The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Part 4

From the 23d Oct., 1779, I remained home till the 9th of Dec., when I set out to join the Reg't, which I did on the 15th, and found them employed in building huts for winter quarters, about 3 miles from Morristown.

(The Hardenbergh Journal here closes. The Nukerck Journal continues the history of the regiment for the year 1780 and until the five regiments were consolidated near the close of that year.)

FOOTNOTES:

[9] WAWARSING--An Indian word, said to signify "a black bird's nest,"

the name of a town and village in south-west part of Ulster County, N.Y., containing a post village of same name, located on Rondout Creek on the line of the Delaware and Hudson Ca.n.a.l. The surface of the town is mostly mountainous uplands, intersected by deep valleys. The Shaw.a.n.gunk Mountains extend along the east border, and spurs of the Catskills occupy the central and west parts, the highest peaks being from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above tide. The eastern and north-western parts are rocky and precipitous, and unfit for cultivation. There was a stone fort in the village on the site of B.C. Hornbeck's house. On Aug. 12, 1781, a large party of tories and Indians under one Caldwell, appeared in the town with a design of falling upon Napanock, but being informed that the place was defended by cannon they came to Wawarsing before the inhabitants were up in the morning. Two men and a young woman discovered the enemy before they reached the fort, and the young woman succeeded in closing the door just in time to prevent it from being burst open by the savages. Finding further attack to be dangerous they dispersed and burned and plundered the out settlements, and next day withdrew laden with spoils. Several lives were lost on both sides and much property destroyed.--The Indians--or Narratives of Ma.s.sacres and Depredations on the frontiers of Wawarsink and Vicinity, p. 21.

[10] FANTINE KILL, a settlement, on a stream of that name, about a mile from the present village of Ellenville, in the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County. The attack was made at day-break by a party of thirty or forty Indians under Brant, who came by the way of the Indian trail to Grahamsville, and from thence through the woods to the settlement.

Widow Isaac Bevier and two sons were killed, also the entire family of Michael Socks, consisting of the father, mother, two sons who were young men, two children, and one or two others. They attacked the house of Jesse Bevier, but the inmates being good marksmen and having plenty of ammunition succeeded in defending themselves until Col. Van Cortlandt came to their relief.

"As I was about marching from my encampment, having called in my guard, I discovered smokes rising from the village about six miles south, and a lad sent from its vicinity informed me that the Indians were there burning and destroying. It was occasioned by two of my men deserting in the mountains, when I received the order to return; for they went to Brant and informed him that I was ordered away, and he expected that I was gone. * * * On my approach Brant ran off. He had about one hundred and fifty Indians, and as I approached him, he being on a hill, and seeing me leaning against a pine tree waiting for the closing up of my men, ordered a rifle Indian to kill me, but he overshot me, the ball pa.s.sing three inches over my head."--Col. Van Cortlandt's ma.n.u.script statement, 1825.

"General, while you were standing by a large tree during that battle, how near to your head did a bullet come, which struck a little above you?"

The General paused for a moment, and replied--"About two inches above my hat."

Brant then related the circ.u.mstances. "I had remarked your activity in the battle," said he, "and calling one of my best marksmen, pointed you out and directed him to bring you down. He fired and I saw you dodge your head at the instant I supposed the ball would strike. But as you did not fall, I told my warrior that he had just missed you, and lodged the ball in the tree." Conversation between Brant and General Van Cortlandt--Stone's life of Brant, II., 460, incorrectly located at the battle of Newtown.

[11] "Col. Cantine commanding a regiment of militia arrived during the day. I then pursued but could not overtake him, as he ran through a large swamp beyond the hill; and Col. Cantine being also in pursuit, I returned, not having any prospect of overtaking him."--Col. Van Cortlandt's statement, 1825.

[12] "The second day after, pursued my march to Fort Penn as ordered by the commander-in-chief, and there received General Sullivan's orders to make a road through the wilderness."--Col. Van Cortlandt's statement, 1825.

[13] The present name of a stream flowing south-easterly two miles south of Ellenville.

[14] On the Lurenkill two miles south of Ellenville.

[15] Present WURTZBORO in town of Mamacating on Sauthier's Map of 1779, said to have been named in honor of an Indian chief, is about fourteen miles south-west of Wawarsing. A block house was here occupied during the revolution.

