t- V^
CENTENNIAL
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY,
NEW YORK;
Being its Annals from the Earliest Recorded
Events to the Hundredth Year of
American Independence.
By CRISFIELD JOHNSON.
BUFFALO, N. Y.
PRINTING HOUSE OF MATTHEWS & WARREN,
Office of the **BiiJfalo Comynercial Advertiser."
1876. ' •
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by Criskield Johnson,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
I
if I
7 i
INDEX
A.
Abbott's Corners, 337, 355
Adams, Erasmus, 124
Adams, Joel, 123
Aigin, James, 232, 238
• Akron, 376, 386, 426
Alden, . . ..184, 296, 311, 356, 363, 389
Aldrich's Mills, 374
Algonquins (see Hurons).
Allen, Ethan, 1 74
Allen, L. E. , 397, 402
Allen, \Vm., 144
American Navy, 240
Amherst (see Williamsville), 118,
125, 146, 171, 183, 389, 423
Ancient earthworks, etc., 20, 12 1,
124, 173
Anecdotes, 82, 89, 92, 117, 119,
144, 148, 151, 153, 164, 166, 168,
184, 188, 189, 191, 208, 209, 215,
230, 251, 261, 268, 275, 292, 303,
305. 309, 310, 319, 320, 326, 3T,S,
342, 343, 362, 393, 398, 405, 407, 451
Amsdell, Abner, 130
Angus and King's exploit, 217
Anti-masonry, 378, 385, 388, 410
Ararat, 366 to 370
Assembly, members of, 170, 205,
267, 300, 379. 385, 388, 394, 397,
401, 410, 412, 422, 426, 430, 447,
448, 449, 450, 452, 453, 458, 466,
479, 490, 505. 506, 507
Aurora, 123, 132, 173, 184, 297,
314, 387. 389, 411
Austin, \Vm., 185
B.
Babcock, G. R., 406, 408, 440, 443, 447
Bar of the county, 342, 432
Barker, Zenas, 130, 172, 265
Barker, G. P., 401, 410, 433
Barton, J. L., 308, 405
Bass, L. K., 504, 505, 506
Battles, skirmishes, etc., 27, 54,
55, 62, 213, 217, 230, 234, 238,
245 to 250, 281, 286, 469, 471,
474, 481, 482,486, 491, 493, 495,
499, 500
Beaver, the ship, 58, 186
Bemis, J., 112, 130,152,208, 229
Bemis, Mrs., 255
Bennett, D. S., 505
Big Sky, 86
Big Tree road, 113
Bird, W. A., 324, 430
Black Joe, 84
Black Rock, 55, 103, 178, 182,
213 to 220, 234 to 238, 246 to
250, 308, 316, 33', 341, 351, 424, 446
Boies, Wm 299
Boston, 119, 121, 131, 142, 175,
190, 229, 306, 316, 359 to 302, 389
Boundaries of the county, 9
Brant, Joseph, .61, 75, 76
Brant, town of, 37b, 424
Breboeuf and Chaumonot, 25
Brown, Gen. J., 268 to 278, 289
Bull, Capt. J., 235, 236, 247
Burnt Ship bay, 53
Buffalo (see Black Rock), 83, 98 to
100, 114, 125, 147, 152, 162, 170,
181, 193, 250 to 264, 268, 279,
292 to 296, 300, 306, 314, 322,
333, .141, 346, 350, 357, 363, to
375, 388, 434, 447
Buffalo Convention, 437 to 439
Buffalo creek, 15, 63, 69, 75
Buffalo Creek reservation, 93, 100,
376, 422, 428
Buffaloes, 1 7, 25, 69
Buffum, Richard, 186, 332
C.
Canal, Erie, 301, 311, 322, 353,
357, 370 to 372, 375, 400, 434
Captain David, 72
Catholics, 24, 25, 49, 386
Cary, Richard, 131, 174
Cary, Truman, 174, 306, 345, 422
Cary, Calvin, 259
Cat, nation of the (see Erie nation).
Cattaraugus creek, 14, 64
Cattaraugus reservation, 93, 376
Cayuga creek, 15, 193
Cayuga Creek settlement, 173, 357
Cazenove creek, 15
Cheektowaga, 172, 423
Chippewa, battle of, 270 to 276
Champlin, Commodore, 240
Chapin, Dr. C, 116, 160, 200, 213,
216, 227, 239, 241 to 243, 245
to 254, 257, 2,32, 419
Cholera, 398
Churches and church buildings, 142,
145, 177, 180, 184,299, 317, 333,
380, 394, 399, 400, 401, 403
Clarke, A. S., 132, 145, 161, 170,
205, 293, 300, 315
Clark, James, 173, 192, 337, 361
Clans of the Iroquois, 30 to 33.
INDEX.
Clarence, 98, loi, 106, in, 118,
125, 133, 146, 154, 181, 183, 292,
35b, 400
Cochran, Samuel 174
Golden, 186, 383, 389
Colegrove, B. H., 332, 430
Collins (see Lodi and Gowanda),
142, 175, 188, 334, 389, 446
Colvin, Mrs , 122
Concord (see Springville), 143, 187,
189, 299, 334, 389
Congressmen, 179, 182, 224, 267,
293. 300, 315. 330. 354. 35«. 377.
3S4, 388, 397, 401, 410, 422, 430,
439. 441, 447, 449. 45°. 453, 45^,
478, 503, 505, 506
Colby, John, 311 10 313
Conjockety, Philip, .. . 1 17
Curnplanter, 81, 85, 88
Council on Buffalo creek, 76 to 82
County and City Hall, 512
Court-houses, 170, 300, 512
Cronk, James, 315,327, 332
D.
D' Aubrey's expedition, 51 to 53
Devifs Hole, 54
'Devil's Ramroil, 106
Dudley, Maj. W. C, 182, 246, 249
Dutch, the, 23, 38
E.
East Hamburg, 118, 122, 131,
142, 153, 173, 185, 191, 298, 441
Eaton, Rufus, 187, 189,307, 319
Ebenezer Society, 442, 454
Eddy, David,. .. 122, 201, 204, 267, 332
Eden, 175, 190, 201, 262, 299, 305,
333' 354
EUicott, Joseph, 97 to 109, 115,
168, 349
Ellicotl, Benjamin, 102, 300
Elma, 376, 429. 454
Emmons, Dr. C, 356, 426, 430
Emmons, Wales, 319
Eni^iish dominion 54 f^o 59
Episodes (other than battles), 40 to
44, 71 to 73, 76 to 82, 85 to 88,
145 to 150, 221 to 223, 25010 265,
311 to 313, 327 to 329, 346 to
349, 359 to 363, 365 to 370, 370 to
373, 381. 395, 397 to 399, 405 to
409, 413 to 420, 427 to 439, 442 to 444
Erie, old town of, 120, 129, 154
Erie, new town of, 35b, 394
Erie, Fori, 56, 228, 2b9, 279, 281 to 289
Erie nation, 19, 26 to 28
Evans, 123, 141, 176, 209, 318,
332, 333, 350, 354
E.
Fair, first, 332
Farmer's Brother, 54, 79, 84, 89,
165, 232 to 23b, 239, 279 to 281
Fences, 139
Fenno, Moses, 183
Fiddler's Green, 299
Fillmore, Glezen, 177, 294, 317, 327, 3b3
Fillmore, Millard, 355, 384, 385,
387, 394, 397, 401, 410, 422, 42b,
430, 436, 439 to 44', 447. 45°, 460
Fitzgerald, Lord Edwaid, 71, 73
Forty-ninth N. Y. Vols.,4b4, 472,
480, 491 to 494
F'orward, Oliver, .... i8q, 267, 323, 345
G.
Gazette, BufTalo, 194 to 20b, 223,
265, 314
Ganson, John, 46b, 478, 50b
Genesee county, 109, 152 to 154
Geology, 12
Germans, 385, 394, 412, 427, 442
to 444, 454, 465, 511
Germans, (Pennsylvama,) 125
German Young Men's Association,
427, 510
Gilbert Family, b4 10 66
Gowanda (see Lodi), 441
Grand Island, 14, 211, 324, 327 to
329, 3bo, 402, 447
Granger, E.,117, 127, 170, 178, 200,
210, 233, 245
Gillett, J 147, 149
Greenbacks, origin of, 4b7 to 469
Griffin, the, 40 to 42, 185
Griffin's Mills, 311, 339
H.
Hall, N. K., 387, 421, 431, 432,
44^, 511
Hamburg, 119, 141, 185, 201, 209,
2bi, 298, 389, 4+1, 478
Harris' Hill, 14b, 2b5
Hard Times, the, 41 1
Hastings, Chauncey, 350
Halchcis, Norman, 22, 28
Hatch, I. T., 397, 450
Haven, S. G.,..43i, 432, 441, 447, 449
Heacock, R. B., 193, 31b, 332, 374
Hennepin, F'ather, 40 to 42
Flitchcock, Alex., 172, 332, 424
Hodge, Wm., 130, 194, 253, 2b3
Holland, 145, 175, 189, 229, 298,
311 10313, 389
Holland Company, 84, 95, 107,
152, 170, 358, 378, 4"
Holland Purchase, , .97 to 108, 152
Holmes' Hill, 144
Holt's execution, 393
Hopkins, Gen. T. S., 102, 125, 170,
182, 245, 294, 323
Horse bedstead, 135
Horn breeze, 1 79, 317
Hoysington, J 352
Hull, Capt. \Vm....i49, 150, 235, 251
Humphrey, A 145, 229, 323
Humphrey, F'ort, 229
Humphrey, J. M.,. ..450, 490, 503, 505
INDEX.
5
Husking bee, 163
1.
Indians (see Iroquois, Senecas,
Kahquahs, Eries, etc.)
Indian land-sales, 74 to 82, 95, 377,
422, 428
Iroquois, 19, 26, 30 to 40, 42, 60
10 94, 163 to 169, 210, 231 to
239, 245, 262
J-
Jesuits, 24, 49
Johnson, Dr. E., 180, 205, 293,
357, 385. 396. 398
Johnson, Mrs., 256
Johnson, G. W., 387
Johnson, Sir William, 49 to 59
Johnson, C. and O., 119, 121
Johnston, Capt. Wm. ...64, 78, 90, 150
K.
■ Kahquahs, 18, 20, 25 to 28
Kinney, 1). C, 118
Kirkland, Rev. S., 78, 83
L.
Lancaster, 98, 118, 125, 172, 317,
357, 399. 401
Lafayette, 364
La Salle, 39 to 44
Landon, J., 147, 149, 171
Le Couteulx, L. S., 125, 170
Limestone ledge, 12, 426
Lodi, 374, 380, 441
Logging bee, 138
Love, John, 359 to 362
Love, T. C, 383, 385, 401, 431
Lovejoy, Mrs 255 to 257
Lundy's Lane, 276 to 278
M.
Marilla, 376, 386, 429, 448
Marine aftairs, 40, 57, 296, 301,
307, 317, 351, 400
Marriages, 198, 209
Marshall, Dr. J. E., 293, 384, 398
Mather, David, 147
Maybee, Sylvanus, 100, 134., 151
Mayors of Buffalo, 396, 421, 425,
442, 446, 507
McClure, Gen. G., 241 to 244, 259
Medical College, 435
Mechanical Society, 201
Medical Society,. 200
Mobbing a hotel, 222
Monroe, President, 308
Moral Society, the, 295
Morgan's abduction, 377
Moseley, W. A., 412, 430, 511
Murders, 294, 326, 359, 393
N.
Natural characteristics, 12 to 17
Neuter Nation (see Kahquahs).
New Amsterdam (see Buffalo).
Newark, burning of, 242
Newspapers, etc., 194, 224, 293,
314, i22>, 346, 358, 3«o. 385,402,
43'^, 444, 5"
Niagara county, 153, 335
Niagara river, 14
Niagara, Ft. ,46, 48, 51, 53, 63,91, 243
Noah, M. M., 365 to 370, 402
North Collins, 175, 188, 320, 338, 446
O.
Officers, county, 170, 182, 204, 227,
293, 300, 315, 333, 354, 357, 574,
383, 385, 397, 401, 410, 412, 426,
431, 435, 436, 439, 440, 447, 448,
449, 450, 452, 453, 458, 466, 478,
490, 504, 505, 506, 507
Old King, O4, 81
One Hundredth N. Y. Vols., 465,
473 to 476, 481 to 485, 494 to 497
One Hundred and Sixteenth InJ.Y.
Vols., ... 477, 485 to 489, 498 to 502
Ontario county, 83, 109
Osborn, Mrs 145
P.
Palmer, John, 100, 109
Patriot War, 413 to 420
Peacock, VVm 1 14
Perry, Commodore, . . . .226, 239, 242
Peter Gimlet, . . 164
Phelps, Oliver, 74, 78, 82
Pioneering, .... 134 to 140, 15O to 162
Plumb, Ralph, 374
Plumping-mills, 136
Pomeroy, R. M., 221, 264
Porter, Gen. P. B.,179, 182, 217,
219, 221, 227, 233 to 239, 241,
267, 283, 285 to 289, 292, 324,
341, 379, 383
Potter, H. B., 193, 323, 332, 301,
3^3> 367, 384, 385
Pratt, Samuel, 127, 147, 163, 213
Powell, Capt., '. .64, 65, 84, 85
Proctor, Col . , 85 to 88
y.
Queen Charlotte, the, 209
R.
Ransom, Asa, 91, loi, 106, 133,
146, 151, 170, 204, 227, 315
Ransom, Harry B. , 102, 410
Kathbun, Benj.,. 407 to 409
Rebellion, beginning of, 459
Red Jacket, 80, 85 to 89, 167, 210,
231, 239, 269, 271, 275, 276, 292,
303, 324, 347 to 349, 362, 304,
376, 382, 390 392
Recorder's Court, 426, 450
Reed, Israel, 258
Reese, David, 116, 169, 295
Relics 28, 124, 185
Revolution, tire, 60 to 67
Rice, Elihu, 189, 205, 268, 316
Richmond, Gen. E., 175, 2O7, 299,
301, 310, 346
INDEX.
Root, John, 170, 265, 342
Russell, \V. C, 297
S.
Sagoyewatha (see Red Jacket).
Sali>l)ury, Aaron, 176, 209, 426
Sardinia, 175, 189, 265, 290, 332,
334> 350. 389
Scajaquada creek, 15, 83, 100, 247, 281
Schools, etc., 142, 143, 148, 173,
3^9, 399. 421, 435
Scott, Gen. Winfield, . ..267 to 278, 416
Settlement, 104 to 194
Senators, State, 205, 330, 374, 385,
401, 412, 430, 436, 440, 447, 448,
^ 450, 452, 453, 406, 490, 505, 50&, 507
Senecas, The, 19, 45, 47, 49, 52,
54 to 94, no, 163 to 169, 210,
231 to 239, 245, 2fao, 262, 269 to
27<J. 279, 303, 309, 324, 376, 422, 428
Shooting iS'iagara, 388
Silver Greys, 208
Six Nations (see Iroquois).
Slaves in Erie county, 33°
Smith, Daniel, 131,173, 185
Smith, Richard, 185, 300
Smith's Mills, (Aurora), 176, 299
Smith's Mills, (Hamburg), 185, 298,
33'> 337
Smyth, Gen. A., 216 to 221, 225
Somhwick, Geo., 187
Spaulding, E. G. , 467 to 469
Speculation, .... .400, 403, 405 to 408
Spencer, " Father," 290, 299, 310
Springs, stoned up, 29
Springville, 143, 187, 299, 319, 331, 389
Spy, Indian, 279
Stale reservation, ... 73, 99, 377
Staunton, Adjutant, 235 lo 238
Ste|)hens, I'limeas,. ... . 143, 208, 224
Stephens' Mills 243
Storrs, J aba, 170, 182
Sugar- luaking, 159
Superior Court and jiulges, . . . .450, 5^7
Supervisors, iii, 129, 146, 172,
175- >77, 193. 201, 226, 267,293,
300, 306, 314, 323, 330, 345, 354,
35^. 374, 375, 378, 383, 38b, 388,
394, 402, 410, 412, 421, 424, 431,
441, 442, 456, 467, 479, 490, 504, 507
Supreme Court justices, 435, 436,
448, 507
T.
Taylor, Jacob, 142, 175
Tentii -New York Cavalry, 466
Thayers, the three, 359 to 363
Timber, original, 16
Tomahawk, anecdote of, 144
Tommy Jimmy, 303, 346 to 349
Tonawanda, 171, 183, 211, 246,
308, 357, 380, 410-
Tonawanda creek, 14 -
Tonawanda reservation, 93,376,422, 428
Topography, 13
Town meeting, first, Ill
Tracy, A. H., 293, 315, 330, 354,
358, 377, 3«5, 401, 412
Trails, Indian, loi
Transit, West, 99
Treat, Oren, . . . . 1 76
Trowbridge, Dr. J., 201, 227, 412
Tucker, Samuel, 187, 340
Tupper, .Samuel, .... 130, 170, 204, 307
Turkey, John, 320
Twenty-first New York Vols.
462, 469 to 472, 480
V.
Vande venter. P., .... Ill, 129, 146, 171
Volunteers, 221, 228, 285 to 289,
459 to 503
\Y.
Walden, E., 147, 170, 203, 250,
257, 258, 357, 361
Wales, 144, 174, 184, 297, 314,
330. 3^3, 3*^9, 393
Walk-in-the- Water, 316, 351 ■
War for the Union, 459 to 503
Warner, D. S., 297, 389
War of 1812, 207 to 290
Warren, Jabez, 1 13, 123
Warren, Gen.Wm., 132, 143, 151,
170, 182, 205 to 249, 261, 267,
285, 294, 298, 315
Warren, Asa, . . .268, 305, 316, 354, 412
Well and sweej), 157
White Woman, the, 60, 395
White's Corners, 337
Wieihich's Battery,. .465, 478, 485, 497
Wilber, Stcplicn, 188
Wilkeson, Samuel, 250, 264, 293,
307, 322, 331, 5S3, 350 to 353, 357
Williams, Jonas, .... 133, 204, 227, 267
WilliamsviJle, 102, 107, 125, 133,
146, 171, 183, 266, 292, 296, 386, 426
Willink, 120,129, 146, 154, 181,297, 313
Winney, Cornelius, 83, 88, 92
Wood, James, 184, 192, 363, 431
Worth, Gen. W. J., 279, 418
Wright's Corners 142, 298, 337
Wright's Mills, 318
v.
Young King, 85, 167, 237, 295
Young Men's Association, 403
Errata. On page 50, read 1738, instead of 1858. On same page, read ijsg,
instead of 1859. On page 54, read /76J, instead of 1863. On page 130, read Anis-
dell, instead of Amsden. On page 184, read 1801, instead of 1810.
INTRODUCTION.
The "Centennial History of Erie County" is now presented to the pub-
lic, after fifteen months of continuous labor, three more than I expected
to occupy. That there are defects in it is a matter of course — especially
as this is my first historical effort. It is idle, however, to apolo2;ize —
people never pay any attention to apologies — the book will probably go
for what it is worth, and must take its chances among critics and readers.
Had T known, however, the amount of labor involved, and the very
poor pay to be obtained, it is doubtful whether I should have attempted
the task. If any one thinks it easy to harmonize and arrange the im-
mense number of facts and dates here treated of, let him try to learn
the precise circumstances regarding a single event, occurring twenty
years ago, and he will soon find how widely authorities differ.
Doubtless, the most fault will be found by those who think that their
grandfathers have not received due attention — but there was such a host
of grandfathers. If I had even mentioned the tenth part of them, it
would have turned the book into a mere list of names. There are two
or three towns of which I have not made as frequent mention as I had
intended, but this is partly because those towns have furnished no re-
markable crimes, nor astonishing follies, to shock or amuse the reader.
The principal object of this introduction is to give credit where
credit is due. Nearly all the first hundred pages of my history, and
much of the next hundred, are drawn from Turner's "Holland Purchase,"
Ketchum's " Buffalo and the Senecas," and Stone's " Life of Red
Jacket." The still later matter relating to Red Jacket is, also, mostly
from Mr. Stone's work. The story of the "White Woman " is abstracted
from Seaver's biography, while W. P. Letchworth's memoir of the Pratt
family furnishes many incidents of early times.
The sketches of the Twenty-first, One Hundredth and One Hun-
dred and Sixteenth New York Volunteers are condensed from the his-
tories of Mr. J. H. Mills, Major Stowits and Captain Clark. The
record of the Forty-ninth is principally derived from Mr. G. D. Emer-
son's published account. Mr. F. F. Fargo's "Memorial" has likewise
been of much service, and I am indebted to Judge Sheldon, and
Messrs. L. F. Allen and O. G. Steele, for valuable pamphlets ; and to
Messrs. H. W. Rogers, of Michigan, and G. W. Johnson, of Niagara
county, for interesting reminiscences. I am also under especial obliga-
tions to my father, Mr. Wm. C. Johnson, for important assistance.
To the Young Men's Association of Buffalo, I have to return thanks
for the use of its files of early newspapers, and to the Historical Soci-
ety, for similar privileges, not only as to its newspapers, but as to its
vast number of pamphlets and manuscripts. I would also acknowledge
the personal assistance, as well as aid from the libraries, of Messrs.
G. R. Babcock and O. H. Marshall.
8 INTRODUCTION.
But a great part of this history is derived from living lips. I would
tender especial thanks for such aid to General William Warren, now of
Orleans county, but for nearly seventy years a resident of Erie, whom
I visited to consult, and whose memory of the stirring scenes in which
he took an active ])art, is hardly dimmed by his ninety-one years of age.
I would also cordially acknowledge the information received from the
following ladies and gentlemen of the county — old settlers, their de-
scendants, soldiers, and others — information embodied in some of the
most interesting portions of the work before the reader :
Mrs. A. S. Bemis, Mrs. A. C. Fox, Mrs. Dr. Lord, Col. Bird, Gen.
Rogers, Gen. Scroggs, Col. Wiedrich, Rt. Rev. S. V. Ryan, Rev. Drs.
Lord and Heacock, Wm. Hodge. F. W. Tracy, H. Wells, Dr. Dellen-
baugh, E. C. Grey, J- Rieffenstahl and E. Besser, of Buffiilo ; John
Simpson and Urial Driggs, of Tonawanda ; T. A. Hopkins, J. F. Youngs,
Christian Long and John Frick, of Amherst ; Mrs. Lavina Fillmore,
David Vantine, Lindsay Hamlin, Abraham Shope and Col. Beaman,
of Clarence ; Mrs. Lemuel Osborn, L. D. Covey, Mr. Wainwright and
Wm. Denio, of Newstead ; T. and J. Farnsworth and Mr. Hendee, of
Alden ; James Clark, of Lancaster ; Major Briggs, of Elma; G. W. Car-
penter, of Marilla ; Seth Holmes, P. M. Hall, W. C. Russell and D. S.
Warner, of Wales ; Mrs. Judge Paine, Oren Treat, Wm. Boies, John
Darbee, Erasmus Adams and Horace Prentice of Aurora ; Mrs. Sarah
Colvin, J.imes Johnson, Wm. Austin, Thos. Thurber, Allen Potter and
S. V. R. Graves of East Hamburg ; Israel Taylor, Abner Amsdell, A.
C. Calkins, Dr. Geo, Abbott and Dr. S. H. Nott, of Hamburg; Mrs.
Judge Salisbury, Mrs. Root, Col. Ira Ayer, Dr. George Sweetland,
Joseph Bennett, John Hutchinson and Lyman Oatman, of Evans ;
Mrs. Ryther, Miss Warren, Russell, Roswell and John Hill, and
Morris March, of Eden ; Truman Gary, Edward Hatch, Ambrose Tor-
rey and V. R. Gary, of Boston ; Mrs. Sweet, Thomas Buffum and Asa
Gould, of Golden ; Alvin Orr, B. F. Morey, Leander Cook, Peter Colby
and M. L. Dickerman, of Holland ; Mrs. Gen. Nott, Mrs. Hastings,
Clinton Colegrove, Mr. Rice, Hiram Crosby and Jonathan Matthewson,
of Sardinia ; Eaton Bensley, R. C. Eaton, C. C. Smith, C. C. Sever-
ance, Geo. Mayo, Byron Cochran, Jeremiah Richardson and Rev. Mr.
Wells, of Concord ; Mrs. Welch, Robert Arnold, Humphrey Smith,
Isaac Hale, John Sherman and Geo. Wheeler, of North Collins: Ansel
Smith, of Brant ; J. H. McMillan, Geo. Southwick, Augustus Smith,
Caleb Taylor and Col. Cook, of Collins ; Mrs. Wright, B. F. Hall and
N. H. Parker, of the Cattaraugus reservation. Three of the oldest
and most prominent of those whom I consulted last year have since
passed away from life — Dr. Emmons of Concord, James Wood of
Wales, and Alex. Hitchcock of Cheektowaga.
In many cases the information has been presented substantially as
received ; in others, it has been so condensed and worked in with
other matter as hardly to be recognized by those who gave it, but it
is none the less necessary to the completion of a thorough history.
C J.
East Aurora, N. Y., August 23d, 1876.
CENTENNIAL
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
THE SUBJECT.
Beginning of Erie County's History. — When it was named. — Its Bounrraiies. — Its-
Area. — The System pursued.
The history of the county of Erie begins about the year 1620,.
when' the first Europeans visited its vicinity. Before that time
all is either tradition or inference. Afterwards, although the his-
toric trace is often extremely faint, yet it is still to be seen, grow-
ing gradually plainer for a hundred and eighty years, until in
the beginning of the present century it swells into a broad and
beaten pathway, trodden by the feet of scores of surveyors, of
hundreds of pioneers, of thousands of farmers, of tens of thou-
sands of all classes, conditions and nationalities.
But Erie county was not organized with its present name and
boundaries until 1821. The larger and the more interesting part
of its history had at that time already taken place. It is neces-
sary, therefore, to point out that the subject of this work is the
territory comprised within the present bounds of the county of
Erie, together with the inhabitants of that territory, no matter
whether the events recorded occurred before or after the begin-
ning of the independent existence of the county.
The county of Erie, in the State of New York, is situated be-
tween 42° 25' and 43° 6' of north latitude, and between 1° 30' and
10 BOUNDARIES OF THE COUNTY.
2° 20' of longitude west from Washington. It is bounded north-
erly by the center of Tonawanda creek and by the center of the
east branch of Niagara river (between Grand Island and the
mainland) from the mouth of the Tonawanda to the junction
with the west branch; westerly by the line between the United
States and Canada, from the junction up along the center of the
west branch and of the whole river to Lake Erie, and thence
southwesterly along the middle of the .lake to a point where the
international boundary makes a right angle with a line to the
mouth of Cattaraugus creek ; southerly by a line from the point of
intersection just mentioned to the mouth of the Cattaraugus, and
thence up along the center of that creek to the crossing of
the line between the fourth and fifth ranges of the Holland
Company's survey ; and easterly by the line between those
ranges, from the Cattaraugus to the Tonawanda, except that for
six miles opposite the town of Marilla the county line is a mile
and a quarter west of the range line.
The range line is twenty-three miles east of the center of Ni-
agara river at the foot of Lake Erie, and thirty-four and a half
miles east of the mouth of Cattaraugus creek. The extreme
length of the county north and south is forty-three and a halt
miles, and its greatest width, including the lake portion, is about
thirty-nine miles. The land surface contains one thousand and
seventy-one square miles. Besides this it embraces, as we ha\ e
seen, a considerable portion of Lake Erie, amounting as near as
I can compute it to about a hundred and sixty square miles.
This is not generally included in the county, but legally is as
much a part of it as Tonawanda or Sardinia. The whole
amounts to about twelve hundred and thirty square miles.
I have been thus particular in designating the limits of the
county in the beginning, in order to place the subject of this his-
tory clearly before the reader. Whatever has existed or occur-
red within those limits, or has been done by the residents of that
territory, comes within the purview of this work, and if of suffi-
cient consequence will be duly noticed. It will be necessary,
also, to refer occasionally to outside matters, in order to eluci-
date the history of the county and show the succession of events.
Such extraneous references, however, will be very brief, and will
be confined chiefly to a few of the earlier chapters.
THE SYSTEM PURSUED. II
When "Erie county" is spoken of previous to the organiza-
tion and naming of that county, it will be understood that the
words are used to avoid circumlocution, and mean the territory
now included within the boundaries of the county. So, too, for
convenience, the territory now comprised in a town will some-
times be mentioned by its present name, before any such town
was in existence.
J 2 GEOLOGY.
CHAPTER 11.
NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Geology.-The Limestone Ledge.-The " Portage Group. "-Topography -Level
^and in the North.-Rolling Land in the Center.-Hdls South of Center-
Fertile Lands in extreme South.-River and Lake. -Creeks. -Character of
Forests.— Old Prairies. —The Animal Kingdom.— The Buffalo.
Before narrating events. I will give a brief description of the
theater on which those events occurred, and endeavor to answer
the question : What manner of territory was it, the history of
which began two hundred and twenty-six years ago .'
To begin at the foundation. It is known that beneath the
surface accumulations of various kinds of soil the earth is
divided into rocky strata, of widely different natures, to which
various names have been given by scientific observers. These
strata are usually more or less inclined upward, and m common
parlance they "crop out" at the surface, one above the other,
somewhat like a number of boards, which have stood on edge
side by side, and have then fallen down. Lay the clapboarded
side of a house flat on the ground, and it will give some idea of
the manner in which the geological strata overlap each other ;
only they run back under each other for an unknown distance,
instead of merely far enough to drive a nail.
The strata which come to or near the surface in Erie county
incline upward to the north. They all belong to what is called
by our State geologists the " New York system," the rocks being
analoo-ous to the Silurian and Devonian systems of European
scientists. The lowest of the Erie county strata belongs to
what is termed the " Onondaga salt group," and underlies all
that part of the county north of the ledge described in the next
sentence.
Next above this comes the hydraulic (or water lime), Onondaga
and corniferous limestones, which crop out in a ledge from thirty
to sixty feet high, which extends in a direction somewhat north
of east from Black Rock, in the city of Buffalo, through the south-
TOPOGRAPHY. 13
ern part of the towns of Amherst, Clarence and Newstead, to
the Genesee county Hne, and thence for a long distance eastward.
In this stratum the water limestone and the common limestone
are closely intermingled.
Overlapping these limestones, what are called the Marcellus
and Hamilton shales crop out in the central parts of the county,
while still further south the rocks of the " Portage group " appear
on the tops of the hills. The Portage stratum, like all the rest,
dips to the southward, and in Pennsylvania forms the bottom of
the vast coal basins of that State ; so that geologists declare
that the whole of Erie County is too low in the geological sys-
tem for any possible mines of that article.
It is needless to observe that in 1620 geology was an unknown
science, and even if the best educated of Europeans had found
his way to the wilds of Erie county he would have understood
naught of " strata," or " dips," or " Silurian systems." The
other natural characteristics of the county would, however,
have been visible to the naked eye, and the geological descrip-
tion seemed a proper foundation for the rest.
As to the topography, or configuration of the surface, of the
county, it is extremely diversified. North of the limestone ledge
it is almost a perfect level, and near the Tonawanda was origi-
nally swampy. The soil is a deep alluvial loam, and the appear-
ance of the country at the present time reminds the traveler of
the broad, rich bottoms of western rivers.
South of the ledge, for ten or twelve miles, the land, though
more uneven than north of it, is not so much so as is usual east
of the Alleganies, and in its cleared state bears a considerable
resemblance to the upland prairies of the West. The soil is a
clayey loam interspersed with gravel.
A little farther south the surface becomes moderately broken
and the soil gravelly. These are the characteristics of the cen-
tral parts of the county.
Still farther south the ground, except near the lake shore,
begins to rise in hills, which at length attain a height of from
seven to nine hundred feet above the lake. Between these hills
run deep valleys, bearing northwestward toward the lake, and
varying from a few rods to nearly a mile in width. The tops of
the hills generally form level table-lands, covered with a stiff
14 RIVERS AND CREEKS.
clayey soil, while a fertile alluvial loam is found in the valleys.
Along the lake shore, however, and for several miles back, the
land is as level and rich as in the northern portions of the
county.
As one passes from the table-lands just mentioned toward
the northern boundary of the county, the surface descends, and a
fertile, rolling territory again spreads out before him. Just before
reaching Cattaraugus creek there is a range of steep declivities
and rugged bluffs, now known as the " Cattaraugus breakers,"
which extend the whole width of the county. Below these is
only a narrow flat, portions of which are often overflowed by the
turbulent waters of the Cattaraugus.
West of the northern part of this territory, the Niagara river
runs in a very rapid current for a mile after it leaves Lake Erie,
then subsides to a velocity of two and a half miles per hour, and
divides into two streams about five miles below the lake, enclos-
ing Grand Island, ten miles long and nearly as wide. Buckhorn
Island, lying off the farthest point of Grand Island, continues
the county's jurisdiction about a mile farther down, bringing it
within three miles of the world-renowned cataract of Niagara.
South of the head of the river, for six or seven miles, the nar-
row foot of the lake crowds still farther eastward upon the land ;
thence the shore trends away to the southwest, far beyond the
limits of Erie county.
Across the county run numerous creeks, the general course
of all of them being westward or northwestward, and all finally
mingling their waters with Lake Erie or the Niagara river.
Tonawanda creek, as has been said, is the northern boundary of
the county. Its length, according to the general course of its val-
ley and aside from its lesser windings, is near sixty miles, thirty
of which it has run in Genesee county when it strikes the north-
western corner of Erie. On its way to the Niagara, which it
reaches opposite the middle of Grand Island, it receives Murder
creek, a stream about ten miles long, some four miles from the
Genesee county line ; Ransom creek, about fifteen miles long,
empties some twelve miles farther down, and just above its
mouth the Tonawanda is joined by Ellicott or Eleven-Mile
creek, which is not less than twenty-five miles in length. All,
including the Tonawanda, head south of the limestone terrace,
RIVERS AND CREEKS. 15
Murder creek breaking through it at the village of Akron, Ran-
som's creek at Clarence Hollow, and Ellicott creek at Williams-
ville.
Scajaquada creek enters the Niagara two miles below its exit
from the lake, having flowed about fifteen miles in a westerly
direction.
About a mile and a half above the head of the river the prin-
cipal stream of the county flows into Lake Erie. This is Buf-
falo creek, or Buffalo river as it is now called. It is composed
of three branches. The main one, commonly called the Big Buf-
falo, heads in Wyoming county, crosses into Erie after a course
of a few miles, then runs northwestward about fifteen miles, and
then westward fifteen or eighteen miles more to its mouth. Six
miles from the lake it receives Cayuga creek from the north-
east, that stream having followed a general westward course of
about twenty miles. Two or three miles lower down it is joined
on the other side by Cazenove creek, which heads in the extreme
southeast corner of the county, and flows thirty miles northwest,
receiving, about half-way down, the waters of the west branch,
which have run in a generally northern direction for fifteen
miles.
All these distances are merely approximate, and relate to the
general course of the respective streams, and not to their minor
curves.
Five miles south from the mouth of the Buffalo, Smoke's
creek, a twelve-mile stream, enters the lake, and a mile or two
farther up is Rush creek, which is still smaller.
The north branch of the Eighteen-Mile creek heads near the
south bounds of the county, not far from the head of the west
branch of the Cazenove, runs northwesterly twelve miles, then
nearly west about five miles, where it is joined by the south
branch, a stream about twelve miles long, and then the whole
flows five miles westerly, and enters the lake about eighteen
miles from the mouth of the Buffalo.
Eight miles above its mouth is that of the Big Sister, a
stream some fifteen miles long.
The Cattaraugus forms the southern boundary of the county
for thirty miles, and it heads some ten miles east of the county
line. Though it makes a considerable bend to the southward, its
l6 TIMBER AND PRAIRIE LANDS.
mouth is nearly due west of its head. Its tributaries in this
county are all small, the largest being Clear creek, a twelve-mile
stream, entering the Cattaraugus eight miles from its mouth.
There are of course innumerable small streams, which cannot
be mentioned in a mere cursory topographical sketch.
Thus far the natural characteristics of Erie county are the
same now that they were in 1620, and had been for unknown
ages before, save that less water flows along the streams than
when their banks were shaded by the primeval forests. Some
new names have been applied by the white man, but in many
cases even the names remain unchanged.
The outward dress, however, of these hills and valleys is
widely different from what it was two centuries and a half ago.
In the southern part of the county the valleys were covered with
beech and maple, the hills with oak and elm and occasional
bodies of pine, and a little farther north with large quantities of
hemlock. In the center the pine increased in quantity, the land
on both sides of Buffalo creek and its branches being largely
occupied by towering pines of the finest quality. It will be
understood, of course, that these remarks refer only to the prin-
cipal growths in the different sections, all the kinds of timber
named being more or less intermingled, and numerous other
kinds being found in smaller quantities.
In the northern part of the county hardwood trees again
predominated, the low grounds north of the limestone ledge be-
ing thickly covered. Birch appeared in large quantities on the
Tonawanda.
But the tract running east and west through the county, for
some ten miles south of the limestone ledge, was the most pecu-
liar. Here the timber was principally oak, but a great part of
the territory consisted of openings, or prairies, entirely bare of
trees. It is difficult to ascertain their original extent, but there
is no doubt that when the country was first settled, seventy-five
years ago, there were numerous prairies of from fifty acres
apiece down to five. Taking this fact in connection with the
accounts of early travelers, it is almost certain that their extent
had been gradually decreasing, and that a hundred and fifty
years earlier nearly the whole of the tract in question was an
open prairie.
WILD ANIMALS — THE BUFFALO. 1/
This chapter may fitly be closed by a glance at the animals
which originally inhabited the county of Erie, though possibly
they ought to be described in the next one, under the head of
" occupants."
The deer strayed in great numbers through the forest and
darted across the prairies. In the thickest retreats the gray
wolf made his laii'. The black bear often rolled his unwieldly
form beneath the nut-bearing trees, and occasionally the wild
scream of the panther, fiercest of American beasts, startled the
Indian hunter into even more than his usual vigilance. The
hedgehog and the raccoon were common, and squirrels of vari-
ous kinds leaped gaily on the trees. To include the whole ani-
mal kingdom, here the wild turkey and the partridge oft furnished
food for the family of the red hunter, pigeons in enormous quan-
tities yearly made their home within our boundaries, numerous
smaller birds fluttered among the trees, the eagle occasionally
swept overhead from his eyrie by the great cataract, and, besides
some harmless varieties of reptiles, thousands of deadly rattle-
snakes hissed and writhed among the rocks in the northern por-
tion of the county.
Of all these there is no question. But there has been much
dispute whether the lordliest of American beasts ever honored
with his presence the localities which bear his name ; whether
the buffalo ever drank from the waters of Buffalo creek, or
rested on the site of Buffalo city. The question will be dis-
cussed some chapters further on ; at present I will only say that
judging from the prairie-like nature of a portion of the ground,
from the fact that the animal in question certainly roamed over
territory but a little way west of us, from the accounts of early
travelers, from relics which have been discovered, and from the
name which I believe the Indians bestowed on the principal
stream of this vicinity, I have little doubt that the county of
Erie was, in 1620, at least occasionally visited by the pride of
the western plains, the unwieldly but majestic buffalo.
For buffalo, not " bison," is now his true name, and by it he
will invariably be called in this volume. If his name was ever
bison, it has been changed by the sovereign people of America,
(all names may be changed by the law-making power,) and it is
but hopeless pedantry to attempt to revive that appellation.
1 8 THE NEUTER NATION.
CHAPTER III.
OCCUPANTS, NEIGHBORS, ETC.
Early Missionaries.— The Neuter Nation.— The Eries.— The Hurons.— The Iroquois.
Former Occupants. — Fortifications. — Weapons. — Inferences.— The French in
Canada.— The Puritans in New England.— The Dutch in New York.
As was said in the beginning, it was about the year 1620 that
the first knowledge of this region began to reach the ears of
Europeans. In that year three French Cathohc missionaries
came to instruct the Indians Hving in Canada, northwestward
of this locaUty. It does not appear that they visited the shores
of the Niagara, but they obtained some information regarding
the dwellers there, and that knowledge was eked out by the
hardy French hunters and trappers who explored the shores of
the great lakes in search of furs, preceding even the devoted
missionaries of the Cathohc faith.
At that time the county of Erie was in the possession of a
tribe of Indians whom the French called the Neuter Nation.
Their Indian name was sometimes given as the Kahquahs and
sometimes as the Attiwondaronks. The former is the one by
which they are generally known.
The French called them the Neuter Nation because they lived
at peace with the fierce tribes which dwelt on either side of them.
They were reported by their first European visitors to number
twelve thousand souls. This, however, was doubtless a very
o-reat exaggeration, as that number was greater than was to be
found among all the six nations of the Iroquois in the day of
their greatest glory. It is a universal habit to exaggerate the
numbers of barbarians, who cover much ground and make a
large show in comparison with their real strength.
They were undoubtedly, however, a large and powerful nation,
as size and power were estimated among Indian tribes. Their
villages lay on both sides of the Niagara, chiefly the western.
There was also a Kahquah village near the mouth of Eighteen-
Mile creek, and perhaps one or two others on the south shore of
Lake Erie.
"NATION OF THE CAT." I9
The greater part, however, of that shore was occupied by the
tribe from which the lake derives its name, the Eries. These
were termed by the French the " Nation of the Cat," whence
many have inferred that "Erie" means cat; the further inference
being that the city of Buffalo is situated at the foot of Cat lake,
and that this is the Centennial History of the County of Cat.
The old accounts, however, rather tend to show that the name
of "Cat" was applied by the French to both the tribe and the
lake on their own responsibility, on account of the many wild-
cats and panthers found in that locality. " Erie " may possibly
mean wild-cat or panther, but I believe there is no authentic ac-
count of a separate Indian nation calling themselves by the
name of an animal.
Northwest of the Neuter Nation dwelt the Algonquins or
Hurons, reaching to the shores of the great lake which bears
their name, while to the eastward was the home of those power-
ful confederates whose fame has extended throughout the world,
whose civil polity has been the wonder of sages, w^hose warlike
achievements have compelled the admiration of soldiers, whose
eloquence has thrilled the hearts of the most cultivated hearers,
the brave, sagacious and far-dreaded Iroquois. They then
consisted of but five nations, and their " Long House," as they
themselves termed their confederacy, extended from east to
west, through all the rich central portion of the present State
of New York. The Mohawks w^ere in the fertile valley of the
Mohawk river ; the Oneidas, the most peaceful of the confeder-
ates, were beside the lake, the name of which still keeps their
memory green ; then as now the territory of the Onondagas
was the gathering place of leaders, though State conventions
have taken the place of the council fires which once blazed near
the site of Syracuse ; the Cayugas kept guard over the beauti-
ful lake which now bears their name, while westward from
Seneca lake ranged the fierce, untamable Sonnonthouans, better
known as Senecas, the warriors par excellence of the confederacy.
Their villages reached westward to within thirty or fort}- miles
of the Niagara, or to the vicinity of the present village of
Batavia.
Deadly war prevailed between the Iroquois and the Hurons,
and the hostility between the former and the Eries was scarcely
20 EARLY OCCUPANTS.
less fervent. Betwixt these contending foemen the peaceful
Kahquahs long maintained their neutrality, and the warriors of
the East, of the Northwest and of the Southwest suppressed their
hatred for the time, as they met by the council fires of these
aboriginal peace-makers. When first discovered, Erie county
was the land of quiet, while tempests raged around.
Like other Indian tribes, the Kahquahs guarded against sur-
prise by placing their villages a short distance back from any
navigable water ; in this case, from the Niagara river and Lake
Erie. One of those villages was named Onguiaahra, after the
mighty torrent which they designated by that name — a name
which has since been shortened into Niagara.
Li dress, food and customs, the Kahquahs do not appear to
have differed much from the other savages around them ; wear-
ing the same scanty covering of skins, living principally on
meat killed in the chase, but raising patches of Lidian corn,
beans and gourds.
Such were the inhabitants of Erie county, and such their sur-
roundings, at the beginning of its history.
As for the still earlier occupants of the county, I shall dilate
very little upon them, for there is really very little from which
one can draw a reasonable inference. The L'oquois and the
Hurons had been in New York and Canada for at least twenty
years before the opening of this history, and probably for a hun-
dred years more. Their earliest European visitors heard no
story of their having recently migrated from other lands, and
they certainly would have heard it had any such fact existed.
The Kahquahs must also have been for a goodly time in this
locality, or they could not have acquired the influence necessary
to maintain their neutrality between such fierce neighbors.
All or any of these tribes might have been on the ground
they occupied in 1620 any time from a hundred to a thousand
years, for all that can be learned from any reliable source.
Much has been written of mounds, fortifications, bones, relics,
etc., usually supposed to have belonged to some half-civilized
people of gigantic size, who lived here before the Lidians, but
there is very little evidence to justify the supposition.
It is true that numerous earthworks, evidently intended for
fortifications, have been found in Erie county, as in other parts
EARTHWORKS AND PALISADES. 21
of Western New York, enclosing from two to ten acres each,
and covered with forest trees, the concentric circles of which
indicate an age of from two hundred to five hundred years,
with other evidences of a still earlier growth. Some of these
will be mentioned in describing the settlement of the various
towns. They prove with reasonable certainty that there were
human inhabitants here several hundred years ago, and that they
found it necessary thus to defend themselves against their
enemies, but it does not prove that they were of an essentially
different race from the Indians who were discovered here by the
earliest Europeans.
It has been suggested that the Indians never built breast-
works, and that these fortifications were beyond their patience
and skill. But they certainly did build palisades, frequently re-
quiring much labor and ingenuity. When the French first came
to Montreal, they discovered an Indian town of fifty huts, which
was encompassed by three lines of palisades some thirty feet
high, with one well-secured entrance. On the inside was a ram-
part of timber, ascended by ladders, and supplied with heaps of
stones ready to cast at an enemy.
Certainly, those who had the necessary patience, skill and in-
dustry to build such a work as that were quite capable of build-
ing intrenchments of earth. In fact, one of the largest fortresses
of Western New York, known as Fort Hill, in the town of Le
Roy, Genesee county, contained, when first discovered, great
piles of round stones, evidently intended for use against assail-
ants, and showing about the same progress in the art of war as
was evinced by the palisade-builders.
True, the Iroquois, when first discovered, did not build forts of
earth, but it is much more likely that they had abandoned them
in the course of improvement for the more convenient palisade,
than that a whole race of half-civilized men had disappeared
from the country, leaving no other trace than these earthworks.
Considering the light weapons then in vogue, the palisade was
an improvement on the earthwork, offering equal resistance to
missiles and much greater resistance to escalade.
Men are apt to display a superfluity of wisdom in dealing
with such problems, and to reject simple explanations merely
because they are simple. The Indians were here when the
22 THE FRENCH IN CANADA.
country was discovered, and so were the earthworks, and I be-
lieve the former constructed the latter.
It has been claimed that human bones of gigantic size have
been discovered, but when the evidence is sifted, and the con-
stant tendency to exaggerate is taken into account, there will be
found no reason to believe that they were relics of any other
race than the American Indians.
The numerous small axes or hatchets which have been found
throughout Western New York were unquestionably of French
origin, and so, too, doubtless, were the few other utensils of
metal which have been discovered in this vicinity.
On the whole, we may safely conclude that, while it is by no
means impossible that some race altogether different from the
Indians existed here before them, there is no good evidence that
such was the case, and the strong probabilities are that if there
was any such race it was inferior rather than superior to the
people discovered here by the Europeans.
The relations of this section of country to the European pow-
ers was of a very indefinite description. James the First was
on the throne of England, and Louis the Thirteenth was on
that of France, with the great Richelieu as his prime minister.
In 1534, nearly a century before the opening of this history,
and only forty-two years after the discovery of America, the
French explorer, George Cartier, had sailed up the St. Law-
rence to Montreal, and taken possession of all the country round
about on behalf of King Francis the First, by the name of New
France. He made some attempts at colonization, but in 1543
they were all abandoned, and for more than half a century the
disturbed condition of France prevented further progress in
America.
In 1603, the celebrated French mariner, Samuel Champlain,
led an expedition to Quebec, made a permanent settlement
there, and in fact founded the colony of Canada. From Que-
bec and Montreal, which was soon after founded, communica-
tion was comparatively easy along the course of the St. Law-
rence and Lake Ontario, and even up Lake Erie after a por-
tage around the Falls. Thus it was that the French fur-traders
and missionaries reached the borders of Erie county far in ad-
vance of any other explorers.
THE ENGLISH AND DUTCH. 23
In 1606, King James had granted to an association of English-
men called the Plymouth Company the territory of New Eng-
land, but no permanent settlement was made until the 9th day
of November, 1620, when from the historic Mayflower the Pil-
grim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. The English settle-
ments were expected to stretch westward to the Pacific or Great
South Sea, and patents were granted to accommodate this lib-
eral expansion.
In 1609, the English navigator, Henry Hudson, while in the
employ of the Dutch, had discovered the river which bears his
name, and since then the latter people had established fortified
trading posts at its mouth and at Albany, and had opened a
commerce in furs. They, too, made an indefinite claim of ter-
ritory westward. It will be understood that in speaking of "the
Dutch " I do not refer to the Germans, sometimes mistakenly
called by that name, but to the real Dutch, or people of Holland.
All European nations at this time recognized the right of dis-
covery as constituting a valid title to lands occupied only by
scattered barbarians, but there were wide differences as to its ap-
plication, and as to the amount of surrounding country which
each discoverer could claim on behalf of his sovereign.
Thus at the end of 1620 there were three distinct streams of
emigration, with three attendant claims of sovereignty, converg-
ing toward the county of Erie. Let but the French at Mon-
treal, the English in Massachusetts, and the Dutch on the Hud-
son all continue the work of colonization, following the great
natural channels, and all would ultimately meet at the foot of
Lake Erie.
For the time being the French had the best opportunity and
the Dutch the next, while the English were apparently third in
the race.
24 FRENCH TRADERS AND MISSIONARIES.
CHAPTER IV.
FROM 1620 TO 1655.
The French Traders. — Dutch Progress. — The Jesuits. — De la Roche Daillon. — The
Company of a Hundred Partners. — Capture and Restoration of New France.
— Chaumonot and Breboeuf. — Hunting Buffalo. — Destruction of the Kahquahs
and Fries. — Seneca Tradition. — French Account. — Norman Hatchets. —
Stoned-up Springs.
For the first twenty years little occurred directly affecting the
history of Erie county, though events were constantly happening
which aided in shaping its destinies. We learn from casual re-
marks of Catholic writers that the French traders traversed all
this region in their search for furs, and even urged their light bat-
teaux still farther up the lakes.
In 1623, permanent Dutch emigration, as distinguished from
mere fur-trading expeditions, first began upon the Hudson.
The colony was named New Netherlands, and the first governor
was sent thither by the Batavian Republic.
In 1625, a few Jesuits arrived on the banks of the St. Law-
rence, the advance guard of a host of representatives of that
remarkable order, which was in time to crowd out almost all
other Catholic missionaries from Canada and the whole lake re-
gion, and substantially monopolize the ground themselves.
In 1626, Father De la Roche Daillon, a Recollect missionary,
visited the Neuter Nation, and passed the winter preaching the
gospel among them.
In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu organized the company of New
France, otherwise known as the Company of a Hundred Part-
ners. The three chief objects of this association were to extend
the fur trade, to convert the Indians to Christianity, and to dis-
cover a new route to China by way of the great lakes of North
America. The company actually succeeded in extending the
fur trade, but not in going to China by way of Lake Erie, and
not to any great extent in converting the Indians.
By the terms of their charter they were to transport six thou-
THE JESUITS. 25
sand emigrants to Canada and to furnish them with an ample
supply of both priests and artisans. Champlain was made gov-
ernor. His first two years' experience was bitter in the extreme.
The British men-of-war captured his supplies by sea, the Iro-
quois warriors tomahawked his hunters by land, and in 1629 an
English fleet sailed up the St. Lawrence and captured Quebec.
Soon afterward, however, peace was concluded. New France
was restored to King Louis and Champlain resumed his guber-
natorial powers.
In 1628, Charles the First, of England, granted a charter for
the government of the province of Massachusetts Bay. It in-
cluded the territory between latitude 40°2' and 44°i5' north, ex-
tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, making a colony a hun-
dred and fifty-four miles wide and four thousand miles long.
The county of Erie was included within its limits, as was the
rest of Western New York.
The Jesuit missionaries, fired with unbounded zeal and unsur-
passed valor, traversed the wilderness, holding up the cross be-
fore the bewildered pagans. They naturally had much better
success with the Hurons than with the Iroquois, whom Cham-
plain had foolishly attacked on one of his earliest expeditions
to America, and who afterwards remained the almost unvarying
enemies of the French.
The Jesuits soon had flourishing stations as far west as Lake
Huron. One of these was St. Marie, near the eastern extrem-
ity of that lake, and it was from St. Marie that Fathers Bre'-
boeuf and Chaumonot set forth in November, 1840, to visit the
Neuter Nation. They returned the next spring, having visited
eighteen Kahquah villages, but having met with very little en-
couragement among them. They reported the Neuter Indians
to be stronger and finer-looking than other savages with whom
they were acquainted.
In 1 64 1, Father L'Allemant wrote to the Jesuit provincial in
France, describing the expedition of Breboeuf and Chaumonot,
and one of his expressions goes far to settle the question
whether the bufi"alo ever inhabited this part of the country. He
says of the Neuter Nation, repeating the information just ob-
tained from the two missionaries : " They are much employed
in hunting deer, biijfalo. wild-cats, wolves, beaver and other
3
26 DESTRUCTION OF KAHQUAHS AND ERIES.
animals." There is no mention, however, of the missionaries
crossing- the Niagara, and they probably did not, but the pres-
ence of buffalo in the Canadian peninsula increases the likeli-
hood of their sometimes visiting the banks of Buffalo creek.
Up to this time the Kahquahs had succeeded in maintaining
their neutrality between the fierce belligerents on either side,
though the Jesuit missionaries reported them as being more
friendly to the Iroquois than to the Hurons. What cause of
quarrel, if any, arose between the peaceful possessors of Erie
county and their whilom friends, the powerful confederates to
the eastward, is entirely unknown, but sometime during the
next fifteen years the Iroquois fell upon both the Kahquahs
and the Eries and exterminated them, as nations, from the face
of the earth.
The precise years in which these events occurred are uncer-
tain, nor is it known whether the Kahquahs or the Eries first felt
the deadly anger of the Five Nations. French accounts favor
the view that the Neuter Nation were first destroyed, while ac-
cording to Seneca tradition the Kahquahs still dwelt here when
the Iroquois annihilated the Eries. That tradition runs some-
what as follows :
The Eries had been jealous of the Iroquois from the time
the latter formed their confederacy. About the time under
consideration the Eries challenged their rivals to a grand game
of ball, a hundred men on a side, for a heavy stake of furs and
wampum. For two successive years the challenge was declined,
but when it was again repeated it was accepted by the confed-
erates, and their chosen hundred met their opponents near the
site of the city of Buffalo.
They defeated the Eries in ball playing, and then the latter
proposed a foot-race between ten of the fleetest young men on
each side. Again the Iroquois were victorious. Then the Kah-
quahs, who resided near Eighteen-Mile creek, invited the contest-
ants to their home. While there the chief of the Eries pro-
posed a wrestling match between ten champions on each side,
the victor in each match to have the privilege of knocking out
his adversary's brains with his tomahawk. This challenge, too,
was accepted, though, as the veracious Iroquois historians
assert, with no intention of claiming the forfeit if successful.
LAST OF THE ERIE NATION. 2/
In the first bout the Iroquois champion threw his antagonist,
but decHned to play the part of executioner. The chief of the
Eries, infuriated by his champion's defeat, himself struck the
unfortunate wrestler dead, as he lay supine where the victor had
flung him. Another and another of the Eries was in the same
way conquered by the Iroquois, and in the same way dis-
patched by his wrathful chief. By this time the Eries were in a
state of terrific excitement, and the leader of the confederates,
fearing an outbreak, ordered his followers to take up their
march toward home, which they did with no further collision.
But the jealousy and hatred of the Eries was still more in-
flamed by defeat, and they soon laid a plan to surprise, and if
possible destroy, the Iroquois. A Seneca woman, who had mar-
ried among the Eries but was then a widow, fled to her own
people and gave notice of the attack. Runners were at once
sent out, and all the Iroquois were assembled and led forth to
meet the invaders.
The two bodies met near Honeoye Lake, half-way between
Canandaigua and the Genesee. After a terrible conflict the
Eries were totally defeated, the flying remnants pursued to
their homes by the victorious confederates, and the whole na-
tion almost completely destroyed. It was five months before
the Iroquois warriors returned from the deadly pursuit.
Afterwards a powerful party of the descendants of the Eries
came from the far west to attack the Iroquois, but were utterly
defeated and slain to a man, near the site of Bufialo, their
bodies burned, and the ashes buried in a mound, lately visible,
near the old Indian church, on the Buffalo Creek reservation.
Such is the tradition. It is a very nice story — for the Iro-
quois. It shows that their opponents were the aggressors
throughout, that the young men of the Five Nations were inva-
riably victorious in the athletic games, and that nothing but
self-preservation induced them to destroy their enem.ies.
Nothing, of course, can be learned from such a story regard-
ing the merits of the war. It tends to show, however, that the
final battle between the combatants was fought near the terri-
tory of the Senecas, and that some at least of the Kahquahs
were still living at the mouth of Eighteen-Mile creek at the time
of the destruction of the Eries.
