of tents; commissary and hospital 
 stores were placed in kegs, the two six-pounders were 
 left with the garrison, and the rest of the artillery was 
 taken with the army. In the order of march, General 
 Hand's Brigade was in advance, General Poor on the 
 right. General Maxwell on the left and General Clinton 
 in the rear. The artillery preceded by the pioneers, and 
 
 marching five or six miles, the detachment returncii without discovering Colonel Pawl 
 ing, 
 
 August 17, Ingaren, twelve miles by land and twenty miles by water; near Great 
 Bend,Susquelianna County, Pa. ' 
 
 August 18— "Two miles below the Chenango river,'' distance about sixteen miles,Ma- 
 jor Parr with one hundred men, went four miles up Chenango to destroy the town 
 there, but found it burned. Sergeants Gaylord and Chapman sent forward by General 
 Poor, arrived this evening in Clinton's camp and informed him of the approach of 
 Poor. 
 
 August 19, Owego, n ."ar the present village of the same name, distance, twenty-two 
 miles. At the present town of Union,"Chugnutt," the division united with that of Gen- 
 eral Poor. 
 
 Augu t21, Mauckatawangum, opposite Fitzgerald's Farm, present Barton. 
 
 August 22, arrived at Tioga, at eleven o'clock a. m. 
 
28 SENECA COUBTTy CENTENNIAL 
 
 t 
 
 followed by the paokhorses aiifl beef cattle was in the 
 center. All cumbrous and unnecessary baggage was or- 
 dered to be stored with the garrison at Tioga, which was 
 to consist of two hundred and fifty men, besides the in- 
 valids, under the command of Colonel Israel Shreeve. 
 
 On the twenty-sixth of August, the army took up the 
 line of its march to an unknown country, through leagues 
 of unbroken forests, into the very heart of the enemy's 
 territory, relying on their own valor alone for success, 
 without hope of relief or of reinforcements, or, in case 
 of defeat, of any quarter. It was anexpedition in which 
 not only peculiar hardships might be expected, but it 
 was one without scarcely a parallel in the world' s history 
 for the boldness of its design, and the courage with 
 which it was undertaken. To transport an ,army with 
 its equipments and supplies, through an uncivilized 
 country, without ruads,for mnch of the way without water 
 communication ; to cut loose from their base of supplies 
 and communications; to be shut up for weeks from the 
 intelligence of the world, where to fall was to die, and 
 ordinarily to die by torture, was an example of heroic 
 bravery which the world has seldom witnessed. Sher- 
 man's march to the sea has received and justly merits the 
 applause of men for its daring and its success ; but this 
 expedition was far more daring, and if the loss of life 
 and the ends secured by it, be taken into the account, 
 equally as "successful in its execution, and .deserves first 
 rank among the great military movements in our coiintry's . 
 history. 
 
 It was known that the enemy were assembled in force 
 somewhere on the Chemung river, where it was thought 
 they would dispute the passage of our army. A few 
 boats, carrying supplies and baggage, were to accompany 
 the army until it met the enemy and then return. 
 
 The army reached the site of Old Chemung on the eve- 
 ning of the 27th. Between this point and the town three 
 
OF Sullivan's expeditiok. 29 
 
 miles above, the path led over a very high hill, which 
 comes sharply down to the water's edge, and was found 
 to be so serious an obstruction, that the artillery, baggage, 
 ammunition wagons, packhorses and Maxwell's Brigade 
 forded the river twice to avoid it. The current 
 was swift and the water deep, and the crossing attended 
 with considerable difficulty, and some of the loading was 
 lost. The other troops passed over the mountain, and at 
 night the army encamped near the site of the town de- 
 stroved on the 13th, 
 
 During the evening a scout came in with the informa- 
 tion that the enemy were busily at work on a fortification 
 a few miles above. The advanced guard could easily hear 
 the sound of their axes, and see the light of their fires 
 beyond the hills. 
 
 Early on Sunday, the 29th of August, the army moved 
 with great circumspection. General Hand marched at 
 eight o'clock, and before nine, all the troops were in mo- 
 tion. They had gone scarcely tM'o miles before the ad- 
 vanced guard began to discover Indian scouts or spies, 
 one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards in front, who, 
 upon being observed, ran off at full speed. A small 
 force was also seen on the opposite side of the river, 
 w^ich kept nearly abreast of General Hand's troops. 
 About four miles from the encampment at Chemung, the 
 fortifications of the enemy were discovered. 
 
 Consulting the map of the State of New York, it will 
 be seen that nearly opposite the present village of Wells- 
 burg, the Chemung (old Tioga) river runs first in a south- 
 erly direction, then sweeping around to the north-east,it 
 forms nearly a semi-circle, of which the road leading to 
 Elmira is the diameter. The road to Wellsburg divides 
 this space into two nearly equal areas or quadrants. Com- 
 ing down between the hills from the north is Baldwin's 
 Creek, which, a little southof the main road, turns sharply 
 to the east, and reaches the river some distance below. 
 
30 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 Beginning near the river, and nearly opposite to what 
 was formerly the lower point of Baldwin's Island, now, 
 owing to a change in the main current of the stream, near 
 the middle of it, begins a ridge of land, running in a 
 south-easterly direction for about three thousand live 
 hundred feet, and crossing the Wellsburg road, when it 
 turns nearly at right angles, and extends in almost a di- 
 rect northerly course about one thousand two hundred 
 feet further, until it reaches the creek. The side of this 
 ridge toward the streams was steeper and higher than it 
 now is,it having been measurably levelled down by ninety 
 years of cultivation. Between this ridge and the hill on 
 the north on which the monument stands, now Called Sul- 
 livan Hill, is a hollow, along which the Elmira road is 
 laid, and which a mile to the west of the creek expands 
 into a wider flat, where was an Indian town of twenty- 
 five or thirty houses, called Newtown, which gave the 
 name to the battlefield. At present only two or three old 
 apple trees indicate its site. 
 
 A mile or more to the north of the main road, Bald win's 
 creek runs between two high ridges parallel with the 
 stream, the slope of the western one, which is Sullivan 
 Hill, coming sheer down to the water's edge. Where 
 Jacob Lowman's sawmill noM' stands, in the woods, "on 
 both sides of the creek, were about twenty or thirty 
 houses, which had never been ^ inhabited, and were 
 supposed to have been built for storing the crops growing 
 in the vicinity. A few houses near the bend of the creek 
 were torn down by the enemy, and the logs used in their 
 fortification. One hundred and fifty to two htmdred 
 acres of magnificent corn just ripening for the sickle were 
 on the flats near the river. The Indian path from Che- 
 mung, probably, was nearer the creek than the present 
 road ; after the creek was crossed, the path turned to the 
 right, until it reached the Elmira road, when it took about 
 the direction of the highway to Newtown. The slope of 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 31 
 
 Sullivan Hill was covered with pine and dense growth of 
 shrnb-oaks. 
 
 Along the crest of the ridge, or "Hogback," from the 
 river to the creek, the enemy had erected a fortification 
 in most places breast high or more, in others lower, but 
 pits or holes were dug, in which the defenders could be 
 protected. The work was very artfully masked by the 
 slope of the ridge being thickly set with the shrub oaks 
 cut the night before from the hillside. A little in front 
 of the line of fortification were one or two log houses 
 which served as bastions for the work. 
 
 The enemy had concentrated their main force at the 
 angle in the fortified line. From this point a thin line was 
 continued on one side to the river, and on the other to 
 the creek. On the crest of the ridge just above the saw- 
 mill before spoken of, a considerable force was. stationed 
 to repel any flank movement which might be attempted 
 and was connected with the main force by a scattering 
 line. On the very summit of the hill, where the monu- 
 ment stands, was placed a corps for observation, as also 
 one on the opposite hill, on the east side of the creek. 
 
 The plan of the enemy seems to have been this: — Pre- 
 suming their fortification to be perfectly concealed, and 
 that the army would follow the Indian trail, as it turned 
 to the right after crossing the creek, a sudden and severe 
 fire opened on its exposed flank would create confusion 
 in the ranks, and in the surprise of the unexpected at- 
 tack, the party on the eastern hill, and that over the 
 river having fallen back and crossed over, would fall on 
 the rear of the army, increase the consternation, stampede 
 the cattle and pacK-horses, and, if they did not destroy it, 
 would so cripple its resources as to prevent its further 
 progress. For the purpose of the enemy the place was 
 admirably adapted. In addition to occupying a position 
 naturally strong, they had the inside line, and could con- 
 centrate their forces in much shorter space than their 
 
32 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 opponents. 
 
 The force behind the ramparts consisted of a few regu- 
 lar British soldiers, the two Battalions of Royal Greens, 
 Tories and Indians. The whites were commanded by 
 Colonel John Butler, with his son, Captain Walter N. 
 Butler, and Captain MacDonald, and the Indians by the 
 great Mohawk warrior, Joseph Brant. Other celebrated 
 Indian Chiefs, but of less note, were also present. 
 
 The advanced guard having discovered the enemy's 
 position about eleven o'clock, a. m. General Hand ordered 
 the riflemen to form at about three hundred yards 
 from the enemy,and hold their position until the remain- 
 ing part of the brigade should come up or until further 
 orders. This was scarcely done, when about four 'hun- 
 dred of the enemy made a sortie, delivered their fire, and 
 quickly retreated to their works. This was a number of 
 times repeated, with the manifest intention of drawing 
 our men into their lines. The scheme which had too oft- 
 en been successful in alluring the militia into ambush, 
 failed with the disciplined troops of this army, and, at 
 length, the enemy sullenly retired behind his entrench- 
 ments to await the issue of the attack. 
 
 In the meanwhile. General Hand advanced his brigade 
 in line of battle to support the riflemen, and informed 
 Sullivan of his discovery and the disposition he had made 
 of his brigade. 
 
 The commander at once summoned a council of his gen- 
 eral officers, who, after thoroughly reconnoitering the 
 ground, agreed upon the plan of attack. 
 
 It was three hours from the time the enemy was dis- 
 covered, before the ground was reconnoitered, the plan of 
 attack matured, and the troops came up. It was deter- 
 mined that the artillery should be stationed on a slight 
 rise of ground about three hundred yards from the angle 
 of the enemj^'s fortified position in such a way as to en- 
 filade his lines and command the space behind them; Gen- 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 33 
 
 eral Hand to advance a portion of his light troops near 
 the breast work, and divert the enemy's attention from 
 the movements on the flank; and the rest to support the 
 artillery; the left flanking division to push up the river 
 as far as prudent, in order to gain the enemy's flank, cut 
 off his retreat in that direction, and join in the pursuit 
 when he left the works ; General Poor with his brigade, 
 the Riflemen, and the right flanking division, supported 
 by Clinton's brigade, to march by a circuitous route, and 
 gain the mountain (Sullivan Hill) on the enemy's left; 
 Maxwell's Brigade to remain a corps de reserve, to act 
 as occasion might demand. 
 
