Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle Mohawk Valley
by Nelson Greene
O'Connor Brothers Publishers, Fort Plain, NY 1915

CHAPTER XIII.
1777-Personal Experiences at Oriskany-Indian and Tory Barbarities.

Having had a general review of the Oriskany campaign, a few of the experiences and particulars of the patriot actors In that affair may be in order, particularly as they relate to the Palatine and Canajoharie men. Regarding details of the Oriskany conflict, Simms publishes the following experiences of those engaged:

"It is only in the minor events attending a battle, that the reader is made to realize its fullness and see its horrors, and that the reader may see this deadly conflict * ** some of its interesting scenes are here depicted.

"At the beginning of the Revolution, there dwelt in Fort Plain, two brothers named George and Robert Crouse. The former was a man of family, and his sons. Col. Robert and Deacon Henry Crouse, are well remembered in this community, where four sons of the latter still reside, [at the time Simms wrote these incidents.] Robert was a bachelor. Those brothers were remarkably large and well formed men, and would have served a sculptor as a model for a giant race. Robert was the tallest and came to be called a seven-footer, and is believed to have stood full six and a half feet in his boots, and well proportioned. His great strength became proverbial, and two anecdotes have been preserved in the memory of our venerable friend, William H. Seeber, going to prove it. In January, 1776, on the occasion of Gen. Schuyler's assembling troops at Caughnawaga, now Fonda, to arrest Sir John Johnson, the Tryon county militia were ordered thither by Gen. Tenbroeck of Albany, to whose brigade they then belonged. Nicholas Herkimer, then the senior colonel of Tryon county troops, assembled them as directed. The Tryon county militia became a separate brigade in September, 1776, with Col. Herkimer as its acting general, and he was, as stated elsewhere, later commissioned its brigadier general. While there the brigade was paraded on the ice in the river, and Robert Crouse was designated to bear the flag in saluting the generals. He waved it so easily and gracefully with one hand, when hardly another man present could have handled it with both hands, that not only the generals, but the entire assemblage was excited to admiration, and a significant murmur of applause was echoed from the hills hemming in the valley. Gen. Schuyler said to the officers near him, 'That man ought to have a commission,' and one is said to have been tendered him, which he declined. This incident probably accounts for the fact that Lieut. Sammons placed him among the officers killed at Oriskany. Henry Walrath, the strongest man by reputation in the Palatine settlements, came from Stone Arabia in the winter of 1775 and 1776, bringing a friend with him, as he told Robert Crouse, expressly to see which was the stronger man of the two. Said Crouse, 'Well, you go home and put 50 skipples of wheat on your sleigh, and I will put 50 skipples with it, and the strongest one shall have the 100 skippies'-75 bushels. The Stone Arabia bully never put in an appearance, which left Crouse the acknowledged champion. Robert Crouse was made a prisoner at Oriskany, and, as his friends afterward learned, by fellow prisoners who knew him, was most inhumanly murdered. Agreeable to the affidavit of Dr. Moses Younglove, who was also a prisoner from that battlefield, the Indians killed some of the prisoners at their own pleasure, and to his knowledge they tortured to death at least half a dozen. Of this number was Robert Crouse, who was the selected victim at one of their hellish orgies, as the late William Crouse, a nephew, learned subsequently by other prisoners who knew him. His remarkable stature possibly gave them a new idea of derisive torture, for, with their knives, they began by amputating his legs at the knee joints, and when accomplished they held him up on those bleeding limbs-derisively told him he wag then as tall as those around him-and bade him walk. As his life was fast ebbing they sought other modes of torture. At length dispatching him they tore off and secured for market his reeking scalp. Whether they ate any of his flesh is unknown, but it Is not improbable they did as numbers of the Indians engaged in this contest had feasted on prisoners in earlier wars. Thus ignobly fell, not only the largest but one of the best men in the Mohawk valley."

Sam Crouse, a giant Fort Plainer, who died about 1890, probably inherited his enormous frame from these Revolutionary ancestors.