28 NORMAN HATCHETS.
On the other hand, scattered French accounts go to show that
the Kahquahs were destroyed first; that they joined the Iroquois
in Avarfare against the Hurons, but were unable to avert their
own fate ; that coUisions occurred between- them and their allies
of the Five Nations in 1647, and that open war broke out in
1650, resulting in the speedy destruction of the Kahquahs. Also
that the Iroquois then swooped down upon the Fries, and exter-
minated them, about the year 1653. Some accounts make the
destruction of the Neuter Nation as early as 1642.
Amid these conflicting statements it is only certain that some
time between 1640 and 1655 the fierce confederates of Central
New York " put out the fires " of the Kahquahs and the Fries.
It is said that a few of the former tribe were absorbed into
the community of their conquerors, and it is quite likely that
some of both nations escaped to the westward, and, wandering
there, inspired the tribes of that region with their own fear and
hatred of the terrible Iroquois.
It is highly probable that the numerous iron hatchets which
have been picked up in various parts of the county belonged to
the unfortunate Kahquahs. They are undoubtedly of French
manufacture, and similar instruments are used in Normandy to
this day. Hundreds of them have been found in the valley of
Cazenove creek and on the adjacent hills, a mile or two south of
East Aurora village. Many more have been found in Hamburg,
Boston and other parts of the county.
They are all made on substantially the same pattern, the
blade being three or four inches wide on the edge, running back
and narrowing slightly for about six inches, when the eye is
formed by beating the bit out thin, rolling it over and welding
it. Fach is marked with the same device, namely, three small
circles something less than an inch in diameter, each divided into
four compartments, like a wheel with four spokes.
The Kahquahs were the only Indians who resided in Frie
county while the French controlled the trade of this region, as
the Senecas did not come here, at least in any numbers, until
after the American Revolution. These hatchets would be con-
venient articles to trade for furs, and were doubtless used for
that purpose. It is hardly probable tliat the Indians would
have thrown away such valuable instruments in the numbers
STONED-UP SPRINGS. 29
which have since been found, except from compulsion, and the
disaster which befell the Kahquahs at the hands of the Iroquois
readily accounts for the abandonment of these w'eapons.
Some copper instruments have also been found, doubtless of
similar origin, and, what is harder to account for, several stoned-
up springs. Mr. John S. Wilson informs me that some thirty
years ago he pushed over a partly rotten tree, over a foot in diam-
eter, on his farm two miles south of East Aurora, and directly
under it found a spring, well stoned up. There is no reliable ac-
count of Indians doing such work as that, and it is a fair suppo-
sition that it was done by some of the early French mission-
aries or traders.
30 IROQUOIS POWER.
CHAPTER V.
THE IROQUOIS.
Their System of Clans. — Its Importance. — Its Probable Origin.— The Grand Coun-
cil.— Sachems and War-chiefs. — Method of Descent.— Choice of Sachems. —
Religion. — Natural Attributes. — Family Relations.
From the time of the destruction of the unfortunate Kah-
quahs down to the time the Iroquois sold to the Holland Land
Company, those confederates were by right of conquest the ac-
tual possessors of the territory composing the present county
of Erie, and a few years before making that sale the largest na-
tion of the confederacy made their principal residence within
the county. Within its borders, too, are still to be seen the
largest united body of their descendants.
For all these two hundred and twenty-five years the Iroquois
have been closely identified with the history of Erie county, and
the beginning of this community of record forms a proper point
at which to introduce an account of the interior structure of that
remarkable confederacy, at which we have before taken but an
outside glance.
It should be said here that the name " Iroquois " was never
applied by the confederates to themselves. It was first used by
the French, and, though said to have been formed from two In-
dian words, its meaning is veiled in obscurity. The men of the
Five Nations called themselves " Hedonosaunee," which means
literally, "They form a cabin;" describing in this expressive
manner the close union existing among them. The Indian
name just quoted is more liberally and more commonly ren-
dered, "The Teople of the Long House;" which is more fully
descriptive of the confederacy, though not quite so accurate a
translation.
The central and unique characteristic of the Iroquois league
was not the mere fact of five separate tribes being confederated
together; for such unions have been frequent among civilized
and half-civilized peoples, though little known among the sav-
THE SYSTEM OF CLANS. 3 1
ages of America. The feature that distinguished the People of
the Long House from all the world beside, and which at the
same time bound together all these ferocious warriors as with a
living chain, was the system of clans, extending through all the
different tribes.
Although this clan-system has been treated of in many works,
there are, doubtless, thousands of readers who have often heard
of the warlike success and outward greatness of the Iroquois
confederacy, but are unacquainted with the inner league which
was its distinguishing characteristic, and without which it would
in all probability have met, at an early day, with the fate of
numerous similar alliances.
The word " clan " has been adopted as the most convenient
one to designate the peculiar artificial families about to be de-
scribed, but the Iroquois clan was widely different from the
Scottish one, all the members of which owed undivided allegi-
ance to a single chief, for whom they were ready to fight against
all the world. Yet " clan " is a much better word than " tribe,"
which is sometimes used, as that is the designation ordinarily
applied to a separate Indian nation.
The people of the Iroquois confederacy were divided into
eight clans, or families, the names of which were as follows :
Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron and Hawk.
Accounts differ, some declaring that every clan extended
through all the tribes, and others that only the Wolf, Bear and
Turtle clans did so, the rest being restricted to a lesser number
of tribes. It is certain, however, that each tribe, Mohawks,
Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas or Senecas, contained a part
of the three clans named, and of several of the others.
Each clan formed a large artificial family, modeled on the
natural family. All the members of the clan, no matter how
widely separated among the tribes, were considered as brothers
and sisters to each other, and were forbidden to intermarry.
This prohibition, too, was strictly enforced by public opinion.
All the clan being thus taught from earliest infancy that they
belonged to the same family, a bond of the strongest kind was
created throughout the confederacy. The Oneida of the Wolf
clan had no sooner appeared among the Cayugas, than those of
the same clan claimed him as their special guest, and admitted
2,2 ORIGIN OF CLANS.
him to the most confidential intimacy. The Senecas of the
Turtle clan might wander to the country of the Mohawks, at the
farthest extremity of the Long House, and he had a claim upon
his brother Turtles which they would not dream of repudiating.
Thus the whole confederacy was linked together. If at any
time there appeared a tendency toward conflict between the
different tribes, it was instantly checked by the thought that, if
persisted in, the hand of the Heron must be lifted against his
brother Heron ; the hatchet of the Bear might be buried in
the brain of his kinsman Bear. And so potent was the feeling
that for at least two hundred years, and until the power of the
league was broken by overwhelming outside force, there was no
serious dissension between the tribes of the Iroquois.
It is quite probable that this system of clans was an entirely
artificial but most skillful device, and was the work of some soli-
tary forest-statesman, the predominant genius of his age. It
has little of the appearance of a gradual growth, as will be
seen by noticing some of the circumstances.
The names of the different nations of the confederacy, like
those of other Indian tribes, have no uniformity of meaning,
and were evidently adopted from time to time, as other names
are adopted, from natural fitness. None of them were taken
from any animal, and the adoption of the names of animals
was never customary, so far as separate tribes of Indians were
concerned. But the names of the clans are all taken from the
animal creation — four beasts, three birds and a reptile ; and this
uniformity at once suggests that they were all applied at the
same time. The uniqueness of the clan-system, too, tends to
show that it was an artificial invention, expressly intended to
prevent dissension among the confederates. Nothing like it
has ever grown up among any other people in the world.
The Scotch, as has been said, had their clans, but these were
merely the natural development of the original families. Al-
though the members of each clan were all supposed to be more
or less related, yet, instead of marriage being forbidden within
their own limits, they rarely married outside of them. All the
loyalty of the people was concentrated on their chief, and, in-
stead of being bonds of union, so far as the nation at large was
concerned, they were nurseries of faction.
"THE ROMANS OF THE NEW WORLD." 33
The Romans had their gens, but these, too, were merely nat-
ural families increased by adoption, and, like the Scottish clans,
instead of binding together dissevered sections, they served
under the control of aspiring leaders as seed-plots of dissension
and even of civil war. If one can imagine the Roman gens ex-
tending through all the nations of the Grecian confederacy, he
will have an idea of the Iroquois system, and had such been the
fact it is more than probable that that confederacy would have
survived the era of its actual downfall.
Iroquois tradition ascribes the founding of the league to
an Onondaga chieftain named Tadodahoh. Such traditions,
however, are of very little value. A person of that name may
or may not have founded the confederacy. He may have been
the originator of the clan-system, which appears much more
like the work of a single genius than does the league of tribes.
This latter is most likely to have begun with two or three weak
tribes, and to have increased in the natural manner by the addi-
tion of others.
Whether the Hedonosaunee were originally superior in valor
and eloquence to their neighbors cannot now be ascertained.
Probably not. But their talent for practical statesmanship gave
them the advantage in war, and success made them self-confi-
dent and fearless. The business of the league was necessarily
transacted in a congress of sachems, and this fostered oratorical
powers, until at length the Iroquois were famous among a hun-
dred rival nations for wisdom, courage and eloquence, and were
justly denominated by Volney, " The Romans of the New
World."
Aside from the clan-system just described, which was entirely
unique, the Iroquois league had some resemblance to the great
American Union which succeeded and overwhelmed it. The
central authority was supreme on questions of peace and war,
and on all others relating to the general welfare of the confeder-
acy, while the tribes, like the States, reserved to themselves the
management of their ordinary affairs.
In peace all power was confided to "sachems;" in war, to
" chiefs." The sachems of each tribe acted as its rulers in the
few matters which required the exercise of civil authority.
These same rulers also met in congress to direct the affairs
34 SACHEMS AND WAR-CHIEFS.
of the confederacy. There were fifty in all, of whom the Mo-
hawks had nine, the Oneidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the
Cayugas ten, and the Senecas eight. These numbers, however,
did not give proportionate power in the congress of the league,
for all the nations were equal there.
There was in each tribe the same number of war-chiefs as sa-
chems, and these had absolute authority in time of war. When
a council assembled, each sachem had a war-chief standing be-
hind him to execute his orders. But in a war party the war-
chief commanded and the sachem took his place in the ranks.
This was the system in its simplicity.
Some time after the arrival of the Europeans they seem to
have fallen into the habit of electing chiefs — not war-chiefs — as
counselors to the sachems, who in time acquired equality of
power with them, and were considered as their equals by the
whites in the making of treaties.
It is difficult to learn the truth regarding a political and so-
cial system which was not preserved by any written record. As
near, however, as can be ascertained, the Onondagas had a cer-
tain preeminence in the councils of the league, at least to the
extent of always furnishing a grand sachem, whose authority,
however, was of a very shadowy description. It is not certain
that he even presided in the congress of sachems. That con-
gress, however, always met at the council-fire of the Onondagas.
This was the natural result of their central position, the Mo-
hawks and Oneidas being to the east of them, the Cayugas and
Senecas to the west.
The Senecas were unquestionably the most powerful of all
the tribes, and, as they were located at the western extremity of
the confederacy, they had to bear the brunt of war when it was
assailed by its most formidable foes, who dwelt in that quarter.
It would naturally follow that the principal war-chief of the
league should be of the Seneca Nation, and such is said to have
been the case, though over this, too, hangs a shade of doubt.
As among many other savage tribes,- the right of heirship
was in the female line. A man's heirs were his brother (that is
to say, his mother's son) and his sister's son ; never his own son,
nor his brother's son. The few articles which constituted an
Indian's personal property, even his bow and tomahawk, never
METHOD OF DESCENT. 35
descended to the son of him who had wielded them. Titles,
so far as they were hereditary at all, followed the same law of
descent. The child also followed the clan and tribe of the
mother. The object was evidently to secure greater certainty
that the heir would be of the blood of his deceased kinsman.
It is not supposed to require near as wise a boy to know his
mother as his father.
The result of the application of this rule to the Iroquois sys-
tem of clans was that if a particular sachemship or chieftaincy
was once established in a certain clan of a certain tribe, in that
clan and tribe it was expected to remain forever. Exactly how
it was filled when it became vacant is a matter of some doubt,
but as near as can be learned it was done by the warriors of the
clan, and then the person so chosen was "raised up" by the
congress of sachems.
If, for instance, a sachemship belonging to the Wolf clan of
the Seneca tribe became vacant, it could only be filled by some
one of the Wolf clan of the Seneca tribe. A clan-council was
called, and as a general rule the heir of the deceased was chosen
to his place ; to wit, one of his brothers, or one of his sister's sons,
or even some more distant relative on the mother's side. But
there was no positive law, and the warriors might discard all
these and elect some one entirely unconnected with the deceased.
A grand council of the confederacy was then called, at which
the new sachem was formally " raised up," or as we should say,
"inaugurated" in his office.
While there was no unchangeable custom compelling the clan-
council to select one of the heirs of the deceased as his succes-
sor, yet the tendency was so strong in that direction that an
infant was frequently selected, a guardian being appointed to
perform the functions of the office till the youth should reach
the proper age to do so.
Notwithstanding the modified system of hereditary power in
vogue, the constitution of every tribe was essentially republican.
Warriors, old men, and even women, attended the council, and
made their influence felt. Neither in the government of the
confederacy nor of the tribes was there any such thing as tyr-
anny over the people, though there was plenty of tyranny by
the league over conquered nations.
36 RELIGION AND MORALS.
In fact there was very little government of any kind, and very
little need of any. There were substantially no property inter-
ests to guard, all land being in common, and each man's per-
sonal property being limited to a bow, a tomahawk and a few
deer skins. Liquor had not yet lent its disturbing influence,
and few quarrels were to be traced to the influence of woman,
for the American Indian is singularly free from the warmer pas-
sions. His principal vice is an easily-aroused and unlimited
hatred, but the tribes were so small and enemies so convenient,
that there was no difficulty in gratifying this feeling outside
his own nation. The consequence was that the war-parties
of the Iroquois were continually shedding the blood of their
foes, but there was very little quarreling at home.
They do not appear to have had any class especially set apart
for religious services, and their religious creed was limited to a
somewhat vague belief in the existence of a " Great Spirit," and
several inferior but very potent evil spirits. They had a few
simple ceremonies, consisting largely of dances, one called the
"green corn dance," performed at the time indicated by its name,
and others at other seasons of the year. From a very early date
their most important religious ceremony has been the " burning
of the white dog," when an unfortunate canine of the requisite
color is sacrificed by one of the chiefs. To this day the pagans
among them still perform this rite.
Aside from their political wisdom, and the valor and eloquence
developed by it, the Iroquois were not greatly different from the
other Indians of North America. In common with their fellow-
savages they have been termed "fast friends and bitter enemies."
They were a great deal stronger enemies than friends. Revenge
was the ruling passion of their nature, and cruelty was their
abiding characteristic. Revenge and cruelty are the worst at-
tributes of human nature, and it is idle to talk of the goodness
of men who roasted their captives at the stake. All Indians
were faithful to their own tribes, and the Iroquois were faithful
to their confederacy, but outside these limits their friendship
could not be counted on, and treachery was always to be appre-
hended in dealing with them.
In their family relations they were not harsh to their children,
and not wantonly so to their wives, but the men were invariably
FAMILY RELATIONS. 37
indolent, and all labor was contemptuously abandoned to the
weaker sex. They were not an amorous race, but could hardly
be called a moral one. They were in that respect merely apa-
thetic. Their passions rarely led them into adultery, and mer-
cenary prostitution was entirely unknown, but they were not
sensitive on the question of purity, and readily permitted their
maidens to form the most fleeting alliances with distinguished
visitors.
Polygamy, too, was practiced, though in what might be called
moderation. Chiefs and eminent warriors usually had two or
three wives ; .rarely more. They could be divorced at will by
their lords, but the latter seldom availed themselves of their
privilege.
These latter characteristics the Iroquois had in common with
the other Indians of North America, but their wonderful politico-
social league and their extraordinary success in war were the
especial attributes of the People of the Long House, for a hun-
dred and thirty years the masters, and for more than two cen-
turies the occupants, of the county of Erie.
38 THE IROQUOIS TRIUMPHANT.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM 1655 TO 1679.
The Iroquois triumphant. — Obliteration of Dutch Power. — French Progress. — La
Salle visits the Senecas. — Greenhalph's Estimates. — La Salle on the Niagara.
— Building of the Griffin. — It enters Lake Erie. — La Salle's Subsequent Ca-
reer.— The Prospect in 1679.
From the time of the destruction of the Kahquahs and Eries
the Iroquois lords of Erie county went forth conquering and to
conquer. This was probably the day of their greatest glory.
Stimulated but not yet crushed by contact with the white man,
they stayed the progress of the French into their territories,
they negotiated on equal terms with the Dutch and English, and,
having supplied themselves with the terrible arms of the pale-
faces, they smote with direst vengeance whomsoever of their own
race were so unfortunate as to provoke their wrath.
On the Susquehanna, on the Allegany, on the Ohio, even to
the Mississippi in the west and the Savannah in the south, the
Iroquois bore their conquering arms, filling with terror the dwell-
ers alike on the plains of Illinois and in the glades of Carolina.
They strode over the bones of the slaughtered Kahquahs to new
conquests on the great lakes beyond, even to the foaming cas-
cades of Michillimacinac, and the shores of the mighty Supe-
rior. They inflicted such terrible defeat upon the Hurons, des-
pite the alliance of the latter with the French, that many of the
conquered nation sought safety on the frozen borders of Hud-
son's Bay. In short, they triumphed on every side, save only
where the white man came, and even the white man was for a
time held at bay by these fierce confederates.
Of the three rivals, the French and Dutch opened a great fur-
trade with the Indians, while the New Englanders devoted them-
selves principally to agriculture. In 1664, the English conquered
New Amsterdam, and in 1670 their conquest was made perma-
nent. Thus the three competitors for empire were reduced to
two. The Dutch Lepidus of the triumvirate was gotten rid of,
FRENCH PROGRESS. 39
and henceforth the contest was to be between the Anglo-Saxon
Octavius and the GalHc Antony.
Charles the Second, then King of England, granted the con-
quered province to his brother James, Duke of York, from whom
it was called New York. This grant comprised all the lands
along the Hudson, with an indefinite amount westward, thus
overlapping the previous grant of James the First to the Ply-
mouth Company, and the boundaries of Massachusetts by the
charter of Charles the First, and laying the foundation for a con-
flict of jurisdiction which was afterwards to have important
effects on the destinies of Western New York.
The French, if poor farmers, were indefatigable fur-traders
and missionaries ; but their priests and fur-buyers mostly pur-
sued a route north of this locality, for here the fierce Senecas
guarded the shores of the Niagara, and they like all the rest of
the Iroquois were ever unfriendly, if not actively hostile, to the
French. By 1665, trading-posts had been established at Mich-
illimacinac. Green Bay, Chicago and St. Joseph, but the route
past the falls of Niagara was seldom traversed, and then only by
the most adventurous of the French traders, the most devoted
of the Catholic missionaries.
But a new era was approaching. Louis the Fourteenth was
king of France, and his great minister, Colbert, was anxious to
extend the power of his royal master over the unknown regions
of North America. In 1669, La Salle, whose name was soon
to be indissolubly united to the annals of Erie county, visited
the Senecas with only two companions, finding their four princi-
pal villages from ten to twenty miles southerly from Rochester,
scattered over portions of the present counties of Monroe,
Livingston and Ontario.
In 1673, the missionaries Marquette and Joliet pushed on
beyond the farthest French posts, and erected the emblem of
Christian salvation on the shore of the Father of Waters.
In 1677, Wentworth Greenhalph, an Englishman, visited all
the Five Nations, finding the same four towns of the Senecas
described by the companions of La Salle. Greenhalph made
very minute observations, counting the houses of the Indians,
and reported the Mohawks as having three hundred warriors,
the Oneidas two hundred, the Onondagas three hundred and
40 LA SALLE ON THE NLVGARA.
fifty, the Cayugas three hundred, and the Senecas a thousand.
It will be seen that the Senecas, the guardians of the western
door of the Long House, numbered, according to Greenhalph's
computation, nearly as many as all the other tribes of the con-
federacy combined, and other accounts show that he was not
far from correct.
In the month of January, 1679, there arrived at the mouth of
the Niagara Robert Cavalier de La Salle, a Frenchman of
good family, thirty-five years of age, and one of the most gal-
lant, devoted and adventurous of all the bold explorers who
under many difi'erent banners opened the new world to the
knowledge of the old. Leaving his native Rouen at the age of
twenty-two, he had ever since been leading a life of adventure
in America, having in 1669, as already mentioned, penetrated
almost alone to the strongholds of the Senecas. In 1678, he
had received from King Louis a commission to discover the
western part of New France. He Avas authorized to build such
forts as might be necessary, but at his own expense, being
granted certain privileges in return, the principal of which
appears to have been the right to trade in buffalo skins. The
same year he had made some preparations, and in the fall had
sent the Sieur de La Motte and Father Hennepin (the priest
and historian of his expedition) in advance, to the mouth of the
Niagara. La Motte soon returned.
As soon as La Salle arrived, he went two leagues above the
Falls, built a rude dock, and laid the keel of a vessel with which
to navigate the upper lakes. Strangely enough Hennepin does
not state on which bank of the Niagara this dock was situated,
but it is deemed certain by those who have examined the ques-
tion, especially by O. H. Marshall, Esq., the best authority in
the county on matters of early local history, that it was on the
east side, at the mouth of Cayuga creek, in Niagara county, and
in accordance with that view the little village which has been
laid out there has received the appellation of " La Salic."
Hennepin distinctly mentions a small village of Senecas
situated at the mouth of the Niagara, and it is plain from his
whole narrative that the Iroquois were in possession of the
entire country along the river, and watched the movement with
unceasing jealousy.
LA SALLE AND HIS COMRADES. 4I
The work was carried on throus^h the winter, two Indians of
the Wolf clan of the Senecas being employed to hunt deer for
the French party, and in the spring the vessel was launched,
" after having," in the words of Father Hennepin, " been blessed
according to the rites of our Church of Rome." The new ship,
was named " Le Griffon " (The Griffin) in compliment to the
Count de Frontenac, minister of the French colonies, whose
coat of arms was ornamented with representations of that
mythical beast.
For several months the Griffin remained in the Niagara,
between the place where it was built and the rapids at the head
of the river. Meanwhile Father Hennepin returned to Fort
Frontenac (now Kingston) and obtained two priestly assistants,,
and La Salle superintended the removal of the armament and
stores from below the Falls.
When all was ready the attempt was made, and several times
repeated, to ascend the rapids above Black Rock, but \\ ithout
success. At length, on the seventh day of August, 1679, a
favorable wind sprung up from the northeast, all the Griffin's
sails were set, and again it approached the troublesome rapids.
It was a dimunitive vessel compared with the leviathans of
the deep which now navigate these inland seas, but was a mar-
vel in view of the difficulties under which it had been built. It
was of sixty tons burthen, completely furnished with anchors
and other equipments, and armed with seven small cannon, all
of which had been transported by hand around the cataract.
There were thirty-four men on board the Griffin, all French-
men with a single exception.
There was the intrepid La Salle, a blue-eyed, fair-faced, ring-
leted cavalier, a man fitted to grace the salons of Paris, yet now
eagerly pressing forward to dare the hardships of unknown seas
and savage lands. A born leader of men, a heroic subduer of
nature, the gallant Frenchman for a brief time passes along the
border of our county, and then disappears in the western wilds
where he w'as eventually to find a grave.
There was Tonti, the solitary alien amid that Gallic band,
exiled by revolution from his native Italy, w^ho had been chosen
by La Salle as second in command, and who justified the choice
by his unswerving courage and dev'oted loyalty. There, too, was
4
43 Till-: GRIFFIN ENTERS LAKE ERIE.
Father Hennepin, the earUest historian of these regions, one of
the most zealous of all the zealous band of Catholic priests who,
at that period, undauntedly bore the cross amid the fiercest pa-
gans in America. Attired in priestly robes, having" with him his
movable chapel, and attended by his two coadjutors. Father Hen-
nepin was read}- at an\- time to perform the rites of his Church,
or to share the severest hardships of his comrades.
As the little vessel approached the rapids a dozen stalwart
sailors were sent ashore with a tow-line, and aided with all their
strength the breeze which blew from the north. Meanwhile a
crowd of Iroquois warriors had assembled on the shore, together
with man\- captives whom they had brought from the distant
prairies of the West. These watched eagerly the efforts of the
pale-faces, with half-admiring and half-jealous eyes.
Those efforts were soon successful. By the aid of sails and
tow-line the Griffin surmounted the rapids, all the crew went on
board, and the pioneer vessel of these waters swept out on to
the bosom of Lake Erie. As it did so the priests led in sing-
ing a joyous Te Deum, all the cannon and arquebuses were fired
in a grand salute, and even the stoical sons of the forest, watch-
ing from the shore, gave evidence of their admiration by repeated
cries of " Gannoron I Gannoron I " Wonderful I Wonderful I
This was the beginning of the commerce of the upper lakes,
and like many another first venture it resulted only in disaster
to its projectors, though the harbinger of unbounded success by
others. The Griffin went to Green Bay, where La Salle and
Hennepin left it. started on its return with a cargo oi furs, and
was never heard of more. It is supposed that it sank in a storm
and that all on board perished.
La Salle was not afterwards identified with the history- of Erie
county, but his chivalric achievements and tragic fate have still
such power to stir the pulse and enlist the feelings that one can
hardly refrain from a brief mention of his subsequent career.
After the Griffin had sailed. La Salle and Hennepin went in
canoes to the head of Lake Michigan. Thence, after building a
trading-post and waiting many wear>- months for the return of
his vessel, he went with thirty followers to Lake Peoria on the
Illinois, where he built a fort and gave it the expressive name
of " Creve Ccvur" — Broken Heart. But notwithstanding this
LA SALLE S SUBSLQUENT CAREER. 43
expression of despair his courage was far from exhausted, and,
after sending Hennepin to explore the Mississippi, he with three
comrades performed the remarkable feat of returning to Fort
I-'rontenac on foot, depending on their guns for support.
From Fort Frontenac he returned to Creve Coeur, the garri-
son of which had in the meantime been driven away by the In-
dians. Again the indomitable La Salle gathered his followers,
and in the fore part of 1682 descended the Mississippi to the sea,
being the first European to explore any considerable portion of
that mighty stream. He took possession of the country in the
name of King Louis the Fourteenth, and called it Louisiana.
Returning to France he astonished and gratified the court with
the story of his discoveries, and in 1684 was furnished with a
fleet and several hundred men to colonize the new domain.
Then every thing went wrong. The fleet, through the blunders
of its naval commander, went to Matagorda bay, in Texas. The
store-ship was wrecked, the fleet returned, La Salle failed in an
attempt to find the mouth of the ]\Iississippi, his colony dwin-
dled away through desertion and death to forty men, and at
length he started with sixteen of these, on foot, to return to Can-
ada for assistance. Even in this little band there were those that
hated him, (possibly he was a man of somewhat imperious na-
ture,) and ere he had reached the Sabine he was murdered by
two of his followers, and left unburied upon the prairie.
A lofty, if somewhat haughty spirit, France knows him as the
man who added Louisiana and Texas to her empire, the Missis-
sippi Valley reveres him as the first explorer of its great river,
but by the citizens of this county he will best be remembered as
the pioneer navigator of Lake Erie.
The adventurous Frenchman doubtless supposed, when he
steered the Griffin into that wist inland sea, that he was opening-
it solely to French commerce, and was preparing its shores for
French occupancy. He had ample reason for the supposition.
Communication with the French in Lower Canada was much
easier than with the Anglo-Dutch province on the Hudson, and
thus far the opportunities of the former had been diligently im-
proved.
Had La Salle then climbed the bluff which overlooks the
transformation of the mighty Erie into the rushing Niagara,
44 THE PROSPECT IX 1 679.
and attempted to foretell the destiny of lake and land for the
next two centuries, he would without doubt, and with good
reason, have mentally given the dominion of both land and lake
to the sovereigns of France. He would have seen in his mind's
eye the plains that extended eastward dotted with the cottages
of French peasants, while here and there among them towered
the proud mansions of their baronial masters. He would have
imagined the lake white with the sails of hundreds of vessels
flying the flag of Gallic kings, and bearing the products of their
subjects from still remoter regions, and he would perchance have
pictured at his feet a splendid city, reproducing the tall gables
of Rouen and the elegant facades of Paris, its streets gay with
the vivacious language of France, its cross-capped churches shel-
tering only the stately ceremonies of Rome.
But a far different destiny was in store for our county, due
partly to the chances of war, and partly to the subtle character-
istics of race, which make of the Gaul a good explorer but a
bad colonizer, while the Anglo-Saxon is ever ready to identify
himself with the land to which he may roam.
FRENCH ASCENDENCY. 45
CHAPTER VII.
FRENCH DOMINION.
A Slight Ascendency.— De Nonville's Assault.— Origin of Fort Niagara.— La Hon-
tan's E.xpedition.— The Peace of Ryswick.— Queen Anne's War.— The Iro-
quois Neutral. — The Tuscaroras.— Joncaire. — Fort Niagara Rebuilt. — French
Power Increasing. — Successive Wars. — The Line of Posts. — The Final
Struggle.— The Expedition of D' Aubrey. — The Result.— The Surrender of
Canada.
For the next forty-five years after the adventures of La Salle,
the French maintained a general but not very substantial ascen-
dency in this region. Their voyageurs traded and their mis-
sionaries labored here, and their soldiers sometimes made incur-
sions, but they had no permanent fortress this side of Fort
Frontenac (Kingston) and they were constantly in danger from
their enemies, the Hedonosaunee.
In 1687, the Marquis de Nonville, governor of Nevv^ France,
arrived at Irondiquoit bay, a few miles east of Rochester, with
nearly two thousand Frenchmen and some five hundred Indian
allies, and marched at once against the Seneca villages, situated
as has been stated in the vicinity of Victor and Avon. The
Senecas attacked him on his way, and were defeated, as well
they might be, considering that the largest estimate gives them
but eight hundred warriors, the rest of the confederates not hav-
ing arrived.
The Senecas burned their villages and fled to the Cayugas.
De Nonville destroyed their stores of corn and retired, after
going through the form of taking possession of the country.
The supplies thus destroyed were immediately replenished by
the other confederates, and De Nonville accomplished little ex-
cept still further to enrage the Iroquois. The Senecas, however,
determined to seek a home less accessible from the waters of
Lake Ontario, and accordingly located their principal villages
at Geneva, and on the Genesee above Avon.
De Nonville then sailed to the mouth of the Niagara, where
46 ORIGIN' OF FORT NIAGARA.
he erected a small fort on the east side of the river. This was
the origin of Fort Niagara, one of the most celebrated strong-
holds in America, and which, though a while abandoned, was
afterwards for a long time considered the key of Western New
York.
From the new fortress De Nonvillc sent the Baron La Hon-
tan, with a small detachment of French, to escort the Indian
allies to their western homes. They made the necessary port-
age around the Falls, rowed up the Niagara to Buffalo, and
thence coasted along the northern shore of the lake in their
canoes. All along up the river they were closely watched by
the enraged Iroquois, but were too strong and too vigilant to
permit an attack.
Ere long the governor returned to Montreal, leaving a small
"•arrison at Fort Niagara. These suffered so severely from sick-
ness that the fort was soon abandoned, and it does not appear
to have been again occupied for nearly forty years.
In fact, at this period the fortunes of France in North America
were brought very low. The Iroquois ravaged a part of the
island of Montreal, compelled the abandonment of Forts
Frontenac and Niagara, and alone proved almost sufficient to
overthrow the French dominion in Canada.
The English revolution of 1688, by which James the Second
was driven from the throne, was speedily followed by open war
with France. In 1689, the Count de Frontenac, the same ener-
getic old peer who had encouraged La Salle in his brilliant dis-
coveries, and whose name was for a while borne by Lake Ontario,
was sent out as governor of New France. This vigorous but
cruel leader partially retrieved the desperate condition of the
French colony. He, too, invaded the Iroquois, but accom-
plished no more than De Nonville.
The war continued with varying fortunes until 1697, the Five
Nations being all that while the friends of the English, and
most of the time engaged in active hostilities against the French.
Their authority over the whole west bank of the Niagara, and
far up the south side of Lake Erie, was unbroken, save when a
detachment of French troops was actually marching along the
shore.
At the treaty of Ryswick in 1797, while the ownership of
THE IROQUOIS NEUTRAL. 47
Other lands was definitely conceded to France and England
respectively, that of Western New York was left undecided.
The English claimed sovereignty over all the lands of the Five
Nations, the French with equal energy asserted the authority
of King Louis, while the Hedonosaunee themselves, whenever
they heard of the controversy, repudiated alike the pretensions of
Yonnondio and Corlear, as they denominated the governors
respectively of Canada and New York.
So far as Erie county was concerned, they could base their
claim on the good old plea that they had killed all its previous
occupants, and as neither the English nor French had succeeded
in killing the Iroquois, the title of the latter still held good. In
legal language they were "in possession," and "adverse posses-
sion " at that.
Scarcely had the echoes of battle died away after the peace
of Ryswick, when, in 1702, the rival nations plunged into the
long conflict known as " Queen Anne's War." But by this time
the Iroquois had grown wiser, and prudently maintained their
neutrality, commanding the respect of both French and English.
The former were wary of again provoking the powerful con-
federates, and the government of the colony of New York w^as
very willing that the Five Nations should remain neutral, as
they thus furnished a shield against French and Indian attacks
for the whole frontier of the colony.
But, meanwhile, through all the western country the French
extended their influence. Detroit was founded in 1701. Other
posts were established far and wide. Nothwithstanding their
alliance with the Hurons and other foes of the Iroquois, and
notwithstanding the enmity aroused by the invasions of Cham-
plain, De Nonville and Frontenac, such was the subtle skill of
the French that they rapidly acquired a strong influence among
the western tribes of the confederacy, especially the Senecas.
Even the wonderful socio-political system of the Hedonosaunee
weakened under the influence of European intrigue, and while
the Eastern Iroquois, though preserving their neutrality, were
friendly to the English, the Senecas, and perhaps the Cayugas,
were almost ready to take up arms for the French.
About 17 1 2, an important event occurred in the history of
the Hedonosaunee. The Five Nations became the Six Nations.
48 THE TUSCARORAS.
The Tuscaroras,a powerful tribe of North CaroHna, had become
involved in a war with the whites, originating as usual in a dis-
pute about land. The colonists being aided by several other
tribes, the Tuscaroras were soon defeated, many of them killed,
and many others captured and sold as slaves. The greater part
of the remainder fled northward to the Iroquois, who immedi-
ately adopted them as one of the tribes of the confederac}'.
assigning them a seat near the Oneidas. The readiness of those
haughty warriors to extend the valuable shelter of the Long
House over a band of fleeing exiles is probably due to the fact
that they had been the allies of the Iroquois against other South-
ern Indians, which would also account for the eagerness of the
latter to join the whites in the overthrow of the Tuscaroras.
Not long after this, one Chabert Joncaire, a Frenchman who
had been captured in youth by the Senecas, who had been
adopted into their tribe and had married a Seneca wife, but who
had been released at the treaty of peace, was employed by the
French authorities to promote their influence among the Iro-
quois. Pleading his claims as an adopted child of the nation,
he was allowed by the Seneca chiefs to build a cabin on the site
of Lewiston, which soon became a center of French influence.
All the efforts of the English were impotent either to dislodge
him or to obtain a similar privilege for any of their own people.
"Joncaire is a child of the nation," was the sole reply vouch-
safed to every complaint. Though Fort Niagara was for the
time abandoned, and no regular fort was built at Lewiston, yet
Joncaire's trading-post embraced a considerable group of cabins,
and at least a part of the time a detachment of French soldiers
was stationed there. Thus the active Gauls kept up communi-
cation with their posts in the West, and maintained at least a
slight ascendency over the territory which is the subject of this
history.
About 1725, they began rebuilding Fort Niagara, on the site
where De Nonville had erected his fortress. They did so with-
out opposition, though it seems strange that they could so easily
have allayed the jealousy of the Six Nations. It may be pre-
sumed, however, that the very fact of the French being such
poor colonizers worked to their advantage in establishing a cer-
tain kind of influence amona" the Indians.
THE INCREASE OF FRENCH POWER. 49
Few of them being desirous of engaging in agriculture, they
made httle effort to obtain land, while the English were 'con-
stantly arousing the jealousy of the natives by obtaining enor-
mous grants from some of the chiefs, often doubtless by very
dubious methods. Moreover, the French have always possessed
a peculiar facility for assimilating with savage and half-civilized
races, and thus gaining an influence over them.
Whatever the cause, the power of the French constantly in-
creased among the Senecas. Fort Niagara was their stronghold,
and Erie county with the rest of Western New York was, for
over thirty years, to a very great extent under their control.
The influence of Joncaire was maintained and increased by his
sons, Chabert and Clauzonne Joncaire, all through the second
quarter of the eighteenth century.
In the war between England and France, begun in 1744 and
closed by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, the Six Nations
generally maintained their neutrality, though the Mohawks gave
some aid to the English. During the eight years of nominal peace
which succeeded that treaty, both nations w^ere making constant
efforts to extend their dominion beyond their frontier settle-
ments, the French with the more success. To Niagara, Detroit
and other posts they added Presque Isle, (now Erie,) Venango,
and finally Fort Du Ouesne on the site of Pittsburg; designing
to establish a line of forts from the lakes to the Ohio, and
thence down that river to the Mississippi.
Frequent detachments of troops passed through along this
line. Their course was up the Niagara to Buffalo, thence either
by batteaux up the lake, or on foot along the shore, to Erie, and
thence to Venango and Du Ouesne. Gaily dressed French offi-
cers sped backward and forward, attended by the feathered war-
riors of their allied tribes, and not unfrequently by the Senecas.
Dark-gowned Jesuits hastened to and fro, everywhere receiving
the respect of the red men, even when their creed was rejected,
and using ail their art to magnify the power of both Rome and
France.
It is possible that the whole Iroquois confederacy would have
been induced to become active partisans of the French, had it
not been for one man, the skillful English superintendent of In-
dian affairs, soon to be known as Sir William Johnson. He,
50 THE FINAL STRUGGLE.
having in 1734 been sent to America as the agent of his uncle,
a great landholder in the valley of the Mohawk, had gained
almost unbounded influence over the Mohawks by integrity in
dealing and native shrewdness, combined with a certain coarse-
ness of nature which readily affiliated with them. He had
made his power felt throughout the whole confederacy, and had
been intrusted by the British government with the management
of its relations with the Six Nations.
In 1756, after two years of open hostilities in America, and
several important conflicts, war was again declared between
England and France, being their last great struggle for suprem-
acy in the new world. The ferment in the wilderness grew more
earnest. More frequently sped the gay officers and soldiers of
King Louis from Quebec, and Frontenac,and Niagara, now in bat-
teaux, now on foot, along the w'estern border of our county; stay-
ing perchance to hold a council with the Seneca sachems, then
hurrying forward to strengthen the feeble line of posts on which
so much depended. In this war the Mohawks were persuaded
by Sir William Johnson to take the field in favor of the English.
But the Senecas were friendly to the French, and were only re-
strained from taking up arms for them by unwillingness to fight
their Iroquois brethren, who were allies of the English.
At first the French were everywhere victorious. Braddock,
almost at the gates of Fort Du Ouesne, was slain, and his army
cut in pieces, by a force utterly contemptible in comparison with
his own. Montcalm captured Oswego. The French line up the
lakes and across to the Ohio was stronger than ever.
But in 1^58 William Pitt became prime minister, and then
England flung herself in deadly earnest into the contest. That
year Fort Du Ouesne was captured by an English and provincial
army, its garrison having retreated. Northward, Fort Frontenac
was seized by Col. Bradstreet, and other victories prepared the
way for the grand success of 1S59. The cordon was broken, but
Fort Niagara still held out for France, still the messengers ran
backward and forward, to and from Presque Isle and Venango,
still the Senecas .strongly declared their friendship for Yon-
nondio and Yonnondio's royal master.
In 1759, yet heavier blows were struck. Wolfe assailed Que-
bec, the strongest of all the French strongholds. Almost at the
EXPEDIflON OF D'AUBRFA'. 51
same time Gen. Prideaux, with two tliousand British and provin-
cials, accompanied by Si'r WilHam Johnson with one thousand
of his faithful Iroquois, sailed up Lake Ontario and laid siege
to Fort Niagara. Defended by only six hundred men, its cap-
ture was certain unless relief could be obtained.
Its commander was not idle. Once again along the Niagara,
and up Lake Erie, and away through the forest, sped his lithe, red-
skinned messengers to summon the sons and the allies of France.
D'Aubrey, at Venango, heard the call and responded with his
most zealous endeavors. Gathering all the troops he could
from far and near, stripping bare with desperate energy the
little French posts of the West, and mustering every red man
he could persuade to follow his banners, he set forth to relieve
Niagara.
Thus it was that about the 20th of July, 1759, while the Eng-
lish army w\as still camped around the walls of Quebec, while
Wolfe and Montcalm were approaching that common grave to
which the path of glory was so soon to lead them, a stirring
scene took place on the western borders of our county. The
largest European force which had yet been seen in this region
at any one time came coasting down the lake from Presque Isle,
past the mouth of the Cattaraugus, and along the shores of
Brant, and Evans, an^ Hamburg, to the mouth of the limpid
Buffalo. Fifty or sixty batteaux bore near a thousand French-
men on their mission of relief, while a long line of canoes were
freighted with four hundred of the dusky warriors of the West.
A motley yet gallant band it was which then hastened along
our shores, on the desperate service of sustaining the failing for-
tunes of France. Gay young officers from the court of the
Grand Monarque sat side by side with sunburned trappers, whose
feet had trodden every mountain and prairie from the St. Law^-
rence to the Mississippi. Veterans who had won laurels under
the marshals of France were comrades of those who knew no
other foe than the Iroquois and the Delawares.
One boat was filled with soldiers trained to obey wath unques-
tioning fidelity every word of their leaders ; another contained
only wild savages, who scarce acknowledged any other law than
their own fierce will. Here flashed swords and bayonets and
brave attire, there appeared the dark rifles and buckskin gar-
52 EXPEDITION OF I)'.\UBREY.
ments of the hard)' luinters, while, still further on, the tomahawks
and scalpintj-knivcs and naked bodies of Ottawa and Huron
braves glistened in the July sun.
There w^ere some, too, among the younger men, who might
fairly have taken their places in either batteau or canoe ; whose
features bore unmistakable evidence of the commingling of
diverse races ; who might perchance have justly claimed kindred
with barons and chevaliers then resplendent in the salojis of
Paris, but who had drawn their infant nourishment from the
breasts of dusky mothers, as they rested from hoeing corn on
the banks of the Ohio.
History has preserved but a slight record of this last struggle
of the French for dominion in these regions, but it has rescued
from oblivion the names of D'Aubrey, the commander, and De
Lignery, his second ; of Monsieur Marini, the leader of the In-
dians ; and of the captains De Villie, Repentini, Martini and
Basonc.
They were by no means despondent. The command contained
many of the same men, both white and red, who had slaughtered
the unlucky battalions of Braddock only two years before, and
they might well hope that some similar turn of fortune would
yet giv^e them another victory over the foes of France.
The Seneca w\irriors, snuffing the battle from their homes on
the Genesee and beyond, were roaming restlessly through Erie
and Niagara counties, and along the shores of the river, uncer-
tain how to act, more friendly to the French than the English,
and yet unwilling to engage in conflict with their brethren of the
Six Nations.
Hardly pausing to communicate with these doubtful friends,
D'Aubrey led his flotilla past the pleasant groves whose place
is now occupied by a great commercial emporium, hurried by
the tall bluff now crowned by the battlements of Fort Porter,
dashed down the rapids, swept on in his eager course untroubled
by the piers of any International bridge, startled the deer from
their lairs on the banks of Grand Island, and only halted on
reaching the shores of Navy Island.
Being then beyond the borders of Erie county, I can give the
remainder of his expedition but the briefest mention. After
staying at Navy Island a day or two to communicate with the
END OF FRENCH POWER. 53
fort, he passed over to the mainland and confidently marched
forward to battle. But Sir William Johnson, who had succeeded
to the command on the death of Prideaux, was not the kind of
man likely to meet the fate of Braddock.
Apprised of the approach of the French, he retained men
enough before the fort to prevent an outbreak of the garrison,
and stationed the rest in an ad\'antageous position on the east
side of the Niagara, just below the whirlpool. After a battle
an hour long the French were utterly routed, several hundred
being slain on the field, and a large part of the remainder being
captured, including the wounded D'Aubrey.
On the receipt of these disastrous news the garrison at once
surrendered. The control of the Niagara river, which had been
in the hands of the French for over a hundred years, passed into
those of the English. For a little while the French held posses-
sion of their fort at Schlosser, and even repulsed an English
force sent against it. Becoming satisfied, however, that they
could not withstand their powerful foe, they determined to
destroy their two armed vessels, laden with military stores. They
accordingly took them into an arm of the river, separating Buck-
horn from Grand Island, at the very north westernmost limit of
Erie county, burned them to the water's edge, and sunk the hulls.
The remains of these hulls, nearly covered with mud and sand,
are still, or were lately, to be seen in the shallow water where
they sank, and the name of "Burnt Ship Bay" perpetuates the
naval sacrifice of the defeated Gauls.
Soon the life-bought victory of Wolfe gave Quebec to the
triumphant Britons. Still the French clung to their colonies
with desperate but failing grasp, and it was not until September,
1760, that the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the governor general of
Canada, surrendered Montreal, and with it Detroit, Venango,
and all the other posts within his jurisdiction. This surrender
was ratified by the treaty of peace between England and France
in February, 1763, which ceded Canada to the former power.
The struggle was over. The English Octavius had defeated
the Gallic Antony. Forever destroyed was the prospect of a
French peasantry inhabiting the plains of Erie county, of baron-
ial castles crowning its vine-clad heights, of a gay French city
overlooking the mighty lake and the renowned river.
54 THE SEN EC AS HOSTILE.
CHAPTER VIII.
ENGLISH DOMINION.
PoMtiac's League.— The Senecas Hostile.— The Devil's Hole.— Battle near Buffalo.
— Treaty at Niagara. — Bradstreel's Expedition.— Israel Putnam. — Lake Com-
merce.— Wreck of the Beaver. — Tryon County.
Notwithstanding the disappearance of the French soldiers,
the western tribes still remembered them with affection, and
were still disposed to wage war upon the English. The cele-
brated Pontiac united nearly all these tribes in a league against
the red-coats, immediately after the advent of the latter, and as
no such confederation had been formed against the French,
during all their long years of possession, his action must be as-
signed to some cause other than mere hatred of all civilized
intruders.
In May, 1863, the league surprised nine out of twelve English
posts, and massacred their garrisons. Detroit, Pittsburg and
Niagara alone escaped surprise, and each successfully resisted a
siege, in which branch of war, indeed, the Indians were almost
certain to fail. There is no positive evidence, but there is little
doubt that the Senecas were involved in Pontiac's league, and
were active in the attack on Fort Niagara. They had been un-
willing to fight their brethren of the Long House, under Sir
William Johnson, but had no scruples about killing the English
when left alone, as was soon made terribly manifest.
In the September following occurred the awful tragedy of the
Devil's Hole, when a band of Senecas, of whom Hbnayewus,
afterwards celebrated as Farmer's Brother, was one, and Corn-
planter probably another, ambushed a train of English army-
wagons, with an escort of soldiers, the whole numbering ninety-
six men, three and a half miles below the F'alls, and massacred
every man with four exceptions.
A few weeks later, on the 19th of October, 1763, there occurred
the first hostile conflict in P^rie county of which there is any
record, in which white men took part. It is said to have been
A BATTLE NEAR 15UEEALO. 55
at the " east end of Lake Erie." but was probably on the river
just below the lake, as there would be no chance for ambushing
boats on the lake shore.
Six hundred British soldiers, under one Major Wilkins, were
on their way in boats to reinforce their comrades in Detroit. As
they approached the lake, a hundred and sixty of them, who
were half a mile astern of the others, were suddenly fired on by
a band of Senecas, ensconced in a thicket on the river shore,
probably on the site of Black Rock. Though even the British
estimated the enemy at only sixty, yet so close was their aim
that thirteen men were killed and wounded at the first fire. The
captain in command of the nearest boats immediately ordered
fifty men ashore, and attacked the Indians. The latter fell back
a short distance, but rallied, and when the British pursued them
they maintained their ground so well that three more men were
killed on the spot, and twelve others badly wounded, including
two commissioned officers. Meanwhile, under the protection of
other soldiers, who formed on the beach, the boats made their
way into the lake, and wereioined by the men who had taken
part in the Tight. It does ,^^v appear that the Indians suffered
near as heavily as the Enghsir , j
This was the last serious attack by the Senecas upon the En-
glish. Becoming at length convinced that the French had really
yielded, and that Pontiac's scheme had failed as to its main pur-
pose, they sullenly agreed to abandon Yonnondio, and be at
peace with Corlear;
In April, 1764, Sir William Johnson concluded peace with eight
chiefs of the Senecas, at Johnson's Hall. At that time, among
other agreements, they formally conveyed to the king of Eng-
land a tract fourteen miles by four, for a carr\'ing place around
Niagara Falls, lying on both sides of the river from Schlossei
to Lake Ontario. This was the origin of the policy of reserv-
ing a strip of land along the river, which was afterwards carried
out by the United States and the State of New York.
This treaty was to be more fully ratified at a council to be
held at Fort Niagara in the summer of 1764. Events in the
West, where Pontiac still maintained active but unavailing hos-
tility to the British, as well as the massacres previously per-
petrated by the Senecas, determined the English commander-
56 bradstreet's expedition'.
in-chief to send a force up the lakes able to overcome all
opposition.
Accordingly, in the summer of 1764, Gen. Bradstreet, an able
officer, with twelve hundred British and Americans, came by-
water to Fort Niagara, accompanied by the indefatigable Sir
William Johnson and a body of his Iroquois warriors. A grand
council of friendly Indians was held at the fort, among whom
Sir William exercised his customary skill, and satisfactor)- trea-
ties were made with them.
But the Senecas, though repeatedly promising attendance in
answer to the baronet's messages, still held aloof, and were said
to be meditating a renewal of the war. At length Gen. Brad-
street ordered their immediate attendance, under penalty of
the destruction of their settlements. They came, ratified the
treaty, and thenceforward adhered to it pretty faithfully, not-
withstanding the peremptory manner in which it was obtained.
In the meantime a fort had been erected on the site of Fort
Erie, the first ever built there.
In August Bradstreet's army, increased to nearly three thou-
sand men, among whom were three hundred Senecas, (who seem
to have Ijeen taken along partly as hostages,) came up the river
to the site of Buffalo. Thence they proceeded up the south side
of the lake, for the purpose of bringing the western Indians to
terms, a task which was successfully accomplished without
bloodshed. From the somewhat indefinite accounts which have
come down to us, it is evident that the journey was made in
open boats, rigged with sails, in which, when the wind was favor-
able, excellent speed was made.
Bradstreet's force, like D' Aubrey's, was a somewhat motley one.
There were stalwart, red-coated regulars, who, when they marched,
did so as one man ; hardy New England militia, whose dress and
discipUne and military maneuvers were but a poor imitation of
the regulars, yet who had faced the legions of France on many
a well-fought field ; rude hunters of the border, to whom all dis-
cipline was irksome ; faithful Indian allies from the Mohawk
valley, trained to admiration of the English by Sir William
Johnson ; and finally the three hundred scowling Senecas, their
hands red from the massacre of the Devil's Hole, and almost
ready to stain them again with luigiish blood.
EARLY LAKE COMMERCE. 57
Of the British and Americans, who then in closest friendship
and under the same banners passed along the western border of
Eric county, there were not a few who in twelve years more were
destined to seek each others lives on the blood-stained battle-
fields of the Revolution. Among them was one whose name was
a tower of strength to the patriots of America, whose voice ral-
lied the faltering soldiers of Bunker Hill, and whose fame has
come down to us surrounded by a peculiar halo of adventurous
valor. This was Israel Putnam, then a loyal soldier of King
George, and lieutenant colonel of the Connecticut battalion.
For a while, however, there was peace, not only between Eng-
land and France, but between the Indians and the colonists.
The Iroquois, though the seeds of dissension had been sown
among them, were still a powerful confederacy, and their war-
parties occasionally made incursions among the western Indians,
striding over the plains of Erie county as they went, and return-
ing by the same route with their scalps and prisoners.
Hither, too, came detachments of red-coated Britons, coming
up the Niagara, usually landing at Fort Erie, where a post was
all the while maintained, and going thence in open boats to De-
troit, Mackinaw, and other western forts. It was not absolutely
necessary to come this way to reach Pittsburgh, since the British
base of supplies was not, like that of the French, confined to the
St. Lawrence, but included Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Along the borders of Erie county, too, went all the commerce
of the upper lakes, consisting of supplies for the military posts,
goods to trade with the Indians, and the furs received in return.
The trade was carried on almost entirely in open boats, pro-
pelled by oars, with the occasional aid of a temporary sail. In
good weather tolerable progress could be made, but woe to any
of these frail craft which might be overtaken by a storm.
The New York Gazette, in February, 1770, informed its read-
ers that several boats had been lost in crossing Lake Erie, and
that the distress of the crews was so great that they were obliged
to keep two human bodies found on the north shore, so as to kill
for food the ravens and eagles which came to feed on the
corpses. This remarkable narrative of what may be called sec-
ond-hand cannibalism, gives a startling picture of the hardships
at that time attending commercial operations on Lake Erie.
5
58 WRECK OF THE BEAVER.
Other boats were mentioned at the same time as frozen up or
lost, but notliing is said as to sail-vessels. There were, however, at
least two or three English trading vessels on Lake Erie before the
Revolution, and probably one or two armed vessels belonging to
the British government. One of the former, called the Beaver,
is known to have been lost in a storm, and is believed by the
best authorities to have been wrecked near the mouth of Eight-
een-Mile creek, and to ha\e furnished the relics found in that
vicinity by early settlers, which by some have been attributed to
the ill-fated Griffin.
The Senecas made frequent complaints of depredations com-
mitted by whites on some of their number, who had villages on
the head waters of the Susquehanna and Ohio. " Cressap's
war," in which the celebrated Logan was an actor, contributed
to render them uneasy, but they did not break out in open hos-
tilities. They, like the rest of the Six Nations, had by this
time learned to place implicit confidence in Sir William John-
son, and made all their complaints through him.
He did his best to redress their grievances, and also sought
to have them withdraw their villages from those isolated localities
to their chief seats in New York, so they would be more com-
pletely under his jurisdiction and protection. Ere this could be
accomplished, however, all men's attention was drawn to certain
mutterings in the political sky, low at first, but growing more
and more angry, until at length there burst upon the country
that long and desolating storm known as the Revolutionary
war.
Before speaking of that it may be proper to remark that, mu-
nicipally considered, all the western part of the colony of New
York was nominally a part of Albany county up to 1772,
though really all authority was divided between the Seneca
chiefs and the ofiicers of the nearest British garrisons. In that
year a new county was formed, embracing all that part of the
colony west of the Delaware river, and of a line running north-
eastward from the head of that stream through the present county
of Schoharie, then northward along the east line of Montgom-
ery. Fulton and Hamilton counties, and continuing in a straight
line to Canada. It was named Tryon, in honor of William
Tryon, then the royal governor of New York. Guy Johnson,
APPROACH OF THE RF.VOLUTION, 59
Sir William's nephew and son-in-law, was the earliest " first
judge " of the common pleas, with the afterward celebrated
John Butler as one of his associates.
As the danger of hostilities increased, the Johnsons showed
themselves more and more clearly on behalf of the King. Sir
William said little and seemed greatly disturbed by the gather-
ing troubles. There is little doubt, however, that, had he lived,
he would have used his power in behalf of his royal master.
But in 1774 he suddenly died. Much of his influence over the
Six Nations descended to his son. Sir John Johnson, and his
nephew, Col. Guy Johnson. The latter became his successor in
the office of superintendent of Indian affairs.
6o THE HOSTILE H^OQUOIS.
CHAPTER IX.
THE REVOLUTION.
Four Iroquois Tribes hostile. — The Oswego Treaty. ^ — Scalps. — Brant. — Guienguah-
toh. — Wyoming. — Cherry Valley. — Sullivan's Expedition. — Senecas settle in
Erie County. — Gilbert Family. — Peace.
In 1775 the storm burst. The Revolution began. The new
superintendent persuaded the Mohawks to remove westward
with him, and made good his influence over all of the Six Na-
tions except the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, though it was near
two years from the breaking out of the war before they com-
mitted any serious hostilities. John Butler, however, estab-
lished himself at Fort Niagara, and organized a regiment of
tories known as Butler's Rangers, and he and the Johnsons used
all their influence to induce the Indians to attack the Americans.
The Senecas held off for awhile, but the prospect of both blood
and pay was too much for them to withstand, and in 1777 they,
in common with the Cayugas, Onondagas and Mohawks, made
a treaty with the British at Oswego, agreeing to serve the king
throughout the war. Mary Jemison, the celebrated " White
Woman," then living among the Senecas on the Genesee, de-
clares that at that treaty the British agents, after giving the In-
dians numerous presents, " promised a bounty on every scalp
that should be brought in."
The question whether a price was actually paid or promised
for scalps has been widely debated. There is not sufiicient evi-
dence to prove that it was done, and the probabilities are that
it was not. Mary Jemison was usually considered truthful, and
had good means of knowing what the Indians understood on
the subject, but the latter were very ready to understand that
they would be paid for taking scalps. An incident on the
American side, which will be narrated in the account of the war
of 18 1 2, will illustrate this propensity of the savages.
