This essay was originally published in the 1949 OCHS Yearbook. Please note that this essay was published over 80 years ago. While still useful for general education, language may be outdated and at times offensive. The Oswego County Historical Society does not stand by the language used in this essay. All photos were added in 2026 when this article was uploaded to the web. To view the original document, please visit NYHeritage.org.
Paper Given Before Oswego County Historical Society at Oswego January 18, 1949 By Edwin M. Waterbury, President of the Society.
Under date of February 18, 1782, General Haldimand commander of the British forces in Canada and its military governor, had ordered Major Ross, then in command at Carleton Island army and naval base located eight miles down the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario, to proceed to Oswego “as soon as the ice should break up in the spring to establish there with all possible speed” a military post to replace Fort Ontario. That fort, erected in 1759 to replace the one on the same site erected in 1755 only to be destroyed by the French under Montcalm in 1756, had been destroyed by Lieutenant Thomas McClellan of the Third New York Regiment of the Continental Army, commanding a detachment of troops sent in August, 1778, from Fort Stanwix at Rome for that purpose. He found the fort then ungarrisoned with only a widow with her family of young children and a 16-year-old boy living within the fort’s walls.
Possession of Oswego, General Haldimand urged Ross, would give the British a substantial advantage if the Continentals should carry out in the summer of 1782 a drive which he had information that they were contemplating against Quebec Province. The general expressed to Ross the opinion that the danger of an American attack directed at Quebec might be avoided by “a more early exertion” by the British in reestablishing Fort Ontario. ” As the first objective to be considered is to secure yourself from assaults,” Haldimand continued, “you will pay your whole attention to it, taking advantage of what remains of the old bastions of Fort Oswego (Fort Ontario) and afterwards proceed to building.” Major Ross, accompanied by a party of British engineers, arrived at Oswego from Carleton Island on board the scow “Haldimand” early in April of 1782. The engineers had been supplied with plans prepared by Captain Turis of the British army for the reconstruction of Fort Ontario. Although Major Ross lacked many needed tools, he rushed and concentrated his early efforts upon the repair of the earth works about the ruins of old Fort Ontario that he might be in a stronger position to repel an attack should one come. To protect further the men employed upon the reconstruction of the fort General Powell, who was then in command of the British garrison at Fort Niagara, sent to Fort Ontario a part of the 8th or King’s Own Regiment of British Infantry. This same detachment was also to provide the nucleus of the force which would re-garrison Fort Ontario when the fort’s reconstruction had been completed.
British Naval Catastrophe
As the rebuilt Fort Ontario neared completion in the fall of 1782 General Powell ordered a further detachment of the 8th British Infantry, from Fort Niagara to Fort Ontario as a reinforcement of the garrison already there, to join their regimental comrades who had been serving there since early spring. Lieut. Douglas and a company of Royal Artillery also boarded ship at Niagara with intent to join the Fort Ontario garrison. To transport the troops from Niagara to Fort Ontario, the British ship “Ontario” built at Carleton Island as a transport and armed also as a battleship with 22 guns, was assigned. The ship was under command of Commodore James Andrews of the Royal Navy, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland. The soldiers on board were commanded by Colonel Burton of the 8th. The “Ontario” set sail from Navy Hall, as the winter quarters at Fort Niagara of the British Navy officers stationed on Lake Ontario was known, at Fort Niagara November 23, 1782. While she was enroute to Oswego a violent snowstorm accompanied by a wind that developed hurricane proportions arose on Lake Ontario. The ship was disabled and sank off Oswego with all on board, numbering 182 persons, not a man escaping. Some of the broken parts of the ship, a military drum and a gold-lace hat that was identified as having belonged to Commodore Andrews came ashore. Otherwise little is known of the fate of the “Ontario” or her passengers. There were no newspapers published in Upper Canada at that time to preserve such additional facts as may have been, or become, known at that early date or could have been deduced from known facts. As Upper Canada was then under a military government which kept no civilian records, there are unfortunately no governmental documents extant, relating to this catastrophe.
Reconstruction Causes Alarm
Residents of New York State, and particularly those residing in the Mohawk and Champlain Valleys, were much worried during 1782, by the re-establishment of Fort Ontario by the British and the concentration there of many of the British forces maintained to the North and West of New York State. A further concentration took place almost simultaneously in Lake Champlain at Isle Au Noix. Governor George Clinton of New York in a letter dated July 29, 1782, wrote to General John Morin Scott*. “The different parts of our Frontiers, except Tryon County, have hitherto been preserved against the incursions of the Enemy, but since their having taken Post at Oswego, where I presume you have heard they have collected the greater Part of their Northern Force and are fortifying, that Country has been frequently visited by parties too large to be resisted by the force we have in it and scarce a day passes without experiencing their Ravages of the most cruel and distressing Nature; so that it is more than probable that Country will be totally desolated before the fall, notwithstanding any efforts the State may be able to make to save it.”
James Duane, then but recently elected to fill a vacancy in the State Senate, in a letter from Philadelphia to Governor Clinton August 20, 1782, commenting on the changed situation at Oswego said: “I feel most sensibly for our fellow Citizens in Tryon County. While the Enemy remain posted in force at Oswego, we have nothing to expect short of total desolation o f the scattered remains of that once flourishing district.”
* Commander of Revolutionary forces in the vicinity of New York City.
Washington Ponders Withdrawal
General Washington wrote from his headquarters at Newburgh, October 19, 1782, a letter to Governor Clinton which concluded with the following paragraph: “In the present quiet state of the frontiers, and with assurances from Sir Guy Carleton, that the incursions of the savages are stopped by authority, I have it in contemplation to withdraw the Continental troops from the northward. There are many reasons, which will make that measure eligible, unless the troops, which have been raised on purpose for the defence of the frontier of that State, should be thought incompetent to the duty, even taking into consideration the inactivity of the season and the situation of affairs; for, indeed, I confess, I do not consider the late reports of the enemy’s being in force at the Isle-au-Noix to indicate anything farther than an attention to their own security. The severity of the approaching season, and every other circumstance, appear to me to militate against an attack upon our possessions this winter, and we shall not be at so great a distance, but that succor may be afforded as early in the spring as shall be necessary. At any rate, some measures must be immediately taken relative to the troops now there. I should be happy in receiving your sentiments as soon as may be, and am with great esteem and regard &c.
“P. S. I should be much obliged by an answer at the return of the bearer.”
Clinton Still Insistent
Governor Clinton upon receiving the foregoing letter at Poughkeepsie, immediately sent October 20, another appeal to Washington urging him to leave at least a small force in the north to protect the folk of Tryon County. In this letter the governor said: “I very candidly confess I am of Opinion with your Excellency that nothing extraordinary is to be apprehended from the late Accounts we have had of the collection of the Enemy’s Force at Isle Au Noix & Oswego; and this Sentiment I expressed to Lord Stirling in the first Communication I made to him of the Intelligence I have received; tho’ I thought it my Duty, as I mentioned to your Excellency, to order a part of the Militia to be held in readiness. I learn, however, that the frontier Inhabitants are much alarmed at those Hostile Appearances; and I am, therefore, very apprehensive that if any Part of the Troops on the Northern & Western Frontiers were to be removed before the Season is somewhat farther Advanced & thereby even the possibility of the Enemy’s visiting them with large Parties, it might create great Uneasiness among them & perhaps induce the more exposed to abandon their Settlements & remove into the interior Parts of the State; which would be exceedingly distressing to themselves & injurious to the Public. Indeed, if it might be consistent with your Excellency’ s Views, I should conceive that the continuing of a small regular force to the Northward during the Winter might be attended with good Consequences, especially as they may be comfortably accommodated.”
Washington’s action in dispatching Col. Marinus Willett’ s army against Fort Ontario about four months after this quoted interchange with Clinton, quite likely stemmed from the protest of the New York Governor against leaving Tryon County exposed as it had been almost continuously throughout the Revolution. Washington saw that if he could capture Fort Ontario by a surprise attack (he did not have available the manpower to warrant an attempt to capture the fort by siege or to take it by storm) that the way would then be open for him to place a strong garrison in Fort Ontario that could put a stop to further raids up the Oswego River Valley from Oswego against the Mohawk, Cherry and Schoharie Valleys in New York and the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. About a month after his interchange with Clinton, just cited, Washington began planning Willett’s expedition against Fort Ontario that was to take place in February, 1783.
Revolution’s Last Military Effort
To Fort Ontario, completely rebuilt and strongly garrisoned by the British, there came at night February 13, 1783, Col. Marinus Willett at the head of a Continental army made up of New York and Rhode Island troops 500 strong, in what was to prove the last military expedition of the Revolutionary War. They were engaged in the execution of an undertaking that had been personally conceived and planned by General George Washington as to all foreseeable circumstances. The aim of the expedition was to make a surprise attack upon the fort at night as the force at Willett’s command was otherwise too small to take the fort, the garrison of which outnumbered the size of the attacking army. The garrison, too, would have the advantage of fighting behind the protective works of the fort. Arrangements for the movement had been so carefully concealed that the British had no advance knowledge of the coming of the Americans. The garrison believed itself secure from attack, located as it was more than 175 miles by the customary avenues of approach from the nearest winter post in the hands of the Revolutionists, with dense forests and deep snow and ice-covered lands and rivers lying between. Besides the country was then in the clutches of a particularly cold winter. After executing one of the most rapid, long distance marches of the Revolution*, with his soldiers alternately riding in sleighs on the river ice and marching or running behind these to warm up their bodies and keep themselves from freezing, Willett’s expedition reached Oswego Falls on the afternoon of February 13. It was exactly on the schedule that Washington had laid down for it. Entering the woods there, detachments felled trees and constructed from green timbers the ladders that it was purposed to use to scale the walls of the fort. As night fell, they resumed their march over the ice of the Oswego river towards Fort Ontario. (The horses and sleighs had been left behind, under guard, in shelter af forded at Fort Brewerton) The moon was shining brightly and the marching soldiers made such excellent time that at 10 o’clock, when they were forced to leave the river because of the presence of open water at the rifts south of what is today Minetto, they were within four hours of the hour of “moonset” designated by Washington as the hour for the attack to be carried out and they were separated from the fort by only five miles. At that hour the prospects for the success of the expedition seemed excellent.
*Willett left Fort Herkimer at dawn February 8. His army covered 180 miles to get to Oswego. To accomplish this march in six days compelled an average march of 30 miles a day for six successive days under great handicaps .
Fasco’s Explanation
Some time was lost in getting the heavy ladders up the steep banks on the east side of the river at the point where the army left the river’s surface, but not sufficient to account for the fiasco which was to follow. Willett had been busy encouraging the men struggling through the underbrush of the river embankments with the heavy ladders and did not learn for some time that the van of his army had halted. When he learned of this fact, he pushed forward and found his men standing in a swamp with wet and freezing feet, while Captain John, an Oneida Indian, who was in command of the Indian scouts who had accompanied the expedition as guides, was out forward in the woods trying to ascertain the exact location of the halted army. Captain John had become lost as the result of following a trail in the snow left by a party of Indians who had passed that way on snow shoes headed, as John supposed, for Fort Ontario. Instead of going to the fort, however, the party had turned to the east and north and headed for Mexico Bay. When he finally became convinced that he had lost his way and began to reconnoitre in an effort to find it, Captain John had lost so much time that the army could not be brought under the walls of the fort in time to attack the fort at “moonset” as Washington had planned. Instead, as the dawn broke, Willett’s army found itself on top of Oak Hill. Their presence was discovered by a party of soldiers sent out from the fort to cut fire wood, and these men gave the alarm at the fort, the walls of which were soon lined with armed soldiery, while the cannon muzzles were thrust through the embrasures in the fort’s walls prepared to receive them as the artillerymen made ready for action. Under the circumstances and in view of Washington’s mandatory orders that if the attack could not be made by surprise that it was not to be made at all, Willett had no other course open to him than to withdraw without so much as firing a gun in the direction of the fort. Immediately he began retracing the route his army had followed to reach Oswego. The cold grew even more intense. Some of his men were frozen to death on the return march, and more than one-fourth of them suffering from frostbite had to be hospitalized when they got back to Fort Rensselaer.
Feared Attack After Armistice
While an armistice had been signed in Europe that ended hostilities between Great Britain and her former American Colonies before Willett’s Expedition against Fort Ontario had gotten well under way, the slow speed communications in those days resulted in the information on not becoming known in the United States until after the return of Willett’s force to its base. Still fearing that an attack might be launched by the British from Fort Ontario against some Tryon County point before the British garrison commander at Oswego had learned of the cessation of hostilities, Governor Clinton of New York wrote from “Pokeepsie” to General Washington April 13, 1783, in part as follows:
Dear Sir: Supposing all Possible Expedition, it will be a very considerable Length of Time before the dispatches forwarded by Sir Guy Carleton* to Genl. Halderman (& which passed through this Place yesterday Evening) announcing Peace and directing Hostilities to cease, can arrive at Quebec & be communicated from thence to the British Western Posts and much Mischief may be committed in the Interim. I would, therefore, beg Leave to suggest to your Excellency whether it would not be advisable to inform Sir Guy Carleton of the late Hostility committed by the Savages at Wyoming with an Offer of the Necessary Means for his making such Communication as may be conceived necessary for the immediate safety of our Frontiers across the Country to Oswego and the other Western Posts. The Frontier Settlements were never in a more defenceless situation. The Idea of Peace has thrown them off their Guard & I fear will prevent even that Degree of Exertion which may be necessary for their safety agt. the smallest Parties. My Anxiety for them is, therefore, proportionately increased & I flatter myself for the Liberty I now take.
Washington wrote the next day after receiving Governor Clinton’s suggestion, to Col. Marinus Willett, then commanding the Continental troops in the Mohawk Valley, directing him to forward by Indian runners the news that peace had arrived to the British Garrison commanders at Fort Ontario and Fort Niagara. With the dispatches were enclosed copies of King George Ill’s proclamation directing the cessation of hostilities. At the same time Washington directed Col. Willett to “give orders to the troops and Indians under your command to forbear all Acts of Hostility against the troops of his Brittanic Majesty, other than for their own immediate defence.”
*General Carleton who had commanded the British forces in Canada in 1776 was now in command of the British army in New York City.
British Retain Forts
By the terms of the treaty of peace, which brought to a close the Revolutionary War in 1783 and recognition of the independence of the former British colonies, the boundary lines between the United States and Canada were defined as the 45th parallel and the middle of the St. Lawrence River, of Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie so far as the northern and western boundaries of the State of New York were concerned. When, however, Baron Steuben, the German nobleman who had volunteered for service in the Continental Army during the Revolution and performed most important services for that army, in pursuance to an assignment given him by Congress at the suggestion of General Washington, sought to complete in Canada arrangements for occupancy by the United States of Ft. Ontario at Oswego, Ft. Niagara near Lewiston, N. Y., the Fort at Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg) and the other United States frontier posts of which British army units still retained control, the British government objected. Steuben had gone to Sorrel, Quebec, to confer with General Haldimand, the British representative in the matter who was also the governor of Canada. Upon Steuben’s making known the purpose of his visit, General Haldimand informed him that he had received an order from the British government in London directing him only to “cease hostilities” but no order authorizing him to transfer to American control, any of the forts located south of the border as defined in the peace treaty, which were still controlled by the British. Haldimand even refused Steuben’s request that he be permitted to visit and inspect the forts.