[16] WEST BROOKVILLE, formerly called Bashusville, near the southern line of town of Mamakating in Sullivan County. So called from a squaw named Bashe, who lived on the bank of the creek. The first house built was of stone and used as a fort.

[17] MAHACKAMACK or Neversink River, the crossing appears to have been near Cuddebackville in the town of Deer Park.

[18] DEWITT--A brother of Mrs. James Clinton, the mother of DeWitt Clinton; where he is said to have been born, March 2, 1769, while Mrs.

Clinton was on a visit with her brother. General James Clinton in 1763 raised and commanded a corps of two hundred men, called the Guards of the Frontier. This position called Fort De Witt was one of the posts occupied. Other accounts say he was born at the homestead of the Clinton family at Little Britain.

[19] NOW PORT JERVIS, formerly called MOHOCKAMACK FORK, at the junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers. The route taken appears to have been over the "_old mine road_" as it was called, constructed by the early Dutch settlers of Esopus to reach a copper mine in Walpack Towns.h.i.+p, Warren Co., N.J. It follows the Mamakating Valley, the first north of the Shaw.a.n.gunk mountains, and continues in that of the Mahackamack branch of the Delaware river, and penetrates the Minnisinks east of that river. The mine was about three miles north-west from Nicholas Depew's house.

[20] John Adams, while attending Congress during its session at Philadelphia, as late as 1800, pa.s.sed over this same "Mine Road" as the most eligible route from Boston to that city. He was accustomed to lodge at Squire Van Campen's in the Jersey Minnisinks.

[21] DECKER'S FERRY at Flatbrookville, about thirteen miles from Fort Penn at Stroudsburg.

[22] SAMUEL DEPEW'S, in the town of Smithfield, Monroe Co., Pa., on the west side of the Delaware, three miles above the Water Gap, where he settled prior to 1730. He was one of the Walloons who came to New York about 1697. Rev. H.M. Muhlenberg, who lodged at his house in 1750, states he had been Justice of the Peace, was a prominent man in Smithfield, and at that time advanced in life. The river is fordable at the head of Depew's Island, a little above the house. The old homestead is still in the Depew family; Nicholas, one of Samuel's sons, is well known in provincial history between 1750 and 1770. On the Pennsylvania side of the river on Depew's land, stood the _Smithfield_ or old _Shawne_ church, removed about 1854.

[23] Ft. Penn, at Stroudsburg, Monroe County, Pa., built in 1763, on the site previously occupied by Ft. Hamilton, built in 1755.

[24] LARNED'S log tavern, north-west of Stroudsburg, twenty-eight miles from Easton. The main army encamped here June 19th, at camp called Pocono Point. This was the last house on the road between Easton and Wyoming. On the 3d of July, 1781, Mr. Larned was shot and scalped near his house, as also was his son George. Another son, John, shot one of the Indians who was left on the spot where he fell. The Indians carried off George Larned's wife, and an infant four months old, but not wis.h.i.+ng to be enc.u.mbered with the child, dashed out its brains.

[25] The 2d New York Regiment, Col. Van Cortlandt, and Col. Spencer's N.J. Regiment were ordered to precede the army and construct a road over the mountains to Wyoming. They followed the well known Indian trails mainly, one of which led from Easton by way of the Wind Gap, directly north, along the high lands between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, to New York State line near Oghquaga; the other leaving Fort Penn at Stroudsburg, pa.s.sed through the towns.h.i.+ps of Pocono, Tunkhanna, Tobyhanna, Buck, Bear Creek, to Wyoming. Much of this road is still in use and is known as the "old Sullivan road." At Easton Gen. Sullivan published the following order:

HEAD-QUARTERS, Easton, May 31, 1779.

* * * The commander-in-chief returns his most sincere thanks to Colonels Cortlandt and Spencer, and to the officers and soldiers under their command for their unparalleled exertions in clearing and repairing the road to Wyoming. He cannot help promising himself success in an expedition, in which he is to be honored with the command of troops who give such pleasing evidence of their zeal for the service, and manifest so strong a desire to advance with expedition against the inhuman murderers of their friends and countrymen. * * * *

Order Book Lieu.-Col. GEORGE C. BARBER, of 3d N.J. Regt., Adjutant Gen'l of the Western Army.