As formerly the Senecas, though favorable to the French,
hesitated about attacking their brethren of the Long House, so
THE SENEGAS AT WYOMING. 6 1
now the Oneidas, who were friendly to the Americans, did not
go out to battle against the other Iroquois, but remained neutral
throughout the contest. The league of the Hedonosaunee was
weakened but not destroyed.
From the autumn of 1777 forward, the Senecas, Cayugas, On-
ondagas and Mohawks were active in the British interest. Fort
Niagara again became, as it had been during the French war,
the key of all this region, and to it the Iroquois constantly
looked for support and guidance. Their raids kept the whole
frontier for hundreds of miles in a state of terror, and were at-
tended by the usual horrors of savage warfare.
Whether a bounty was paid for scalps or not, the Indians
were certainly employed to assail the inhabitants with constant
marauding parties, notwithstanding their well-known and invet-
erate habit of slaughtering men, women and children whenever
opportunity offered, or at least whenever the freak happened to
take them. In fact they were good for very little else, their de-
sultory method of warfare making them almost entirely useless
in assisting the regular operations of an army.
The most active and the most celebrated of the Iroquois
chiefs in the Revolution was Joseph Brant, or Thayendenegea, a
Mohawk who had received a moderate English education under
the patronage of Sir William Johnson. He was most frequently
intrusted with the command of detached parties by the British
officers, but it does not appear that he had authority over all the
tribes, and it is almost certain that the haughty Senecas, the
most powerful tribe of the confederacy, to whom by ancient
law belonged both the principal war-chiefs of the league, would
not and did not submit to the control of a Mohawk.
Three of the chiefs of the Senecas in that conflict are well
l^nown — " Farmer's Brother," " Cornplanter," and " Governor
Blacksnake "' ; but who was their chief-in-chief, if I may be
allowed to coin the expression, is not certain. I do not myself
think there was any, but am of the opinion that the leader of
each expedition received his orders directly from the English
officers.
W. L. Stone, author of the life of Brant, says that at the
battle of Wyoming, in 1778, the leader of the Senecas, who
formed the main part of the Indian force on that occasion, was
62 SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION.
Guiengwahtoh, supposed to be same as Guiyahgwahdoh, "the
smoke-bearer." That was the official title of the Seneca after-
wards known as "Young King," he being a kind of hereditary
ambassador, the bearer of the smoking brand from the great
council-fire of the confederacy to light that of the Senecas.
He was too young to have been at Wyoming, but his predeces-
sor in office, (probably his maternal uncle,) might have been
there. Brant was certainly not present.
I have called that affiiir the "battle" instead of the "massacre"
of Wyoming, as it is usually termed. The facts seem to be that
no quarter was given during the conflict, and that after the
Americans were routed the tories and Senecas pursued, and
killed all they could, but that those who reached the fort and
afterwards surrendered were not harmed, nor were any of the
non-combatants. The whole valley, however, was devastated,
and the houses burned.
At Cherry Valley, the same year, the Senecas were present in
force, together with a body of Mohawks, under Brant, and of
tories, under Capt. Walter Butler, son of Col. John Butler, and
there then was an undoubted massacre. Nearly thirty \vomen and
children were killed, besides many men surprised helpless in
their homes.
These events, and other similar ones on a smaller scale, in-
duced congress and General Washington to set on foot an expe-
dition in the spring of 1779, which, though carried on outside
the bounds of Erie county, had a very strong influence on that
county's subsequent history. I refer to the celebrated expedi-
tion of General Sullivan against the Six Nations.
Having marched up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, where
he was joined by a brigade under General James Clinton, (father
of De Witt Clinton,) Sullivan, with a total force of some four
thousand men, moved up the Chemung to the site of Elmira.
There Col. Butler, with a small body of Indians and tories,
variously estimated at from six hundred to fifteen hundred men,
had thrown up intrenchments, and a battle was fought. Butler
was speedily defeated, retired with considerable loss, and made
no further opposition.
Sullivan advanced and destroyed all the Seneca villages on
the Genesee and about Geneva, burning wigwams and cabins,
SENECAS IN ERIE COUNTY. 63
cutting down orchards, cutting- up growing corn, and utterly de-
vastating the country. The Senecas fled in great dismay to
Fort Niagara. The Onondaga villages had in the meantime
been destroyed by another force, but it is plain that the Senecas
were the ones who were chiefly feared, and against whom the
vengeance of the Americans was chiefly directed. After thor-
oughly laying waste their country, the Americans returned to
the East.
Sullivan's expedition substantially destroyed the league which
bound the Six Nations together. Its form remained, but it had
lost its binding power. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras were
encouraged to increase their separation from the other confeder-
ates. Those tribes whose possessions had been destroyed were
thrown into more complete subservience to the British power,
thereby weakening their inter-tribal relations, and the spirits of
the Senecas, the most powerful and warlike of them all, were
much broken by this disaster.
It was a more serious matter than had been the destruction
of their villages in earlier times. They had adopted a more
permanent mode of existence. They had learned to depend
more on agriculture and less on the chase. They had not only
corn-fields, but gardens, orchards, and sometimes comfortable
houses. In fact they had adopted many of the customs of civil-
ized life, though without relinquishing their primitive pleasures,
such as tomakawking prisoners and scalping the dead.
They fled en masse to Fort Niagara, and during the winter of
1779-80, which was one of extraordinary severity, were scantily
sustained by rations which the British authorities with difficulty
procured. As spring approached the English made earnest
efforts to reduce the expense, by persuading the Indians to make
new settlements and plant crops. The red men were naturally
anxious to keep as far as practicable from the dreaded foes who
had inflicted such heavy punishment the year before, and were
unwilling to risk their families again at their ancient seats.
At this time a considerable body of the Senecas, with proba-
bly some Cayugas and Onondagas, came up from Niagara and
established themselves near Buffalo creek, about four miles
above its mouth. This was, so far as known, the first permanent
. settlement of the Senecas in Erie county. They had probably
64 LIEUTENANT JOHNSTON.
had huts here to use while hunting and fishing, but no regular
villages. In fact this settlement of the Senecas, in the spring
of 1780, was probably the first permanent occupation of the
county, since the destruction of the Neuter Nation a hundred
and thirty-five years before.
The same spring another band located themselves at the
mouth of the Cattaraugus.
Those who settled on Buffalo creek were under the leadership
of Siangarochti, or Sayengaraghta, an aged but influential chief,
sometimes called Old King, and said to be the head sachem of
the Senecas. They brought with them two or more more mem-
bers of the Gilbert family, quakers who had been captured on
the borders of Pennsylvania, a month or two previous. After
the war the family published a narrative of their captivity, which
gives much valuable information regarding this period of our
history.
Immediately on their arrival, the squaws began to clear the
ground and prepare it for corn, while the men built some log
huts and then went out hunting. That summer the family of
Siangarochti alone raised seventy-five bushels of corn.
In the beginning of the winter of 1780-81, two British offi-
cers, Capt. Powell and Lieutenant Johnson, or Johnston, came to
the settlement on Buffalo creek, and remained until toward
spring. They were probably sent by the British authorities at
Fort Niagara, to aid in putting the new settlement on a solid
foundation. Possibly they were also doing some fur-trading on
their own account. They made strenuous efforts to obtain the
release of Rebecca and Benjamin, two of the younger mem-
bers of the Gilbert family, but the Indians were unwilling to
give them up.
Captain Powell had married Jane Moore, a girl who, with her
mother and others of the family, had been captured at Cherry
Valley. The " Lieutenant Johnson " who accompanied him to
Buff"alo creek was most likely his half-brother, who afterwards
located at Buffalo, and was known to the early settlers as Cap-
tain William John.ston. There seems to have been no ground
whatever for the supposition which has been entertained by some
that he was the half-breed son of Sir William Johnson. All the
circumstances show that he was not.
THE GILBERT FAMILY. 65
Lieutenant Johnston, who was probably an officer in Butler's
Rangers, was said by Mrs. Jemison to have robbed Jane Moore
of a ring at Cherry Valley, which he afterwards used to marry
the lady he had despoiled. As Jane Moore married Captain
Powell instead of Lieutenant Johnston, this romantic story has
been entirely discredited ; but since it has been ascertained that
Johnston was a half-brother of Powell, it is easy to see how-
Mrs. Jemison might have confounded the tw^o, and that John-
ston might really have furnished the "confiscated" ring for his
brother's wedding instead of his own. Captain (afterwards Col-
onel) Powell is frequently and honorably mentioned in several
accounts, as doing everything in his power to ameliorate the con-
dition of the captives among the Indians.
It must have been about this time that Johnston took unto
himself a Seneca wife; for his son, John Johnston, was a young
man when Buffalo was laid out in 1803.
Elizabeth Peart, wife of Thomas Peart, son of the elder Mrs.
Gilbert by a former husband, was another of the Gilbert family
captives w^ho was brought to Buffalo creek. She had been
adopted by a Seneca family, but that did not induce much
kindness on their part, for they allowed her child, less than a
year old, to be taken from her, and adopted by another family,
living near Fort Niagara. She was permitted to keep it awhile
after its " adoption," but when they went to the fort for provis-
ions, they took her and her infant along, and compelled her to
give it up.
Near the close of the winter of 1780-81, they were again
compelled to go to Fort Niagara for provisions, and there she
found her child, which had been bought by a white family from
the Indians who had adopted it. By many artifices, and by the
connivance of Captain Powell, she finally escaped to Montreal
with her husband and children.
Others of the Gilbert family still remained in captivity.
Thomas Peart, brother of Benjamin, obtained his liberty in the
spring of 1 78 1, and was allowed to go to Buffalo creek with Capt.
Powell, who was sent to distribute provisions, hoes, and other
implements, among the Indians. At the distribution, the chiefs
of every band came for shares, each having as many sticks as
there were persons in his band, in order to insure a fair division.
66 PEACE.
That spring, still another body of Indians came to Buffalo
creek, having with them Abner and Elizabeth Gilbert, the two
youngest children of the family. But this band settled some
distance from the main body, and the children were not allowed
to visit each other.
In July of that year, the family in which Abner Gilbert was
went to " Butlersburg," a little village opposite Fort Niagara,
named after Colonel Butler. The colonel negotiated with the
woman who was the head of the family for Abner, and she
agreed to give him up on receiving some presents. But he was
only to be delivered after twenty days' time. She took him back
to Buffalo creek, but finally returned with him before the stip-
ulated day, and they were sent to Montreal by the first ship.
Meanwhile, the war had gone forward with varying fortunes.
Guy Johnson and Col. Butler kept the Indians at work as busily
as possible, marauding upon the frontier, but they had been so
thoroughly broken up that they were unable to produce such
devastation as at Wyoming and Cherry Valley.
In October, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered, and thenceforth
there were no more active hostilities.
Rebecca Gilbert and Benjamin Gilbert, Jr., were released the
next year. This appears to have been managed by Col. Butler,
who, to give him his due, always seemed willing to befriend the
captives, though constantly sending out his savages to make new
ones. Not until the arrangements were all made did the Indians
inform Rebecca of her approaching freedom. With joj-ful heart
she prepared for the journey, making bread and doing other
needful work for her captors. Then, by canoe and on foot, she
and her brother were taken to Niagara, and, after a conference,
the last two of the ill-fated Gilbert family were released from
captivity in June, 1782.
In the fall of 178^,, peace was formally declared beMveen
Great Britain and the revolted colonies, henceforth to be ac-
knowledged by all men as the United States of America. By
the treaty the boundary line was established along the
center of Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie. Al-
though the forts held by the British on the American side of the
line were not given up for many years afterwards, and though
they thus retained a strong influence ov'er the Indians located
LENGTH OF ENGLISH DOMINION. 6"]
on this side, yet the legal title was admitted to be in the United
States. Thus the unquestioned English authority over the ter-
ritory of Erie county lasted only from the treaty with France,
in 1763, to that with the United States in 1783, a little over
twenty years.
68 TREATY OF FORT STANWIX.
CHAPTER X.
FROM 1783 TO 1788.
Treatment of the Six Nations. — The Treaty of Fort Stanwix. — The Western Bound-
ary.— Origin of the Name of Buffalo. — Mi.ss Powell's Visit. — "Captain
David." — Claims of New York and Massachusetts. — How Settled. — Sale to
Phelps and Gorham. — The Land Rings. — A Council Called.
No provision whatever was made in the treaty of peace for
the Indian alHcs of Great Britain. The English authorities,
however, offered them land in Canada, but all except the Mo-
hawks preferred to remain in New York.
The United States treated them with unexampled modera-
tion. Although the Iroquois had twice violated their pledges,
and without provocation had plunged into the war against the
colonies, they were readily admited to the benefits of peace, and
were even recognized as the owners of all the land over which
they had ranged before the Revolution. The property line, as
it was called, previously drawn between the whites and Indians,
ran along the eastern border of Broome and Chenango counties,
and thence northwestward to a point seven miles west of Rome.
In October, 1784, a treaty was made at Fort Stanwix (Rome)
between three commissioners of the United States and the
.sachems of the Six Nations. The Marquis de la Fayette was
present and made a speech, though not one of the commissioners.
It is almost certain, however, that Red Jacket, then a young
man, who afterwards claimed to have been there, did not really
take any part in the council. Brant was not present, though he
had been active in a council with Governor Clinton, only a short
time before. Cornplanter spoke on behalf of the Senecas, but
Sayengeraghta or " Old King," was recognized as the principal
Seneca sachem.
The eastern boundary of the Indian lands does not seem to
have been in dispute, but the United States wanted to extin-
guish whatever claim the Six Nations might have to the west-
ern territory, and also to keep open the right of way around the
AN OLD BOUNDARY. 69
Falls, which Sir William Johnson had obtained for the British.
It was accordingly agreed that the western line of their lands
should begin on Lake Ontario, four miles east of the Niagara,
running thence southerly, in a direction always four miles east
of the carrying path, to the mouth of Tehoseroron (or Buffalo)
creek, on Lake Erie ; thence south to the north boundary of the
State of Pennsylvania; "thence west to the end of said north
boundary ; thence south along the west boundary of the State
to the river Ohio."
This agreement (if it is correctly given above, and I think it
is) would have left the whole of Chautauqua county and a large
part of Erie and Cattaraugus west of the line. It could hardly
be called a treaty, as the Indians only agreed to it because they
thought they were obliged to, and afterwards made so much com-
plaint that its provisions were somewhat modified.
The treaty of Fort Stanwix was the first public document
containing the name of Buffalo creek, as applied to the stream
which empties at the foot of Lake Erie. The narrative of the
Gilbert family published just after the war was the first appear-
ance of the name in writing or printing.
This is a proper time, therefore, to consider a question which
has been often debated, viz., whether the original Indian name
was " Buffalo" creek. This almost of necessity involves the
further question whether the buffalo ever ranged on its banks;
for it is not to be presumed that the Indians would, in the first
place, have adopted that name unless such had been the case.
It is conceded that the Seneca name for the locality at the
mouth of the creek was "To-se-o-way," otherwise rendered De-
dyo-syo-oh, meaning "the place of basswoods." Te-ho-se-ro-ron
is supposed to be the same word in the Mohawk dialect. It is
therefore believed by some that the interpreter made a mistake
in calling the stream "Buffalo creek " in the treaty of Fort Stan-
wix, and that the Senecas afterwards adopted the name, calling
the creek "Tick-e-ack-gou" or Buffalo.
In the second chapter the writer briefly indicated his reasons
for believing that the buffalo once visited, at least occasionally,
the shores of Buffalo creek. The first fact to be considered is
the unquestioned existence in Erie county of open plains of
considerable extent, only seventy-five years ago. As they were
70 THE BUFFALO QUESTION.
then growing up with small timber, the presumption is that they
were much larger previously, and old accounts coincide with the
presumption.
Numerous early travelers and later hunters mention the ex-
istence of the buffalo in this vicinity or not far away. The
strongest instance, is the account of Chaumonot and Brebceuf,
referred to in the sixth chapter, which declares that the Neuter
Nation, who occupied this very county of Erie, were in the habit
of hunting the buffalo, together with other animals.
Mr. Ketchum, in his history of "Buffalo and the Senecas,"
says that all the oldest Senecas in 1820 declared that buffalo
bones had been found within their recollection at the salt licks,
near Sulphur Springs. The same author produces evidence that
white men had killed buffaloes within the last hundred and twenty
years, not only in Ohio but in Western Pennsylvania.
Albert Gallatin, who was a surveyor in Western Virginia in
1784, declared, in a paper published by the American Ethnolo-
gical Society, that they were at that time abundant in the Ke-
nawha valley, and that he had for eight months lived principally
on their flesh. This is positive proof, and the Kenawha v^alley
is only three hundred miles from here, and only one hundred
miles further west, and in as well wooded a country as this.
Mr. Gallatin adds authentic evidence of their having previously
penetrated west of the Alleganies.
The narrative of the Gilbert family is very strong evidence
that from the first the Senecas applied the name of Buffalo to
the stream in question. Although the book was not published
until after the war, yet the knowledge then given to the public
was acquired in 1780, '81 and '82. At least six of the Gilberts
and Pearts were among the Senecas on Buffalo creek. Some
of them were captives for over two years, and must have ac-
quired considerable knowledge of the language. It is utterly
out of the question that they could all have been mistaken as
to the name of the stream on which they lived, which must have
been constantly referred to by all the Senecas in talking about
their people domiciled there, as well as by the scores of British
officers and soldiers with whom the Gilberts came in contact.
If, then, the Neuter Nation hunted buffaloes in Canada in 1640,
if they were killed by the whites in Ohio and Pennsylvania
MISS roWKLl/S VISIT. 7 1
within the last century and a quarter, if Albert Gallatin found
them abundant on the Kenawha in 1784, if the old Senecas of
1820 declared they had found his bones at the salt lick, and if
the Indians called the stream on which they settled in 1780
"Buffalo" creek, there can be no reasonable doubt that they
knew what they were about, and did so because that name came
down from former times, when the monarch of the western prai-
rie strayed over the plains of the county of Erie.
The same year of the Fort Stanwix treaty (1784) the name
of Tryon county, of which Erie was nominally a part, was
changed to Montgomery, in honor of the slain hero of Quebec.
In May, 1785, Miss Powell, probably a sister of the Captain
Powell before mentioned, visited an Indian council on Buffalo
creek, and has left an interesting description, which I find in Mr.
Ketchum's valuable repertory. After admiring the P^alls, of
which she writes in glowdng terms, her party went in boats to
Fort Erie. Thence they crossed to this side. She was accom-
panied "by Mrs. Powell (Jane Moore), and by several British
officers.
One of her companions, (who had also been an officer, though
I am not certain that he was then one,) was a young Irish no-
bleman, whose name was soon to be raised to a mournful prom-
inence, and whose fruitless valor and tragic fate are still the
theme of ballad and story among the people of his native land.
This was Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who manifested a great fond-
ness for visiting among the Indians, and who found an especial
charm in the society of Brant.
Before the council assembled. Miss Powell noticed several
chiefs, gravely seated on the ground, preparing for it by painting
their faces before small looking-glasses, which they held in their
left hands. She declares there were two hundred chiefs present
as delegates of the Six Nations, which, as there were not over
two thousand warriors in all, was a very liberal allowance of
officers.
The chief of each tribe formed a circle in the shade of a tree,
while their appointed speaker stood with his back against it.
Then the old women came, one by one, with great solemnity, and
seated themselves behind the men. Miss Powell noted, with
evident approval, that "on the banks of Lake P>ie a woman
-J2 "CAPTAIN DAVID."
becomes respectable as she grows old;" and added that, though
the ladies kept silent, nothing was decided without their appro-
bation.
Their fair visitor was wonderful!}' taken with the manly ap-
pearance of the Iroquois warriors, and declared that "our beaux
look quite insignificant beside them." She was especially pleased
with one who was called " Captain David," of whom she gave a
very full account. Indians wearing the old clothes of white men
are common enough now, but a full-fledged Iroquois beau of the
last century was an altogether different personage, and I will
therefore transcribe the substance of the lady's glowing de-
scription.
She declared that the Prince of Wales did not bow with more
grace than " Captain David." He spoke English with propriety.
His person was tall and fine as it was possible to imagine ; his
features handsome and regular, with a countenance of much
softness ; his complexion not disagreeably dark, and, said Miss
P., " I really believe he washes his face ; " the proof being that
she saw no signs of paint forward of his ears.
His hair was shaved off, except a little on top of his head,
which, with his ears, was painted a glowing red. Around his
head was a fillet of silver, from which two strips of black velvet,
covered with silver beads and brooches, hung over the left tem-
ple. A " fox-tail feather " in his scalp lock, and a black one be-
hind each ear, waved and nodded as he walked, while a pafr of
immense silver ear-rings hung down to his shoulders.
He wore a calico shirt, the neck and shoulders thickh' covered
with silver brooches, the sleeves confined above the elbows with
broad silver bracelets, engraved with the arms of England, while
four smaller ones adorned his wrists. Around his waist was a
dark scarf, lined with scarlet, which hung to his feet, while his
costume was completed by neatly fitting blue cloth leggins, fast-
ened w ith an ornamental garter below tlic knee.
Such was the most conspicuous gentleman of Erie county
ninety-one years ago, and Miss Powell enthusiastically declared
that " Captain David made the finest appearance I ever saw in
my life."
Now and then some fair E.nglish maiden has been so smitten
with the appearance of a nati\'e American warrior as to become
CONFLICTING CLAIMS. y ^
his bride, and make her residence within his wig'wam. Miss
Powell, however, was not quite so much charmed by Captain
David as that, since she returned to Fort Erie that evening on
her way to Detroit, leaving Lord Edward Fitzgerald and others
to be entertained that night b}' the dancing of their dusky
friends.
As was stated in Chapter VIII, the colonies of Massachu-
setts and New York had charters under which they could both
claim not only all Central and Western New York, but a strip
of land running through to the Pacific ocean, or at least to the
Mississippi. About the close of the Revolution, however, both
Massachusetts and New York ceded to the United States all
claim to the territory west of a line drawn south from the west-
ern extremity of Lake Ontario, being the present western bound-
ary of Chautauqua county.
After divers negotiations regarding the rest of the disputed
territory, commissioners from the two States interested met at
Hartford, in December, 1786, to endeavor to harmonize their
claims. It was then and there agreed that Massachusetts should
yield all claim to the land east of the present east line of On-
tario and Steuben counties. Also that west of that line New
York should have the political jurisdiction and sovereignty,
while Massachusetts should have the title, or fee-simple, of the
land, subject to the Indian right of occupancy.
That is to say, the Indians could hold the land as long as
they pleased, but were only allowed to sell to the State of Mas-
sachusetts or her assigns. This title, thus encumbered, was
called the preemption right, literally the right of first purchas-
ing. New York, however, reserved a tract a mile wide, along
the eastern shore of the Niagara, from Lake Ontario to Lake
Erie. As, by the treat)' of Fort Stanwix, the lands of the Six
Nations only came within four miles of the river, and did not
extend west of a line running due south from the mouth of
Buffalo creek, it is probable that the United States had since
released the tract in New York west of that line to the Indians,
in response to their numerous complaints.
While these events were transpiring a combination (a "ring"
it would now be called) was formed by prominent men in New-
York and Canada, to get control of the Indian lands in this
6
74 LAND KINGS.
State. Two companies were organized, "The New York and
Genesee Land Company," of which one John Livingston was
tlie manager, and the " Niagara Genesee Company," composed
principally of Canadians, with Col. John Butler at the head.
With him were associated Samuel Street, of Chippewa, Captain
Powell, the friend of the captives, William Johnston, afterwards
of Buffalo, and Benjamin Barton, of New Jersey.
As the State constitution forbade the sale of Indian lands to
individuals, these companies, working together, sought to evade
it by a lease. So great was the influence of Butler and his
friends that in 1787 the Six Nations, or some chiefs claiming to
act for them, gave the New York and Genesee Company a lease
of all their lands (except some small reservations) for nine hun-
dred and ninety-nine years. The consideration was to be
twenty thousand dollars, and an annual rental of two thousand.
The next winter the lessees applied to the legislature for a re-
cognition of their lease, but the intent to evade the law was too
plain ; the petition was promptly rejected and the lease declared
void.
Many of the chiefs, whether truly or not, declared this lease
to have been made without authority. We may note, as con-
firming what has been said of the influence of the female sex
among these savages, that in a letter sent by several chiefs from
Buffalo creek, in the spring of 1788, they say the lease is void,
"since not one sachem nor principal woman had given their
consent."
The lease having been declared void, the lessees next pro-
posed to procure a conveyance by the Indians of all their lands
to the State, provided the State would reimburse Livingston
and his associates for all their expenses, and convey to than half
the land. This specimen of "cheek" can hardly be exceeded
even in these progressive days, considering that, by this propo-
sition, Livingston, Butler and company would have got some
four or five million acres of the finest land in America as a
free gift. However, the proposition was promptly rejected.
In 1788 Massachusetts sold all her land in New York, about
six million acres, to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, act-
ing on behalf of themselves and others, for one million dollars,
in three equal annual installments, the purchasers being at lib-
A COUNCIL CALLED. 75
erty to pay in certain stocks of that State, then worth about
twenty cents on the dollar.
The purchase was subject of course to the Indian right of oc-
cupancy. Phelps, the active man of the firm, made an arrange-
ment with Livingston, who agreed, doubtless for a consideration,
to help him negotiate a treaty with the Indians. But mean-
while there was a disagreement between Livingston's and But-
ler's companies, and when Phelps arrived at Geneva, where a
council was to have been held, he learned that Butler and Brant
had assembled the Indians at Buffalo creek, and had persuaded
them not to meet with either Livingston or Phelps. Finding
that Butler and his friends had the most influence over the
savages, Phelps went to Niagara, came to a satisfactory ar-
rangement with them, and then procured the calling of a coun-
cil at Buffalo creek.
It assembled on the fifth of July. The proceedings were
very quiet and harmonious, for Butler and Brant made every-
thing move smoothly. There was little dispute, little excite-
ment, and none of those impassioned bursts of eloquence
for which Indian orators have become famous ; yet the noted
men present at that council make it one of the most remarka-
ble assemblages ever convened in the county of Erie. A sepa-
rate chapter will therefore be devoted to it and them.
-j6 THAVENDENEGEA.
CHAPTER XI.
THE COUNCIL.
Brant. — Butler. — Kirkland. — Phelps. — Farmer's Brother. — Red Jacket. — Cornplant-
er. — The Mill-seat. — The Bargain. — Butler's Pay.
By far the most celebrated personage present in the council
on Buffalo creek in July, 1788, was the Mohawk chieftain,
called in his native tongue Thayendenegea, but denominated
Joseph when he was taken under the patronage of Sir William
Johnson, and known to fame throughout England and America
b}' the name of Brant. A tall, spare, sinewy man of forty-five,
with an intelligent but sinister countenance, gorgeously appar-
eled in a dress which was a cross between that of a British offi-
cer and of an Indian dandy, his gaudy blanket thrown back
from his shoulders to display his gold epaulets, and his mili-
tary coat eked out by the blue breech-cioth and leggins of the
savage, the vain but keen-witted Mohawk doubtless enjoyed
himself as the observed of all observers, but at the same time
kept a sharp lookout for the main chance ; having acquired a
decidedly civilized relish for land and money.
Brant has acquired a terrible reputation as a bold and blood-
thirsty leader of savages, but it would appear as if both his
vices and his virtues were of the civilized — or semi-civilized —
stamp. He had a mind which took easily to the instruction of
the white man — though his education was only mediocre — and
before the Revolution he had become a kind of private secretary
to Col. Guy Johnson ; a position that to a thorough-going In-
dian would have been irksome in the extreme. Even the Mo-
hawks did not then look up to him as a great warrior, and on
the outbreak of hostilities chose as their chief his nephew, Peter
Johnson, son of Sir William by Brant's sister Molly.
But the British found Brant the most intelligent of the In-
dians, and by using him they could most easily insure coopera-
tion in their own plans. They therefore intrusted him with nu-
COLONEL BUTLER. -J-J
merous expeditions, ahd the Mohawks readily yielded to his
authority. So, too, perhaps, did some of the Cayugas and On-
ondagas, but the evidence is strong that the Senecas never
obeyed him. After the war, however, he was looked up to by
all the Indians, on account of his influence with the British
officials.
In the matter of cruelty, too, though perhaps not a very hu-
mane man according to our standard, he was much less savage
than most of his countrymen, and there is abundant evidence of
his having many times saved unfortunate prisoners from torture
or death. Albeit there is also evidence of his having taken
some lives needlessly, but never of his inflicting torture.
As he grew older he aff"ected more and more the style of an
English country gentleman, at his hospitable residences at Brant-
ford and Burlington Bay, and finally died, in 1807, in the odor
of sanctity, a member of the Episcopal church and a translator
of the Scriptures into the Mohawk dialect !
' Another active participant in the council, with a reputation
scarcely less extensive or less sinister, was Col. John Butler, the
leader of " Butler's Rangers," the commander at the far-famed
" Massacre of Wyoming," the terror of ten thousand families,
the loyal gentleman of British records, the " infamous Butler "
of border history.
In this case, as in many others, probably the devil was not so
black as he has been painted, but he was a good deal of a devil
after all. The " Massacre of Wyoming," as I have said, is per-
haps hardly entitled to that name. But Colonel Butler Avas the
most active agent in sending and leading the savages against the
frontier, knowing that it was impossible at times to restrain them
from the most horrible outrages. Again and again they mur-
dered individuals and families in cold blood ; again and again
they dragged women and children from their homes hundreds of
miles through the snows of winter, often slaughtering those too
feeble to travel ; and again and again John Butler, the great
military authority of all this region, sent or led them to a repe-
tition of similar scenes — and they were good for little else —
easily satisfying his conscience by sometimes procuring the re-
lease of a prisoner.
A native of Connecticut, a man of education and intelligence.
yS SAMUEL KIRKLAXD.
once a judge of the count}' of Trj-on, then a bold, acti\-e and
relentless partisan commander, cheering on his rangers and Sen-
ecas at Wyoming, sword in hand, without his uniform and with
a red 'kerchief tied around his head, Butler was in 1788 an
agreeable appearing gentleman of fifty-five or sixty, stout and
red-faced, in cocked hat and laced coat, with unbounded influ-
ence over the Indians, and determined to use it so as to make a
good thing for himself out of the lands of Western New York.
There, too, was the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the agent of Mas-
sachusetts, a man of noble character and varied experience.
Twenty-three years before, then a young man just graduated
from college, he had devoted himself to the missionary cause
among the Indians, going at first among these same Senecas,
and making many friends, though meeting with some very dis-
heartening adventures. Then he had taken up his home with
the Oneidas and labored among them with some intermissions
nearly forty years, ever receiving their most earnest affection
and respect. It had been largely owing to his influence that
that tribe had remained neutral during the revolution. Congress
had employed him in various patriotic services throughout that
struggle, and during Sullivan's campaign he had served as bri-
gade chaplain. Fourteen years after the events we are now
relating, he gained a new title to public gratitude by becoming
the founder of Hamilton College, (though it then received only
the modest title of Hamilton Oneida Academy,) giving it a
liberal endowment out of lands granted him by the State for his
services.
On this occasion he acted not only as agent for Massachusetts
but as one of the interpreters, there being three others, one of
whom was William Johnston. This is the first positive appear-
ance of one who was afterwards to exercise a powerful influence
over the future of Buffalo — who was, in fact, to decide whether
there should be any city of l^uffalo or not. There is, however,
little doubt that he was identical with the "Lieutenant Johnson,"
heretofore mentioned, who visited the Senecas in 1780, and also
with the Lieutenant Johnson whom Mrs. Jemison mentions as
taking part in the Cherry Valley raid.
Shrewd, persistent, enterprising, a typical business man of
the day was Oliver Phelps, a Connecticut Yankee by birth, a
FARMER S BROTHER. 79
son of the Bay State by adoption, a New Yorker by subsequent
residence. He had been an active and influential participant in
the Revokition, and was now, as the agent of an association of
Massachusetts speculators, negotiating for the purchase of a
principality. Removing soon after to Canandaigua, and super-
intending there the sale of the vast domain which he and his
associates had purchased, he was to the day of his death looked
up to with profound respect by the residents of "Phelps and
Gorham's Purchase." But his keenness in a bargain is well illus-
trated by a transaction at this very council, narrated a little
further on.
Among the Indian owners of the land the most eminent was
Honayewus, who had for several years been recognized as prin-
cipal war-chief of the Senecas, and who had lately received the
name of "Farmer's Brother" from the lips of Washington. The
latter, anxious to make agriculture respectable among the Indi-
ans, declared himself a farmer in conversation with Honayewus,
and also saluted him as his brother. The chieftain, proud of the
attention paid him by the g;reat hero of the pale-faces, readily
accepted the title of "Farmer's Brother," and ere long was uni-
versally known by that name among the whites.
A strong, stalwart warrior, of gigantic frame and magnificent
proportions, straight as an arrow, though nearly sixty years old,
plainly attired in full Indian costume, with eagle eye, frank,
open countenance, commanding port and dignified demeanor.
Honayewus was, more than Brant, or Red Jacket, or Cornplant-
er, the beau ideal of an Iroquois chief. Though an eloquent
orator, second only to Red Jacket in all the Six Nations, he was
preeminently a warrior, and as such had been followed by the
Senecas through many a carnival of blood. It is to be pre-
sumed, too, that he had had his share in scenes of cruelty, for,
though a peaceable man in peace, he was a savage like his
brethren, and, like a savage, he waged war to the knife.
Thirty years before he had been one of the leaders in the ter-
rible tragedy of the Devil's Hole, when nearly a hundred Eng-
lish soldiers were ambushed and slain, 'and flung down into the
darksome gorge. He had borne his part in many a border foray
throughout the Revolution, had led the fierce charge of the Sen-
ecas when they turned the scale of battle at Wyoming, and had
So RED JACKET.
perhaps been an actor in the more dreadful scenes of Cherry
Valley. Now he had become the friend of peace, the foe of in-
temperance, the conservator of order ; and wherever a Seneca
village was found, on the banks of the Buffalo or the Cattarau-
gus, of the Genesee or the Allegany, the presence of Farmer's
Brother was greeted, the name of Honayewus was heard, ^\•ith
the respect due to valor, wisdom and integrity.
There, too, was the more celebrated but less respected leader,
who had lately been made a chief by the honorable name of
Sagoyewatha, "The Keeper Awake," (literally, "he keeps them
awake" — a tribute to his oratorical po\\ers which man}' a con-
gressman might envy,) but who was generally known among
the whites by the ridiculous appellation which he transmitted to
his descendants, the far-famed Red Jacket.
He, too, had been an actor in the border wars, but had gained
no laurels in them. Brant and Cornplanter both hated him, de-
claring him to be both a coward and a traitor. They were
accustomed to tell of the time when he made a glowing speech,
urging the Senecas to battle, but, while the conflict was going
on, was discovered cutting up the cow of another Indian, which
he had killed. He was at that time frequently called "The
Cow-Killer," and that name was inserted in two or three public
documents, being afterwards crossed out and "Red Jacket"
substituted.
The treason with which he was charged seems to have con-
sisted in making various efforts for peace, during Sullivan's
campaign, without the sanction of the war-chiefs. At one time
he is said to have clandestinely sent a runner to the American
camp, inviting a flag of truce. Brant heard of the proceeding,
and had the unlucky messenger intercepted and killed. Proba-
bly some of the stories regarding his timidity and treachery are
false, but there are a good many of them, and they all point the
same way.
Notwithstanding all this, such was the charm of his eloquence,
of which the Iroquois were always great admirers, and such the
clearness of his intellect, that he was rapidly gaining in influence,
and had been made a chief ; that is, as I understand it, a civil
chief, or counselor of the sachems.
At the beginning of the Revolution he was a youth of about
CORN PLANTER. 8 I
twenty. The British' officers had been attracted by his intelH-
gence, and had frequently employed him as a messenger, for
which he was as well qualified by his fleetness of foot as by his
shrewdness of mind. They had compensated him by a succes-
sion of red jackets, in which he took great pride, and from which
he derived his name.
Slender of form and subtle of face, clad in the most gorgeous
of Indian raiment, Sagoyewatha doubtless attracted the atten-
tion of the whites, but he had little opportunity to display his
powers, for Brant and the omnipotent Butler had got everything
arranged in the most satisfactory manner.
There, too, was Captain John O'Bail, or Abeel, more widely
known as Cornplanter. Half white by blood, but thoroughly
Indian by nature, he had been one of the bravest and most suc-
cessful chiefs of the Senecas during the war, but was now under
a cloud among his people, because of his assent to the treaty of
Fort Stanwix. He is said by Mrs. Jemison to have captured
his own father, the old white trader, John Abeel, in one of his
raids, but to have released him after taking him a few miles.
Farmer's Brother and Red Jacket both lived on Buffalo creek,
but Cornplanter's residence was on the Allegany, in Pennsylva-
nia, w^here a band of Senecas looked up to him as their leader.
Sayengeraghta, "Old King," .or "Old Smoke," as he was vari-
ously termed, was, if living, still the principal civil sachem of the
Senecas, but his mildness and modesty prevented his taking a
prominent part among so many great warriors and orators.
Besides all these there was a host of inferior chiefs, whose
rank gave them a right to take part in the council, while close
by were the other warriors of the tribes, painted and plumed,
who had no vote in the proceedings, but who, in the democratic
system of the Six Nations, might have a potent influence if they
chose to exercise it.
A number of British officers from Forts Niagara and Erie
added splendor to the scene, and last, not least, was a row of
old squaws, mothers in Israel, seated in modest silence behind
the chiefs, but prepared if need be to express an authoritative
opinion on the merits of the case — a right which would have
been recognized by all.
Such was the varied scene, and such the actors in it, on the
banks of Buffalo creek, a little over eighty-seven years ago.
82 A LARCR MILL-SEAT.
The council, as I have said, was very harmonious. The Indi-
ans were wilHng to sell a part of their land, and apparently were
not \ery particular about the price. The only dispute was
whether the west line of the territory sold should be alons;" the
Genesee river or, as Phelps desired, some distance this side. The
Indians insisted that the Great Spirit had fixed on that stream
as the boundar)' between them and the whites.
After several days discussion, Phelps suggested that he
wanted to build some mills at the falls of the Genesee, (now
Rochester,) which would be \'er}' convenient for Indians as well
as whites. Would his red brethren let him have a mill-seat, and
land enough for convenience around it.
Oh, yes, certainly, mills would be a fine thing, and their w liite
brother should have a mill-seat. How much land did he want
for that purpose ?
After due deliberation Phelps replied that he thought a strip
about twelve miles wide, extending from Avon to the mouth of
the river, twenty-eight miles, would be about right !
The Indians thought that would be a pretty large mill-seat,
but as they supposed the Yankees knew best what was necessary
for the purpose they let him have the land. As it contained
something over 2OO,O00 acres it was probably the largest mill-
seat ever known.
From Avon south, the west line of the purchase was to run
along the Genesee to the mouth of the Caneseraga, and thence
due south to the Pennsylvania line. This was "Phelps and Gor-
ham's Purchase." It included about 2,600,000 acres, and the
price was left by the complaisant aborigines to Col. Butler,
Joseph Brant and h'Jisha Lee, Mr. Kirkland's assistant. They
fixed the price at five thousand dollars in hand, and five hun-
dred dollars annually, forever. This was about equal to twelve
thousand dollars in cash, or half a cent an acre.
Two weeks later we find Col. Butler calling on Mr. Phelps b)'
letter for a conveyance of twenty thousand acres of the land, in
accordance with a previous arrangement. Phelps duly trans-
ferred the land to the persons designated by Butler. Consider-
ing that the colonel had been one of the referees to fix the price,
this transfer looks as if some of the Indian operations of that
era would not bear investigating any better than those of later
date.
THE FIRST WIIITK RESIDENT.
CHAPTER XII.
FROM 1788 TO 1797.
" Skendyoiigliwatti."— First White Resident. — A Son of Africa.— Tlie Flollaiul Pur-
chase.— Proctor's Visit. — British Influence. — Woman's Rights. — Final Fail-
ure.—The Indians Insolent. — Wayne"s Victory.— Johnston, Middaugh and
Lane. — The Forts Surrendered.— Asa Ransom.— The Mother's Strategy —
First White Child. — The Indians Sell Out.— Reservations.
Mr. Kirkland made another journey to Buffalo creek the next
fall, seeking to pacify those Indians who were discontented re-
garding the sale just made by the Senecas, and also about those
made by other tribes to the State of lands farther east. He
mentions seeking the aid of the second man of influence
among the Senecas on Buffalo creek, "Skendyoughwatti." This
fearful-looking name I understand to be the same as that called
" Conjockety " by the early settlers, and which their descendants
have transmuted into Scajaquada.
In returning, Kirkland says he lodged at "the Governor's vil-
lage," on the Genesee, and adds : " The Governess had set out
for Niagara near a week before. I had not her aid in the coun-
cil." This "Governess" is mentioned in other accounts, and seems
to have been a very important • personage, but who she was, or
what her functions, is among the mysteries of local history.
In 1789 the county of Ontario was erected from Montgomery,
(to which name that of Tryon county has been changed,) in-
cluding the whole of the Massachusetts land, or substantially
all west of Seneca Lake ; a territory now comprising thirteen
counties and two parts of counties.
About this time, certainly before 1791, and probably in 1789,
the first white man took up his permanent residence in Erie
county. This was Cornelius Winne, or Winney, a Hudson river
Dutchman, who established a little log store for trading with the
Indians on the site of Buffalo, at the foot of the hill which old
residents still remember as existing at the Mansion House. This
was four miles from the main Seneca village, but there were
84 THE HOLLAND PURCHASE.
scattered luits all the way down tlie creek to Farmer's Point,
where Farmer's Brother Hved. Captain Powell had an interest
in Winney's store.
I call Winney the first resident, for though William Johnston
had spent much time among the Senecas, as a kind of British
agent, and had taken a Seneca wife, there is no evidence that he
had made his permanent abode among them.
Almost as soon as the earliest white man — possibly preceding
him — the irrepressible African made his advent in our county ;
for in 1792 I find "Black Joe," alias Joseph Hodge, established
as an Indian trader on Cattaraugus creek, and from the way in
which he is mentioned I infer that he had already been there a
considerable time.
Meanwhile the adoption of the Federal Constitution had
caused a great rise in Massachusetts stocks, so that Phelps and
Gorham were unable to make the payments they had agreed on.
After much negotiation, Massachusetts released them from
their contract as to all the land except that to which they had
extinguished the Indian title, to wit, " Phelps and Gorham's
Purchase." Of that the State gave them a deed in full.
Massachusetts at once sold the released land in five tracts
to Robert Morris, the merchant prince of Philadelphia, and the
celebrated financier of the Revolution. The easternmost of these
tracts Mr. Morris sold out in small parcels. The remaining four
constituted the "Holland Purchase." Mr. Morris sold it by four
conveyances (not corresponding, however, to the four given b}-
Massachusetts) made in 1792 and '93, to several Americans who
held it in trust for a number of Hollanders, who being aliens
could not hold it in their own name. As they did not begin the
settlement of the county until several years later, it is unneces-
sary to say more of them here.
In 1791 there was great uneasinesss among the Indians, even
in this vicinity, and in the West they were constantly committing
depredations. The British still held all the forts on the Ameri-
can side of the boundary line, in open violation of the treaty of
peace, alleging that the Americans had also failed to comply
with its provisions. To what extent they encouraged the In-
dians to hostilities is not known, but in view of the protecto-
rate which they openh' assumed over the savages, and which the
troctor's visit. 85
latter acknowledged, it cannot well be doubted that the English
influence was hostile to the United States.
In April, 1791, Col. Thomas Proctor, a commissioner ap-
pointed by the War Department, came from Philadelphia to
Cornplanter's villages on the Allegany, thence, accompanied by
that chief and many of his warriors, to the Cattaraugus settle-
ment, and then down the beach of the lake to Buffalo creek.
Horatio Jones, the celebrated captive and interpreter, was also of
the party. Proctor's object was to persuade the Senecas to use
their influence to stop the hostilities of the western Indians,
(against whom Gen. St. Clair was then preparing to move,) and
to that end to send a delegation of chiefs along with him on a
mission to the Miamis. His journal is published by Ketchum,
and gives much information regarding the condition of affairs
in Erie county in 1791.
He found the English influence very strong, the Indians ob-
taining supplies not only of clothing but of provisions from
Forts Erie and Niagara. On the commissioner's arrival "Young
King," who could not have been over twenty-two or three years
old, met him, apparelled in the full uniform of a British colonel,
red, with blue facings and gold epaulets. The Senecas were
also in possession of a two-pound swivel, which they fired in
honor of the occasion, the gunner wisely standing inside the
council house while he touched it off with a long pole passed be-
tween the logs. The charge was so heavy that it upset the gun
and its carriage.
At this time Red Jacket had risen to a high position, being-
mentioned by Proctor as " the great speaker, and a prince of the
Turtle tribe." In fact, however, he belonged to the Wolf clan.
On Proctor's stating his object in the council, Red Jacket ques-
tioned his authority. This, as the colonel was informed by a
French trader, was the result of the insinuations of Butler and
Brant, who had been there a week before and had advised the
Indians not to send a delegation to the Miamis. Proctor offered
to present his credentials to any one in whom they had confi-
dence, and they at once sent for the commandant at Fort Erie.
The latter sent back Capt. Powell, who seems to have acted as a
kind of guardian to the Indians during the proceedings. These
were very deliberate, and were adjourned from day to day.
86 Dixixci WITH r.u; sky.
Red Jacket was the spokesman of the Indians, and declared
their determination to move the council to Niagara, insisting on
the commissioner's accompanying them the next day as far as
Capt. Powell's house below Fort Erie. Proctor peremptorily de-
clined. Then Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother addressed the
council by turns, the result being that a runner was at once sent
to Niagara to summon Col. Butler to the council. After two or
three days delay Butler came to Winney's store-house, and re-
quested the sachems and head men to meet him there, but said
nothing about Proctor.
While waiting, the commissioner dined with "Big Sky," head
chief of the Onondagas, whose "castle" he describes as being
three miles east from "Buffalo" meaning from the Seneca vil-
lage. There were twenty-eight good cabins near it, and the
inhabitants were well clothed, especially the women, some of
whom, according to Col. P., were richly dressed, "with silken
Stroud" and silver trappings worth not less than thirty pounds
($150) per suit ! It seems, too, that they had advanced so far in
civilization that the ladies were invited to the feast of the warri-
ors, which consisted principally of young pigeons boiled and
stewed. These were served up in hanks of six, tied around the
necks with deer's sinews, and were ornamented with pin feathers.
However, the colonel made a good meal.
On the 4th of May the Indians repaired to the store-house to
hold council with Butler. The latter invited Proctor to dine
with him and his officers, including Capts. Powell and Johnston.
They talked Indian fluently, and advised the chiefs not to go
with the commissioner then, but to wait for Brant, who had gone
west. Red Jacket and Young King appear to have been work-
ing for Proctor. The latter at length resented the interference
of the British and insisted on a speedy answer from the Indi-
ans. Every paper delivered to the chiefs was handed over to
Butler, who went back to P'ort Erie next day.
On the 6th of May, Ambassador Red Jacket announced that
there would be no council, as the honorable councilors were
going out to hunt pigeons. Proctor makes special mention of
the immense number of pigeons found — over a hundred nests on
a tree, with a pair of pigeons in each.
On the 7th a private council was held, at which land was
woman's rights. • Sy
assigned to Indians of other tribes who had fled from the Shaw-
nees and Miamis. "Capt. Smoke" and the Delawares under his
ehari^^e were assigned to Cattaraugus, where their descendants
dwell at the present day. Several Missisauga families had plant-
ing-grounds given them near the village of Buffalo creek.
On the nth, Proctor declares there was a universal drunk;
"Cornplanter and some of the elder women excepted," from
which the natural inference is that the young women indulged
with the rest.
Finally, on the 15th of May, the elders of the women repaired
to the commissioner's hut, and declared that they had taken the
matter into consideration, and that they should be listened too,
for, said they: "We are the owners of this land, and it is ours;"
adding, as an excellent reason for the claim, "for it is we that
plant it." They then requested Colonel Proctor to listen to a
formal address from "the women's speaker," they having ap-
pointed Red Jacket for that purpose.
The alarm-gun was fired, and the chiefs came together, the
elder women being seated near them. Red Jacket arose, and
after many florid preliminaries, announced that the women had
decided that the sachems and warriors must help the commis-
sioner, and that a number of them would accompany him to the
West.
Col. Proctor was overjoyed at this happy exemplification of
woman's rights, and seems to have thought there would be no
further difficulty. He forthwith dispatched a letter by the trusty
hands of Horatio Jones to Col. Gordon, the commandant at
Niagara — who was located opposite the fort of that name —
asking that himself and the Indians might take passage on
some British merchant-vessel running up Lake Erie, since
the chiefs refused to go in an open boat. (It is worth no-
ticing that even so late as 1791, Proctor spoke of Jones' crossing
the " St. Lawrence " instead of the Niagara.)
Gordon, in the usual spirit of English officials on the frontier
at that time, refused the permission, and so the whole scheme
fell through. It was just what was to have been expected, though
Proctor does not seem to have expected it, and it is very likely
the whole thing was well understood between the British and
Indians.
88 PI.KXTV OF SPIRITS.
While it was supposed that Red Jacket and others would go
with Proctor, that worthy had several requests to make. Firstly,
the colonel was informed that his friends expected something
to drink, as they were going to have a dance before leaving their
women. This the commissioner responded to with a present of
"eight gallons of the best spirits." Then Red Jacket remarked
that his house needed a floor, and Proctor offered to have
one made. Then he preferred a claim for a special allowance of
rum for his wife and mother, and in fact — well — he wanted
a little rum himself So the colonel provided a gallon for
the great orator and his wife and mother. Young King was
not less importunate, but Cornplanter was modest and dignified,
as became a veteran warrior. But the worthy commissioner
made due provision for them all.
The projected expedition having thus fallen through, Young-
King made a farewell speech, being aided by " P'ish Carrier," a
Caj'uga chief, whose " keen gravity " put Proctor in mind of a
Roman senator, and who seems to have been a man of great
importance, though never putting himself forward as a speech-
maker.
The Indjans must have had a pretty good time during Proc-
tor's stay, as his liquor bill at Cornelius Winney's was over
a hundred and thirty dollars.
A very curious item in the commissioner's diary is this : " Gave
a white prisoner that lived with said Winney nine pounds four
and a half pence." Who he was, or to whom he could have
been prisoner, is a mystery, since the Indians certainly held no
prisoners at that time, and Cornelius, the Dutch trader, could
hardly have captured a white man, though the law would Iiave
allowed him to own a black one.
All this counciling having come to naught, Col. Proctor set
out for Pittsburg on the 2 1st of May, having spent nearly a
month in the very highest society of Erie county.
A little later, the successive defeats of Harmer and .St. Clair,
by the western Indians, aroused all the worst passions of the
Iroquois. Their manners toward the Americans became inso-
lent in the extreme, and it is positively asserted that some of
their warriors united with the hostile bands. There is little
doubt that another severe disaster would have disposed a large
Wayne's victory. 89
part of them to rise in arms, and take revenge for the unforgot-
ten though well-merited punishment inflicted by Sullivan. Yet
they kept up negotiations with the United States ; in fact nothing
delighted the chiefs more than holding councils, making treaties,
and performing diplomatic pilgrimages. They felt that at such
times they were indeed " big Indians."
In 1792, Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother were two of fifty
chiefs who visited the seat of government, then at Philadelphia.
The former then claimed to be in favor of civilization, and it
was at this time that Washington gave him the celebrated medal
which he afterwards wore on all great occasions. It was of sil-
ver, oval in form, about seven inches long by five wide, and rep-
resented a white man in a general's uniform, presenting the
pipe of peace to an Indian scantily attired in palm leaves. The
latter has flung down his tomahawk, which lies at his feet. Be-
hind them is shown a house, a field, and a man ploughing.
A characteristic anecdote is told of Red Jacket, by his biog-
rapher, regarding one of these visits. On his arrival at the seat
of government. Gen. Knox, then Secretary of War, presented
the distinguished Seneca with the full uniform of a military offi-
cer, with cocked hat and all equipments complete. I^ed Jacket
requested the bearer to tell Knox that he could not well wear
military clothes, he being a civil sachem, not a war chief If
any such present was to be made him, he would prefer a suit of
civilian's clothes, but would keep the first gift till the other was
sent. In due time a handsome suit of citizen's clothes was
brought to his lodging. The unsophisticated savage accepted
it, and then remarked to the bearer that in time of war the sa-
chems went out on the war-path with the rest, and he would
keep the military suit for such an occasion. And keep it he did.
In 1794, Mad Anthony Wayne went out to Ohio. He did
not allow himself to be .surprised, and when he met the hordes of
the Northwest he struck them down with canister and bayonet,
until they thought the angel of death himself was on their
track. Said Joshua Fairbanks, of Lewiston, to a Miami Indian
who had fled from that terrible onslaught :
" What made you run away ? " With gestures corresponding
to his words, and endeavoring to represent the effect of the can-
non, he replied :
C)0 JOHNSTON, MIDDAUCill AND LANE.
" Pop, pop, pop — boo, WOO, WOO — whish, whish — boo, woo —
kill twenty Indians one time — no good, by dam."
The Senecas had runners stationed near the scene of conflict,
and when they brought back the news of the tremendous pun-
ishment inflicted on their western friends, all the Iroquois in
Western New York resolved to be "good Indians;" and from
that time forth they transgressed only by occasional ebullitions
of passion or drunkenness.
In September of that year (1794), another treaty was made
at Canandaigua, by which the United States agreed to give the
New York Iroquois $10,000 worth of goods, and an annuity of
$4,000 annually in clothing, domestic animals, etc. It was also
fully agreed that the Senecas should have all the land in New-
York west of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, except the reser-
vation a mile wide along the Niagara.
This council at Canandaigua was the last one at which the
United States treated with the Iroquois as a confcderac)-. Wil-
liam Johnston, so often mentioned before, came there, and was
discovered haranguing some of the chiefs. It was believed
that he was acting in behalf of the British, to prevent a treaty,
and Col. Pickering, the United States commissioner, compelled
him to leave.
About this time, or a little earlier, Johnston took up his per-
manent residence in a block-house which he built near Winney's
store, at the mouth of Buffalo creek. His Indian friends gave
him two square miles of land in the heart of the present city of
Buffalo. His title would doubtless have been considered void in
the courts of the pale-faces, but so long as the Senecas should
retain their land Johnston would be allowed to use his magnifi-
cent domain at will.
About the same time as Johnston, perhaps a little later, one
Martin Middaugh, a Hudson river Dutchman, though re-
cently from Canada, and his son-in-law, Ezekiel Lane, were
allowed by Johnston to build a log house on his land, near his
own residence. Middaugh was a cooper, and perhaps made
some barrels for the Indians, but both he and Lane seem to
have been dependents of Johnston.
There had begun to be considerable travel through Erie
county. There was emigration to Canada, which was rapidly
TIIK FIRST TAVERN.
91
settling up, and also to Ohio, which was open for purchase.
There were no roads but Indian trails, but some way or other
people managed to flounder through. In 1794 or '95 the first
tavern was opened in the county.
In the latter year there came hither a French duk-e, bearing
the ancient and stately name of De La Rochefoucauld Liaincourt,
probably driven from France by the revolution, who was desir-
ous of seeing the red man in his native wilds. On his way to
the Seneca village he and his companions passed the night at
" Lake Erie," the name applied to the cluster of log houses on
Johnston's land. When men spoke of " Buffalo," they referred to
the village of the Senecas.
There was then something in the shape of an inn, but if the
landlord " kept tavern " he kept nothing else; "for," says the duke
in his travels, "there was literally nothing in the house, neither
furniture, rum, candles, nor milk." The absence of rum was
certainly astonishing. Milk was at length procured " from the
neighbors," and rum and candles from across the river. The
name of this frugal pioneer landlord is supposed to have been
Skinner, as a man of that name certainly kept there only a little
later.
On the 4th of July, 1796, Fort Niagara and the other posts
so long withheld were surrendered by the British to the United
States. This strengthened the impression made on the Indians
by Wayne's victory, and confirmed them in the disposition to
cultivate friendly relations with the Americans.
In that year, too, the little settlement of "Lake Erie" was in-
creased by the arrival from Geneva of Mr. Asa Ransom, a reso-
lute and intelligent young man, a silversmith by trade, who built
a log house near the site of the liberty pole, established him-
self there with his delicate young wife and infant daughter, and
went to work making silver brooches, ear-rings, and other orna-
ments in which the soul of the red man and the red man's wife
so greatly delighted. This was the first family that brought into
Erie county the habits and refinements of civilized life.
At this time, the few settlers who wanted to get corn ground
were obliged to take it over the river, and down to Niagara, forty
miles distant. On one occasion, some little time after the arri-
val of Mr. Ransom, he and all the other men of the settlement.
92 THK .mother's STRATEGY.
(three or four in number,) had L!:onc to Canada to mill, except
Cornelius Winney and Black Joe, who had left the Cattaraugus
Indians and was living with Winney. While they were gone
.several Indians came to Ran.som's hou.se and demanded "rum,"
about the only English word they knew. Mrs. Ransom told
them she had none, but they insisted .she had. On her con-
tinued refusal one of them suddenly seized her only child, a
little girl of two years old, which was toddling about the floor,
and with uplifted tomahawk threatened its life. Probably this
was only done to scare, but the mother did not understand such
a jest.