The British Attitude
In support of the British position Governor Haldimand said that the British government believed that the United States did not as yet have sufficient power to enforce the observance of a commercial treaty and Britain, therefore, declined to join in the execution of such an agreement between the two countries as Steuben proposed, until such time as the situation became otherwise. While Haldimand’s statement of fact was undoubtedly true at the time, the British position was not warranted or defensible upon any political ground. Haldimand also pointed out that the provisions of the peace treaty relating to the payments by American citizens of debts they owed to British subjects, had not been given serious attention by some of the state governments of the United States and that many states had also been careless about implementing the provision of the treaty which called for the restoration to their original owners of properties that had been confiscated during the Revolution by various state governments on the ground, principally, that the owners of the property had been Tories or were Tory sympathizers. Until these conditions had been rectified, Haldimand expressed doubt that he would receive from the British government authority to transfer to United States control the border forts within territorial United States still held by the British.*
*Repeated requests were made of General Haldimand to give up the forts held by the British after the close of the Revolution. Steuben’s effort was followed later by an appeal made by Col Fish o f New York on behalf of Governor Clinton of New York and later by General Knox representing the United States government. All were of no avail.
British Stand Blocked Trade
New York State was particularly anxious to accelerate the delivery of the border forts to United States control. While the British continued to hold Fort Ontario navigation and trade to the west was cut off, and business along the water route from Albany to Oswego was adversely affected throughout the whole area. About the only fur trader able to continue in business at Oswego during this period was Thomas Hamilton, a United Empire Loyalist whose home was in Kingston, Upper Canada. Major Ross, the British commander at Fort Ontario, had granted Hamilton under date of December 1, 1782, per mission to erect a trading house near Fort Ontario.* Needless to say no fur trader sympathetic with the Revolutionary cause would have been permitted to establish himself there while British control of Fort Ontario continued. Members of the Hamilton family of Kingston continued to trade with the Iroquois at Fort Ontario through this trading house under Ross’s authorization until after Fort Oswego was finally delivered into the custody of the United States in 1796. When General Washington, accompanied by Governor Clinton, visited Central New York in 1783, they learned that there were fur traders at Fort Ontario who were exchanging British- made goods with Seneca, Tuscurora and Cayuga Indians for the skins of the buffalo, the bear, the otter and the lynx. Washington probably did not come into the area now included in Oswego county on this journey, although he came very close to it. As the result of his observations made on this journey Washington was favorably impressed with the land and later acquired titles to land areas in New York state.
*Letter from Major Ross Thomas Hamilton dated December 1, 1782 in the Haldimand Papers
British Collected Customs
From the attitudes of the British government, just described, it resulted that for 13 long years after the close of the Revolution the armed forces of Great Britain, a country defeated in war, continued to hold and garrison fortified posts in the territory of the country that had won the war. But from the stand point of traders and other businessmen trying to do business along the Oswego River and its tributary streams the mere physical retention of the forts by the British was not the worst of the situation as for 13 years the garrison at Fort Ontario arbitrarily enforced regulations providing that sailing craft, batteaux or other craft moving out of the Oswego river or harbor should stop that a British customs collector might be sent on board to collect Canadian duties upon goods on the supposition that they were going to Canadian ports. Many of the small business men who were endeavoring to carry on trade with the west through Oswego became very resentful at this high-handed British practice. Many would run the ships past the British-held Fort Ontario at night to avoid being stopped and forced to pay what they considered an illegal and improper fee, whenever it was possible to do so. Hence smuggling to avoid payment of customs duties became an early practice along Lake Ontario. In an effort to prevent the dodging of Canadian customs duties by craft owners utilizing the Oswego River, where possible, the officers at Fort Ontario in control of the collection of duties for the British government retained the services of spies who lived up river to send to the fort advance notice of the approach of trading craft, so that the custom’s collector could redouble his vigilance to see that the owner or master of no ship should avoid payment of taxes collected here under the Canadian rather than American laws. When the identity of some of these informers was learned, several of them were punished by the river-men and traders who had suffered through their activities, some being publicly whipped at Salina. Major Lawrence VanValkenburgh, who lived at Oswego Falls, was suspected of being one of the informers though whether justly so no one today knows.
Pursued By Armed Boat
Following the withdrawal of the 8th or King’s Own Regiment from garrison duty at Fort Ontario in 1783, peace having theoretically arrived, the British garrison at Fort Ontario was gradually reduced until it consisted of but two officers and 50 soldiers. There was also a surgeon provided to care for the health of the men and an army chaplain to look after their spiritual welfare. A British customs officer was also assigned to duty here. American- owned vessels, the commanding officer was instructed, were not to be permitted to pass Fort Ontario to enter the lake, if they carried articles other than grain, flour, cattle and provisions which were sorely needed by the former Tories who had left the former colonies and were settling in Canada. Orders were also given that no boats carrying commodities could enter the United States by passing up the Oswego River. Exceptions could be made to each of these rulings only on the specific order of the Governor of Upper Canada. Settlers moving to Canada, however, were permitted to pass Oswego without difficulty with their implements, tools and household effects, for the British policy was to favor immigration into the Canadas. American fur traders who attempted to pass Oswego bound for the west to trade with the Western Indians, were halted at Fort Ontario. There their goods of trade were taken from them. In their efforts to fool the British, some of the traders disguised themselves as Indians. If they were successful with their ruse, they were able to pass unmolested. Others timed their arrival at Oswego to come after night-fall when they attempted to pass undiscovered during the night. The garrison sentries detected this move, and gave the alarm, picked men from the Fort’s garrison would pursue the fleeing boatmen in armed rowboats. They were frequently fired upon, overtaken and compelled to turn back.
Monroe Here In 1784?
There is reason to believe that Col. James Monroe of Virginia, subsequently to become President of the United States, visited Oswego in the late summer or early fall of 1784, his visit, if made, marking the first visit to Oswego of a man who was to become a later president of the United States. Monroe left his Virginia home July 22, 1784, for an extended tour through the western territories of the United States. He wrote August, 9 to Thomas Jefferson from New York that he had changed the route he had in mind to follow when he left home, so that he would pass from New York “up the Hudson River, thence to the Lakes, through the Lakes to Detroit and thence to the Ohio River and follow the Ohio back home.” He reached Schenectady August 19, enroute up the Mohawk to Oswego. From there he addressed a letter to Governor George Clinton of New York which read as follows:
“Dear Sir: Upon conferring on my arrival here with Mr. McFarlin, & others possessing the latest intelligence from the posts in possession of the British, I found your Excellency’s suggestions respecting the difficulty of passing them, entirely confirmed. The officer at Oswego informed him (McFarlin) that his orders from the commander in chief restrained him from suffering any person, even of their own army, to pass unless authoris’d by himself. Unless I co’d pass further it wo’d be useless for me to go to Oswego. Your Excellency will be so kind as (to) inform me whether you have rec’d any recent intelligence respecting this matter.
British Traders Asked Delay
“It is surprising to me that Genl. Haldimand hath not evacuated these posts long since. Carleton acted under the provisional treaty as conclusive, & I believe all the states in those points which fell within their jurisdiction, in the stipulations of the treaty, affix’d that as the Era at w’h it sho’d commence. Why then Haldim’d sho’d still keep the posts within our bounds, & observe in restraint to us, the rigid discipline of war, is a measure w’h I cannot conceive upon what principle will be justified, his being an old veteran, averse to suffer order to relax, will be but a trifling palliative. The delay of orders or the arrival of Carleton, may be better accounted for, by a petition, I hear hath been presented the ministry by some merchants, praying that the evacuation might be deferr’d as long as possible, than from any other cause. I shall probably stay here a few days till I hear further upon this subject & shall be under obligations to yr. Excellency for any information you may obtain. “I have the honor to be with great respect & esteem, yr- very humble servt. JAS. MONROE”.
The 8th or “King’s Own Regiment” which comprised a large part of the garrison at Fort Ontario, during the last days of the Revolutionary War, soon after news of peace reached Fort Ontario, was withdrawn from Fort Ontario and replaced by the Royal American Regiment and a detachment of artillerymen. The 8th was sent back to England from which it had come to America in 1768. After its stay of more than 15 years in America during which it had seen continued active service and some hard fighting, the once proud regiment was but a mere shadow of its former strength and magnificense. It had been one of the British Regiments to march from Ft. Ontario in 1777 with St. Leger against Ft. Stanwix which terminated soon after the bloody battle of Oriskany.
Make Provision For Loyalists
While the Revolution was still in progress, the example set by the early British garrisons at Fort Ontario and Fort Niagara in planting and maintaining extensive gardens, both vegetable and ornamental, in cleared areas near the forts had suggested to the British military officers in Canada charged with the responsibility of feeding not only the garrisons, the Indian hangers-on and allies who gathered at these points for protection, as well as the large number of refugees who fled Loyalists from New York, New England and Pennsylvania for safety, as the war progressed, to the proximity of the British forts and isolated regions in Canada, the desirability of locating United Empire Loyalists families arriving in Canada on farms where they could raise not only sustenance for themselves, but also find a market at the forts for food surpluses which of themselves would help in alleviating food problems. Near Fort Niagara 16 Loyalist families comprising 68 persons were soon tilling the soil. By 1783 they had cleared 236 acres of land which produced 2,146 bushels of wheat, oats, corn and potatoes in that year and supported 42 cows, 49 horses. 30 sheep and 103 hogs.
Refugees Sought No Return
The British officers had at first looked upon the relocation of these agricultural families as only a temporary make-shift, expecting that with the close of hostilities that the Loyalist families would return to their former homes in the erstwhile colonies. With the close of the war, however, these families, Lieut. Col. John Butler, then commanding the British forces at Fort Niagara reported, said that they could not think of re-entering the former colonies “where they could not expect the shadow of justice, could not repurchase their former estates”, and that they said they “would rather live in Japan than among the Americans.” On the land on the west side of the Niagara River, opposite Fort Niagara, where the first New York Loyalists had been settled in 1779 under a plan then recommended by Governor Haldimand to Lord Germain, who had approved it, Butler encouraged hundreds of refugees who arrived in the area during the years immediately following 1783 to locate. He promised his aid in bringing about arrangements so that the occupants could lease the land they occupied or receive it as grants from the government instead of merely being permitted to occupy and till it at the pleasure of the government as had been the practice during the Revolution. As tenants by suffer ance they felt ill at ease subject, as they were to the shifting whims of government A great many of these United Empire Loyalists refugees reached Canada by traveling up the Mohawk and down the Oswego go river vallies to Oswego, where, aided by the British garrison at Fort Ontario and British they were assisted ships , in reaching some of the new settlements open to them in Canada. It has been estimated that as many as 7 ,000 refugees reached Canada through this route, the number passing through Oswego exceeding 1,000 annually during the first few years after the close of the Revolution. In fact it can be safely asserted without fear of contradiction that the American Revolution hastened the settlement of Upper Canada by at least 40 years or more by providing Loyal ist settlers and improved shipping facilities on Lake Ontario and opportunities for increased trade through the supplying of the garrisons that the war had forced the British to maintain all along the Canadian border.
Oswego Military Reservations
A treaty was made at Fort Schuyler in September of 1784 between commissioners represent ing the United States and representatives of the Six Nations Indians under the terms of which those Indians yet continuing to live in New York State, were thenceforth to be confined to the ownership and occupancy of certain lands within New York State which were defined in the treaty. This treaty reserved an area six miles square “around the Fort of Oswego” (Fort Ontario) to the United States government for the support of this Fort. The federal reservation set up by this treaty, however, was never claimed in so far as the area there established about Fort Ontario was concerned by the general government as against the State of New York*.
*The State continued to control the lands about Fort Ontario until 1839 when the State granted the War Department the right to use the area then known as the Fort Ontario Military Reservation for military purposes at a time when another reconstruction of Fort Ontario was about to be undertaken. It was provided in this later agreement between the State and the Federal Government, however, that, if the latter should ever abandon the use of the Fort Reservation then established for military purposes that the ownership of the land included in the should immediately revert to the State of New York. Thus it came about in 1948 that ownership of the Reservation once again returned to the State of New York after a lapse of nearly 110 years. This return of the fort area to State control paved the way for about 20 acres of the former military reservation, including the fort area itself and the battlefields which surround it be taken over in 1949 by the N.Y. State Department of Education to be thereafter maintained as an historic site. Oswego Historical Society had urged that the State take this action.
Montgomery County Area
May 11, 1784, the Legislature of the State of New York passed an act which established a State Commission to have charge of the granting of bounty lands to be given by the State of New York to soldiers who had served with credit in the Revolutionary War. Provision was made in the act for the reservation from the so-called “military tract” of a square mile of land on either side of the mouth of the Oswego River to the State of New York. This reservation was made to provide for the needs of the military defenses at Oswego of which the State at that time soon expected to come into control. Another military reservation was provided for in the same law at “the falls, commonly called Oswego Falls, on the Onondaga River” at “the Great Carrying Place” which had earlier been the site of Fort Bradstreet within the present limits of the city of Fulton. Prior to 1784 the land which was later to be included in Oswego County had been a part of Tryon County which included as well much of the area now included in several counties in the Mohawk Valley. In 1784 a new county to be known as Montgomery County in honor of the American general who fell at Quebec during the Revolutionary War was created from a part of the former Tryon County. The new Montgomery County embraced in part the territory which was in 1816 to become known as Oswego County Indian Lands Acquired A Grand Council of the Onondagas, Oneidas and Cayugas was convened at Fort Stanwix in July of 1788 to meet with Governor George Clinton of New York and commissioners named by the Legislature of the State to negotiate with the Indians for further lands for the state’s ownership. The Council arranged for the transfer to the State of title to all the lands now embraced in Oswego County except the military reservations to which reference already has been made and an area one-half mile square reserved in every six miles along the north shore of Oneida Lake and a “convenient piece at the fishing place on Onondaga ( Oneida) River three miles below where it issues from Oneida Lake.” These reservations were intended by the Indians to preserve in perpetuity fishing rights for their use and the use of their posterity along Fish Creek which passes through the present Oswego County Town of Constantia. The Onondaga Indians ceded all of their lands to New York State in pursuance to the provisions of this treaty except the area now known as the “Onondaga Reservation”, at the time when the Oneidas and Cayugas were simultaneously taking similar action. The state agreed to pay for the property a thousand French Crowns, 200 pounds in money (New York currency $500), clothing and 500 pounds annually for ever. Among the representatives of the Onondaga tribe who signed the treaty which became a foundation for later land titles in Oswego county were two principal women of the tribe. Kayendatyona, one of the chief women of the Senecas, also signed the document as a witness.
In 1789 New York Legislature passed an act providing for the laying out of a large part of the lands, just acquired from the Indians, as bounties to be presented to Revolutionary soldiers in recognition of their services. This step was taken in accordance with previous acts passed between 1781 and 1788 with similar purposes in mind. Three regiments had been raised in New York in 1781 for the purpose of according proper protection to the frontier. Large bounties were offered to the men who then enlisted and the state was now moving to make good its promises.