Captain Jacob Gardinier:-after being literally riddled with bullets and bayonets, crept into a cavity at the roots of a tree and, by the aid of his waiter, a German lad, who loaded his gun for him, his hand having been lacerated by a bayonet, he continued the fight shooting from that position an Indian who was dodging about to get a shot at an American officer. Of this brave militia captain, said the Rev. Johan Daniel Gros of Fort Plain, in a work published after the war on "Moral Philosophy:" "Let it stand recorded, among other patriotic deeds of that little army of militia, that a Jacob Gardinier, with a few of his men, vanquished a whole platoon, killing the captain, after he had held him for a long time by his collar as a shield against the balls and bayonets of the whole platoon. This brave militia captain is still alive and was cured of thirteen wounds."

George Walter, at Oriskany, was struck down with a severe bullet wound. Faint from loss of blood, he crept to a spring and slaked his thirst and revived. While watching the fight, an Indian lurking near discovered him and, running up, gave him a blow on the head with his tomahawk, and in another moment had torn off his reeking scalp. When found by his friends, some of his wounds were flyblown, but he recovered and lived until 1831, dying at a ripe old age. It is said that Walter, in telling of his experience, remarked: "Dat Indian tot I vash det, but I knows petter all de time; but I tot I would say nodding so as he would go off."

Captain Christopher W. Fox:-In the Palatine batallion of militia, there were three captains by the name of Fox, viz: Captain William Fox jr., Capt. Christopher P. Fox and Captain Christopher W. Fox. Probably they were all in the Oriskany battle and the last two named were quite surely there. Christopher W. was severely wounded in the right arm, which was partially dressed on the ground, where he remained with his men; and, discovering an Indian crawling from behind a tree in the direction of the enemy's encampment, grasping his sword in his left hand he said to some of his men: "You keep an eye on me for safety and I will kill an Indian." As he approached the savage, a mutual recognition took place. The Indian was a half-breed called William Johnson, and was a reputed son of his namesake, Sir William Johnson. He was down with a broken leg and begged for his life because he was wounded. "Ah," said the dauntless captain, directing the prostrate warrior to his crippled arm, "I am wounded too, and one of us must die." In an instant, with his left hand, he thrust the keen-edged sword through the Indian's body. This Captain Fox was wounded in the following fashion: He and a hostile Indian, under the cover of trees a few rods distant were, for some time, watching in a vain endeavor to get some advantage of each other; and, thinking to draw the Indian's shot, and win the game, Fox extended his hat upon his hand beside a tree to attract the savage's attention. The ruse succeeded and the Indian supposing the hat contained a head, fired on the target; but unfortunately Fox had a long arm and had extended it so far that the ball struck it and, dropping the hat, the hand tell limp at his side. The Indian, seeing the hat fall, no doubt supposed he had killed his man, but considered the hazard of securing a scalp too great to approach his victim. It was common practise to thrust out a hat on one's ramrod or a stick to draw an antagonist's charge, when fighting in the Indian fashion, but so reckless an act as that of this captain's seemed to merit the punishment. Fox became a major and resided after the war at Palatine Church. The following has a direct bearing on the above:

"Reed., Williger, Oct. 16, 1779, of Christopher Fox, Esq., eight dollars in full for curing his arm of a wound received in the Oriskany fight, £ 3. 4. 0. "Moses Younglove."

Abram Quackenboss:-The last syllable of this name is written boss, but pronounced bush. One of the earliest Low Dutch families to locate in the present town of Glen was that of Quackenbush, as the name is now written. One of Quackenbush's boyhood playmates, near the lower Mohawk castle at Fort Hunter, was an Indian called Bronkahorse, who was about his own age. Quackenbush was a lieutenant under the brave Capt. Gardinier. Among the followers of the Johnsons to Canada was his Indian friend, who also tried to get the white Whig to go with him, assuring him that he would have the same office in the royal army. Their next meeting was in the dodging, tree-to-tree fight at Oriskany. The lieutenant heard himself addressed in a familiar voice, which he recognized as that of his early Indian friend, now posted behind a tree within gunshot of the one which covered his own person. "Surrender yourself my prisoner and you shall be treated kindly," shouted the Mohawk brave, "but if you do not you will never get away from here alive- we intend to kill all who are not made prisoners!" The success of the enemy at the beginning of the contest made them bold and defiant. "Never will I become a prisoner," shouted back Quackenboss. Both were expert riflemen and now watched their chance. Bronkahorse fired first and planted a bullet in the tree scarcely an inch from his adversary's head, but he had lost his best chance, as the lieutenant sprang to a new position from which his adversary's tree would not shield him, and in the next Instant the Indian dropped with a bullet through his heart.