Though frightened beyond measure she had sufficient pres-
ence of mind to try strategy on the evil-minded crew. She im-
mediately promised them rum, (partly by words and partly by
signs,) if they would allow her to go up stairs to get it. They
assented, but insisted on retaining her infant as a hostage for
the appearance of the stimulant.
Taking her niece, a girl of twelve, Mrs. Ransom went up-
stairs into the low chamber of their log house, and immediately
fastened the door behind her. Then snatching a pair of sheets
from the bed she hastily knotted them together, and with this
improvised rope she lowered the girl to the ground, directing
her to hasten at once to Mr. Winney, whose influence was sup-
posed to be sufficient to pacify the angry savages.
Then with wildly-beating heart the mother waited, fearing
every moment lest she should hear the screams of her child, sac-
rificed in a sudden freak of barbaric rage. Ere long the In-
dians were heard beating on the door with their tomahawks, but
it was a stout one, and before it could be broken down Winney
arrived. By some means he managed to control them, and in-
duced them to withdraw. But to the end of her life the
mother never told the tale, without betraying by her faltering
voice and paling cheek how deeply she had felt the terrors of
that day.
The infant heroine of this exciting scene bore the dramatic
name of Portia, but was afterwards better known as Mrs. Chris-
topher M. Harvey.
In the fall of 1797 the "Lake Erie" settlement received an-
other addition by the arrival of a daughter in the Ransom fami-
THE INDIANS SELL OUT. 93
ly, being the first white child born in Erie county, so far as
known, and the first in New York west of the Genesee river,
outside of Fort Niagara. Some twenty-two years later this
little stranger became Mrs. Frederick B. Merrill.
I mentioned some pages back the sale by Robert Morris to
certain Holland gentlemen, (through their American friends,)
of nearly all the land west of the Genesee ; the seller agreeing to
extinguish the Indian title. It was not until 1797 that this
could be accomplished. In September of that year a council
was held at Geneseo, at which Morris bought the whole of the
remaining Seneca lands in New York, except eleven reservations
of various sizes, comprising in all about three hundred and thir-
ty-eight square miles.
Of these the Buffalo creek reservation, the largest of all, lay
wholly in Erie county. By the terms of the treaty it was to
contain a hundred and thirty square miles, lying on both sides
of Buffalo creek, about seven miles wide from north to south,
and extending eastward from Lake Erie. The Cattaraugus
reservation was to contain forty-two square miles, on both sides
of Cattaraugus creek near its mouth, being in the present coun-
ties of Erie, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua. As finally surveyed
about thirty-four square miles were in Erie county.
The Tonawanda reservation was to contain seventy square
miles, lying on both sides of Tonawanda creek, beginning "about
twenty-five miles" from its mouth, and running east "about seven
miles wide." Of this, as surveyed, some fifteen square miles were
in Erie county. The other reservations, which were all small,
were entirely outside of the county.
As will have been seen, the amounts reserved were all definite,
but the precise lines were left to be located afterwards, in order
not to crowd any of the Indian villages. The tract bought,
aside from the reservations, contained about three million three
hundred thousand acres, for which Morris paid ten thousand
dollars, or less than a third of a cent per acre.
Considering the complaints which Indians are all the time
making about the loss of their lands, it certainly seems strange
that they should throw them away by the million acres for a
merely nominal price, as they have usually done. The sale to
Phelps and Gorham was not so excesssively strange because it
94 FOLLY OF TIJK IX1)L\NS.
in\'ol\-ed no chani^e in their mode of life. Tlic\' still had vast
hunting grounds west of the Genesee. But that to Morris at
once destroyed all hope of living by the chase, and necessitated
their adopting to a considerable extent the habits of the white
man. They appear to have forgotten all about the Great Spirit's
fixing the Genesee as their eastern boundary. Yet they showed
no inclination to demand white men's prices for their land.
Certainly such men as Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother, who
had visited the eastern cities and had seen the wealth of the
whites, must have known that a third of a cent per acre was a
very poor price to pay for land. True, we may suppose they
were bought, (which would accord with Red Jacket's character,)
but one would imagine that, in the democratic Iroquois system,
the warriors of the tribe could easily have prevented a sale, and
in view of their reiterated complaints over the Fort Stanwix
treaty and the sale to Phelps and Gorham, it is strange they did
not do so. They must have wanted whisky ver}' badly.
THE HOLLAND COMPANY. 95
CHAPTER XIII.
PREPARING FOR SETTLEMENT.
The Holland Company.— Three Sets of Proprietors.— Their System of Surveys.—
The State Reservation. —The West Transit.— The Founder of Buffalo.— The
First Road. — Indian Trails.— New Amsterdam. — Hotel at Clarence.- A
Young Stranger. — Ellicott made Agent. — First Wheat.
Much has been written and more has been said about the
"Holland Company." When people wished to be especially
precise they called it the "Holland Land Company." It has
been praised and denounced, blessed and cursed, besought for
favors and assailed for refusal, almost as much as any institution
in America. Not only in common speech, in newspapers and in
books, but in formal legal documents it has been again and
again described as the "Holland Company" or the "Holland
Land Company," according to the fancy of the writer.
Yet there never was any such thing as the Holland Company
or the Holland Land Company.
Certain merchants and others of the city of Amsterdam
placed funds in the hands of friends who were citizens of Amer-
ica, to purchase several tracts of land in the United States,
which, being aliens, the Hollanders could not hold in their own
name at that time. One of these tracts, comprising what was
afterwards known as the Holland Purchase, was bought from
Robert Morris as has before been mentioned. F'rom their names,
I should infer that most of those who made the purchase for the
Hollanders were themselves of Holland birth, but had been
naturalized in the United States.
In the forepart of 1798 the legislature of New York author-
ized those aliens to hold land within the State, and in the latter
part of that year the American trustees conveyed the Holland
Purchase to the real owners. It was transferred, however, to
two sets of proprietors, and one of these sets was soon divided
into two, making three in all. Each set held its tract as "joint
tenants," that is, the survivors took the whole ; the shares could
g6 THREE SETS OE PROPRIETORS.
not be the subject of will nor sale, and did not pass by inher-
itance, except in case of the last survivor.
But there was no incorporation and no legal company. All
deeds were made in the name of the individual proprietors.
The three sets of owners appointed the same general and local
agents, who in their behalf carried out one system in dealing
with the settlers, though apportioning the expenses among the
three sets according to their respective interests, and paying to
each the avails of their own lands.
At the first transfer by the trustees the whole tract, except
300,000 acres, was conveyed to VVilhem Willink, Nicholas Van
Staphorst, Pieter Van Eeghen, Hendrick Vollcnhoven, and Rut-
ger Jan Schimmelpenninck. The 300,000 acres were conveyed
to Wilhem Willink, Jan Willink, Wilhcm Willink, Jr., and Jan
Willink, Jr. Two years later the five proprietors of the main
tract transferred the title of about a million acres so that it was
vested in the original five and also in Wilhem Willink, Jr., Jan
Willink, Jr., Jan Gabriel Van Staphorst, Roelif Van Staphorst,
Jr., Cornelius Vollenhoven and Hendrick Scye. Pieter Stad-
nitzki, was also made a partner, though in some unknown manner.
In the hands of these three sets of owners the titles remained
during the most active period of settlement, only as men died
their shares passed to the survivors, and their names were drop-
ped out of the deeds. Some twenty years later new proprie-
tors were brought in, but the three sets remained as before. It
will be observed that Wilhem Willink was the head of each of
the three sets, and as he outlived nearly all the rest his name
was the first in every deed.
The same proprietors, or a portion of them, also held large
bodies of land in Central New York and in Pennsylvania, all
managed by the same general agent at Philadelphia.
P'or convenience, however, all these owners will be described
throughout this work by the name to which every one in Erie
county is accustomed, that of the " Holland Company," and
their tract in Western New York will be considered as distinct-
ively the " Holland Purchase," though there were other bodies
of land equally well entitled to the name.
The first general agent of the company was Theophilus Caze-
nove, a Hollander sent out from Europe for the purpose. Pre-
SURVEYING. 97
vious to tlie extinguishment of the Indian title to the Company's
lands in New York, Cazenove had employed Joseph Ellicott to
survey their tract in Pennsylvania. He was a younger brother of
Andrew A. Ellicott, then surveyor-general of the United States',
and had assisted him in laying out the city of Washington.
As soon as the treaty was made with the Indians, in the fall
of 1797, Mr. Cazenove employed the same efficient person
to survey the new tract. That same autumn he and Augustus
Porter, the surveyor employed by Robert Morris, in order to as-
certain the number of acres in the Purchase, took the necessary
assistance, began at the northeast corner, traversed the northern
bounds along Lake Ontario to the Niagara, thence up the river
to Lake Erie, and thence along the lake shore to the western
boundary of the State.
No sooner had the keen eye of Joseph Ellicott rested on the
location at the mouth of Buffalo creek than he made up his
mind that that was a most important position, and he ever after
showed his belief by his acts.
The next spring, (1798,) the grand surveying campaign began,
with Ellicott as general-in-chief He himself ran the east line
of the Purchase, usually called the East Transit. Eleven other
surveyors, each with his corps of axemen, chain men, etc., went
to work at different points, running the lines of ranges, town-
ships and reservations. All through the Purchase the deer
were startled from their hiding-places, the wolves were driven
growling from their lairs, by bands of men with compasses and
theodolites, chains and flags, while the red occupants looked
sullenly on at the rapid parceling out of their broad and fair
domain.
The survey system adopted by the Holland Company was
substantially the same as that previously followed on Phelps
and Gorham's Purchase, and was not greatly different from that
now in use by the United States all over the West. The tract
was first divided into ranges six miles wide, running from Penn-
sylvania to Lake Ontario, and numbered from east to west.
These were subdivided into townships six miles square, num-
bered from south to north.
The original intention was to divide every complete township
into sixteen sections, each a mile and a half square; subdividing
98 THE SURVKV SYSTEM.
these into lots, each three quarters of a mile long- and one quar-
ter wide, ev^ery one containing just a hundred and twenty acres.
This plan, however, was soon abandoned as inconvenient and
complicated, and the townships were divided into lots three
fourths of a mile square, containing three hundred and sixty
acres each. These were sold off in parcels to suit purchasers.
It was a common but not invariable rule to divide them into
"thirds" of a hundred and twenty acres each.
Twenty-four townships had already been surveyed when the
first plan was abandoned, three of which were in Eric county,
being the present town of Lancaster and the southern part of
Newstcad and Clarence.
Both systems differ from that of the United States, in that by
the latter each township is divided into sections a mile square,
and these into quarter-sections of a hundred and thirty acres
each.
It will be understood that various causes, such as the exist-
ence of lakes and rivers, the use of large streams as boundaries,
the great fickleness of the magnetic needle, the interposition of
reservation lines, etc., frequently caused a variation from the
normal number of square miles in a township, or of acres in a
lot.
The surveys went briskly forward. Ellicott, after running the
east line of the Purchase, stayed at " Buffalo Creek " the greater
part of the season, directing operations. By this name I refer
to the cluster of cabins at the mouth of the creek, previously
called " Lake Erie " ; for on the opening of surveys that appel-
lation was dropped, and the name "Buffalo Creek" was speedily
transferred thither from the Seneca village to which it had be-
fore pertained.
In the fall Seth Pea.se ran the line of the State reservation
along the Niagara river, or the "streights of Niagara," as that
stream was then frequently termed. There was some difficulty
in determining its boundaries at the southern end, as the lake
gradually narrowed so it was hard to tell where it ended and the
river began. It was at length agreed between the State author-
ities and the company that the river should be considered to
commence where the water was a mile wide.
From the point on the eastern bank opposite this mile width
Till'. STATl-; Ri:SERVATION. 99
of water, a boundary was drawn, consisting of numerous short
lines, amounting substantially to the arc of a circle with a mile
radius, giving to the State all the land within a mile of the
river, whether east from its eastern bank or south from its head.
The boundary in question, since known as the " mile line," began
at the foot of Genesee street, as afterwards laid out, crossed
Church street a little west of Genesee, crossed Niagara street a
few rods northwest of Mohawk, continued on the arc above
described to the intersection of North and Pennsylvania streets,
and thence ran northward, always keeping a mile from the river,
to Lake Ontario.
Beside the East Transit, another standard meridian was run
as a base of operations in the w^estern part of the Purchase, and
called the West Transit. It was the line between the sixth and
seventh ranges, and is now the boundary between Clarence,
Lancaster, Elma, Aurora and Colden on the east, and Am-
herst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca, East Hamburg and Boston
on the west.
A portion of the 300,000 acres conveyed to the four Willinks,
as before mentioned, lay in a strip nearly a mile and a half wide,
(113 chains, 68 links,) just west of the West Transit, extending
from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario. The rest of the land be-
longing to that set of proprietors was in the southeast corner of
the Purchase.
All that part of Erie county west of the West Transit (except
the preemption right to the reservations), was included in the
conveyance of a million acres to the larger set of proprietors,
while that part east of the Transit was retained by the five orig-
inal owners. The transit, however, was not the line between
the two sets throughout the whole Purchase.
The city of Buffalo was founded by Joseph Ellicott. He not
only selected the site and laid out the town, but it was only
through his good judgment and special exertions that there was
any toAvn there.
All through the summer and fall of 1798, though only the su-
perintendent of surveys, and in no way responsible for the future
prosperity of the Purchase, he labored zealously to get room for
a city at the foot of Lake Erie. He saw that the State reser-
vation would come down within a short distance of the cluster
lOO THE FOUNDER OF BUFFALO.
of cabins which he meant should be the nucleus of a great com-
mercial emporium. He saw, too, that if the Buffalo Creek res-
ervation, (w^iich by the treaty with Morris was to be seven miles
wide, lying on both sides of the creek), should be surveyed with
straight lines, it would run square against the State reservation,
and cut off the Holland Company entirely from the foot of the
lake.
The Indians were not particular about having the land at the
mouth of the creek for themselves, but they had granted two
square miles to their friend Johnston, and, though they could
give no title, they could insist on the whole being included in
their reserve, unless an arrangement should be made with him.
The}' had also given him, substantially, a life-lease of a mill-
seat and certain timbered lands on Scajaquada creek, six miles
from the mouth of the Buffalo.
Ellicott made frequent attempts to arrange matters with John-
ston, but thought him somewhat extravagant in his demands.
In a letter to Cazenove, dated at Buffalo Creek, Sept. 28, 1798.
Ellicott says : " I have always considered this place one of the
keys to the company's lands." Three times in two pages he
speaks of it as "the favorite spot."
At length he succeeded in making a compromise with John-
ston, by which the latter agreed to use his influence to have the
Indians leave the town-site out of the reservation, on condition
that the company should deed to him the mill-site, a mile square
of land adjoining it, and forty-five and a half acres in the town,
including his improvements. Johnston's influence was sufficient.
So, instead of the north boundary of the Buffalo Creek reser-
vation being extended due west, along the line of William
street, striking the State reservation near Fourth street, as would
otherwise have been the case, it turned, just east of what is now-
known as " East Buffalo," and ran southwest to the creek, and
thence to the lake. It is now for nearly two miles the boundary
between the first and fifth wards.
About this time Sylvanus Maybee came to Buffalo as an In-
dian trader, and Mr. John Palmer took the place of Skinner as
innkeeper.
The previous winter the legislature had authorized the laying
out of a State road from Conewagus (Avon) to Buffalo Creek, and
INDIAN TRAIL. 10 1
another to Lewiston. The Company subscribed five thousand
dollars for cutting them out. The first wagon-track opened in
Erie county was made under the direction of Mr. Ellicott, who,
in the spring of 1798, employed men to improve the Indian
trail from the East Transit to Buffalo.
This trail ran from the east, even from the valley of the Hud-
son, crossing the Genesee at Avon, running through Batavia,
and down the north side of Tonawanda creek, crossing into
Erie county at the Tonawanda Indian village. Thence it ran
over the site of Akron, through Clarence Hollow and Williams-
ville, to Cold Spring, and thence following nearly the line of
Main street to the creek.
A branch turned off, running not far from North street to
Black Rock, where both Indians and whites were in the habit of
crossing to Canada. Another branch diverged at Clarence,
struck Cayuga creek near Lancaster, and ran down it to the
Seneca village.
Another principal trail ran from Little Beard's Town, on the
Genesee, entered Erie county near the southeast corner of the
present town of Alden, struck the reservation at the southwest
corner of that town, and ran thence westerly to the Seneca
village.
Besides, there were trails up the Cazenove and Eighteen-Mile
creeks, and between the Buffalo and Cataraugus villages.
In 1799 little was done except to push forward the surveys.
It was determined that the city to be built on the ground se-
cured by Mr. Ellicott should be called "New Amsterdam," and
he began to date his letters at that address. In that year the
company offered several lots, about ten miles apart, on the road
from the East Transit to Buffalo, to any proper men who
would build and keep open taverns upon them. The lots were
not donated, but were to be sold at the company's lovv-est price,
on long time and without interest.
In Erie county this offer was accepted by Asa Ransom, the
Buffalo silversmith, who located himself at what is now Clar-
ence Hollow. This was the first settlement in Erie county made
white-man fashion, that is, with a white man's view of obtaining
legal title to the land. All previous settlement had been mere-
ly on sufferance of the Indians.
102 THE YOUNG STRANGER.
One of the first strangers who applied for entertainment at
the new hotel was a young gentleman afterwards known as
Colonel Harry B. Ransom. He arrived in November, 1799,
and was in ail probability the first white male child born in Erie
county.
In this year a contract was granted evidently by special favor,
to Benjamin Ellicott (brother of Joseph) and John Thomson,
two of the surveyors, for three hundred acres in township 12,
range 7, (Amherst,) which was not yet subdivided into lots.
There is some discrepancy in the description as recorded, but
I am satisfied that the contract covered the site of VVilliamsville,
and the water-power there. The price was two dollars per
acre.
The same year Timothy S. Hopkins, afterwards well known
as Gen. Hopkins, came into the county and took charge of
Johnston's saw-mill, the only one in the county, where he worked
during the season. Notwithstanding the absence of regular set-
tlers, the numerous camps of surveyors made "brisk times,"
and any one who was willing to work could get good wages and
prompt pay.
Theophilus Cazenove, the general agent of the company, re-
turned to Europe in 1799. His name, given by Mr. Ellicott to
one of the largest streams in Erie county, remains as a perpetual
reminiscence of his connection with the Holland Purchase. His
place as agent was supplied by Paul Busti, a native of Italy,
who until his death, twenty-four years later, faithfully discharged
the duties of that position.
The next year the laying off of the Purchase into townships
was completed, and a number of townships were subdivided into
lots. Mr. Ellicott was appointed local agent for the sale of the
land. While in the East, this season, he issued handbills headed
"Holland Company West Geneseo lands," apprising the public
that they would soon be for sale, and stating that they were
situated adjacent to "Lakes Erie and Ontario and the streights
of Niagara."
Mr. Ransom raised some crops this year, and T. S. Hop-
kins and Otis Ingalls cleared a piece of land two miles east,
(in the edge of Newstead,) and raised wheat upon it ; the first
on the Holland Purchase. When it was ready for grinding, Mr.
THE FIRST WHEAT. I03
H. was obliged to take it to Street's mill at Chippewa, forty
miles. He went with three yoke of cattle by way of Black
Rock, the whole population of which then consisted of an Irish-
man named O'Niel, who kept the ferry. The ferriage each way
was two dollars and a half, and the trip must have taken at least
four days.
104 PINE GROVE.
CHAPTER XIV.
BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENT.
The Office at Pine Grove. — A Hard Problem. — The First Purchase. — Dubious
Records. — An Aboriginal Engineer. — A Growing Family. — A Proposed
School House. — A Venerable Mansion. — Chapin's Project. — The First
Magistrate.
At length all was ready. In January, 1801, Mr. Ellicott re-
turned from the East, staid a few days at "New Amsterdam,"
and then located his office at "Ransomville," or "Pine Grove."
Sometimes he used one appellation in dating his letters, some-
times the other, apparently in doubt as to which was the more
euphonious. He could hardly have anticipated that both these
well-rounded names would finally be exchanged for "Clarence
Hollow." Several townships were ready for sale on the Pur-
chase, at least one of which was in Erie county. This was
township twelve, range six, comprising the south part of the
present town of Clarence. Though township twelve, range five,
(Newstead,) lay directly east, no sales are recorded as made in it
till the latter part of the year.
Very slowly, at first, the settlement went forward. The land
was offered at $2.75 per acre, ten per cent. down. But precisely
there — on the ten per cent. — was the sticking-point. Men with
even a small amount of money were unwilling to undertake the
task of clearing up the forests, or oven the "oak openings," of
the Holland Purchase. Those who wished to buy had no money.
In a letter to Mr. Busti, dated Feb. 17, 1801, Mr. Ellicott
says: "If some mode could be devised to grant land to actual
settlers, who cannot pay in advance, and at the same time not
destroy that part of the plan which requires some advance, I
am convinced the most salutary results would follow." A rather
difficult task, to dispense with the advance and yet retain the
plan which required an advance. Mr. P^Uicott docs not solve the
problem, but he seems to have been authorized to set aside the
FIRST PURCHASE. IO5
plan, for the time, for we soon find him selHng without receiving
the ten per cent, in advance.
It may be doubted whether it would not have been better,
both for the company and the settlers, if the general agent had
insisted on the original system. Settlement would have been
slower at first, but it must have come ere long and it would have
had a firmer foundation. If a man cannot raise thirty or forty
dollars to make a first payment on a farm, it is very doubtful
whether he will make the whole amount off from the land.
Many did, but many failed.
There was, however, competition in every direction. There
were large tracts yet unsold in the eastern and central parts of
the State. "New Connecticut," now known as the Western Re-
serve, in Ohio, was in market at low rates, the same was the
case with Presque Isle, (Erie,) and in Canada the British govern-
ment was granting lands at sixpence per acre.
The Ohio lands appear to have been a favorite with many.
On the 26th of February, Mr. Ellicott notes in his diary that
over forty people — men, women and children— lodged at Ran-
som's the night before, moving principally to New Connecticut
and Presque Isle.
Still sales went forward, especially in the present county of
Genesee, next to the older settlements on Phelps and Gor-
ham's Purchase. Some emigrants had previously come to this
section for the purpose of settling on the Holland Purchase, but
finding the land not in market had temporarily located in Can-
ada, while awaiting the completion of the surveys. Some of
these now returned and others came in from the East.
The first record of any person's purchasing a piece of land in
Erie county in the regular course of settlement, and aside from
the special grants before mentioned, is that of Christopher Sad-
dler, who took a contract, or "article," on the 12th of March,
1801, for 234 acres on lots i and 2, section 6, town 12, range 6;
being about a mile east of Clarence Hollow.
And here I may say that there is no certain record of the
coming of the first settlers to the various towns. The books
of the Holland Company only show when men agreed to pur-
chase land, not when they actually settled.
After a short time an arrangement was made by which land
I06 AX ABORIGINAL ENGINEER.
was " booked " to men who appeared to be reliable, for a dollar
payment on each piece, when it would be kept for them a year
before they were required to make their first payment and take
an article. It soon became common for speculative persons to
invest a little money in that way, in the hope of selling at a
profit. Sometimes, too, men came from the East, looked up
land and purchased in good' -faith, but did not occupy it for a
year or two later. Once in a while, too, though this was more
rare, a man located in the county without buying land.
Consequently the records of the Holland Company are very
unreliable as to dates in regard to individuals. Moreover, I
have obtained my information from certified copies of the com-
pany's books on file in Erie county clerk's office. These differ
widely from the list of purchasers given in " Turner's Holland
Purchase," also purporting to be copied from the company's
books. Still, by comparing the two, and by eking them out with
the recollections of old residents, I think I can give a tolerably
clear idea of the general progress of settlement.
Besides Mr. Saddler, among those who took lands in Clarence
in 1 80 1 were John Haines, Levi Felton and Timothy S, Hop-
kins. Of these Mr. Hopkins wks, as before stated, already a
resident, and Mr. Felton probably became one that year.
The road along the old Indian trail, from Batavia to Buffalo,
was not satisfactory to Mr. Ellicott. So in March he made an
arrangement with an Indian whom he called "White Seneca,"
but whom that Indian's son called " White Chief," to lay out
and mark with his hatchet a new one on dryer land. He agreed
to give ten dollars, and eight dollars for locating a road in a
similar manner from Eleven-Mile creek, (Williamsville,) via the
" mouth of the Tonnawanta " to " Old Fort Slosher."
White Chief began on the 21st day of March, and on the
26th reported the completion of the survey of the first road.
On the 28th Mr. Ellicott inspected a part of it, and appears
to have been well pleased with the way in which the aboriginal
engineer had followed the ridges and avoided the wet land.
In June another youthful stranger came to the Ransom hotel,
in the person of Asa Ransom, Jr., the second white male born
in the county, who still survives, an opulent and well-known
resident of Grand Island. Mr. Ransom, senior, announced the
PROPOSED SCHOOL HOUSE. 10/
addition in a note to Mr. Ellicott, which the author of the llis-
tor}' of the Holland Purchase mistakenly supposes to refer to
the birth of Harry B. Ransom, who was a year and a half older.
Thus, as far as known, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Ransom made all three
of the first contributions to the white population of Erie county.
However, there were some older children at the little settle-
ment which the Holland Company had named " New Amster-
dam," but which the inhabitants insisted on calling " Buffalo."
Though there were but very few families, and the village was
not yet surveyed so that lots could be bought, yet the people
felt a laudable desire for educational privileges, and in August
Joseph R. Palmer, brother of the tavern-keeper, applied to Mr.
Ellicott on behalf of the inhabitants for the privilege of erecting
a school-house on the company's land.
He said the New York Missionary Society offered to furnish
a school-master clear of expense, except boarding, and urged
an immediate answer on the ground that the inhabitants had
the timber " ready to hew out." Timber " ready to hew out "
was a very common article on the Holland Purchase at that
time, and its possession did not argue much of an advance in
the construction of a building.
It shows how little root the company's name of " New Am-
sterdam " took among the people that, although Mr. Richards
was asking a favor of the company's agent, yet he dated his
letter at " Buffalo."
Mr. Ellicott went thither a few days later, and laid off a lot
for school purposes. No deed was given, however, and it does not
appear that any school-house was built for several years after.
Part of the time the log house formerly occupied by Middaugh
was used as a school house.
In the summer of 1801, the surveyor, John Thompson, put up
a saw-mill at what is now Williamsville. He does not, however,
seem to have done much with it, and perhaps did not get it into
operation. If he did, it was soon abandoned. The same year
he built a block-house for a dwellijig. It was afterwards clap-
boarded, and a larger frame structure erected beside it, of which
it formed the wing. The whole is still standing, a venerable
brown edifice, known as the " Evans house," and the wing is un-
questionably the oldest building in Erie county.
io8 ciiapin's project.
Only just three quarters of a century since it was built, and
yet, in this county of more than two hundred thousand inhabi-
tants, it seems a very marvel of antiquity.
In the autumn of this year Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, a physician
some thirty years old, then residing in Oneida county, came to
Buffalo, and was so well pleased with the location that, on his
return, he got forty substantial citizens to associate themselves
with him, for the purpose of buying the whole township at the
mouth of Buffalo creek. As Ellicott, however, had already
fixed on that as "the favorite spot" for building a city, the am-
bitious project of Dr. Chapin was promptly rejected.
By November, 1801, township 12, range 5, (Newstead,) was
ready for sale, and on the third of that month Asa Chapman
made the first contract for land in that town, covering lot 10, in
section 8, at $2.75 per acre. If he settled there he remained
but a short time, as not long after he was living near Buffalo.
The same month, Peter Vandeventer took four lots in sec-
tions Eight and Nine, on which he settled almost immediately
afterwards, and which was long known as the "Old Vandeventer
Place." Timothy Jayne was another purchaser in Newstead
that year. Otis Ingalls was already there, and probably Orlando
Hopkins and David Cully came that year, though one account
postpones their purchases till 1802.
The last month of 1801 witnessed the first appointment of a
white official of any description, resident within the present
county of Erie. In that month the pioneer silversmith, tavern-
keeper and father, Asa Ransom, was commissioned a justice of
the peace by Governor George Clinton, the necessary document
being transmitted by De Witt Clinton, nephew and private sec-
retary of the governor.
FORMATION OF GENESEE COUNTY. IO9
CHAPTER XV.
1802 AND 1803.
Formation of Genesee County. — An Exciting Scene. — Red Jacket's Plea. — First
Town Meeting. — Primitive Balloting. — The Big Tree Road. — Buffalo Sur-
veyed.— Original Street Names. — Ellicott's Grand Design. — Dr. Chapin. —
Erastus Granger. — Conjockety's Exploit. — The Pioneer of the .South Towns.
— A Hard Trip. — Snow Shoes.
Up to this time Ontario county had retained its original
boundaries, including all that part of the State west of Seneca
lake, except that Steuben county had been taken off. The
Holland Purchase was a part of the town of Northampton.
In the spring of 1802, Mr. Ellicott, by earnest personal solici-
tation at Albany, procured the passage of an act creating the
county of Genesee, comprising the whole of the State west of
the river of that name and of a line running south from the
" Great Forks." By the same act Northampton was divided
into four towns, one of which, Batavia, consisted of the whole
Holland Purchase and the State reservation along the Niagara.
The county seat was established at Batavia, where Mr. Elli-
cott had already laid out a village site, and whither he trans-
ferred his head-quarters that same spring. The new county was
not to be organized by the appointment of officers until the
next year.
In July an event occurred in Buffalo, which probably shook
the nerves of its people more than any other occurrence before
the war of 1812. John Palmer, the innkeeper, was sitting on a
bench in front of his house one evening, in company with one
William Ward and another man, when a young Seneca warrior,
called by the whites " Stiff-armed George," approached, and en-
deavored to stab Palmer. It is said that no provocation was
given, but perhaps there had been some previous difficulty be-
tween them.
failing to injure Palmer, who evaded the attack, the infuri-
ated savage turned upon Ward, and stabbed him in the neck,
no KXCITIXG EVENTS.
though not fatally. An alarm was rai.sed, the whites hurried to
the spot, and at length secured the assassin, but not until he had
inflicted three wounds on one of their number, named John
Hewitt, killing him almost instantly. The Indian himself was
also wounded.
Different and contradictory statements have been published
regarding this affair, but the culprit was probably sent off that
night to Fort Niagara, and taken in charge by Major Moses
Porter, who was then in command. The next day fifty or sixty
warriors appeared in Buffalo, armed and painted, threatening if
" Stiff- armed George" was executed to put all the whites to
death. Finding where some of his blood had been spilled in
securing him, they held a grand pow-wow over it, howling fiercely,
brandishing their weapons, and frightening half out of their
wits all but the boldest of the settlers.
So great was the dismay that it is said some left the settle-
ment, though where they could go for safety it would be diffi-
cult to say. Benjamin Barton, Jr., then sheriff of Ontario coun-
ty, (Genesee not being organized,) was in the vicinity or arrived
soon afterwards. He proposed to serve a criminal precept on
the Indian and take him to Canandaigua jail. This his breth-
ren fiercely opposed. They said that the young warrior was
drunk when tlie offense was committed, and should not, therefore,
be punished as if he had been sober. Even this the whites de-
nied, claiming that he w'as entirely sober when he committed
the crime, though of course it would make no difference in law.
Finally Barton and some of the chiefs went to Fort Niagara
to consult with Major Porter. Arriving there they still persisted
that their brother should not be taken like a thief to Canandai-
gua jail, and probably Barton was not desirous of the job of
escorting him through the wilderness.
They pledged their words as chiefs that he should appear at
Canandaigua for trial on the appointed day, and the story is
that on these pledges he was allowed to depart, and that he ap-
peared punctually on the day set. Certain it is that he was
duly tried at the Canandaigua Oyer and Terminer, the next
Februar}'.
Red Jacket addressed the jury through an interpreter, plead-
ing the drunkenness of the culprit as an excuse, and descanting
PROGRESS IN CLARENCE. Ill
eloquently on the many murders of Indians by white men, for
whieh no punishment had ever been meted out. Nevertheless,
"Stiff-armed George" was convicted. He was, however, par-
doned on condition of his leaving the State, by Gov. Clinton,
who probably thought it would be better to wait till the country
was more thickly settled before beginning to hang Indians, if it
could possibly be avoided.
During 1802, emigration began to come in quite freely. The
list of land-owners in what is now Clarence was increased b}'
the names of Gardner Spooner, Abraham Shope, John Warren,
Frederick Buck, John Gardner, Resolved G. Wheeler, William
Updegraff, Edward Carney and Elias Ransom. Most of these
located permanently in that town, among them Abraham Shope,
a Pennsylvania German, who had been w^aiting in Canada a year
or two for the Holland Purchase to be opened for sale. His son
Abraham, then three years old, who still survives in a remarka-
bly robust old age, says he can barely remember of living in a
tent in the woods that summer, before the family moved into
the log house which his father had erected.
The same year land in township Twelve, range Five, (Newstead,)
was charged to John Hill, Samuel Hill, William Deshay and
others, most of whom soon became permanent residents.
All the persons thus far named settled either on or close to
the old "Buffalo road," laid out by "White Chief," which was
the only line of communication with the outside world.
Peter Vandeventer this year built him a log cabin, cleared up
half an acre of land, ("just enough" as another old settler said
"to keep the trees from falling on his house,") and opened a
tavern, the first in Newstead.
At that little log tavern, on the first day of March, 1803, oc-
curred the first town-meeting on the Holland Purchase. Al-
though it was a hundred miles to the farthest corner of the
town of Batavia, yet the settlements were almost all on or near
the "Buffalo road," the farthest being at New Amsterdam, tw^en-
ty-two miles west, and at the East Transit, twenty-four miles
east. Vandeventer's was evidently selected as a central location.
A very interesting account of this, the first political transac-
tion in Erie county, was furnished to the Buffalo Historical
Society by the late Amzi Wright, of Attica, who was present.
112 A PRIMITIVK WAV OF VOTING.
There was a general turn-out of voters, apparently stimulated
by rivalry between the eastern and western parts of the town.
The little tavern was soon overrun, and the polls were opened
out of doors by Enos Kellogg, one of the commissioners to or-
ganize the town. He announced that Peter Vandeventer, the
landlord, and Jotham Bemis, of Batavia village, were candidates
for supervisor.
The worthy commissioner then proceeded to take the vote by
a method which, though it amounted to a "division of the
house," was in some of its details quite peculiar. He placed the
two candidates side by side in the middle of the road, facing
southward, Vandeventer on the right and Bemis on the left.
"Now," said he, "all you that are in favor of Peter Vandeven-
ter for supervisor of the town of Batavia take your places in
line on his right, and you that are in favor of Jotham Bemis
take your places on his left."
The voters obeyed Mr. Kellogg's directions, Bemis' line
stretching out along the road to Batavia, and Vandeventer's
toward Ikiffalo. The commissioner then counted them, finding
seventy-four on Vandeventer's right, and seventy on Bemis' left.
Peter Vandeventer was then declared duly elected. A primitive
method truly, but there was a poor chance for fraudulent voting.
The men from east of Vandeventer's, who were considered as
Batavians, then gathered in one cluster, and those from the
west, who passed as Buffalonians, in another, and counted up
the absentees. As in those times everybody knew everybody
else within ten miles of him, this was not difficult.
It was found that but four were absent, Batavia way, and but
five from the I3uffalo crowd. So the whole number of voters on
the Holland Purchase on the ist day of March, 1803, was one
hundred and fifty-three, of whom a hundred and forty-four were
present at town-meeting. Certainly a most creditable exhibition
of attention to political duty. There were probably two or three
voters in the vicinity of Fort Niagara who did not attend, but
these, although in the town of ]^atavia, were not on the Holland
Purchase.
The other officers were afterwards elected b}' the uplifted hand.
The following is the complete list :
Supervisor, Peter Vandeventer ; Town Clerk, David Cully ;
THE BIC TREE ROAD. I I 3
Assessors, Enos Kellogg, Asa Ransom, Alexander Rca, Isaac
Sutherland, and Suffrenus (or Sylvanus) Maybee ; Overseers of
the Poor, David Cully and Benjamin Porter ; Collector, Abel
Rowe ; Constables, John Mudge, Levi Felton, Rufus Hart, Abel
Rowe, Seymour Kellogg and Hugh Howell; Overseers of High-
ways, (pathmasters,)' Martin Middaugh, Timothy S. Hopkins,
Orlando Hopkins, Benjamin Morgan, Rufus Hart, Lovell
Churchill, Jabez Warren, William Blackman, Samuel Clark,
Gideon Dunham, Jonathan Willard, Thomas Layton, Hugh
Howell, Benjamin Porter, and William Walsworth.
Of these Vandeventer, Cully, Ransom, Maybee, Felton, Timo-
thy and Orlando Hopkins, and Middaugh, and perhaps others,
were residents of Erie county.
At this town-meeting, as at most others in Western New
York at that time, one of the most important subjects which
claimed the attention of the sovereigns was the wolf-question.
An ordinance was passed offering a bounty of five dollars for
wolf-scalps, "whelps half price," while half a dollar each was the
reward for slaughtered foxes and wild cats.
The first State election on the Holland Purchase was also
held at Vandeventer's in April following, (in which month elec-
tions were then held,) and in that short time the increase of
population had been such that a hundred and eighty-nine votes
were cast for member of assembly.
In June, 1803, Jabez Warren, by contract with Ellicott, sur-
veyed the " Middle road" from near Geneseo to Lake Erie. After-
wards, during the same summer, he cut it out. It ran nearly due
west over hill and dale, keeping a mile south of the south line
of the reservation, occasionally diverging a little in case of some
extraordinary obstacle.
It was called the "Middle road" by the company, but as it
started from the Big Tree reservation — that is, the one belong-
ing to the band of Indians of which " Big Tree " was chief — it
was almost universally called the " Big Tree road " by the in-
habitants.
Mr. Warren received $2.50 per mile for surveying it, and
$10.00 for cutting it out. The latter seems astonishingly cheap,
but "cutting out" a road on the Holland Purchase meant
merely cutting away the underbrush and small trees from a
114 BUFFALO SURVKVKD.
.space a rod wide, leaving the large trees standing, making a
track barely passable for a wagon.
This year, too, the first ship was built in the county by Ameri-
cans. It was the schooner " Contractor," built by a company
having the contracts for supplying the western military posts,
under the superintendence of Captain William Lee, who sailed
the schooner for six years.
In this year the village of New Amsterdam was surveyed,
(though not completed ready for sale,) by William Peacock. It
gives a most vivid idea of what remarkable changes may occur
in a single life to learn that the man who did that work in 1803,
who ran the very first street-line in the city of Buffalo, is still liv-
ing. From a very early period Mr. Peacock has been a citizen of
Chautauqua county, of which he has been a judge, and now re-
sides at Mayville, at the age of ninety-six. His life completely
spans the space between the forest and the emporium.
As laid out, the village extended on the west to the State
reservation before described ; north to an east and west line
nearly coincident with Virginia street, and east to a north and
south line running along or very close to the present Jefferson
street. Near the creek the reservation was for a short distance
the southeast boundary of the village.
About an eighth of this tract was cut up into " inner lots,"
generally about four rods and a half wide, intended for commer-
cial purposes, while the rest were divided into "outer lots" of
several acres each, suited for suburban residences.
The inner-lot tract was bounded west and southwest by the
State reservation and the Terrace, south by Little Buffalo creek,
(now Hamburg street canal,) east by PLlIicott street, (except
where outer lot 104 came to Main street,) and north b}^ Chip-
pewa street.
In these descriptions I have used the present names of streets
in order to give a clearer idea of the localities. Originally, how-
ever, the names were almost all different. Ellicott determined
to compliment his employers of the Holland Company to the
best of his ability, and also the Iroquois preoccupants of the
land.
!\Iain street, as far up as Church, was called Willink avenue,
while above Church it was Van Staphorst avenue. Niagara
STRKKT NAMES. II5
street was Scliimmelpcnninck axcnue, Erie street Vollenhoven
avenue, Court street Cazenove avxMiue, Church street Stadnitzki
avenue, and Genesee street Busti avenue. Sitjnor Paul Busti,
ElHcott's immediate superior, and his predecessor, Theophilus
Cazenove, were both doubly honored, as, in addition to their re-
spective avenues, the Terrace above Erie street was called Busti
terrace, and below it Cazenove terrace. (Ellicott also pro-
posed to call the village of Batavia " Bustiville," but the genera!
agent himself forbade this as " too ferocious.")
The Indians were as amply honored as the Hollanders,
though in their case the designations were taken from tribes in-
stead of individuals. What is now Ellicott street was then
Oneida street. Washington street was Onondaga, Pearl was
Cayuga, Franklin was Tuscarora, while Morgan street rejoiced
in the terrible designation of Missisauga.
Delaware, Huron, Mohawk, Eagle, Swan and Seneca streets
received their present names, but Exchange was then called
Crow street, in honor of John Crow, who had taken the place of
John Palmer as the only hotel-keeper. His tavern, part log and
and part frame, was just east of the site of the Mansion House.
In its numerous diagonal streets, all radiating from a common
point, Buffalo bears a strong resemblance to Washington, which
Ellicott had helped his brother to survey, and it is to be pre-
sumed the later plan was adopted from the former one, whether
originating with Joseph Ellicott or his brother Andrew.
North Division and South Division streets had no existence
in the original plan. Between Swan and Eagle, fronting on Main
and running back about a mile, was "Outer Lot 104," contain-
ing one hundred acres. This Mr. Ellicott reserved for himself
He evidently intended to be the principal personage in the city
he was designing.
Neither Onondaga nor Oneida street was allowed to cross the
sacred soil of Lot 104, though both were laid out north of it,
and Oneida south. Even the grand Willink-Van Staphorst ave-
nue deviated from its course for the benefit of Lot 104. At the
intersection of Stadnitzki avenue, the great central street de-
scribed a small semi-circle, with a radius of several rods, curving
to the westward over the open ground before " the churches,"
leaving Lot 104 with something like a bay-window on its front.
ii6 ellicott's grand design.
Here Mr. I-LUicott intended to erect a palatial residence, in
the center of the city he had founded, with broad vistas open-
ing before it in every possible direction.
Up Van Staphorst avenue to the suburban hillside on the
north, up Schimmelpenninck avenue to the elegant residences
which were to cluster around Niagara square, along Stadnitzki
avenue to the State reservation, down Willink avenue to the
harbor, and especially down Vollenhoven avenue to the lake, the
eye of the magnate of New Amsterdam was to roam at will,
seeing everywhere the prosperity of the city which owed its ex-
istence to his sagacity.
If a somewhat selfish, it was certainly a magnificent conception.
It is said, also, to have been his declared intention, after occu-
pying it during his life, to devise the whole to the city for a per-
manent park and museum. The circumstances which prevented
the realization of this idea will be mentioned in due time.
David Reese, a blacksmith long well knowai by the early res-
idents, came to Buffalo in 1803, and John Despar, a French
baker, about the same time.
A much more important acquisition was Dr. Cyrenius Chapin,
who, though he had failed in his attempt to become the princi-
pal owner of Buffalo, manifested his faith in the location, in 1803,
by moving thither with his family. Being unable to obtain a
house, he took them over the river, where they remained two
years before one was secured. Meanwhile the doctor prac-
ticed on both sides, being, so far as known, the first physician
who did practice in Erie county.
For twelve years no man exercised a greater influence in the
village of Buffalo than Dr. Chapin ; perhaps none as great. He
was of that type which naturally succeeds in a new country ;
bold, resolute and energetic to the last degree, generous and
free-hearted with his fellows, but often reckless alike of the con-
ventionalities of society and of the consequences of his acts.
Self-confident and self-willed, he was always sure he was right,
and was consequently always ready to go ahead. Like most
men of that stamp, he had many warm friends and some bitt&r
enemies, but through all the vicissitudes of his career he re-
tained the confidence of a majority of his neighbors and
acquaintances.
CIIAPIN AND GRANGER. 11/
On his arrival in Buffalo he was a robust, broad-shouldered
man of thirty, recently married, overflowing with physical and
mental vigor. In his politics, as in everything else, he was a
violent partisan, and his Federalism was of the most rampant
description.
Another important arrival of that year was an equally decided
if not so violent a Democrat — or Republican, for the anti-federal
of that day was called by both names. This was Erastus Gran-
ger, a young widower from New England, and a cousin of Gid-
eon Granger, then postmaster-general under President Jefferson.
He was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs, and soon
afterwards postmaster, and appears to have been intrusted with
the management of the politics of this section on behalf of the
administration.
Though New Amsterdam was not yet ready for sale, the ad-
joining land in that township was, and among the purchasers in
it I find the names of Cyrenius Chapin, William Desha, Samuel
Tupper, Joseph Wells and James S. Young. The prices ranged
from $3.50 to $5.00 per acre.
At this period a Major Perry had made an opening at the
point where Main street crosses Scajaquada (or Conjockety)
creek. Near its mouth was the Indian family of Conjockety.
An anecdote related to me by Mr. William Hodge shows
that, whatever jests may be passed upon the " noble red man,"
he certainly does sometimes display great coolness and courage.
On arising one winter morning, Major Perry found that one
of his hogs had been killed, and either eaten or carried off
Seeing the snow around well marked with panther's tracks, he
of course concluded that one of those animals had been the de-
stroyer. He sent for Philip Conjockety, whom I suppose to
have been a son of old " Skendyoughwatti," mentioned by Mr.
Kirkland. Conjockety came and took the trail.
For awhile he supposed that there was but one animal, so
closely did the footsteps follow each other, but at length he saw
where two panthers had gone, one on each side of a tree. This
rather startled him, but he concluded to go forward. Shortly
afterwards he came upon one of the marauders, seated among
the topmost branches of a tree, eating a piece of the captured
hog. Lifting his rifle, Conjockety shot the animal dead.
Il8 COXJOCKKTV'S EXI'LOIT.
The other was not then in sight, but the Indian instantly re-
loaded and stepped cautiously forward. In a moment more he
was confronted by the angry beast, on the point of springing
upon him. Again taking rapid aim, he fired as the panther was
in the very act of leaping, and the next instant the slain animal
fell at the feet of the intrepid hunter.
" Ugh ! " exclaimed Conjockety, as he recounted the tale,
" some scare me ! "
Of course the Indian told his own story, but he had the two
panthers to show for it.
In township 12, range 7, (Amherst,) sales were made that fall
to Samuel Kel.sy, Henry Lake, Benjamin Gardner, William
Lewis and others, the price being put as high as $3.25 and
$3.50 per acre. Settlements commenced immediately after-
wards.
This year too, I find the names of Samuel Beard, William
Chapin, Asahel Powers, Jacob Durham and Samuel Edsall, re-
corded as purchasers in Newstead, and of Andrew Dummett,
Julius Keyes, Lemuel Harding, Jacob Shope, Zerah Ensign and
others in Clarence.
All these settlements were in the townships through which
the "Buffalo road" ran. But the hardy pioneers soon bore far-
ther south in their search for land. In November, 1803, Alan-
son Eggleston became the first purchaser in township Eleven,
range Six (now Lancaster). There the land was put down to
$2 per acre. Amos Woodward and William Sheldon also bought
in Lancaster that month.
All these were north of the Buffalo Creek reservation, which
cut the present county of Eric completely in twain. Several
townships, however, were surveyed south of the reservation that
year, and in the fall adventurous land-hunters found theij- way
into the valley of Eighteen-Mile creek.
On the 3d of October, Didymus C. Kinney purchased part of
lot Thirty-three, township Nine, range Seven, being now the south-
west corner lot of the town of East Hamburg. He immediate-
ly built him a cabin, and lived there with his family during the
winter, being unquestionably the earliest pioneer of all Erie
county, south of the reservation. Records and recollections
agree on this point.
A BEGINNING IN THE SOUTH TOWNS. I I9
Cotton Fletcher, who had surveyed the southern townships,
purchased land in the same township as Kinney, but did not
locate there till later ; neither did John Cummings, who took up
the mill-site a mile and a half below Water Valley.
In November, 1803, too, Charles and Oliver Johnson, two
brothers, made a purchase in the present town of Boston, near
the village of Boston Center. Samuel Eaton bought farther
down the creek. The price was $2.25 per acre. Charles, with
his family, lived with Kinney through the winter, and moved on
to his OAvn place the next spring.
The Indians were frequently a resource of the early settlers
who ran short of food. Charles Johnson, w'hile at Kinney's,
went to the Seneca village and bought six bushels of corn. He
had snow-shoes for locomotion and a hand-sled for transporta-
tion. As a load of three hundred and forty pounds sank the
sled too far into the deep snow, he slung part of it on his back,
and thus weighted and freighted he trudged through the forest
to his home.
The snow-shoe was an important institution of that era. It
consisted of a light, wooden frame, about two and a half feet
long and fifteen inches wide, with bars across it, the intervening
spaces being filled with tightly stretched green hide. With a
pair of such articles strapped to his feet, the hunter or traveler
strode defiantly over the deepest drifts, into which, without their
support, he would have sunk to his Waist at every step. Strange
as it may seem, too, old hunters declare that these forest gun-
boats did not seriously impede locomotion, and that the accus-
tomed wearer could travel from three to four miles an hour with-
out difficulty.
Kinney and Johnson with their fam-ilies, in that solitary cabin
in the valley of the Eighteen-Mile, were the only residents of
Erie county south of the reservation in the winter of 1803-4.
I20 WILLIXK AND KRIE.
CHAPTER XVI.
1804 AND 1805.
Division of B.itavia.— Willink.— Erie. — Settlement of Boston. — An Ancient Fort.
— Ezekiel Smith.— David Eddy.— A Bride of 1804.— Aurora.— Jabez War-
ren.— Joel Adams. — A Hand-sled Journey. — Lancaster. — Le Couteulx. — A
Strange Object.— The Pratt Family. — A Contest of Courtesy. — First Post
Office.— Organization of Willink.— Erie Town-Book. — A Primitive Mill.—
Deacon Cary. — William Warren. — First Grist Mill. — Williamsville.
Tlie year 1 804 was marked by a more decided advance than any
previous one.
Turning first to municipal matters, we find that the town-
meeting for Batavia w^as again held at Peter Vandeventer's, and
that popular landlord was again chosen supervisor.
But at that session of the legislature a law was passed, (to
take effect the next February,) dividing Batavia into four towns.
The easternmost was Batavia, consisting of the first, second and
third ranges of the Holland Purchase. Next came Willink,
containing the fourth, fifth and sixth ranges. Then Erie, com-
prising the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth ranges, the State
reservation and the adjacent waters. The rest of the Purchase
constituted the town of Chautauqua.
It will be seen that Willink, as thus organized, was eighteen
miles wide and just about a hundred miles long, extending from
Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. It contained one range of town-
ships east of Erie county, the eastern parts of Niagara and
Cattaraugus counties, and the present towns of Clarence, New-
stead, Lancaster, Alden, Elma, Marilla, Aurora, Wales, Colden,
Holland, Sardinia and part of Concord.
The West Transit was the line between Willink and " Erie,"
which last town also stretched the whole width of the State.
At its southern end it was twenty-four miles wide, but it was
narrowed by the lake and the Canadian boundary, so that its
northern half was only from eight to twenty miles wide. It
comprised one short range of townships in Chautauqua county.
OLD FORT IN BOSTON. 12 1
the western part of Niagara and Cattaraugus, and in Eric county
the city of Buffalo and the towns of Grand Island, Tonawanda,
Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca, Hamburg, East Ham-
burg, Evans, Eden, Boston, Brant, North Collins, Collins, and
the west part of Concord.
This town of Erie has had a somewhat curious history, having
been completely obliterated not only from the list of political
organizations, but from the memories of its own oldest inhabi-
tants. The story of its early annihilation will be told in due
time.
Next to East Hamburg, Boston was the first town settled
south of the reservation. In March, 1804, Charles Johnson,
having erected a cabin, left his friend Kinney's and moved four
miles farther into the wilderness. His brother Oliver, Samuel
Eaton and Samuel Beebe followed a little later.
The Johnsons and some of their neighbors had less trouble
clearing their land than most settlers in the south towns. Where
they located, close to Boston Center, there was a prairie of fifty
acres. Close by there was another which occupied thirty acres
except a few trees, and there were some smaller ones. In the
thirty-acre one there was an old fort, enclosing a space of about
two and a half acres. It consisted of an embankment which
even then was two feet high, with a ditch on the outside nearly
two feet deep. There were a few trees growing on the embank-
ment, one of them being a chestnut from two to two and a half
feet in diameter.
From this fort there was a narrow artificial road running
southwest nearly to Hamburg village. On dry ground little
work had been done, but on wet land the evidences that a road
had been made were plain for a long time. From Hamburg
village to the lake there is a narrow natural ridge, suitable for a
road, and on which one is actually laid out, called the " Ridge
road."
It looks as if some band of Indians, (or of some other race,) had
preferred to reside on the lake shore for pleasure and conven-
ience, but had constructed this fortress between the hills, with a
road leading to it, as a place of safety from their foes.
In this vicinity, as elsewhere throughout the county, were found
large numbers of sharpened flint-stones, with which it was sup-
9
I 22
A BRIDE OF 1804.
posed the Indians skinned deer. The largest were six or seven
inches long and two inches broad, the sides being oval and the
edges sharpened. If the Indians had ever used them, as seems
probable, they had thrown them aside as soon as knives were
brought among them by the Europeans.
I think that John Cummings located himself this spring on
his land below Water Valley, becoming the first settler in the
present town of Hamburg.
That same spring Deacon Ezekiel Smith came from Vermont,
with his two sons, Richard and Daniel, and bought a tract of
land two miles southeast of Kinney's, in what has since been
known as the Newton neighborhood. A young man named
David Eddy came with him and selected land near Potter's
Corners. Smith returned for his family, leaving his sons to
clear land.
In September he came back, with his wife, several daughters,
and two or three others, and five more sons, Amasa, Ezekiel,
Zenas, Amiah and Almon. Such a family was of itself enough
to start a pretty good settlement. Four of the seven sons were
married. With them came another big Vermont famil}', headed
by Amos Colvin, with his sons Jacob, George, Luther, Amos
and Isaac.
One of Deacon Smith's daughters, Sarah, was then a bride of
seventeen, the wife of Jacob Colvin. She is still living, at the
age of eighty-nine, and well-known throughout East Hamburg
as "Aunt Sarah Colvin." When I saw her in the summer of
1875, she was perfectly erect, active about the house, and showed
less of the marks of age than most women of seventy. More
than the allotted span of man's life has passed away since she
came, a married woman, into the wilderness ; she has seen the
wolves and bears prowling around the cabins of the earliest set-
tlers ; she has seen the forest give place to broad ,and fertile
fields ; she passed, more than sixty years ago, through the
alarms of border war, and still remains a remarkable example
of the vigorous pioneer women of Erie county.
With the same colony came David Eddy, his brother Aaron,
and his brother-in-law Nathan Peters, with his sister Mary as
housekeeper. Mrs. Colvin in describing the journey mentions
that IVIary Eddy, a young woman of some education, and a
SETTLEMENT OF AURORA. 1 23
pioneer school-teacher in both Hamburg and Aurora, walked
every step of the way from Buffalo to Kinney's place on the
Eighteen-Mile.
The Eddys went to the land selected by David near I'2ast
Hamburg village, and were the first settlers in that vicinity.
John Sumner moved there that year or the next. Obadiah
Baker bought there that year, and soon became a permanent
resident.
In June, 1804, Joel Harvey located at the mouth of the Eight-
een-Mile on the west side, being the first settler in the present
town of Evans, and the farthest one up the lake in the county
of Erie.
Meanwhile another settlement had been commenced farther
east. Jabez Warren, when cutting out the Big Tree road, must
have been extremely well pleased with the land about /\urora,
for on the 17th of April, 1804, he took a contract for four entire
lots, comprising the greater part of the site of the village of
East Aurora, and a large territory adjoining it on the north and
west. The tract contained 1,743 acres, being the largest amount
purchased in the county by one person at any one time. The
price was $2 per acre.
The same day Nathaniel Emerson, Henry Godfrey, (a son-in-
law of Warren,) Nathaniel Walker, John Adams and Joel Adams
took contracts covering the whole creek valley, for three miles
above East /\urora, at $1.50 per acre. This was the cheapest
that any land was sold in the county, though it included some
of the best.
In May Rufus and Taber Earl located in the southeast cor-
ner of East Aurora village. Joseph Sears is said to have pur-
chased lot 23, since known as "The Square," but though he
afterward settled on it he remained but a short time.
Four or five other persons made purchases during the summer,
but out of the whole list, though most of them became perma-
nent residents, only one, Joel Adams, remained with his family
through the winter. Taber Earl, however, built him a house
and moved into it immediately after buying his land. His wife
was the pioneer woman in the county, south of the reservation
and east of the West Transit. But Earl with his family win-
tered in Buffalo.
124 A HAND-SLED JOURNEY.
Warren cleared a small space and built him a log house at
the west end of East Aurora, but did not occupy it that year.
Joel Adams, already a middle-aged man, built him a cabin on
his land, where he worked alone through the summer. In the
fall he brought on his family, except the oldest son. Besides
him there were five hardy boys. On his way Mr. Adams was
obliged to leave a bag of meal at a mill near Warsaw, the hor-
rible roads being impassable for any but the lightest loads.
In the winter the family ran out of breadstufifs. Thereupon
the two oldest boys set out on foot after that bag of meal,
twenty-five miles away. They secured the prize and brought it
through in safety on a hand-sled, though the necessary slowness
of their progress compelled them to sleep out one or two nights
in the snow.