 It was about three o'clock, p. M.,when at a point a lit- 
 tle more than a mile to the eastward of where the path 
 crossed Baldwin's Creek, "marching by columns from 
 the right of regiments by files," followed hj Clinton, 
 who was ordered to march to the rear and the right 
 of him. Poor struck off to the right from the path, his 
 movement being concealed from the enemy by a consid- 
 erable hill, which also hid a swamp that was directly in 
 his path. He had not proceeded far before he found him- 
 self floundering in this morass, which was so thickly 
 grown up with alders and bushes that his men could only 
 with great difficulty make their way through them. An 
 hour had been allowed as sufficient time for Poor's troops 
 to be in position to turn the enemy's left, at which time 
 the attack should be made in force on the front, the artil- 
 lery fire being the signal for a simultaneous attack on 
 both front and flank. The advance of Poor's Brigade, 
 had, however, just reached the creek where the group of 
 houses stood near the sawmill, when Sullivan, ignorant 
 of Poor's delay, ordered the artillery to open fire, and the 
 light infantry to advance. They pushed forward and 
 formed in line under the bank of the creek, which afford- 
 ed a secure protection within one hundred aiid twenty 
 yards of the enemy's line. Proctor, whose battery, it wiU 
 
34 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 be remembered, consisted now of six three-poiinders,tIie 
 light coliorn, and two howitzers, carrying 5^ inch shells, 
 opened with a sharp, severe fire of shell and solid shot. 
 Such a scene this valley never before witnessed and to ' 
 such music never before did these hills send back then- 
 answering echoes. 
 
 To endure a protracted cannonade is one of the severest 
 tests of the discipline and ' fortitude of experienced 
 troops, while to the Indian the roar of cannon is as terri- 
 fying as though it were the harbinger of the day of doom; 
 yet such was the commanding presence of the great In- 
 dian Captain and such the degree of confidence he in- 
 spired, that his undisciplined warriors stood their ground 
 like veterans for more than half an hour, as the shot, 
 went crashing through the tree-tops or plowing- up the 
 earth under their feet, and shells went screeching over 
 their heads, or bursting in their ranks, while high above 
 the roar of the ai:tillery and the rattle of small arms, 
 could be heard the voice of Brant, encouraging his men 
 for the conflict, and over the heads of all, his crested 
 plume could be seen waving where the contest was likely 
 to be most sharp. At length, from the party on the moun- 
 tain top, whose keen eyes had discovered the advance of 
 Poor's Brigade by the gleaming of their arms in the sun- 
 light, word came of the threatened attack on the flank. 
 With a chosen band of his warriors. Brant hastened 
 to repel this new danger, leaving a few of his Indians, 
 with the troops under Butler, to hold the ground in front. 
 
 Emerging from the swamp, Poor bore off considerably 
 to the left, Clinton following with his left exactly in the 
 rear of Poor' s right, and his right as he turned toward the 
 creek, sweeping over the lower part of the hill on the east 
 side of the creek, uncovered the .party of the enemy sta- 
 tioned there and compelled their precipitate retreat. 
 
 On reaching Baldwin's creek, Poor drew up his brigade 
 in line of battle— lieutenant Colonel Reid's 2d JNew " 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 35 
 
 Hampshire Regiment, on the left, Lieutenant Colonel 
 Dearborn's 3di^ew Hampshire next, then Alden's, the 
 6th Massachusetts, and Colonel Cilley's, the 1st Mew 
 Hampshire, on the right ; and on the right flank of the 
 brigade the two hundred and fifty picked men under 
 Colonel Dubois, while the riflemen were deployed in front 
 of the line as skirmishers. 
 
 By this time the advance of Clinton, who was to sup- 
 port Poor, began to arrive, and his brigade was placed in 
 order of battle with Gansevoort's Regiment, the 3d New 
 York, on the left, Dubois, the 5th i^J ew York, next, then 
 Livingston's, which was the 4th New York, and Cort- 
 landt's, the 2d New York, on the right. 
 
 Having formed the line of battle. Poor advanced his 
 brigade with as much rapidity as the nature of the ground 
 and the heat of the day would admit. No sooner had he 
 crossed the creek than he was met by a sharp but some- 
 what random fire from the enemy stationed along the 
 slope toward the creek, and protected by the trees which 
 thickly studded the hill side. The riflemen returned the 
 fire, but the brigade pressed rapidly forward, without 
 firing a shot, and with fixed bayonets, steadily driving 
 the enemy before them, who, as our men advanced, re- 
 treated, darting for cover from tree to tree with the agility 
 of panthers. » 
 
 When about two-thirds of the distance up the hill, the 
 left part of the brigade was met by the party of the en- 
 emy from the breastwork, led by Brant in person. They, 
 falling like a thunder bolt upon Colonel Reid' s Regiment, 
 which was the left wing of the brigade and nearest the foe, 
 checked his advance, and before he had time to recover 
 from the shock, his men being out of breath from their run 
 up.the hill, he found himself in the midst of an Indian force 
 outnumbering his own, three to one, who were swarming 
 in a semi- circle about his regiment, threatening to cut it 
 oflf from the support of the rest of the brigade, and leav- 
 
36 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 ing him tlie alternative either to Ml back on Clinton for 
 support or to force his way through at the point of the 
 bayonet. General Poor being with the right wing of the 
 brigade, urging forward his men that he might cut off the 
 retreat of the Indians toward Newtown, was not aware of 
 the serious danger which threatened Reid, but Colonel 
 Dearborn, whose regiment was on Reid's right, im- 
 mediately and on his own responsibility ordered his regi- 
 ment to change or reverse front, by a right about face, 
 and just as Reid had given orders to charge, Dearborn's 
 •Regiment poured in a volley upon Brant' s force which 
 first staggered them, and then a second volley, when they 
 beat a hasty retreat. 
 
 About the same time Clinton perceiving the critical 
 condition of Reid, pushed forward Gansevoort's and 
 Dubois' regiments for his support,' who reached him just 
 in time to hasten the flight of the enemy. Brant observ- 
 ing the movement toward his rear and understanding its 
 meaning, sounded the retreat, and the enemy fled from 
 all parts of the field towards Newtown and the ford of the 
 Chemung, pursued by Hand and the riflemen. The two 
 Regiments on the right of Poor's Brigade and the flank- 
 ing division of Dubois, reached the river above Newtown, 
 at a point where the old Fountain Inn, now owned by 
 Willard Hafrington, stands ; but this force was not sufii- 
 cient successfully to resist the demoralized mass of the 
 enemy, whose only means of escape led in this direction ; 
 and which being thus intercepted, they broke through 
 Poor's line with such impetuosity, as for a time, to en- 
 danger his flank. Some shots were exchanged, without 
 ■serious casualty to our troops, although Sullivan and 
 others say the enemy did not so escape. At the same 
 time Colonel John Butler himself came very near being 
 taken prisoner. 
 
 Clinton with his two remaining regiments followed in 
 the track of Poor, burning the houses which lay in his 
 
OF SULLIVAISI'S EXPEDITION. 37 
 
 path, and joined the other troops near Newtown. It was 
 now about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and seven hours 
 since the first gun was fired, when three rousing cheers 
 announced that the battle was ended and Sullivan's gal- 
 lant army was in possession of the contested battle field.* 
 
 Our men fought with great valor and determination. 
 The horrors of Wyoming, of Cherry Valley, of the West 
 Branch, of Minisink and German Flats, were fresh in 
 their recollections, and many of the soldiers had lost 
 some of their nearest relatives in these strifes, where sav- 
 age hordes and tory outlaws held high carnival. There 
 is a tradition, that as Poor's men began the charge up the 
 hill, some one said : "Remember Wyoming," which was 
 taken up along the line as the watchword and battle-cry 
 of the hour ; but there is not a lisp in confirmation of 
 this, in any of the numerous journals which have been 
 preserved to us. 
 
 The exact numbers engaged on either side cannot be 
 ascertained. Sullivan and his ofiicers, after going over 
 the whole field, examining the line occupied by the enemy, 
 and comparing the accounts and estimates of those in 
 best position to know, put their strength at one thousand 
 five hundred men, while the two men who were captured 
 on the evening of the battle gave the number as low as 
 seven hundred or eight hundred. Somewhere between 
 these extremes is, doubtless, the truth, f 
 
 *The centennial anniversary of tliis battle was commemorated on the battle flelil 
 August 29, 1879. 
 
 tThere were 15 British regulars, both comp.anie? of the Royal Greens, and the Tory 
 milifia, all told from 200 to 250 white men. Besides these, there were all the Indian war- 
 riors of the Scnecas, Cayugas, Mohawks and part of the Onondagas.Oneidas andTns- 
 caroras, and some of the northern tribes. Sullivan says "the warriors of the SeveuNa- 
 tions," at least 1 000 men, making the entire force of the enemy not far from 1 200. 
 
 At'C^therine'S Town, about 200 Indians from Canada joined Erant, and a couple of 
 days after, at Kendaia, he repotted that he had over 1,000 Indian warriors in his army 
 Deducting the losses at Newtown, and from desertion, which is always large altera 
 disastrous battle,and his force at Kendaia could not have been much, if any ,greator than 
 at Newtown. 
 
 The numbers in General Sullivan's command arc equally uncertain. At Wyoming, 
 
38 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The loss in Sullivan's army was thiee killed on the field, 
 viz: Corporal Hunter and two privates ; the wounded were 
 Benjamin Titcomb, of Dover, Major in the 2d JSTew Hamp- 
 shire, through the abdomen and arms ; Elijah ClayS, Cap- 
 tain of the 7th Company of the 3d New Hampshire through 
 the body ; Nathaniel McCauley, of Litchfield, 1st Lieu- 
 tenant of the 4th Company of the 1st New Hampshire ; 
 Sergeant Lane, wounded in two places. Sergeant Oliver 
 Thurston, and thirty-one rank and file,all but four of whom 
 were of Poor' s brigade and nearly all from Reid' s regi- 
 ment. Lieutenant McCauley had his knee shattered, mak- 
 ing amputation necessary, and died before morning, and 
 Abner Dearborn died a few days after he was removed to 
 Tioga. Sergeant Demeret, Joshua Mitchell and Sylvester 
 Wilkins died previous to September 19th, making a total 
 of eight. 
 
 Those who died upon the field were buried separately, 
 near where they fell, and fires were built upon their graves 
 to conceal them from the enemy, lest after the departure 
 of the army their bodies should be desecrated ; a practice 
 shamefully prevalent on both sides in Indian warfare. It 
 seems strange that in a contest waged between such num- 
 bers and for so , long a time, the casualties should have 
 
 Ills force was said to be 3,500 men, and the immber which came with Cllnion to have 
 been about 1 500 or 1,600 more, making a total of 5,000 in the grand army. But 
 this is BTidentlv much too large. To begin with, Pennsylvania failed to furnish the 760 
 men required to fill np her quota.leavins not more than 2,750 men in actual service; and 
 this must be somewhat diminished. July 82, nine days before the army marched from 
 Wyoming, but after the arrival of all his troops, the returns comprise 3 Brigadiers, T 
 Colonels, 6 Lieutenanf-Colonels, 8 Majors, 48 Captains, 3 Chanlains, 10 Surgeons, 11 
 Drum and Fife Majors, 131 Drummers and Fifers, 2,312 rank and file, or a total of 2,539 
 men of all grades and ranks— Clinton's Brigade consisted of five regiments and six 
 companies of riflemen. The 4th Pennsylvania Regiment, which was one of the num- 
 ber, by a return dateil June IS, 1779, numbered of all grades 848 men. Taking this as 
 the standard and the five regiment s would have about 1,250. Of the riflemen, Major 
 .lames Parr's company contained when enlisted in 1776, 48 men, in 17?9, could not have 
 mustered more than half that number, or the six companies in the Brigade about ISO^ 
 men. These figures cannot be far from correct.and make the sum total of the aimy » 
 trifle less than 4,000 men of all ranks. From these deduct 5 per cent, for sick and ab- 
 sent, the 100 left at Wyoming, 300 left at Fort Sullivan, 250 pack-horse drivers^ and Sul- 
 livan's effective force could not have exceeded 3,100 or 3,200 men. 
 