The Seebers:-Major William Seeber, who lived next to Fort Plain and was then nearly 60 years old, was mortally wounded in the battle, where his son Audolph was slain and Capt. Jacob H. fell with a broken thigh. Jacob cut staddles and attempted to withe them about his broken leg to enable him to escape, but could not stand upon it, and gave up, expecting to be slain. Henry Failing, an acquaintance, came to him and offered to remove him to greater safety, but Seeber declined, telling his friend to load his gun, take the remainder of his cartridges and leave him to his fate. He was afterward removed and died at Fort Herkimer. Failing was also severely wounded, but removed and recovered.

Garret Walrath, a soldier in the Canajoharie battalion, was at Oriskany and is said to have never feared flesh or the devil. In one of the terrible encounters in the early part of the engagement, he was made prisoner and pinioned and told to keep close behind an Indian, who claimed all his attention. He often purposely ran against his captor, whining and complaining that his arms were so tightly drawn back. * " " At this period not only the Indians but the whites, especially those accustomed to hunting, carried a sharp, well-pointed knife in a belt. Walrath * " * * cautiously grasped the handle of his knife and, watching his opportunity, in one of his stumbles over the heels of his captor, he adroitly plunged his knife into his body, and in the next instant he was a disembowled and dead Indian. The liberated captive, with his bloody knife in hand, cautiously sought his way back, and in an hour or two was welcomed by his surviving companions, who soon saw him armed again with a gun.

Col. Henry Diefendorf was a brave militia captain from the present town of Minden, where his descendants still reside. In the discharge of his duties, he was shot through the lungs, during the latter part of the engagement. Near him when he fell were William Cox, Henry Sanders and probably others of his company. He begged for water, and Sanders stamped a hole in the marshy soil and, as the water settled in it, he took off his shoe and in it gave the dying man a drink. Seeing by the smoke from whence the shot came that struck down his captain, Cox said: "Damn my soul, but I'll have a life for that one!" He ran to the tree before the foe could possibly reload his gun, where he found a large Indian down with a broken leg. As Cox leveled his rifle, the warrior threw up his hand and shouted: "Youker! you-keer!" which his adversary supposed was a cry for quarter. "I'll give you you-ker" said Cox as he sent a bullet through the Indian's head. He rejoined his comrades a few minutes later with the savage's gun.

Henry Thompson was a helper to the doughty Capt. Gardinier, who lived and had a blacksmith shop near the present village of Fultonville. Into Oriskany he followed his brave employer and, after the battle had raged for hours, he approached Gardinier and said he was hungry. "Fight away," shouted the captain. "I can't without eating," said the soldier. "Then get you a piece and eat," was the reply. He did so and sitting upon the body of a dead soldier, he ate with a real zest, while the bullets whistled about his head. His lunch finished, he arose and was again seen with renewed energy where peril was the most imminent.

Sir John Johnson married a daughter of John Watts of New York city and her brother, Stephen Watts, joined Johnson when he went to Canada. He was a British captain at Oriskany and, in making a desperate charge he was wounded and made a prisoner. As the Americans could not be encumbered with their wounded foes, he was left to his fate-and not despatched and scalped as were all wounded Americans found by the enemy. Being discovered by Henry N. Failing, a private soldier [from the present town of Minden] in the Canajoharie district batallion, he kindly carried him to a little stream of water that hi might there slake his thirst and die more easily. To his thanks for the soldier's kindness he added the gift of his watch. Two days after, Capt. Watts was discovered by some straggling Indians looking for plunder, was taken to the enemy's camp, properly cared for and finally recovered.