Such were the tasks of the youth of that period. Hardship,
however, does not seem to have had any deleterious effects on
the Adams boys, for three of them, Enos, Luther and Erasmus,
lived to extreme old age, being well known to all citizens of
Aurora. Erasmus, the youngest, still survives at the age of
eighty-five, one of the most active men in town. On going to
see him, a year ago, to get some reminiscences of his early life,
I found he had taken a walk for exercise to a friend's some three
miles distant ; so I was obliged to postpone the interview.
In connection with the first settlement of Aurora, it may be
noted that there, as in so many other places, were found indica-
tions of ancient occupancy. A little north of the village of
East Aurora, and close to the north line of the town, are sev-
eral abrupt hills, almost surrounded by muddy ponds and by
low grounds once undoubtedly covered wuth water. Two of
these hills, thus conveniently situated for defense, were found
fortified ,by circular breastworks, resembling those in Boston.
There is also a tradition of bones of "giant size" being dug
up there at an early day, but I am somewhat skeptical, not as
to the bones, but the size. Exaggeration is extremely easy
where there is no exact, scientific measurement.
Silas Hill, John Felton, Thomas Hill, Charles Bennett, Cyrus
Hopkins and others were added to the list of purchasers in
Newstead this year, and all of those named became permanent
settlers.
SETTLERS IN THE NORTH TO\YNS. 1 25
In Clarence, there were David Bailey, Peter Pratt, Isaac Van-
ornian, Daniel Robinson, Riley Hunger, David Hamlin, Jr., and
others. It was probably in 1804 that Asa Ransom built a saw-
mill on the little stream to which his name had been given.
Timothy S. and Orlando Hopkins removed to what is now
Amherst this year, and among the new comers in that township
were Samuel McConnell, who located near Williamsville, Caleb
Rogers, Stephen Colvin, Jacob Vanatta, and Joel Chamberlain.
Occasional German names will have been seen among the
emigrants to the north towns. These, however, were all " Penn-
•sylvania Germans," or " Mohawk Dutch ;" that is, persons of Ger-
man or Dutch descent, whose families had been established in
Pennsylvania or the Mohawk Valley for two or more genera-
tions. There was not then a solitary emigrant directly from Ger-
many in the county, nor for a long time afterwards.
Among the purchasers in Lancaster in 1804 were James
Woodward, Warren Hull, Matthew Wing, Joel Parmalee and
Lawson Egberton. Mr. James Clark, of Lancaster, states that
he has ascertained that James and Amos Woodward were the
first settlers in Lancaster, locating at Bowman's Mills, and it was
probably in 1804 that they came. Hull, Eggleston, James and
Luther Young, and Parmalee, all settled east of Bowman's
Mills shortly after the Woodwards.
In Buffalo there was a decided development during the year
1804, and several men who exercised a strong influence for many
years then became residents.
One of these was Mr. LeCouteulx, whose full appellation was
Louis Stephen Le Couteulx de Caumont, a French gentleman
of good family, then forty-eight years of age, who had for sev-
enteen years been a citizen of the United States. A gentle and
genial spirit, his placid face, mild blue eyes, gray hair carefully
parted in the middle, neat dress and precise manners seemed
somewhat out of place amid the stumps, Indians and frontiers-
men of New Amsterdam, yet his aimiability and integrity gained
him many friends, and his good business habits procured him
reasonable success, and in his old age even affluence. Soon
after his arrival he built him a frame house on Crow (Exchange)
street, near Willink avenue, where he resided, and in one part of
which he established a drug-store, the first in the county.
126 BUFFALO PRICES.
Some of the Buffalo land was as cheap as any in the county.
N. W. Sever bought two outer lots containing sixty-four acres
in the bend of the creek, south of the Ohio basin, for $1.8 1 per acre.
What is more remarkable, outer lot 84, comprising several
acres between Willink avenue and Buffalo creek, (that is to say
west of Main street,) now occupied by Central Wharf and long
rows of warehouses, was sold in 1804 to Samuel McConnell for
$1.50 per acre ! Sanguine as were Ellicott's ideas regarding the
future of Buffalo, he supposed that the business would all be
done north of the hill at Exchange street, and in one letter ex-
pressed his belief that the flats below would, when drained,
make excellent meadows !
Inner lots, near the corner of Willink avenue and Crow street,
which was the centre of business, sold at one hundred to two
hundred dollars each. Payments of $10 to $30 in hand were
usually made, the rest being distributed through several install-
ments. Merchant Maybee paid $135 for Lot 35, corner of Wil-
link avenue and Seneca street, running through to Cayuga. He
paid $15 down, $12 the next year, and then pa)-ment was stop-
ped till 181 5, when some one else took a deed.
Great care was taken to encourage actual settlers, and when
Zerah Phelps bought inner lot No. i, lying just east of the site
of the Mansion House, he had to agree to build a house twenty-
four feet square, and clear off half an acre of land. Similar
agreements were made with other city purchasers.
Outside the village limits, but within the present city, Rowland
Cotton bought a hundred and forty-three acres at what is now
the corner of Main and Amherst streets, for $3.50 an acre.
Abner Gilbert took lot Thirty-four, now the southeast corner
of Main and Utica streets, for five dollars an acre. There was
an Abner Gilbert in the family whose. captivity I have before
related, and it is quite possible that he returned to inhabit the
scene of his early hardships, though there is no evidence of it
but the name. He certainly did not remain long.
In accordance with the previous arrangement with Ellicott,
though apparently it was somewhat modified. William Johnston
received a deed of several valuable inner lots, and of outer lot
93, comprising forty acres south of Crow and east of Onondaga
(Washington) streets.
A STRANGE OBJECT. 127
One day in September, 1804, a hitherto unknown i^henome-
non came slowly swaying down Willink avenue, picking its way
among the stumps, and curving around the hillocks in that
primeval thoroughfare. It was a carriage — a private carriage —
the first one ever seen in Erie county, and probably the first that
ever crossed the Genesee. It was a most luxurious vehicle, ac-
cording to the ideas of that day, new and strongly built, its drab-
colored sides splashed with the mud of numberless mudholes
through which it had passed since leaving the far-off State of
Vermont.
As it wended its tedious course down the wide highway now
bordered by lofty blocks and palatial residences, we may be sure
that from the few log cabins and diminutive frames on either
side every head was thrust forth in scrutinizing wonder, while the
red men who were ever strolling about the village uttered their
" Ughs " with more than ordinary emphasis, as they gazed on
this novel institution of the pale-faces. From the carriage win-
dows peered the equally curious faces of several children, gazing
with wide-open eyes at the strange scenes on either side, while
behind them appeared a woman's thoughtful, perhaps saddened,
features. One or two open wagons followed, containing some of
the male members of the new family and an ample supply of
furniture.
The vehicles turned into Crow street, and halted before John
Crow's log-and-frame mansion. The family which then alighted
was one whose members and descendants have ever since, in
successive generations, been prominent in the social and com-
mercial history of Buffalo, that of Captain Samuel Pratt.
While on his way to and from Detroit, on a fur-buying trip, in
1802-3, Captain P. had been so strongly impressed with the
commercial advantages of the little log village at the foot of
Lake Erie that he determined to locate there, and engage in the
fur-trade. As he had reached the age of forty, had a large
family and was possessed of a comfortable property, his eastern
friends thought his proposed removal little less than lunacy.
He, however, persevered, had a carriage built on purpose, so
that his family might be as comfortable as possible on their long-
journey, and in due time they drew up before Crow's tavern.
As they did so they were met by Erastus Granger, the super-
128 A CONTEST OF COURTESY,
intendent of Indian affairs, who greeted the captain with the
utmost warmth, made his poHtest bows to the lady, and imme-
diately placed his room in the tavern at the disposal of the
family while awaiting the preparation of their residence. Mr.
Pratt was profuse in his thanks for this great kindness, Mr.
Granger equally profuse in assurances that lie was the party
most honored by the arrangement. The salaams on both sides
were numerous and profound.
Meanwhile the mother and children peered into the apart-
ment over which so much politeness was being expended.
They discovered a room some twelve feet square, with rough
log walls, a floor of split logs, and a bedstead of poles in the
corner. Mrs. Pratt's face grew sad at the dismal prospect, and
at least one of the children could hardly keep from laugh-
ing over the seeming disproportion between the gentleman's
compliments and the subject of them. None the less Mr.
Granger's offer was generous and timely, and his apartment was
probably the most elegant one in Buffalo.
The only survivor of this scene old enough to remember it is
Mrs. Esther Pratt Fox, then a girl of six, now a most amiable
lady of seventy-eight, who still laughs when she describes the
politeness expended over the log room in Crow's tavern.
Captain Pratt soon built him a frame house, the first one of
any considerable size in the village, and also a store in which he
began trading with both Indians and whites. His business, es-
pecially with the former, soon became extensive, principally in
buying furs, and during all his residence he maintained their
unwavering confidence.
The only other store in the village, and in fact in the county,
at this time, was that of Sylvanus Maybee, unless Vincent Grant
already had one.
The only other event it is necessary to notice in this year is
the establishment of a post-route and post-office. A law was
passed in the spring, establishing a route from Canandaigua to
P"t. Niagara, byway of Buffalo Creek. In September following-
it was put in operation, and Erastus Granger was appointed the
first postmaster in Erie county, his office being denominated
" Buffalo Creek." Even Congress would not recognize the un-
fortunate name of New Amsterdam.
WILLINK AND ERIE. 1 29
The new postmaster's duties were not onerous. Once a week
a solitary horseman came from Canandaigua, with a pair of sad-
dle-bags containing a few letters and a few diminutive news-
papers scarcely larger than the letters, and once a week he
returned from Fort Niagara with a still smaller literary freight.
During 1805 there is no record of any new townships being
occupied, but the work of improvement progressed rapidly
around the settlements already made.
In accordance with the law of the previous year, the towns of
Willink and Erie were organized in the spring of 1805. The
first town-meeting in Willink was held at Vandeventer's, all the
voters being north of the reservation, except Joel Adams in
Aurora and Roswell Turner in Sheldon, Wyoming county.
The following officers were elected :
Supervisor, Peter Vandeventer ; Town Clerk, Zerah Ensign ,
Assessors, Asa Ransom, Aaron Beard, John J, Brown ; Collec-
tor, Levi Felton ; Commissioners of Highways, Gad \^^arner,
Charles Wilber, Samuel Hill, Jr. ; Constables, John Dunn, Ju-
lius Keyes ; Overseers of the Poor, Henry Ellsworth and Otis
Ingalls.
The first town-meeting in the town of Erie was held at
Crow's tavern, but the record of it was destroyed, with nearly
all others pertaining to that town, in 18 13. In fact, notwith-
standing the law, it would be difficult to establish the actual,
organized existence of such a town, were it not for a rough
little memorandum-book, preserved among the treasures of
the Buffalo Historical Society. It is marked " Erie Town
Book," but it does not show any of the usual town-records ex-
cept receipts from licenses to sell liquor.
Five of these were recorded in 1805, three being to persons
in the present county of Erie and two at Lewiston. There was
one in Buffalo to Joshua Gillett, and one to "The Contractors
by S. Tupper." There must, however, have been others. Cer-
tainly Landlord Crow must have had one. The price of licenses
was five dollars each. Orlando Hopkins was collector of the
town that year, and the whole general tax was a hundred and
fifty dollars.
" The Contractor's Store," a somewhat noted institution of
that day, was started in the fall of 1804, or spring of 1805, by
130 SUNDRY SKTTLF.RS.
the gentlemen who had contracts for supplying the militaiy
posts of the West. It was at first in charge of Samuel Tupper,
who came to Buffalo about that time, and may have been one
of the contractors. The fact that he was appointed a judge of
Genesee county in the fall goes to show that he was not a mere
clerk. He was the first person within the limits of Erie county
who had a right to the appellation of judge. There have been
a good many since.
About the same time, Zenas Barker began keeping on the
Terrace a rival tavern to Crow's. At the fall term of the Court
of Common Pleas, both Crow and Barker were licensed to keep
ferries across Buffalo creek ; the former at the mouth and the
latter at what was afterwards known as the Pratt ferry. Another
new-comer was William Hodge, a most energetic young man,
only twenty-three years of age, but having already a wife and
two children, one of whom, then five months old, was W'illiam
Hodge, Jr., now a venerable and highly respected citizen of
Buffalo. Mr. H. soon established himself on lot 35, now corner
of ]Main and Utica streets, remaining in that vicinity throughout
his life.
Besides the two Buffalo liquor-licenses recorded in 1805, there
was one to Nathaniel Titus, who in that year opened a tavern
at the bend of the lake, in what is now Hamburg. His place
was afterwards long known as the Barker stand.
Among other settlers in Hamburg, Abner Amsden located
himself on the lake shore, four miles above Titus, where his son
Abner still lives. The latter, then eleven years old, is now
eighty-two. I found him last year two or three miles from
home, and so busy getting a load of lumber that he could not
stop to talk much. He said, however, that he had lived on that
same farm seventy years, and the longer he lived on it the
better he liked it.
"You can't wear the country out." said the old gentleman,
"if you farm it right ; " and he has certainly tried it long enough
to know.
Jotham Bemis, (or "old Captain Bemis" as he was called,)
Vandeventer's opponent in the middle-of-the-road contest for the
supcrvi.sor.ship, purchased land in Hamburg in 1805, and then
or soon after located himself near the site of Abbott's Corners.
IMvI.MiriVK .MILLS. I31
Tyler Sackett, Russell Goodrich, Rufus Bcldcn, Abel Buck,
Gideon Dudley, Samuel P. Hibbard, King Root, Winslow Perry
and others came about the same time or a little later.
In East Hamburg, Jacob Eddy, (father of David) and Asa
Sprague settled near Potter's Corners. Among other immi-
grants were William Coltrin, Samuel Knapp and Joseph Sheldon.
The "Friend" or Quaker element began to center about Potter's
Corners, giving to that locality characteristics which it has ever
since to some extent retained
In 1805, Daniel Smith, son of Deacon Ezekiel, put up a rude
mill, for grinding corn only, on a little stream since called Hoag's
Brook, two miles southwest of Potter's Corners. It was a log
building about eighteen feet square, with wood gearing, and
would grind five or six bushels a day.
David Eddy also built a saw-mill for the Indians, by contract
with superintendent Granger, on Cazenove creek, near what is
now "Lower Ebenezer." It furnished the first boards for the
inhabitants of the south towns. The cranks, saws, etc., had to
be transported from Albany. The same enterprising pioneer
raised nearly a thousand bushels of corn in his first crop, having
prepared the ground by chopping down the trees and burning
the tops, leaving the bodies on the ground.
To Boston, in 1805, came "Deacon Richard Cary, a godly sol-
dier of the Revolution, who had shared the hardships of the
northern army in its vain but gallant adventure against Quebec,
and had followed the footsteps of Washington through the ter-
rible campaigns of the Jerseys. The extreme poverty of the
pioneers of the Holland Purchase has been the theme of frequent
description, and I think their descendants are somewhat proud
of it — or, rather, proud of their surmounting such difficulties.
There were so many cases of men bringing their families to
their new homes on ox-sleds, and arriving with from fifty cents
to five dollars each, that I can not mention the half of them.
Deacon Cary, however, is fairly entitled to special notice in this
respect, for when he reached the valley of the Eighteen-Mile he
had just three cents in his pocket and was two dollars in debt.
A sick wife and eight children explain the condition of his
finances.
To shelter these ten persons there was a log cabin twelve feet
132 WILLIAM WARREN.
square, with a one-slope roof, in which a blanket served as a
door, and a piece of factory cloth stretched over a hole did duty
for a window. The Johnsons and Cary all took their first crops
of wheat to be ground at Chippewa, full forty miles distant.
In Aurora there was a considerable influx of emigration.
Jabez Warren moved his family thither in March (on an ox-sled
of course) ; Emerson and Godfrey came with him. Taber Earl
came back from Buffalo, Thomas Tracy and Humphrey Smith,
purchasers of the previous year, occupied their lands, and settle-
ment in Aurora was fairly under way. The price of land was
two dollars per acre.
Jabez Warren's oldest son, William, who, though not twenty-
one till the July following, had been married two years, also
came, received a part of the tract entered by his father, and
made a clearing at the east end of East Aurora village ; cutting
down the soft maples and basswoods, but only girdling the
harder trees. In August he had five acres thus cleared, four of
which he sowed to wheat, and in telling the story he adds : "I
got bouncing wheat." He then brought his family, making the
seventh in that township.
William Warren, since better known as General Warren, was a
smooth-faced, good-looking youth, of amiable disposition and
pleasant manners, who would not have been picked out from his
appearance as peculiarly adapted to endure the hardships of
frontier life. Yet he has survived them all, and still remains in
reasonably good health, at the age of ninety-two, to tell the
story of his remarkable career. Until a few years since he con-
tinued to dwell at East Aurora, but has latterly resided at
Knowlcsville, Orleans county.
The future general had an early predeliction for military
affairs, had been an "ensign" of militia at his former home,
and immediately after his arrival in Erie county was commis-
sioned as captain. His district embraced all the south i)art of
Erie and Wyoming counties. With his commission came an
order to call his company together for organization. He did so
and nine men responded.
In Newstead Archibald S. Clarke purchased, and soon settled,
on the Buffalo road, about a mile and a half southwest of Akron,
becoming ere long one of the most prominent citizens of the
WILLIAMSVILLE. 1 33
county. Aaron Dolph came about the same time, and among
other names of immigrants of that period are John Beamer,
Eli Hammond, Sahnon and George SparHng, and Henry Russell.
Among other settlers in Clarence in 1805, were Thomas Clark,
Edmund Thompson and David Hamlin, Sr. His son Lindsay
Hamlin, then eleven, is one of the earliest surviving residents
of Clarence. He thinks that when he came in 1805 Asa Ran-
som had both a saw-mill and a grist-mill. If so the latter must
have been built as early as 1S04. Other data fix the year at
1805. At all events it was the first mill for grinding wheat in
the county, and was for several years the sole resort of the
settlers north of the reservation.
Mr. Hamlin states that when he came the "openings" occupied
half the space for four miles west and south of Clarence Hol-
low, and along the Lancaster line. They were small prairies of
a few acres each, surrounded by oak and pine. They were very
productive, and the settlers used to raise from sixty to eighty
bushels of corn per acre.
The names of John Hersey, Alexander Logan, and John
King appear as purchasers in Amherst this year. One of the
events of the season there was the opening of a tavern by Elias
Ransom, three miles west of Williamsville, and another was the
marriage of Timothy S. Hopkins in the log house built by
Thompson four years before, which has now become the venerable
clapboarded, dun-colored "Evans house."
A more important event was the advent of Jonas Williams.
He had been a clerk in the land-office, and when on his way to
Chautauqua county on business for the company had been cap-
tivated by the grand water-power on EUicott's creek. He
bought the land and the abandoned mill, of Thompson, and in
the spring of 1805 began to rebuild the mill, becoming the
founder of the village which still bears his name.
134 POOR rioNKKKS.
CHAPTER XVII.
PIONEERING.
Poverty. — An Aristocratic Mansion. — A Horse Bedstead. — Oxen. — A Raising. —
Clearing Land. — The Logging Bee. — The Rail Fence.
I have now shown the general course of events, as accurately
as I could, down to a time when settlement had got pretty well
started in Erie county. Still everything was in the rudest form,
and the daily lives of the settlers was of the very hardest de-
scription.
Whenever there was something peculiar in any of the numer-
ous stories of pioneer experience which I have read or listened
to, I have narrated it, and shall do so hereafter. It would, how-
ever, have been entirely impracticable to publish each individual
experience, or the ordinary events in each town, because so many
of them were closely similar to each other. There would have
been twenty-five town histories all very much alike. The ob-
ject of this chapter is to consolidate these numerous accounts,
and give a general idea of what pioneering was in Erie county
in its earliest stages.
In the first place, it may be said roundly that all the early
settlers of this county, as of the whole Holland Purchase, were
extremely poor. The exceptions were of the rarest. Over and
over again Mr. Ellicott mentions, in his letters to the general
agent, the absolute necessity of making sales with little or no
advance payment. Over and over again we find men bu}ing
from one to two hundred acres, the amount paid down being
twenty dollars, ten dollars, five dollars, and even a smaller sum.
When we sec Sylvanus Maybee, the Buffalo merchant, paying
but $15 down for a village lot, twelve dollars the next year, and
then failing to pay altogether ; when we find Erastus Granger,
superintendent of Indian affairs and post-master of Buffalo,
sleeping on a pole bedstead, with a puncheon floor to his room,
we can imagine the condition of the general run of settlers.
There was not, at the end of 1805, a grist mill in the county.
•A HORSE liEDSTEAU. 1 35
except Asa Ransom's, which was small and poorly supplied with
water. There was no saw mill south of the reservation, and but
two or three north of it. Except a few little buildings in Buf-
falo, there was not a frame house in the county. The structures
under which the earliest settlers sheltered themselves and their
families hardly rose even to the dignity of log houses. They
were frequently mere cabins of small logs, (there not being help
enough to handle large ones,) covered with bark. Sometimes
there was a floor of split logs, or " puncheon.s," sometimes none.
A log house sixteen feet square, with a shingle roof, a board
floor, and a w^indow containing six lights of glass, was a decid-
edly stylish residence, and its owner was in some danger of being
disliked as a bloated aristocrat.
The furniture was as primitive as the houses. Sometimes a
feather-bed was brought on an ox-cart to the new home, some-
times not. Bedsteads were still rarer, and chairs pertained only
to the higher classes. Substitutes for the latter were made by
splitting a slab out of a log, boring four holes in the corners,
and inserting four legs hewed out of the same tree.
A bedstead was almost as easily constructed. Two poles
were cut, one about six feet long and the other three. One end
of each was inserted in an auger-hole, bored in a log at the
proper distance from the corner of the house ; the other ends
were fastened to a post which formed the corner of the struc-
ture. Other poles were fastened along the logs, and the frame
was complete.
Then, if the family was well off and owned a bed cord, it \\as
strung upon the poles ; if not, its place was supplied b}' strips
of bark from the nearest trees. This was called by some a
"horse bedstead," and by some a "Holland Purchase bed-
stead."
Usually the emigrant brought a small stock of provisions
with him, for food he knew he must have. These, however, were
frequently exhausted before he could raise a supply. Then he
had to depend on the precarious resource of wild game, or on
what his labor could obtain from his scarcely more fortunate
neighbors.
Even after a crop of corn had been raised, there still re-
mained the extreme difficulty of getting it ground. But in
136 "THE PLUMPIN'G MILL," ETC.
this case, as in so many others, necessity was the mother of in-
vention. A fire being built in the top of a stump, a hollow of
the size of a half-bushel basket would be burned out and then
scraped "clean. Then the pioneer would hew out a rude wooden
pestle, fasten it to a " spring-pole," and secure the latter to a
neighboring tree. With this primeval grist-mill corn could be
reduced to a coarse meal. When there were several families in
a neighborhood, one such machine would serve them all. It was
sometimes called a "plumping mill."
Another way was to flatten a beech log, hollow it out, fit a
block into the hollow and turn the block with a lever.
The clothes of both men and women for the first few years
were such as they brought from their former homes. If these
were plentiful, the owners were comfortable; if scanty, they were
patched till their original material was lost beneath the over-
lying amendments.
When the emigrant was unmarried, he frequently came on
foot and alone, with only an axe on his shoulder, selected a lo-
cation miles away from the nearest settler, put him up the
rudest kind of a cabin, and for awhile kept bachelor's hall, occa-
sionally visiting some friendly matron to have his bread baked
or his clothes repaired.
When a family came it was almost invariably behind a yoke
of oxen. These patient animals were the universal resource of
the first pioneers of Western New York. Cheap, hardy, and
far better adapted than horses to the terrible roads of those
days, they possessed the further advantage of being always
transmissible into beef, in case of accident to them or scarcity
in the family. During the first few years of its settlement, prob-
ably not one family in ten came into Erie county with a span of
horses.
New-comers were always warmly welcomed by their prede-
cessors, partly doubtless from native kindness, and partly because
each new arrival helped to redeem the forest from its forbidding
loneliness, and added to the value of improvements already made.
If there were already a few settlers in the locality, the emi-
grant's family w^as sheltered by one of them until notice could
be given to all around of a house-raising on a specified day. On
that day, perhaps only a dozen men would be collected from as
■ A HOUSE-RAISING. I 3/
many square miles, bat all of them able to handle their axes as
easily as the deftest clerk flourishes his pen.
Suitable trees had already been felled, and logs cut, from
twelve to sixteen feet long according to the wealth and preten-
sions of the builder. These were drawn by oxen to the desired
point, and four of the largest selected as a foundation.
Four of the most active and expert men were designated to
build the corners. They began by cutting a kind of saddle at
the ends of two of the logs ; a space about a foot long being
shaped like the roof of a house. Notches to fit these saddles
were cut in the other logs and then they were laid upon the first
ones. The operation was repeated again and again, the four
axemen rising with the building, and shaping the logs handed
up to them by their comrades.
Arrived at a height of six or eight feet, rafters made of poles
from the forest were placed in position, and if a supply of ash
"shakes," (rough shingles three feet long,) had been provided,
the roof was at once constructed, the gable-ends being formed
of logs, successively shortened to the pinnacle. Then a place
for a door was sawed out, and another for a window, (if the pro-
prietor aspired to such a convenience,) and the principal work
of the architects was done.
They were usually cheered in their labors and rewarded at
the close of them by the contents of a whisky jug; for it must
have been a very poor neighborhood indeed in which a few quarts
of that article could not be obtained on great occasions. Some-
times the proprietor obtained rough boards and made a door, but
often a blanket served that purpose during the first summer.
There being no brick, he built a fire-place of stone, finishing it
with a chimney composed of sticks, laid up cob-house fashion,
and well plastered with mud.
The finishing touches were given by the owner himself; then,
if the family had brought a few pots and kettles with them, they
were ready to commence housekeeping.
The next task was to clear a piece of land. If the pioneer
had arrived very early in the season, he might possibly get
half an acre of woods out of the way so as to plant a little corn
the same spring. Usually, however, his ambition w^as limited to
getting three or four acres ready for winter wheat by the first
138 THE LOGGING BEE.
of September. To do this he worked early and late, fortunate
if he was not interrupted by the ague, or some other sickness.
The first thing of course was to fell the trees, but even this
was a work of science. It was the part of the expert woods-
man to make them all lie in one direction, so they could be easi-
ly rolled together. Then they were cut into logs from fourteen
to eighteen feet long, and the brush was cut up and piled. When
the latter had become dry it was fired, and the land quickly
burned over, leaving the blackened ground and charred logs.
Next came the logging. When the piece was small the pio-
neer would probably take his oxen, change works so as to obtain
a couple of helpers, and the three would log an acre a day, one
driving the team and two using handspikes, and thus dragging
and rolling the logs into piles convenient for burning. The first
dry weather these, too, were fired, the brands watched and heaped
together, and when all were consumed the land was ready for
the plough.
Even an ordinary day in the logging field was a sufficiently
sooty and disagreeable experience, but was as nothing compared
with a "logging bee." When a large tract was to be logged,
the neighbors were invited from far and near to a bee. Those
who had oxen brought them, the others provided themselves
with cant-hooks and handspikes. The officer of the day, otherwise
the "boss," who was usually the owmer of the land, gave the
necessary directions, designating the location of the different
heaps, and the work began. The charred and blackened logs
were rapidly drawn, (or "snaked," as the term was,) alongside
the heap, and then the handspike brigade quickly rolled them
on top of it. Another and another was dragged up in rapid
succession, the handspike-men being always ready to put it right
if it caught against an obstacle. As it tore along the ground,
the black dust flew up in every direction, and when a collision
occurred the volume of the sooty zephyr arose in treble volume.
Soon every man was covered with a thick coat of black, in-
volving clothes, hands and face in a darkness which no mourn-
ing garb ever equaled. But the work went on with increasing
speed. The different gangs caught the spirit of rivalry, and
each trio or quartette strove to make the quickest trips and the
highest pile. It is even said by old loggers that the oxen would
PRIMITIVE FENCES. I 39
get as excited as the men, and would "snake" their loads into
place with ever increasing energy.
Teams that understood their business would stand quiet while
the chain was being hitched, then spring with all their might,
taking a bee-line to the log-heap and halt as soon as they came
abreast of it. They had not the benefit, either, of the stimulus
applied to the men, for the whisky jug was in frequent circulation.
Faster and faster sped the men and teams to and fro, harder
strained the handspike heroes to increase the pile, higher flew
the clouds of dust and soot. Reckless of danger, men sprang
in front of rolling logs, or bounded over them as they went
whirling among the stumps. Accidents sometimes happened,
but those who have been on the scene express wonder that half
the necks present were not broken.
As the day draws to a close a thick cloud covers the field,
through which are seen a host of sooty forms, four-legged ones
with horns and two-legged ones with handspikes, pulling, run-
ning, lifting, shouting, screaming, giving the most vivid idea of
pandemonium that a farmer's life ever offers, until night de-
scends, and the tired yet still excited laborers return to their
homes, clothed in blackness, and the terror of even the most
careless of housewives. But the work is done.
To sow the land with winter wheat was, in most cases, the
next move. A patch might be reserved for corn and potatoes,
but spring wheat was a very rare crop.
The next absolute necessity was a fence. The modern sys-
tem of dispensing with that protection was unknown and un-
dreamed of Probably the records of every town organized in
the Holland Purchase, down to 1850, would show that at its first
town-meeting an ordinance was passed, providing that horses
and horned cattle should be free commoners. Hogs, it w^as usu-
ally voted, should not be free commoners, while sheep held an
intermediate position, being sometimes allowed the liberty of the
road, and sometimes doomed to the seclusion of the pasture.
Sometimes a temporary fence was constructed by piling large
brush along the outside of the clearing, but this was a poor de-
fense against a steer that was really in earnest, and was held in
general disfavor as a sign of " shiftlessness," that first of sins
to the Yankee mind.
140 THE "VIRGINIA RAIL FEXCP:."
The universal reliance, and the pride of the pioneer's heart,
was the old-fashioned " Virginia rail fence." Not long ago it
would have been an absurdity for an Erie county writer to say
anything in the way of description about an institution so well
known as that. It might perhaps do to omit any mention of it
now. But if any copies of this book should last for thirty years, the
readers of that day will all want to know why the author failed
to describe that curious crooked fence, made of split logs, which
they will have heard of but never seen. Even now it is rapidly
becoming a thing of the past, under the combined influences of
cattle-restraining laws and the high price of timber.
One of the most important things which the emigrant looked
out for in selecting a farm was an ample supply of oak, elm,
ash, or walnut, for rail-making purposes. Then, when winter
had put an end to other work, laden with axe, and beetle, and
iron wedge, and wooden wedge, he tramped through the
snow to the big trees, and perhaps for months did little else
than convert them into great, three-cornered rails, twelve feet
long, and facing six or eight inches on each side.
In the spring these were laid in fence, the biggest at the bot-
tom, one end of each rail below and the other above, and each
" length " of fence forming an obtuse angle with that on
either side. Four and a half feet was the usual height pre-
scribed by the town ordinances, but the farmer's standard
of efficiency was an " eight-rail fence, staked and ridered."
The last two adjectives denoted that two stout stakes were
driven into the ground and crossed above the eighth rail, at each
corner, while on the crotch thus formed was laid the biggest
kind of a rail, serving at once to add to the height and to keep
the others in place. Such a fence would often reach the height
of seven feet, and prove an invincible obstacle to the hungry
horse, the breachy ox, and even to the wild and wandering bull.
If any of the old settlers should find any mistakes in this ac-
count, I tru.st they will keep quiet, for the next generation will
know nothing of the subject, and cannot criticise the description.
Having now narrated the story of the average pioneer, until
he has provided himself with the absolute necessities of fron-
tier life — a log house, a few acres of clearing and a rail fence —
I turn again to some of the details of local progress.
A FOUR days' raising. 141
CHAPTER XVIII.
1806 AND 1807.
A Tavern in Evans. — A Grist-Mill in Hamburg. — A Four Days' Raising. — First
Meeting-house in the County. — Mills, etc., in Aurora. — Settlement in Wales.
— The Tomahawk Story. — First Methodist Society. — A Traveling Ballot Box.
— First Erie County Lawyer. — Primitive Pork Packing. — Pay as '^'ou Go. —
The Little Red School-house. — Chivalry at a Discount.
In the year 1806, Joel Harvey, the first settler of Evans, be-
gan keeping tavern at his residence, at the mouth of Eight-
een-Mile creek. There were some purchases made in that year
near East Evans, and temporary settlements made, but accord-
ing to Peter Barker, who furnished an interesting sketch of Evans
to the Buffalo Historical Society, the discouraged pioneers left,
and no permanent settlements were made till several years later.
Mr. Harvey's was the frontier house, yet it was a good location
for a tavern, on account of the heavy travel that went up the
beach of the lake to Chautauqua county and Ohio.
It was in 1806, too, as near as can be ascertained, that the
first regular grist-mill was erected in the southwest part of the
county, probably the first south of the reservation. It was built
by John Cummings, on the Eighteen-Mile creek, at a place now
called McClure's Mills, a mile or so below Water Valley, in the
town of Hamburg.
The raising of it was a grand affair. Old men still relate how
from all the south part of the county the scattered settlers
came with their teams, elated at the idea of having a grist-
mill, and willing to make a week's journey if necessary to give
it a start.
Yet so few were they that their united strength was insuffi-
cient to put some of the great timbers in their places. The pro-
prietor sent to the reservation and obtained a crowd of Indians
to help in the work. One does not expect very hard lifting
from an Indian, but he can lift, when there is a prospect of plenty
of whisky as a reward. It was only, however, after four days'
142 THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
work, by white men and red men, that the raising of the first
grist-mill in Hamburg was completed.
Jacob Wright about this time settled in Hamburg near Ab-
bott's Corners, which for many years was known as " Wright's
Corners."
The " Friends " in East Hamburg had become numerous
enough to organize a "Friends Meeting" in 1806. This was
undoubtedly the first religious organization in the county. The
next year they built a log meeting-house close to Potter's Cor-
ners. It was not only the first church-building of any descrip-
tion in the county, but for more than ten years it was the only
one.
The Quakers were equally zealous in the cause of education,
and as early as 1806 built a log school-house — certainly the first
one south of the reservation, and perhaps in the county. Henry
Hibbard taught the first school. David Eddy also built a saw-
mill on Smoke's Creek, not far from Potter's Corners.
Seth and Samuel Abbott, brothers, located two or three
miles southeast of Potter's Corners in the fall of 1807, both be-
coming influential citizens, and the former afterwards giving his
name to the village of Abbott's Corners.
Among the new settlers in Boston in these years were Jona-
than Bump, Benjamin Whaley, Job Palmer, Calvin Doolittle,
Eliab Streeter, and Joseph Yaw in 1806, and William Cook,
Ethan Howard, Kester and Serrill Alger in 1807. In the
latter year the settlement first attained to the dignity of having
a frame barn, the proprietor being the energetic pioneer, Charles
Johnson.
In 1806 or '7 the "Friends Yearly Meeting" of Philadelphia
sent a mission to instruct the Indians of the Cattaraugus re-
serve, having bought three hundred acres adjoining the reserva-
tion. The mission was composed of several single men and
women, who called themselves a family. The whole was under
the management of Jacob Taylor. His nephew, Caleb Taylor,
remembers the names of Stephen Twining and Hannah Jack-
son, as members of the family.
They located at the place since known as Taylor's Hollow, a
few rods from the reservation line, where they gave instruction
in farming to all the Indians who would receive it, in housework
SETTLEMENT OF SPRINGVILLE. 1 43
to the squaws, and in reading, \\riting-, etc., to the youth. What-
ever the improvement made, the Quakers generally produced a
favorable impression on the red men. Even the bitter Red
Jacket spoke of them as friends — the only white friends the In-
dians had.
With this exception the valley of the Cattaraugus, including
all its tributaries in Erie county, remained an unbroken wilder-
ness till the fall of 1807. At that time two hardy pioneers,
Christopher Stone and Jolin Albro, crossed the ridge, made their
own roads through the forest, and finally located on a pleasant
little stream running into the Cattaraugus from the north ; in
fact on the site of Springville. There they and their families
remained during the winter, their nearest neighbors being at
least ten miles distant, in the valley of Eighteen-Mile creek.
In 1S06 Phineas Stephens bought the mill-site at the "lower
village " of Aurora, and that year put up a saw-mill. That
year or the next he also built a grist-mill. My authorities differ
but it was probably in 1807, leaving Cummings' the first grist-
mill (for wheat) in the south towns. It was certainly the first
framed one, as Stephens' was built of hewed logs. Aniong
new purchasers in 1806, all of whom settled that year or the
next, were Solomon Hall, James S. Henshaw, Oliver Pattengill.
Walter Paine, Jonathan Hussey, Ira Paine and Humphrey
Smith. The latter had a great fancy for mill-sites, and besides
the one at Griffinshire where he afterwards built mills, bought
the one at W^est Falls and the one at the forks of the Cazenove.
In 1806 or early in 1807, he does not remember which, young
William Warren hung out a sign before his log house, and be-
came the first tavern-keeper in the southeast part of the county.
In the summer of the latter year the little cabin he had first
lived in was converted into a school-house, where the first school
in all that section was taught by Mary Eddy, the vigorous
pedestrian mentioned by Mrs. Colvin. The next winter Warren
himself kept school in the same house. That enterprising
young pioneer was thus school-teacher, tavern-keeper and cap-
tain all at once. His second "company training" was held at
Turner's Corners, in Sheldon, in 1806, when there were about
sixty men present, instead of the nine of the year before. Asa
Ransom had then been appointed major commandant.
144 I'ilE MYSTERY OF THE TOMAIIA^VK.
Ephraim Woodruff, the pioneer blacksmith in the southeastern
part of the county, opened his shop in Aurora in 1807.
In 1806 Wilham Allen made the first settlement in Wales,
locating where the Big Tree road then crossed Buffalo creek,
about half a mile south of Wales Center. The road then made a
half-mile curve to the south to avoid the long and steep hill east
of Wales Center. The same fall Amos Clark and William Hoyt
located a little east of Holmes' Hill.
This locality received its name from two brothers, Ebenezer
and John M. Holmes, whose arrival, though it did not occur till
the beginning of 1808, preceded the formation of Niagara
county, and can, therefore, most conveniently be noted here.
They came in February and located themselves on the top of
the hill, close to the present west line of Wales. As both had
large families — Ebenezer eight and John M. nine children — most
of whom grew up and settled in that vicinity, it was natural that
the name of " Holmes' Hill " should soon be adopted, and be-
come permanent.
It may be observed, in passing, that the vegetation was at that
time almost as luxuriant on the hill-tops as in the valleys, and
frequently deceived the keenest of the pioneers as to the value
of the soil.
Jacob Turner came to Wales in 1807 or '8^ and settled near
William Allen.
A curious story is told regarding early times in that town,
even previous to its first settlement. In 181 3 an Indian hatchet
was found imbedded in a tree on the land of Isaac Hall, near
Wales Center. No one could imagine how it came there, and
no one attempted to explain its presence. Many years later,
however, (after all danger of Indian retaliation had passed
away,) John Allen, who is vouched for by those who knew him
as a reliable man, made the following statement concerning it :
About the time the first settlers came to Buffalo, an Indian
was in that village who showed the skin of a white child, which
he boasted that he had killed and skinned. He declared his
intention to make a tobacco-pouch out of his ghastly trophy.
One of the few who heard him was Truman Allen, brother of
John Allen, who told the story. He became so enraged that
when the savage left for the southeast, Allen followed him as
SETTLEMENT OF HOLLAND. 1 45
far as Wales, and there shot him. He buried the slain man and
his gun, but stuck the tomahawk into the tree where it was
afterwards found. John Allen's story was a strange one, but I
give it as it was told me by P. M. Hall, who knew of the finding
of the hatchet, and heard the tale from Allen. It is also nar-
rated in the State Gazetteer.
In 1807 the first settlement was made in the present town of
Holland. Arthur Humphrey, (father of Hon. James M. Hum-
phrey,) Abner Currier and Jared Scott began clearing farms on
the creek flats, between South Wales and Holland village.
Humphrey settled that year on the farm where he lived till his
death, fifty years later. Currier and Scott brought their families
a year or so afterwards.
In 1806 the first purchase was made in the present town of
Alden, in the northwest corner, by Jonas Vanwey. According
to all accounts, however, there was no settlement till some years
later.
In Newstead, Elisha Geer, Jonathan Fish and others settled
in 1806, and Charles Knight, Lemuel Osborn and others in 1807.
Mrs. Osborn was the daughter of Knight, and still survives, a
resident of the village of Akron. She is the only person re-
maining in Newstead, so far as I could learn, who came as early
as 1807.
She relates that the first church in town was organized at her
father's house just after their arrival, in July of that year. It
was a Methodist society, with twelve members, and Mr. Knight
was the first class-leader. Mrs. Osborn is the only surviving
member.
It was the first Methodist organization on the Holland Pur-
chase, and probably the second religious society in Erie county,
the Friends' Meeting in East Hamburg being the first. It was
organized by the Rev. Peter Van Ness, one of the two first
Methodist missionaries who came upon the Purchase, the Rev.
^Vmos Jenks being the other. Both were sent out in 1807,
under the auspices of the Philadelphia conference.
In 1806 or '7, too, Archibald S. Clarke started a store on his
farm near Vandeventer s. This was the first store in the county,
outside of Buffalo, and was hailed by all the people round
about as marking a decisive epoch in the advance of civilization.
146 A TRAVELING BALLOT BOX.
Into Clarence, in 1806, came Jonathan Barrett, John Tyler,
Justice Webster and others, and in 1807, Wm. Barrett, Thomas
Brown and Asa Harris. The last named settled on the Buffalo
road, three or four miles west from Clarence Hollow, at a point
which thenceforth went by the name of " Harris Hill," though
the " hill " is so low as to be hardly perceptible.
Before leaving the territory of the original town of Willink, it
may be stated that, up to and including 1806, the elections were
every year held at Peter Vandeventer's, and every year the
worthy landlord was chosen supervisor. In 1807, however, the
town-meeting was held at Clarence Hollow, and then Asa Ran-
som was elected supervisor.
Up to this time the scattering voters in Willink, south of the
reservation, had to cross it to exercise the elective franchise.
General elections, however, in those times were held three days,
and in April, 1807, the southern settlers got sight of a ballot
box. The election was held a day and a half north of the
reservation, and on the afternoon of the second day the "board''
crossed the wilderness. The next forenoon they held open the
polls at Warren's tavern in Aurora, and in the afternoon, (as
Gen. W. remembers it,) in Wales, at the house of Jacob Turner.
The commissioners of excise of Willink for 1807 certified to
the qualifications of no less than ten persons to keep hotels in
that town. Doubtless all these, and perhaps more, actually kept
tavern, but there was not a single store in the town.
James Hershey and William Maltby came to Amherst in 1806,
and in 1807 John J. Drake, Samuel Fackler, Gamaliel St. John
and others. St. John had to pay $3 an acre for his land, while
the price to the rest was $2. This was doubtless because he
settled close to where Jonas Williams was vigorously striving to
build up the village of Williamsvillc, though without much suc-
cess. Mr. St. John was an energetic pioneer, with already a large
family of children, and Mrs. S. was a woman of extraordinary
resolution, destined to become a historical personage in connec-
tion with the burning of Buffalo.
There were still but three or four houses at Williamsville,
which was generally called Williams' Mills. In one of these,
near the west end of the present village, Samuel McConnell kept
tavern.
THE FIRST LAWYER. 147
In the present city of Buffalo, outside the village, Major Noble,
James Stewart, Gideon Moshier, Loren and Velorous Hodge,
Henry Ketchum (brother of the late Jesse Ketchum,) and many
others settled during the two years under consideration. Some
of the land was held at $3.50 per acre, and from that down as
low as $2.25.
The village itself continued to grow, though not with the
rapidity of later years, nor after the manner of some newly
founded western cities.
In 1806 Joseph Landon bought Crow's tavern, refitted it,
made a comfortable hotel of it, and in fact founded the present
Mansion House. Landon's tavern soon became celebrated far
and wide, and was the first in the county which gained especial
fame as a place of good cheer.
In September, 1806, the earliest lawyer made his ad\-ent in
Erie county. If any of the frontiersmen were disposed to look
askance on a representative of the legal profession, as a proba-
ble provoker of disputes and disturber of society, they must
soon have been disabused of their prejudices, for Ebenezer Wal-
den, the new comer, was of all men one of the most upright and
most modest. He immediately commenced practice in a little
office on Willink avenue, between Seneca and Crow streets, and
for a year or two was the only attorney west of Batavia.
In 1806, too, the population of the youthful city was increased
by the advent of Mr. Elijah Leech and Mr. David Mather. The
former was in the employ of Captain Pratt, whose daughter he
afterwards married, and the latter established the third black-
smith shop in the village. He has stated that there were but
sixteen houses in Buffalo when he came in April, adding,
"Eight of them were scattered along on Main street, three of
them were on the Terrace, three of them on Seneca and two on
Cayuga streets." I think, however, that when he made this
statement Mr. Mather forgot a few buildings. He mentions
only the stores of Samuel Pratt and that of "the contractors,'"
then in charge of Vincent Grant, while all other accounts in-
clude that of Sylvanus Maybee. Joshua Gillett also established
a small store in Buffalo about that time.
Apropos of that "contractors' store," General Warren tells a
story illustrative of early expedients. One fall the contractors
148 BUFFALO'S "LITTLE RED SCHOOL-HOUSE.
sent on a drove of hogs from the East, expecting that they would
be killed and salted down at Buffalo, and the pork shipped in
the spring to the western posts. At Buffalo, however, the man
in charge (probably Vincent Grant,) discovered that there were
no barrels to be had. In this emergency he availed himself of
a small empty log house, which he packed full of alternate lay-
ers of pork and salt, and thus safely kept the meat through the
winter.
It was probably in 1806 that the services of the Rev. Elkanah
Holmes as a preacher were secured by the following primitive
arrangement, narrated in after years by Mr. Landon:
In the first place the inhabitants held a meeting, and made a
list of those who would help pay a preacher for a certain length
of time. Then they estimated the amount to be paid by each
person for each week, and it was agreed that every Sunday each
man should bring his money in a piece of paper, with his name on
it. The arrangement was faithfully carried out, and as strangers
also contributed some the preacher's salary was made up before
his time was out. That was certainly a very thorough exempli-
fication of the motto, "pay as you go."
During the winter of 1806-7, a school was taught by a Mr.
Hiram Hanchett in the old "Middaugh house." But in March
of the latter year it was determined to have something better.
The "little red school-house" then erected on the corner of Pearl
and Swan streets, is frequently mentioned in the reminiscences
of the early residents of Buffalo. Its history is interesting not
only because it was the first building of its kind in what is now
a great city, but because it became the subject of a somewhat
famous controversy in the courts, which was not terminated till
twenty-five years after the structure itself had ceased to exist.
The time and manner of building it, as well as the contribu-
tors thereto, have heretofore been a matter of doubtful tradition.
Those who feel an interest in early local history will be gratified
to learn that there is now in existence, among the miscellaneous
papers of the Historical Society, a document which gives an
authentic account of the beginning of school-house building in
the city of Buffalo. This is nothing less than the original ac-
count-book, containing the subscriptions and payments toward
erecting the "little red school-house" of historic fame.
A VALUABLE ACCOUNT-BOOK. I49
It is only a memorandum-book of coarse paper, with proba-
bly the roughest brown, pasteboard cover ever seen on a book ;
yet it is extremely interesting, not only as giving an authentic
account of the erection of the first school-house in the city, and
as showing the names of a large proportion of the inhabitants
of the then infant village, but also because it is one of the very
few documents relating to local history which survived the confla-
gration of 18 13. With the solitary exception of the town-book
of the town of Erie from 1805 to 1808, this account-book is the
most valuable article to the student of local history in the whole
collection of the Buffalo Historical Society. The following is a
literal copy of the first page :
"At a meeting of the Inhabitance of the Vilage of Bufifaloe
meet on the twenty-ninth day of March Eighteen hundred &
seven at Joseph Landon's Inn by a Vote of Sd meeting Zenas
Barker in the Chair for the purpos to arect a School Hous in
Sd Village by a Subscription of the Inhabitanse.
also Voted that Samuel Pratt, Joseph Landon & Joshua Gil-
lett be a Committee to See that they are appropriated on the
School House above mentioned which Subscriptions are to be
paid in by the first day of June next or Such part of it as Shall
be wanted by that time."
And the following is a list of the subscribers and the amounts
put down by each :
" Sylvanus Maybee, $20.00; Zenas Barker, 10.00; Thomas
Fourth, 3.00; Joshua Gillett, 15.00; Joseph Wells, 7.00; John
Johnston, 10.00; Nathaniel W. Sever, 10.00; Isaac H. Bennet,
3.00; Levi Strong, 5.00; William Hull, 10.00; Samuel Pratt,
22.00; Richard Mann, 5.00; Asahel Adkins, 5.00 ; Samuel An-
drews, 1.00; Garret Freeland, i.OO; Billa Sherman, S/^^c."
All the subscriptions were dated March 30, 1807, the day after
the meeting. Each man's name was placed on a page of the
book and charged with the amount subscribed, and then credited
with the amount paid, either by cash, labor or material.
The carpenter work appears to have been all done by Levi
'Strong and George Kith, whose accounts are also in the book.
Their bills for work amounted to $68.50. The credits for work
and material were mostly in April, 1807, showing that the
building was started immediately after the subscription.
From the fact that Joshua Gillett is credited with 2]^ gallons
I50 WILLIAM JOHNSTON.
of whisky on the 13th of April, I should presume that the "rais-
ing" took place on that day. But funds and credit apparently
ran low, so that Buffalo remained without a school-house a year
and a half more ; for it was not until November, 1 808, that
Samuel Pratt was credited with two thousand shingles for this
primeval temple of education.
The building was doubtless finished up for use that winter
(1808-9,) for on the 23d day of May, 1809, there was a general
settling up, and the last entries of small cash payments are
made in the book.
Most of the subscribers, including Pratt, Maybee, Landon,
Barker, Gillett and Wells, paid up in full, but some appear to
have failed in part and a few entirely.
The book was presented to the Historical Society in 1866, by
Joshua Gillett, of Wyoming county, whom I presume to have
been a son of the Joshua Gillett who was one of the committee
to raise funds and superintend the building. It was probably
lying in a trunk, in 18 13, and was carried out of town; thus
escaping the general destruction of documents at that time.
Among the names mentioned as subscribers are those of Wil-
liam Hull, Asahel Adkins and Joseph Wells, all of whom came
late in 1806 or early in 1807. Hull was a silversmith, the first
in the county after Ransom quit working for the Indians, Ad-
kins soon afterwards opened a tavern on " The Plains," long cele-
brated for its good cheer, and the usual resort of Buffalonians
on their simple pleasure excursions in those days.
William Johnston, who at one time had held the destiny of
Buffalo almost entirely under his control, died in 1807, being
then the largest private land-holder in the village, except Mr.
Ellicott. He had reached the age of sixty-five, and after the
stormy scenes of his early life, wdien he had led his tories and
savages against the American frontier, he sank quietly to rest,
respected as a good neighbor and an intelligent citizen.
David Mather says : " I was with him a good deal during his
last illness, and from what escaped him then I judged that he
had been familiar with some of the most barbarous scenes of the
border wars." His half-breed son John inherited his property (now
of immense value,) and married a daughter of Judge Barker,
but did not live long to enjoy his fortune.
CHIVALRY AT A DISCOUNT. 151
I will close this chapter with the description of an amus-
ing scene which occurred in Buffalo in the fall of 1807, related
to me by Gen. Warren. Militia regiments in those days had
no colonels, but were each organized with a lieutenant-colonel
commanding, and two majors. In 1807, the militia of the west-
ern part of Genesee county had been formed into a regiment,
with Asa Ransom as lieutenant-colonel commanding, and T.
S. Hopkins and Sylvanus Maybee as majors. There had been
several " company trainings," but as yet no " general training."
At the first "officer meeting" after the new appointments
were made, a dispute arose between Col. Ransom and Major
Maybee, as to who should be recommended to the governor for
the vacant captaincy of the Buffalo company, in place of May-
bee, promoted.
The war of words grew more and more furious, until at length
the doughty major challenged his superior officer to fight a
duel. For this infraction of military discipline Col. Ransom
put the major under arrest, and reported his case to the higher
authorities. In due time a court-martial was convened, Capt.
Warren being one of the witnesses, and Maybee was tried and
cashiered.
He must have taken his military misfortune very much to
heart, for, though he had been a prominent man in Buffalo, he
immediately disappeared from its records, and undoubtedly left
the village, apparently preferring the discomfort of making a
new home to remaining where he could not enjoy the glory of a
duel, nor the honors of a militia major. Thus sadly ended the
first display of chivalry in Erie county.
152 LONG ELECTION JOURNEYS.
CHAPTER XIX.
REORGANIZATION.
Division^ of Genesee County Necessary. — Inconvenient Towns. — Captain Bemis'
Strategy. — Erection of Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties. — Short
Courts. — Town Changes. — Clarence. — Willink. — Destruction of the Town of
Erie. — Actual Beginning of Erie County.
In the beginning of 1808, there was a reorganization of the
counties and towns of the Holland Purchase, so complete, and
in some respects so peculiar, as to merit a brief chapter by
itself.
Hitherto the boundaries of Genesee county had remained as
at first defined, except that Allegany had been taken off in
1806, but by 1808 the inhabitants felt that they were suffi-
ciently numerous to justify a subdivision, and, what was more
important, Mr. Ellicott became satisfied that the interests of the
Holland Company would be promoted by such a change, even
though they should have to erect the new county buildings.
The towns, too, eighteen miles wide and a hundred miles
long, which had done well enough when nearly all the settlers
were scattered along the Buffalo road, were now found to be in-
convenient in the extreme. Going from Fort Niagara to Buf-
falo, nearly forty miles, to town-meeting, was a little too much
even for the ardent patriotism of the American voter. Scarcely
less troublesome was it to cross the reservation for that purpose.
Besides there was already a settlement at Olean, in the town of
Willink, the inhabitants of which if they ever went to election,
which is doubtful, must have traversed a distance of sixty miles,
and twenty miles further to town-meeting, which was always
held north of the reservation.
A story was told me in Hamburg, quite in harmony with the
circumstances, to the effect that the Buffalonians were converted
to the project of dividing the town of Erie by a piece of strategy
on the part of Capt. Jotham Bemis, then resident near Abbott's
Corners. They had opposed a division, as all the town business
TIIRliE NEW COUNTIES. 153
was done at their villat^e, bringing- them more or less trade, and
making unnecessary, so far as tliey were concerned, the expense
of new towns.
So, in the spring of 1807, Capt. Bemis made arrangements
for all the south part of the town of Erie to be fully represented
at Buffalo, by men prepared to stay over night. It was then
customary to fix the place of the next town-meeting in the
afternoon, just before closing the polls.
Accordingly, all the south-country people duly appeared at
Buffalo, and every man of them remained. Most of those from
north of the reservation started for home early, and the villagers
alone were in the minority. When the time came for appoint-
ing the next place of meeting, the gallant captain rallied his
men, and it was fixed at John Green's tavern, in the present
town of East Hamburg. Then the Buffalo people were willing
the town should be divided, and used their influence also in
favor of a division of the county.
Whether this story be true or not, certain it is that on the i ith
day of March there was a complete municipal reorganization of
the Holland Purchase. On that day a law was passed by which
all that part of the county of Genesee lying north of Cattarau-
gus creek, and west of the line between the fourth and fifth
ranges of townships, should form the county of Niagara. The
counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua were erected at the
same time, with substantially the same limits as now', but it was
provided that neither of them should be organized until it
should have five hundred voters, and meanwhile both, for all
county purposes, were attached to Niagara.
It was also enacted that the county-seat of the latter county
should be at " Buffaloe or New Amsterdam," provided the Hol-
land Company should in three years erect a suitable court-house
and jail, and should deed to the county at least half an acre of
ground, on which they should stand. It gives a somewhat amus-
ing idea of the amount of legal business expected to be done,
to note that three terms annually of the Court of Common
rieas and two of the Court of General Sessions were provided
for, and that in order to give time for the Court of Sessions it
was enacted that two terms of the Common Pleas, all of which
were to be held on Tuesday, might be extended till the Satur-
154 DESTRUCTION OF "ERIE."
day following ! The first court was directed to be held at the
house of Joseph Landon.
B}- the same act the town-lines of the Purchase were changed
to a very remarkable extent. A tier of townships oft' from the
east side of Willink had been left in Genesee county. This,
together with old Batavia, was cut up into the three towns of
Batavia, Warsaw and Sheldon.
All that part of Niagara county north of the center of Ton-
awanda creek, being a part of the former towns of Willink and
Erie, and covering the same ground as the present county of
Niagara, was formed into a town by the name of Cambria. All
that part between Tonawanda creek and the center of the Buf-
falo Creek reservation, also comprising parts of both Willink
and Erie, was formed into a town by the name of Clarence,
which as will be seen included the village of Buffalo. The first
town-meeting was directed to be held at the house of Elias
Ransom, (near Eggertsville.) All that part of Niagara county
south of the center of the reservation, being also a part of Wil-
link and Erie, was formed into a town which retained the name
of Willink.
In the new county of Cattaraugus a single town was erected
named Olean, while Chautauqua county was divided into two
towns, Chautauqua and Pomfret.