[26] COL. OLIVER SPENCER, Commanding the Independent regiment, 5th Continental of New Jersey.

[27] General Sullivan reached Wyoming with the main body of the army June 23d; the following appeared in orders on the 25th:

HEAD-QUARTERS, WYOMING, June 25, 1779.

* * * At a general court martial held on the eighth instant, whereof Major Fish was president, Oliver Arnold of the 2nd New York regiment, was tried for desertion, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot to death; the General approves the sentence and orders it to be executed at the head of the regiment to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock. Edward Tyler of the same regiment tried by the same court for desertion, found guilty and sentenced to run the guantelope through Cortlandt's, Spencer's and Cilley's regiments, with a centinel at his breast to regulate his pace; the General approves the sentence and orders it executed to-morrow afternoon at five o'clock. John Stevens of the same regiment, tried for desertion, found guilty and sentenced to receive one hundred lashes; the General approves the sentence and orders it executed at the head of the regiment, to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock. * * *

Order Book, Lieu.-Col. GEORGE C. BARBER, Adjutant Gen'l of the Western Army.

[28] Near the west line of Pocono Towns.h.i.+p, also called Rum bridge.

[29] There were three paths leading eastward from Wyoming; the southern, called the "warriors' path," by way of Fort Allen and along the Lehigh to the Delaware Water Gap at Easton; the northern, by way of the Lackawana at Capouse Meadows, through Cobb's Gap and the Lackawaxen, to the Delaware and Hudson; the middle one, along which this military road was constructed, led through the Wind Gap to Easton. The ma.s.sacre of Wyoming in 1778 had filled the forests along this central trail with hundreds of helpless fugitives; some estimate the number about two thousand, mostly women and children; many sunk under the tomahawk, others died of excitement, fatigue, hunger and exposure; many were lost and perished in the woods, while hundreds were never seen or heard of after their precipitate flight. At this time small parties of Indians still hovered around Wyoming. They watched the pa.s.ses, and occasionally exhibited extraordinary instances of courage and audacity. Major Powell, with two hundred men of a regiment that had suffered severely at the battle of Germantown, having been ordered to Wyoming, arrived at Bear Creek about ten miles from that point, on the 19th of April. Deeming themselves out of danger from a surprise by the Indians, officers and men arrayed themselves in their best apparel, burnished their arms and put everything in shape for a respectable appearance on entering the Valley. According to the fas.h.i.+on of the day the officers donned their ruffles, powdered their hair, and with enlivening strains of music, advanced toward their destination. The advance guard reported having seen some deer, and Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones and others, started in pursuit; near the summit of the second mountain by the Laurel Run, and about four miles from the fort, a fire was opened upon them by the Indians in ambush. Davis, Jones, Corporal Butler and three soldiers were killed and scalped. Chaplain Rogers says: "Scalped, tomahawked and speared by the savages, fifteen or twenty in number; two boards are fixed at the spot where Davis and Jones fell, with their names on each. Jones's being besmeared with his own blood. In pa.s.sing this melancholy vale, an unusual gloom appeared on the countenances of both officers and men without distinction, and from the eyes of many, as by a sudden impulse, drops the sympathizing tear.

Colonel Proctor, out of respect to the deceased, ordered the music to play the tune of Roslin Castle, the soft and moving notes of which, together with what so forcibly struck the eye, tended greatly to fill our b.r.e.a.s.t.s with pity, and to renew our grief for our worthy departed friends and brethren." The bodies of the two officers were exhumed a few weeks after this and re-interred at Wilkesbarre, with military and masonic honors by the officers of Sullivan's army.

[30] Barnardus Swartwout, an Ensign in first company of Col. Van Cortlandt's regiment.