Among the tragic incidents of Oriskany was one which happened at a tree afterward called "the bayonet tree." One of Herkimer's men was held up, dead or alive, and pinned to a tree several feet from the ground with a bayonet driven into the tree several inches. Here the body remained until it fell to the ground from decomposition. This bayonet was to have been seen in the tree for more than a quarter of a century and until the tree had grown so as to bury most of the blade.

Henry Thompson was not the only one of the patriots to satisfy his hunger during the battle. Adam Frank also opened his knapsack and sat down and made a hearty but hasty meal, after which he was heard to exclaim In German, "Jezt drauf auf die kerls!" -"Now we'll give it to them!"

Captain Andrew Dillenbeck of Stone Arabia, was the hero of a fight which resulted in his death. Tories of Johnson's Greens attempted to take him prisoner and, on Dillenbeck's saying he would not be taken alive, siezed his gun. Captain Dillenbeck wrenched it away and felled his enemy with the butt. He shot a second one dead, thrust a third through the body with his bayonet and then fell dead from a Tory shot.

Dr. Younglove, surgeon in the Tryon county brigade, was taken prisoner at Oriskany and, after his return to his Palatine home, made the following affidavit:

"Moses Younglove, surgeon of Gen. Herkimer's brigade of militia, deposeth and saith, that being in the battle of said militia on the 6th of August last, toward the close of the battle, he surrendered himself a prisoner to a savage, who immediately gave him up to a sergeant of Sir John Johnson's regiment; soon after which a lieutenant in the Indian department, came up in company with several Tories, when said Mr. Grinnis, by name, drew his tomahawk at this deponent and with a deal of persuasion was kindly prevailed on to spare his life. He then plundered him of his watch, buckles, spurs, etc., and other Tories, following his example, stripped him almost naked, with a great many threats, while they were stripping and massacreing prisoners on every side. That this deponent was brought before Mr. Butler Sen. (Col. John), who demanded of him what he was fighting for? to which deponent answered: "He fought for the liberty that God and nature gave him, and to defend himself and dearest connexions from the massacre of the savages.' To which Butler replied: 'You are a damned impudent rebel!' and so saying immediately turned to the savages, encouraging them to kill him, and if they did not, the deponent and the other persons should be hanged on the gallows then preparing. That several prisoners were then taken forward to the enemy's headquarters with frequent scenes of horror and massacre, in which Tories were active as well as savages; and in particular one Davis, formerly known in Tryon county, on the Mohawk river. That Lieut. Singleton of Sir John Johnson's regiment, being wounded, entreated the savages to kill the prisoners, which they accordingly did, as nigh as this deponent can judge, about six or seven. That Isaac Paris was also taken the same road without receiving from them any remarkable insult, except stripping, until some Tories came up who kicked and abused him, after which the savages, thinking him a notable offender, murdered him barbarously. That those of the prisoners, who were delivered up to the provost guards, were ordered not to use any violence in protecting the prisoners from the savages, who came up every day with knives, feeling the prisoners to know which were fattest. That they dragged one of the prisoners out of the guard with the most lamentable cries, tortured him for a long time, and this deponent was informed, by both Tories and Indians, that they ate him, as appears they did another on an island in Lake Ontario [Buck's Island] by bones found there nearly picked, just after they had crossed the lake with the prisoners. That the prisoners who were not delivered up were murdered, in considerable numbers, from day to day around the camp, some of them so nigh that their shrieks were heard. That Capt. Martin of the bateaux men, was delivered to the Indians at Oswego, on pretence of his having kept back some useful intelligence. That this deponent, during his imprisonment, and his fellows were kept almost starved for provisions, and what they drew were of the worst kind, such as spoiled flour, biscuit full of maggots, and mouldy, and no soap allowed or other method of keeping clean, and were Insulted, struck, etc., without mercy by the guards, without any provocation given. That this deponent was informed by several sergeants orderly on St. Leger that twenty dollars were offered in general orders for every American scalp. "Moses Younglove."