It will be seen that by this act the town of Erie was com-
pletely obliterated from the map, while Willink, which had pre-
viously been eighteen miles wide and a hundred miles long,
extending from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, was changed
into a town bounded by the Buff^ilo reservation, Lake Erie, Cat-
taraugus creek, and the east line of the county, having an
extreme width north and south of twenty-five miles, and an ex-
treme length east and west of thirty-five. So great was the
complication caused by the destruction of the old town-lines^
while retaining one of the town-names, (as well as by the sub-
sequent revival of "Erie" as a town-name, as will be hereafter
related,) that all the local historians and statisticians have got
lost in trying to describe the early municipal organization of
this county. Even PVench's State Gazetteer, a book of much
merit and very great labor, is entirely at fault in regard to near-
ly all the earlier town formations of iCric county.
ACTUAL BEGINNING OF ERIE COUNTY. 155
The oldest residents of the town of Erie, also, had forgotten
its existence, and insisted that "Willink" covered the whole
"■round. Even the uentlcnian who told me the story as he had
heard it, of the Bemis maneuver, supposed it related to a divi-
sion of Willink. Although "Erie" was plainly laid down on a
map of the Purchase made by Ellicott in 1804, I was half dis-
posed for a while to regard it as a myth, and mentally desig-
nated it as "The Lost Town." The old town-book before
referred to, however, gave me considerable faith in it, and at
length an examination of the laws of 1804 and 1808, proved its
existence and showed how completely the previous organization
was broken up by the statute creating Niagara county.
It will have been seen that, by that law, there were but three
towns in Niagara county, two of which were in the present
county of Erie. As, however, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua
were temporarily united with Niagara, the new^ board of super-
visors which met in Buffalo must have been composed of six
members, representing a territory a hundred miles long and
from twenty to seventy-five miles wide.
This was substantially the beginning of the present Erie
county organization, although the name of Niagara was after-
wards given to that part north of the Tonawanda. Erie county
formed the principal part of old Niagara, both in territory and
population ; the county seat of old Niagara was the same as
that of Erie, and such of the old Niagara county records as are
not destroyed are retained in Erie county.
Having thus reached an epoch in the course of events, another
chapter of a general nature becomes necessary.
\:6 THE I'lONliERS BARN.
CHAPTER XX.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The rioneer's Bam.— The Well.— The Sweep.— Browse.— Sheep and Wolves.—
Sugar-making. — Money Scarce. — Wheat and Tea. — Potash. — Social Life. —
Schools. — The Husking Bee. — Buffalo Society. — Dress. — Indians.— Loaded
Beaver Claws. — Peter Gimlet. — An Indian Court. — The Devil's Ramrod. —
Describing a Tavern. — Old King and Young Smoke. — Anecdotes of Red
Jacket.
After the pioneer had got his log house, his piece of clearing
and his fence, the next thing was a barn. An open shed was
generally made to suffice for. the cattle, which were expected to
.stand cold as well as a salamander is said to endure fire. But
with the gathering of harvests came the necessity for barns,
and, though log ones were sometimes erected, it was so difficult
to make them large enough that frame barns were built as soon
as circumstances would possibly permit, and long before frame
houses were aught but distant possibilities.
All were of substantially the same pattern, differing only in
size. The frame of the convenient forest timber, scored and
hewed by the ready hands of the pioneer himself, and roughly
fitted by .some frontier carpenter, the sides enclosed with pine
boards without battening, the top covered with shingles, a
threshing floor and drive-way in the center, with a bay for hay
on one side, and a little stable room on the other, surmounted
by a scaffold for grain — such was the Erie county barn of 1 808,
and it has changed less than any other adjunct of the farm,
though battened and painted sides, and basement stables, are
becoming more common every year.
Generally preceding the barn if there was no spring conven-
ient, but otherwise slightly succeeding it, was the well. The
digging of this, like almost everything else, was done by the
proprietor himself, with the aid of his boys, if he had any large
enough, or of a neighbor to haul up the dirt. Its depth of
course depended on the location of water, but that was gencr-
A PICTURESQUE OBJECT. I 57
ally to be found in abundant quantity and of good quality at
from ten to twenty feet.
Excellent round stone was also abundant, and the settlers
were never reduced to the condition of those western pioneers
who are obliged, (to use their own expression,) to stone up their
wells with cotton-wood plank.
The well being dug and stoned up, it was completed for use
by a superstructure which was then universal, but is now almost
utterly a thing of the past. A post ten or twelve inches in di-
ameter and some ten feet high, with a crotch ed top, was set in
the ground a few feet from the well. On a stout pin, running-
through both arms of the crotch, was hung a heavy pole or
" sweep," often twenty feet long, the larger end resting on the
ground, the smaller one rising in air directly over the well. To
this was attached a smaller pole, reaching to the top of the w^ell.
At the lower end of this pole hung the bucket, the veritable
" old oaken bucket, that hung in the well," and the process of
drawing water consisted in pulling down the small end of the
sweep till the bucket was filled, and then letting the butt end
pull it out, with some help. If the pioneer had several small
children, as he generally had, a board curb, about three feet
square and two and a half high, usually ensured their safety.
The whole formed, for a long time, a picturesque and far-seen
addition to nearly every door-yard in Erie county. ,Once in a
great while some wealthy citizen would have a windlass for
raising water, but for over a quarter of a century after the first
settlements a farmer no more thought of having a pump than of
buying a steam-engine.
It took longer for the pioneer to get a meadow started than
to raise a crop of grain. Until this was done, the chief support
of his cattle in winter was " browse," and for a long time after
it was their partial dependence. Day after day he went into
the woods, felled trees — beech, maple, birch, etc. — and drove his
cattle thither to feed on the tender twigs. Cattle have been
kept through the whole winter with no other food. Even in a
much more advanced state of settlement, ''browse" was a fre-
quent resource to eke out slender stores, or supply an unex-
pected deficiency.
In the house the food consisted of corn-bread or wheat-bread,
I5<S WH.l) AND TAMK ANIMALS.
according to the circumstances of the householder, with j)ork as
the meat of all classes. Beef was an occasional luxury.
Wild animals were not so abundant near the reservations as
elsewhere. They were most numerous in the southern part of
the county. The Indians kept them pretty well hunted down
in their neighborhood, though they had a rule among themselves
forbidding the young men from hunting within several miles of
their village, in order to give the old men a chance.
Venison w^as frequently obtained in winter, but the settlers of
Mrie county were generally too earnestly engaged in opening
farms to be very good hunters. Sometimes, too, a good fat bear
was knocked over, but pork was the universal stand-by. No-
body talked about tricJiince spiralis then.
Nearly everybody above the very poorest grade brought with
him a few she'ep and a cow. The latter was an invaluable re-
source, furnishing the only cheap luxuries the family enjoyed,
while the sheep were destined to supply their clothing. But the
keeping of these was up-hill work. Enemies lurked on every
hill-side, and often after bringing a little flock for hundreds of
miles, and protecting them through the storms of winter, the
pioneer would learn from their mangled remains that the wolves
had taken advantage of one incautious night to destroy them
all. Wolves were the foes of sheep, and bears of hogs. The
latter enemies, however, could generally be defeated by keeping
their prey in a good, stout pen, near the house. But sheep must
be let out to feed, and would sometimes stray so as to be left out
over night ; and then woe to the captured. Occasional pan-
thers, too, roamed through the forest, but they seldom did any
damage to the stock, and only served to render traveling at night
a little dangerous.
Despite of wolves, however, the pioneers managed to keep
sheep, and as soon as one obtained a few pounds of wool his
wife and daughters went to carding it into rolls with hand-cards,
then to spinning it, and then they either wove it or took it to a
neighbor's to be woven, paying for its manufacture with a share
of the cloth or with some farm products. Everything was done
at home and almost everything by hand. There was not at this
period, (the beginning of 1808,) even a carding mill or cloth-
dressing- establishment on the whole Holland Purchase, though
THE "SUGAR I5USII." 1 59
one was built tlic succeeding" summer at BushviUc, Genesee
county.
As soon as flax could be raised, too, the " little wheels" of
the housewives were set in motion, and coarse linen or tow cloth
was manufactured, which served for dresses for the girls and
summer clothing for the boys.
Tea and coffee were scarce, but one article, which in many
countries is considered a luxury — sugar — was reasonably abun-
dant. All over the county grew the sugar maple, and there was
hardly a lot large enough for a farm on which there was not a
"sugar bush."
One of the earliest moves of the pioneer was to provide him-
self with a few buckets and a big kettle. Then, wlten the sap
began to stir in early spring, trees were tapped — more or less in
number according to the facilities at command — sap was gathered
and boiled, and in due time made into sugar. New beginners,
or poor people who were scant of buckets and kettles, would
content themselves wath making a small amount, to be carefully
hoarded through the year.
But the glory of sugar-making was in the great bush where
hundreds of trees were tapped, where a shanty was erected in
which the sugar-makers lodged, where the sap was gathered in
barrels on ox-sleds and brought to the central fire, where caul-
dron kettles boiled and bubbled day and night, where boys and
girls, young men and maidens, watched and tasted, and tasted
and watched, and where, when the cautious hours of manufac-
ture were over the great cakes of solidified sweetness were turned
out by the hundred weight.
Money was scarce beyond the imagination of this age. Even
after produce was raised, there was almost no market for it
except during the war, and if it could be sold at all, after drag-
ging it over the terrific roads to Batavia or some point farther
east, the mere cost of traveling to and fro would nearly eat up
the price. Wheat at one time was but twenty-five cents a
bushel, and it is reported of a family in the north part of the
county, in which the good woman felt that she must have her
tea, that eight bushels of wheat were sold to buy a pound of
tea ; the price of wheat being twenty-five cents a bushel and
that of tea two dollars a pound.
l6o "liLACK SALTS."
A little relief was obtained by the sale of "black salts." At
a very early period asheries were established in various parts of
the count)', where black salts were bought and converted into
potash. These salts were the residuum from boiling down the
lye of common wood-ashes. As there was an immense quantity
of wood which needed to be burned in order to work the land,
it was but little extra trouble to leach the ashes and boil the lye.
These salts were brought to the asheries and sold. There
they were again boiled and converted into potash. As that
could be sent East without costing more than it was worth for
transportation, a little money was brought into the country in
exchange for it. In 1808 there were very few asheries but they
afterwards became numerous.
Social life was of course of the rudest kind. Still, there were
visitings to and fro, and sleighing parties on ox-sleds, and other
similar recreations. As yet there were hardly any but log tav-
erns, and hardly a room that even by courtesy could be called
a ball-room. Yet dances were not infrequently improvised on
the rough floor of a contracted room, to the sound of a solitar\-
fiddle in the hands of some backwoods devotee of Apollo.
There was not, as has been seen, a church-building in the
county, except the log meeting-house of the Quakers, at East
Hamburg, and not an organized church, excepting the "Eriends
Meeting," if they called it a church, at that place, and the
little Methodist society in Newstead. Even Buffalo had no
church in 1808. Meetings were, however, held at rare intervals
in school-houses, or in the houses of citizens, and frequently^
when no minister was to be had, some la)'man would read a
sermon and conduct the services. Dr. Chapin sometimes per-
formed these functions in Buffalo, besides conducting the funer-
als, furnishing his house for dancing-school, and taking the lead
in everything that was going forward. Some irreverent youth
declared that the doctor " did the praying and swearing for the
whole community."
Nearly every neighborhood managed to have a school as soon
as there were children enough to form one — which was not long
after the first settlement. The universal testimony is that log
houses are favorable to the increase of population; at least that in
the log-house era children multiplied and flourished to an extent
THE HUSKING BEE. l6t
unheard of in these degenerate days. It may be taken for
granted, even when there is no evidence on the subject, that a
school was kept within a very few years after the first pioneer
located himself in any given neighborhod, and generally a log
school -house was soon erected by the people.
There was, at the time of the organization of Niagara county,
only the single store of A. S. Clarke, outside of Buffcilo, in what
is now Erie county. Taverns, however, were abundant. Along
every road men with their families were pushing forward to new
homes, others were going back after their families, others were
wending their way to distant localities with grain to be ground,
with wool to be carded, sometimes even with crops to be sold.
Consequently, on every road those who could provide beds,
food and liquor for the travelers were apt to put up signs to
announce their willingness to do so.
One of the principal occasions for a jollification in the country
was the husking-bee. Corn was abundant, and it had to be
husked. So, instead of each man's gloomily sitting down by
himself and doing his own work, the farmers, one after the
other, invited the young people of the neighborhood to husk-
ing-bees; the "neighborhood "frequently extending over several
square miles.
They came in the early evening, young men and women, all
with ox teams, save where some scion of one of the first fami-
lies brought his fair friends on a lumber wagon or sleigh, behind
a pair of horses, the envy and admiration of less fortunate
swains. After disposing of their teams as well as circumstances
permitted, and after a brief warming at the house, all adjourned
to the barn, where the great pile of ears of corn awaited their
arrival.
It was cold, but they were expected to keep warm by work.
So at work they went, stripping the husks from the big ears and
flinging them into piles, each husker and huskeress striving to
make the largest pile, and the warm blood that coursed rapidly
through their veins under the spur of exercise bidding defiance
to the state of the temperature.
This warmth of blood was also occasionally increased by a
" red ear " episode. It was the law of all well-regulated husjc-
ing-bees, dating from time immemorial, that the young man to
l62 CANADIAN KXCURSIONS.
whose lot fell a red ear should have the privilege of kissing every
\'oung woman present. Some laws fail because they are not
enforced, but this was not one of that kind. It has even been
suspected, so eager were the youth of the period to support the
law, that the same red ear would be found more than once the
same evening, and the statute duly enforced on each occasion.
A vast pile of unhuskcd ears was soon by many hands trans-
ferred into shining heaps of husked ones, and then the compan)-
adjourned to the house, where a huge supply of doughnuts and
other simple luxuries rewarded their labors. Possibh' a bushel
of apples might have been imported from lands be)'ond the
Genesee, and if the host had also obtained a few gallons of
cider to grace the occasion he was looked on as an Amphitryon
of the highest order.
Perchance some frontier fiddler was present with his instru-
ment, when, if the rude floor afforded a space of ten feet b}-
fifteen clear of fire-place and table, a dance was arranged in
which there was abundance of enjoyment and energy, if not of
grace, and in wiiich the young men were only prevented from
bounding eight feet from the floor by the fact that the ceiling-
was but six and a half feet high.
In Buffalo there was a little closer resemblance to the society
of older localities, but only a little. Mrs. Fox, the before-men-
tioned daughter of Samuel Pratt, relates that up to the time
of the war the greater part of the society enjoyed by the Buf-
faloniaiis was furnished by Canada. The west side of the Ni-
agara had been settled much earlier than the east, and naturally
a much larger proportion of the people had attained a reasona-
ble degree of comfort.
With these the few Buffalonians who made pretensions to cul-
ture were on terms of cordial intimacy. Visits were frequenth-
exchanged, and during the long, cold winters it was a common
thing for two or three Buffalo gentlemen to hitch up their sleighs,
fill them w^ith their friends, male and female, and drive across
the ice to the hospitable residences of some of their Canadian
acquaintances, where they were greeted w^ith a ready welcome
and ample cheer. Similar excursions were made from Canada
t© the homes of Captain Pratt, Dr. Chapin, Judge Tupper and
others.
A FLOATING I'OI'ULATION. 163
In tlic sleiglis A\hich thus drove back and forth, and which
gUded along the few streets of the frontier village at that pe-
riod, the male figures were invariably clad in long overcoats, (or
surtouts,) with broad capes, covered with a number of little
capes, or " shingles," as they were then called, while the whole
was surmounted by a big fur cap. Fur was cheap and abund-
ant, and the fur cap was the universal head-wear of the mascu-
line Buffalonian. The ladies, too, were well enveloped in fur,
and each fair face retreated into the depths of a vast " coal scut-
tle " bonnet, which would have held a dozen bonnets of this
degenerate era, and still have had room for the owner's head.
Arriving at their destination, and doffing their out-door
clothing, the ladies appeared in the narrowest of skirts, and
waists close up to their arms, while broad lace collars surrounded
their necks, and pointed shoes adorned their feet.
The gentlemen displayed themselves on state occasions in
blue, "swallow-tailed," brass-buttoned coats, buff vests and snuff-
colored trowsers, and above their ruffled shirts shone smooth
faces fresh from the razor, which had removed every particle of
beard save when some very stylish exquisite had left a diminu-
tive side-W'hisker to adorn the upper part of his cheek.
The increase of population in Buffalo had not been rapid.
The exact number of families at the time it w-as made the county-
seat is not known, but was probably about thirty-five, as the
next year it was forty-three. There was, also, as in all new
places, a considerable number of unmarried men, engaged in
various kinds of business.
Beside^ these, there was a truly "floating population" of In-
dians, squawks and papooses, for whom Buffalo was the grand
metropolis. Hardly a day passed in which a number of these
children of the forest might not have seen on the streets, the
men sauntering aimlessly along, or seeking to obtain whisky of
whomsoever they could, the squaws frequently engaged in more
honorable occupations. Sometimes they (the squaws) brought
baskets of corn on their heads ; sometimes chickens and eggs.
Capt. Pratt's store was the principal rendezvous of Indian trade
and travel. Mrs. Fox remembers tliat one squaw^ whom she
calls White Seneca, (there was also an Indian who went by that
name) used regularly to bring butter to her mother, Mrs. Pratt.
164 PETER GIMLET.
Both Indians and white men brout^ht in a great deal of game.
In the winter great sled-loads of deer would be driven up to
Capt. Pratt's door, and sold out to the villagers at the cheapest
imaginable rates.
To Pratt, the Indians according to his daughter's recollection
gave the honorable title of "Negurriyu," meaning "honest
dealer." The history of the Pratt family gives his Indian name
as "Hodanidaoh," meaning "a merciful man." It is not improb-
able that both were used. The Indians were fond of giving
names. Notwithstanding the general respect for him. }^et some
of them were not averse to defrauding him if possible; a task-
rendered somewhat difficult by his quick eye and ready wit.
All fur was bought by weight ; so they sometimes brought
beaver-skins with the claws filled with lead. It would not do to
discover it openly ; that would give mortal offence and drive
away a valuable customer. So "Negurriyu" would clip off the
claws with a hatchet and toss them in a corner, saying at the
same time that he would make proper allowance in the weight.
If the Indian murmured Pratt would offer to pick up the claws
and weigh them separately, but as this would expose the cheat
the red man would vigorously demur, and the affair would pass
over without further trouble.
A still more disreputable aborigine came near involving Capt.
P. in serious difficulty. While he was building his house Mrs.
Pratt had some meat boiling in a kettle out of doors. An In-
dian commonly known as "Peter Gimlet" was lounging about,
and the savory smell of the boiling meat was too much for his
feeble conscience. When he thought himself unobserved he
suddenly snatched the largest piece from the pot, hid it beneath
his blanket and started for the reservation. But little Esther
happened to be playing near and saw the felonious transac-
tion. Immediately she ran to her father in the store, crying
out, "Peter Gimlet has stolen the meat! Peter Gimlet has stolen
the meat!"
Pratt sent his son Asa after the offender, who caught him
and brought him back. The captain opened Peter's blanket,
exposed the theft and then proceeded to administer summary
punishment by laying a horsewhip around the back and legs of
the thief The latter stood astonished for a minute, and then,
AN INDIAN COURT. 1 65
as the blows continued, he bounded away toward the Indian
village, making the forest ring with his howls.
The captain replaced his whip and returned to his business.
A few hours after, Indians began to arrive in front of the store.
Without a word they seated themselves on their haunches in
the street. Presently came more Indians and assumed the same
position ; then squaws with their papooses. Then more In-
dians, including chiefs of high degree, all squatting down in
a semi-circle before the store door. Matters began to look de-
cidedly serious.
And still the Indians kept coming, until 2 o'clock in the after-
noon, when there were two or three hundred of them. Then
they sent for Pratt, who duly appeared, when, with the utmost
decorum, the proceedings began. P^armer's Brother stood up
and told the story as he had heard it from Peter Gimlet, de-
scribing how he had been flogged, without cause, by the pale-
face, and claiming redress in the name of his insulted honor.
Captain Pratt, in reply, made his statement, relating the
theft, and calling on his daughter as a witness. Little Esther
told her story in an artless way that confounded the thief, and
carried conviction to the hearts of the numerous judges.
A solemn consultation was had among the chiefs. Then
Farmer's Brother again upraised his gigantic form, and with all
the impressiveness of his seventy years delivered judgment. It
was to the effect that Peter Gimlet (calling him by his Indian
name) was a bad Indian. Peter Gimlet had stolen Negurriyu's
meat, and Negurriyu had inflicted deserved punishment, and if
Negurriyu wished he might whip him again. He also pro-
nounced a formal sentence against Peter of banishment from
the Buffalo reservation. Then the council broke up, and Peter
slunk away into the forest and was not heard of in that vicinity
for two or three years.
It detracts a little from the stern justice of these proceedinos
that Capt. Pratt thought it incumbent on him, in accordance
with Indian custom, to make a present to the members of this
curious court. Accordingly he rolled out a barrel of salt for
them, of which every one took a portion until all was gone.
At another time Esther Pratt had taken her infant sister, Lucy
Ann, into the store and seated her on the counter. Suddenly a
i66 "THE dkvil's ramrod."
Seneca squaw caught up the child and sprang away toward the
forest. She was pursued and caught, and the infant was rescued.
When questioned as to her motive, the squaw said that she had
lately lost a child and desired to obtain one in its place.
The most startling event, however, in the Indian experience
of the Pratts was when they were interrupted at the dinner table
by one of the boys, Benjamin, rushing into the "room, closely
pursued by a warrior generally known as "The Devil's Ramrod,"
who was brandishing his knife and threatening to kill him. The
boy had been teasing him, and it was with much difficulty that
he could be appeased. At length he exclaimed, "Me no kill
Ilodanidaoh's boy," stuck his knife with savage emphasis into
the door-post, and strode haughtily away.
Generally, however, the Indians were peaceable and well be-
haved. Farmer's Brother resided at Farmer's Point, the first
cabin from the village line, on the reservation. Farther up, and
just above Seneca street, was the old council house, a block
building where the Indians were very fond of meeting in legis-
lative session. Near it lived "White Seneca," his son "Seneca
White" and others. Still farther out was the main Indian vil-
lage, where Red Jacket resided, and which was scattered over a
considerable space on both sides of the Aurora road_, west of the
present village of Ebenezer, and on the flats south of that village.
At this time the usual Indian residences were log cabins, of
various dimensions and pretensions, but not differing greatly
from those of the pioneers.
Apropos of Indians and log-cabins, a story is told of Farmer's
Brother in Stone's Life of Red Jacket, which illustrates the
difficulty of expressing a new idea in the Indian dialects, except
by the most elaborate description. At a very early day, he
with other chiefs went from Buffalo creek to (I think) Elmira,
to meet some white commissioners. On their way they stopped
one ni<3"ht at a log-tavern, newly erected in the wilderness. In
describing their journey to the whites, he said they stayed at "a
house put together with parts of trees piled on each other, to
which a pole was attached, to which a board was tied, on which
was written 'rurn is sold here.'"
In 1808 Farmer's Brother was recognized as the principal man
among the Indians, all things considered, though Red Jacket
OLD SMOKli A.XIJ VOUNG SMOKE. 167
was put forward whenever they wanted to make a display in the
eyes of the whites. He seems, too, to have been accorded by
ijeneral consent the rank, so far as there was any such rank, of
principal sacliem, or ci\il chief, of the Senecas. Farmer's
Brother was a war-chief.
Many of the whites attributed a supremacy of some kind to
Guicnguatoh, commonly called "Young" King," and sometimes
"Young Smoke." He was said to be the .son of Sayengeraghta,
otherwise "Old King," otherwise "Old Smoke," who was un-
doubtedly up to the time of his death principal civil sachem of
the Senecas.
Rev. Asher Wright, of the Cattaraugus mission, explained
while living that Guienguatoh meant in substance "the Smoke
Bearer," that is, the hereditary bearer of the smoking brand
from the central council-fire of the Iroquois confederacy to that
of the Seneca nation. As near as I can make out, the whites
got the two names intermingled, by thinking that father and son
must both have the same name or title ; whereas the only thing
certain about Indian nomenclature was that t4iey would jwth^.wc
the same name or title.
I imagine that the true designations were " Old King " and
" Young Smoke." That is to say, Sayengeraghta, being an
aged head-sachem, might fairly be called " Old King," while his
son, who inherited from his maternal uncle the position of brand-
bearer, could properly be termed " Young Smoke." But the
whites, thinking that the son of "Old King" must certainly be
"Young King," applied that title to the younger man, which he
was not unwilling to wear. They also gave the son's appellation
to the father, sometimes calling him "Old Smoke," and I under-
stand that it was from the old man that .Smoke's creek derived
its name.
If Red Jacket was sincere when he professed to Washington
his desire for improvement, he soon changed his mind, and from
early in this century to the time of his death was the inveterate
enemy of civilization, Christianity and education. Although he
understood English when he heard it, he generally pretended
to the contrary, and would pay no attention to what was said to
him in that language. He could only speak a few words of
English, and would not learn it, though he could easily have
i68 "movp: alonc;, jo."
done so. He wa.s never weary of holding" councils with the
whites, and rarely failed to repeat the story of the wrongs their
countrymen had done to the Indians.
Numerous are the anecdotes told of his opposition to his peo-
ple's learning anything from the whites. More than once he
said to the missionaries who sought to convert him :
"Go, preach to the people of Buffalo ; if }'ou can make them
decent and sober, and learn them not to cheat the Indians and
each other, we will believe in your religion."
He declared that the educated Indians learned useless art
and artificial wants. Said he :
" They become discouraged and dissipated ; despised by the
Indians, neglected by the whites, and without value to either ;
less honest than the former and pcrJiaps more knavish than the
latter."
Again, he said to some missionaries, in sarcastic rejection of
their offers :
" We pity you, and wish you to bear to our good friends in
the East our best wishes. Inform them that, in compassion
toward them, we are willing to send them missionaries to teach
them our religion, habits and customs."
He was sarcastic, too, on another point :
" Before the whites came," said he, " the papooses were all
black-eyed and dark-skinned ; now their eyes are turning blue
and their skins are fading out."
Professor EUicott Evans, grand-nephew of Joseph Ellicott,
relates an anecdote which he says he had from the lips of his
grand-uncle, concerning himself and Red Jacket. It is sub-
stantially as follows :
The two having met in Tonawanda swamp, they sat down
on a log which happened to be convenient, both being near the
middle. Presently Red Jacket said, in his almost unintelligible
English :
" Move along, Jo." Ellicott did so and the sachem moved up
to him. In a few minutes came another request :
"Move along, Jo"; and again the agent complied, and the
chieftain followed. Scarcely had this been done when Red
Jacket again said :
"Move along, Jo!" Much anno)'ed, but willing to humor
RED JACKI'/r's TOMAHAWK. 169
him, and not seeing what he was driving at, I'^lh'cott complied,
this time reaching the end of the log. But that was not suffi-
cient, and presently the request was repeated for the third time:
" Move along, Jo ! "
" Why, man," angrily replied the agent, " I can't move any
farther without getting off from the log into the mud."
"Ugh! Just so white man. Want Indian move along — move
along. Can't go no farther, but he say—' move along ! ' "
The sachem had become extremely dissipated, and his Wash-
ington medal was frequently pawned in Buffalo for whisky.
He always managed to recover it, however, for, though he op-
posed all white teachings, his vanity led him to cherish this
memento of the great white chieftain's favor.
He was disposed to stand much on his dignity, and some-
times to be very captious. He once went, attended by his in-
terpreter, Major Jack Berry, and requested David Reese, the
blacksmith for the Indians, to make him a tomahawk, at the
same time giving directions as to the kind of weapon he wanted.
Reese made it, as near as he could, according to order, but when
Red Jacket returned he was much dissatisfied.
Again he gave his orders, and again Reese strove to fulfill
them, but the sachem was more dissatisfied than before. So he
went to work and with much labor whittled out a wooden pat-
tern of a tomahawk, declaring that if the blacksmith would
make one exactly like that he would be satisfied.
"All right," said Reese, who had by this time got out of pa-
tience with what he considered the chieftain's whims.
In due time Red Jacket came to get his tomahawk. It was
ready, and was precisely like the model. But, after looking at it
and then at the model for a moment, he flung it down with an
angry " Ugh," and left the shop. It was exactly like the model,
but the model had no hole in it for a handle.
170 CIVIL AND MILITARY OP'FICERS.
CHAPTER XXI.
1808 AND 1809.
First County Officers.— County Buildings. — First Indictment. — Organization of
Clarence. — Settlement of Cheektowaga. — Settlement on Cayuga Creek. —
Progress in the South Towns. — A Pioneer Funeral.— Springville. — Sardinia.
—Further Progress. — Glezen Fillmore. — Buffalo in 1809. — Origin of "Black
Rock." — Porter, Barton & Co. — "The Horn Breeze." — Straightening Main
Street. — The First Bufifalo Church.
The governor appointed Augustus Porter, living near Niagara
Falls, as "first judge" of the new Court of Common Pleas, having
jurisdiction over Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua coun-
ties. His four associates were probably Samuel Tupper and
Erastus Granger of Buffalo, James Brooks of Cattaraugus
county, and Zattu Cushing of Chautauqua county. Asa Ran-
som was appointed sheriff, Louis Le Couteulx county clerk, and
Archibald S. Clarke surrogate. The latter gentleman was also
elected the same year as member of assembly from the district
composed of the three new counties.
The appointment of Ransom as sheriff compelled him to re-
sign his lieutenant-colonelcy, and Timothy S. Hopkins was
appointed in his place. This, with the cashiering of Maybee,
left both majors' positions vacant. Capt. Warren, not yet twen-
ty-four, was made first major, and Asa Chapman second major.
In July, i80(S, there were but four attorneys in Niagara county,
as we learn from a letter of Juba Storrs, a young man bred to
the law, who was preparing to go into practice at Buffalo, but
soon abandoned the intention. Of these VValden was one, and
the others were probably Bates Cooke of Lewiston, John Root
and Jonas Harrison. In this letter Storrs prophesied that Buf-
falo would "eventually be the Utica, and more than the Utica. of
this western country. "
Immediately after the formation of the new counties, the
Holland Company began the erection of a frame court-house in
the middle of Onondaga (Washington) street, directly in front
THK FIRST INDICTMKNT. I71
of the site of what this generation has known as the " Old Court
House." They gave half an acre of land, lying in a circle
around it, to the county. It was finished in 1809.
The first court was held at Landon's, in June, 1808. No rec-
ord of the proceedings remains, but at the session in November,
1808, an indictment was presented which has survived all the
accidents of war and time, and is still on file in Erie county
clerk's office, or was previous to the latest removal of the rec-
ords. It charged five men, described as " labourers of the town
of Erie," with stealing a cow in 1806. As the "town of Erie"
had ceased to exist when the indictment was found, the de-
scription must have referred to the time when the crime was
committed.
The document was commendably brief, containing only a hun-
dred and one w^ords. Peter Vandeventer was foreman of the
grand jury. The district attorney was William Stewart, of one
of the eastern counties, for the territory in charge of a single
district attorney then extended more than half way to Albany.
The selection of Buffalo as county-seat of course gave an
impetus to immigration, and there were more lots bought in
1808 than in any previous year. Jabez Goodell, Elisha Ensign,
A. C. Fox, Oilman Folsom, Henry Ketchum, Zebulon Ketchum
and Joshua Lovejoy all came about this time.
Henry Anguish made the first settlement in the vicinity of
Tonawanda village, in 1808. Among the new comers to Am-
herst was John Long, whose son. Christian Long, then thirteen
years old, still resides at the west end of Williamsville. He sa}-s
that, when he came, Williams had two saw-mills running,
showing that settlement in that vicinity had increased so that
one could not supply the demand for lumber. For grinding,
however, all that part of the country still depended on Ran-
som's mill. There were then but two or three houses about
Williamsville, and Samuel McConnell kept a log tavern on the
west side of the creek.
The first town-meeting in Clarence, which it will be remem-
bered included the whole north part of Erie county, was held
in the spring of 1808 at Elias Ransom's tavern, two miles west
of Williamsville, in the present town of Amherst. The town-
book has been preserved from that time to this, and is now in
172 clarp:nce and ciieektowaga.
the town clerk's office at Clarence Center, being the oldest rec-
ord in the county pertaining to any town now in existence.
The officers then elected (aside from postmasters) were the
following :
Jonas Williams, supervisor; Samuel Hill, Jr., town clerk ;
Timothy S. Hopkins, Aaron Beard and Levi Fclton, assessors ;
Otis R. Hopkins, collector ; Otis R. Hopkins, Francis B. Drake
and Henry B. Annabill, constables ; Samuel Hill, Jr., Asa Harris
and Asa Chapman, commissioners of highways, and James
Cronk, poormaster.
There must have been a combination against the Bufifalonians,
for not one of those above named resided in the new county-seat,
except, possibly, constable Annabill. One of the town-ordinan-
ces of that year offered a bounty of five dollars for wolves, and
another declared that fences should be five feet high, and not
more than two inches between the rails. They must have made
very small rails in Clarence.
Licenses to sell liquor were granted to Joseph Landon, Zenas
Barker, Frederick Miller, Elias Ransom, Samuel McConnell, Asa
Harris, Levi Felton, Peter Vandeventer and Asa Chapman.
In this year, (i8o8) the first permanent settlement was made in
what is now Cheektowaga (except possibly on the northern edge)
by ApoUos Hitchcock, on the land still occupied by his descend-
ants. His son, Alexander, (with whom I conversed a year
ago, but who has since met his death by accident,) was then
eighteen. He told me that the first grain they raised was car-
ried on horseback across the reservation to Stephens' mill. Ran-
som's was a little nearer, but was sometimes scant of water.
The Indian trail ran between his father's residence and Cay-
uga creek, and he said the only trouble they ever received from
the red men was when the latter found the white man's fences
built across their favorite track ; then they were apt to fling
them down and stalk on, careless of the endangered crop. The
wolves howled their nightly serenade around the sheep-fold, and
the bears were, as the old gentleman expressed it, "sufficiently
numerous," but deer were comparatively scarce, owing doubtless
to the industry of the Indian hunters.
In 1808, Benjamin Clark, Pardon Pcckham and Capt. l^^lias
Bissell settled about a mile east of the center of the present
LANCASTER AND HAMBURG. 1 73
town of Lancaster. Mr. Clark's son, James, then twelve years
old, now an active old gentleman of eighty, informs me that
there were then just twelve houses on that road between Buffalo
and the east line of the county. All the south part of what is
now Lancaster was then known as the Cayuga Creek settlement,
or simply as "Cayuga Creek." About the same time Calvin
Fillmore, afterwards known as Colonel Fillmore, built a saw-
mill at what is now called Bowmansville, probably the first in
Lancaster.
On the north side of Little Buffalo creek, in Lancaster, is an
ancient fortification enclosing an acre of ground, and said by
Turner to have been when first discovered as high as a man's
breast. There were five gateways, in one of which grew a pine
tree, believed by lumbermen to be five hundred years old.
There is ample evidence that a long time ago men who built
breastworks dwelt in Erie county, but very little evidence that
they were radically different from the American hidians.
Among other settlers in Hamburg was Jacob Wright, who,
about 1808, located himself and opened a tavern near what is
now called Abbott's Corners, which ere long became known as
Wright's Corners. Among the illustrations of the enterprise
and invention of those days, may be noted the operations of
Daniel Smith with his little corn-mill. Thinking that he could
do more business in the valley of the Eighteen-Mile, he moved
it over there, just above the site of White's Corners. But the
building of a dam was beyond his resources, and needless for
that size of mill. So he felled a big hemlock across the stream,
fastened some more logs to it, and thus created an obstruction
which threw enough water around the end of the tree to run his
mill.
Obadiah and Reuben Newton settled in the Smith neighbor-
hood in 1808, and later it has generally been called the Newton
settlement.
The Quakers had increased so that in 1808 they held "month-
ly meetings" at their meeting-house at East Hamburg.
In Aurora, settlement had progressed so that in 1808 the in-
habitants erected a frame school-house, one of the first in the
county. Before it was finished school was kept in a log school-
house by Miss Phebe Turner, daughter of Jacob Turner, of
1/4 A PIONKKR FUNERAL.
Wales, then a youn^ lady of twenty, now the venerable but still
active widow of Judge Paine.
Ethan Allen, who had purchased land in Wales before, bought
a large tract near Hall's Hollow in 1808 and moved on to it,
making it his home through a long and active life. Besides the
Holmeses, mentioned in chapter 23, Charles Blackmar, Benja-
min Earl, James Morrison, Samuel Searls and others were
purchasers (and mostly settlers) of this year.
Among the new comers in Boston was Asa Cary, a brother
of Richard. With him came his son, Truman Cary, then a
\'Outh of si.xteen, now a hale old man of eighty-four, engaged
in the active superintendence of his farm, to whom I am very
largely indebted for facts regarding the early history of the
.south towns.
During that summer Deacon Richard Cary was called on to
go ten miles through the forest to lead in the funeral ceremonies
over the body of Mrs. Albro, wife of one of the only two set-
tlers at Springville. There was no minister anywhere in that
part of the country, and all that could be done to give Christian
burial to the departed was to send for sympathising neighbors
ten or twelve miles distant, and ask the good deacon to repeat
a prayer and read a sermon over her inanimate form.
Mr. Albro went away after the death of his wife, leaving Stone
alone. In October, however, Mr. Samuel Cochran came, made
a small clearing, put up a log house and went after his family.
In November, John Russell, afterwards long and well known as
Deacon Russell, brought his family to the same locality.
In the forepart of the winter Cochran returned with his wife
and infant child. The only route to Springville from the East,
then, was first to Buffalo, then up the beach to the Titus stand,
then up the Eighteen-Mile to the farthest settlements in its val-
ley, and then across the ridge. The last part of the way Coch-
ran followed blazed trees, and some of the time had to cut his
own road. The three families of Stone, Russell and Cochran
were all there were in that vicinity in the winter of 1808-9.
Stone left in the summer of 1809, but Albro returned. James
Vaughan and Samuel Cooper bought near there in 1809, and
soon became permanent residents, and several other settlers
came in.
COLLINS, SARDINIA AND HOLLAND. 1 75
Jacob Taylor, as chief of the Quaker mission, built a saw-mil!
at Taylor's Hollow, in Collins, and a grist-mill also about 1809.
Perhaps it was this that induced Abraham Tucker and others,
with their families, to settle near there in that year. Tucker lo-
cated in the edge of North Collins, where he built him a cabin,
covered it with bark and remained with his family. Stephen
Sisson came the same }^ear. Sylvanus Hussey, Isaac Hatha-
way and Thomas Bills purchased land the same year, and some
of them were probably among the companions of Tucker.
Settlements were made close to the line between North Collins
and Collins ; perhaps some in the latter town.
In that year, too, George Richmond, with his sons, George
and Frederick, located himself three miles east of Springville,
near the southeast corner of the present town of Sardinia, where
he soon opened a tavern. That same year young Frederick-
Richmond taught the first school in the present town of Boston.
The same summer, (1809,) Fzra Nott settled between what is
now called Rice's Corners and Colegrove's Corners, becoming the
pioneer of all the eastern part of Sardinia. He was a nephew
of Jabez Warren, and in company with his cousins, Asa and
Sumner Warren, built and burned the first brush-heap in that
township — a fact to which, when he had become a general and
a prominent citizen, he often referred with the pride of a true
pioneer.
Emigration began to roll into the future town of Holland.
Ezekiel Colby settled in the valley, and soon after came Jona-
than Colby, who still survives, being well-known as " Old Col-
onel Colby." Nathan Colby located on the north part of Ver-
mont Hill, and about the same time Jacob Farrington settled
on the south part, east of the site of Holland village, where
there was not as yet a single house — another instance of the
curious readiness of many of the first comers to neglect the
valleys for the hill-tops.
Going westward we find the Boston people at length rejoicing
in a grist-mill, erected this year by Joseph Yaw. According to
Gen. Warren's recollection, Mr. Yaw was elected supervisor of
Willink in both 1808 and 1809. The Willink records were
burned with those of Aurora in 1831, so it is not certain.
The first settlement in the present town of Eden was made
176 AURORA, CLARENCE, ETC.
this year. Elisha Welch and Deacon Samuel Tubb.s located at
what is now known as Eden Valley, but which for a long time
bore the less romantic appellation of Tubbs' Hollow.
In this year, too, Aaron Salisbury and William Cash made the
first permanent settlement in the present town of Evans, west
of Harvey's tavern at the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile. Salis-
bur\' was a young, unmarried man. Cash had several sons, since
well known in the town. His brother David Cash, Nathaniel
Leigh, John Barker, Anderson Tyler. Seth and Martin Sprague
and others came not long after, and all settled near the lake
shore, where the only road ran.
Besides Samuel Calkins, David Rowley and others, Timothy
and Oren Treat settled in Aurora in 1809. Oren Treat, then
nearly twenty-two years old, located himself on a farm a little
east of Griffin's Mills, w^here he has ever since resided. It is
only this year that he has given up its active superintendence,
though almost eighty-nine years of age. He informs me that
Humphrey Smith built a grist-mill at what is now called
Griffin's Mills in 1809, though it was not finished till the next year.
Like most of the pioneer mills, it was of a v^ery primitive con-
struction, the bolt being at first turned by hand.
In Wales there was a considerable increase of the population ;
Peleg Havens, Welcome Moore and Isaac Reed being among
the new comers.
There was a large immigration into the north part of the
county this year. Isaac Denio, John Millerman and Benjamin
Ballou were among those who settled in the present town of
Newstead. Archibald S. Clarke was again elected to the as-
.sembly.
Most of those who came into Clarence still located them-
selves in the southern part of the township, but Matthias Van-
tine moved into the wilderness four miles north of Harris Hill.
His son, David Vantinc, then a youth of fifteen, now a sturdy
old man of eighty-two, says there was not a family north of the
limestone ledge when his father settled there. A little further
north was what was then called the Tonawanda swamp.
A young man of twenty-one, since well known as Colonel Bea-
man, located three miles north of Clarence Hollow that same
summer. I'^or sixty-seven years he has remained on the same
GLEZP:N FILLMORE. 17/
farm. When I conv'crsed with him in 1875, he said that at tlie
time he came there was not a house on the north, through to the
vicinity of Lockport.
Another of the new comers into Clarence was destined to
wield a strong influence throughout not only Erie county but
Western New York. I refer to the Rev. Glezen Fillmore. He
was then a bright, pleasant, yet earnest youth of nineteen, with
the well-known, strong, F"illmore fealures, and stalwart Fillmore
frame.
Having been licensed in March, 1809, as a Methodist ex-
horter, the }-outhful champion of the cross immediately set forth
from his home in Oneida county, on foot, with knapsack on his
back, traveling two hundred miles through the snow and mud
of early spring, to begin his labors in the wilderness of the Hol-
land Purchase.
Arriving in the neighborhood where his uncle Calvin resided,
he at once went to work. His first preaching was at the house
of David Hamlin. A man named Maltby and his wife were
the only listeners except Hamlin's family, but the j^oung ex-
horter bravely went through with the entire services, including
class-meeting. It is to be presumed that he felt rewarded when,
in after years, he learned that four of Maltby's sons had become
Methodist ministers.
Young Fillmore procured land, and throughout his life made
his home, at Clarence Hollow, though spending many years at
a distance, on whatever service might be allotted to him. In the
fall of 1809 he returned to Oneida county, married Miss Lavina
Atwell, and brought her back to his frontier home.
Mrs. Fillmore, in later years widely known as " Aunt Vina,"
shared her husband's toils, and when I saw her a year since, at
the age of eighty-eight, her form was still unbent and her eye
undimmed, and she would easily have passed for seventy. She
stated that there was already a Methodist society at Clarence
Hollow when she came, probably organized the summer before.
Samuel Hill, Jr., was elected supervisor of Clarence for the
year 1809. As near as I can learn it was in that year, though
possibly a little later, that Otis R. Ingalls opened the first store
in the present town of Clarence, at Ransomville, now Clarence
Hollow.
\yS ORIGIN OF "BLACK ROCK."
Meanwhile the Httle villaLje at the mouth of Buffalo creek
kept creeping; along toward its destined greatness. Importunately
we have the means of ascertaining its e.xact position in 1809.
In October, Erastus Granger, who had lately been appointed
collector of customs for the new district of Buffalo Creek, wrote
to the Secretary of the Treasury, protesting against the proposed
remov^al of the custom-house to Black Rock. Comparing the
grandeur of Buffalo with the insignificance of Black Rock, he
declared that the former had a population of no less than forty-
three families, besides unmarried men engaged in business,
and that the court-house and jail were "nearly completed."
The same letter contributes largely to settle a question which
has been raised as to the origin of the name " Black Rock." It
is generally attributed to a large, flat, dark-colored rock lying at
the base of the bluff, where the boats used to land. Some have
supposed, however, that it was derived from Bird Island, which
was also a dark rock situated a short distance out in the river,
and much farther up. A remark made by President Dwight of
Yale College, in his journal of travels in this vicinit}', in 1804,
.shows that he then supposed Bird Island to be the original
" Black Rock."
But Judge Granger had resided at Buffalo ever since 1803,
and he had evidently no such idea. In the letter just men-
tioned, he says that Porter, Barton & Co. have built a store "on
the Rock," and adds that besides Frederick Miller's temporary
house under the bank, where a ferry-house and tavern are kept,
one white family and two black families comprise the popula-
tion. He goes on to say that lake vessels lie at the head
of the rapids " a little below a reef called Bird Island, one
mile from Black Rock and one and three fcnu'ths miles from
Buffalo." It is quite plain that Judge G. looked on the original
Rock as being at the foot of the rapids, and the ideas of a per-
manent resident since 1803 are certainly entitled to far more
weight than those of a mere traveler. Some other circum-
stances have been adduced in favor of Bird Island as the origi-
nal Black Rock, but they are, I think, decidedly overbalanced
by the testimony in favor of the " rock " on shore.
For the time being the port of entry remained at Buffalo.
In his letter, Mr. Granger stated that a motion looking toward
"TIIK IlORiN BRKKZE." 1/9
removal had been made in Congress by Peter H. Porter. This
gentleman had been elected to Congress the year before, from
the westernmost district of New York, and was as yet a resident
of Canandaigua. His elder brother, Augustus Porter, the new
first-judge of Niagara county, Benjamin Barton, Jr., and himself,
had formed a partnership under the name of Porter, Barton &
Co., and were the principal forwarders of eastern goods to the
West. Their route was by way of Oneida lake, Oswego and
Ontario, to Lewiston ; thence by land-carriage around the P'alls
and by vessel up Lake Erie. Of the few sail-vessels then run-
ning on Lake Erie, owned on the American side, probably more
than half were owned by Porter, Barton & Co.
Their ships had the same difficulty in ascending the rapids
that had beset the Griffin a hundred and thirty years before.
To overcome it they provided a number of yoke of oxen to
drag vessels up the rapids. The sailors dubbed these auxilia-
ries the " Horn Breeze."
Porter, Barton & Co., joined with others, had also bought a
tract of eight hundred acres, extending from Scajaquada creek
south to near Breckenridge street. South of that was a lot of
a hundred acres given by the State for a ferry, and still farther
on was South Black Rock, where the State authorities intended
to lay out a village extending to the " mile line " on the west
side of Buffalo.
As to Buffalo creek, all agree that it was worthless for a har-
bor, on account of the bar at the mouth. All sail vessels
stopped at Black Rock, and only a few open boats came into
the creek.
It was in 1809 that the authorities, who must have been the
highway commissioners of Clarence, straightened the main
avenue of Buffalo, cutting off Ellicott's "bay window" in front
of outer lot 104. The great power that he exercised throughout
the Holland Purchase makes it seem strange that they should
have done so, but the facts are not disputed. Professor Evans
says that he had begun to gather material for a grand mansion
in the semi-circle, and that when the street was straightened he
gave up the idea, and afterwards lost much of his interest in
Buffalo. The stones he had gathered were used to help build
the jail. Lot 104 was never subdivided or sold until after his
l8o THE FIRST CHURCH IN BUFFALO.
death. About the time of the .straiL,rhtenin<j, too, the names of
" VVilHnk avenue" and "Van Staphorst avenue" seem to have been
thrown aside by general con.sent, and the whole was called Main
street. The original names, however, of the other streets and
avenues were retained for many years afterwards.
It was not till the last of 1809 that a church was formed in
Buffalo. Mrs. Fox agrees with Mrs. Mather, mentioned b>-
Turner, that the first meetings were held in the court-house. It
was formed by a union of Congregationalists and Presbyterians,
under the direction of Rev. Thaddeus Osgood. Amos Callen-
der, who came shortly after, became a leading member of the
church. One account makes the organization still later, but I
think the above is correct. There was still no minister except
an occasional missionary.
Among the new comers was another of the "big men " who by
strength of brain and will, and almost of arm, fairly lifted Buf-
falo over the shoals of adverse fortune. Tall, broad-shouldered,
fair-faced and stout-hearted, young Dr. Ebenczer Johnson en-
tered on the practice of his profession with unbounded zeal and
energy in the fall of 1809, and for nearly thirty years scarcel>-
any man exercised a stronger influence in the village and city of
his adoption. Another arrival was that of Oliver Forward, a
brother-in-law of Judge Granger, who became deputy collector
of customs and assistant postmaster, and who long exercised a
powerful influence in Buffalo.
TOWN OF "BUP^FALOK." l8l
CHAPTER XXII.
JUST BEFORE THE AA/^AR.
rovvu of "Buffaloe." — New Militia Regiments. — Buffalo Business. — Peter B. Porter
— Tonauanda. — Store at Williamsville. — Clai-ence. — Settlement of Alden. —
James Wood. — A Wolfish Salute. — An Aged Couple. — Colden. — Richard
Buffum. — Springville.^ — Tucker's Table. — A Crowded Cabin. — Turner
Aldrich. — The "Hill Difficulty." — Sardinia. — A Resolute Woman. — Boston
and Eden. — Unlucky Sheep. — Evans. — Bears and Hedge-hogs. — A Store too
soon. — Crossing the Reservation. — A Mill-race as a Fish Trap. — Buffalo
Firms. — H. B. Potter. — The Buffalo Gazette. — Feminine Names. — Old-Time
Books. — An Erudite Captain. — " Buffalo-e." — The Unborn Reporter. — In-
flation of the Marriage List. — Divers Advertisements. — " A Delinquent and
a Villain." — Morals and Lotteries. — The Two Chapins. — A Medical Melee.
— A Federal Committee. — Division of Willink. — Hamburg, Eden and Con-
cord.— Approach of War. — Militia Officers. — An Indian Council. — A Vessel
Captured. — The War Begun.
This chapter I'elates principally to the years 1810 and 181 1,
but will be extended to the beginning of the war, in June, 181 2.
In the first-named year the United States census was taken,
and the population of Niagara county was found to be 6,132.
Of these just about two thirds were in the present county of
Erie.
In that year, too, the name "Buffalo," or "Buffaloe," was first
legally applied to a definite tract of territory. On the lothday
of February, a law was passed erecting the towm of "Buffaloe,"
comprising all that part of Clarence west of the West Transit.
In other words, it comprised the present city of Buffalo, the
towns of Grand Island, Tonawanda, Amherst and Cheektowaga,
and the north part of West Seneca ; being about eighteen miles
long north and south, and from eight to sixteen miles wide east
and west. Another event considered of much importance in
those days was the formation of new militia regiments. The
men subject to military duty in Buffalo and Clarence were con-
stituted a regiment, under Lieut. Col. Asa Chapman, then living
near Buffalo. Samuel Hill, Jr., of Newstead, was one of his
majors. The men of Willink formed another regiment, and
l82 PETER H. PORTER.
youni^ Major Warren was promoted to lieutenant-colonel com-
manding;-. His majors were William C. Dudley, of Evans, and
Benjamin Wlialey, who was or had been a resident of Boston.
There was also a regiment in Cambria, and one in Chautauqua
county, and the whole was under the command of Brigadier-
General Timothy S. Hopkins.
The mercantile business of Buffalo began to increase. Juba
Storrs, having abandoned the law, formed a partnership with
Benjamin Caryl and Samuel Pratt, Jr., under the firm name of
Juba Storrs & Co., which took high rank in the little commer-
cial world of Buffalo. In 1810, the junior member, Mr. Pratt,
was appointed sheriff, and Mr. Storrs himself, county clerk.
Eli Hart and Isaac Davis also erected and opened stores about
that time.
Another new settler, afterwards quite noted, was Ralph
Pomeroy, who began the erection of a hotel on the northeast
corner of Main and Seneca streets. Asa Coltrin, a physician,
and John Mullett, a tailor, came about the same time.
Dr. Daniel Chapin, who was there then, and perhaps came
earlier, was a physician of some note, and was the principal rival
of his namesake. Dr. Cyrenius Chapin. The two were usually at
bitter feud.
The most influential new comer in the county, however, was
Peter B. Porter, who, after being reelected to Congress in the
spring of 18 10, removed from Canandaigua to Black Rock. He
was then thirty-seven years old, unmarried, a handsome, porth-
gentleman of the old school, of smooth address, fluent speech,
and dignified demeanor.
At Canandaigua he had practiced at the bar, but after his re-
moval he devoted himself to his commercial fortunes as a mem-
ber of the firm of Porter, Barton & Co., save when attending to
his political duties. Mr. Porter was the first citizen of Erie
county who exercised a wide political influence.
A few lots were sold at Black Rock in 1810, and one or two
small stores put up, but there were still very few residents.
The same year the Holland Company (that is, the several in-
dividuals commonly so-called) sold their preemption right in
all the Indian reservations on the Purchase to David A. Ogden.
He was acting in behalf of other parties, joined witli himself, in
THE NORTH TOWNS. 183
the speculation, and the owners were i^enerally called the Ogden
Company. The whole amount of territory was about 196,000
acres, and the purchase price $98,000. That is to say, Ogden
and his friends gave fifty cents an acre for the sole right of buy-
ing out the Indians whenever they should wish to sell.
There was still very little improvement in the north part of
Tonawanda. Robert Simpson settled about a mile from Tona-
wanda village. His son, John Simpson, then a boy, says that
Garret Van Slyke was then keeping tavern on the north side of
the creek, but on this side there was nothing but forest. A
guard-house was built on this side on the approach of war.
Henry Anguish lived a mile up the river. The only road to
Buffalo was along the beach. Another one had been under-
brushed out but was not used.
It was about 18 10 that Isaac F. Bowman opened a little store
at Williamsville, the first in the present town of Amherst, and
probably the third in the county, out of Buffalo. The same
year Benjamin Bowman bought the saw-mill on Eleven-Mile
creek, four miles above Williamsville, (in the northwest corner
of Lancaster,) and soon after built another, and the place
has ever since retained the name of Bowman's Mills, or Bow-
mansville.
The lowlands of township 13, range 7, being the north part of
Amherst, had not even had a purchaser until 18 10, when Adam
VoUmer bought two lots at $3.00 per acre.
The same was the case in township 13, range 6, forming the
north part of Clarence, where John Stranahan purchased at
$2.75.
At the town-meeting this year Samuel Hill, Jr., was re-
elected supervisor of Clarence, which by the erection of " Buf-
faloe" had been reduced to a territory only eighteen miles long
and twelve miles wide. It was also voted "that every path-
master's yard should be a lawful pound," and that a bounty of
$5.00 each should again be offered for wolves and panthers.
Elder John Le Suer and Elder Salmon Bell were both minis-
ters resident in the old town of Clarence before the war, the
former being quite noted throughout the northern part of the
county.
Moses Fenno, who moved into the present town of Alden in
184 A WOLFISH SALUTE.
the spring of 18 10, is usually considered there as the first settler
of that town, though Zophar Beach, Samuel Huntington and
James C. Rowan had previously purchased land on its western
edge, and it is quite likely some of them had settled there.
it is certain, however, that Fenno was the beginner of im-
provement in the vicinity of Alden village, and raised the first
crops theix', in the year mentioned. The same year came Joseph
Freeman, afterwards known as Judge Freeman, William Snow
and Arunah Ilibbard.
It was in 1801 that the present town of Wales attained to the
dignity of a framed house. It was built by Jacob Turner, and
his daughter, Mrs. Judge Paine, informs me that it is still stand-
ing upon the farm of Isaac W. Gail, Esq.
One of the new settlers in Wales in 18 10 was James Wood,
then a youth of twenty, who, after a long and most active
career, passed away a few months since. He informed me last
year that when, in 18 10, he began making a clearing on the flats
just, below the village of " Wood's Hollow," which derived its
name from him, there was not a house south of him in the town-
ship. There was no road, but on the west side of the creek
was a well-beaten Indian trail.
In fact the wolves were about his only neighbors, and much
closer than he liked. Having brought a heifer and five or six
sheep from Aurora, the young pioneer secured them in a pen,
close to his cabin. Hearing the wolves howl at night, he went
out, when he found them closing in all around him, and could
hear their jaws go "snap, snap," in the darkness of tl:e forest.
Calling his dog to his aid, he managed to beat a retreat to his
cabin, but he always vividly remembered the snapping of the
wolves' jaws around him. Fortunately they were unable to get
into the sheep-pen.
Emigration was brisk all through the county, and log houses
were continually rising by the wayside, but incidents of special
interest were less common in the older settlements than among
the first emigrants. Among the new comers in Aurora this
year were Jonathan Bowen, Asa Palmer and Rowland Letson.
The first church was organized in town by the Baptists. It had
sixteen members.
