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 II.

1616-1772-Indians-Mohawk Valley Discovery-Settlement-Sir William Johnson.

The Mohawks were the most eastern of the Five Nations. They claimed a region extending from Albany, on the Hudson, westerly to the headwaters of the Susquehanna and Delaware, and thence northerly to the St. Lawrence river and embracing all the land between this river and Lake Champlain. Their actual northern limits were not definitely fixed, but they appear to have claimed as hunting grounds, all the lands between the St. Lawrence and St. Johns river. This was a subject of continual dispute between them and other tribes. Canada was settled by the French in 1608. In 1609 Champlain and his party of Canadian Indians defeated a band of Iroquois (probably Mohawks), in battle, in the present town of Ticonderoga between Lake George and Crown Point. In 1615 Champlain and ten other Frenchmen joined the Hurons and Adirondacks in an expedition against the Five Nations. The Iroquois signally defeated this force, in the Onondaga country. Champlain was wounded twice and the invaders fled back to Canada. The first white man to explore this region was probably a Canadian Franciscian priest, LaCarnon, who entered this field as missionary In 1616 and was undoubtedly the first white man to behold the upper reaches of this famous river and its beautiful valley. In 1609 Dutch sailors from the Half Moon passed the mouth of the Mohawk and the Dutch may have then penetrated its lower valley a short distance. Jesuits, who in the interests of trade, as well as religion, went alone and unarmed, succeeded the Francisians in 1633. Three of these Jesuits suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Mohawks. The captivity and fate of Jogues exemplify the persistence of the Jesuits and the heroism with which they met death. In 1642 he and and a number of others were captured by Iroquois on the St. Lawrence. They came into the hands of the Mohawks near Lake George and were compelled to run the gauntlet. On reaching the villages of the Mohawks, Jogues was made to run the gauntlet twice more for their amusement, agonizing a white man being then a novelty to the savages. During his captivity he was frequently tortured with the most heartless cruelty. His fingers and toes were removed joint by joint and his body and limbs mutilated with burning sticks and hot irons. He suffered in this way for 15 months, when, through the influence of the Dutch, he was released and returned to France. He came back to the Mohawk in 1646 to prosecute his missionary work. The savages did not take kindly to him or his teachings and he was put to death by the most excruciating tortures, the Indians of course, being masters of the knowledge of every conceivable pain and agony which could be inflicted on the human body. The site of this martyrdom was at the Mohawk village of Caughnawaga, where Fonda now stands. The Jesuits kept up their missionary work on these same savages and finally. In 1670, converted them and Induced them to move to Canada.

In 1659, the Mohawks, suffering from their conflicts with the French and from the crippling of their warriors by the sale of liquor to them by the Dutch, sent a delegation to Albany asking that the sale of spirits be suppressed among them and for aid against their enemies. A council concerning these matters was held between the Dutch and Mohawks at Caughnawaga in 1659, which was the first ever held in the Mohawk country. The governor of Canada, in 1666, tried to destroy the Mohawks, but only succeeded in burning their villages, as the warriors took to the woods. Troubles between the Mohicans and Mohawks followed, without much advantage to either. The Iroquois, including the Mohawks, were thoroughly won over to the English side by Gov. Dongan in 1684. In 1690 the French and Indians descended on Schenectady and burned that town; 60 people were killed and 27 captured, a few of the survivors escaping through the deep snow to Albany. In 1693 Count Frontenac captured the lower and middle Mohawk castles without much trouble, but had a hard fight at the upper castle; 300 Mohawks were taken prisoners. The people of Schenectady failed to warn their Indian neighbors, which greatly incensed them. Schuyler, with the Albany militia, pursued this French party and retook 50 Mohawk captives. For the last half century of the tribal existence of the Mohawks in the valley, they had but two castles, one called Canajoharie, situated at the present Indian Castle, in the town of Danube, Herkimer county, and the other, called Dyiondarogon, on the lower or east bank of the Schoharie creek at its junction with the Mohawk.