"John Barclay, Chairman of Albany Committee."

Lieut. Peter Groat and Andrew Cunningham, a neighbor, were captured at Oriskany and murdered at Wood creek, slices of their thighs being roasted and feasted upon by the savages with zest and mirth. Peter Ehle, a fellow prisoner, saw his comrades killed.

There were a few Oneidas with the provincials in this battle, among whom was the Indian interpreter. Spencer, who was killed. The Indians of the enemy suffered severely, being put forward early in the fight. The Senecas alone lost over 60 in killed and wounded, while the Mohawks and other tribes suffered severely. The fire of the patriots was fully as deadly against the Tones, their captains, McDonough, Wilson and Hare, lying dead on the field, with scores of men in Tory uniforms scattered around them. The great loss of the Indians has been made a pretext by English writers to justify the cruelties inflicted by them on their prisoners. Says the "Life of Mary Jemison" (the white woman), page 88: "Previous to the battle of Fort Stanwix, the British sent for the Indians (Senecas) to come and see them whip the rebels; and at the same time stated that they did not wish to have them fight, but wanted to have them just sit down, smoke their pipes and look on. Our Indians went to a man, but contrary to their expectations, instead of smoking and looking on, they were obliged to fight for their lives and, in the end, were completely beaten, with a great loss in killed and wounded. Our Indians alone had 36 killed and a great number wounded. Our town (Little Beard's Town) exhibited a scene of real sorrow and distress, when our warriors returned and recounted their misfortunes, and stated the real loss they had sustained in the engagement. The mourning was excessive, and was expressed by the most doleful yells, shrieks and howlings, and by inimitable gesticulations."

Here is an incident of the defense of Port Schuyler, of a time probably after the Oriskany battle, from Judge Pomeroy Jones's "Annals of Oneida County":-"A sentinel, posted on the northwest bastion of the fort, was shot with a rifle while walking his stated rounds in the gray of the morning; the next morning the second met the same fate, on the same post; the crack of the rifle was heard but from whence it came, none could conjecture, and the alarm being given, no enemy could be discovered. Of course, on the third night this station was dreaded as being certain death and the soldier to whose lot it fell, quailed and hung back; but, to the surprise of the whole guard, a comrade offered to take his place and was accepted. Towards morning, the substitute sentinel drove a stake into the ground at the spot where his predecessors had been shot, on which he placed his hat and watch coat and with the help of a cord and a well stuffed knapsack, he soon had a very good apology for a portly soldier, who stood to the life at 'support arms,' with his trusty shining musket. Having thus posted his man of straw, he quietly sat down behind the parapet closely watching through an embrassure for coming events. At early dawn, the well known report of the same rifle was heard, and the column of smoke ascending- from the thick top of a black oak tree some 30 or 40 rods distant, showed the whereabouts of the marksman. The sergeant of the guard was soon on the spot and the commandant notified that the perch of the sharpshooter had been discovered. A four pounder was quickly loaded with canister and grape, and the sound of this morning gun boomed over the hill and dale in the distance, immediately succeeded by a shout from the garrison, as they beheld one of Britain's red allies tumbling head foremost from the tree top. On examining the counterfeit sentinel, the holes through the various folds of the knapsack were more than circumstantial evidence that the aim was most sure, and that, had the owner stood in its place, he would have followed to his account those who had preceded him there. It is hardly necessary to add that the sentinels on the northwest bastion were not afterwards molested."