In East Hamburg, besides Stephen Kester, Elisha Clark and
LAKE SHORE RELICS. 1 85
others, William Austin, then a young man of twenty-four, set-
tled with his wife in the Smith (or Newton) neighborhood, and
both are still living in the town. This is the only instance that
I remember of a man and woman married before the war of
18 1 2 both of whom still survive, though there may be others.
Mr. Austin remembers that there was a town-meeting at John
Green's tavern, (afterwards kept by George B. Green,) when he
first came, on the subject of dividing the town of Willink, and
that some of the voters said they came thirty miles to attend it.
By this time (181 1) the locality of East Hamburg village be-
gan to be known as " Potter's Corners," from two or three prom-
inent men of that name who had settled there.
By this time, too, that energetic mill-builder under difficulties.
Daniel Smith, had, in company with his brother Richard, got
him up a regular grist-mill, near where Long's mill now stands,
at Hamburg village, which then began to be known by the name
of Smith's Mills. Among the settlers in the vicinity was Moses
Dart, a still surviving citizen.
About this time, perhaps earlier, the Messrs. Ingersoll lo-
cated on the lake shore, in Hamburg, just below the mouth of
the Eighteen-Mile. Shortly after their arrival they discovered
on the summit of the high bank seven or eight hundred pounds
of wrought iron, apparently taken ofif from a vessel. It was
much eaten with rust, and there were trees growing from it ten
to twelve inches in diameter.
A few years before, as related by David Eddy, a fine anchor
had been found imbedded in sand on the Hamburg lake shore.
Ten or twelve years later two cannon were discovered on the
beach near where the iron was found. The late James W.
Peters, of East Evans, in a communication to the Buffalo Com-
mercial Advertiser, reproduced in Turner's "Holland Purchase,"
stated that he saw them immediately after their discovery, and
cleaned away enough of the rust to lay bare a number of letters
on the breech of one of them. He stated that the word or words
thus exposed were declared to be I""rench ; he did not say b\-
whom, nor what they were.
From these data, Turner and others have inferred that the
Griffin was wrecked at the mouth of Eighteen-Mile creek ; that
such of the crew as escaped intrenched themselves there to resist
13
1 86 SETTLEMENT OF COLDEX.
the Indians, but were finally overpowered and slain. It is much
more probable, however, that the Griffin sank amid the storms of
the upper lakes, especially as La Salle and his three companions
came back on foot not far from Lake Erie, doubtless making
constant inquiries of the Indians as to any wrecked vessel.
Mr. O. H. Marshall is very decidedly of the opinion that the
evidences of shipwreck found on the lake shore were due to the
loss of the Beaver, which occurred near that locality about 1765,
and furnished an essay supporting this view to the Buffalo His-
torical Society, which has unfortunately been lost. The size of
the trees growing over the irons confirms Mr. Marshall's theory,
which is in all probability correct. It is not seriously invalidated
by the French words (if they were French,) on the cannon, as
many English mottoes (such as " Diai et mon droit,'' '' Honi soit
qui inal y pense," etc.,) are of French origin.
Dr. John March and Silas Este settled near Eden Valley in
1 8 10, and Morris March, son of the former, informs me that there
were just four families in town w4ien they came. When the two
families came, in March, they had to draw^ their wagons by hand
on the ice across the Eighteen-Mile at Water Valley, where a
saw-mill was about to be erected.
Up to this time no settlement had been made in the present
town of Golden, but in 18 10 Richard Buffum became its pioneer.
He was a Rhode Islander of some property, and being desirous
of emigrating westward he was requested by a number of his
neighbors to go into an entirely new district and purchase a
place where he could build mills, when they would settle around
him.
Accordingly he came to the Ilolland Purchase, and located on
the site of Golden village. His son, Thomas Buffum, then
seven years old, informs me that his father cut his own road six
or eight miles, and then built him a log house forty feet long !
This is the largest log dwelling of which I have heard in all my
researches, and is entitled to special mention. The same fall he
put up a saw-mill. Various causes prevented the coming of the
neighbors he had calculated on, and for a good while Mr. Buf-
fum was very much isolated. The first year no one came ex-
cept men whom he had hired. As, however, he had eleven
children, he was probably not very lonesome.
tucker's table. 187
There was considerable emigration into Concord in 1810.
One of the first comers was WilHam Smith, whose son, Calvin
C, then seven years old, names (besides Albro, Cochran and
Russell) Jedediah Cleveland, Elijah Dunham, Mr. Person and
Jacob Drake as residents when he came. Rufus Eaton, long an
influential citizen, came that summer, and Jonathan Townsend
purchased, and probably settled, in the locality which has since
been known as Townsend Hill. Josiah Fay, Benjamin C. Fos-
ter, Seneca Baker, Philip Van Horn, Luther Curtis and others
came about the same time into various parts of Concord.
There were early friends of education at Springville. Mr.
Smith says that Anna Richmond taught the first school in the
summer of 18 10, with only fourteen scholars, just north of the
site of the village, in a log barn, in which a floor had been put
made of basswood puncheons.
In February, 18 10, Samuel Tucker, brother of Abram, the
pioneer in North Collins of the previous year, moved into that
town, following the Indian trail by way of Water Valley and
Eden Center. It was the first team that passed over that trail.
His provisions consisted principally of a barrel of flour and a
barrel of pork ; these he rolled down some of the steepest hills,
as he could manage them better by hand than on the sled.
He settled a mile and a half south of North Collins village
(Kerr's Corners). There he built a log house ; that was a mat-
ter of course, but a piece of his furniture was entirely unique.
Having no table he left a stump, nicely .squared oft] standing in
the middle of his house, and this was the family table. His
first wheat for seed w^as only procured by trading off" a log-
chain, and it was tw^o years before the light shone through a
glass window on his peculiar table.
Enos Southwick came with his family the same year, and
Abram Tucker admitted them to the shelter of his hospitable
mansion. In that little bark-covered cabin, was born in August,
1 8 10, George Tucker, the first white child in the towns of Col-
lins and North Collins, and in September following, George
Southwick, the second native of the same district. If there had
been a stump in that house it would have been rather crowded.
For these last facts I am indebted to Mr. George Southwick,
of Gowanda, who ought to know as to their correctness.
IcS8 "THE II II. I. DIFFICULTY.
Among other settlers before the war, in Nortli CoHins, were
Henry Tucker, Benjamin Leggctt, Levi Woodward, Stephen
White, Stephen Twining, Gideon Lapham, Noah Tripp, Abra-
ham Gifford, Orrin Brayman, Jonathan Southwick, Hugh Mc-
Millan, and^jCilly Stafiford. For most of these names I am in-
debted to Humphrey Smith, Esq., of North Collins, though not
arriving himself till just after the war, learned who were there
before, and whose extraordinary memory has been of much
assistance to me.
In the spring or summer of 1810, Turner Aldrich and his
family came up the Cattaraugus creek from the lake beach, and
let their wagons down the "breakers" into the Gowanda flats by
means of ropes hitched to the hind axle and payed out from
around trees. They located on the site of Gowanda, and were
the first family in Collins, except those near Taylor's Hollow.
In the spring of that same year, however, Stephen Wilber,
Stephen Peters and Joshua Palmerton came in, built a cabin
and went to keeping bachelor's hall about a mile west of the
site of Collins Center, where they had all bought lands. In the
fall Wilber went back to Cayuga county.
In March, 181 1, he returned with his family, accompanied by
quite a colony, consisting of Allen King and wife, Luke Cran-
dall and wife, Arnold King, John King, and Henry Palmerton.
The Crandalls had come from Vermont, and when they started
for the Holland Purchase Mrs. C.'s father, in accordance with
olden custom, presented her with a bottle of rum, directing her
not to uncork it until they reached "The Hill Difficulty;" re-
ferring to Pilgrim's Progress. They came into Collins from the
east and at what is now known as Woodward's Hollow they
had to chain the sleds to trees to get down safely. At the foot
of the ascent on the other side Mrs. Crandall said :
"Here is 'The Hill Difficulty,' let us drink," and opened her
bottle, presenting it first to Mrs. Wilber. Any one who has been
at that place will appreciate her remark.
After their arrival Mr. Wilber improvised a vehicle by falling
a small tree, using the body for a tongue and the branches for
runners. This was the only carriage that could be navigated
among the numerous fallen trees. Men used to fasten a bag of
corn to the cross-piece, and spend three days going to Yaw's
CONCORD AND SARDINIA. 1 89
mill in Boston. When there was not time for this they would
use one of the stump-mortars, or "plumpini;-mills," before
described.
During the period before the war, besides those mentioned,
there were purchases and probabl)' settlements made by Seth
Blossom, George Morris, Ethan Howard, Abraham Lapham,
Ira Lapham, and Silas Howard. Smith Bartlett came but a little
later.
Samuel Burgess, Harry Sears and others bought near Spring-
ville in 181 1, while Benjamin Fay located at Townsend Hill.
In fact immigrants into Concord became so numerous that Rufus
Eaton thought it necessary to build a saw-mill in 181 1 or 1812.
New settlers were also numerous in Sardinia in 181 1 and the
beginning of 18 12. Among them were Horace Rider, Henry
Godfrey, Randall Walker, Benjamin Wilson, Daniel Hall, Giles
Briggs, John Cook, Henry Bowen, Smithfield Ballard and Francis
Easton.
Elihu Rice also moved there at that period, and according to
his son's recollection brought a small stock of goods, w^hich he
sold in his log dwelling-house. This was quite a common way
of impro\asing a store in those days.
Ezra Nott, the first pioneer of the town, married just before
the war, and brought in his bride, who survives in a pleasant old
age at Sardinia village. She says they went to housekeeping
in a cabin "with no doors and very little floor."
Sumner Warren, a younger brother of William, also located
in town before the war, and built a saw-mill on Mill brook, near
the mouth. Mrs. Nott relates how his mother came to visit him,
on horseback, from Aurora. There was no road south of the
Humphrey settlement in Holland. Threading her way among
the gulfs south of Holland village, she emerged on the level
land of Sardinia. But, having occupied more time than she
intended, night came upon her and she was unable to determine
her course.
Finding it useless to attempt farther progress, she tied her
horse to a sapling, took off the saddle, and coolly laid down and
waited till morning. The wolves occasionally howled in the
distance, but were either not numerous enough or not hungry
to venture near. How much she slept I cannot say.
[QO HOLLAND, COLDEN, ETC.
Among the new settlers in Holland at this time was Joseph
Cooper, who located on the farm where his son Samuel, then a
boy, still resides. At that time the latter says there was no
road farther south than his father's place.
A Baptist church was organized in Boston in i8ii. Mr. Tru-
man Gary states that Rev. Cyrus Andrews, a Baptist minister,
came there the same year and preached ten years. Doubtless,
however, he officiated in other places also, for I do not think
there was a church in the county able to support a settled minis-
ter. Clark Carr, also a Baptist minister, settled near the Concord
line before the war, and preached much of the time throughout
his life. John Twining, Lemuel Parmely, and Dorastus and
Edward Hatch were among the new comers to Boston. The
last named person, then twenty-two years old, still survives,
being the earliest settler in Boston who was twenty -one years
old when he came. Richard Sweet and one or two others joined
Buffum's little colony in Colden.
There was also considerable emigration to Eden that year,
Among the new settlers were Levi Bunting, Samuel Webster.
Joseph Thorne, James Paxon, John Welch, Josiah Gail and
James Pound.
Another was John Hill, who located at Kden Center, where
he was the first settler and where three of his sons, still reside.
They inform me that their father brought a flock of a dozen
or two sheep all the way from Otsego county. On arriving
at Tubbs' Hollow, the night before reaching their destination,
the wolves got among the sheep and killed ever)- one with a
single exception ; the one that wore the bell.
It did not follow from the extent of the slaughter that there
were many animals engaged in it. A single wolf has been
known to kill six or eight sheep out of a flock in the same raid;
merely sucking the blood of each and then leaving it to chase
the others.
Numerous settlers, too, sought the handsome level lands of
Evans. James Ayer located on the lake shore in i8ii, where
his son now resides. The latter informs me that \\hen they
came Gideon Dudley was at PL vans Center, David Corbin and
Timothy Dustin near there, and a Mr. Pike near the stream
now called Pike creek. A Mr. Palmer was then keeping tavern
BEARS AND HEDCKIIOGS. I91
at the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile. Hezckiah Dibble also
came before the war, becoming an influential citizen.
Among the new comers in Hamburg were Ira Fisk, Boroman
Salisbury, Henry Clark, Shubael Sherman and Ebenezer Inger-
soll, while in East Hamburg there were Pardon Pierce, James
Paxson, Joseph Hawkins and others. Dr. William Warriner
was a physician in Hamburg at this time, and Obadiah Baker
had a grist-mill on Smoke's creek, near Potter's Corners. Early
in the spring of 18 12 Daniel Sumner made the first settlement
on Chestnut Ridge, locating just south of the farm now occu-
pied by his step-son, S. V. R. Graves, Esq., then a small boy.
Here, as elsewhere, the bears and wolves were abundant, and
one or two anecdotes related by Mr. G. show the extreme af-
fection of the former for pork.
On one occasion a bear came close to the house, seized a
shote weighing a hundred pounds, and made off with it.
Coming to a seven-rail fence, the apparently clumsy animal
scrambled over it, bearing the porker in her mouth something
as a cat does a kitten, and leaving no trace behind save the
marks of her claws on the top rail.
Another bear attacked an old sow in a shanty close to the
residence of Amos Colvin, in the Newton neighborhood. The
old man ran out and found the two animals under a work-bench,
and no amount of beating could make the bear let go her hold.
Having some powder, but no ball nor shot, Colvin broke off a
piece of the bail of a kettle, loaded his gun with it, and actually
killed the stubborn invader with this primitive ammunition.
Another animal, which has disappeared since then, was the
hedo-ehoer. This black and " fretful " little animal was then
o o
common, especially among the chestnuts of that region, and
many an unsophisticated young dog has returned home sore and
bleeding from the wounds inflicted by his apparently insignifi-
cant antagonist. Although the casting of their quills is a fable,
yet they could really use them with great efficiency as simple
defensive weapons, and experienced canines usually declined the
unequal contest.
By the spring of 181 1 the township now called Aurora had
increased in population (including among the new comers of that
year the Staffords, who settled " Staffordshire," Moses Thomp-
192 AURORA, WALES, ETC.
son, Russell Darling, Amos Underbill and others,) so that it
was thought it might support a store. Accordingly John Ad-
ams and Daniel Hascall purchased a little stock of goods in
Hutfalo, put up a counter in the log house belonging to one of
thein, near what is now Blakeley's Corners, and indulged in the
dignity of merchandising for about six month.s, and then sus-
pended. They were evidently ahead of their age.
Dr. John Watson was the first medical practitioner in Aurora.
His younger brother, Ira G., also located there just before the
war. They were the only ph}'sicians in the whole southeast
part of the county.
Though there were no '' settled " ministers, yet Elder Samuel
Gail, then living in Aurora, and licensed by the Methodist
Church, frequently preached in houses or barns, or under the
canopy of heaven, according to circumstances. The occasional
preaching then begun by the youthful minister was continued
for nearly sixty years, until " Elder Gail " was one of the best-
known men in the south part of Erie county.
Wales began to increase more rapidly than before; Varnum
Kenyon, Eli Weed, Jr., Nathan Mann and others being among
the newcomers of 181 1, and in the succeeding winter young
James Wood taught the first school in town.
Isaac Hall also came that year, locating at what has since
been known as " Hall's Hollow," or "Wales Center," where he
soon built a saw-mill and grist-mill, the first in Wales, and also
opened a tavern. His son, P. M. Hall, mentions Alvin Iku't,
Benjamin Earl and others, as in town when he came.
Up to this time inhabitants of the " Cayuga Creek " settle-
ment had been obliged to patronize the grist-mill at Clarence
Hollow, or the one at Aurora. Water sometimes failed at the
former, and the road to the latter was difficult to travel or even
to discover.
Mr. Clark, to whom I am indebted for so many reminiscences
of those times, says that his father and two others once started
on horseback for Stephens' Mill, with seven bushels of grain in
all, designing to follow the " Ransom road," since called the
" Girdled road," which crossed the reservation, striking the Big
Tree road about a quarter of a mile west of the site of Aurora
Academy. They were unable to keep the track, however, and
BUFFALO BUSINESS. 193
after many \vandcrini4s struck the road from Aurora to Buffalo,
which they mistaken!)' followed toward the latter place till they
reached the Indian villatje. The " Ransom road " was evidently
a very blind guide.
Such troubles came to an end in 181 1, when Ahaz Allen
built a grist-mill at what is now Lancaster village. Its dam
was the first on Cayuga creek, and after the race was shut, the
first night, nine hundred and fifty-five fish — suckers, mullet, mus-
calonge, etc. — were caught in it.
The supervisor of Clarence for 181 1 was Samuel Hill, Jr.,
and in 181 2 James Cronk, both residing in the present territory
of Newstead.
Tonawanda could not boast of a tavern until 181 1, when one
was opened by Henry Anguish.
Buffalo gained several important accessions to its business
and social circles, during the period under consideration.
Grosvenor & Heacock established themselves as merchants
on Main street. The senior member of the firm was Abel M.
Grosvenor, a portly and pleasant middle-aged gentleman, who
died during the war. The junior partner, Reuben B. Heacock,
long one of the best-known citizens of Buffalo, was then a tall,
slender young man of twenty-two, with keen features and
Roman nose, manifesting his intense energy in every movement
as he strode through the streets of the nascent emporium.
Messrs. Stocking & Bull, in 181 1, built the first hat-factory in
Buffalo, on Onondaga (Washington) street, near the corner of
Swan. Mr. Stocking devoted himself with especial earnestness
to the support of public worship and Sunday-schools, seconding
the efforts of Deacon Callender and Gen. Elijah Holt, the latter
of whom came about the same time.
Charles Townsend and George Coit, two young men of Con-
necticut, also came to Buffalo at this time, and established the
long-celebrated firm of Townsend & Coit. They were reputed
wealthy when they came, (something very unusual for Buffalo-
nians of that era,) and it is asserted that they brought with
them, via Oswego and Lewiston, twenty tons of goods.
Heman B. Potter was a young lawyer who began, in 181 1, a
legal career which continued in Buffalo for nearly half a century.
A man of medium size, regular features and calm demeanor,
194 "THE BRICK TAVKRN OX TIIK HILL."
Mr. Potter was less self-assertive than the inajorit}- of successful
pioneers, yet he remained so long in active life that he was, more
than any other one man, the connecting link between the forest-
shaded hamlet and the swarming metropolis.
In i8i I William Hodge built a large brick hotel where is now
the corner of Main and Utica streets. It was nearly if not quite
the first of that material in the county, and was soon widely
known as the " brick tavern on the hill." Mr. H. had also be-
come the proprietor of the first nursery in the county, and had
first started the manufacture of fanning-mills. It is a good
illustration of pioneer energy that, in order to learn how to
make the screens, Mr. Hodge went on foot to a place near
Utica, paid a man to teach him the desired secret, and then re-
turned on foot to Buff"aIo to put it in use.
In the forepart of this year the President, being authorized
by Congress, located the port of entry for the district of Buffalo
Creek at Black Rock, from the first of April to the first of De-
cember in each year, and at "Buffaloe" the rest of the time. It
is difficult to see why the office should have been moved twice
a year merely to make " Buffaloe " a port of entry during the
four months when there were no entries.
The year i8ii was also marked by the establishment of Mr.
Jabez B. Hyde as the first school-teacher among the Senecas.
He was sent by the New York Missionary Society. A minister
of the gospel was sent at the same time, but was rejected by the
chiefs, while the teacher was invited to remain.
But the most important event in the eye of the historian was
the establishment of the first newspaper in Erie count)', the
Buffalo Gazette ; the initial number of which was issued on the
third day of October, i8ii, by Messrs Smith H. and Hezekiah
A. Salisbury. The former was the editor.
For the time previous to its appearance the student of local
history must depend on the memory of a few aged persons,
eked out by a very small number of scattering records. But,
fortunately, a tolerably complete file of the Gazette has been
preserved through all the vicissitudes of sixty-five years, and is
now in the possession of the Young Men's Association of Buf-
falo. By carefully studying its columns, especially the adver-
tisements, one can form a very fair idea of the progress of the
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER. 195
count}'. The first number ha.s been .stolen from the files ; the
second, dated October lOth, 1811, remains, the earliest specimen
of Erie county journalism.
A rough-looking little sheet was this pioneer newspaper of
Erie county, printed on coarse, brownish paper, each of the four
pages being about twelve inches by twenty. Its price was $2.50
per year if left weekly at doors ; $2.00 if taken at the office or
sent by mail.
The price seems large for a sheet of those dimensions, but
the advertising rates were certainly low enough. A " square "
was inserted three weeks for $1.00, and twenty-five cents was
charged for each subsequent insertion.
There must have been a large mail business done in this
vicinity, or a very slow delivery ; as the first number of the
Gazette contained an advertisement of a hundred and fifty-
seven letters remaining in the post-office at Buffalo Creek. Five
of them were directed to women, whose names I give as speci-
mens of the feminine nomenclature of that day: Susan Daven-
port, Sarah Goosbeck, Susannah McConnel, Nancy Tuck, Lu-
cinda Olmsted. Not one ending in "ie!"
With their printing office the Salisburys carried on the first
Buffalo book-store, and kept a catalogue of their books con-
stantly displayed in their paper. It may give an idea of the
literary taste of that era to observe that one of those lists con-
tains the names of seventeen books on law, fourteen on medicine,
fifty-four on religious subjects, fifty-four on history, poetry and
philosophy, and only eleven novels !
One of the first numbers chronicles the arrival of the schooner
Salina, Daniel Robbins master, with a cargo of " Furr " esti-
mated at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars — an estimate
which I fear did not hold out. " Furr" was the invariable spell-
ing of the covering of the beaver and otter, while a wielder of
the needle was sometimes denominated a " tailor," and some-
times a " ta}'lor."
Militia affairs evidently received considerable attention, as the
only advertisement of blanks was one of "Sergeants' Warrants,
Captains' Orders to Sergeants, Notices to Warn Men to Parade,"
&c., &c. Captains were numerous, and were not always blessed
with high scholastic acquirements, as is shown by the following
196 BUFFALO VS. BUFFALO-E.
communication from one t;allant chieftain to anotlicr, which
somehow fouiul its way into the Ga/ette, minus the names:
WilHnk, November the 10, 181 1.
"Capt . Sir this day Mr. inform mee that he was not
able to do mihterry duty, and wish you not to fleet a fine on him
ef T had a non his sttuation i shod not returned him this is from
yr. frend. , Capt.
"Wilhnk," gives but a shght idea of the locahty, as the whole
south part of the county was still called by that name.
Municipal towns were so large that survey townships were
frequently used for description, Thus Daniel Wood advertised
a watch left at his house "in the 6th Town, 8th Range ;" that
is in the present town of Collins.
Buffalo, which had originally been spelled by every one with
a final " e," had latterly, in accordance with the growing distaste
for superfluous letters, been frequently used without it, but the
older form was still common. lulitor Salisbur\' set himself to
complete the reformation, always omitting the " e " himself, and
ridiculing its use by others. He declared that it made a word
of four syllables, " Buf-fa-lo-e." Said he :
" Buf, there's your Buf; fa, there's your Huffa; lo, there's \'our
Buffalo ; e, there's your Buff"alo-e."
In the Gazette of the 29th of December, 181 1, he published
a report of a supposed lawsuit in the " Court of People's Bench
of Buffalo-e," in which " Ety Mol O Gist" was plaintiff, and
" General Opinion " was defendant. The following is an extract
from the proceedings :
" This was an action brought before the court for the purloin-
ing the fifth letter of the alphabet, and clapping it on the end
of the name Buffalo. . . . The plaintiff now proceeded,
after some pertinent remarks to the court, in which he pointed
out the enormity of the offense of General Opinion, to call his
witnesses. Several dictionaries were brought forth and exam-
ined, who testified, from Dr. Johnson down to Noah Webster,
that there was no such character as "e" in the town of J^uffalo.
" General Use, who was subpoenaed by both parties, was qual-
ified. He said he did not hesitate to state to the court that he
had been in the constant practice of dating his notes, receipts,
and memoranda with " Buffaloe," but that since the establish-
ment of a public paper he should accommodate it to his con-
.science to cut it short and dock off the final ' e.' " * * *
SCARCITY OF LOCAL ITEMS. 197
The editor's efforts accelerated the popular tendency, and the
"e" was soon generally abandoned, though for many years a
few conservative gentlemen continued to date their letters at
" Buffaloe."
In one of the first numbers of the Gazette was an advertise-
ment stating that the new sloop " Friends' Goodwill, of Black
Rock," would carry passengers to Detroit for twelve dollars
each, and goods for a dollar and a half a barrel.
It should be stated that the only way in which any idea of
the condition of the village or county can be gained from the
Gazette is by examining the advertisements ; for it is very plain
that the local reporter was then an unknown functionary, and
the voice of the interviewer was never heard in the land.
Number after number of the Gazette appeared without a sin-
gle local item. Except during the war, such items were exces-
sively rare through all the first years of Buffalo journalism, and
even when events of decided importance forced recognition
they were dismissed with the briefest possible notice.
Editorials, also, were extremely rare, though not so much so
as locals.
Nor, although the paper was small, could the paucity of edi-
torial and local matter be attributed chiefly to that cause ; for
considerable space was devoted to distant, and especially to
foreign, news, and unimportant proclamations of European po-
tentates were frequently published entire, while not a word was
to be seen about anything occurring within two hundred miles
of Buffalo.
It is plain that both the reporter who knows everything and
the editor who has an opinion about everything remained long
undeveloped on the shores of Lake Erie.
In one respect, however, the publishers showed a praiseworthy
desire to furnish their readers, especially of the fairer sex, with
interesting intelligence ; under the proper head there were always
several notices of marriage. But as a week frequently passed
without a wedding in the vicinity, the columns of the exchanges
were apparently ransacked for hymeneal intelligence. The
Gazette of December 17, 1811, contains noticesof one marriage
in Ontario county, one in Oneida county, two in Connecticut
and one in Montreal.
iqS abundance of marriagk notices.
The selection was usually induced by some peculiarity in name
or ay;e, but instead of noticing it among the news items or com-
icalities, the oddity was transferred to the regular hymeneal list
of Niagara county. Readers in those days might do without
their daily murder, but marriages they must have.
On one occasion they were amply supplied without resorting
to Connecticut or Montreal. The Gazette of Dec. ii, 1811,
records the marriage "on Wednesday evening last," in the town
of Willink. of Mr. Edward Paine to Miss Phebe Turner, of Mr.
Levi Blake to Miss Polly Sanford, and of Mr. Thomas Holmes
to Miss Martha Sanford.
Failures in business seem to have been quite common in pro-
portion to the amount done ; as one paper contains three, and
another four notices for insolvent debtors to show cause why
they should not be declared bankrupts.
Yet it is plain that business was generally flourishing. There
were no advertisements for work, but many for workmen. In
the course of a few weeks in the fall of 181 1, Tallmadge & Mul-
lett advertised for two or three journeymen tailors, John Tower
for a journeyman shoemaker, Daniel Lewis for a "Taylor's" ap-
prentice and a journeyman "Tailor," Stocking & Bull for three or
four journeymen hatters, and Leech & Keep for two or three
journeymen blacksmiths, at their shop at Cold Spring, "two
miles from the village of Buffalo."
Certainly there would have been no bankruptcies had all
creditors adopted the generous policy of Lyman Parsons, who
advertised his earthenware at Cold Spring, and added : " He
requests all those indebted to him, and whose promises have
become due, to make payment or fresh promises !" No modern
doctor of finance could have been more liberal.
The Patent Medicine Man was already an established insti-
tution, and M. Daley advertised several unfailing panaceas, their
value being attested by certificates as ample, (and as truthful,) as
those of the present day.
Among the merchants everybody dealt in everything. Na-
thaniel Sill & Co. dispensed " fish and cider " at Black Rock.
Peter H. Colt, at the same place, dealt in "whisky, gin, buffalo-
robes and feathers." Townsend & Coit advertised " linseed oil
and new goods " in Buffalo.
AN OFFICIAL' IRREC;ULARITY. 199
The original name adopted by the HoUand Company had not
yet been utterly discarded. Notice was given that the "Ecclesi-
astical Society" would meet "at the school-house in the village
of New Amsterdam," and Grosvenor & Heacock advertised
goods " at their store in the village of New Amsterdam."
Even in those good old times, officials were sometimes guilty
of " irregularities," and one of the few local items in the Ga-
zette, under the head, "A delinquent and a villain," gave notice
that Joseph Alward, who wore the double honors of constable
of Willink and carrier of news, had " cleared out for Canada,"
taking two horses, eight or ten watches and other property. A
news-carrier was an important functionary; he was the sole reli-
ance of most of the inhabitants for papers and letters — there
being but one post-office in the county out of Buffalo, and none
south of the reservation. The next week after the disappear-
ance of the " delinquent and villain," David Leroy gave notice
that he had taken Alward's route, but he soon gave it up for lack
of business. Another notice informed the people that a carrier
named Paul Drinkwater had judiciously selected one route down
the river and another up the lake.
A. S. Clarke, postmaster at Clarence, (his store it will be re-
membered was in the present town of Newstead,) advertised
seven letters detained at his office for Clarence, and fifty for
Willink. These latter had to be sent from fifteen to fifty
miles by private conveyance.
There was still no regular preaching of the gospel in the
county. Some steps were taken to that end, but nothing ac-
complished before the war.
In regard to religion and morality, Buffalo seems to have had
a very bad reputation abroad — even worse then it deserved.
The Gazette published a letter from a clergyman to " a gentle-
man in this village," saying :
" From what I had heard, I supposed that the people in gen-
eral were so given to dissipation and vice that the preachers of
Christianity would find few or no ears to hear : but most agree-
ably disappointed was I to find my audiences not only respecta-
ble in point of numbers, but solemn, decent, devout and which
seemed gladly to hear the word."
Notwithstanding this readiness to hear the w^ord, some things.
200 TIIK WAR OP^ SCALPELS.
such as lotteries, were tolerated, which would now be looked on
with general disfavor. A memorial was presented to the legis-
lature, signed by many of the principal citizens of Niagara
county, asking for ^15,000 to build a road from the Genesee
river to Buffalo, the State to be reimbursed by a lottery. The
project was warmly endorsed by the Gazette. At the present
day we should at least have morality enough to call the scheme
a gift-enterprise. It does not appear to have been adopted.
The difficulty of deciding when "doctors disagree," has long
been a favorite theme of philosophers, but it was more than
usually great at the time and in the locality under considera-
tion. The two Chapins, Daniel and Cyrenius, were the leaders
of two factions, whose warfare was, as usual, made all the more
intense by the small number of the contestants.
In November, 181 1, there appeared a call for a meeting of the
Medical Society of Niagara County, signed by Asa Coltrin, (part-
ner of Dr. Cyrenius,) as secretary. The last of December, Dr.
Daniel Chapin also gave notice of the meeting of the Medical
Society of Niagara County. In the next number of the Gazette
Dr. Cyrenius came to the front with a notice that Dr. Daniel's
call was irregular, and that the Medical Society of Niagara
County had \x\q\. in November and adjourned to February first.
Then Dr. Daniel's society assembled, and its chief made a
speech which sounds like a modern statesman's triumphant ex-
posure of the wickedness of his political opponents. The rival
association was described as making a contemptible display of
depravity and weakness, exhibited only to be pitied and de-
spised, and as being " a mutilated, ill-starred brat, scotched with
the characterestic marks of its empirical accoucheur!"
By and by Dr. Cyrenius issued an address, not c^uite so viru-
lent, but denouncing the other society as a humbug. He did
not state the number of physicians in Niagara county at that
time, but said that three years before (1809) there were sixteen.
In 18 12 there were probably about two dozen in the present
counties of Erie and Niagara, two thirds of them being in the
territory of the former. But the\^ had a big enough war for
five hundred.
Finally the Danielites sued the Cyreniusites for taking a let-
ter from the post-office directed to "The Medical Society of Ni-
THE MECHANICAL SOCIETY. 201
agara County," and just before the declaration of war the suit
was decided in favor of tlie defendants. Then Dr. Josiah Trow-
bridge, secretary of the victorious faction, issued a bulletin of
triumph in the Gazette, but the din of scalpels was soon extin-
guished in the more terrible conflict rapidly hastening to an
outbreak.
The Free Masons already had an organization in the village,
and Western Star lodge gave notice that it would install its
officers on the lOth of March, 1812.
The first of the many societies organized in Erie county by
artisans was called the Mechanical Society, and was formed b}'
the master mechanics of Buffalo on the 26th of March.
Joseph Bull (hatter) was elected president, Henry M. Camp-
bell (also a hatter) and John Mullett (tailor), vice-presidents ;
with Robert Kaene, Asa Stanard, David Reese (blacksmith),
Daniel Lewis (tailor), and Samuel Edsall (tanner), as standing
committee.
This Mr. Edsall advertised his tannery and shoe shop as " on
the Black Rock road, near the village of Buffalo." Considering
that it stood at the corner of Niagara and Mohawk streets, it
would undoubtedly now be considered as tolerabl}^ near Buffalo.
On the 20th day of March, 1812, the gigantic town of Wil-
link was seriously reduced by a law erecting the towns of Ham-
burg, Eden and Concord. Hamburg contained the present
towns of Hamburg and East Hamburg. Eden w^as composed
of what is now Boston, Eden, Evans, and part of Brant, and
Concord comprised the whole tract afterwards divided into Sar-
dinia, Concord, Collins and North Collins — leaving Willink only
twelve miles square, embracing Aurora, Wales, Holland and
Colden. Besides, Willink and Hamburg nominally extended
to the middle of the Buffalo reservation, and Collins covered
that part of the Cattaraugus reservation situated in Niagara
county.
The records of both Hamburg and Eden have been preserved
to this day. In the former town the people first met on the 7th
of April, 1812, at the house of Jacob Wright. The following
officers were elected :
David Eddy, supervisor ; Samuel Hawkins, town clerk ; Isaac
Chandler, Richard Smith and Nel. Whitticer, assessors ; Abner
14
202 THREE NEW TOWNS.
Wilson, constable and collector ; Nathan Clark and Thomas
Fish, overseers of the poor; James Browning, John Green and
Amasa Smith, commissioners of highways ; Daniel Smith, Gil-
bert Wright and Benjamin Henshaw, constables ; Jotham Bcmis
and Abner Amsdell, pound-masters.
At the same meeting it was voted that last year's supervisor
(of Willink) should "discharge our poor debt" by paying the
poor-masters the sum of five dollars. As a specimen of cheap
work, performed for the people, I have noted that, for making a
map of the division of the town, Cotton Fletcher was voted the
sum of one dollar.
The meeting adjourned till the next day when, with the new
supervisor acting as "moderator," the people voted "that hogs
should remain as the statute law directs." Also that five dollars
per head should be paid for wolves and panthers. The record
shows that there were twenty-one road districts at the organ-
ization of the town.
It does not appear that Eden was organized until the next
year. For convenience, however, that organization is given
here. Joseph Yaw was "moderator" of the meeting. John C.
Twining was elected supervisor ; John March, town clerk ; Amos
Smith, David Corbin and John Hill, assessors ; Charles John-
son, Calvin Doolittle, and Richard Berry, Jr., commissioners of
highways; Lemuel Parmalee, collector; John Conant and Silas
Este, constables ; John Welch and Asa Cary, poor-masters.
There were thirteen road districts.
It is said that John Hill selected the name of Eden for the
new town, on account of the paradisaical look which the country
around Eden Center bore to his eye. For some unknown rea-
son it was almost universally spelled "Edon" for many years,
not only in writing, but when printed in the Gazette.
The records of Concord having been burned, its early organ-
ization cannot be given.
During all this time there was a constant and increasing fer-
ment regarding war and politics. The growing dissatisfaction
of the government and a majority of the people of the United
States with the government of Great Britain, on account of her
disregard of neutral rights in the contest with Napoleon, had at
length reached the verge of war, and the denunciations of that
A FEDERAL COMMITTEE. 203
power in Congress, in State legislatures, in the press and in pub-
lic meetings were constantly becoming more bitter. While this
was the sentiment of the ruling party (that is the Democratic or
Republican, for it went by both names,) the Federalists, who
constituted a large and influential minority, opposed a war with
England, asked for further negotiation, and met the Democratic
denunciations of that country with still more bitter attacks on
Napoleon, whom they accused the Republicans of favoring.
In February, Congress passed a law to organize an army of
twenty-five thousand men. Shortly after, Daniel D. Tompkins,
the republican governor of New York, made a speech to the
legislature, advising that the State prepare for the coming contest.
This county up to that time had been decidedly Federal.
Ebenezer Walden was the Federal member of assembly for
the counties of Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua. In
April, Abel M. Grosvenor was nominated for the assembly by
a meeting of the Federalists, or as they termed themselves "Fed-
eral Republicans." At the same meeting a large committee was
appointed, and, as it is to be presumed that the men selected
w'ere somewhat influential members of their party in that day,
I transcribe a list of those residing in the present county of
Erie :
Town of Buffalo — Nathaniel Sill, Joshua Gillett, Benjamin
Caryl, James Beard, Oilman Folsom, Wm. B. Grant, John Rus-
sell, Daniel Lewis, Rowland Cotton, David Reese, Elisha Ensign,
S. H. Salisbury, Ransom Harmon, Frederick House, Guy J.
Atkins, Samuel Lasuer, John Duer, John Watkins, R. Grosvenor
Wheeler, Fred. Buck, Henry Anguish, Nehemiah Seeley, Henry
Doney, Solomon Eldridge and Holden Allen.
Clarence — Henry Johnson, Asa Fields, James Powers, James
S. Youngs, William Baker, Archibald Black, John Stranahan,
Josiah Wheeler, G. Stranahan, Benjamin O. Bivins, John Peck
and Jonathan Barrett.
Willink — Abel Fuller, Ebenezer Holmes, John McKeen, San-
ford G. Colvin, Levi Blake, Ephraim Woodruff", Daniel Haskell,
Samuel Merriam, Dr. John Watson and John Gaylord, Jr.
Hamburg — Seth Abbott, Joseph Browning, William Coltrin,
Ebenezer Goodrich, Cotton Fletcher, John Green, Samuel Ab-
bott, Benjamin Enos, Pardon Pierce.
204 A REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE.
Eden — Charles Johnson, Luther Hibbard, Dorastus Hatch,
Dr. John March, Job Palmer, Samuel Tubbs.
Concord — Joseph Hanchett, Solomon Fields, Samuel Cooper,
Stephen Lapham, Gideon Lapham, Gideon Parsons, William S.
Sweet.
As a companion to the Federal committee, I insert here the
names of the members of a similar one composed of Demo-
cratic Republicans, though not appointed till a year or so later.
They were Nathaniel Henshaw, Ebenezer Johnson, Pliny A.
Field, William Best, Louis Le Couteulx and John Sample of
Buffalo; Otis R. Hopkins, Samuel Hill, Jr., Daniel Rawson,
James Baldwin, Daniel McCleary, Oliver Standard and Moses
Fenno, of Clarence ; David Eddy, Richard .Smith, Samuel Haw-
kins, Giles Sage, William Warriner, Joseph Albert and Zcnas
Smith, of Hamburg; Elias Osborn, Israel Phelps, Jr., Daniel
Thurston, Jr., William Warren, James M. Stevens, John Car-
penter and Joshua Henshaw, of Willink ; Christopher Stone,
Benjamin Tubbs, Gideon Dudley, Amos Smith and Joseph
Thorn, of Eden ; and Rufus Eaton, Frederick Richmond, Allen
King, Benjamin Gardner and Isaac Knox, of Concord.
Jonas Williams, the founder of Williamsville, was the Repub-
lican candidate for the assembly.
About the same time Asa Ransom was again appointed
sheriff; Joseph Landon, Henry Brothers and Samuel' Hill, Jr.,
coroners ; Samuel Tupper and David Eddy, judges and justices;
and Elias Osborne, then of Willink, justice of the peace.
Shortly afterwards, Samuel Tupper, of Buffalo, was appointed
first judge in place of Judge Porter, resigned.
Already there were fears of Indian assault. It was reported
that a body of British and Indians were assembled at Newark,
to make a descent on the people on this side. A public meet-
ino- was held at Cook's tavern, in Buffalo, at which the state-
ment was declared untrue.
liarly in May a lieutenant of the United States army adver-
tised for recruits at Buffalo, offering those who enlisted for five
years a hundred and sixty acres of land, three months' extra
pay, and a bounty of sixteen dollars. The amount of bounty
will not appear extravagant to modern readers.
Election was held on the I2th of May, and the approach of
MILITIA OFFICERS. 205
war had evidently caused a great change in the strength of the
two parties. The votes for member of assembly show at once
the ascendency suddenly gained by the Democrats, and the
comparative population of the several towns. For Grosvenor,
Federal, Willink gave 71 votes, Hamburg 47, Eden 41, Concord
S^, Clarence 72, Buffalo 123 ; total, 387. For Williams, Repub-
lican, Willink gave 114, Hamburg 110, Eden 46, Concord 50,
Clarence 177, Buffalo 112; total, 609. Archibald S. Clarke was
elected State senator, being the first citizen of Erie county to
hold that offfce, as he had been the first assemblyman and first
surrogate. The congressmen chosen for this district were both
outside of Niagara county.
The militia were being prepared for war, at least to the ex-
tent of being amply provided with officers. In Lt.-Col. Chap-
man's regiment. Dr. Ebenezer Johnson was appointed " sur-
geon's mate," (assistant surgeon he would now be called ;) Abiel
Gardner and Ezekiel Sheldon, lieutenants ; Oziel Smith, pay-
master; John Hersey and Samuel Edsall, ensigns.
In Lt.-Col. Warren's regiment, Adoniram Eldridge, Charles
Johnson, John Coon, Daniel Haskill, Benjamin Gardner and
John Russell were appointed captains ; Innis B. Palmer, Isaac
Phelps, Timothy P\iller, Benjamin I. Clough, Gideon Person,
Jr., Frederick Richmond and Varnum Kenyon, lieutenants ;
William Warriner, surgeon; Stephen Kinney, paymaster; Elihu
Rice, Samuel Cochrane, Benjamin Douglass, Lyman Blackmar
and Oliver Blezeo, ensigns.
Scarcely a day passed that rumors of Indian outrages did not
startle the inhabitants of Niagara county, who looked with anx-
ious eyes on the half-tamed Iroquois in their midst, man\- of
whom had once bathed their hands in American blood. The
rumors were all false, but the terror they inspired was none the
less real.
Congress passed an act calling out a hundred thousand mili-
tia, (thirteen thousand five hundred of whom were from New
York,) and the news was followed quickly by an order detailing
two hundred and forty men from Hopkins' brigade, for imme-
diate service. On the 17th of May, Col. Swift, of Ontario
county, arrived at Buffalo to assume command on the frontier.
On the 1 8th, the first detachment of militia marched through
206 PREPARATION'S FOR WAR.
that village on their way to Lewiston. They were from the
south towns, and were commanded by Major Benj. Whaley.
On the 26th, Superintendent Granger, with the interpreters
Jones and Parrish, held a council with the chiefs of the Six Na-
tions in the United States. Mr. Granger did not seek to enlist
their services, such not being the policy of the government, but
urged them to remain neutral. To this they agreed, but said
they would send a delegation to consult their brethren in
Canada.
Meanwhile, the declaration of war was under earnest discus-
sion in Congress.
On the 23d of June, Col. Swift, whose headquarters were at
Black Rock, was in command of six hundred militia, besides
which there was a small garrison of regulars at Fort Niagara.
There was no artillery, except at the fort.
The preparations for war on the other side were somewhat
better, there being six or seven hundred British regulars along
the Niagara, and a hundred pieces of artillery. The excitement
grew more intense every hour. Reckless men on either shore
fired across the river " for fun," their shots were returned, and
the seething materials almost sprang into flame by spontane-
ous combustion.
The morning of the 26th of June came. A small vessel,
loaded with salt, which had just left Black Rock, was noticed
entering Lake Erie by some- of the citizens of Buffalo, and
presently a British armed vessel from Ft. Erie was seen making
its way toward the American ship. The latter was soon over-
taken and boarded, and then both vessels turned their prows
toward the British stronghold.
There could be but one explanation of this — the vessel was
captured — and the news of war spread with lightning-like rapid-
ity among the inhabitants of the little frontier village. All
doubt was dispelled a few hours later by an express-rider from
the East, bearing the l^resident's proclamation of ^ar. The Can-
adians had received the earliest news by reason of John Jacob
Astor's sending a fast express to Oueenston, twelve hours ahead
of the government riders, to warn his agents there.
The War of 18 12 had be<jun.
CONFUSION AND DISMAY. 20/
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812.
Confusion.— Flight.— The School-mistress and the Officer.— " Silver Greys."— The
" Queen Charlotte."— Salisbury's Battle.— "The Charlotte Taken."— Fear of
Indians.— Red Jacket's Logic. — Iroquois Declaration of War. —Capture of
Two British Vessels. — The First Victim of War.— Black Rock Bombarded.
—A Late Breakfast. —The Queenston Failure.— Smyth's Proclamation.— A
Gallant Vanguard.— A Vacillating General.— Invasion Relinquished.— An
Erie County Duel.— A Riot among the Soldiers.— Political Matters. —
Quiet.
The news of the declaration of war was disseminated with
ahriost telegraphic rapidity, flying off from the main roads pur-
sued by the express-riders, and speeding from one scattered
settlement to another throughout Western New York.
Dire was the confusion created. In almost every localit}-
divers counsels prevailed. Some were organizing as militia or
volunteers ; others, alarmed by the reports of instant invasion
and by the ever horrible tale of Indian massacre, made a hasty
retreat with their families toward the Genesee. Sometimes the
fleeing citizens were met by emigrants who were pressing for-
ward to make new homes in the wilderness, unchecked by the
dangers of the day.
So great was the dismay that Mr. Ellicott issued an address
to the settlers on the Holland Purchase, assuring them that the
lines were well guarded and the country safe from invasion.
The alarm is said to have been equally great on the other side,
and the flight from the lines perhaps greater, as there were more
people there to flee.
By the fourth of July three thousand American militia were
assembled on the Niagara frontier, General William Wadsworth
being in command. This looked like efficient action, and ere
long the men who remained at home were working as steadily
as usual, many families who had fled returned, and affairs re-
sumed their ordinary course, save where along the Niagara, the
208 SCHOOL-MISTRESS AND OFFICER.
raw recruits marched, and countermarched, and panted for the
chance to distinguish themselves which came to them all too
soon.
At first, men of all classes and conditions were generally \\ill-
ing to turn out. Occasionally, however, one was found, even
wearing the epaulet of an officer, who trembled at the bare
idea of exchanging his cozy log house for the unknown terrors
of the tented field. It is related of a wide-awake Springville
school-mistress that she determined to have a little amusement
at the expense of a boastful militia officer, who, not ha\ing
been detailed for service, was loud in professing his anxiety for
the joys of battle.
Borrowing a suit of uniform from a relative, she attired her-
self in it, partly concealed her face, went to the house of her
victim, and announced herself as an aide-de-camp sent by the
commanding general to call him instantly to the field. The
sudden summons, coming \\hen he had thought himself secure,
utterly overcame his nerves, and he pleaded piteously for exemp-
tion from the dread decree. But in vain ; he was ordered to
prepare himself, immediately, and it was only after he had al-
most gone on his knees to the stern official that the latter dis-
closed himself, or herself, and left the frightened official to muse
on the deceitfulness of appearances.
Besides the ordinary militia, several companies were organ-
ized, composed of men too old to be called on for military duty.
They were commonly called "Silver Greys." One such com-
pany was formed in Willink, of which Phineas Stephens was
captain, Ephraim Woodruff lieutenant and Oliver Pattengill
ensign. Another was organized in Hamburg under Captain
Jotham Bemis.
Immediately on learning of the declaration of war, General
Isaac Brock, commander-in-chief of the British forces in Upper
Canada, and acting governor, took personal command on the
Niagara frontier, and gave his attention to its defenses. Fort
Erie was strengthened and a redoubt several rods long was
erected opposite the residence of Congressman Porter, now the
foot of Breckenridge street. Earthworks were also thrown up
at Chippewa, Queenston and other points. The American side
was similarly strengthened.
SALISBURY'S BATTLE. 209
There was constant watchfulness for spies on both sides of
the h'ne, and many arrests were made.
The superiority of the British on the lake was a source of
constant annoyance to the people on this side. At the begin-
ning of the war there was not a single armed American vessel
afloat, while the British had three — the Queen Charlotte, of
twenty-two guns, the Hunter, of twelve guns, and a small
schooner lately built.
The Queen Charlotte, in particular, kept the people of Ham-
burg and Evans in constant alarm. Riding off the shore, her
boats would be sent to land to seize on whatever could be found,
especially in the w^ay of eatables and live stock.
At one time a party landed on the coast of Evans, near the
farm of Aaron Salisbury, and began their work of plunder.
Most of the men of the settlement were absent. Young Salis-
bury seized his musket, overtook the marauders as they were
going to their boats and opened fire on them from the woods.
They returned it, but without effect on either side. They then
embarked on their vessel, which sailed northward. Knowing
that the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile was a convenient landing
place, Salisbury hurried thither through the woods. When he
arrived they had just landed. He again opened a rapid fire from
the friendly forest, and the foe thinking the whole country was
rising against them, soon retreated to their boats and vessel,
without doing any further harm.
Mrs. Root, of Evans Center, then the eight-year old daughter
of Anderson Taylor, informs me that these incursions from the
Charlotte were quite frequent that first summer, and that the
men of the scattered settlements were often taken on board as
prisoners, kept a few days and then liberated. When the men
were absent in the militia, some of the women did not take
off their clothes for weeks together ; keeping themselves always
ready for instant flight.
It must have been, then, with feelings of decided gratification
that Erie county people read the head-line in large capitals, of
a notice in the Gazette, entitled, "The Charlotte Taken." But
the ensuing lines, though pleasant enough, only announced the
marriage in Hamburg, by "Hon. D. Eddy, Esq.," of Mr. Ja-
red Canfield, "a sergeant in Captain McClure's volunteer com-
210 HOLDING A COUNCIL.
pan\-," to Miss Charlotte King, daughter of Mr. N. King, of
Concord.
As has been said, the mo.st intense anxiety was felt b)- the
Americans regarding the Indians on both sides of the line.
The British, in accordance with their ancient policy, made imme-
diate arrangements on the outbreak of war to enlist the Mo-
hawks, and other Canadian Indians, in their service. These
sent emissaries to the Si.x Nations in New York, to persuade
them to engage on the same side. The settlers on the Holland
Purchase, and especially in the county of Niagara, were not
only alarmed at the prospect of invasion by savage enemies,
but also lest the Senecas and others on this side should allow
their ancient animosities to be rekindled, and break out into
open rebellion. It must be confessed the danger was not slight,
for there was good ground for believing that some at least of the
Seneca warriors had been engaged against the United States at
the battle of Tippecanoe, only the year before.
Mr. Granger was active in averting the danger, and on the 6th
of July he convened a council of the Six Nations in the United
States, on the Buffalo reservation. It was opened, as a matter
of course, by Red Jacket, and Mr. G. in a long speech set
forth the cause of the war from the American point of view,
urging the Indians to have nothing to do with the quarrels of
the whites, but to remain quietly at home during the war.
He said, however, that he was aware that many of their
young braves were anxious to engage in the fight, and if they
must do so, he preferred it should be on the side of the United
States. If, therefore, they were determined to see something of
the war. perhaps a hundred and fifty or two hundred of their
warriors would be accepted by the government.
At the next meeting of the council Red Jacket replied, de-
claring in favor of neutrality, saying that he hoped no warriors
would be accepted by the government without permission of the
great council, and asking leave to make another effort to per-
suade the Mohawks to abandon the war-path. This was granted,
and a deputation of five chiefs, with considerable difficulty, ob-
tained permission from General Brock to visit their Mohawk
brethren. The effort, however, was useless, as the Canadian In-
dians were fully determined not to bury the hatchet.
RE]^ JACKETS LOGIC. 211
The neutrality of the Senecas, Cayugas, etc., continued for
only a brief time. In fact, the excitement of war was so infec-
tious, not only to the "young braves," but to many of those who
considered themselves the cautious guardians of their people,
that they were quite willing to seize the first excuse for number-
ing themselves among the combatants.
In this same month of July a rumor got afloat that the
British had taken possession of Grand Island, which was under
the jurisdiction of the United States, but the title of which was
in the Senecas. It has generally been supposed that this rumor
was entirely without foundation, but Mr. John Simpson, of Ton-
awanda, informs me differently. He states that several hun-
dred Indians appeared on the shores of Grand Island, opposite
Tonawanda. There were then sixteen soldiers in the guard-
house there. They had been notified of the approach of
the Indians, and all the citizens around had been called
in. These were furnished with the extra uniforms of the
soldiers, to increase the apparent number. They were also,
after being paraded, marched into view with all their coats
turned wrong side out, giving at that distance the appearance of
a new corps with different uniforms. The enemy made no
attempt to cross. Red Jacket convoked a council, and asked
permission of Superintendent Granger to drive away the in-
truders, using the following shrewd logic in support of his re-
quest. Said he :
" Our property is taken possession of by the British and their
Indian friends. It is necessary now for us to take up the busi-
ness, defend our property and drive the enemy from it. If we
sit still upon our seats and take no means of redress, the British,
according to the custom of you white people, will hold it by
conquest. And should you conquer the Canadas you will hold
it on the same principles ; because you will have taken it from
the British."
Permission being granted, another council was held shortly
after, at which a formal declaration of war was adopted, and re-
duced to writing by the interpreter. As this was probably the
first — perhaps the only — declaration of war ever published by
an Indian nation or confederacy in writing, and as its language
was commendably brief, it is transcribed entire, as follows :
"We, the chiefs and counselors of the Six Nations of Indians,
212 MILITIA MOVEMENTS.
residing in the State of New York, do hereby proclaim to all
the war-chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations that war is de-
clared on our part against the provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada. Therefore, we command and advise all the war-chiefs
and warriors of the Six Nations to call forth immediately the
warriors under them, and put them in motion to protect their
rights and liberties."
Notwithstanding this declaration, however, no Indians, (at
least no considerable number of them,) took the field on our
side that year. It was soon ascertained that the occupation of
Grand Island was not permanent, and there were many of the
older chiefs, with Red Jacket at their head, who were really de-
sirous that their people should remain neutral. But more potent,
probably, than the restraining voice of their sachems, were the
quick-coming disaster^ to the American arms.
The militia kept marching to the frontier. There was no lack
of numbers, nor of apparent enthusiasm. They were all anx-
ious to capture Canada the next day after their arrival. But
they were utterly ignorant of actual war, and the first touch of
reality chilled them to the marrow.
They were not called out m masse, nor were specified regi-
ments ordered to the field. Details were made of the number
required from each brigade, and these were collected by details
from the different regiments and companies. Temporary com-
panies and regiments were thus formed, to endure only through
the few weeks of active service. Of course officers and men
were unused to each other, the organization was unfamiliar to
both, and the efficiency of the command was in the very lowest
state.
Lt.-Col. Chapman, commander of the Buffalo and Clarence
regiment, moved away about tlie beginning of the war, and no
one was appointed in his place until after its close. Major
Samuel Hill, Jr., was the senior officer. Most of the Bufialo-
nians seem to have formed themselves into independent com-
panies, and Hill's command was left .so small that whenever
the militia was called out en masse it was joined with Warren's
regiment.
Gen. Amos Hall, of Ontario county, major general of this
division of the State militia, was in command on the frontier,
for a short time, succeeding Gen. Wadsworth. On the nth of
FACTIOUS PROCEEDINGS. 213
July he was superseded by Major General Stephen Van Rens-
selaer, also of the militia, but a man of some experience in act-
ual war. He established his headquarters and assembled his
principal force at Lewiston.
During the lull which succeeded the first excitement, one of
the founders of Buffalo, Captain Samuel Pratt, passed away
from life, in August, 1812. On the 27th of that month an extra
Gazette announced the surrender by Gen. Hull of Detroit and his
whole army, to an inferior force of British atid Indians. Terrible
was the disappointment of the people, as well it might be, over
that disgraceful affair, and dire were the fulminations of the press.
But denunciation was all too late, and public attention in this
vicinity was soon turned toward events nearer home.
The fires of faction burned as fiercely then as in any later days.
There was bitter opposition to the war among the Federals of
many States, opposition w^hich hardly confined itself to legiti-
mate discussion — while on the Democratic side mob violence,
reaching even to murder, was sometimes resorted to to silence
the malcontents.
In September a convention was held at Albany, which de-
nounced the war, and shortly afterwards a meeting of the friends
of " Peace, Liberty and Commerce " was called at " Pomeroy's
long hall," in Buff'alo, for the same purpose. Dr. Cyrenius
Chapin, however, though an ardent Federalist, had entered with
great zeal into all measures looking toward vigorous work on
this frontier, and was by general consent given the lead so far
as the citizens of Buffalo were concerned.
On the 8th of October, a detachment of sailors arrived on the
frontier from New York, and were placed under the command
of Lieut. Jesse D. Llliott, stationed at Black Rock. Their
march had been hastened by a dispatch from Lieut. E., who had
conceived a bold plan for cutting out two British armed vessels
which had just come down the lake, and were lying at anchor
near Fort Erie. One was the brig Detroit, of six guns, lately
captured from the United States, and generally called by its
former name, the Adams ; the other was the schooner Cale-
donia, of two guns.