The first white valley settlement was by the Dutch in 1663 at Schenectady, under the Dutch rule of the colony. The next west of Schenectady was that of Heinrich Frey at Palatine Bridge in 16S8. Their country, devastated by war. In 1708, a large body of German immigrants, from the Palatinate on the Rhine, landed in New York and were settled on the Hudson, where their treatment by the province s open to great criticism. In 1711 their number was said to be 1,761, but they had no idea of remaining in their deplorable condition. In the expedition of Col. Nicholson for the reduction of Canada in 1711, 300 Palatines enlisted to escape their condition of almost servitude. In 1711 some of them moved to the Schoharie valley and some are supposed to have settled In Palatine about that date. They are said to have threaded on foot an intricate Indian trail, bearing upon their backs their worldly possessions, consisting of "a few rude tools, a scanty supply of provisions, a meagre wardrobe, and a small number of rusty firearms." In 1723 numbers of the Palatines emigrated to Pennsylvania, others moved up and settled in the districts of Canajoharie and Palatine and along the Mohawk, and by 1725 there were settlements of these Germans extending up the river from the "Noses" to German Flats, the eastern part of the valley being settled by Dutch farmers.

October 19, 1723, the Stone Arabia patent was granted to 27 Palatines, who, with their families, numbered 127 persons. The tract conveyed by this deed contained 12,700 acres. The names of these pioneer settlers of the district which was later to become Palatine were: Digert, Schell, Cremse, Garlack, Dillinbeck, Emiger, Vocks, Lawyer, Feink, Frey, Diegert, Coppernoll, Peiper, Seibert, Casselman, Fink, Ingolt, Erchart, Nelse.

The story of the Mohawk valley from 1738 to 1772, the date of the formation of Tryon county, is largely the biography of that picturesque figure, Sir William Johnson. In order that the reader may better understand the subsequent history of the Canajoharie and Palatine districts, the following account is given of Sir William's life, taken from Beers' history;

"Sir William Johnson was born at Warrentown in the county of Down, Ireland, in 1715. In 1738, at the age of 23, he was sent into the Mohawk valley to superintend a large estate, the title to which had been acquired by his uncle. Sir Peter Warren, a British admiral. This tract containing some 15,000 acres, lay along the south bank of the Mohawk near the mouth of Schoharie creek, and mostly within the present town of Florida. It was called, from its proprietor, Warrensbush. Here Johnson came to promote his uncle's Interests by the sale of small farms and his own Interests by acquiring and cultivating land for himself, and their joint interests by keeping a store in which they were partners. In 1743 he became connected with the fur trade at Oswego and derived a great revenue from this and other dealings with the Indians. Having early resolved to remain in the Mohawk valley, he applied himself earnestly to the study of the character and language of the natives. By freely mingling with them and adopting their habits when it suited his interests, he soon gained their good will and confidence, and gradually acquired an ascendancy over them never possessed by any other European. A few years after Johnson's arrival on the Mohawk he purchased a tract of land on the north side of the river. In 1744 he built a gristmill on a small stream flowing into the Mohawk from the north, about three miles west of the present city of Amsterdam. He also erected a stone mansion at this place for his own residence, calling it Fort Johnson. [This fine old building still stands and bears its own name, which it has also given to the town about it and the railroad station there.] Johnson also bought, from time to time, great tracts of land north of the Mohawk, and at some distance from it, mostly within the present limit of Fulton county. He subsequently became possessed, by gift from the Indians which was confirmed by the Crown, of the great tract of land in what is now Herkimer county, known as the Royal Grant.