OF sitllivak's expedition. 39 
 
 been so few. But our men were well protected by the bank 
 of the creek on the front, and the Indians probably shot 
 over the heads of those coming up the hill. 
 
 Twelve of the enemy were found slain on the ground, 
 and two prisoners were taken, — one a negro, the other 
 " one Hoghtailer from the Helder Barrack." A British 
 account says: "In this action Colonel Butler and all 
 his people were surrounded, and very near being taken 
 prisoners. The Colonel lost four rangers killed, two taken 
 prisoners and seven wounded. The Indian account found 
 four days afterward, near Catherine' s town is as follows: — 
 "September 3d. — This day found a tree marked 1779, 
 Thandagana, the English of which is Brant ; twelve men 
 marked on it with arrows pierced through them, signify- 
 ing the number they had lost in the action of the 29th 
 ultimo. A small tree was twisted round like a rope and 
 bent down which signified that if we drove and distressed 
 them, yet we would not conquer them." 
 
 Disheartened, terror-stricken, and hopeless of further 
 resistance, the enemy fied with all possible speed, not 
 daring even to look behind them ; and such was the moral' 
 effect of the victory, that without thought for else but 
 their lives, they abandoned their villages to the torch and 
 their cornfields to the destruction of the victorious foe.* 
 
 The day after the battle was spent in destroying the 
 crops in the neighborhood, sending the wounded, four 
 heavy guns, ammunition wagons, etc., back to Tioga; 
 and while here, owing to the prospective scarcity of beef 
 and flour, and the abundance of corn, beans, potatoes, 
 squashes, etc. , the army agreed without a dissent to sub- 
 sist on half rations of the former articles. 
 
 On the 31st of August the army again started westward, 
 to complete the work for which the expedition had been 
 
 *"A(ter the battle of Newtown terror led the van of the invader.whose approach was 
 heralded by watchmen stationed upon every hciKbt,and desoiatlon followed weeping in 
 his train. The Indians everywhere fled as Sullivan advanced, and the whole country 
 '.vas swept as with the besom of dtstruction."— Sione's Li'e af Brant. 
 
40 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 organized. 
 
 About two miles above Newtown a little village of eight 
 good houses was found, which was burned, and the army 
 passed on to KanawahoUa, a pleasant town situated on 
 the point, at the junction of present Newtown Creek with 
 the Chemung, near the city of Elmira, and four and a 
 half miles above the battle ground. Here, as at Chemung 
 and ]SI ewtown, the corn-fields bore marks of having been 
 planted under the supervision of white people, whom it 
 is well known were directed by the British government 
 to aid the Indians in raising supplies for the British army 
 and garrisons. 
 
 From this point, Colonel Dayton, with the Third New 
 Jersey Regiment and a detachment of the Riflemen, was 
 sent up the river in pursuit of some of the enemy whom • 
 the advanced gnard saw escaping in their canoes. He 
 chased them for eight miles up the river, but their speed 
 was too great, and the nimble-footed savages escaped. At 
 this point Colonel Dayton found an Indian village which 
 was near present Big Flats, where he encamped for the 
 night. The next morning he burned the village, destroyed 
 about thirty acres of corn and a quantity of hay, and re- 
 joined the main army just as it was leaving its encamp- 
 ment. 
 
 From KanawahoUa the path turned northward ; the 
 army marched about five miles farther and encamped for 
 the night, near the present village of Horseheads. The 
 next morning tents were struck at eight o' clock, and for 
 three miles the path lay through an open plain, then they 
 entered the low ground which forms the divide of the 
 waters flowing into the Susquehanna and into the St. 
 Lawrence, at that time a deep, miry swamp, covered with 
 water from the recent rains, dark with the closely shad- 
 owing hemlocks, the path studded with rocks and thickly 
 interspersed with sloughs; it was the most horrible spot 
 they had met with. It was past seven o'clock, just in 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 41 
 
 the dusk of the evening, when the advanced guard emerged 
 from the gloomy shadows of the morass and formed 
 themselves in line just on the outskirts of the village 
 Sheaquaga. or French Catherine's Town.* 
 
 It was pitch-dark before Hand's brigade got out of the 
 wilderness. To the rest of the army it was a night of 
 horrors. It was so dark the men could not see the path, 
 and could keep it only by grasping the frocks of their 
 file leaders. Poor's and Maxwell's Brigades did not 
 reach the town until ten o'clock. Many of the soldiers, 
 utterly worn out with heat and fatigue, fell exhausted by 
 the wayside, and did not join the army until the next 
 day. Clinton's Brigade spent the night in the swamp, 
 without supper or shelter. Two of the pack-horses fell 
 and broke their necks, others became exhausted and died 
 in the path, while the stores of food and ammunition 
 were sadly depleted. The town was built on both sides 
 of the inlet to Seneca Lake, and about three miles from 
 the lake, on the site of present Havana. It consisted of 
 between thirty and forty good houses, some fine corn- 
 fields and orchards. The soldiers found a number of 
 horses, cows, calves and hogs, which they appropriated. 
 
 All of Thursday was spent in resting, bringing up the 
 wearied horses and exhausted soldiers, burning the 
 houses, destroying the trees and corn, and scouripg the 
 country for straggling Indians. A very old squaw was 
 found hidden in the bushes. She was accosted by one of 
 the Indian guides in various dialects, but she shook her 
 head as if she could not understand. At length the 
 
 *As before paid.C.Ttharlne was sister of Queen Esther.anrl grand-daughter of Madame 
 Montour, whose romantic history cov5red the first half of the ISth century. In 1749 
 she was very aged and blind, and prnbably died pi ior tT 1753. The husband of Cather- 
 ine and the reputed father of her children was Edward Pollard, nn Indian trader, and 
 a sutler at Niagara, who was also the father of the famous Seneca warriar. Captain 
 Pollard. Catherine had two sons, Rowland and John, and one daughter, Belle. The 
 sons were actively engaged during the Revolution, were both at Wyoming in 1778, and 
 at Newtown in 1779, where John was wounded Ir. the back. Rowland's wife was the 
 daughter of the chief Sachem of the Senecas. After the campaign of mn, they were 
 an settled near Niagara. 
 
42 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 General becoming convinced that her ignorance was only- 
 assumed, threatened her with punishment if she did not 
 answer. She replied that Butler and the Indians held a 
 council here, and many of the old chiefs and women 
 desired peace, but Butler told them Sullivan's army would 
 kill them all if they surrendered, and they had better run 
 off into the woods ; that Brant received a reinforcement 
 of two hundred Indian warriors, who were eager to'iight, 
 but those who had been in the Battle of JSTewtown shook 
 their heads and would not agree to it. She further said 
 that the Indians lost very heavily in killed and wounded, 
 and she heard many women lamenting the death of their 
 relatives. 
 
 On Friday, September 3d, having built a comfortable 
 hut for the old squaw, and left her a, supply of provisions, 
 the army resumed its march and encamped twelve miles 
 from Sheaqiiaga, the route most of the way being through 
 open woods, over level country, and the journey devoid 
 of special incident. The place of the encampment was 
 on the lake-side where there were a few houses and plenty 
 *of corn, and near what has since been called Eeach Or- 
 chard, where it is said the early settlers found conclusive 
 evidences' of Indian occupation. An Indian scout left one 
 of these cornfields just as our men came up. They found 
 corn roasting by the fire and the supper left untasted. 
 
 About ten o' clock the next morning, the army moved 
 from its encampment, and after proceeding foiir miles, 
 came to what is known as North Hector. The Indian 
 town was called Con-daw-haw, and consisted of one long- 
 house, built according to Indian custom to contain several 
 fires, (but in utter defiance of the white man's proverb 
 about no roof, being large enough for two families,) and 
 several smaller houses. Destroying these and the corn- 
 fields, the army went eight miles further and encamped. 
 
 On Sunday, the 5th of September, the army marched 
 three miles and encamped at an Indian town called Ken- 
 
Q¥ SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 43 
 
 daia, or Appletown, Bleasantly situated, a h.aK a mile 
 from the lake, consisting of twenty or more houses of 
 hewn logs, covered with bark, and some of them were 
 well painted. Here was one apple orchard of sixty trees, 
 besides others ; also peach trees and other fruits. The 
 houses were burned for firewood, and the trees were cut 
 down or girdled. About this town, the showy tombs 
 erected over some of their chiefs, were most noticea- 
 ble, one of which, larger and more conspicuous than 
 the others, is described by one of the journals as a case- 
 ment or box made of hewn planks, about four feet high 
 and somewhat larger than the body over which it was 
 placed, and which was appropriately dressed. This case- 
 ment was painted with bright colors, and had open- 
 ings through which the body could be seen, and was 
 covered with a roof to protect it from the weather. Al- 
 though this was evidently an old town, yet there was 
 such a scarcity of pasturage, that during the night twenty - 
 seven of the cattle strayed ofE and were not found until 
 afternoon. While here, Luke Swetland, who had been 
 taken from Wyoming the year before, came' to the army 
 —Mr. Jenkins says, almost overjoyed to see his old friends 
 again. 
 
 On the 6th, the army encamped three miles north of 
 Kendaia, on the shore of the lake, and opposite a con- 
 siderable Indian town on the other side. This camping 
 place has been identified by General Clark, of Auburn, 
 ]Sr. y., as near the ravine called on the old maps "Indian 
 Hollow." 
 
 Early in the morning of the 7th, the army again struck 
 tents, and after maiching about eight miles, came to the 
 outlet of Seneca Lake. They were then in the country 
 properly of the Senecas. Passing a small town called 
 Butler's buildings, at the foot of the lake, near the 
 present canal bridge, five miles further around the lower 
 end of the lake brought them to the first important Sen- 
 
44 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 eca town, of about fifty houses surrounded by orchards and 
 cornfields, and called Kanadasaga, occupying nearly the 
 site of present Geneva . Here the army rested during 
 Wednesday, the 8th, while several detachments were 
 sent oat in various ways to explore the country, discover 
 and destroy the neighboring villages and cornfields. Sul- 
 livan was now' in a strange country. He had not a single 
 guide who knew the exact locality of a town beyond him, 
 hence he was compelled to rely upon his own scouts for 
 information. 
 
 Among the companies which were thus sent out, was a 
 party of volunteers under Colonel John Harper,* who,fol 
 lowing down the Seneca river about eight miles, came to 
 a pleasantly situated town consisting of eighteen houses 
 on the north side of the river, called Skoi-yase, and oc- 
 cupying the site of the handsome and thriving village of 
 Waterloo. Near this town were some fish ponds, the re- 
 mains of which were found by the early settlers without 
 knowing their use — a peculiar enterprise lor an Indian 
 village, and one which I do not remember to have seen 
 elsewhere. Here, too, were fields of corn whose golden 
 ears were waiting the sickle of the harvester; and orch- 
 ards whose trees were bending under their load of ripen- 
 ing fruit. The scout finding the village abandoned by the 
 Indians, burned the houses, and hastened to return to 
 Kanadasaga. 
 