Military Tract Created
The Legislature had previously designated a tract in the center of the state running southward from the mouth of the Oswego River on its west side in which bounty lands were to be later rendered available to the former soldiers. The Legislature of 1789 confirmed this grant and set up bounties for all privates and for other classes of officers; and also providing for an extra 100 acres for each private who would relinquish the 100 acres in the West to which he had become entitled to under a law passed by Congress. The object of this latter provision was apparently to induce New York men to remain in New York instead of moving to the West to occupy lands there. While all these laws were being passed the lands were continuing in possession of the Indians and would so continue for years afterwards at Oswego where the reservations provided by the state were still under the control of the British garrison at Fort Ontario. These lands later (in 1796) came into the undisputed possession of the State of New York but many of the holders of the warrants entitling them to bounty lands preferred to wait for the rich lands lying South of Oswego to be offered as bounty sites before applying for their lands. The Legislature passed another act February 28, 1789, authorizing the commissioner of the land of fice to direct the surveyor general to lay out as many townships as might be necessary to satisfy the lawful claims for bounties, each township to contain 60,000 acres of land and to be as nearly square as possible. This provision would have made each town about ten miles square. The commissioners were directed to number the townships and were further directed to locate town No. 1 on the West side of Oswego Falls. Each township was to have an individual name. Each township was to be sub-divided into 100 lots as nearly square as possible, each containing 600 acres. This was the acreage to be allowed to a private soldier including the tract which he would receive in lieu of Western lands.
Lands Drawn By Lot
All who had claims under the bounty laws were required to present their warrants by July 1, 1790. Then the commissioners were directed to place each man’s name on a blank sheet of paper with an extra blank for each officer entitled to participate. All blanks were then placed in a box provided for the purpose. The lots in each township were then numbered and the number of each lot with its township was written on a similar bit of paper and all of these bits of paper were then enclosed in another box. Thereupon a man appointed by the commission was to draw a man’s name from the box of names and then a lot number from the box of lots. The lot drawn after a man’s name had been called was to become the property of this man. But it was also provided that there would be six lots which would not be allotted in each township. Two of these were reserved for the support of schools and of churches and the rest to fill out the shares of commissioned officers which might not prove exact multiples of six hundred; a lieutenant 12,000 acres, captain 18,000 acres, major 24,000 acres, etc. There was also a further provision that a settlement must be made on each tract within seven years otherwise the title of the lands was to revert to the state. The “Military tract” in Oswego county included all lands in the later Oswego county which lay west of the Oswego river, except the state military reservations about the mouth of the Oswego river and the reservation at Oswego Falls. There was a rush to settle on the lands from which the anticipated beneficiaries had found themselves so long shut out and soon after 1790 settlements began to be made upon the lots allotted.
County Towns In Military Area
The names given by the com mission to the several townships were mostly of a classical nature —No- 1, Lysander; No. 2, Hannibal—these being the only two towns in the area now constituting part of Oswego county which contained military lots. Later Lysander was taken away from Oswego county in large part. The original town of Hannibal, however, included the area on the west side of the Oswego River embracing the towns of Oswego, Minetto, Granby and Hannibal, as now constituted. Many of the veterans who received the awards of land did not settle on their properties but sold their rights to others who did. It is estimated that only about five per cent of the settlers in the “military tract” in Oswego County were men who had seen active service in the Revolution. The oldest deed on record in the Oswego County Clerk’s Office at Oswego is the transfer of military lots 42 and 43 of the surveyed township of Hannibal, from Dennis McCarthy and William Whalen, which had been acquired by them as “bounty lands”, to new owners who immediately retransferred the lots mentioned to William Cockburn.
Stevens, First White Settler
In 1789 Oliver Stevens established at Fort Brewerton on the north bank of the river then known as the “Onondaga” but to day known as the “Oneida” River a log house which was the first permanent residence to be established by a white man in the area now known as Oswego County. Shortly afterwards Stevens opened there a tavern for the accommodation of travelers and boat men using the water travel route between Albany and Oswego. He also established there a trading post where for many years he carried on a trade with the Iroquois Indians exchanging the furs brought to his establishment by the Indians for hatchets, fishing tackle, metal tools, and utensils and trinkets such as were desired by the Indians. Stevens who later was host to the Castorland party as they moved down-river towards Oswego, exhibited to his guests a fish-weir he had constructed in the Oneida Lake outlet where he had formed a dam by placing stones in the stream, leaving, however, openings at some points in which he inserted willow baskets which entrapped the fish. A year or two later, Stevens, had a narrow escape from losing his life, when he attempted to make a short cut through the woods from his Fort Brewerton home to Fort Ontario, at Oswego, instead of following the usual water route. As there was no blazed trail through the woods, Stevens lost his way. As night settled over him, he was overtaken by a pack of gray wolves under the leadership of a large black wolf, notorious i n those days, among the most ferocious of all wolves. Stevens managed to shoot this leader of the pack. He then kindled a fire about which he moved all night, replenishing the fire and thus holding off the attack which the skulking wolves were ready to make as soon as they could gain opportunity. Next morning he attempted to retrace his steps to Brewerton, but again lost his way. Again the succeeding night he built a fire to hold off the wolves, if perchance, they should again overtake him. Early the next morning he started walking once more and about 10 o’clock came in sight of Fort Ontario. After resting two days with the garrison, he returned by water to Brewerton taking along the skin of the black wolf for the slaying of which he received a bounty of $40.
Near Famine In 1789
In the summer of 1789, due to unfavorable weather conditions , the gardens that had been maintained at Fort Ontario by succeeding British garrisons since 1760, failed to produce normal crops. In consequence the soldiers had few fresh vegetables that summer and fall. Many items of food ordinarily available to the troops were missing from the mess halls in the succeeding winter. The Indian population was so hard put for food that it went into the woods in search of nourishing roots and greens as food. Tea was made by members of the fort garrison from sheer wood, sassafras and hemlock. Fish, pigeons and wild fowl which were ordinarily found in abundance here, were also strangely lacking in that year which was also a year of hardship for the United Empire Loyalists who had settled in Upper Canada round about Kingston.
First Murder
In the spring of 1792 Major Lawrence Van Valkenburgh came from his former home along the Hudson River, below Albany, to erect at Oswego Falls buildings on land located west of the Oswego River, into which he intended to remove his family, the succeeding year. Two laborers, Valentine and Schermerhorn, and a slave boy named Har, accompanied him. Leaving his men at work clearing the land and erecting buildings, Major Van Valken burgh returned East at about the same time that Olcott and Fowler, two Albany traders, arrived to trade at the Falls guns, powder, axes, knives and other implements for peltry with the Indians who came frequently to the point to fish and trade with Albany traders who were excluded from trading at Fort Ontario where Hamilton had the exclusive trading rights by order of garrison commander. Schermerhorn soon died and was buried by the other whites. Valentine had in the meantime developed an intimacy with a squaw who came frequently to the Olcott and Fowler trader’s “store” maintained in a tent. The squaw’s husband, a chief of his tribe, took offense at the matter. When Valentine went to argue the situation with him, a quarrel arose during the progress of which the Indian was struck by a hoe in Valentine’s hands and suffered an injury which caused his death. The incident caused great excitement among the Indians, and the few white men left in the vicinity entertained fears that their lives would not long be safe. Valentine took his employer’s oxen and gun and fled to Oswego where he sold these to a member of the British garrison and fled to Canada.
Ft. Ontario Soldiers Summoned
As Olcott and the slave boy, Har, had reached Three Rivers, while fleeing to Albany for fear of the Indians, they met Major Van Valkenburgh, who was returning from Albany to his land holdings and acquainted him with the situation. He persuaded them to return with him. Dispatching word of the trouble to the British commander at Fort Ontario with a request that soldiers be sent to aid in restoring order, Major Van Valkenburgh was successful in his purpose after the arrival of the military. A reward was offered by Governor Clinton for Valentine’s arrest. He was arrested in Canada and brought back to Whitesboro for trial. He was acquitted on the ground that he was acting in self defense at the time of the slaying. He conducted his own defense without the assistance of a lawyer and had stipulated, in waiving extradition that he be returned from Canada for immediate trial, but in case he did so, he was to receive one-half of the reward that had been offered for his arrest by the Governor. The money was paid to him. •14—
In the spring of 1793 Major Van Valkenburgh returned to Oswego Falls with his family, and his son, Abram, and the latter’s 16-year-old wife to occupy the buildings that had been erected for their occupancy the year before. Their son, Lawrence, Jr., was the first white child born in the area now included in the City of Fulton, and after Camille Desvatines of Constantia, the second white child born outside of the military reservations in what is today Oswego County. With the Van Valkenburghs came Col. Henry Bush and Mr. and Mrs. William Lay who also settled at Oswego Falls, and Daniel Masters, blacksmith, who settled on the opposite side of the Oswego river from Van Valkenburgh’s holdings, where he became the first settler in Volney Town and the later village of Fulton. After a few years’ residence there Masters removed to Sacket’s Harbor. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lay died the year following their settlement at the Falls. been County. Their home earlier had been Stillwater, Saratoga.
The Roosevelt Purchase
James Cockburn, a civil engineer, made a survey in 1791 on behalf of Nicholas and John Roosevelt of the lands which were later to be included in a purchase negotiated by the Roosevelts with the State of New York. In turn the Roosevelts disposed of their rights before the patent had actually been issued to them by the State to George Scriba, the later founder of New Rotterdam (Constantia) in whose name the patent or deed to 542,000 acres of land, largely located within the confines of Oswego County of to day, was issued in 1794. Scriba became the first titular owner of the area. Cockburn’s survey was the first considerable one to be made in the territory later included in Oswego County. The Roosevelts had been granted permission by the State Land office to purchase these 542,000 acres of land now included in the counties of Oswego and Oneida for 39 cents an acre, one-sixth of the amount to be paid six months after the date of the signing of the contract, one-half of the remainder to be paid at the end of one year, and the rest two years after the second payment. The offer of the Roosevelts was accepted by the State’s representatives. On August 7, 1792, however before the title to their purchase had been issued to them, the Roosevelts sold the bulk of their contract for purchase to George Scriba. In early days the area included in this transaction was referred to as the “Roosevelt Purchase” but after the issuance of the patent to George Scriba in 1794 the area was generally described as “Scriba’s Patent.”
New Rotterdam Founded
In 1794 George Scriba established his first settlement upon his huge land tract later to be included in Oswego County at New Rotterdam, the present site of Constantia, where he constructed a log house for his own temporary occupancy. This was replaced in 1795 by the Scriba mansion which still stands. There were in 1794 three log-houses there, one of which was being completed for the occupancy of the Desvatines family, which had removed there from Frenchman’s Island where they had settled three years earlier, and a saw mill. Scriba opened in 1795 a general store in one end of his residence. He conducted this for many years.
Garrison Deterred Settlers
While the policy of the British in holding control of Fort Ontario for 13 years after the close of the Revolutionary War was acting as a deterrent to permanent settlement at Oswego where the first settlers of American origin did not appear until about the time King George III’s garrison at the fort turned the fort over to the representatives of the United States Army and withdrew to Canada, bold pioneers from New England and New York were arriving in the area now known as Oswego County with their families, beasts of burden and cattle to begin taking up in earnest the tasks of creating homes and farms for themselves in the hearts of the dense forests which still covered nearly the entire area that is today embraced in our county. Most of these settlers traveled to this region by boats which followed the water route from Albany and Schenectady up through the Mohawk Valley to Fort Stanwix, located on the present site of the City of Rome, thence by means of a mile “carry” to Wood Creek where their boats were placed in the stream which discharged into Oneida Lake. After crossing this lake, the boatmen would steer their craft into the Oneida River, then called the Onondaga. At Three River Point the Onondaga and the Seneca Rivers united to form the Oswego River by which name the stream is known today, from this point until it discharges into Lake Ontario at Oswego. In early days this stream was designated on the maps and known as the Onondaga from the time it left Oneida Lake until it discharged into Lake Ontario at Oswego. A few of the first settlers, however, left the water route at different points along its route and struck out across country, or followed paths or trails worn bare before the coming of the first Whites to the region by the Indians on their hunting or fishing trips or through their use as warpaths, until they reached their destinations. A few settlers even arrived by water routes from Canada to establish themselves in new homes that were located within our country, two Canadian families having been early settlers at the mouth of the Salmon River when Benjamin Winch first took up his residence there.
Livingston Pays A Visit
In 1791 the Desvatines to whom reference has already been made, established on Frenchman’s Island in Oneida Lake the second settlement within our county. They remained there until 1793 when an agent of John and Nicholas Roosevelt advised them that the Roosevelts had purchased the island along with other lands, and that they would have to leave. Learning of their plight George Scriba invited the Desvatines to make a new home in the settlement which Scriba was preparing to launch at what is now called Constantia village, but to which at that time Scriba had given the name of New Rotterdam as a tribute to his own early home in Holland. In the new log house which the Desvatines soon erected at Constantia they were later visited by Chancellor Livingston who had, while traveling in France, been a guest at one time in the home of the Clermont family, of which Madame Desvatines was a daughter, in Paris. Livingston persuaded the Desvatines to abandon their new home in the wilderness and to return with him to his own home down the Hudson to which he later gave the name of “Clermont” in honor of family Madame Desvatines Livingston, a stockholder in the company which built the steamboat operated by Robert Fulton up the Hudson to Albany also suggested as the name for that first steamer “Clermont” .
Before that, however, the Desvatines had returned to France and re-established themselves there after Napoleon Bonaparte had put an end to the “Reign of Terror.”
Vanderkamp At Oswego
Scriba had been preceded at the site of New Rotterdam by a man named Bruce, a Connecticut Yankee, who erected a log cabin there in 1791 or 1792, but who as a “squatter” on the land soon moved out when he learned that the rightful owner was preparing to establish his own home in the community. His name is perpetuated in the area by the name Bruce given to the creek on the bank of which his cabin stood. However, when Francis Adrian Vanderkamp, former Holly and clergyman, and Baron De Zeng, a German nobleman who later made his home at Rome, N. Y., arrived at New Rotterdam by canoe with two servants in 1792 while surveying the area with a view to finding a location where they might establish for themselves homes, they found both the Desvatines and Bruce living at the site of the future Rotterdam. From the Desvatines they borrowed a larger boat with which they continued their journey down river to Oswego where they visited Captain Wickham, the British commandant at Fort Ontario. A native of Rhode Island the visitors found functioning as the British customs officer at Fort Ontario. Wickham sent with them an interpreter-guide, Mr. Price, who accompanied them to their destination at the mouth of the Salmon River near which they viewed the location later to be the location of George Scriba’s dream-city of Vera Cruz. As the result of his survey, Vanderkamp made up his mind that the northern shore of Oneida Lake was the region most to his liking for the establishment of his future home. He purchased 1,000 acres of land there from Scriba at a point five miles East of Constantia. There he erected a home in 1793 to which he gave the name of “Kempwyck”, constructing on the premises several fine buildings the frames for which he had had fashioned down the Hudson. His barn was 80 by 90 feet in dimensions. His property included the pond still known as Vanderkamp’s Pond. After residing there for five years, the Vanderkamp family removed to Trenton, N. Y. After a lapse of nearly 150 years, ” Kempwyck ” was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Clark E. Jackson, a part of the old Vanderkamp dwelling thereafter comprising a part of the Jackson home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jackson later became members of the Oswego County Historical Society Mr. Jackson being a vice-president of the society for several years*.
*The Jacksons were hosts to the Historical Society a decade ago when the members made an auto mobile tour to points of historic interest in the Southern part of the county. A stop was made for luncheon at noon in a charming grove overlooking Oneida Lake just across” the highway from “Kempwyck.”