It was hoped, by surviving friends in the valley below, that the troops advancing under Gen. Arnold to raise the siege of Fort Schuyler would be able to perform the melancholy task of burying the remains of our fallen soldiery at Oriskany. But, as over two weeks of excessively warm weather had transpired-it being then the 23d or 24th of August-decomposition had so rapidly taken place that the stench was Intolerable, making it necessary for the health of the troops to give the field as wide a berth as possible. So said James Williamson, who was a soldier under Arnold and who was on duty at Fort Stanwix. As the relieving American army force under Gen. Arnold approached Oriskany, evidences of its bloody onslaught greeted them. Here are some things which were noticed by Nicholas Stoner, a young musician in Col. Livingston's regiment, and copied from Simms's "Trappers:" Near the mouth of the Oriskany creek a gun was found standing against a tree with a pair of boots hanging on it, while in the creek near, in a state bordering on putrefaction, lay their supposed owner. In the grass, a little way from the shore, lay a well dressed man without hat or coat, who, it was supposed, had made his way there to obtain drink. A black silk handkerchief encircled his head. John Clark, a sergeant, loosened it but its hair adhered to it on its removal, and he left it. He, however, took from his feet a pair of silver shoe buckles. His legs were so swollen that a pair of deerskin breeches were rent from top to bottom. On their way nine dead bodies lay across the road, disposed in regular order, as was imagined by the Indians after their death. The stench was so great that the Americans could not discharge the last debt due their heroic countrymen, and their bones were soon after bleaching on the ground. A little farther on an Indian was seen hanging to the limb of a tree. He was suspended by the traces of a harness, but by whom was unknown. Such were some of the scenes, a mile or two away, but, where the carnage had been greatest, they had to make as wide a circuit as possible. Not an American killed in that battle was ever buried.

Scalping was done to some extent by the American troops, but was not prompted by the hope of reward, as in the case of the Indians and Tones. "Scalps for the Canadian market" proved a source of revenue to the Indians, who took them to Montreal and redeemed them for cash, receiving payment for those of men, women and children alike. Lossing gives the following account of this diabolical practise: "The methods used by the Indians in scalping is probably not generally known. I was told by Mr. Dievendorff [who was scalped as a boy in Doxtader's Currytown 1781 raid and survived to an old age] that the scalping knife was a weapon, not unlike in appearance the bowie knife of the present day. The victim was usually stunned or killed by a blow from a tomahawk. Sometimes only a portion of the scalp (as was the case with Mr. Dievendorff) was taken from the crown and the back part of the head, but more frequently the whole scalp was removed. With the dexterity of a surgeon, the Indian placed the point of his knife at the roots of the hair on the forehead and made a circular incision around the head. If the hair was short, he would raise a lappet of the skin, take hold with his teeth, and tear it instantly from the skull. If long, such as the hair of females, he would twist it around his hand, and, by a sudden jerk, bare the skull. The scalps were then tanned with the hair on, and often marked in such a manner that the owners could tell when and where they were severally obtained, and whether they belonged to men or women. When Major Rogers, in 1759, destroyed the chief village of the St. Francis Indians, he found there a vast quantity of scalps, many of them comically painted with heiroglyphics. They were all stretched on small hoops." A remarkable phase of this unspeakable practise, is that a large number of the valley people who were scalped, recovered and lived to an old age. This was due to the hurried way in which many of -the Indian attacks were made, so that the victims were stunned and not killed.

Col. John Butler had charge of the traffic in scalps with the Indians, during the Oriskany campaign, and probably later. Simms says "the usual bounty, after a time, was $8 for all, except those of officers and committeemen, which commanded from $10 to $20." That there was such a traffic in scalps has been denied by English writers but the fact seems substantiated by abundant evidence.