 *John Harper was born in Boston, Mass., May 31, 1734. In 1768 the Colonial Gov- 
 ernment of Now York made a grant to him and twenty-one others, his associates, of 
 22,000 acres of land on the Delaware River, purchased the year before of the Indians, 
 and which was called Harper.-fleld, in honor of its founder. During the Revolution 
 Colonel Harper distinguished himself in the border wars in Montgomery, Schoharie, 
 Delaware, Broome, and Otsego Counties, as a brave soldier; an anient patriot,and one 
 thoroughly acquainted with Indian w a'fare. He is frequently mentioned in Campbell's 
 Annals of Tryon County, and in Stone's Life of Brant. At one time he was in com- 
 mand of a regiment raised for the defense of the frontiers, with the rank of Colonel. 
 He was connected with the Sullivan Expedition.probably as a voluntecr,withoHt a dis- 
 tinct command, and was detailed for the expedition to Skoi-yase on account of his 
 knowledge of the country as well as oE Indian warfare. After the close of the war he ' 
 returned to Harpersfleld, where he continued to reside until his death, November 20, 
 1811. Some of his descendants are still living in Harpaiv^fleld. 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 45 
 
 Skoi-yase, though not the capitol of the Cayugas, was 
 one of their important towns, and the probable residence 
 of one or more of their sachems. Situated upon the 
 western frontier of their particular territory, and on the 
 great trail which extended east and west through the 
 'whole length of the Confederacy, and far beyond,it was 
 guarded with especial care and watchfulness by the na- 
 tion. Its destruction was only the forerunner of fhat en- 
 tire destruction of their nation which they had every 
 reason to expect was soon to follow. It may be added 
 that N" orris and one or two others call the place ' ' Large 
 Falls, "and Fellows says "Long Falls." 
 
 Having totally destroyed Kanadasaga, and sent back to 
 Tioga under an escort of fifty men, the sick and the lame, 
 on .the 9th the army resumed its westward march through 
 the country of the Senecas toward the Genesee river. 
 
 Kanadasaga was a large and important town, consisting 
 of fifty houses with thirty more in the immediate vicinity; 
 and being the capitol of the nation was frequently called 
 the "Seneca Castle." Its site was on the present Castle 
 road, a mile and a half west from Geneva. The town 
 was divided by Kanadasaga or Castle Creek. It was regu- 
 larly laid out,enclosing a large green plot, on which,dur- 
 ing the "old French War" in 1756, Sir William Johnson 
 had erected a stockade fort, the remains of which were 
 plainly visible to our army, and spoken of in a number 
 of the journals. Orchards of apple, peach and mulbeny 
 trees surrounded the town. Fine gardens with onions, 
 peas, beans, squashes, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, cucumb- 
 ers, water melons, carrots and parsnips, abounded; and 
 large cornfields were to the north and northeast of the 
 town. All were destroyed on the 8th of September. Here 
 was found a little white boy, about three years of age, 
 who had been stolen by the Indians from the frontiers. 
 The little fellow was nearly starved when our men found 
 him. No clue to his parentage was ever obtained. The 
 
46 SEN"ECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 officers of the expedition were greatly interested in tlie 
 little waif and tenderly cared /or him, but he died a few 
 months after the return of the expedition. 
 
 Here was the residence of Siangorochti, commonly 
 called Grahta, or Old Smoke, from the fact that he car- 
 ried the brand by which the council fires were lighted, an 
 honor held by no other. At the time of Sullivan's ex- 
 pedition, the old king incapacitated by age from taking 
 part in the war,fled in advance of the army to the British 
 fort at Niagara, while the young kii!g,being only twelve 
 years of age, was too young to engage in military affairs. 
 A daughter of the old king married Roland, a son of 
 Catherine Montour. On the 9th of September, after a 
 march of eight miles, the army encamped in the woods, 
 near a stream of water now called Flint CreeK. 
 
 Starting the next morning at 8 o'clock, after marching 
 eleven miles, the army came to Kanandaigua Lake; and 
 fording its outlet marched a mile -farther, when they 
 found the town of Kanandaigua, consisting of twenty- 
 three elegant houses, some of them framed, others log, 
 but large and new, pleasantly situated about a mile from 
 the west shore of the lake, partly on thesiteof thepresenB 
 Canandaigua. At this place, the rear guard of the enemy 
 remained so long, that their fires were found burning. 
 The torch was soon applied to the buildings, and the 
 army advanced a mile farther where the cornfields were, 
 and encamped, when fatigue parties were detailed for 
 the destruction of the crops, which was pretty thoroughly 
 accomplished before dark. 
 
 Before daylight on the morning of Saturday, Septem- 
 ber 11th, the troops were again in motion. 'A march of 
 fourteen miles brought them to the Indian town of Han- 
 ne-ya-ye, which contained about twenty houses, and was 
 near the site of present Honeoye. at the foot of Hoiieoye 
 Lake, on the east side of its outlet. 
 
 Sunday morning, September 12th, was rainy, with thun- 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 47 
 
 der and lightning, so that it was noon before the army 
 broke camp, after which it marched eleven miles and en- 
 camped in the woods, nearly two miles from Kanaghsaws, 
 which place Sullivan would have reached that day but for 
 the rain. He arrived there early the next morning. This 
 town which is also called Adjuton, and several other 
 names, in the journals, consisted of eighteen houses on 
 the east of the inlet to Conesus Lake, a short dis- 
 tance southeast of the head of the lake, and about one 
 mile northwest of Conesus Center, on the north and soutli 
 road that passes through the McMillan farm. Between 
 the town and the lake, on what were afterwards known 
 as Henderson's Flats, were the corn fields. The main 
 army encamped nearly two miles north, on the flats 
 southwest of Foot' s Comers. George Grant says, that a 
 tine stream of water ran through the town, and that an 
 enterprising negro, called Captain Sunfish, who had ac- 
 quired considerable wealth and influence, resided here. 
 It was also the home of the well-known Seneca chieftain, 
 Big Tree, of whom Mr. Doty says, that he was a useful 
 friend of the American cause in the Eevolution, and a 
 leading adviser in all treaties and councils of the Senecas. 
 In the summer of 1778, he was sent by Washington to 
 the towns along the Genesee, in the hope that his personal 
 influence and eloquence might win the Senecas to the 
 cause of the States. He found his countrymen disposed 
 to listen until they learned from a spy that the Americans 
 were about to invade their country, when all flew to arms. 
 Big Tree put himself at their head, as he said, "to chas- 
 tise an enemy that would dare to encroach upon his peo- 
 ple's territory." This last sentence cannot be accepted 
 as correct. Colonel Dearborn says 'hat Big Tree " made 
 great pretentions of friendship toward us ; has been in 
 Philadelphia and at General Washington's headquarters 
 since the war commenced. He received, a. number of 
 presents from General Washington and Congress, yet we 
 presume he is again with Butler." The facts seem to be 
 
48 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 these : Though a real friend to the Americans, yet on 
 coming to his own country he found the feeling of enmity 
 so strong and so universal among the Senecas, that he was 
 overborne by it and obliged to submit. 
 
 All day the Indian scouts had been so near our army 
 that their tracks were fresh on the path, and the water 
 was roiled through which they passed. 
 
 Immediately after the battle of ]Srewtown,the forces of 
 Butler and Brant had retired to Canawaugus, near the 
 sice of present Avon, in Livingston County, but having 
 received considerable reinforcements, they determined 
 to make another attempt to arrest the further progress 
 of the army. 
 
 At the head of Conesns lake was a soft, miry bottom, 
 along the south side of which ran the Indian pnth to the 
 Genesee towns, nearly on the site of the present high- 
 way, crossing the sluggish inlet by a bridge, which But- 
 ler had destroyed on his retreat,probably a few feet south 
 of the present one. On the west of the lake and running 
 parallel with it, is a steep bluff of considerable height, 
 which reaches nearly to the water's edge, at that time 
 covered with trees, and then as now deeply gashed by 
 several ravines which come straight down its face. The 
 path led up to the crest of the hill between two of these 
 ravines, but with a southerly trend, then turned almost 
 directly north, until the site of the present burying 
 ground was reached, thus avoiding the broken surface of 
 the bluff. This was the place selected by the enemy to 
 surprise the array, and, if possible, to destroy it.* 
 
 Learning from his scouts that Sullivan was approach- 
 ing this difficult place, earlv on the morning of the 1.2th, 
 Butler left Canawaugus, and in the afternoon had his 
 forces posted on the (;rest of the ridge and in the ravines, 
 
 ♦General J. S. Clark has called my attention to the fact that there is a striking topo- 
 graphical resemblanue between this place and Braddock's B'ield. The memory of that 
 victoiy may have afforded Inspiration to the courage and patience of the enemy. 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 49 
 
 overlookitig the south end of the lake, and Hanking the 
 path to the Genesee towns. Here, though perfectly con- 
 cealed, he was in fall view of Sullivan's army and within 
 musket shot of the inlet crossing. 
 
 As laie as 1770, the principal Grenesee town, called Chen- 
 ussio, was located near the confluence of the Canaseraga 
 Creek with the Genesee River, and here it was marked on 
 the most recent maps to which Sullivan had access. He 
 was not aware of the fact that its location had been 
 changed to the west side of the river, and seems to have 
 known nothing of another town two miles farther up the 
 Canaserega. 
 
 When, therefore, General SuUivan'reaciied his encamp- 
 ment on the evening of the 12th, he supposed that he 
 was near the great Genesee Castle of which he had heard 
 so much, and which was the objective point of his expe- 
 dition. In order to secure more accurate information, 
 he ordered Lieutenant Thomas Boyd of the Riflemen, to 
 take five or six men with him, make a rapid reconnois- 
 sauce, and report at headquarters as early as sunrise the 
 next mornina. He took however twelve riflemen, six 
 musketmen of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, and 
 six volunteers, making, with himself and Hanyerry, an 
 -Oneida Indian guide, and Captain Jehoiakim, a Stock- 
 bridge Indian, twenty-seven men in all. The party left 
 camp north of Kanaghsaws at eleven o'clock in the eve- 
 ning and set out on the trail leading to the Great Town. 
 Owing to his misinformation, Sullivan's directions had 
 been confusing and misleading. It was found that the 
 principally traveled trail took a direction different from 
 what was expected. Boyd did not lose his way, but in- 
 stead of taking the unused path that led to the abandoned 
 Chenussio, he look the one which brought him to an 
 important town two miles farther up the Canaseraga, the 
 only one between the army and the Genesee. In the 
 darkness he had passed Butler's right flank without 
 
no SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 either party having discovered the other. Boyd reachecl 
 the town which the enemy liad abandoned, early in the 
 morning, without having encountered any difficulty. 
 Halting his force at the outskirts of the village, with one 
 of his men he carefully reconnoitered the place, then re- 
 joining the rest of the party they concealed themselves in- 
 the woods near the town. He sent back two of his men 
 to report the discoveries he had made, and awaited the 
 light of the day, whose morning was just breaking. Soon 
 four Indians on horseback were seen entering the town, 
 and Boyd sent a party to take or kill them. One Indian 
 was killed and another wounded. The wounded man and 
 the two others escg-ped. Boyd then set out for camp. 
 Having gone four or five miles, and thinking the army 
 must be on its march toward him, he sat dovsm to rest. 
 After a short halt he dispatched two of his men to inform 
 the General where he was, and of his intention to await 
 the coming, of the army. In a short time these men re- 
 turned with the information that they had discovered 
 five Indians on the path. Boyd again resumed his march 
 a,nd had gone but a short distance, when he discovered 
 the same party and fired on them. They ran, and Boyd, 
 against the advice of HanyeiTy, pursued them. The 
 chase was kept up for some distance, the Indians 
 succeeding in alluring the scouting party near the ene- 
 my's lines. 'I'hey then allowed the party to approach 
 sufficiently near to draw their fire, but kept oat of dan- 
 ger Butler, hearing the firing on his right, as his force 
 was arranged facing Conesus, and fearing that he had 
 been discovered, and that an attempt was being made to 
 surprise his camp, hastened to the spot, where he found 
 Boyd's party still following the Indians. Without 
 being aware of their priesence, Boyd was already with- 
 in the fatal embrace of the enemy, and before he was 
 aware of it,Butler had given such orders as to completely 
 surround him. Once and again he attempted to break 
 their line but without success ; he then sought to retreat. 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 51 
 
 but he was encompassed oa all sides. The odds were 
 'fearful, eight hundred of the Indians and Tories to twen- 
 ty-seven Americans, but the scouts determined to sell 
 their lives as dearly as possible ; and relief from our 
 army, which was only about a mile distant, was expected 
 every moment. Covered by a clump of trees our men 
 poured' a murderous lire upon the enemy as they were 
 closing around them, numbersof whom were seen to fall.* 
 In all, fifteen of Boyd's party, including Hanyerry, were 
 slain, eight escaped, Boyd and his sergeant Parker were 
 captured, and two had been sent early in the morning to 
 report to General Sullivan. The bodies ^f the slain were 
 found on the 16th and buried with military honors ; that 
 of Hanyerry with the others, although literally hacked 
 to pieces. The story of his capture, the theatrical ad- 
 dress of his brother, and his tragic end, as told by Stone 
 and repeated by others, lacks both confirmation and pro- 
 bability. Of those who escaped, one was the noted Timo- 
 thy Murphy, an account oi whose hair-breadth escapes 
 and deeds of reckless daring would fill a volume. Others 
 were Elerson, McDona'd, Garrett Putnam, a French 
 Canadian and Captain Jehoiakim. Boyd and Parker 
 were hastened to Little Beard's town, wliere they were 
 put to death with cruel tortures. 
 
 It has been currently reported, that after his capture, 
 Boyd approached Brant under the sign of a Free Mason, 
 of which ancient fraternitv both were members, that the 
 chieftain recognized the bond of brotherhood and promis- 
 ed him protection, but he having been unexpectedly called 
 away, the captives were placed in.charge of Butler (proba- 
 bly Walter N.) who, becoming exasperated with Boyd's 
 
 *The place where Bovd's men were huriod was near wliere they fell. Tt is at the 
 head of the first ravine south of the road which passes hy the cemetery on the hill west 
 of the head of Conesns Lake. The point i< within a half mile of the cemetery and 
 aUout teti rods directly sonth of Mrs. Boyd's barn. A view of t he spot is given in the 
 History of Livingston County. Nearly forty years ago the grave was opened and some 
 ot the bones were taken to Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, N. Y. 
 
52 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 persistent refusal to disclose any infornnation in regard to 
 the army, handed them over to the Indians to be put to 
 death. The whole story, however, is extremelj'^ doubt- 
 ful, and it is now difficult to ascertain how much of it, 
 if any, should be received as true. The most that can be 
 said with certainty is, that the next day the bodies of 
 the unfortunate men were found by our troops, horribly 
 mangled, and bearing marks of having suffered unspeaka- 
 ble torture.* 
 
 Sullivan had established a line of sentries along- the 
 base of the hill next the morass, to guard the pioneers 
 against surprise while repairing the bridge. Captain 
 Benjamin Lodge, who was tlie survej'or for the expedi- 
 tion, and with chain and compass had measured the 
 entire route from Easton, about half an hour after 
 the skirmish with Boyd on the hill, had gone a short 
 distance beyond the picket line, when he was set upon 
 by a party of Indians, who were pursuing the fagitives 
 of the scouting part,y. Thomas Grant, who was one of 
 the surveying party, thus tells the story : "Myself and 
 four chain carriers, who were about one and a half miles 
 advanced of the troops, were fired on by several Indians, 
 who lay in ambush ; a corporal by the name of Calhawn, 
 who came voluntarily with me, was mortally wounded 
 and died the next day. The Indians pursued us a fourth 
 of a mile, but witiiout success, — we being unarmed were 
 obliged to run." Captain Lodge was compelled to leave 
 his compass and ran towards the nearest sentinel, who 
 shot the Indian chasing him with uplifted tomahawk, 
 and Captain Lodge escaped. General Sullivan ordered 
 Hand's brigade to cross the morass, push up the hill and 
 dislodge the enemy. Butler on returning to his forces 
 
 *0n the 2'/th o£ March, 1780, a party of Indiana captured Thomas Bennett and others- 
 in the Wyoming Valley. The leader had a very fine sword, which he said Belonged to- 
 Boyd, and added, "Boyd hrave man.-' The prisoners rose upon their captors, killed, 
 several of them, recaptured the sword, and returned in safety to Wyoming. 
 
ov Sullivan's expedition. 50 
 
 on the crest of tlie hill found them in confusion, and, see- 
 ing the preparations noade to attack them, beat a hasty 
 retreat, leaving their hats, packs, etc., behind them. 
 Butler being thus thwarted in his plans to surprise the 
 army, withdrew his forces to Gathtsegwarohare, and then 
 to Canawaugus. 
 
 Having destroyed Kanaghsaws and completed the bridge 
 across the creek, Sullivan pushed forward on the trail 
 taken by Boyd the night before, a distance of seven miles 
 to Gathtsegwarohare. 
 
 This was an Indian town of twenty-five houses, mostly 
 ttew, on the east side of the Canaseraga Creek, about two 
 miles above its confluence -with the Genesee. The site 
 is now occupied by the house and surrounding grounds 
 of the "Hermitage," the ancestral home of the GarroUs. 
 
 As the advance of the army approached the town abbut 
 dusk of September 13tli,they found themselves confront- 
 ed by a strong force of Indians and rangers, drawn up in 
 battle array to dispute their further progress. The Gen- 
 eral at once pushed forward the 'flanking divisions to cut 
 off their retreat, but the enemy, seeing the troops come 
 into position, fled without firing a gun, and the army en- 
 camped in the town without opposition. There were ex- 
 tensive cornfields adjacent to the town, which it took two 
 thousand men. six hours, the next day, to destroy. This 
 being accomplished, about noon of the 14th they set out 
 for the great Genesee town, reaching it about sunset. 
 
 The location of this great Seneca Castle, was on the 
 west side of the Genesee river, on the flat immediately in 
 front of Cuylersville, in the town of Leicester, on the op- 
 posite side of the valley from Geneseo. It appears on 
 Ivan's map as Chenandoanes; in 1776 it was called Che- 
 nondanah: by Morgan it is called De-o-nun-da-ga-a, as a 
 more modern Seneca name, signifying "where the hill is 
 near," but is more often called Little Beard's town,from 
 the name of the noted Seneca chieftain who resided there 
 
54 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 in 1779. 
 
 The castle consisted of one hundred and twenty-eight; 
 houses, of which the most were large and elegant, and 
 was surrounded by about two hundred acres of cornfields 
 and gardens, filled with all kinds of vegetables. It was 
 the western door of the Long House to which the Iro- 
 quois were accustomed to liken their confederacy. Kear 
 this town were found the bodies of Lieutenant Thomas 
 Boyd and Sergeant Parker, horribly mutilated by the 
 tortures to which they had been subjected.' They were 
 buried that evening with the honors of war, near the spot 
 where they were found. 
 
 At 6 o'clock in the morning of the 15th of September, 
 the whole army was turned out to destroy the crops, or- 
 chards, houses and gardens of the place. The corn was 
 piled lip in the houses and burned with them, or con- 
 sumed on log heaps. It was estimated that from fifteen 
 thousand to twenty thousand bushels were destroyed a,t 
 this place. It was the largest corn the troops had ever 
 seen, some of the ears being twenty-two inches in length. 
 It was abouttwo o'clock, p.m., when, the fields having been 
 overrun, the abundant harvest destroyed, the trees hewn 
 down, and naught of the great town remaining but 
 smoking ruins and blackened logs, there came the joyful 
 order to about face and return.* While the army re- 
 mained at this town, Mrs. Lester, with a child in her 
 arms, came to our troops. The autumn previous (Novem- 
 ber 7th) her husband with others was captured near K^anti- 
 coke, Pennsylvania, by the Indians; he'was slain,buthis 
 wife was carried into captivity. In their haste to escape 
 our army, her captors left her behind, and she escaped to 
 our lines. Her child died a few days after. She subse- 
 quently became 'the wife of Captain Eoswell Franklin, 
 
 *The Groyelana ambuscade and the destruction of the Genesee towns were fittingly 
 comKiemorated at Geneseo, Livingston County, September IBth, li-79, their centennial 
 anniversary. 
 
OP Sullivan's expedition. 55 
 
 who was in the first party that settled Aurora, on Cayu- 
 ga lake. 
 
 Having over-run and destroyed, as it was supposed, 
 all the villages of the'Senecas, about three o'clock, p. M,, 
 the army set ouc on its return by the same route it had 
 advanced, and. on the evening of the 19th, reached Kana- 
 dasaga without any occurrence worthy of note, except 
 that scattered dwellings and ^elds of corn which had been 
 overlooked, or purposely spared, were completely de- 
 stroyed, and a number of the pack-horses, being unable 
 to travel further, were shot. Here Sullivan was met by a 
 delegation from the Oneidas, who came to excuse them- 
 selves for not joining the expedition, and also to intercede 
 on behalf of the Cayugas, east of the lake, who claimed 
 to be friendly to Congress. They were also closely unit- 
 ed to the Oneidas by intermarriages ; who thought that 
 if the towns-were destroyed and the means of subsistence 
 laid waste, their families would come to them for sup- 
 ])ort, which, added to their already heavy burdens, would 
 be more than they could endure. In reply. General Sul- 
 livan informed them that the whole course of the 
 Cayugas had been marked by duplicity, and hostility, 
 for which he had determined they should be chastised, 
 and he should not be turned from his purpose. 
 
 On Monday morning, the 20th of September, General 
 Sullivan detached Colonel Gansevoort with 100 men 
 selected from the New York Kegiments, with instructions 
 to go to Albany, via Fort Schuyler, and bring forward 
 the heavy baggage which had been stored at those places, 
 previous"to the setting out of the expedition. A few 
 families of the Mohawks who professed to be friendly to 
 the United States, occupied what was known as the 
 Lower Mohawk Castle. By some means Sullivan had been 
 informed that these Indians were acting as spies for the 
 hostile part of the nations, and directed Colonel Ganse- 
 voort to capture the inhabitants and destroy rheir town. 
 