Swing Around County In 1793
In the fall of 1793 agents of the French ” Castorl and Company’ who were exploring the possibilities for gain if the company should invest in Black River valley lands, came to Fort Ontario. Messrs. Pharoux and Desjardenes, were accompanied by Marc Isombard Brunei, a young officer in the French Navy who later in life was to attain distinction as the engineer who constructed the Thames tunnel, and by Baron De Zeng, then a resident of Rome, N. Y. Enroute to Oswego the party had made stops at New Rotterdam to make the acquaintance of George Scriba and to learn his views, at Fort Brewerton where they were guests of Oliver Stevens, trader and tavernkeeper, and at Three Rivers Point where they were entertained at the inn owned by Major Bingham, a former resident at Fort Brewerton. Their boats had to be skidded around the portage at Oswego Falls, their goods being transported by wagon at a cost of 50 cents for each load. On arriving at Oswego they found Fort Ontario’s British garrison in command of Captain Schroeder, a German. De Zeng, also a German, felt doubly sure that he would receive a pass by reason of his claim upon Schroeder’s sentimentality as a fellow countryman. Instead of the party passing, however, Schroeder said that it was only with difficulty that he was restraining himself from following his first impulse to send them all to Quebec as prisoners “out of astonishment for their presumption.” Schroeder finally consented to let the party pass on condition, however, that Brunei be left behind as a hostage. The latter, however, would not accept the condition, and concealed himself under a tarpaulin which covered one of the boats, and thus got successfully past the British entry at the river’ s mouth and continued with his party. After making their study of the lands along the Black River, the Castorl and party were retracing their route when, unexpectedly, on October 28, they rounded the bluff which is now a part of St. Paul’s Cemetery, Oswego, and found themselves in sight of Fort Ontario. Hastily they put Brunei ashore in Baldwin’s Bay two miles east of the fort, with instructions to make his way overland through the woods so that he could rejoin next day the main party two miles up the Oswego River from Fort Ontario. On their arrival at Fort Ontario, the members of the party were all made prisoners by Captain Schroeder until they should deliver to him Brunei as the promised hostage. The travelers finally were able to propitiate Schroeder, however, by judicious distribution of gifts so that he permitted them to pass up the river.
Early Fishing At Falls
Brunei lost his way in trying to get through the woods and was not at the Minetto rendezvous when his friends arrived there. Pharoux was sent ashore to hunt up Brunei, but he, too, became lost. Next day, however, all the members of the party were reunited at the portage at Oswego Falls and made their way back to New Rotterdam where they lodged on October 31, at George Scriba’s house. They reported to him that they had found men at Oswego Falls spearing salmon, packing them in Onondaga salt costing $1.50 a barrel and selling the packed product at from $2.00 to $3.00 a barrel. They also told Scriba that they found German families resident in the area they had traversed who were planning to move west at the earliest opportunity.
In 1793 Major Solomon Waring established at Rotterdam the first tavern which stood on the site of the later Lakeside House. The first child born in the later town of Constantia was George, the son of Major and Mrs. Waring, born April 11, 1796. Joshua Lynch also erected a house in Constantia in 1793 which he occupied. While Scriba did not immediately establish his permanent home in Constantia, he spent much time at his new settlement in the summer months. He advanced funds for building most of the 12 log houses erected in the community by 1795. He also constructed in Constantia Creek at the mouth of which his settlement was located, a dam which was to furnish water power for operating a grist mill. Settlers along the shores of Lake Ontario and the Oswego River on June 3, 1794, were startled by the sound of cannon fire coming from the direction of Fort Ontario at Oswego. Their minds, already overwrought by the recent threat of Indian disturbances which had brought hostile Indians to the fort to meet there British officers probing the seizure by boatmen at Three Rivers of the supplies intended for the Mohawk Indians in Canada, the traders, hunters, and settlers in the vicinity became alarmed at the firing of the cannon. Some prepared to hide their most valuable possessions and to take refuge in flight until the cause of the alarm should be cleared up The firing ceased, however, after the lapse of an hour or more, and those settlers nearest the fort soon learned that it had been occasioned by a salute of 100 guns given to celebrate the birthday of King George III of England.
First Surveys Made
Between 1793 and 1796 Benjamin Wright, assisted by 22 surveyors, was at work surveying in to townships the lands to which George Scriba had arranged to receive a patent from the State of New York, as the successor to Nicholas and John Roosevelt who had originally negotiated its purchase from the state, but who transferred their rights to Scriba April 17, 1792. Wright’s map divided the area into 24 town ships of which eight were located in what is now Oneida County and 16 in the area now known as Oswego County. Wright gave names to all the towns he surveyed but for the most part these were later replaced with other names, when town governments were set-up. Only Oswego, Mexico and Richland today retain their survey names. Two of Wright’s surveyors became permanent residents of Oswego County.
Benjamin Winch was an early settler in George Scriba’s city of Vera Cruz, but later moved to the mouth of the Salmon River where he became one of the first settlers in Richland Town where he established and long conducted the first tavern on the site now occupied by the Randall House. Elijah Blake, another of the surveyors, became a resident of Williams town. Wright, himself, owned several pieces of property at Vera Cruz (Texas) and made his home there for a time. A preliminary survey of the area transferred by the Roosevelts to Scriba had been made by James Cockburn of Kingston, N. Y. When the surveyors reached the vicinity of Fort Ontario Cockburn sought permission of the commonding officer to approach the fort to run his lines to the river’s mouth. The officer, however, refused to grant the permission to the surveyor and advised him that the garrison would fire upon the surveyors if they approached the fort. Cockburn made his surveys, therefore, as accurately as he could without approaching the fort. Cockburn reported that the fort at the time of his visit mounted only four carriage guns. While feeling over the continued retention of Fort Ontario by the British was running very high in 1794 among the traders and boatmen operating along the Oswego River and its tributaries, boatmen learned that Col. Guy Johnson, the former notorious Tory in the Mohawk Valley who had fled through Oswego to Canada at the outbreak of the Revolution, had as Canadian Superintendent of Indians purchased a large quantity of merchandise in Albany which was to be slapped through the Mohawk River, Oneida Lake, the Oneida and Oswego Rivers to Oswego. Thence it was to cross Lake Ontario to Kingston, Upper Canada, for distribution among those Mohawks who had accompanied the Johnsons into exile in Canada. A party of 30 or 40 boatmen gathered at Three Rivers, learned the time that the shipment from Albany would be due to pass down the Oswego river. Still smarting under the high-handed, and as they believed, unjust treatment that had been repeatedly accorded them by the British customs collector at Oswego, the boatmen waiting for the opportunity, drove off the crews of the Canadian keel boats as the latter moved into the Oswego River from Oneida Lake, seized their cargoes, divided the goods among themselves and quickly disappeared.
Great Excitement Aroused
This seizure of the British boats caused great excitement along the frontier. At the time there were good grounds for belief that the New York Iroquois would prove resentful that goods destined for their kinsmen and former allies, the Mohawks, then living in Upper Canada, near Kingston, had been stolen while passing down the Oswego River. Enlightened American public sentiment also frowned on the lawless act. Guy Johnson came to Fort Ontario from Upper Canada to confer about the matter with the British officers at the fort and with such American civil officers as he could reach who he thought might be able to render assistance in the recovery of the goods. Finally it was brought about that the men who had seized the goods illegally should return them. Excitement, however, continued at a high pitch.
Simcoe Feared Attack
Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe of Upper Canada reported after this incident that the men who had participated in the plundering of the Canadian boats were ” chiefly rivermen, hunters and trappers who lived along the Oswego River.” Others, he said, were men employed at the salt works at Onondaga which had been opened in 1788 by Asa Danforth and Col. Tyler, the first white men to evaporate salt brine at Onondaga*. Simcoe attributed to Danforth the fomenting of the plot for seizing the goods.
*In 1790 the Onondaga salt workers turned out 600 bushels of salt which sold at one dollar a bushel for fine salt intended for domestic use. As the cities along the Atlantic seaboard purchased salt imported from Europe, the natural market for the Onondaga salt seemed to lie in Upper Canada and to the west.
In September 1793 the saltworkers made an unsuccessful attempt to run two ships loaded with salt past Fort Ontario. In May of 1794 another attempt was made. This, too, was a failure. As the selling price of salt was high in Canada because of the cost of transportation under the existing handicaps, popular clamor arose for the admission o f Onondaga salt to Canada without duty. For a time, thereafter the ban upon the exportation of salt to Canada through Oswego was lifted, but a change of policy again soon resulted in the restoration of the restrictions. In 1797, the year following the withdrawal of British from Fort Ontario the salt works production increased to 25,000 bushels. The next year it rose to 60,000 bushels. In a letter to Lord Dorchester dated June 2, 1794 Simcoe expressed the fear that the river gangsters who had plundered Johnson’s boats might even attack Fort Ontario in an attempt to seize the fort. Without question Danforth believed that the presence of a British garrison in Fort Ontario in a fort which rightfully belonged to the United States represented a barrier to business which he and his associates considered as unreasonable and unnecessary to the extent that they would be justified in taking steps to remove it.
Preparations For Resisting Attack
As a result of the threatening attitude maintained at this time by Guy Johnson at Oswego and the British garrison there, and the persistent rumors circulated to the effect that Governor Simcoe, first civil governor of Upper Canada, was maturing plans for endeavoring to alter the frontier as it had been established in the Treaty of Paris which closed the Revolution, great excitement prevailed among the Americans settled in the area. By continuing to hold the forts at Niagara and Oswego and establishing the Oswego River and Oneida Lake as the western and southern border lines between the British dominions and the United States instead! of the Niagara River and the Southern shore of Lake Ontario which had been agreed upon in that treaty, rumor had it Governor Simcoe was about to execute a coup. New York Governor Clinton was petitioned by Oliver Stevens of Fort Brewerton, first permanent white settler in Oswego County, who then operated a tavern for rivermen and a trading house at Fort Brewerton, to provide funds for erecting a block house along the Oneida River at the site of old Fort Brewerton which could be used as a basis of operations for thwarting the supposed British plot. Governor Clinton provided the money, and the blockhouse was built on the north side of the Oneida River on the site later occupied by the Fort Brewerton Hotel. This blockhouse stood in an area which later became a part of Oswego County.
Crisis Passes
While Sullivan’s Raid in 1779 had struck the Iroquois a severe blow, it had not fully destroyed their striking power. The British in Canada used the incident of the seizure at Three Rivers by the boatmen of the goods intended for the Mohawk Indians as a means of inciting the slumbering antagonisms of the Six Nations Indians against the Americans. Feeling rose to such a point that it was believed along the frontier that the Indians had decided to rise in Western New York against the Americans in case General Anthony Wayne’s military operations against the Ohio and Indiana Indians, who had joined forces and gone on the war path, should not result in a Wayne victory. While the Indians were secretly preparing for a possible uprising in New York against the American settlers in the western part of the state word came of Wayne’s decisive victory August 2, 1794, over the Western Indians in the Battle of Fallen Timbers on the Maumee River in Ohio.
That battle put an end to the plans that the Indians had been nourishing, and also the design attributed to Governor Simcoe of attempting to establish the Oswego River as a new border line between Canada and the United States. Thereafter nothing further was heard of these matters. While he was traveling in the United States in 1795 as the head of a small party of Europeans who were visiting the country as observers and with the intent on his part to record later in a two volume book an account of their experiences and observations, the Duke De La Rochefoucault Liancourt of France, was presented to Mr. Hammond, then the English minister to the United States. The latter urged Liancourt to visit Canada before completing his tour, and took it upon himself to issue passports to Liancourt and his party explaining that he did so at the direction of Lord Dorchester of the British home government which was dissatisfied with the unpleasant and uncompromising receptions the Governor-general of Canada frequently gave visitors from abroad desiring to enter Canada. Hammond provided Liancourt with letters which he assured the latter would protect him and his party from unpleasant incidents while traveling in Canada. Upon entering Canada Liancourt was cordially received at Niagara and Kingston and “overwhelmed with honors, attended by officers, complimented and reverenced” wherever he made his appearance. He had been in the country only a short time, however, when he received a letter from the secretary of the Governor-general directing him to leave the country which he had entered without consulting the governor. Liancourt lost no time in complying with the directive choosing to express his resentment by the speed of his departure.
Liancourt Comes To Oswego
“Major Dobson (of Kingston) being sensible of the necessity of our leaving Canada with the utmost speed assisted us with true and sincere politeness, but for which we should not have been able to attain our end so soon as we wished”, comments Liancourt in his memoirs, “for, generally, no vessel sails from Kingston to the American coast, except twice a year. He lent us his own barge, on board of which we embarked four hours after the receipt of the secretary’s letter for the United States where no commandant, no governor, no minister enjoys the right of offending honest men with impunity.” The barge bearing the Liancourt party headed for Oswego where they hoped to find opportunity for making a speedy passage to Albany on their way to Boston. Four soldiers who comprised the barge crew were so intoxicated that the barge made only 15 miles the first day, although it sailed for 12 miles. “Mr. Lemoine, the officer who commanded them, made them pay dearly for the delay of the proceeding day, by obliging them to row this day at least 55 miles,” Liancourt’s record of the voyage continues. “We left at 4 o’clock in the morning the long island where we passed the night. A heavy rain fall had wetted us to the skin; the wind destroyed the slight covering we had made of the branches of trees. The mosquitoes had nearly devoured us; in short we had scarcely enjoyed a moment’s rest.” The party reached Oswego at 8:30 o’clock that July evening after traveling through fine weather during the second day. “This passage is seldom effected in less than two days”, continues Liancourt, “but instead of coast ing along the shore, we stretched from the place where we had breakfast straight over to Oswego without approaching the land, an undertaking which but for the fairness o f the weather, might have proved extremely hazardous.”
Describes Ft. Ontario
Liancourt described Fort Ontario as a “miserable fort” in a “ruinous condition”. ” One single bastion out of five which form the whole of the fortifications is kept in better repair than the rest and might serve as a citadel to defend for some time the other works undefensible by any other means. The present garrison consists of two officers and 30 men under whose protection a custom house officer searches all vessels which sail up or down the river. It is not lawful to export any other articles from the United States to Canada but grain, flour and provisions, and no commodities are suffered to be exported to the United States without express permission from the Governor of Upper Canada; nay, this prohibition extends even to persons who, if they attempted to proceed to that country without such permission would be imprisoned.
Smugglers’ Ships Seized
“As to the prohibited exports in merchandise, they are confiscated without exception for the benefit of the customshouse officer. This naturally prompts his zeal and increases his attention. But there are so many places along the coast where the contraband trade can be carried on that it will hardly be attempted in this place where the Americans are sure to encounter so many difficulties and obstructions. Yet some vessels slip out under favour of the night. Two or three, which failed in the attempt, were last year taken and condemned. The large income of the receiver of the customs placed here three years ago (1792) has hitherto been confined to these perquisites. Americans who from ignorance of the severity and latitude with which the English prohibitions are enforced have a larger quantity of provisions on board than the rigours of the English law permits, frequently see the surplus confiscated to the augmentation of the customs, which, if exacted by the less delicate hands than those of the present receiver might be carried to a much larger amount.”