"The Mohawk river early became the great thoroughfare toward Lake Ontario for the Colonists In prosecuting their trade with the Indians. Gov. Burnet realized the importance of controlling the lake for the purpose of commerce and resistance to the encroachments of the French and accordingly established in 1722 a trading post and in 1727 a fort at Oswego. The French met this measure by the construction of defenses at Niagara, to intercept the trade from the upper lakes. This movement was ineffectually opposed by the Iroquois, who, to obtain assistance from the English, gave a deed of their territory to the King of England, who was to protect them in the possession of it. To defend the frontier, which was exposed to Invasions by the French, especially after their erection of the fortification of Crown Point, settlements were proposed and Capt. Campbell, a Highland chief, came over in 1737 to view the lands offered, which were 30,000 acres. Four hundred Scotch adults came over and many of them settled in and about Saratoga, becoming the pioneers of that section, as the Palatines were of the upper half of the Mohawk. This settlement was surprised by French and Indians in 1745 who burned all the buildings and killed or captured almost the whole population, 30 families being massacred. The village of Hoosic was similarly destroyed, and consternation prevailed in the outlying settlements, many of the people fleeing to Albany. The Six Nations wavered in their attachment to the English. At this juncture. Sir William Johnson was entrusted with the sole management of the Iroquois. [He succeeded Col. Schuyler of Albany, the former Indian commissioner.] It Is his services in this most important and delicate position, wherein he stood for a large part of his life as the mediator between two races, whose position and aims made them almost inevitably hostile, that constitutes his strongest claim to lasting and favorable remembrance. His knowledge of the language, customs and manners of the Indians, and the complete confidence which they always reposed in him, qualified him for this position. A high officer of his government, he was also in 1746 formally invested by the Mohawks with the rank of a chief in that nation, to whom he was afterward known as Warraghegagey. In Indian costume he shortly after led the tribe to a council at Albany. He was appointed a colonel in the British service about this time, and by his direction of the Colonial troops and the Iroquois warriors, the frontier settlements were to a great extent saved from devastation by the French and their Indian allies, the settlements to the north of Albany, being an unhappy exception, while occasional murders and scalpings occurred even along the Mohawk. Johnson's influence with the Indians was increased by his having a Mohawk woman, Molly Brant, a sister of the famous Chief Joseph Brant, living with him as his wife the latter part of his life.

"Peace nominally existed between France and England from 1748 to 1756, but hostilities between their American colonies broke out as early as 1754. In the following year, 1755, Col. Johnson was appointed a major general and led the expedition against Crown Point which resulted in the distastrous defeat of the French near Lake George. At the same time with his military promotion he was reappointed superintendent of Indian affairs, having resigned that office in 1750, on account of the neglect of the government to pay some of his claims. On resuming the superintendency, General Johnson held a council with the Iroquois at his house, Fort Johnson, which resulted in about 250 of their warriors following him to Lake George. The victory there gained was the only one in a generally disastrous year, and General Johnson's services were rewarded by a baronetcy and the sum of £5,000 voted by Parliament. He was also thereafter paid £600 annually as the salary of his office over the Indians.

"In the spring of 1756 measures were taken for fortifying the portages between Schenectady and Oswego, by way of the Mohawk, Wood creek, Oneida lake and the Oswego river, with a view to keeping open communication between Albany and the fort at Oswego. The latter was in danger of being taken by the French. Tardily moved the provincial authorities and it was but a few days before Oswego was invested that Gen. Webb was sent with a regiment to reinforce the garrison and Sir William Johnson, with two battalions of militia and a body of Indians, shortly followed. Before Webb reached Oneida lake, he was informed that the besieged post had surrendered, and he promptly turned about and fled down the Mohawk to German Flats, where he met Johnson's force. The fort at Oswego was demolished by the French, greatly to the satisfaction of most of the Iroquois, who had always regarded it with alarm, and who now made treaties with the victors; and the Mohawk valley, exposed to the enemy was ranged by scalping parties of Canadian savages.

"The Mohawks, through the influence of Sir William Johnson, remained faithful to the English. The Baronet, with a view to counteract the impression made upon the Six Nations by the French successes, summoned them to meet him in council at Fort Johnson, in June, 1756. Previous to their assembling a circumstance occurred which rendered negotiations at once necessary and less hopeful. A party of Mohawks, while loitering around Fort Hunter, became involved in a quarrel with some soldiers of the garrison, resulting in some of the Indians being severely wounded. The Mohawk tribe felt extremely revengeful, but Johnson succeeded in pacifying them and winning over the Oneidas and Tuscaroras to the English interest. In the beginning of August, 1756, Sir William Johnson led a party of Indian warriors and militia to the relief of Fort William Henry at the head of Lake George, which was besieged by Montcalm; but on reaching Fort Edward his progress was arrested by the cowardice of Gen. Webb, who was there in command, and who used his superior authority to leave the besieged fortress to its fate, which was a speedy surrender. The provincials, thoroughly disgusted by the disasters incurred through incompetency and cowardice of their English officers, now deserted in great numbers, and the Indians followed suit.