56 SKNECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 
 
 On the representations of their neighbors of the friendly 
 disposition of these Indians, he set a guard over their 
 town, but took the men to Albany; where, upon the 
 statement of Schuyler,* Washington ordered their im- 
 mediate release with directions "To lay them under such 
 obligations for their future good behavior as they should 
 think necessary." 
 
 In Colonel Gansevoort' s letter to General Sullivan, he 
 describes the movements of his detachment: 
 
 Albany, October 8tli, 1779. 
 Deae Sir: — 
 
 Agreeable to my orders, I proceeded by the shortest 
 route to the lower Mchavsrk Castle, passing through the 
 Tuscarora and Oneida Castles, where every mark of hu- 
 manity and friendship was shown the party. I had the 
 pleasure to find that not the least damage nor insult was 
 oifered any of the inhabitants. On the 25th ultimo, I ar- 
 rived at Fort Schuyler, where, refreshing the party, I pro- 
 ceeded down the river, and on the 29th effectually sur- 
 prised the lower Mohawk Castle, making prisoners of 
 every Indian inhabitant. 
 
 They then occuppied but four houses. I was preparing 
 — agreeable to my orders, to destroy them, but was in- 
 terrupted by the intercessions and entreaties of several 
 
 *The fallowing is General Schuyler's letter to Colonel Gansevoort, dated Albany, 
 October 7, 1779: 
 Dear Sir:— 
 
 Having perused General Sullivan's orders to you.respecting the Indians of the lower 
 Mohawk Castle and their property, I conceive they are founded on misinformation 
 given to that gentleman Tliose Indians have peaceahly remained there under the sanc- 
 tion of the public faith, repeatedly given them by the Commissioners of Indian affairs 
 on condition of peaceable demeanor; this contract they have net violated, to our knowl- 
 edge. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us, as servants of the public, to keep the public 
 faith inviolate, and we therefore entreat you to postpone the sending the Indians from 
 hence until the pleasure of his Excellency, General Washington, can be obtained; and 
 a letter is already dispatched to him on the occasion, and in which we have mentioneii 
 this application to you. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 PH. SCHUYLER. 
 President of the Board of Conlraissioners for Indian Affairs. N. Dep't. 
 Colonel gansevoort.' 
 
OF SULLIVAW'S EXPEDITIOT^'. 57 
 
 of the inhabitants of the frontiers, who have lately been 
 driven from their settlements by the savages, praying they 
 might have liberty to enter into the Mohawk' s houses, 
 whilst they could procure other habitations. And well- 
 knowing these persons to have lately lost their all, hu- 
 manity tempted me, in this particular, to act in some de- 
 gree, contrary to orders. At this I could not but be 
 confident of your approbation, especially when you are 
 informed that this Castle is in the heart of our settle- 
 ments and abounds with every necessary, so that it is re- 
 marked, that these Indians live much better than most of 
 the Mohawk River farmers. Their houses were well fur- 
 nished with all necessary household utensils, and great 
 plenty of grain ; several horses, cows and wagons, of all 
 which I have an inventory, leaving them in care of Ma- 
 jor Newkark of that place, who distributed the refugees 
 in the several houses. Such being the situation, I did not 
 allow the party to plunder. 
 
 The prisoners arrived at Albany the 2d instant, all 
 closely secured in the fort. Yesterday the 7th, I received 
 a letter from General Schuyler, (I have enclosed a copy,) 
 respecting those prisoners, and desiring the sending the 
 prisoners down might be postponed until an express 
 arrived from his Excellency, General Washington. Agree- 
 able to this request, a Sergeant and twelve men are de- 
 tained to keep charge of the- prisoners until his Excel- 
 lency's pleasure is known. * * * 
 
 I am. Dear Sir, with Respect, 
 
 "Sour Most Obedient and Very Humble Servant, 
 
 Peter Gansevoort.* 
 
 Honorable Major General Sullivan. 
 
 At the same time (September 20th,) a detachment of 
 six hundred men under the command of Lieutenant-Ool- 
 
 *Peter Ganaeyoort was o£ one of the oldest Albany Knickerbocker famllies,lils great 
 grandfather, Harmen Van Ganseroort, having settled in that place as early as 1660,and 
 
58 SBWBCA COUJ^TTy CENTEWWIAL 
 
 onel William Butler,t of the Fourth Pennsylvania Kegi- 
 ment, was sent to lay waste the towns on the east side of 
 the Cayuga Lake. Thomas Grant accompanied this 
 .detachment, and his journal, which unfortunately ends 
 abruptly September 25th, and the journal, of George 
 Grqnt, Sergeant-Major of the Third New Jersey Regi- 
 ment, with Sullivan's Report, are the principal sources 
 of information in regard to their movements. 
 
 It was 3 o'clock p. m., when the detachrdents of Ganse- 
 voort and Butler set out from Kanadasaga for Skoi-yasp, 
 which they reached at dark and encamped there for the 
 night. The next morning several fields of corn were dis- 
 
 owning a lot on the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, still held by his descend- 
 ants. Ho was born at Albany, July 17th, 1749,and died July 2d,I813. He was appointed 
 by Congress.July 19ih,1775,a Major in the Second N. Y. Regiment, and joined the army 
 under Montgomery, which invaded Canada. March 1, 1776, he was made Lieutenant- 
 Colonel, and Noyemljer 21st,of the same year,Cc'lonel of the Third Regiment. In April, 
 1774, he took command of Fort Schuyhr, and gallantly defended it against the British 
 under St. Lpger, who, alter besieging it from tho.ad to the 22d o( August, retreated. By 
 preventing the co-operation of that oflicer with Burgoyne, he contributed largely to 
 the defeat of the k\tter, and obtained the thanks of Congress. In the, spring of 1779,he 
 was ordered to join inUivan in the Western Expedition, his regiment forming the left 
 wing of Clinton's brigade. In 1781, the State of New York appointed him a Briiadier- 
 General. He afterwurd filled a number of important offices, a'mong which wore Sher- 
 ifr of Albany County, a Kegent of the University of the State of New York, Commis- 
 sioner of Indian Affairs, and foi forlifying the frontiers, Military Agent,and Urigadier- 
 General in the United States A) my. 
 
 tColonel William Futler was the f ccond of five brothers of a family who came from 
 Ireland and st-ttled in Cumberland County, ra.,p:iorto 17fi0. 
 
 On the formation of the 4th Regiment he was commissioned Jiieutecant-Colonel, 
 October 25th, 1775. As ?, military officer he early acquired considerable di.ttinclion. 
 When, in the spring of 3778, the whole frontier was th; eatened bv Indians and Tories, 
 Timothy Pickering wrote to Washington f<.r "an officer of estahli.shed reputation for 
 bravery and capacity," and adds, "if wc are not misintoimed, Lieutenant-Colonel Wil- 
 liam Butler has been most conversant with the Indians and their mode of lighling." 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Monmouth, in which both his regiment and himself 
 bore an important part, his regiment, with six companies of Morgan's rinenicn, was 
 stationed at Schoharie. Here his br.ivery and experience as an officer, which was sec- 
 ond to none of his lank, rendered him gieatly efficient in quieting the disaflected, and 
 establishing confidence and courage r.mong the people. In order to b eak up the haunts 
 of the hostile Indians on the Susquehanna, Colonel Thomas Hartley,with the 11th Penn- 
 sylvania.ascendod the rivi r ss f ir as TiogR.which he destroyed, together with Queen 
 Esther's Plantation and \Vyalusin,r; and about -the same time, Colonel Bntler, tho rifle- 
 men and a corps ol twenty rangers, marched to the waters of the Delaware, descended 
 tliat stream for two days,and then struck off for the Swsquohanna.which tlu-y reached at 
 
OF SITLLIVAW'S EXPEDITION. 59 
 
 covered about the town, which Major Scott,* with two 
 hundred men, was detailed to destroy. 
 
 While Major Scott and his party were engaged in 
 completing the destruction of Skoi-yase, the rest of the 
 detachment pushed forward, at seven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, A march of eleven miles brought them to Cayuga 
 Lake, the outlet of which they crossed where it was seventy 
 perches in width, wading up to their breasts in water. 
 Just at the outlet of this lake was the old Indian town, 
 Tiohero, which the Jesuit fathers called St. Stephen. 
 The journalist says, "Near the outlet destroyed two 
 Indian houses. The name of the place is Choharo." 
 The site was on the east side of the river, at a point where 
 it was crossed by the great trail, and near where ifc was 
 afterward crossed by the Northern Turnpike. While 
 they were destroying this place, Major Scott and his party 
 overtook them. Five and a half miles farther, or sixteen 
 
 Unadilla The Indiana fled on their approach, leaving behind great quantities of corn, 
 some cattle and much of their household goods. Butler pushed on to Ogbkwaga, which 
 was a well-huilt Indian town, there being a number of good farm houses on each side 
 of the river. Destroying both these towns, and an Indian castle three miles below, the 
 mills at Unadilla, and the corn, Butler returned to Schoharie. Re went down theriver 
 with Clinton in 177n, to Tioga, where he was transferred to Hand's Brigade. He served 
 in the army until the close of the war, wbon he moved to Pittsburg. Here the remain- 
 ing y( ars of his life were spent in compa rat've quiet and comfoi t until his death, in 17S9. 
 He was buried in Trinity Church yard, Pittsbuigh. The inscription upon the tablet 
 ere:ted to his memoiy has become well-nigh elTacsd by the storms of nearly a century. 
 
 *Major William Scott, of Cilley's 1st New Fampshire Eegiment, was of Scotch- Irish 
 descent, his father, Alexander, being one of the flj sf settlers of Peterborough, moving 
 into that town in 17-12. While prepaiing a permanent settlement, he left bis wife in 
 Townscnd,Mass.,where William was born,May 1743 When seventeen years of age he be'- 
 came connected with GolTs regimcnt,and wa^ not d for his energy and courage. In 17T6, 
 he was a Lieuten mt in one of the Massachusetts E«'giments,and f 'Ught with desperate 
 courage. His leg was fraolured early in an engagement in which lii< regiment parti- 
 cipated, but he continued flghting until receiving other wounds, he fell and was taJKcn 
 prisoner. Upon the evacuation of Boston he was can led to Halifax and thrown into 
 piison, but esoappd by und^Tmining its walls. He was in Fort Washington at the time 
 of its sirren ler,Sove uber 17th,1778,an'l was fie only person who escipod.which he ef- 
 fected by swimming the Hudson by night, whore it was a mile in width He was pro- 
 moted to a captaincy in a Massachusetts Eegiment, but preferring the New Hampshire 
 line he accepted a captuncy in Cilley's Regiment He was with the aimy until 1781, 
 when he enter, d the naval s rvice in which he continued ui,t:i the close of the war. 
 He did at Litchflci:,X. II., September 10th,1790,agcd fifty -three years.- N. H. hist. Coll. 
 
60 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 miles from Skoi-yase, the detachment encamped for the 
 night at a small Indian settlement, a mile and a half from' 
 the Cayuga Castle, called Gewawga, located on the site 
 of Union Springs. After leaving Choharo, the path kept 
 near the lake shore, along which were several houses and 
 corn fields that the detachment destroyed as it passed 
 along. 
 