[31] "Monday, June 21, 1779.--This day we marched through the Great Swamp, and Bear Swamp. The Great Swamp, which is eleven or twelve miles through, contains what is called on our maps "shades of death,"

by reason of its darkness; both swamps contain trees of amazing height, viz., hemlock, birch, pine, sugar maple, ash, locust, etc. The roads in some places are tolerable, but in other places exceeding bad, by reason of which, and a long though necessary march, three of our wagons and the carriages of two field pieces were broken down. This day we proceeded twenty miles and encamped late in the evening at a spot which the commander named Camp Fatigue. The troops were tired and hungry. The road through the Swamps is entirely new, being fitted for the pa.s.sage of our wagons by Colonels Cortlandt and Spencer at the instance of the commander-in-chief; the way to Wyoming, being before only a blind, narrow path. The new road does its projectors great credit, and must in a future day be of essential service to the inhabitants of Wyoming and Easton. In the Great Swamp is Locust Hill, where we discovered evident marks of a destroyed Indian village.

Tobyhanna and Middle creeks empty into the Tunkhanunk; the Tunkhanunk empties into the head branch of the Lehigh, which at Easton, empties into the Delaware. The Moosick mountain, through a gap of which we pa.s.sed in the Great Swamp, is the dividing ridge which separates the Delaware from the Susquehanna."--[_Rev. William Rogers' Journal._]

[32] Sergeant Jonas Brown, of Captain Charles Graham's Co., Second New York, returned as dead by Lieut. Conolly, in 1785, drew lot twenty-three, of the military tract in Homer, containing six hundred acres.

[33] BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWARD HAND, the youngest brigadier of the expedition. Born in Ireland the last day of 1744, was an ensign in the British army, served two years with his regiment in America, then resigned and settled in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the Revolution he entered the continental service as Lieutenant-Colonel, was made Colonel of a rifle corps in 1776, was in the battles of Long Island and Trenton, and in the summer of 1777 was in command at Pittsburg. Was.h.i.+ngton placed great confidence in his judgment and consulted him freely as to the feasibility of this campaign. In 1780 he succeeded Scammel as Adjutant General of the army and held the position until the close of the war. He was a lover of fine horses and an excellent horseman. He died in Lancaster, Pa., Sept. 3, 1802.

[34] TUNKHANNA, from _Tankhanne_, i.e., _the small stream_, is a tributary of the Tobyhanna, which it enters at the west corner of Tunkhanna towns.h.i.+p. The smallest of two confluents or sources of a river is always called _Tankhanne_ by the Delawares.

[35] TOBYHANNA, corrupted from _Topi-hanne_, signifying _alder stream_, i.e., a stream whose banks are fringed with alders; is a tributary of the Lehigh, which it enters from the south-east at Stoddartsville.

[36] The camp of the two regiments on White Oak Run, or Rum Bridge as called in some journals, was the same place where the main army encamped June, 19th, and "called CHOWDER CAMP from the commander-in-chief dining this day on chowder made of trout."

[37] "One quart of whiskey to be issued this evening to each officer, and a half pint to each non-commissioned officer and soldier on the detachment command by General Poor. * * * The officers are to see respectively _that water be immediately mixed with the soldier's whiskey_," General orders, Aug. 15, at Tioga.

[38] Major Adam Hoops, third A.D.C. to General Sullivan. He was in the army throughout the Revolution, and at one period belonged to the staff of Was.h.i.+ngton. He was connected with the earliest surveys of Western New York. In 1804, he in company with Ebenezer F. Norton, purchased most of the towns.h.i.+p of Olean and laid out the village of Hamilton, the original name of present village of Olean. He was a bachelor and died in Westchester, Pa.

[39] Dr. Jabez Campfield of Col. Spencer's Regiment, joined his regiment while they were in camp at Tunkhanna on the 26th of May, where he says they continued until the 30th, "when we marched to Locust Hill. All this way the land very indifferent and rough, the timber mostly pitch pine and hemlock, some white pine, also birch, mirtle, and some beach, elm and spruce. This hill is covered with small locust trees. While the detachment remained at Locust Hill, the First New Hamps.h.i.+re Regiment joined us, but at the same time a detachment under Colonel Smith were sent to Wyoming so that we gained very little by the Hamps.h.i.+re men coming up."

William Barton's Journal under date of June 11th says: * * * "Locust Hill so called, on account of being entirely timbered with it for twenty-three miles. We all proceeded on our journey again until we fell in with a detachment composed of several regiments which had been cutting a road through from Larnard's to Wyoming, as there never was any before only an old Indian path."