"Soon after the capture of Fort William Henry, rumors gained circulation that a large force of French and Indians was preparing to invade the settlements along the Mohawk. The Palatines who had settled on the Burnetsfield Patent, were evidently most exposed, and feeling but poorly protected by what fortifications there were among them, they were several times during the autumn on the point of deserting their dwellings and removing to the settlements further down the river which were better defended. The rumors seeming to prove groundless, they became careless and finally neglected all precautions against an attack. Meanwhile an expedition of about 300 Canadian, French and Indians, under command of one Belletre, came down from Canada by way of the Black river, and at 3 o'clock in the morning of Nov. 12, 1756, the Palatine village, at the present site of Herkimer, was surrounded. This settlement contained 60 dwellings and 4 block- houses and the inhabitants were aroused by the horrid warwhoop, which was the signal of attack. The invaders rushed upon the blockhouses and were met with an active fire of musketry. The little garrison soon seemed to become panic stricken, both by the overwhelming numbers and the bloodcurdling yells of the savages and the active fighting of the French. The mayor of the village, who was in command, opened the door of one blockhouse and called for quarter. The garrisons of the other blockhouses followed his example. These feeble defences, with all the other buildings in the settlement, were fired and the inhabitants, in attempting to escape were tomahawked and scalped. About 40 of the Germans were thus massacred, and more than 100 persons, men, women and children, were carried into captivity by the marauders :is they retired laden with booty. This they did not do, until they had destroyed a great amount of grain and provisions, and as Belletre reported, slaughtered 3,000 cattle, as many sheep, and 1,500 horses [figures now generally supposed to be exaggerated beyond any semblance of truth.]

"Although the marauders hastily withdrew the entire valley was thrown into panic. Many of the inhabitants of the other Mohawk settlements hastened to send their goods to Albany and Schenectady with the Intention of following them, and for a time the upper towns were threatened with entire desertion. The Palatine settlement at Fort Herkimer, near the one whose destruction has been related, was similarly visited in April, 1758. Lieut. Herkimer was here in command. The militia, under Sir William Johnson, rendezvoused at Canajoharie, but the enemy withdrew and did not after appear in force in this quarter. About this time Johnson, with 300 Indian warriors, chiefly Mohawks, joined Abercrombie's expedition against Crown Point, where the English were disastrously repulsed. Fear again reigned in the Mohawk valley but the French did not follow up their advantage in this quarter.

"In spite of this disaster, the successes of the English, elsewhere in 1758, made so favorable an impression on the Six Nations, that Sir William Johnson was enabled to bring nearly 1,000 warriors to join Gen. Prideaux's expedition against Niagara in the following summer, which the Baronet conducted to a successful issue after Prideaux's death by the accidental explosion of a shell. Sir William- in 1760, led 1,300 Iroquois warriors in Gen. Amherst's expedition against Montreal which extinguished the French power in America."

Sir William removed in 1763 to Johnstown where he built himself a residence and buildings on his great estate. Here grew up the county seat of the new and great county of Tryon, formed in 1772, and here he died, as elsewhere described, in 1774. Sir William Johnson was perhaps the most remarkable man of the many who figure in the record of Tryon county. Nothing in the state's history is more interesting than this spot of civilization In a vast, savage wilderness, presided over by an Irish gentleman who was at once a benevolent dictator and a virtual regent over a territory larger than some famous kingdoms of history, and over a white people struggling toward civilization and the red men who were trying to keep their wild domains for their hunting grounds.