Intendant-General’s Duties
The customs collector at Oswego had the high sounding title of “Intendant-general”, although he had no subordinates under his direction, not even a clerk. He received a salary of ten shillings a day and a double ration. His salary continued the year through, although no ships came to or left Oswego during five months of the year, and the officer himself was customarily absent from his post here seven months a year. Liancourt says that the clerical work of the intendant-general’s office was performed by a non-commissioned officer of the garrison. For the convenience of the latter, the intendant left preceding an absence a quantity of papers signed in blank on his desk which the soldier filled in when ships made application for permission to proceed to Canada. This permission was granted for seventy-five cents. It also had to be signed by the fort commandant. Permission to sail up the lake was granted verbally to applicants without charge. MacDonald who was intendant general at Oswego when Liancourt paid his visit had a brother who was the speaker of the Upper Canada House of Representatives at the time. The family had come from Scotland 20 years earlier and settled in Canada. MacDonald himself fought as a Loyalist during the American Revolution. Later he had brothers holding commissions as officers in a Canadian regiment. MacDonald informed Liancourt that about 30 ships a month moved up or down the Oswego river during seven months of the year. Many of the ships carried settlers to Canada. At the time few Canadians left that country to enter the United States.
Life At The Fort
“Fort Oswego is the only settlement on the banks of Lake Ontario between Kingston a Niagara excepting Great Sodus where Captain Williamson* forms one which bids fair to become very prosperous”, records Liancourt. “It is 30 miles distant from the fort. Twelve miles behind Oswego, stands on the river the first American settlement (Oswego Falls). This fort must therefore shift for itself. The officers hunt, read and drink; the privates do duty, are displeased with their situation and desert. For this reason the oldest soldiers are selected for the garrison of Oswego; and yet, though less open to temptation, they desert to the United States. This fort which lies too remote for any communication with foreign countries, is for five months together completely cut off from the rest of the world, the snow lying so deep that it is impossible to go abroad but on snow shoes. A surgeon who has seven shillings and sixpence a day augments the company at Oswego. The gentleman who fills this place at present, contributes much to heighten the pleasure of the society by submitting to be the general butt of railleries and jests. “The nearest Indian habitations are 40 miles distant from Oswego; and yet there is an Indian interpreter appointed at this fort who has three shillings and six pence a day and a ration. He was employed during the recent war. In other places his appointment might carry at least some appear ance of utility but here he is paid without having any employment The commanding officer has five shillings a day in addition to the pay he enjoys by virtue of his commission. He keeps oxen, cows, sheep, fowls, etc., which as a permanent stock, one commanding officer leaves for his successor at a settled price.
*Captain Charles Williamson representative of a British land company which had large holdings in Western New York. He founded Bath and was active at Geneva, Canandaigua and Sodus in early days. The company eventually came to be known as the Pulteney Estate and maintained offices at Bath, N.Y., until times. comparatively recent.
“Botany Bay” To Soldiers
“The gardens are numerous and beautiful in the vicinity of the fort. The lake as well as the river abounds with fish; the chase procures plenty of game. The officers, therefore, live well in this wilderness which they call ‘Botany Bay’ and yet wish to wrest from the Americans. The land in the neighborhood of Oswego is very indifferent; the trees are of middling growth, and the wood lands have a poor appearance.” Liancourt arrived at Fort Ontario Saturday, July 25, 1795, with Dupetitthouars as his traveling companion. Their arrival in Oswego took place approximately one year before Fort Ontario was to be evacuated by the British. The travelers from France were kindly received by the British Commander at Fort Ontario and his officers, and provided with sleeping quarters and food within the fort during their stay in Oswego, which was to continue for several days as the travelers awaited here the arrival of some river craft which could transport them from Oswego to Albany on their way to Boston, a visit which was one of their early objectives.
Yankee Ship Appears
The visitors were walking back and forth on the bastion of the fort which fronted on Lake Ontario the next day, while debating the wisdom of a suggestion given them at the fort that they might save time by walking to Oswego Falls, where they might arrange for the chartering of a keel boat to carry them forward on their journey, an expense they did not feel they could afford. Unexpectedly they soon observed on the lake a boat which seemed to be headed for Oswego. “The soldiers, who have learned hatred and contempt of the Americans along with the manual exercise,” Liancourt’s own account of his travels published at London in the year 1800 continues, “perceiving the attention with which we observed her approach, said to us, “Why, gentlemen, that is nothing; she is but a vessel of the damned Yankees;’ and it was exactly a vessel of the Yankees we wished to obtain. Mr. VanAllen, who resides in the vicinity of Albany, commanded the vessel; he came on shore shortly afterwards to procure some fresh provisions, of which he stood in need to cure himself of an intermittent fever that he had caught in the woods. From want of an inn, he had no opportunity of buying any except at the fort; the officers might have easily supplied him with some vegetables; but in the opinion of a British officer, it is neither necessary or decent to succor a Yankee.” Van Allen did not get the vegetables. Van Allen promised Liancourt’s party two berths on his keel boat to enable them to make for Albany as soon as he should be joined at Oswego by three other similar boats which he expected to meet near there by pre-arrangement. Three days elapsed while the party were awaiting the arrival of the other boats. Finally one of the boats arrived and Van Allen determined to proceed without awaiting for the others. The start for Oswego Falls was made in the afternoon of the third day, following the arrival of Van Allen’s boat at Oswego, the effects of the travelers having been placed on board one of the keel boats.
Start For Albany
The British officers at Fort Ontario seemed to have done their best to entertain Liancourt and Dupetitthouars. They took the latter with them on a fishing and hunting trip during his stay in Oswego, but the travelers were nevertheless glad to leave the fort and its officers, as Liancourt records: “The certainty of our speedy departure inspired us with patience. The English officers who entertained more liberal sentiments towards us, than to the Yankees, peremptorily insisted on supplying us with provisions; and this they did with a generosity, which perfectly answered the kind reception, we in general experienced on their part. The certainty of leaving Oswego in the afternoon made us far more happy, than all the attention of the British officers, on which we can hardly bestow sufficient praise, had been able to do. They carried their politeness so far as to attend us to our night quarters, and on taking leave, gave us such proofs of friendship and attachment, as we cannot but acknowledge with unfeigned gratitude.”
Because of the rapids encountered in the Oswego River two miles south of Fort Ontario, the two keel boats made slow progress the afternoon the start was made for Oswego Falls. The night was spent along the river side. The mosquitoes “teased us sadly” wrote Liancourt, “we did not lie down to rest the whole night, yet we heartily rejoiced in being no longer subjected to the sceptre of his Excellency the Governor-general of the two Canadas.”
Journey To Oswego Falls
“We set out at break of day, and yet were not able to advance more than ten miles, the whole day,” Liancourt’s record of his journey continues. ” The navigation of the river Oswego is extremely troublesome, as there is but very seldom sufficient water, even for pushing the vessel along. Each of our vessels, it is true, carried about one ton and a half, but each was worked by two or three men. Besides Dupetitthouars assisted the men in our vessel with the utmost zeal; he pushed as much as they did, and passed like them three-fourths of the day in the water, to lift the vessel, that she might more easily clear the rocks and large stones , with which the river is filled, and which she would not have been able to pass over in any other manner. In five or six places the strength of a single ship’s company was not sufficient to keep the vessel afloat, but the men of both vessels were obliged to join for that purpose. “Ships less deeply laden, than ours, are said to proceed with more facility, especially in descending the river, when the current affords some assistance. In autumn and spring the increased mass of water is also said to remove the impediments, which at present obstruct and retard the navigation. It may be so; yet a navigation, which is practicable only for two months in the year and in descending the river, and at the same time affords at present the only known outlet for the exportation of all the products, and the sole inlet for all the provisions which are imported from the other side of the lake, cannot in any respect be compared with that of the river St. Lawrence, however imperfect it may be. The State of New York, to whose territory this river-navigation belongs, and for which it is of much greater importance, than for any other state, will no doubt make all possible exertion to facilitate it. A project of this nature is, I understand, already under contemplation, but how far will it be possible to execute this important enterprise? This is a question, which cannot be decided, but after a long and mature consideration of all the obstacles, which it will be necessary to surmount. To have started it, is sufficient for being aware of the great impediments, by which it is obstructed.
Battle Island’s Original Name
“During this whole day’s journey nothing remarkable came within our view. There is no settlement between Oswego and the Falls. You pass by an island, which has taken the name of Breswit* from a French officer, who in the seven years war obtained here an advantage over a combined corps of English troops and Indians . The island is throughout covered with wood, and so is the whole country, through which we have hitherto passed.” “Two miles from the falls stands a house, which appertains to Mr. Van Verberg**, a Dutch man, who is charged in the country with giving information to the garrison of the smugglers who intend to run any commodities into the province in the night, and with being an English spy in regard to deserters. This charge, which, by what we learned in the fort, seems to be founded, is so generally credited, that last year, in consequence of the rumour of an impending war between America and England, he was obliged to take refuge in the fort against the revengeful projects of his neighbors.
*This is the island known today as “Battle Island account of this ” The English battle which was fought by the English under Col. John Bradstreet and the French under Captain DeVilliere holds that its outcome was a victory over the French who fled with their Indian allies from the field.
**Van Verberg is probably an erroneous spelling for Van Valkenberg. Liancourt’s spelling of American names was frequently incorrect. Major Lawrence Van Valkenberg was probably the man to whom Liancourt referred.
Fulton’s First Tavern
“At the place where the navigation is intercepted, we halted at William Shorten’s. He keeps an inn, that is, he admits into one room of his house all the travelers, who desire to sleep there, and accommodates them with salt pork and rum; which is the most he is able to do. We arrived there, at nine o’clock in the evening, wet to the skin; for such of us, as had not been drenched by pushing and drawing the ship along, were soaked by the constant rain. We dried ourselves at a good fire; and a few slices of ham, we had brought with us, restored our strength. Dupetitthouars shared with me a very indifferent bed, which however we found extremely comfortable. From excessive fatigue I conquered the extreme aversion, which I always feel when I am obliged to sleep in the same bed with another person, and became insensible of the inconvenience of sleeping in so narrow a room among so many people and with so great a noise.
Oswego Falls and Peniers*
“The portage, occasioned by the falls of the river Oswego, is about a mile in length. W. Shorten, at whose house we stopped, kept only a yoke of oxen, and our two vessels were heavy laden. Each vessel was to be conveyed separately, and the cargo required four turns of the carriage. The Americans not being anywise remarkable for speed and agility, it was not until five o’clock in the evening, that our vessels had reached the place, where the navigation recommences, and where they were again to be loaded. Here a quarrel arose between our commander, Van Allen, and the two mates, who were in his service, but quite intoxicated. They used him very ill; he swore at them, and they returned the compliment by calling him all the ill names, which their well-stored memory would supply. This quarrel was scarcely half accommodated, when another man arrived from the neighbourhood, demanding from Mr. Van Allen some money, which, he said, was due to his son, who for some time had served on board his vessel. This difference, settled however , was soon on friendly terms; Van Allen conducted us into night quarters at his adversary’s, and sacrificed to this reconciliation on some miles, which we should have been able to make the same evening. “This time we had not even a bed. Our party, our skippers, landlord, wife, sons and daughters slept all pell-mell in a room which was about twelve feet square. And unfortunately we were not sufficiently fatigued, having travelled but one mile on foot and one mile and a half by water, to find the floor soft, and to be insensible to the stings of the musquitoes and bites of fleas.
*Liancourt’s spelling for Pchenoyer, one of the pioneer settlers at Oswego Falls
Van Allen A Congressman
“Mr. Van Allen, in whose vessels we took our passage, is member of the Congress for the county of Albany in the state of New York. He is also a geometer and surveyor. His age, and, no doubt, his talents, seem to have procured him the confidence of his country. He is charged with the commission of surveying upwards of half a million acres, situated on Lake Ontario and the river St. Lawrence, nearly opposite to Carleton Island, which belongs to Messrs. Chassang, Rey, De Chaumont, Coxe and Company. He began last year to execute this commission; but was much impeded in the progress of this business by the sickness of most of the assistant surveyors, employed under him, and was further prevented from completing it by the considerable declination of the magnetic needle in the vicinity of some rocks. He was himself seized with a fit of the ague, with which the whole country is infested, and which is caught by wandering through the forests, as well as by inhabiting the banks of rivers. Mr. Van Allen is justice of the peace, and for this reason styled ‘Squire’ by his people, if he does not swear at them. He is about sixty years old, is said to possess a tolerable share of information, and seems in fact to be a worthy and intelligent man.
Three Pence An Acre
“All the settlements in this part of the country are in an infant state. W. Shorten, at whose house we stopped the first night, settled here as late as last spring. He bought his estate three years ago for three pence an acre, and can now sell it for twelve shillings. He possesses three hundred acres, ten of which are scarcely cleared, and these are situated on the right bank* of the river. That which lies on the left is”‘Soldiers’ land, as it is called, that is, it has, since the peace, been distributed among soldiers by the State of New York. Peniers, at whose house we remained the second day, bought two years ago a share of this land from a soldier, to whom it had been given, for three shillings an acre.
*The east bank, Fulton.
Description Of The Falls
“The Oswego fall is about ten feet high; and the river nearly one eighth of a mile in width. The prospect is not without charms. A break of the bed of rocks, from which the river precipitates itself, and the irregularity of the form, produce a tolerably striking, but not a grand effect. On the right bank, near the water-fall, are found the traces of an ancient French entrenchment*, and hard by them stands a small log-house, the proprietor of which is at present building a grist-mill below the fall**. “There exist few unpleasant situations in this world, which may not be considered in a less unfavourable point of view; an exercise of imagination, with which, for some time past, I have tolerably familiarized myself. The benefit arising from a bad resting-place is the acceleration of the moment of departure. Mr. Van Allen, who satisfied Penier’s demand with many caresses of the little ones, with compliments to the grown up members of the family, and with a small present of chocolate for Peniers himself, hastened to set off. “We went on board before five o’clock in the morning. After a navigation, which ran constantly between woods, and in the course of which we saw, in a tract of country of eleven miles in length, not one felled tree, we reached at last, partly by rowing, and partly by pushing the vessel along, the rapids of the Three Rivers. All superfluous people were here obliged to leave the vessel. Mr. Van Allen, therefore as well as myself, went on shore, and repaired to a small cottage, where we found a family, but very lately recovered from the ague, and at present busied in mowing a meagre field of wheat. These good people, who have no neighbours, are necessitated to do everything themselves. Of eight children, who compose this family, the oldest who is nine years old, is alone able to assist them a little. They have neither rakes, harrows nor scythes; and yet it is better to sacrifice three fourths of their harvest, than to lose the whole.
*This is an erroneous supposition by Liancourt. The “entrenchment” he viewed was undoubtedly the ruins of Fort Bradstreet, erected by the English under Bradstreet in 1758 or 1759. It was never regularly garrisoned.
**This statement probably refers to the mill erected by Daniel Masters and a man named Goodell, who erected the first mill in that part of the early town of Volney, now known as Fulton.
Struggles Of Pioneer Family
“These poor people, who have lived here* a twelvemonth, were constantly troubled with the ague. They possessed one thousand two hundred acres of land, six hundred of which were, by the state of New York, given to the husband, who had served in the army, and the other six hundred he purchased two years ago for ten shillings an acre, but was compelled by extreme distress to sell again three hundred, with the small profit of two shillings per acre. The good people cultivate a garden; they exchanged some vegetables for a few pounds of pork, with which Mr. Van Allen was readier to accommodate them from an opinion, that his recovery depends on the use of fresh provision. They seem to be good and industrious people; the wife, though mother of eight children, and scarcely recovered from the ague, is yet handsome. They presented me with some potatoes and cucumbers, and declined accepting any payment. “After the rapids had been passed, not without considerable trouble, we returned on board, and pursuing our voyage with less obstruction than before, we at length reached the point, where the Oswego river joins the Onondago, which proceeds from the small lakes, changes its name, and assumes that of the river Oneida. These appellations should rather be reversed. As we worked up the stream, the river Oneida flowing out of the lake of that name, meets the Onondago, which falls into it, and is now called Oswego; but I write as I travel****.