 Early in the morning of Wednesday, September 22d, 
 the detachment reached Cayuga Castle. Thomas Grant 
 describes this town as containing fifteen very large square 
 log houses, and adds, " I think the buildings superior to 
 any I have yet seen." Two other towns were in the im- 
 mediate neighborhood ; one, a mile south from the Castle 
 and called by our men Upper Cayuga, containing four- 
 teen large houses, and the other, two miles north-east of 
 the Castle, (Grant says,) called by our men Cayuga, some- 
 times East Cayuga, or Old Town. In the vicinity of the 
 Castle, were one hundred and ten acres of corn ; besides 
 apples, peaches, potatoes, turnips, onions, pumpkins, 
 squashes and other vegetables in abundance. Major 
 Grant describes Cayuga as a large and commodious town 
 consisting of about fifty houses, but he evidently in- 
 cludes the three towns mentioned by Thomas Grant ; he 
 also adds that the troops found salt here, manufactured 
 by the Indians from the salt springs near Choharo, some 
 United States muskets and a few regimental coats. The 
 Oneidas, who accompanied the detachment of Colonel 
 Butler on theit return to their own country and who had 
 besought clemency for the Cayugas, were somewhat dis- 
 pleased with General Sullivan's answer to their petition, 
 but, on searching the houses at Cayuga, some fresh scalps 
 were discovered, which, being shown, to them con- 
 vinced them of the justice of the coarse pursued by Sul- 
 livan. This town, the Cayuga Castle, probably occupied 
 the same site as the one called by the French Jesuits, 
 Goi-o-gouen, at which the mission of St. Joseph's was 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION. 61 
 
 established, and whicli Greneral Jolin S. Clark locates on 
 the north, side of Great Gully Brook. This corresponds 
 with the distance (ten miles,) recorded by Mr. Benjamin 
 Lodge, the Surveyor of the expedition, who accompanied 
 this detachment. On his map Cayuga Castle is located 
 on the north side of the stream, and Upper Cayuga on 
 the south side of it. 
 
 The troops were employed until three o'clock, p. m., of 
 the next day, in destroying this place when they marched 
 to Chonodote, four and a half miles from Cayuga Castle, 
 and which Mr. Lodge notes as "remarkable for its peach 
 trees." There were fifteen hundred of them, some apple 
 trees, and a number of acres of corn. This town con- 
 sisted of twelve or fourteen bouses, chiefly old buildings, 
 and stood on the site of the village of Aurora. Here the 
 army encamped for the night. Early the next morning, 
 September '34th, the work of destruction commenced. 
 As remorseless as a cannon shot, the axe levelled every 
 tree though burdened with its load of luscious fruit, and 
 the freshly ripened corn was gathered only to be de- 
 stroyed. At 10 o'clock, A. M.,* the torch was applied to 
 the dwellings, and as the crackling flames lifted their 
 fiery heads over this scene of havoc and destruction, the 
 detachment resumed its march. It was an hour after 
 dark before the next encampment was reached, which 
 was sixteen and a haK miles south of Chonodote, beside 
 a fine stream of water. 
 
 Early on Saturday morning, the 25th, the detachment 
 resumed its march. After travelling seven miles, thfey 
 reached the southern extremity of Cayuga Lake ; going 
 five miles farther, they came to the smoking ruins of a 
 town destroyed by a party under Colonel Dearborn, the 
 day before, of which I shall speak presently. Having 
 destroyed the corn which was overlooked by the party 
 
 ♦September 2ith,1879,the one hundredth anniversary o£ the destruction of Chonodote 
 was appropriately commemorated at Aurora, Cayuga County. 
 
62 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 who burned the town, the troops encamped here for 
 the night. 
 
 On the 26th and the 27th, the route for most of the way- 
 was through a pathless wilderness, where the sun and the 
 surveyor's compass were the only guides. On the 28th 
 the detachment rejoined the main army at Fort Reid, at 
 KanawahoUa. 
 
 In his report General Sullivan sums up the results of 
 this branch of the expedition as follows : ' 'Colonel But- 
 ler destroyed, in the Cayuga country, five principal towns 
 and a number of scattering houses, the whole making 
 about one hundred in number, exceedingly large andweU 
 built. He also destroyed two hundred acres of excellent 
 corn, with a number of orchards, one of which had one 
 thousand five hundred fruit trees." The five towns de- 
 stroyed, were Skoi-yase,tlie three Cayugas and Chonodote. 
 
 We left General Sullivan with the main army at Kana- 
 dasaga on the 20th. That day he crossed to the east side 
 of the outlet and encamped. Prom this point, on Tues- 
 day morning, the 21st, Colonel Dearborn* with two 
 hundred men was sent to lay waste the country on the 
 west side of Cayuga LaKe. General Sullivan says : "I 
 detached Colonel Dearborn to the west side of Cayuga 
 Lake, to destroy all the settlements which might be found 
 
 *Henry Dearborn was boru at Hampton.N. H. ,March,]751,studie(J medicine,but,heal^ 
 Ing of the battle of Lexington enlisted sixty volunteers and joined Sta'-k's New Hamp- 
 shire Regiment. He was at Pnnker Hill with his company, where he fought most bravely. 
 In September, he joined Arnold's expedition and marched through the ivilds of Maine 
 an(l Canada for Quebec, and in the assault upon that city was taken prisoner. In 
 March, l7T7,he was exchanged and appointed Miijor of Suammcl's Regiment. He fought 
 with such gallantry in the battle of Stillwater and Saratoga as to be noticed in orders 
 by General Gates. He was al Torktown in 1781, at the surrender of Cornwallis He 
 was for two terms Member of Congress,and was S. cretary of War from ISOl to 18C9,un- 
 dcr Jefferson, after which he was appointed collector of the port of Bo&ton. In 1812, 
 he was appointed Senior Majoi -General in the Army of the United States,and captured 
 York in Canada, and Fort George, at the mouth of the Magara. He was subsequently 
 recalled from the frontier and put in command of New York Oity. In the summer ol 
 1822, he was appointed minister plenipctentiary to Portug:il, but after an absence of 
 two years was recalled at his own request, and retired to private life. General Dear- 
 born was a man of large size, gentlemanly deportment, and one of the bravest and 
 most gallant men of his time. He died at Eoxbury, Mass., June t;tli,1829,aged 78 years. 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition. 63 
 
 there, and to intercept the Cayugas if they should at- 
 tempt to escape Colonel Butler." 
 
 The journal of Colonel Dearborn and that of Major 
 J^mes Morris of the same Regiment, Third New Hamp- 
 shire, and the Seneca County Courier, are the principal 
 sources of information. 
 
 At eight o'clock the detachment left the main army, 
 and taking almost a direct easterly course, came to three 
 wigwams in the woods, where were also several patches 
 of corn, cucumbers, melons, peas, etc. ; they also found 
 near here fifteen horses. Advancing four miles farther, 
 they reached the shore of Cayuga Lake at a very pretty 
 town consisting of ten houses, which, with a considera- 
 ble quantity of corn, was destroyed. A mile south of 
 this point was another town called Skanagutenate ; going 
 a mile farther south, they found a third village, de- 
 scribed by Korris as a new town, consisting of nine 
 houses, and a mile beyond, they found a large house, all 
 which they burned, and Dearborn encamped for the night 
 about two miles above the large house. Counting the three 
 wigwams a village, as both Dearborn and Morris do, and 
 the results of this day's work were the destruction of four 
 towns and numerous corn fields, and a march estimated 
 at seventeen miles. The relative situation of these three 
 towns on the west side of the lake was very similar to 
 that of the three Cayugas on the opposite side. The 
 first little cluster of wigwams was located near the reser- 
 vation line on the. small stream that enters the Seneca 
 river above Seneca Falls, in the town of Fayette. Skan- 
 agutenate, the central one of the three, was situated on 
 the bank of Canoga Creek, the second, the one unnamed, 
 being a mile north, and the one called Mewtown on the 
 Disinger farm, a mile south. This is a point hardly 
 second in historical interest to Cayuga itself, and its 
 destruction was a severe blow to the Cayuga nation. 
 While it is not germane to my topic to discuss questions 
 
64 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 on general history ou-tside of this campaign, it may be 
 allowed me to say, that, as the birth-place of Red Jacket, 
 the great Iroquois orator, and opposite the burial-place 
 of Queen Esther, of Wyoming notoriety, this point, 
 Canoga, must possess peculiar interest to the antiquarian, 
 and the student of Indian history. 
 
 After marching five miles the next day, the detach- 
 ment came to the ruins of a town burned by the pack- 
 horse drivers connected with Colonel Gansevoort's 
 Regiment. Beatty, under date of September 6th, says: 
 "This evening came up four or five pack-horsemen, who 
 lost themselves yesterday, and told us that they took the 
 wrong path, and went on till near night when they came 
 to a small Indian town on Cayuga Lake, which the Indians 
 had abandoned. They then found out their mistake and 
 came to us as soon as possible, after burning the houses. 
 They likewise got a very fine horse, and a great number 
 of peaches and apples which they brought to camp." 
 Dr. Camptield adds, they were Colonel Gansevoort' s ser- 
 vants. This town. Dearborn calls Bwah-ya wa-nah, and 
 adds "a half mile distant found a large field of corn and 
 three houses. We gathered the corn out and burnt it in 
 the houses." This town was built on the banks of a 
 stream which passes through the farm of Mr. Edward 
 Dean, opposite to Aurora. 
 
 The detachment pushed on about five miles where they 
 found a hut occupied by three squaws and a crippled 
 Indian lad. Two of the squaws were taken captive, the 
 others were left. Three miles beyond this, they found 
 another hut and a field of corn ; both were destroyed and 
 the party encamped four miles farther up the lake, twelve 
 miles from Swah-ya- wa-nah, and seventeen from the last 
 encampment. 
 
 The march on the 23d was one of great fatigue. Setting 
 out at sunrise, without any path, or map, or guide, no 
 one of the party having ever been there before, they 
 
OF StTLLIVAW'S EXPEDITION. 65 
 
 advanced over what both journalists call "a horribly 
 rough country' ' which was so thickly covered with bushes 
 that the men with great difficulty pushed their way 
 through them. After travelling about nine miles, they 
 found themselves at the end of a long cape, now known 
 as Goodwin's Point or Taghanic, which they had mistaken 
 for the end of the Lake. The detachment then struck 
 off two or three miles to the west, and after marching by 
 point of compass, about eight miles farther, came to the 
 end of the Lake and encamped. 
 
 On the 24th, Dearborn put his force in motion at sun- 
 rise, and soon struck an old path which led to some huts 
 and corn fields. Supposing that he was near an important 
 Indian town, which was reported to be at the head of the 
 Lake, he divided his force into small parties and sent 
 them in different directions t^ look for it. In their search 
 several scattered houses and corn fields were discovered 
 and destroyed. At length the town was found situated 
 on the Inlet creek, about three miles from the Lake. 
 The town consisted of twenty-five houses, and, says 
 Worris, is called Co-re-or-go-nel, who adds that "it is the 
 
 capital of a small nation or tribe called ." Major 
 
 Grant, who was in Butler's detachment and reached this 
 town the next day alter Dearborn, calls the place De Ho 
 Kiss Kanadai, and says it was situated on the west side 
 of the stream in a beautiful valley, and the creek was 
 deep enough for canoes to pass from the town to the lake 
 at any time. This site of this town has been identified 
 by General Clark, at a point of rising ground, south of 
 the school-house on the farm of Mr, James Flemming, 
 and opposite to Buttermilk Falls. Dearborn's party 
 was from nine o'clock in the morning until sunset, in de- 
 stroying the crops and orchards about this place. The 
 next day some of Colonel Butler's men found here the 
 horse of the Rev. Dr. Kirkland, the missionary to the 
 Oneidas, and one of the chaplains to the expedition. 
 