Undoubtedly the leading- patriot in the valley at that time was Nicholas Herkimer, a resident of the Canajoharie district and in command of the Tryon county militia and of the forces at Oriskany. His father, Johan Jost Herkimer, had emigrated from the Palatinate about 1720 and settled on the Burnetsfield patent. At Fort Herkimer he established a trading place and later built a strong stone house which was stockaded and became the fort, bearing his name. Johan Jost Herkimer, legend says, was a man of mighty strength among a population of men of muscle. He knew the English and Indian languages, as well as his native German, and acted as interpreter between the English and Indians. He was concerned in the erection of Fort Stanwix and became a man of considerable property and died in 1775 at Fort Herkimer. His son, Nicholas, settled east of Fall Hill in the Canajoharie district and built there a substantial brick residence, in 1764, which is now standing. While at Fort Herkimer, Herkimer commanded that post during the two attacks of the French war, he then being a lieutenant of militia. His commission for this rank is now in the possession of a collateral descendant in San Francisco, while his brigadier-general's commission, from the New York provincial congress, hangs on the walls of a Fort Plain house. He was a member of the Tryon County Committee of Safety from Canajoharie district and colonel of the militia, of that district, and colonel-in-chief of the county. In 1776 he was made a brigadier-general. He is described by one who saw him as a large, square built Dutchman and, contrary to many accounts which represent him as an old man at the time of the battle, family figures give his age at 49, and family tradition has it that he was then a sturdy, vigorous man, all of which is borne out by Oriskany events. Herkimer was a close friend of Brant and probably of other Mohawks, and was possibly the most influential Whig figure of the time in Tryon county. He served as chairman pro tern of the committee of safety and some of its papers and letters extant are signed by him. He seems to have been a man of sound sense, wise counsel and quick and effective action. His prestige was dimmed by the Tory action of his brother, Han Yost Herkimer, who was a militia colonel but ran away to Canada. Of his other brothers, only Capt. George Herkimer, an ardent Whig and scout officer, was with him at Oriskany, although other brothers were patriots with the exception of Han Yost. Undoubtedly Herkimer's strong Whig- attitude and military ability had great effect in upholding the cause of Independence in the county, particularly among the "Mohawk Dutch." His first wife was a sister of Peter S. Tygert and his second wife a daughter of the same. He left no children. Gen. Herkimer left an estate of 1,900 acres of land and willed his brother, George Herkimer, 500 acres and his homestead, where the latter was living in 1783, when Gen. Washington made his tour through the valley when he stopped here. The general in his will signed his name Nicholas "Herckheimer," although he varied it at other times. Herkimer's wound was not mortal but unskillful amputation of his wounded leg caused his death. It is said that the leg was sawed off short without tying the blood vessels up and the sturdy patriot slowly bled to death. When the leg was amputated two neighborhood boys buried it in the garden, and shortly after the General said to one of them: "I guess you boys will have to take that leg up and bury it with me, for I am going to follow it." The amputation was done by a young French surgeon with Arnold's expedition up the valley against the advice of the General's doctor, Dr. Petrie. Col. Willett called to see Herkimer soon after the operation and found him sitting up in bed and smoking his pipe. His strength failed toward night and, calling his family to his chamber, he read composedly the 38th psalm, closed the book, sank back upon his pillow and expired. The last three stanzas of this Psalm read as follows:

They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is. Forsake me not, 0 Lord; 0 my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, 0 Lord my salvation.

Christopher P. Yates, who was a man of fine intellect and an efficient patriot, said of Herkimer: "I claim not for the General that he was versed in Latin or Greek, or in the philosophy of the German schools; but I claim for him, that no German immigrant was better read in the history of the Protestant reformation, and in the philosophy of the Bible than Gen. Herkimer."

Johan Jost Herkimer, the first of the family In the valley, left thirteen children-five sons and eight daughters, which gives an idea of the size of the valley families of the day. The marriages of the children of Johan Jost Herkimer gives an idea of the ratio of the Teutonic elements in the western Mohawk valley In the eighteenth century. Of these known marriages nine are with people of German ancestry, three with people of Holland blood and one (that of Hendrick Frey) with a person of Swiss descent. Jurgh, Johan Jost, Madalana and Catharina Herkimer (or Erghemar) were patentees named in the Burnetsfield grant of 1725. Johan Jost was doubtless the progenitor of the family in America. Just who the others were, in relationship to him, is not definitely known. They are supposed to have come over in the Palatine immigration of 1722 and in this patent 100 acres was allotted to each of them on the south side of the river in the neighborhood that subsequently became known as Fort Herkimer. There is a tradition that Johan Jost carried a child and some of his chattels on his back from Schenectady to German Flatts. A family legend gives the story that on the first Herkimer's arrival at his future wilderness home, he asked permission, of his Indian neighbors, to build a cabin. They at first refused him, to Herkimer's great chagrin. At this time, these savages were busy trying to carry a dugout they had recently completed to the Mohawk. On account of its weight they were having difficulty in moving the canoe and asked the pioneer to help them. Motioning all the Mohawks to get on one end of the heavy boat, the stalwart German lifted the other end alone, and in this way the dugout was carried to the neighboring river. Astounded at the white man's great strength, the Indians at once gave Herkimer permission to build a cabin and cultivate the land.