“The whole tract of land, which we traversed since we left Oswego, lies in the county of Onondago, which extends as far as Lake Oneida, contains nearly one million eight hundred thousand acres of excellent land; and yet, according to the last computation, has no more than three hundred inhabitants.
*Probably in the vicinity of Three Rivers Point where a clearing existed about the location of the former Block House which earlier stood in that location.
Three Rivers Point
“The Three Rivers Point, which is the name of this place, is a very interesting spot. The navigation, by which the provision from the district of Genessee is conveyed across the lakes, and the salt from the brine-spring, near the borders of Onondago, here joins that by which the provision is procured on the Mohawk River from Albany and all the eastern provinces. The navigation between Albany and the Lakes of Genessee has hitherto been far more frequent than from any of these points to Lake Ontario. But the time cannot be distant, when this spot, where at present stands no building but an inn, will become the site of an important town. As yet, it is one of the most unhealthy spots in a country by no means remarkable for salubrity. “Our ‘Squire’, (Van Allen) who had purchased in Kingston flour for six dollars a barrel, and pork for sixpence a pound, and from the connivance or extraordinary blindness of the English officers, conveyed it to the River Oswego, thought now of selling it here with considerable profit. He had already disposed of some barrels of flour for eight dollars a barrel at the Oswego Falls, and intended to transmit his whole cargo to Salt Springs, where he hoped to sell it for ten dollars a barrel. But he learned here, that the meeting relative to the treaty with the Indians, was not to take place; that the country was full of provisions; that it was sold at a much lower price than he demanded; and that specie was very scarce. He was, therefore, necessitated to give up his fond hopes, and embrace the resolution o f proceeding somewhat farther in quest of purchasers.
Meet Prominent Albanians
“I entertained some hope that, on account of this disappointment, we should this afternoon proceed some miles farther, when a vessel arrived, on board of which were Messrs. (Van) Renselaer, Henry, and Stouts, all inhabitants of Albany of great respectability. The first was not yet perfectly recovered from a fever, which had left him in some measure, but still carried all the symptom of an intermittent. These gentlemen intended not to proceed farther. Mr. Van Allen proposed to delay his departure until the next morning, to travel in their, company; he introduced us to them, and a glass of good wine, which they carried with them (they travelled all much at their ease), consoled Dupetitthouars as well as myself for this new delay.”
Squire Bingham’s Tavern
At Three Rivers Liancourt found a tavern conducted by “Squire” Bingham, former resident at Brewerton, who lived there with his family. He later lived in Lysander. Liancourt found all the members of Squire Bingham’ s household suffering from the ague. His wife, his children, his servants were all in bed. During the night, a young mother, 20 years old, who was a guest of the household was taken with a violent attack of the ague and other members of the household believed she was threatened with death. In this emergency, Liancourt was summoned from his sleep under the mistaken belief that he was a physician. Nevertheless he visited the young woman, found her plight serious, and gave her a dose of a drug he had with him for use in emergencies. Four hours later the young woman was on her way to recovery. When Liancourt and his party left Three Rivers, she had apparently regained her health and embarrassed him with her demonstrations of her appreciation.
Continuing with his account of his journey, Liancourt says: “The spot, on which the inn stands, belongs to ‘Squire Bingham, who also possesses a few acres contiguous to the building, and a considerable quantity o f land at some distance from it. All these lands would be tolerably good, but for their marshy, low, and flat situation, which exposes them to frequent inundations. The water is abominable; and the air bad.”
Ft. Brewerton To Oneida Lake
“The passage to Lake Oneida was attended with less difficulties, than that of the preceding days; we found it excellent, traveling in the company of the gentlemen of Albany, one of whom was brother to the Deputy-governor of New York, the second one of the richest merchants of Albany, and the third a very respectable lawyer; their behaviour was frank and polite. “We stopped at Fort Brompton* at the entrance to the lake. This structure also is surrounded with pallisadoes, erected last year**; it stands at the foot of an ancient entrenchment, constructed by the English during the American war, on an advantageous ground, commanding the entrance of the lake. The work was thrown up in a zig zag figure; but from the remains no distinct idea can be formed, how the cannon could be pointed to advantage. All the antiquities of this country consist in the remains of the forts, built in the wars of 1776 or 1756.
*Fort Brewerton. Erected in 1759 by the English during the French and Indian War.
**A block-house and pallisades were erected by the State of New York in 1794 at the urge of Oliver Stevens, the tavern keeper and fur trader resident at Brewerton, as the result of the war scare at the time of the seizing by Americans the Canadian boats and their cargoes.
Fancy must live in future ages, to find occupation in this infant country; past ages can exist here only for generations not yet born**.
Indians Harpoon Pike
“The proprietor of the house*** had gone to Rotterdam three days before. A girl of fourteen was left behind to take care of the house, and of a little brother, who was sick, and whom she actually nursed with a solicitude truly affection. The girl, poor thing, did all she could for our accommodation, but nothing was to be procured. We should have been obliged to content ourselves with a few small potatoes, which we pulled up in the fields, if the Indians, who were encamped on the opposite bank of the river, had not brought us a pike, which they had caught in the morning with a harpoon. “Our seamen, worn out with fatigue, refused at first to proceed the same evening to Rotterdam, ten miles farther up the lake. But from the scantiness of our provision, they altered their mind, thinking, that they might be better off in that place. Rotterdam is an infant settlement formed but ten months ago. Mr. Schreiber*, a rich Dutch merchant, possesses a large tract of land, extending from Lake Ontario to Lake Oneida. He fixed upon the mouth of Bruce (Fish) creek as the site of the chief place, and another settlement he has formed on Little Salmon creek, two miles from Lake Ontario**. Bruce creek continues navigable some miles farther up. Mr. Schreiber has made roads from Rotterdam (Constantia) to his new town; but all these settlements are yet of no importance.
**This statement o f Liancourt , while accepted as correct in his day, we now know was very far from the truth. Indian remains uncovered at Ft. Brewerton in the past 15 years reveal the presence of prehistoric Indian villages at that location a thousand or more years ago.
** “Oliver Stevens , the first permanent white settler in Oswego County.
*George Scriba, holder of the Patent to 500,000 acres of land largely located within the area which eventually became Oswego County. Liancourt’s attempts at spelling American names were frequently very erroneous.
**The settlement Scriba later called Vera Cruz. The hamlet of Texas in the Town of Mexico today occupies the site.
Constantia In 1795
“The whole city of Rotterdam, to which the founder has given that name in honour of his native place, consists of about twenty houses. The dams, which he constructs for two mills he is building, have cost him considerable sums of money; hitherto he has proved rather unsuccessful in the construction of these dams, and has several times been necessitated to recommence them anew. The grist-mill is not yet finished; the dams seem not to be of sufficient strength for the mass of water, which they are destined to enclose and direct. Some very expensive works, which he has erected at the entrance of the creek, have contributed but very little to render them more commodious. The money, which Mr. Schreiber has expended on building and roads, is estimated at eight thousand dollars. If they were constructed on good principles, this money would have been well spent. “He is now building a handsome house of joiner’s work, where he intends to keep a store, in company with two partners, who are to manage this concern, to have a share of the profits, and to act as his agents in every branch of the business. A store or shop affords here, as indeed it does all over America, the best income, which a man can procure, who incurs a considerable expense in forming a new settlement. Mr. Schreiber, by means of his store, obtains all the money back, which he expends for his building, &c. He sells his brandy for four shillings and sixpence a quart, rum for three shillings and sixpence, flour for sixpence a pound, and ten dollars and half a barrel, for which he pays no more than seven dollars. The profit, he obtains by the sale of other provisions, is still more considerable. The land, which eighteen months ago he purchased for one dollar an acre, costs now three, but is not much sought after. The present settlers come from New England and the environs of Albany.
Food Prices In 1795
“The partners of Mr. Schreiber in regard to his store are Dutchmen, like himself. Their shopman is a mulatto, who at the same time acts as physician and gardener, and seems to have received a liberal education. He is said to be a brother of Mr. Welth*, one of the partners. Labourers’ wages are at Rotterdam four shillings a day with board, or six shillings and sixpence without it. For the bread for our own consumption we paid nine-pence a pound, about eighteen French sous; its usual price is sixpence. Fresh meat, when it can be procured, costs eight-pence a pound. But these kinds of provision are scarce, notwithstanding the great number of workmen, employed by Mr. Schreiber, and consequently dear. Fevers are as prevalent in this part of the country, as in any we have hitherto traversed. “Mr. Van Allen found here an opportunity of selling his whole cargo, as well as one of his vessels, but at a lower price than he hoped to obtain. His flour he sold here for eight dollars a barrel, and at the Oswego Falls for eight dollars and a quarter. He concluded this bargain with several shop-keepers, and as it took up the whole morning, we gained sufficient time to visit a French man, who enjoyed the reputation of being a very skilful gardener.
Meets DesVatines Family
“Although we found him busied in gathering potatoes and onions, yet both his physiognomy and demeanour marked him as a man of some distinction; and we soon learned from him, that not long ago, he possessed a viscount ‘s estate in the neighbourhood of Lisle. His father had spent a part of his property; he himself was rather prodigal, and sold for this reason his small estate for twenty-four thousand livres, before the French Revolution broke out, to try his fortune with this money in America. Having sunk this sum also, in imprudent enterprises and useless expense, he was at length obliged to resort to agriculture for his livelihood. His name is Vatines, and he has already resided three years in the neighbourhood of Lake Oneida. A whole twelvemonth he passed with the Indians, whom he highly praises, and afterwards resided with his wife alone on an island in the lake*, where he cleared about twenty acres of land. About fifteen months ago he settled in Rotterdam, where Mr. Schreiber sold him one hundred acres on very fair and reasonable terms. “By his own confession, the various changes of his place of residence, have been regulated by the inconstancy of his character, rather than by mature deliberation. He is about thirty years old, sprightly, obliging, always merry, inured to labour , and never troublesome with complaints of his fate. But he is prejudiced against the Americans, on account of their unfair dealings in the course of business, as he says, and especially, because they are extremely dull and melancholy. He lives, however, on very good terms with all the inhabitants of Rotterdam; though, in his judgment, they are even worse than other Americans. He assists them in their business, accepts their assistance in his business, and sells them at the highest possible rate the produce of his small garden, which is well cultivated and stocked with culinary plants.
*Oneida Lake at the island now called Frenchman’s Island by reason of the Des Vatines residence there.
Glad To See Countrymen
“He was extremely pleased with seeing his countrymen, and offered us all the vegetables in his garden, without accepting a shilling in return. All his ideas are fixed on France, and on the moment, when peace shall allow him to return into a country, which he prefers to any other. Dry bread in France he would not exchange for property and wealth in any other part of the globe. This frame of mind is common to all Frenchmen. With the utmost concern he enquired after news relative to the armies of France and their successes. To judge by our conversation with him, he seems to possess more activity than judgment. His sentiments concerning the French Revolution are those of an honest French man. He possessed some books, the choice of which was much to his credit—Montesquieu, Buffon, Corneille, and a great variety of travels. After having made away with his jewels, his cloaths and his linen, he was at last obliged to part with his library at half the price, which they would have fetched even in New York or Philadelphia. The keeper of the store was the only man within a space of two hundred miles, who could procure him a purchaser, in the person of a rich Dutchman, who had settled a few miles from Rotterdam*.
Madame Vatines Admired
“We wished to see Madame Vatines; she is about twenty-four years of age, pretty and good; her eyes are beautiful; her look has much sweetness and expression, and it seems that she, like many other wives, loves her husband with more tenderness, than he returns. Nor should I anywise be surprised if the expressions and light tone of her husband should inspire her with jealousy, although he appears to be much attached to her. She is mother of three children, the oldest of whom is ten years old; she is of a mild and cheerful disposition, sensible and judicious. She makes hay, bakes bread, cooks, and yet her hands are very handsome. She is as little pleased with America as her husband, especially the environs of Lake Oneida; and she encourages him in the desire of residing at least in the same place with some other French families. She felt much pleasure in our company, and enjoyed with us, she said, more happiness in a quarter of an hour, than she would with Americans, if she lived ten years among them. This sort of aversion, or this dislike of Americans, is common to all the Frenchmen, one meets within this part of the globe. However roughly they may have been handled by fate, they demand pleasing forms, versatility of expression, mildness, cheerfulness, and a frank and open demeanor. Their rashness in forming opinions, and their prejudices, never leave them. Although they may without injustice entertain the opinion, that the outward appearance of the Americans is less pleasing than ours; yet they are certainly unjust in contending, that they are less honest, than other people. Nothing, that has come within my observation, can justify such an opinion.
*The purchaser of the library was Francis Adrian Vandereamp, a clergyman who emigrated from Holland to America where he later acquired land from Scriba on the shore of Oneida Lake where he built a house in which he resided for several years. He gave the name of Kempwyck to his estate. After a few years residence there he removed to Trenton, N. Y.
The Castorland Purchase
“We learned from Mr. Vatines, that Mr. Desjardins, and not the Abbe Desjardins, as we were told at Niagara, had bought of Mr. Macombe of Paris three hundred thousand acres of land, along the banks of the Black River in Hunger-Bay, in company with two other Frenchmen*, one of whom, Mr. Faron, an architect , was lately drowned, in crossing the Black River. They are now surveying these lands, on which they intend to form large settlements. Mr. Desjardins is said to be a man of considerable property. He is married, and at present engaged in building a house in Albany. All these particulars we learned from Mr. Vatines, whom we left with the promise of a mutual kind remembrance. Rotterdam stands on the borders of the county of Herkemer, to which it belongs.
*The Castorland Company.
The Oneida Indians
“Lake Oneida is twenty-eight miles in length, about eighteen of which remain yet to be crossed, before we leave it. You see not one building, or any settlement along the banks of the lake, excepting a farm-house, built by Mr. Vandekamp (the same who bought Mr. Vatines’s books), and situated five miles from Rotterdam. Endless forests, an indifferent soil, and no eminence, appear towards the north. The country rises more southwards, where mountains come in view, at the distance of ten or twelve miles, in a direction parallel to the lake. These mountains are the same, which we saw on Lake Ontario, on our way from Kingston to Oswego. Lake Oneida is from five to six miles in breadth. On its southeast bank, a few miles from the shore, stands the Indian village of Oneida. This nation is now engaged in concluding a treaty, by which it is to sell the country, south of Oneida Lake, called the Oneida Reservation, to the State of New York. I am not acquainted with the conditions of this treaty; all I know is, that the nation are to retain a tract of land of twelve square miles in extent, which is to be secured to them by all possible means, together with the rights of a free fishery in the lake.
Oneida’s Numbers Increase
“But a few years ago, the Oneida Indians were possessors of the immense extent of country, which is now in the hands of the American speculators in land. That these lands should come into such hands, as are able to put them into a good condition, can be no matter of regret, especially as the Indians consent to it. But might it not be possible, to form settlements amidst these people, to civilize them by agriculture, and to instruct them by example? This tribe, it is asserted, encreases rather than decreases in numbers. If this were true, it would be the only instance among all the Indian nations, yet known, and deserves encouragement. Civilization is said to have already, in some measure, gained ground among the Indians, and agriculture to have reached a higher degree of perfection with them than in any other tribe. The negotiations, we were informed , meet , however, with obstructions, which are likely to impede a successful issue General Schuyler, who conducts them on the part of the United States, and who intends to pur chase all the land on his own ac count, experiences a strong opposition from Timothy Pickering, the Secretary of State, who is said to be displeased, that he himself cannot come in for a share in the proposed indemnification. These particulars, which I have from persons, who think themselves well-informed, may yet be mere scandalous reports, although they carry no improbability with them*.