66 SEKJ3CA COUI^^TY CENTENWIAL 
 
 The locality of this town is one of great interest to the 
 antiquarian. In 1753, a remnant of a nation of the Cataw- 
 bas called Christannas, having been nearly exterminated 
 by the Iroc[nois, were planted here by the Cayugas: 
 Soon after, a party of Monseys and the remnant of the 
 nation of Tiitelos, were allowed to settle here. In 1765, 
 the Cayuga Sachem desired to remove the Christian In- 
 dians at Wyalusing, to the head of Cayuga Lake, which 
 he was induced to forego at the earnest persuasion of the 
 missionaries. But now, as for nearly a century past, 
 over their buried bones and slumbering ashes, the march 
 of the white man' s civilization goes sweeping^by ; and the 
 glimmering water of the Lake over which the Cayuga 
 skimmed in his birchen canoe, are whitened by the sails 
 of the white man's commerce. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 25th, Colonel Dearborn set 
 out to join the main army, and by taking a due west 
 course reached Catharine's about four o'clock p. m. Find- 
 ing the army had passed that place, his men, though 
 wearied by the difficult march, pushed on six miles 
 farther and encamped on the edge of the swamp, and the 
 next day reached the main army. 
 
 General Sullivan thus reports concerning this detach- 
 ment. "Colonel Dearborn burnt in his route, six towns, 
 which include one that had before been partly destroyed 
 by a small party, destroying at the same time large quan- 
 tities of corn. He took an Indian lad and three women, 
 prisoners ; one of the women being very ancient, and the 
 lad a cripple, he left them and brought on the other two, 
 and joined the army on the -evening of the 26th." The 
 six towns destroyed, were the four burned the first day, 
 together with Swahyawana, and Co-re-or-go-nel. 
 
 The main army which we left near the Seneca river on 
 the 21st, reached Kanawaholla on the 24th, where Cap- 
 tain Reid had collected considerable stores of provisions 
 and liquor, which were liberally dis<ributed among the 
 
OF SULLIVAN'S EXl^EDITION. 67 
 
 men, and the 25tli was given as a day of rejoicing over 
 the news of the alliance of Spain with the United States, 
 and over the success of the expedition. Colonel Jenkins 
 says, "Five oxen were barbacued, and a great plenty of 
 liquor to drink." In General Hand' s Brigade, thirteen 
 fires and thirteen candles were kept burning, and thirteen 
 toasts were drank. A salute of thirteen cannon and a 
 feude-joie were fired at evening. While waiting for the 
 several detachments of his army to come in, Siillivan sent 
 Colonel CoT;irtlandt and Captain Simon Spalding, each 
 with a force, up the Chemung, who destroyed everything 
 as far as Painted Post. 
 
 Colonel Butler's detachment joined the army on the 
 28th, and next day it set out for Tioga, where on the 30th, 
 Colonel- Shreeve received them with demonstrations of joy, 
 amid thunders of artillery, lively strains of music by 
 drum and fife and by Proctor's regimental band. After 
 feasting both ofiicers and men, and pouring out pretty 
 free libations to Bacchus, the whole was concluded with 
 an Indian dance under the direction of an Oneida Chief, ; 
 led off by General Hand. One of the journals says, the 
 clothes of the men were torn into shreds by the bushes 
 and brambles through which, for more than a month, 
 they had been marching, and observes, that as the men 
 joined in the dance, with their heads powdered with 
 flour, their faces bedaubed with paint, and their fringed 
 and shredded rifle frocks streaming in the wind, they 
 presented an appeai'ance at once weird and grotesque. 
 One of the narrators of the story says: "every body laugh- 
 ed : even our grave chaplain could not repress a smile." 
 
 In this expedition, the army had burned forty Indian 
 villages, destroyed 200,000 bushels of corn, besides thou- 
 sands of fruit trees and great quantities of beans and 
 potatoes. It might be said to be literally true of this 
 army, that "the land was as the Garden of Eden before 
 them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." 
 
68 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 On the 3d of October Fort Sullivan was demolished, 
 and on the 4th the army set out for Wyoming, which was 
 reached on the 7th. Notwithstanding the severities of 
 the campaign, the total loss was less than forty men, 
 or one per cent, of the entire force. 
 
 Sullivan left Wyoming October 10th, and reached 
 Easton the l5th, where a thanksgiving service was held, 
 and then the army hasted to join that of Washington. 
 Congress passed a vote of thanks in which the officers and 
 men were complimented in the highest terms, and Wash- 
 ington did not hesitate to express his satisfaction with 
 the management of the campaign, and its results, in the 
 most flattering language. 
 
 The expedition was more disastrous to the Indians than 
 at first might appear. They returned to their blackened 
 homes and wasted cornfields, and looked with despair 
 upon the waste and ruin before them. They now began 
 to feel the iron they had so ruthlessly thrust into the 
 bosom of others. Mary Jemison says there was nothing 
 left, not enough to keep a child. Again they wended 
 their way to Magara, where huts were built for them 
 around the fort. The winter following, was the coldest 
 ever known, and prevented the Indians going on their 
 winter hunt. Cooped up in their little huts and obliged 
 to subsist on salted provisions, the scurvy broke out 
 amongst them, and hundreds of them died. Those the 
 sword had spared, the pestilence destroyed. 
 
 The power of the Iroquois was broken. 'I'hat great con- 
 federation whose influeniie had once been so potent, crum- 
 bled under the iron heel of the invader, and the nation 
 which had made so man}^ tremble, itself quailed before 
 the white man's steel. It is true that as long as the war 
 continued, they kept up their depredations, but it was in 
 squads of five or six, seldom as many as twenty. We 
 have no repetitions of Wyoming or Cherry Valley. It 
 was a terrible blow, but one which they brought upon 
 
OF Sullivan's expedition-. 60 
 
 themselves by their own perfidy and treachery and cruelty. 
 The sacking of so many homes, the destruction of so much 
 that was valuable.awakens in every civilized heart the sen- 
 timent of pity for their loss, but the act was as justifiable 
 as that which slays the assassin at your door, or the man 
 who is applying the torch to your dwelling. 
 
 Colonel Stone remarks : "With the exception of New- 
 town, the achievements of the army in battle were not 
 great. But it had scoured a broad extent of country, 
 and laid more towns in ashes than had ever been de- 
 stroyed on the continent before. The red men were 
 driven from their beautiful country— their habitations 
 left in ruins, their "fields laid waste, their orchards up- 
 rooted, and their altars and the tombs of their fathers 
 overthrown." 
 
 To the JN ew England troops, who had been accustomed 
 to the rocky soil and the steep hillsides of their native 
 States, these broad and fertile valleys seemed like an- 
 other Eden, and no sooner had war furled her crimson 
 banners, than these hardy sons of the east, shouldered 
 knapsack and axe, and again bent their footsteps toward 
 these beautiful valleys ; here they built their homes and 
 reared their children, planted the institutions of liberty 
 and religion and builded an empire whose exhaustless 
 wealth and tireless enterprise and increasing grandeur, 
 make it the crowning glory of this Empire State, and a 
 living example of her glorious motto, Excelsior. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE BY KEY. DAVID CRAFT. 
 
 In General Sullivan's official reports, he claimed to 
 have lost from all causes, less than forty men,and to have 
 destroyed forty towns, fourteen of which were destroyed 
 by Clinton and himself, prior to the 30th of August. 
 This statement has been doubted by some critics, and Sul- 
 
70 SENECA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 
 
 livan's veracity in his officialreport virtually questioned. 
 A careful collation of the Journals gives the followingre- 
 
 sults : 
 
 LOSS OF MEN. 
 
 Une, a boatman, drowned, a soldier died at Vanderlip's 
 and Sergeant Martin Johnson at Wyalusing, all August 
 5th. At Tioga, Jabez Elliott was killed by Indians, Au- 
 gust 15th; Philip Helter, August 17th, and Captain 
 Benjamin Kimball. accidental] y,August_23d. Seven were 
 killed at Chemung, August 12th; three were killed and 
 five died of wounds received at the battle of Newtown; 
 seventeen perished at Groveland, including Corporal Cal- 
 houu'and Hanyerry; Lieutenant Bo/dand Sergeant Par- 
 ker at Little Beard's town, making a total of forty. 
 Besides, one soldier died at Wj^oming, and one rifleman 
 was killed wliile Clinton was at the foot of Otsego Lake. 
 
 TOWNS DESTROYED. 
 
 The following are the fourteen towns destroyed previ- 
 ous to the 31st of August, with the dates of their destruc- 
 tion: 
 
 1. Newtychanning, at the mouth of Sugar Creek,Au- 
 gust 9th. 
 
 2. Old Chemung, near present town, August 13th. 
 
 3. New Chemung, August 13th. 
 
 4. Newtown, August 31st. 
 
 5. Small village at the fortifications, August 29th. • 
 
 6. New Buildings on Baldwin's Creek, August 29th, 
 
 7. A small village on Seely Creek, August 30th. 
 
 8. Albout, a Scotch Tory settlement, five miles above 
 Unadilla, August 12th, by Clinton. 
 
 9. Shawhiangto,near present Windsor, Broome county, 
 August 17th, 
 
 10. Ingaren or Tuscarora, at Great Bend, August 17th. 
 
 11. Otsiningo,four miles north of Binghamton, August 
 18th. 
 
OF sui.Li van's expedition. 71 
 
 12. Choconut or Clmgnut, August. 19th, by Poor. 
 IB. Owegy, near present Owego, August 19th. 
 
 14. Manekatawangum or Red Bank,near Barton,lSr.Y. 
 Subsequently the following towns were destroyed: 
 
 15. Middletown, 3 miles above Newtown, August 31st. 
 
 16. Kanawaholla, site of Elmira, August 31st. 
 
 17. Runonvea, near Big Flafs, August 31st, Colonel Day- 
 ton. 
 
 18. Sheoquaga, Havaiia, September 1st. 
 
 19. Peach Orchard, September 3d. 
 
 20. Condawhaw, North Hector, September 4th. 
 
 21. Kendaia, September 5th. 
 
 22. Butler's Buildings,at the foot of Seneca Lake,Sep- 
 tember 7th. 
 
 23. Kanadasaga, near present Geneva, September 7th. 
 
 24. Gothseungquean, (Kershong), on the west side of 
 Seneca Lake, September 8th. 
 
 25. Skoi yase, now Waterloo, September 8th. 
 2b. Kanandaigua, September lOtU. 
 
 27. Haneyaye, September 11th. 
 
 28. Kanaghsaws, September 13th. 
 
 20. Gathtsegwarohare, September 13th. 
 30. Genesee Castle, September 15th. 
 
 Besides these, six towns were destroyed by Colonel 
 Dearborn, and five by Colonel Butler. 
 
 -:o: 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
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 The Sullivan expedition :an address deli 
 
 3 1924 009 574 702 
 
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