Located amid a beautiful landscape, with the flatlands stretching away to the river and lofty Fall Hill in the background, the home of General Herkimer, in Danube, is a fine example of the Colonial Mohawk valley houses. Built of brick and finely finished, it is a monument to the solidity of character of the valley's early Teutonic settlers. It, in connection with the monument and the Herkimer family burial plot, has been, a number of times, the scene of patriotic gatherings. Here is located the first of the markers, which were put in position in the summer of 1912, to show the route of the valley militia in its march to the field of Oriskany. Capt. George Herkimer succeeded to the ownership of the house and its farm and, on his death, it passed to his son, Hon. John Herkimer, who occupied it until about 1815, when it passed out of the Herkimer family. Lossing, in 1848, writing of this place, says: "After breakfast I rode down to Danube, to visit the residence of General Herkimer while living and the old Castle church, near the dwelling place of Brant in the Revolution. It was a pleasant ride along the tow path between the canal and river. Herkimer's residence Is about two and a half miles below Little Falls, near the canal, and in full view of the traveler upon the railroad, half a mile distant. It is a substantial brick edifice, was erected in 1764, and was a splendid mansion for the time and place. It is now owned by Daniel Conner, a farmer, who is 'modernizing' It, when I was there, by building a long, fashionable piazza in front, in place of the [former] small old porch, or stoop. He was also 'improving' some of the rooms within. The one in which General Herkimer died (on the right of the front entrance), and also the one, on the opposite side of the passage, are left precisely as they were when the general occupied the house; and Mr. Conner has the good taste and patriotism to preserve them so. These rooms are handsomely wainscoated with white pine, wrought into neat moldings and panels, and the casements of the deep windows are of the same material and in the same style. Mr. Conner has carefully preserved the great lock of the front door of the 'castle' for castle it really was in strength and appointments against Indian assaults. It is sixteen inches long and ten wide. Close to the house is a subterranean room, built of heavy masonry and arched, which the general used as a magazine for stores belonging to the Tryon County militia. It is still used, as a storeroom but with more pacific intentions. The family burying ground is upon a knoll a few rods southeast of the mansion, and there rest the remains of the gallant soldier, as secluded and forgotten as if they were of 'common mold.' Seventy years ago the Continental Congress, grateful for his services, resolved to erect a monument to his memory of the value of five hundred dollars; but the stone that may yet be reared is still in the quarry, and the patriot inscription to declare its intent and the soldier's worth is not yet conceived. Until 1847 no stone identified his grave. Then a plain marble slab was set up with the name of the hero upon it; and when I visited it (1848), it was overgrown with weeds and brambles. It was erected by his grandnephew. Warren Herkimer." In 1895, under the auspices of the Oneida Historical society, an imposing stone shaft was here erected to the memory of Herkimer, bearing the inscription "Vorwaert" (forward), his command to the militia, which started the march of the impatient men to the field of Oriskany.

A statue of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer was erected in the park at Herkimer in 1907 on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of that village. It Is an excellently modeled figure, cast in bronze, and represents the Oriskany leader, wounded and seated upon his saddle, pipe in hand, while he directs the battle. The action of the statue, pointing the way to victory, is vigorous and inspiring. The sculptor was Burr C. Miller of Paris, and the work is the gift to Herkimer of Warner Miller, former United States Senator from the state of New York, a resident of that town and father of the sculptor.

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