Hardships Of Travel
“We counted on advancing a few miles on the Wood-creek, before we should stop, when we fell in with our company from Albany, who had halted at the mouth of the lake. A fit of the ague had obliged Mr. Van Renselaer to put a period to this day’s journey at two o’clock in the afternoon. The gentlemen proposed to us, to stop likewise; our conductor accepted the proposal, and our consent was a matter of course. We passed the night in scratching, rather than in sleep; for the marangouins and other small gnats are more numerous and troublesome, along the banks of the Wood-creek, than in any other part of these wildernesses. We were obliged to send for water, to a spring, which was known to the people on board our vessel, but three miles distant. This water, though bad in itself, was excellent in comparison with the muddy, mephitic and stagnant water of Wood-creek, and, with rum, was drinkable. Our dinner consisted of some potatoes, which were left from our last meal at Rotterdam; we had plenty of biscuit; and although we were badly off in every respect, yet we found, worse.”
*The negotiations , mentioned by the author, actually led to the treaty of 1795, by which the Oneida nation sold the Oneida reservation to the state of New York, for an annuity of three thousand five hundred and fifty-two dollars.
Founding Of Mexico
In 1795 Scriba was building for his own occupancy, as Liancourt records, the house with a Dutch sloped roof which still stands today at Constantia on its original site which has come to be known as “the Scriba mansion”. The Scriba store was opened in a portion of the building in the early days of the settlement. It came to do a business volume in excess of $10,000 a year which was large for the time. Settlers came from miles around to trade there . Scriba placed in charge of the store two Hollanders who served as managers. Meth, one of the partner-managers, had a half brother with him who was a mulatto, and a gardener for Scriba. He also served as a doctor in the community. Scriba’s real estate agent in New Rotterdam was John Meyer. The latter also served as a justice of the peace. In 1797 Meyer was to be appointed the first supervisor of the Town of Mexico, being designated for this position by the court justices of Herkimer County of which the Oswego County area was then a part. Meyer was the first resident of what is now Oswego County to serve as a supervisor. Mexico was the county’s first original township created that still bears its name today.
Scriba’s Land Promotions
George Scriba purchased for 39 cents an acre all of the lands in the present Town of Mexico, and most of the land, as well, in all of the other surrounding towns of today, from John and Nicholas Roosevelt April 7, 1792, although he did not receive a deed or patent to the property until December 1 2, 1794 . when that Patent, now owned by the Oswego County Historical Society, was signed by Governor George Clinton of New York. It confirmed Scriba’s ownership of more than 500,000 acres of land located in what is now Oswego County and a few towns now located in Madison County. The Roosevelts had contracted with the state to buy the land in 1791. Land sold in the Rotterdam area at one dollar an acre in 1794, but by the close of 1795 it was bringing $3.00 an acre. When Scriba employed Benjamin Wright to survey his land purchase into town lots, he arranged with the surveyor to make notes on the character of the land in each township, the kind and quality of the timber and about other matters. These notations when perused by Scriba caused him to believe that the land was more valuable than he had thought. His reaction was to increase the price of the land. He also caused to be inserted in each contract for the purchase of the land that his agents sold the following provision: “There must be a forfeiture of this contract unless four acres shall be cleared and sown the first year, and an actual settlement made a short time thereafter.” These conditions discouraged early settlement, and many pioneers after contracting for land abandoned it because of the hard conditions and moved elsewhere. Scriba perceiving that he had made a mistake, abandoned future use of the conditions which caused the complaints and dropped the price of land with the result that pioneers soon again began coming into the area again.
Road Cut Through Wilderness
Contemplating establishing a village at the mouth of the Little Salmon River, which he expected would in time grow into a great city, Scriba caused to be cut through the primeval forest from his first settlement at Rotterdam (Constantia) a wide but crude roadway to his new settlement on the shore of Mexico Bay at the mouth of the Little Salmon. The road was at the outset little better than a clearing in the woods. The stumps of the trees were left standing. Scriba expected this 18 mile long roadway soon to be filled with settlers traveling from Oneida Lake to reach and settle in his new City of Mexico. Benjamin Winch who had shared in the survey of Scriba’s lands was so impressed with what he considered the natural advantages of Scriba’s holdings about the mouth of the Little Salmon, that he decided to make his own home there. The available water-power, presence of fine timber in the area, opportunity for constructing a ship yard, and building a wharf out into Lake Ontario for encouraging a forwarding business, caused Winch to believe these lands to be the most valuable in all Scriba’s Patent. In 1796 streets were surveyed and plated for a city that was to begin at the lake front and extend back as far as the present hamlet of “Texas” as it is known today. Provision was made in the plans for two large parks, for lands for use for the erection of churches and public buildings. The location was determined for a dam in the river to supply power for operating a grist mill and a saw mill. Scriba built at the river mouth a store, the first in the Town of Mexico. He erected a tavern, five or six houses and the mills. He gave the name of Vera Cruz to the new city, and advertised it extensively. Settlers began to come and make purchases. A wharf was built out into the lake. A ship yard was opened, a ship built. One year it was boasted that the improvised harbor did a larger business than was carried on at Oswego in that year.
The Great Calamity
Soon, however, i t was found that due to wave action in the lake shifting sands about with every storm, that it was impossible to keep water sufficiently deep alongside the new wharf to make it possible for ships to approach it to load or discharge cargos. The growth of the place was already slowing up when there happened “the Great Calamity” which all but put an end to the community. Food was growing scarce and winter was coming on. Captain Geerman, ship-yard owner, volunteered to go to Kingston, Upper Canada, with the schooner built in his ship-yard to bring back a cargo of food. He was accompanied by Welcome Spencer, a 17 year old boy. The ship reached Kingston, took aboard the food and started on its return journey. It was lost at sea in a storm which came up unexpectedly. As days passed without their return, or bringing any news of them, the little community became much disturbed. Chipman Wheadon, Nathaniel Rood, Greene Clark, Miles Doolittle and Young Spencer’s father, volunteered t o go out into the lake in search of the missing schooner. They had completed a fruitless journey, and were returning to the port of Vera Cruz when a terrific gale came up. Their boat capsized and sank within vision from the shore line where the villagers were lined up along the shore. Nothing could be done by those on shore to aid them, and finally Wheadon, a man known for his strength and courage, the last to stay afloat, disappeared from sight. The “great calamity” left only a few adult, male inhabitants in Vera Cruz. Of these Archibald Fairfield soon moved to Oswego to establish himself there as an inn-keeper, Benjamin Winch moved a little across Mexico Bay to a new log house he built for himself at the mouth of Salmon River, where he became a first settler in Richland Town. Later he conducted Pulaski’s first inn.
Vera Cruz Fails
The depression of business which accompanied the War of 1812 and a fire in 1820 which destroyed the business portion of Vera Cruz and its only industries soon put an end to George Scriba’s dream of a great city there. He had worked assiduously and expended great sums in an effort to make the community go, but in the end he lost nearly all that he had invested there. The Town of Mexico was reorganized under a law passed by the New York Legislature February 26, 1796*. The new town in area covered nearly all that part of the later Oswego County which lay East of the Oswego River and North of Oneida River and Lake to Lake Ontario. Its eastern boundary was extended to afford it more population and more taxable property to include most of the territory now embraced in those parts of Jefferson, Lewis and Oneida counties which lie west of the Black River. In the area now included in Oswego County, the new town had at the time it was created, settlers only at Fulton, Fort Brewerton, Vera Cruz, New Rotterdam and along the road that connected the latter with Vera Cruz. The first town meeting was called to be held at the house of Scriba’s agent in Rotterdam, John Meyer.
Redfield Settled
In 1795 first settlers began arriving in Redfield and settling at Redfield Square. They were largely from New England. A few years later Redfield had more tax-payers listed at the time of the 1800 census than had in that year any other town that was to be included in Oswego County at the time of its creation. Most of the early settlers came from Connecticut. One of these was Captain Nathan Sage, a retired Connecticut sea captain. He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1802. In 1811 he removed to Oswego and built himself a brick house which stood on the site now occupied by the Hotel Pontiac.
Lysander First Town
Lysander Town was erected in 1794 when Onondaga County was *April 10, 1792, the New State Legislature had created a Town of Mexico which included all of Oswego County of today that lay east of the Oswego River, and much of Onondaga and Cortland counties as well. However, this town never functioned as it lacked sufficient population after Onondaga county created was less than two years later. A second act created a more compact town with greatly reduced boundaries which soon began functioning effectively. Its territory embraced all that part of Oswego County of today which lies west of the Oswego River including the present towns of Hannibal, Granby, Oswego and Minetto, and the west sides of the cities of Oswego and Fulton. This area, taken from Onondaga County, became a part of Oswego County when Oswego County was created in 1816. Prior to that time, however, the boundaries of the earlier town of Lysander had been greatly reduced in 1806 when Hannibal town was created from a part of Lysander’s former area. It included not only Hannibal town of today but also Granby and Oswego towns. The last named towns were not created until 1818, two years after Oswego County was formed. The early town of Lysander was the first organized town to function in any part of the area now included in Oswego County, an honor frequently erroneously accorded to Mexico Town.
Were Sometimes Kindly
Not all the acts of the British garrison left at Fort Ontario following the Revolution gave offense to the United States citizens who were anxious to move in to occupy Oswego as soon as the British should leave. Some of the citizens, indeed, did not wait for the British to leave, but purchased or otherwise acquired homestead sites upon which they began erecting log houses to serve as temporary residences. They kept, however, a respectful distance between their new holdings and the area about the fort So jealous was the garrison of the latter, that it would not permit surveyors employed by George Scriba, or even those employed by the State of New York, to approach within gun-shot of the fort while the garrison was yet in residence. When the Roosevelt brothers’ surveyors attempted to disregard the injunction given them, they were fired upon. It was not until 1789 that a United States engineer was permitted to survey the South shore of Lake Ontario in the vicinity of Oswego. However, the officers and members of the garrison extended favors to some settlers when they moved into the area and applied at the fort for information, assistance or for temporary shelter. The family of Major Lawrence Van Valkenburgh of Oswego Falls, was invited to spend the entire winter at the fort as guest of Captain Schroeder, British commanding officer, as the winter of 1794-1795, apprehended as likely to prove a particularly bitter one, approached. The invitation was accepted. There were other early settlers at Oswego Falls and Fulton who enjoyed similar courtesies. Others found among the garrison a ready market for various articles which they had to sell at a time when hard money was very scarce and difficult to procure in this region, although the garrison members were usually well supplied with money.
Commander Slays Subordinate
While the Van Valkenburghs were still at the fort in spring of 1795 Captain Schroeder and a brother officer went to Sodus Bay hunting. Schroeder was recalled hastily from the hunting trip, however, by news that reached him that his young wife had been “carrying on” in his absence with Lieutenant Holland, a young officer of the garrison of agreeable personality. Captain Schroeder returned in such a rage that his own officers found it necessary to place him under restraint while Holland was compelled to secrete himself. After nightfall Holland went to the quarters occupied by Major Van Valkenburgh, tapped on the window until it was raised, and then implored the Major to protect Mrs. Schroeder from her husband. Holland then left by row boat for Kingston, Canada. Next morning Captain Schroeder asked Major Van Valkenburgh to accompany his wife by boat to Schenectady whence she was to proceed to the home of her parents in Georgia. The major could not make the journey, but he volunteered his son’s services as a substitute. That afternoon the Major’s son, Abram, and a boat man left to escort Mrs. Schroeder and her maid to Schenectady. Schroeder pursued Holland to Montreal, located him there, challenged him to a duel which was fought with the result that both men were wounded, Holland mortally. The Boylston r,ancls The Legislature of the State of New York granted a patent January 10, 1792, to Alexander Macomb conveying 1,920,000 acres of land in Northern New York north of the present ” Patent Line” which extends eastward from the mouth of the Salmon River in what is now Oswego County. Macomb was one of the wealthy residents of New York City. His home there was later the residence of George Washington during the period that Washington, as first President of the United States, lived in New York City. Macomb soon after his purchase conveyed the land he had purchased from the State to William Constable. After holding the property for less than one year Constable sold to Thomas Ward 1,255,000 acres of the lands which he had purchased from Macomb. In 1796 Constable reacquired 406,000 acres which he had previously sold to Ward. Macomb in January of 1792 in association with a number of other men purchased from the State of New York 4,000,000 acres of land which included areas later included in the Oswego County towns of Redfield, Boylston, Orwell, Sandy Creek, and a part of Richland. The new owners purchased this huge tract at the rate of eight cents an acre. Macomb sold the contract he had with the State for the purchase of this land in 1793 to William Constable who had previously been one of his associates in the venture. Constable’ s holdings in the later Oswego County were later transferred to Thomas Boylston of Boston whose name was given to the area which he purchased. The Oswego County town of Boylston was later named in his honor.
Sought To Turn Stow Back
In 1796 shortly before transfer was made of Fort Ontario from British to American hands, Joshua Stow and General Moses Cleve land with a party of 20 surveyors enroute to Ohio in four keel boats on their way to survey “the Western Reserve” for the Connecticut Land Company, traveled to Oswego by the water route. They were stopped by the British at Fort Ontario, and refused per mission to proceed. In vain did they pleaded that they had supplies and surveying tools on board and that the whole work in Ohio would suffer if they were detained. It was “no go” so far as the stoney British officials were concerned. Apparently acquiescing in the official’s ruling Stow and his associates started their boats back up the river as if the party were abandoning all thought of proceeding in them at that time. A few miles up stream, they tied up the boats and waited for nightfall to come. When it came and was at its darkest, they took the boats down stream again and gliding silently by the sleepy sentinels on guard at the fort, gained the open lake and headed west for Niagara.
Garrison Life Not Too Dull
Life was not too dull for the British garrison at Fort Ontario during the early and middle 1790’s, especially for the officers. In summer time both officers and men were accustomed to go on fishing trips up the numerous streams which discharged into Lake Ontario or into the Oswego River. Hunting, too, was excellent for deer, bear and all manner of wild fowl. Small sailing craft were available for making trips along the lake shore to favorite hunting and fishing grounds. Some of the officers hired Indians hunters to keep their tables supplied with wild fowl and venison which did much to improve the diet of bread, peas, butter and pork served at the King’s table. Salmon were speared with pitch forks, or caught under the prongs of a forked stick which pressed them against the stream bottoms and held them fast until the fisherman could land them. There were dinners, tea parties and even balls at the fort during the winter months. Some of the officers had their wives, daughters and sometimes female servants with them in the more peaceful days that followed the Revolution. Some of the increasing number of American settlers who were establishing permanent homes along the Oswego River and along the lake shore near Oswego were glad to accept the invitations given them by the commanding officer to bring their families to the fort to remain during the severe winter months. Others would come to the fort when invited to attend dances or other social events when weather conditions permitted them to do so. In those days guests would travel for many miles on foot, horseback or by boat to be able to attend a social function. At the fort dances it was customary for the young men to form themselves into a circle before the dancing was started . Each young woman attending was provided with a knee cushion which she laid down in front of the young man she wished for a partner in the dance, a gesture that the young men were quick to follow up—oftimes with a kiss.