The well known story of how Johnson became possessed of the Royal Grant deserves a place here. Sir William Johnson obtained over 60,000 acres of choice land, now lying chiefly in Herkimer county, north of the Mohawk, in the following manner: The Mohawk sachem, Hendrick, being at the baronet's house, saw a richly embroidered coat and coveted it. The next morning he said to Sir William: "Brother, me dream last night."

"Indeed, what did my red brother dream" asked Johnson.

"Me dream that coat be mine."

"It is yours," said the shrewd Irish baronet.

Not long afterward Sir William visited the chief, and he too, had a dream.

"Brother, I dreamed last night," said Johnson.

"What did my pale-faced brother dream?" asked Hendrick.

"I dreamed that this tract of land was mine," describing a square bounded on the south by the Mohawk, on the east by Canada creek, and north and west by objects' equally well known.

Hendrick was astounded. He saw the enormity of the request, but was not to be outdone in generosity. He sat thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "Brother, the land is yours, but you must not dream again."

The title was confirmed by the British government and the tract was called the Royal Grant.

King Hendrick (also called the Great Hendrick) occupied, in the early eighteenth century, a position in the Mohawk tribe, similar to that held by Brant at the time of the Revolution. Hendrick was born about 1680 and generally lived at the upper Mohawk castle (In Danube), being thus a resident of the old Canajoharie district. He stood high in the estimation of Sir William Johnson and was one of the most active and sagacious sachems of his time. Hendrick, with a large body of Iroquois, accompanied Johnson on his Lake George expedition and was killed in the action (Sept. 8, 1755) which resulted in a victory against the French and Indians under Baron Dieskau. Prior to this battle, Johnson determined to send out a small party to meet Dieskau's advance and the opinion of Hendrick was asked. He shrewdly said: "If they are to fight they are too few; if they are to be killed they are too many." His objection to the proposition to separate them into three divisions was quite as sensibly and laconically expressed. Taking three sticks and putting them together, he remarked, "Put them together and you can't break them. Take them one by one and you can break them easily." Johnson was guided by the opinion of Hendrick and a force of 1,200 men in one body under Col. Williams was sent out to meet the French and Indians. Before commencing their march, Hendrick mounted a gun-carriage and harangued his warriors in a strain of eloquence which had a powerful effect upon them. He was then over 70 years old. His head was covered with long white locks and every warrior loved him with the deepest veneration. Lieut.-Col. Pomeroy, who was present and heard this Indian oration, said that, although he did not understand a word of the language, such was the animation of Hendrick, the fire of his eye, the force of his gestures, the strength of his emphasis, the apparent propriety of the inflections of his voice, and the natural appearance of his whole manner, that he himself was more deeply affected by this speech than with any other he had ever heard. In the battle which followed, resulting in the rout of the Canadian force, Hendrick was killed, Baron Dieskau was mortally wounded and Johnson was wounded in the thigh. Lossing speaks of Gen. Johnson's conduct in this campaign as "careless and apathetic." Hendrick visited England and had his portrait painted in a full court dress which was presented to him by the king. This Mohawk sachem is one of the greatest characters in the history of the remarkable tribe of savage residents of this valley. In 1754, commissioners from the different colonies met at Albany to consider plans for a general colonial alliance, and to this conference the Six Nations were invited. This Albany council was the initial step in the formation of the United States of America. Hendrick attended and delivered a telling speech in reference to the inefficient military policy of the British governors. This address shows the frankness and common sense of the old warrior and Is reported as follows:

"Brethren, we have not as yet confirmed the peace with them. (Mean your fault, brethren, we are not strengthened by conquest, for we should have gone and taken Crown Point, but you hindered us. We had concluded to go and take it, but were told it was too late, that the ice" would not bear us. Instead of this you burned your own fort at Sarraghtogee [near old Fort Hardy] and ran away from it, which was a shame and scandal to you. Look about your country and see; you have no fortifications about you-no, not even to this city. 'Tis but one step from Canada hither, and the French may easily come and turn you out of doors. Brethren, you were desirous we should open our minds and our hearts to you; look at the French, they are men-they are fortifying everywhere; but, we are ashamed to say it, you are like women, bare and open, without any fortifications."