Victoria’s Father Didn’t Come
For the entertainment of the officers and men during the winter months there were even billiard tables provided as part of the equipment for the fort. Card games furnished further a muse ment. There were also study clubs maintained among the young officers. In 1791 when it became known that Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, who was later to become the father of Queen Victoria, was in Canada on his way to visit Niagara Falls, the garrison at Fort Ontario was all agog over the prospect that he might include Fort Ontario as one of the stops on his journey. Plans were made for his entertainment at the fort upon the most lavish scale that the facilities of the fort and of the area could provide, should he come. In the end officers and their ladies, and the garrison were doomed to disappointment for the King’s schooner “Mohawk”, fitted up at Kingston for the prince’s party, sailed up the lake without stopping at Oswego. An earlier stop had been made by the Prince at Ogdensburgh and a later one was made at Fort Niagara.
Hamilton’s Trading Post
A feature of life at Fort Ontario that developed about the time of the close of the Revolution and continued for some time after the last British garrison was withdrawn in 1796, was a store or trading post maintained there by Robert and Thomas Hamilton of Kingston, Upper Canada, the former of whom was later to remove to found Queenston. The store was one of a chain of trading posts established by the Hamiltons during the Revolution and thereafter maintained for many years. Some of these posts were established in the far west to cultivate the Indian trade and that of the hunters and trappers, who were spending their lives in those remote areas. Other posts were maintained at Kingston, York (Toronto), Niagara, Queenston and Carleton Island, Robert Hamilton amassed a fortune, estimated at his death in 1809 to be 200,000 British pounds, or something over a million dollars through his operations. The Hamilton store at Fort Ontario, patterned after the earlier one, the first of the chain, which functioned at Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence River after its establishment there during the Revolution in 1779, occupied a log building which stood close to the walls of the fort itself. Its stock of goods supplied not only the demands of the members of the fort garrison, but it made its greatest appeal to the Iroquois and the Western Indians who still continued to come to Oswego, but in greatly lessened numbers, to exchange their furs for British goods just as their ancestors had done nearly a century earlier. Axes, hatchets, knives, guns, powder, shot, tobacco, leather clothing, glass beads, wampum belts, mirrors, body ornaments and “fire-water” were but a few of the many articles which figured in the trade.
Ft. Ontario Trading Post
The Hamilton trading post was still doing business at Oswego when the first American permanent settlers established their homes at Oswego Falls, Fulton, Oswego and along the upper Oswego River. How long it continued after the British withdrew from Fort Ontario we do not know as there does not seem to have been any written record preserved of the date it discontinued business here. The period, however, was probably not very long, as the relatively few extant records of early Oswego civilian life, after the United States flag was unfurled over Fort Ontario, reveal no mention of its operations. It is from Canadian sources, largely, that we gain such knowledge as we have of its operation here. Thomas Hamilton, Robert’s brother (or son), seems to have had the active management of the Oswego store. Robert Hamilton, founder of the chain of stores, became one of Upper Canada’s foremost citizens He is described as “a merchant of Niagara, a member of the Land Board at that place, a member of the first Governor’s or Executive Council of Upper Canada in 1791 and continuing as a member until his death, and first Judge of the District of Nassau.” Lieutenant Col. John Butler of Revolutionary fame was his colleague on the bench. When the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, visited Niagara Falls in 1791 he and the members of his party had luncheon with Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton at Queenston on the homeward journey. Little is known of the early life of Robert Hamilton except that he was the son of the Rev. John Hamilton of Haddingtonshire, Scotland, and that he came to New England between 1760 and 1770. Whether he left New England before or after the Revolutionary war began, is not known. In June of 1779, however, he was established as a trader or factor on Carleton Island at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The trading post was located there close to Fort Haldimand. The island was a transshipment point for military stores of all kinds, brought by batteaux from Montreal up the St. Lawrence, to supply the western posts of the British army, including Fort Ontario, during the Revolution. Ships and boats were also constructed there. It was at Carleton Island that General Barry St. Leger’s army was equipped with supplies in 1777 before moving to Oswego which was made the base of his expedition through the Mohawk Valley which was terminated abruptly after the bloody battle at Oriskany.
Hamitlon At Ft. Niagara
In 1780 Robert Hamilton formed a partnership with Richard Cartwright of Kingston, Upper Canada, who had been born at Albany in 1759. Cartwright had left Albany for Kingston during the Revolution because of his sympathy with the British cause. This firm was very successful, but after several years the size to which its business volume had been expanded made it desirable for the partnership to be dissolved, each partner taking over a part of the firm’s business. Cartwright remained in Kingston, and Hamilton removed to Niagara. The route of western travel had remained unchanged for many years, and provisions and stores for the British garrisons at Detroit and Michillimackinac, as well as Indian goods and general supplies for the fur traders, continued at that time to pass over the Niagara portage as they had since the capture of Fort Niagara by the British in 1759, until 1796 when the evacuation of Fort Niagara by the British and its occupation by the United States forced a change. When it eventually became evident that the trading posts must be given up to the Americans who would control the old Niagara portage, the British traders saw the need for a new route on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. As early as 1789 Robert Hamilton obtained permission to erect wharves and storehouses on the west side of the Niagara River opposite Ft. Niagara in Canadian territory and at Fort Erie and at Fort Chippewa. The new landing was first called West Landing or Landing of Niagara, but in 1792 Mr. Hamilton changed its name to Queenston in honor of Queen Charlotte of England. There he built a stone block house, two or three good storehouses, a distillery, a tan yard, and a fine stone house for his residence in the English style.
Why Forts Were Held
Although the statement has often been made in Oswego County, and generally has been permitted to pass unchallenged that Fort Ontario at Oswego was “the last of the border forts retained by the British after the Revolution to be turned over to the Americans”, Fort Ontario was not the last post to be delivered into American hands, although the post was one of the four major forts to be last transferred to United States garrisons. The Treaty of Paris had provided among other things that the British border forts and posts should be turned over “with all convenient speed.” These included Fort Haldimand at Carleton Island, Fort Ontario at Oswego, Fort Niagara and the forts at Detroit and Michilimackinac and various minor posts and depots on the four routes from Montreal to the West. While they were held these forts continued to be used by the British as centers of trade and British influence over the Indian residents in the regions where the forts were located, most of whom had been British allies during the Revolution.
Possession of Forts Niagara, Ontario and Haldimand assured British naval control on Lake Ontario during the postwar readjustment period. The boundaries established by the Treaty of Paris had disappointed British militarists in North America and the British fur traders bent on holding their profitable trade with the Indians. On one pretext or another, there came into being a sort of gentle men’s understanding among the British officers in Canada that control of the forts in British hands when the war closed would be retained as long as possible. Governor Haldimand expressed the fear that early delivery of the forts to the Americans would bring an Indian uprising that would result in massacres of many. Fur traders said they would be ruined if the plan was carried through. Then came the arguments that the United States had not lived up to all portions of the treaty, especially those in relation to the payment of debts due from its citizens to British nationals, and in regard to the treatment of the Loyalists. Finally the American government took the matter up afresh in 1795 when John Jay was negotiating on our behalf a new treaty with England. Britain now was at war again in Europe, and was not looking for another possible conflict in America when she had her hands already full with continental affairs. By the terms of the Jay treaty Britain agreed to deliver up the forts she was then yet holding, including Fort Ontario at Oswego, to the Americans by July 1, 1796.
Wayne Arranges Transfer To General
( Mad- Ant hon y) Wayne, the hero of Stony Point in the Revolution, fresh from his victory over the Western Indians in Ohio, was entrusted the task for arranging the details for the fort’s surrender. Once having committed themselves to surrendering control of the forts the British carried through the program as they had agreed. Detroit was delivered to the United States on July 11, 1796, Fort Ontario on July 15, Fort Niagara on August 19, Michilimackinac on September 1. Transfer of the forts extended American governmental control over Lakes Michigan, Superior and elsewhere, but England’s long-standing trade connections and her sphere of influences over Indian hunters and trappers continued to dominate until after the War of 1812, much to the disgust of many Americans. A detail of United States Infantrymen who were to garrison the post at its evacuation by the British, arrived in Oswego a day or two in advance of the date set for the formal delivery. They were under the command of Captain F. Elmer of the regular army. The last British garrison under the command of Col . Fothergill and Captain Clark had put the post in the best possible condition for transfer to its new owners. The extensive flower and vegetable gardens on which members of the garrison had for many years spent many hours at work when time would have otherwise hung heavily on their hands, particularly delighted the eyes of the American officers and members of the new garrison. At 10 o’clock in the morning of July 15, 1796 ,the American force was drawn up in front of the bar racks of the fort facing the flag staff. The members of the British garrison stood at attention, facing the flag and the Americans as the British colors were slowly lowered to be replaced by the Stars and Stripes which were raised to the top of the staff amidst the firing of a national salute by the fort cannon. A fife and drum corps played “Yankee Doodle” as the flag came to rest at the top of the staff. All the details were carried out with the utmost of courtesy on both sides, and the best of feeling prevailed. Officers and men of the respective garrisons exchanged felicitous remarks. Only a few civilians were present and they were largely gathered from the neighborhood as there were only two families then permanently settled in what is now Oswego.
Evacuation Ceremonies
A few minutes later the Britishers marched from the fort reservation to the two schooners, equipped also with oars, which were awai ting t hem at ‘the basin”* in the harbor, boarded the craft and sailed away to Mont real leaving Captain Elmer and his men to carry on. To George Scriba at New Rotterdam, whose acquaintance probably he had made when the boats bearing the first United States garrison to occupy Fort Ontario stopped t here for refreshment while enroute from West Point, on the Hudson, to Oswego to take over the post, Captain Elmer ad dressed on the very day the evacuation took place the following letter which afterwards became part of the historical collection owned by Bradley B. Burt of Oswego, who had obtained it from the Scriba family.
*The “Basin’s” existence is indicated on many early maps of Oswego. Originally it seems to have been of natural origin, a sort of bay cutting inland from the East bank of the river Small craft were accustomed to seek refuge there in quiet water. The basin later was used as a “slip” by harbor shipping. It continues to day in use as a slip alongside one of the warehouses of the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad.
Letter to George Scriba**
Fort Ontario, July 15, 1796. Dear Sir: I have the pleasure of informing you that the American flag under a federal salute, was for the first time displayed from the citadel of this fort at the hour of ten this morning. A Capt. Clark and Col. Fothergill were his majesty’s officers, left with a detachment of thirty men for the protection of the works. From these gentlemen the greatest politeness and civility was displayed to us in adjusting the transfer. The buildings and gardens were left in the neatest order; the latter, being considerably extensive and in high culture, will be no small addition to the comfort of the American officers who succeeded this summer. I have the honor to be. with the greatest respect, etc. F. ELMER
Fort in Good Condition
Fort Ontario had been built in 1755. It was destroyed in 1756 by Montcalm and rebuilt in 1759 and 1760 by the British under Col.Thomas Gage, the later British commander at Boston at the time of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. It had been again destroyed and burned in 1778 by Lieut. Thomas McClellan of the Third New York Continentals sent from Fort Stanwix by Col. Gansevoort for that express purpose British it was rebuilt by then 1782 under General Haldimand, Governor of Canada. As the fort had been most recently rebuilt, only 14 years before the British yielded its control, it **The foregoing letter was originally published i n Greenleafs ” New York Journal and Patriotic Advertiser”, August 2, 1796. was probably not in the dilapidated condition at the time of its evacuation that some historians have conjectured perhaps with the thought in mind as to the number of years that had elapsed since it was first rebuilt in 1759*. As a matter of fact the buildings were in good habitable condition, and had been continuously occupied by the British garrison since its most recent re construction in 1782. Its exterior walls were of massive timbers, square hewn in the surrounding forest.
John Love, Oswego’s First Settler
In 1796 at the time of the transfer of Fort Ontario from British to American control John Love and Ziba Phillips with their families were established in the area today included on the West side of the City of Oswego as fur traders doing business principally with the Indians. (Both may have been, and probably were, connected with the Hamilton trading post.) Both continued here for some time thereafter but Phillips eventually left while Love was yet residing in Oswego in 1802 and hence enjoys the distinction of having been the first permanent settler to establish a home within the limits of later City of Oswego. Neil Mc Mullin, who had been a merchant at Kingston, New York, arrived with his family in Oswego a few months after the transfer of Fort Ontario to the United States, and became the second permanent resident here. He brought along with him a house which he had already framed at Kingston and erected it on the West side of the river bank at the foot of what is now West Seneca street. His son, Rankin, became the first white child to be born in Oswego outside the limits of the fort military reservations.
* Liancourt describes the condition of Port Ontario as “miserable” and “runinous” at the time of his visit in 1795. Perhaps his thoughts in the matter may have been somewhat influenced by the fact that he had recently been forced to leave Canada by its British Governor and his writings during his visit at Fort Ontario show that he was still quite peeved with things British.
Settlers In 1796
In 1796 the permanent settlers in what is today the Oswego-Fulton area included: Major Lawrence Van Valkenburgh, James Van Valkenburgh, Mr. and Mrs Abram Van Valkenburgh, Mr. and Mrs. Penoyer and their children, Mr. and Mrs. John Van Buren Jr., and their sons, Peter, John, Jacob, and Volkert, all at that time resident at Oswego Falls; Daniel Masters, blacksmith, and William Shorten, who arrived in the spring of 1795, tavern keeper and driver of an ox-team used to transport river keel boats and their cargos around the Oswego falls, who were residing at the location on the east side of the Oswego River now known as the city of Fulton, and a hunter and trapper named Hudson who occupied a log cabin on the bank of Oswego River about a mile south of Oswego where he maintained himself by fishing, trapping, and hunting. These together those early Oswego with residents whose names appear in the preceding paragraph constituted all of the residents in the locality stated at the time of the transfer of Fort Ontario from the control of the British t o the United States Army. In 1796 in the entire area ly ing west of the Oswego River and along Lake Ontario’s shore to Big Sodus Bay, thence south to the Seneca River and easterly along that river to Three River Point and thence down the Oswego River to its mouth there resided were settled at Oswego Falls, the Van Valkenburghs, the Penoyers, and the Van Burens. On the East side of the river at Oswego Falls were the Shortens, the Masters and the Goodell families. Goodell and Masters built in 1795 the first saw and grist mill to be located in Fulton or Volney Town.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Churchill’s “Land Marks of Oswego County”; Criefield Johnson’s “History of Oswego County”; E. M. Chadwick’s “Ontarian Families”; Buffalo Historical Society Publications Volume VI- The Haldimand Papers; A. C. McLaughlin’s ” The Western Posts and the British Debts”; Vol. XXIII Annual Report of American Historical Association; Public Papers of George Clinton compiled by Hugh Hastings, Vols. VII and VIII; John B. McMaster’s “A History of the People of the United States.” Vol. 1; The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe of Upper Canada, edited by E. A. Cruikshank, Vol. Ill; ” Early Eastern Travels” Vol. II. J. H. Merrill’s ” The Salt Industry in New York State”; “Early Years in the Life of Augustus Porter”, Buffalo Historical Society Publications, V l ol. V II; “Travels of foucault Li Duke ancour t de l a Through North America”, Vols. 1 and II; “Travels Through the States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada During Through the States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada During the Years 1795-1797” by Isaac Weld, Jr.