This was the first hostile enterprise which took place in, or
started from, Erie county, during the war of 18 12.
214 ^^ GALLAM KXPLOIT.
The seamen on their arrival were found ahnost without wea-
pons, but Generals Smyth and Hall, of the regulars and militia,
furnished some arms, and the former detailed fifty men under
Captain Towson, to accompany the expedition. Dr. Chapin and
a few other Buffalo volunteers also entered into the scheme.
About one o'clock on the morning of the 9th of October,
three boats put out from the American shore, with their prows
directed toward Fort Erie. The first contained fifty men under
Lieut. Elliott in person, the second forty-seven under Sailing-
Master Watts, while the third was manned by six Buffalonians
under Dr. Chapin.
The boats moved stealthily across the river, and the darkness
of the night favored the project. Arriving at the side of their
prey, the three crews boarded both vessels almost at the same
time. The men on board the latter made a vigorous resistance,
and a sharp but brief conflict ensued, in which two of the assail-
ants were killed and five wounded. In ten minutes, however,
the enemy was overpowered, the cables cut, and the vessels on
their way down the river. The Caledonia was brought to an-
chor near Black Rock, but the Adams was carried by the cur-
rent on the west side of Squaw Island, and ran aground.
The prisoners taken by the Americans in this gallant achieve-
ment numbered seventy-one officers and men, part of whom,
however, were Canadian voyageurs. Besides these the captors
released about forty American prisoners, captured at the River
Raisin and on their way to Quebec.
As the two vessels passed Black Rock a heavy cannonade was
opened from the Canadian shore, and returned from the ships.
After the Adams ran aground the fire was so heavy that the
vessel was abandoned, the men safely reaching the shore.
Shortly afterwards the enemy took possession of it, but were in
turn soon driven away by the firing from island and mainland.
Believing it would be impracticable to keep possession of it,
the Americans set it on fire and burned it to the water's edge.
The first shot from the British batteries instantly killed
Major William Howe Cuyler, of Palmyra, principal aide-de-
camp of General Hall, as he was galloping with orders along
the river road, between four and five o'clock in the morning. His
death was the first one caused by the war within the present
A LATE BREAKFAST. 21 5
county of Erie, and, as he was a highly connected and highly
esteemed young officer, his sudden taking off caused a profound
sensation. It was felt that war had really come.
Some three hundred shots were fired from the British batteries,
several of which passed through buildings at Black Rock. In
fact Black Rock must have been a very unpleasant place of
residence throughout the war. Inmates of its houses were often
startled by a cannon bail crashing through the roof, and not in-
frequently a breakfast or dinner was suddenly interrupted by
one of these unwelcome messengers.
Mrs. Benjamin Bidwell relates, in some reminiscences furnished
to the Historical Society, that she and her husband, driven by
the cannonade from their own residence that morning, were
going to her sister's where there was a cellar in which they pro-
posed to take refuge, when a cannon ball passed near them,
knocking down by its wind a little girl she was leading. They
then fled to the woods, where they found several other families.
Having obtained some provisions Mrs. B. was cooking breakfast
late in the forenoon, by an improvised fire in the forest, when
another cannon ball struck the fire and scattered the breakfast
in every direction. Again they fled, and being determined this
time to get out of range, they made their toilsome way through
the woods to Cold Spring. There Mrs. Bidwell cooked a break-
fast which was eaten by the family at four o'clock in the afternoon.
If the- people of this vicinity were slightly cheered by the
achievement of Lt. Elliott and his command, they were at once
cast down again by the news of the defeat of Gen. Van Rens-
selaer at Queenston, where a few hundred gallant men, who had
crossed the Niagara, were left to be slaughtered and captured
through the cowardice of an ample force which stood on the
American shore unheeding all appeals to aid their comrades.
The news reached Buffalo on the 13th of October, accom-
panied with notice of a week's armistice. The Americans \\ere
engaged in getting the guns out of the hulk of the Adams.
The commander at Ft. Erie required them to desist on account
of the armistice, but the Americans insisted that, as the Adams
had already been brought on their side of the line, they had a
right to move her guns wherever they pleased, so long as they
made no attack on the British. The latter opened fire on the
2l6 GEN. SMYTH TAKES COMMAND.
troops aboard the hulk, but did no damage, and at night the
ever-enterprising Chapin went on board with a party and
brouglit away a 12-pounder, as did also Lt. Watts afterwards.
Col. Solomon Van Rensselaer, (nephew of the general,) who
had gallantly led the column which stormed the heights of
Queenston, and had been severely wounded on that occasion,
was brought to Landon's hotel at Buffalo, where he lay, slowly
recovering, for four weeks. When he was sufficiently recovered
he left for Albany, a salute being fired in his honor by several
volunteer companies and by " Chapin's Independent Buffalo
Matross," which I presume to have been some kind of an artil-
lery company organized by the indefatigable doctor, whose zeal
and activity were unquestionable whatever might sometimes be
thought of his judgment.
Gen. Van Rensselaer being relieved from duty, Brigadier-
General Alexander Smyth, of the regular army, who had been
on the lines a short time as inspector-general, was assigned to
the command of the Niagara frontier immediately after the con-
clusion of the armistice. Gen. Smyth was a Virginian, who in
1808 had abandoned his profession and resigned a seat in the
legislature of his State to accept a colonelcy in the army, and
who had lately been promoted to a brigadicrship. Immediately
on taking command he began concentrating troops at Buffalo
and Black Rock, preparatory to an invasion of Canada. Thus
far he certainly showed better judgment than his predecessors,
as it was a much more feasible project to land an arm\- on the
gentle slopes below Fort Erie than to scale the precipitous
heights of Queenston.
He also had scows constructed to transport the artillery, and
collected boats for the infantry. Eight or nine hundred regulars
were got together under Col. Moses Porter, Col. Winder, Lieut. -
Col. Boerstler and other officers.
On the 1 2th of November Gen. Smyth issued a flaming
address from his "Camp near Buffalo" to the men of New York,
calling for their services, and declaring that in a few days the
troops under his command would plant the American standard
in Canada. Said he : " They will conquer or they will die."
On the 17th he sent forth a still more bombastic proclama-
tion, closing with the pompous call, "Come on, my heroes!"
TREPARING TO CROSS. 217
A considerable force came to Buffalo. A brigade of militia,
nearl}^ two thousand strong, arrived from Pennsylvania. Three
or four hundred New York volunteers reported themselves, in-
cluding the two companies of "Silver Greys" before mentioned.
Peter B. Porter, who then, or shortly after, was appointed quar-
termaster-general of the State militia, was assigned to the com-
mand of these New York volunteers, and was ever after known
as General Porter. Under him was Col. Swift, of Ontario
county. Smyth deemed that the time had come to "conquer
or die."
On the 27th of November the general commanding issued
orders to cross the river the next day. There were then over
four thousand men at and near Black Rock, but as a large por-
tion of them were militia, it is not exactly certain how many he
could have counted on for a movement into the enemy's coun-
try. He, however, admitted that there were seventeen hundred,
including the regulars and the twelve-months' volunteers, who
were ready, and Gen. Porter claimed that nearly the whole force
was available. There were boats sufficient to carry at least
three thousand men.
A little after midnight the next morning detachments were
sent across the river, one under Lt.-Col. Boerstler, and the other
under Capt. King, with whom was Lt. Angus of the navy and
fifty or sixty seamen. The first named force was intended to
capture a guard and destroy a bridge about five miles below
Fort Erie, while King and Angus were to take and spike the
enemy's cannon opposite Black Rock. Boerstler returned with-
out accomplishing anything of consequence, but the force under
King and Angus behaved with great gallantry, and materially
smoothed the way for those who should have followed.
They landed at three in the morning. Angus, with his
sailors and a few soldiers, attacked and dispersed a force of the
enemy stationed at what was called " the red house," spiking
two field-pieces and throwing them into the river. Nine out of
the twelve naval officers engaged, and twenty-two of the men,
were killed or wounded in this brilliant little feat. The sailors
and some of the soldiers then returned, bringing a number of
prisoners, but through some blunder no boats were left to bring
over Capt. King, who with sixty men remained behind.
15
2l8 SMYTH'S VACILLATION.
King and his men then attacked and captured two batteries,
spiked their guns, and took thirty-four prisoners. Having found
two boats, capable of holding about sixty men, the gallant cap-
tain sent over his prisoners, half his men, and all his officers,
remaining behind himself with thirty men. He doubtless ex-
pected Smyth's whole army in an hour or two, and thought he
could take care of himself until that time.
Soon after the return of these detachments. Col. Winder, mis-
takenly supposing that Bocrstler was cut off, crossed the river
with two hundred and fifty men to rescue him. He reached
the opposite shore a considerable distance down the river, where
he was attacked at the water's edge by a body of infantry and a
piece of artillery, and compelled to return with the loss of six
men killed and nineteen wounded. Boerstler's command re-
turned without loss.
The general embarkation then commenced, but went on very
slowly. About one o'clock in the afternoon the regulars, the
twelve-month's volunteers and a body of militia, the whole mak-
ing a force variously estimated at from fourteen hundred to two
thousand men, were in boats at the navy yard, at the mouth of
Scajaquada creek.
"Then," says Smyth in his account of the affair, with ludi-
crous solemnity, " the troops moved up the stream to Black
Rock without loss." This tremendous feat having been accom-
plished, the general, (still following his own account,) ordered
them to disembark and dine ! And then he called a council of
war to see whether he had better cross the river ! It is not sur-
prising that, with such a commander, several of the officers con-
sulted were opposed to making the attempt. It was at length
decided to postpone the invasion a day or two, until more boats
could be made ready. Late in the afternoon the troops were
ordered to their quarters. Of course they were disgusted with
such a ridiculous failure, and demoralization spread rapidly on
all sides. Gen. Smyth at the time did not pretend that the most
vigilant observation could discover more than five hundred men
on the opposite shore. They were drawn up in line about half
a mile from the water's edge.
Meanwhile the gallant Capt. King was left to his fate, and
was taken prisoner with all his men.
COMPLETE FAILURE. 219
The next day was spent in preparation. On Sunday, the
30th, the troops were ordered to be ready to embark at nine
o'clock the following morning.
By this time the enemy had remounted his guns, so that it
would have been very difficult to cross above Squaw Island. On
the shore below it were stationed his infantry and some artillery,
every man having been obtained that possibly could be from the
surrounding country. The current there was rapid and the
banks abrupt.
General Porter objected to attempting a landing there, and
made another proposition. He advocated postponing the expe-
dition till Monday night, when the troops should embark in the
darkness, and should put off an hour and a half before daylight.
They could then pass the enemy in the dark, and land about
five miles below the navy yard, where the stream and the banks
were favorable. These views were seconded by Colonel Winder
and adopted by General Smyth, his intention being to assault
Chippewa, and if successful march through Oueenston to Fort
George.
Then it was found that the quarter-master had not rations
enough for two thousand five hundred men for four days !
Nevertheless the embarkation commenced at three o'clock,
on the morning of Tuesday, the first of December. Again
some fifteen hundred men were placed in boats. It was arranged
that General Porter was to lead the van and direct the landing,
on account of his knowledge of the river and the farther shore.
He was attended in the leading boat by Majors Chapin and
McComb, Captain Mills, Adjutant Chase, Quarter-master Chap-
lin, and some twenty-five volunteers from Buffalo, under Lieut.
Haynes.
But the embarkation of the regulars was greatly delayed, and
daylight appeared before the flotilla was under way. Then the
redoubtable Smyth called another council of war, composed of
four regular officers, to decide whether Canada should be invaded
that season ! They unanimously decided it should not. So the
troops were again ordered ashore, the militia and most of the
volunteers sent home, and the regulars put into winter quarters.
The breaking up of the command was attended by scenes of
the wildest confusion — four thousand men firing off their guns,
220 A DISGUSTED PUBLIC.
cursing General Smyth, their officers, the service and everything
connected with their military experience.
The disgust of the public was equally great. Smyth became
the object of universal derision. His bombastic addresses were
republished in doggerel rhyme, and the press teemed with de-
nunciation and ridicule of the pompous Virginian.
Men unacquainted with military matters frequently cast
blame on unsuccessful generals, which the facts if fully known
would not justify ; but in this case General Smyth's own state-
ment, published a few days after his failure, proves beyond
doubt that he was either demoralized by sheer cowardice, or else
that his mind was vacillating to a degree which utterly unfitted
him for military command. The mere fact of his twice waiting
till his men were in boats for the purpose of invading Canada,
before calling a council of war to decide whether Canada should
be invaded, showed him to be entirely deficient in the qualifi-
cations of a general.
There can be little doubt that if the forces had promptly
crossed, and been resolutely led, on the morning of the 28th of
November, they would have effected a landing, and for the time
at least could have held the opposite shore. The enterprise of
Captain King and Lieut. Angus had been well planned and gal-
lantly executed, giving substantially a clear field to the Ameri-
can army. Whether if they had crossed they could have
effected any lasting results at that season, is a matter of more
doubt.
Gen. Porter published a card in the Buffalo Gazette of De-
cember 8th, in which he plumply charged Gen. Smyth with
cowardice, declaring that the regular officers decided against
crossing because of the demoralized condition of their com-
mander. According to the opinions then in vogue it was im-
possible under such circumstances for Smyth to avoid sending a
challenge, and he did so immediately. Gen. Porter accepted,
and selected Lt. Angus as his second, while Col. Winder acted
on behalf of Gen. Smyth.
It seems curious to think of a duel having been fought within
the borders of law-abiding Erie, but such was nevertheless the
fact. On the afternoon of the 14th the two generals, with their
friends and surgeons, met at "Dayton's tavern." below Black
AN ERIE COUNTY DUEL. 221
Rock, and crossed to the head of Grand Ishmd, in accordance
with previous arrangements. Arriving at the ground selected,
one shot was fired by each of the principals, according to the
official statement of the seconds, " in as intrepid and firm a
manner as possible," but without effect. Col. Winder then rep-
resented that Gen. Porter must now be satisfied that the charg-e
of cowardice was unfounded, and after divers explanations that
charge was retracted. Then Gen. Smyth withdrew sundry un-
complimentary expressions which he had used regarding Porter,
and then "the hand of reconciliation was extended and re-
ceived," and all the gentlemen returned to BuffiUo. It does not
appear that there was any great desire for blood on either side.
Soon afterwards Gen. Porter published a statement of the
facts concerning the embarkation which came within his know-
ledge, but without indulging in any animadversions.
Doctor (or Major) Chapin was more furious than Porter, and
also came out in a statement, bitterly denunciatory of Smyth.
In January, after Smyth had left the frontier, he published still
another statement, but he could not alter the ugly facts of the
case. The account heretofore given is deduced from a careful
comparison of . the various publications just mentioned, and of
the official reports of subordinate officers.
As near as I can ascertain it was just after the wretched
failure of Smyth that a serious outbreak occurred in Buffalo,
threatening at one time to involve citizens and soldiers in a
wide-spread scene of bloodshed.
All through the war there was more or less ill-feeling between
the citizens and the soldiers, especially the volunteers and mili-
tia from other localities. The troops claimed that they were ill-
treated by those whom they came especially to defend ; the citi-
zens declared that the armed men made unreasonable and
extortionate demands. The feeling was probably intensified by
the fact that many of the leading citizens of Buffalo were Fed-
erals, whom it was easy to represent as disloyal.
Among the troops gathered by Smyth were six companies
called " Federal Volunteers," under Lieut.-Col. F. McClure, in-
cluding two or three companies of "Irish Greens" from Albany
and New York, and one of " Baltimore Blues " from that city.
Ralph M. Pomeroy, who kept the hotel at the corner of Main
222 MOBBING A HOTEL.
and Seneca streets, was an athletic, resolute man, and rather
rough-spoken. There had been difficulties between him and
some of the soldiers before. At the time in question a dispute
occurred between Pomeroy and the captain of an Albany com-
pany, which is said to have originated in a demand made by the
officer or his men for food and liquor. The captain drew his
sword and drove the hotel-keeper down stairs. Pomeroy swore
he wished the British would kill the whole infernal crowd of
them.
The few soldiers present left for camp, and in a short time an
armed mob of " Baltimore Blues " and " Irish Greens " came
down Main street. The guests, including several army officers,
were at dinner, when the assailants commenced operations by
throwing an axe through a window, directly upon the table.
The diners sprang up, the mob rushed in, drove them out, and
began the destruction of everything that could be laid hold of.
Provisions were devoured, liquors drank, windows smashed, and
chairs and tables broken in pieces.
Among the guests was Colonel McClure, the battalion com-
mander of these very men, but he was powerless to control
them. He went to the stable, mounted his horse and rode
through the house, ordering them to disperse, but produced no
effect. Then he ordered out the companies from Carlisle and
Gettysburg under his command, and marched them down in
front of the hotel, but these, though taking no part in the riot
themselves, would do nothing to quell it.
Pomeroy concealed himself in his barn. His wife's sister-in-
law, who was confined to her bed, was obliged to be carried upon
it to a neighbor's house.
The rioters grew more and more furious. Beds were piled up
in the second story, and set fire to, and a conflagration was only
averted by the courage of " Hank Johnson," a white compan-
ion of the Cattaraugus Indians, who ascended a ladder on the
outside, and, although it was snatched from under him by the
rioters, managed to clamber through the window and throw the
burning articles into the street.
Seeing Mr. Abel P. Grosvenor, a large man somewhat resem-
bling Pomeroy, passing along the street, the mob raised the cry,
" Kill the damned tory," chased him down Main street until he
QUELLING THE MOB. ' 223
fell, and were apparently about to put their threat in execution,
when they learned it was not Pomeroy. Others proposed to
tear down the " Federal printing office," as they called the Buf-
falo Gazette, and everything betokened a general carnival of
destruction.
Before, however, the riot spread any further. Colonel Moses
Porter, of the United States artillery, a veteran of thirty-six
years service, interposed. His men were probably encamped
at Flint Hill, north of Scajaquada creek. When he learned
what was going on, he ordered out a detachment of artillery
with a six-pound gun, and hastened down Main street. Halting
just above the hotel he brought his gun to bear on it, and then
sent a lieutenant and a platoon of men with drawn swords to
clear the house. The order was vigorously carried out, and it
is to be presumed that some resistance was made, as swords
and pistols were freely used, and several of the mob killed and
wounded. They were soon driven out, many jumping from the
chamber windows, and some being severely cut as they clung to
the window-sills, by the swords of the artillerists. The rest
hastened to their encampment to seek their comrades, swearing
vengeance against Porter and his men.
The veteran stationed his cannon at the junction of Main and
Niagara streets, to await their coming, and for awhile it looked
as if there might be a pitched battle in the streets of Buffalo.
No attack was made, however, and order was at length restored.
It indicates the kind of discipline in force that the rioters were
in no way punished, except by the severe handling they received
from Porter.
Pomeroy went to the Seneca village and remained some days,
and then closed his hotel for the winter. That the proprietors
of the Gazette considered themselves in a very delicate and
dangerous position is shown by the fact that that journal does
not contain one word, directly, about this important transaction.
The only time it is spoken of in the paper is in an advertise-
ment published December 15th, signed by Pomeroy, in Avhich
he declares that he shall close his hotel " in consequence of
transactions too well known to need mentioning."
An epidemic, the nature of which was unknown, prevailed
that winter on the frontier, carrying off many, both soldiers and
224 ELECTIONS, ETC.
citizens. Dr. Chapin and a Dr. Wilson called a meeting of
physicians to endeavor to counteract it. It did not much abate
till the last of January, 1813. Mr. Grosvenor only escaped the
raging mob to die a few weeks later, in the East, of disease
contracted here. Major Phineas Stephens, the commander of
the Willink " Silver Greys," was another victim ; he died at
Black Rock, and was taken to Willink and buried with military
honors.
In the middle of December an election was held for members
of Congress. The Republicans (Democrats) renominated Gen.
Porter, but he declined, and Messrs. Bates and Loomis were
voted for by them in this congressional district. The Federal-
ists supported Messrs. Howell and Hopkins, who were elected.
The latter received sixty-one votes in the town of Buffalo, thirty-
six in Hamburg, forty-one in Clarence, and thirty-seven in
" Edon." The Republican candidates received thirty-four in
Buffalo, eighty-one in Hamburg, ninety-two in Clarence, and
fourteen in Eden. It was a light vote, but it will be seen that
Buffalo and Eden were decidedly Federal, while Hamburg and
Clarence were as decidedly Republican.
Says the next Gazette: "We understand" that no election was
held in Willink and Concord. Their understanding was correct,
but it is remarkable not only that no election was held, but also
that a newspaper at the county-seat should not have been fully
informed as to whether there was one or not.
Tompkins, who was personally popular, was elected governor
by the Democrats, but the disasters of the summer, under a
Democratic administration, had so aided the Federals that nine-
teen out of the twenty-seven congressmen chosen in this State,
and the majority of the assembly, belonged to the latter party.
The State senate, however, was largely Democratic. In the na-
tion at large, Madison was reelected President by a decided ma-
jority over De Witt Clinton, who had been a Democrat, but was
an independent opposition candidate. He received the Federal
vote, but declared himself in favor of a more vigorous prosecu-
tion of the war.
There can be little doubt but that if that energetic leader had
become President instead of the plausible but inefficient Madi-
son, the war would not have been the wretched, milk-and-water
QUIET ON THE NIAGARA. 225
affair that it was. One side or the other would have been
soundly whipped.
On the 22d of December the immortal Smyth resigned his
command to Col. Moses Porter, and retired to Virginia on leave
of absence. Before his leave expired Congress legislated him
out of office, and the country received no further benefit from his
military genius.
For several months after the election, there was general quiet on
this part of the frontier, relieved only by occasional "statements"
on the part of some of the heroes of the latest and most re-
markable invasion of Canada.
226 THE VOUNC COMMODORE.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813.
The Young Commodore. — Officers and Committeemen. — Elunters Caught. — Canada
Invaded. — Transition Period of our Military System. — .Surrender at Beaver
Dams. — Chapin's Exploit.— Indians Enrolled.— Farmer's Brother and the Ma-
rauders.— A Raid and its Repulse.— Skirmishing at Fort George. —Perry's Vic-
tory.— A Patriotic Digression. — More Skirmishing. — Burning of Newark. —
McClure Runs Away. — Fort Niagara Captured. — Danger Impending.
Early in March, while all was still quiet among the land forces,
a young man of twenty-six, with curling locks, bold, handsome
features and gallant bearing, wearing the uniform of a captain
in the United States navy, arrived at Buffalo from the East, and
after a brief stay went forward to Erie. His brilliant yet man-
ly appearance was well calculated to make a favorable impres-
sion, yet to many thoughtful men he seemed too young, and
possibly too gay, for the arduous and responsible position to
which he had been appointed. But a few months were to demon-
strate that for once the government had made an admirable se-
lection, for the youthful stranger was Oliver Hazard Perry, then
on his way to superintend the fitting out of a naval armament
at Erie.
During the winter the government had purchased a number
of merchant vessels, for the purpose of converting them into
men-of-war, and the construction of several new ones had been
begun. Erie, from its comparatively secure harbor, had been
wisely selected as the naval headquarters. Eive vessels, how-
ever, were fitted out in Scajaquada creek, and for several months
Perry flitted back and forth between the two places, urging on
the work with all the energy of his nature.
Though hardly to be called a part of the "campaign," there
are a few items that can be more easily introduced here than
elsewhere. The supervisors for 1813 were Elijah Holt of Buf-
falo, James Cronk of Clarence, Elias Osborn of Willink, Sam-
THE CAMPAIGN OPENED. 22/
uel Abbott of Hamburg, and John C. Twining of Eden ;
Concord unknown.
For a short time the ever-active Dr. Chapin officiated as
sheriff, but in the spring he was superseded by Asa Ransom,
who had twice before held the office. The change was perhaps
caused by the doctor's acceptance of a commission from the
governor as h'eutenant-colonel by brevet. Under that com-
mission he subsequently acted, but in very much the same
independent fashion as before. Amos Callender was appointed
surrogate. Jonas Williams was reelected to the assembly by the
Republicans.
Up to April the war was apparently frozen up. Early in that
month the Bufifalonians were sharply reminded that they must
be careful where they strayed. Lieutenant Dudley, of the navy.
Dr. Trowbridge, Mr. Frederick B. Merrill and three seamen,
while hunting on Strawberry Island, were discovered from the
Canadian shore, a squad of men was sent across, and all were
captured. The tw^o civilians were released, but the lieutenant
and his men w^ere of course retained.
Ere long soldiers began to arrive on the frontier, besides those
who had remained during the winter. On the 17th of April,
Major-General Lewis and Brigadier-General Boyd arrived in
Buffalo to assume command according to their respective ranks.
General Dearborn took command on the whole northern frontier.
The British force on the other side of the Niagara was very
weak.
The campaign in the north was commenced by' an expedition
from Sacket's Harbor, under Gen. Dearborn and Commodore
Chauncey, by which York (now Toronto) was captured by a
dashing attack, the gallant General Pike being killed by the
explosion of the enemy's magazine. This triumph prevented
the sending of reenforcements to the British forts on the Niag-
ara, and when our fleet appeared off Fort George, about the
25th of May, it was immediately evacuated.
The Americans under Gen. Lewis crossed and occupied it.
Gen. Porter acted as volunteer aid-de-camp to Gen. Lewis, and
the Buftalo Gazette takes pains to state that "Dr. C. Chapin, of
this village, was in the vanguard." The British retreated toward
the head of Lake Ontario.
228 A TRANSITION PERIOD.
The same day the commandant at Fort Erie, who held that
post with a body of mihtia, received orders under which he kept
up a heavy cannonade on Black Rock until the following morn-
ing, when he bursted his guns, blew up his magazines, destroyed
his stores and dismissed his men. All the other public stores,
barracks and magazines, from Chippewa to Point Abino, were
likewise destroyed, Lt.-Col. Preston, the commandant at Black
Rock, immediately crossed and took possession.
So, at length, the Americans had obtained possession of the
Canadian side of the Niagara, and it would seem that it need
not have been difficult to retain it. But the blundering of the
government, the weakness of commanders, and the general
apathy of the people during a great part of that war were alike
astonishing.
The greatest difficulty was that of obtaining a permanent
force. In fact a great part of the disasters of the war of i8i2
were attributable to a cause which I have never yet seen fully
set forth. The whole military system of the country was in a
transition state.
During the revolution, the sole military reliance of the nation
was on the regular " Continental " army. But thirty years of free
government had made Americans extremely unwilling to sub-
ject themselves to the menial position and supposed despotic
discipline of the regular service. On the other hand, the sys-
tem of organizing volunteers which has since been found so
effective was then in its infancy.
Frequent attempts were made in that direction, but they were
generally managed by the State authorities, the discipline was of
the most lax description, and the terms of service were exces-
sively short. In Smyth's command, as we have seen, were a
few " P'ederal volunteers," enlisted for twelve months, but they
were composed of six independent companies, from different
States, temporarily aggregated in a battallion.
There was not a single organization corresponding to the
present definition of a volunteer regiment — a body of intelligent
freemen, enlisted for a long term of service, officered by the
State authorities, but otherwise controlled entirely by those of
the nation, and subject to the same rules as the regulars, though
modified in their application by the character of the force.
FORT HUMPHREY. 229
As a general rule, if a volunteer of 18 12 stayed on the line
three months, he thought he had done something wonderful.
Moreover, there were at first almost no officers. Those who had
fought in the Revolution were generally too old for active service,
and West Point had not yet furnished a body of men whose
thorough instruction supplies to a great extent the lack of ex-
perience. A little knowledge of the history of the war of 1812
ought to satisfy the most frantic reformer of the overwhelming
necessity of maintaining the National Military Academy in the
most efficient condition.
Add to these causes of weakness a timid, vacillating Presi-
dent, and a possible unwillingness of the then dominant South
to strengthen the North by the accj[uisition of Canada, and there
are sufficient reasons for the feebleness characterizing the prose-
cution of the war of 18 12.
Yet many rude efforts were made to provide against possible
disaster. It was in 1813, as I am informed, that the inhabitants
on the upper part of Cazenove creek, most of them living in the
present town of Holland, combined and built a stockade of con-
siderable magnitude on the farm of Arthur Humphrey. Logs
were cut nearly fifteen feet long, hewn on two sides so as to fit
closely together, and set side by side two or three feet in the
earth, leaving some twelve feet above ground. About an acre
was thus inclosed, and the walls being loop-holed for rifles the
inhabitants hoped to defy any Indian assailants, or even white
men unprovided with artillery. The stockade was commonly
called " Fort Humphrey," and long after peace had returned,
long after the primitive fortress had disappeared from sight, the
Humphrey place was known for miles around as "the Fort
Farm."
About the same time, or perhaps the year before, Captain
Bemis' barn in Hamburg was surrounded by a similar stockade,
twelve feet high. There was also a block-house built in that
vicinity. Joseph Palmer's barn in Boston was likewise stock-
aded, and there may have been other such fortifications in the
county of which I have not happened to hear.
Decidedly the most active partisan commander on the Niag-
ara frontier was Col. Chapin, though there may be some doubts
as to the usefulness of his efforts, so irregular and desultory
230 CHAPIN S EXPLOIT.
were they. In June he organized a company of mounted rifle-
men, for the purpose of clearing the country along the other
side of the river of scattered bands of foes.
They proceeded to Fort George, and on the 23d of June a
force started up the river from that point. It consisted of four
or five hundred regular infantry, twenty regular dragoons, and
Chapin's company of forty-four mounted riflemen, the whole
under Lt.-Col. Boerstler. On the 24th, when nine miles west of
Oueenston, at a place called Beaver Dams, it was attacked by a
force of British and Indians. After some skirmishing and
marching, accompanied with slight loss, the assailants sent a flag
to Col. Boerstler, and on the mere statement of the bearer that
the British regular force was double the Americans, besides
seven hundred Indians, that officer surrendered his whole
command.
Chapin and his Erie county volunteers were sent to the head
of Lake Ontario, (now Hamilton,) whence the colonel, two offi-
cers and twenty-six privates were ordered to Kingston, by water,
under guard of a lieutenant and fifteen men. They were all in
two boats ; one containing the British lieutenant and thirteen
men and the three American officers — the second filled with
the other twenty-six prisoners, a British sergeant and one sol-
dier. Before starting, the colonel managed to arrange with his
men a signal for changing the programme. When about
twenty miles out on Lake Ontario, Col. Chapin gave the signal
and his men ran their boat alongside of the one he was in. The
British lieutenant ordered them to drop back, and Chapin or-
dered them on board. The former attempted to draw his sword,
when the colonel, a large, powerful man, seized him by the neck
and flung him on his back. Two of the soldiers drew their bay-
onets, but he seized one in each hand, and at the same time his
men swarmed into the boat and wrested their arms from the
'j-uard, who were unable, in their contracted quarters, to fire a
shot or use a bayonet.
The victors then headed for Fort George, where, after rowing
nearly all night, they arrived a little before daylight and turned
over their late guard to the commandant as prisoners. It was a
gallant little exploit, and effectually refutes the charge of cow-
ardice which some have brought against Colonel Chapin.
THE SIX NATIONS TURN OUT. 23 1
The British men-of-war still commanded tlie lake, though
Perry's fleet was fast preparing to dispute their supremacy.
About the 15th of June the five vessels which had been fitted
up in Scajaquada creek stole out of Black Rock, and joined
Perry at Erie. While one of these ships lay at anchor in the
Niagara, just before leaving, a boat which was crossing the river
ran afoul of her cable and was upset, and Mr. Gamaliel St. John,
his eldest son, and three soldiers who were with them, were
drowned.
The Queen Charlotte and other British vessels this year, as
last, hovered along the lake shore and occasionally sent a boat's
crew ashore to depredate on the inhabitants of Hamburg and
Evans. One day we read of their chasing a boat into the mouth
of the Cattaraugus ; at another time a boat's crew landed and
plundered IngersoU's tavern at the mouth of Eighteen-Mile
creek.
Up to the present period, no Indians had been taken into the
service of the United States. In the spring General Lewis in-
vited the warriors of the Six Nations to come to his camp, and
three or four hundred of them did come, under the lead of the
veteran Farmer's Brother. On their arrival they were requested
to take no part for the time, but to send a deputation to the
Mohawks to induce them to withdraw from the British service,
in which case the Senecas and their associates were also to
return.
Many appeared disappointed on finding they were not to
fight, but were merely to be used to keep others from fighting,
though this was the policy that Red Jacket favored throughout.
But the Mohawks and other British Indians showed no disposi-
tion to withdraw from the field, and as we have seen took a
prominent part in the capture of Colonels Boerstler and Chapin.
In the early part of July, too, a skirmish took place near
Fort George, in which an American lieutenant and ten men
were captured, who were never heard of more, and were sup-
posed to have been slain by the savages.
Then, at length, Gen. Boyd accepted the services of the war-
riors of the Six Nations. Those then enrolled numbered four
hundred, and there were never over five hundred and fifty in
the service.
232 THE CHIEF AND THE MARAUDERS.
It is difficult to say who was their leader. One account says
it was Farmer's Brother, and another designates Henry O'Bail
(the Young Cornplanter) as holding that position. Still another
will have it that Young King was their principal war-chief, while
Captain Pollard undoubtedly acted as such the next year, at the
battle of Chippewa.
The truth seems to have been that the designation of general-
issimo, like most Indian arrangements, was decidedly indefinite.
There was a considerable number of undoubted war-chiefs, but
no one who was unquestionably entitled to the principal com-
mand. Farmer's Brother was generally recognized, both by In-
dians and A\hites, as the greatest of the war-chiefs, and was
allowed a kind of primacy among them, but he was very old,
and I cannot gather that he held any definite rank above the
rest. Leaders for active service seem to have been chosen from
time to time, either by actual election or by general consent.
When they first turned out, a large body of them under Farm-
er's Brother camped in the woods just west of Buffalo, near the
cabin of a Mr. Aigin, who lived half-way between Main street
and the foot of Prospect Hill. His son, James Aigin, then a
boy, who has furnished many reminiscences of those times to the
Historical Society, says that one night several Indians came to
his father's house and endeavored to force an entrance. There
were two or three well-armed men, who held the intruders at bay.
Presently they got on the roof and began to take it off. Aigin
put his son out of the window, and bade him run and notify
Farmer's Brother. The boy found the chieftain wrapped in
sleep among his braves. He laid his hand on the old warrior,
who bounded up like a youth of twenty. On being informed of
the difficulty, he hastily proceeded to Aigin's cabin. No sooner
did the marauders dimly see that gigantic form striding toward
them amid the trees, than every men of them at once took to his
heels. The chieftain assured the family of his protection, and
for the remainder of the night he lay beside their cabin fire.
Not long after this it would seem that the Indians all returned
home.
Meanwhile General Dearborn had withdrawn all the regular
soldiers from Buffalo and Black Rock, leaving a large amount of
public stores entirely undefended. Being advised, however, of
AN EXCITING EPISODE. ZT,'^
the danger of a raid, he ordered ten artillerists to be stationed at
the block-house at Black Rock, and called for five hundred mili-
tia from the neighboring counties. Between a hundred and fifty
and two hundred of these arrived at the threatened point early
in July, and were stationed at the warehouses at Black Rock,
being under the command of Major Parmenio Adams, of Gene-
see county. They had three pieces of field artillery, and near
by was a battery of four heavy guns. Nearly a hundred recruits
for the regular infantry and dragoons, on their way to Dearborn's
headquarters, under the command of Captain Cummings, were
ordered to stop at Buffalo ; Judge Granger was directed to en-
gage as many Seneca warriors as he could, and General Porter,
who was then staying at his residence at Black Rock, was re-
quested to take command of the whole.
The episode about to be narrated is one of the most exciting
in the annals of this county. Except the burning of Buffalo,
no other affair of so much importance took place within the
limits of the county during the war of 1812 ; and it was, on the
whole, decidedly creditable to the American arms ; yet it is
almost utterly unknown to our citizens, and is rarely mentioned
in the annals of that era. Other events of greater magnitude
distracted public attention at the time, and the burning of Buf-
falo, a few months later, obliterated from the minds of men all
memory of less terrible transactions.
There is a brief mention of it in Ketchum's " Buffalo and the
Senecas," but the only extended account I have seen is in
Stone's " Life of Red Jacket." The following narrative is de-
rived from a careful examination of that account, (which was
furnished by Gen. Porter,) of the original description in the Buf-
falo Gazette, of a letter from Judge Granger, published by
Ketchum, and of personal reminiscences furnished to the His-
torical Society by Benjamin Hodge, Daniel Brayman, James
Aigin and Mrs. Jane Bidwell.
By the loth of July Judge Granger had received such positive
information of an immediate attack, accompanied by special
threats against himself, that he invited some Indians to come to
his house, north of the Scajaquada. Thirty-seven of them ar-
rived at eleven o'clock that (Saturday) night, under the lead of
Farmer's Brother. As they were not all armed, and as the judge
16
234 A SUDDEN ATTACK.
was confident that the enemy would be over the next day, he
sent to the village and got a full supply of arms and ammuni-
tion for his braves that same night.
The British headquarters were at Lundy's Lane, close by the
Falls, where their expedition was fitted out. The commander
was Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop, a brave and enterprising officer,
the same to whom Colonels Boerstler and Chapin had surren-
dered at Beaver Dams. He had under him a part of the 41st
regiment of the British army, and a detachment of Canadian
militia commanded by Col. Clark.
They took boat at Chippewa on the night of the loth, and,
after rowing against the current in the darkness several hours,
landed just after daylight a mile below the mouth of the Sca-
jaquada. Forming his men. Col. Bishop led them rapidly up the
river bank. There was a single sentinel at the Scajaquada bridge,
but on the sudden appearance of the red-coats he flung away his
musket, dodged into the woods and took a bee-line, as near as
he could calculate, for Williamsville. A few men were asleep
in the block-house, but the British column swept silently by
without disturbing them, and quickly approached the encamp-
ment of Major Adams. His men must have been aroused a
little before the enemy reached them, for they all made their
escape, but they attempted no resistance and fled without even
spiking the cannon in their charge. A detachment of the invad-
ers went to the house of Gen. Porter, who had barely time to
escape, fleeing without his arms, and some say with only a single
garment. At first he attempted to reach Major Adams' encamp-
ment, but finding this impossible he turned toward Buffalo.
Thus far the afl*air had been after the usual pattern of oper-
ations in the early part of that war, and highly discreditable to
the Americans. The victors supposed all resistance at an end.
Some of them were set to work burning the block-house and
barracks, others spiked the heavy guns in the battery and took
away the field-pieces, and others went through the village cap-
turing and taking across the river four or five principal citizens,
while the officers, .so secure did they feel, ordered breakfast at
General Porter's. At the same time considerable reinforcements
of provincial militia crossed the river in boats, to share the
fruits of the easy victory.
THE AMERICANS RALLY. 235
But a storm was gathering'. When the mihtia first began its
retreat a messenger was sent to Buffalo, on whose arrival Capt.
Cummings mustered his recruits and marched toward the scene
of action. On his way he met General Porter, who ordered him
to proceed to a piece of open ground not far from the site of the
reservoir, and await reinforcements.
Taking a horse, sword, and other equipments from one of
Cummings' dragoons, the general galloped down to the village,
where he found everything in confusion, the women and chil-
dren in a state of terror, and the men in the streets with arms
in their hands, but doubtful whether to fight or flee. Being as-
sured that there was a chance of success, forty or fifty of them
formed ranks under Captain Bull, the commander of the Buffalo
volunteer company, and marched to join Cummings.
Of the retreating militia some had fled into the woods and
never stopped till they reached home ; but about a hundred had
been kept together by Lieutenant Phineas Staunton, the adju-
tant of the battalion, a resolute young officer, who was allowed
to assume entire command by his major. The supineness of the
latter is excused by General Porter on the ground of ill health.
Staunton and his men, who had retreated up the beach, left it
and took post near the Buffalo road.
Meanwhile Major King, of the regular army, who was acci-
dentally at Black Rock, on seeing the sudden retreat of the
militia hurried through the woods to Judge Granger's, whence
the alarm was speedily carried to the scattered inhabitants of
" Buffalo Plains." Farmer's Brother at once gathered his war-
riors and made them a little speech, telling them that they must
now go and fight the red-coats ; that their country was invaded ;
that they had a common interest with the people of the United
States, and that they must show their friendship for their Am-
erican brethren by deeds, not words. The octogenarian chieftain
then led his little band to join his friend Conashustah, (the
Indian name of General Porter).
Volunteers, too, came hurrying to the village from the Plains
and Cold Spring, until about thirty were gathered, who were
placed under the command of Captain William Hull, of the
militia. General Porter now felt able to cope with the enemy.
Bringing together his forces, numbering but about three hundred
236 PREPARING FOR ACTION.
all told, at the open ground before mentioned, he made his dis-
positions for an attack. As the foe held a strong position at
Major Adams' encampment, Porter determined to attack him on
three sides at once, to prevent the destructive use of artillery on
a column massed in front.
The regulars and Captain Bull's Buffalo \'olunteers formed the
centre. The Genesee militia, under Staunton, were on the left,
nearest the river, while Captain Hull's men were directed to co-
operate with the Indians, who had gathered in the woods on the
right front. Farmer's Brother prepared for action, and his braves
followed ; each dusky warrior stripping to the skin, all save his
breech clout and a plaited cord around the waist, (called a ma-
turnip,) which sustained his powder horn, tomahawk and knife,
and which could be used to bind prisoners if any were taken.
Then, grasping their rifles, the stalwart Senecas quickly ranged
themselves in line, with their chiefs a few yards in front.
At eight o'clock the signal for attack was given. Just as the
three detachments moved forward, however. Major King arrived
on the ground and claimed the command of the regulars from
Captain Cummings. A slight delay ensued ere the command
was transferred, and then the major did not fully understand the
general's orders. Consequently the central detachment was de-
tained a few moment.s, and meanwhile the militia, gallantl}' led
on by Staunton and ashamed of their recent flight, dashed for-
ward against the enemy.
A fight of some fifteen or twenty minutes ensued, in which
the militia stood up against the British regulars without flinch-
insf, thou":h three of their men were killed and five wounded,
no slight loss out of a hundred in so short a time. The right
flank of the Americans came up, the Indians raised the war-
whoop and opened fire, and it has often been found that the
capacity of these painted warriors for inspiring fear is much
greater than the actual injury they inflict. Col. Bishop, who had
obtained a mount on this side, was severely though not fatally
wounded, and fell from his horse. His men became demoral-
ized, and when the regulars appeared in front the enemy fled
toward the water's edge with great precipitation, before Major
King's command had time to take part in the fight.
The whole American force then pressed forward together, the
CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 237
Indians making" the forest resound with savage yells. The chief,
Young King, and another warrior w^ere wounded. Part of the
British wounded were carried off, but part were left on the field.
A sergeant, shot in the leg, lay under the bank, near the pres-
ent residence of L. F. Allen, on Niagara street. A Seneca war-
rior jumped down and stopped to load his rifle a short distance
from him. The sergeant sat up and snapped his musket at him,
but it missed fire. Without waiting to finish loading, the In-
dian sprang upon his enemy, snatched away his gun, and at one
blow^ knocked out his brains, at the same time breaking the
musket short off" at the breech.
At the Black Rock landing the British rallied, but on the ap-
proach of the Americans, hastily retreated into some boats
which they found there, leaving fifteen prisoners in the hands
of their pursuers. Many were killed and wounded after enter-
ing the boats, but the chief loss fell on the last one. It con-
tained sixty men and most of the officers, including Colonel
Bishop, who, notwithstanding his wound, had insisted on re-
maining to the last. The whole American force came up to the
bank and opened fire on this boat, inflicting terrible injury.
Two or three Indians even sprang into the water, seized the
boat by the gunwale and endeavored to direct it ashore, but
were compelled to desist by the fire of their friends in the rear.
Captain Saunders, of the British Forty-first, was severely
wounded at the water's edge and left a prisoner. Colonel Bishop
was pierced with several bullets, receiving wounds of which he
soon died, and several other officers were killed or wounded.
Presently the men 'dropped their oars and made signals of sur-
render. The firing ceased and the boat dropped down the river,
followed along the bank by some of the Americans, who or-
dered the occupants to come ashore, which they declared them-
selves willing to do, but so disabled they could not.
Meanwhile, however, our Indians had begun stripping the
dead and prisoners. They seized on Captain Saunders' sword,
belt and epaulets, and perhaps some of his garments. The
men in the boat thought, or claimed they thought, that the war-
riors were tomahawking and scalping him. Either actually be-
lieving this or using it as an excuse, they would not come ashore
in accordance with their surrender, but, after dropping down to
238 THE enemy's loss.
the head of Squaw Island, suddenly seized their oars and b}'
desperate exertions got under its shelter, though not without
again suffering severely from the bullets of the Americans. In
fact, however, Captain Saunders, though badh^ wounded by balls,
bore no mark of tomahawk or knife, and, after being carefull)-
tended for several weeks at General Porter's residence, finally
recovered and was for more than thirty years a British pensioner.
The enemy left eight killed and seven wounded on the field,
besides a number carried into the boats and a still larger num-
ber hit after the embarkation. They were said at the time to
have acknowledged a total loss in killed, wounded and prisoners
of nearly a hundred. The Americans lost none but those al-
ready mentioned, who all, except the two Indians, belonged to
that same body of militia that had fled .so ingloriously in the
early morning. They wxre in the front of the fray throughout,
and gallantly retrieved their tarnished reputation. Their good
conduct was doubtless due largely to the example of Adjutant
Staunton, whom major and captains allowed to take full com-
mand, who also distinguished himself on several other occasions
in the w\ar of 181 2, and whose soldierly qualities were trans-
mitted to his son, Phineas Staunton, the gallant first lieutenant-
colonel of the looth New York volunteers in the war for the
Union.
All the accounts speak in high terms of the conduct of the
Seneca warriors. They fought well and were not especially
savage. They stripped their dead enemies, however, of every
rag of clothing, and young Aigin, wlio went upon the field after
the fight, relates having seen the whole eight bodies lying
together, thus stark and white, in the forest.
Although the numbers engaged in this affair were not large,
it was a quite exciting conflict for Erie county, and is of im-
portance as .showing the value of one or two resolute officers in
rallying and inspiriting a body of raw troops, utterly demoralized
by less efficient leadership.
General Dearborn iiad resigned the command of the northern
frontier just before this event, and a little after it General Wil-
kinson added another to the long list of occupants of that un-
fortunate position.
Colonel Chapin having returned, General Porter and he
SKIRMISH AT FORT GEORGP:. 239
leathered up another body of volunteers, and went down to Fort
George, taking a hundred or so Indians with them. "Being," ac-
cording to General Boyd's report, "very impatient to engage the
enemy," that officer kindly got up an expedition to accommodate
them. A plan was concerted to cut off one of the enemy's
pickets on the morning of the 17th of August.
Chapin was sent out west from Fort George for the purpose,
with about three hundred volunteers and Indians, supported b}-
two hundred regulars under Major Cummings. Porter volun-
teered in the affair and probably commanded the whole, though
the report does not definitely say so. A heavy rain retarded
their progress, so the picket was not captured, but a fight ensued
in which the volunteers and Indians captured sixteen prisoners,
and killed a considerable number of the enemy who were left
on the field ; one account sa}'s seventy-five, but this is doubtful.
The principal chiefs who took part in this affair were Farmer's
Brother, Red Jacket, Little Billy, Captain Pollard, Black Snake,
Hank Johnson (the white man), Silver Heels, Captain Half-
town, Major Henry O'Bail (Young Cornplantcr), and Captain
Cold (an Onondaga chief), who was wounded.
Chapin and his volunteers, and most of the Indians, continued
to operate in the vicinity of Fort George until the seventh of
September, when they returned to Buffalo.
A few days later came news of a battle which, though fought
a hundred and fifty miles away, has always been contemplated
with feelings of especial interest and sympathy by the people of
Erie county, since it decided the supremacy of the great lake
from which that county is named, whose waters wash its shores
and whose commerce passes along its borders. I refer of course
to " Perry's Victory." Glad were the hearts of our people
and great were their rejoicings, when they learned that after a
desperate contest the gallant Perry, with a force inferior both in
men and guns, had captured or destroyed the whole British
fleet. In Buffalo the ever-prominent Chapin fired a rousing
salute, and at night every window in the village was a blaze of
light.
Among those who took a prominent part in that victory was
a young officer, a cousin of Perry, then a sailing-master in com-
• mand of the Scorpion, afterwards a well-known and highly-
240 A PATRIOTIC DIGRESSION.
respected citizen of Buffalo, Commodore Stephen Champlin.
From his ship were fired the first and the last shots in the battle
of Lake Erie.
And here I will venture on a digression inspired by the con-
templation of the dazzling victory won by that boj'ish New
England commodore on the loth of September, 1813. What
subtle influence is it which makes the American sailor ahvays a
hero .^ The most devoted patriot cannot pretend but that our
generals and soldiers have frequently failed in their duty, and their
conduct has sometimes been positively disgraceful. We have
had scores of able generals and hundreds of thousands of val-
iant soldiers, but we have had enough who were neither able nor
valiant to give a decided check to our national egotism. The
war of 1 8 12, especially, shows numerous instances of folly, or
cowardice, or both, on the part of our land-forces and their com-
manders, flagrant enough to make an American, even at this late
day, overflow with anger and shame.
But the annals of the American navy are one long and bril-
liant record of heroism, with hardly a solitary blemish. Our
sailors have been defeated, for victory is not always in mortal
power to compass, but their defeats have been scarcely less
glorious than their victories. Paul Jones compelling the surren-
der of a British man-of-war after his own decks had been swept
almost clear of men ; Preble triumphing over the pirates of the
Mediterranean ; Decatur, and Hull, and Stewart, and Bain-
bridge, bringing down the haughty flag of St. George on the
Atlantic ; Lawrence, defeated and dying, whispering with his
latest breath, "Don't give up the ship;" Perry, passing in a fra-
gile boat amid a storm of shot to a fresh vessel, and snatching
victory from the grasp of defeat ; McDonough annihilating
the foe on Lake Champlain ; Morris going down to a watery
grave with the Cumberland; Worden matching his little Monitor
against the mighty Merrimac ; Winslow sinking the Alabama
with his terrible broadsides ; old Farragut at the mast-head
dashing past the flaming forts of Mobile Bay ; young Cushing,
bravest of all the brave, blowing up the Albemarle and his own
ship with his own hand; from first to last, from highest to low-
est, from oldest to youngest, in victory or defeat, American ad-
mirals, commodores, captains, lieutenants, sailors, middies, cabin-
FOURTEEN-DAY SOLDIERS. 24 1
boys, with hardly a soHtary exception, have ever borne themselves
so as to fill their countrymen with glowing enthusiasm, and com-
pel the admiration of their bitterest foes.
Immediately succeeding Perry's victory came that of Harri-
son over Proctor, and the death of Tecuraseh. It being sup-
posed that the upper peninsula was pretty well cleared of foes,
Gen. Wilkinson's forces were nearly all withdrawn to the lower
end of Lake Ontario.
Just before he left, a correspondence took place, which shows
how little comprehension even the most public-spirited men had
of the needs of the military service. Porter, Chapin and Col.
Joseph McClure wrote to Wilkinson from Black Rock, stating
that in expectation of a decisive movement they had repaired to
Fort George, wdth five hundred men — militia, volunteers and In-
dians. " Most of us," said the writers, " remained there twelve
or fourteen days, but our hopes not being realized, the men con-
tinually dispersed and went home."
The three gentlemen then offered to raise a thousand or twelve
hundred men, either to aid Wilkinson in a sally from Fort George,
or, on being furnished with a battery of artillery, "to invade the
enemy's country," wath a view to dispersing his forces before
Wilkinson should withdraw.
The most disastrous experience had not yet convinced our
ablest men of the impossibility of making an effective aggres-
sive movement with a crowd of undisciplined, ungoverned men,
who would leave camp if they could not have a fight in fourteen
days. Wilkinson forwarded the proposition to the Secretary of
War, who did not accept it.
The force left behind by Wilkinson was under the command
of Gen. George McClure, of Steuben county, a brigadier-gene-
ral of the New York militia, who made his headquarters at Fort
George, and immediately issued several flaming proclamations.
On the 6th of October, Col. Chapin, with one of those heter-
ogeneous collections of men so common at that time, had an
all-day skirmish with some British outposts, near Fort George.
He claimed to have killed eighteen of the enemy, while but
three of his own men were slain. Doubtful. He had with him
"Crosby's and Sackrider's companies" of militia, a few other
men and some Indians.
242 M'CLURE and CIIAPIN.
On the 24th of October, Harrison and Perry, with their vic-
torious army and fleet, came down the lake to Buffalo. The
little town was aglow to do honor to the heroes, and on the 25th
a dinner was given to the two commanders at " Pomeroy's
Eagle," which had been refitted and reopened a short time be-
fore. At the head of the committee of arrangements, composed
of the principal citizens, was the ubiquitous Chapin. At the
dinner Porter presided, with Chapin, Townsend and Trowbridge,
as vice-presidents. The next day Harrison and his army crossed
the river and went down to Fort George, and thence in a short
time to Sacket's Harbor.
Gen. McClure was thus left with about a thousand militia,
two hundred and fifty Indians, and sixty regulars. The terms
of the militia were fast expiring, and they would not stay a day
be}'ond them. Another draft was accordingly ordered, about
the middle of November, of six hundred men from Hopkins'
brigade, under Lt.-Col. Warren. These marched to Ft. George
and remained nearly a month.
On the 7th of December, Gen. McClure sent out an expedi-
tion along the south shore of Lake Ontario. Lt.-Col. Chapin
was in command of the advance. He afterwards declared that
McClure had not only left him unsupported, but had expressed
his desire that Chapin should be captured. A very bitter feel-
ing had certainly grown up between them, and it is evident that
Chapin had a peculiar faculty for getting into trouble. He is-
sued as many statements as any of the generals, and denounced
without stint those whom he did not admire.
When the term of Warren's regiment of militia was about
to expire, McClure determined to abandon Fort George. In this
he was unquestionably justifiable, as his remaining force would
have been entirely inadequate to defend it. But he at the same
time took a step cruel in itself, and fraught with woe to the Am-
erican frontier. He ordered the burning of the flourishing vil-
lage of Newark, situated close to the fort, and containing about
a hundred and fifty houses. The inhabitants were turned out
into the snow, and the torch applied to every building in the
place.
McClure claimed that he acted under orders from the Secre-
tary of War, but he produced no such orders, and it appears that
m'clure's flight. 243
there were none, except that the general Avas authorized to burn
Newark if necessary to defend the fort. As he had ah'eady de-
cided to abandon the fort, of course these orders did not apply.
Chapin and the general had another bitter quarrel, the former
roundly denouncing the destruction of the village. Soon after,
Chapin resigned his command.
McClure moved the remnant of his force across the river,
closely pressed by the enraged British. Leaving Fort Niagara
defended by a hundred and fifty regulars, he called two hundred
others from Canandaigua to Buffalo.
On the morning of December 19th, Fort Niagara was sur-
prised and captured by a small British force, through the crim-
inal negligence of its commander, who was at his residence four
miles away. McClure was not to blame for the transaction, but
nevertheless he, more than any other one man, was responsible for
the burning of Buffalo, and the devastation of the whole fron-
tier. He needlessly destroyed Newark, which of course pro-
voked retaliation, and then ran away. As soon as Niagara was
captured he took his two hundred regulars and retreated to Ba-
tavia, against the earnest protest of the citizens of Buffalo.
Had they remained as a nucleus for the gathering militia, the
result might have been entirely different.
Affidavits were afterwards published, showing that McClure
said in his anger that he hoped Buffalo would be burned ; that
he would remain and defend it provided the citizens would catch
"that damned rascal, Chapin," and deliver him bound into his
(McClure's) hands. Several of his staff officers, also, were proven
to have indulged in similar disgraceful language in his presence,
unrebuked ; expressing their entire willingness that the village
.should be burned. In a properly disciplined army General
McClure w^ould have been shot.
Before leaving Buffalo McClure called out the men of Gen-
es.ee, Niagara and Chautauqua counties eii masse, and on arriv-
ing at Batavia, on the 22d of December, he turned over the
command to Major General Hall, the commander of this divi-
sion of militia. That officer, who manifested no lack of zeal,
sent forward all the troops he could raise, and proceeded to Buf-
falo himself on the 25th, leaving McClure to organize and for-
ward reinforcements. Hall, however, assumed no command
244 COMING EVENTS.
over the regulars, and there seems to have been a bitterness of
feeHng on the part of their officers which would, perhaps, in the
demoralized state of affairs, have made it impracticable for him
to do so.
The events of the following week form so important a portion
of the history of Erie county that they will be made the subject
of a separate chapter.
NUMBER OF TROOPS. 245
CHAPTER XXV.
SWORD AND FIRE.
Number of Troops. — The Enemy's Approach. — Movements in Defense. — Chapin's
Wrath. — Attack and Repulse. — Another with same Result. — Blakeslie's Ad-
vance.— Battle of Black Rock. — The Retreat. — The Flight. — Wilkeson and
Walden. — Universal Confusion. — The Chapin Girls. — A Side-saddle Express.
The Pratts' Silver. — "The Indians! the Indians!" — Job Hoysington. — Alfred
Hodge.— William Hodge. — Attempt at Defense. — Chapin's Negotiation. —
Mrs. St. John. — " Prisoners to the Squaws. "^A Guard Obtained. — The Vil-
lage in Flames. — Mrs. Dr. Johnson's Sleigh-load. — Mui-der of Mrs. Lovejoy.
— The Enemy Retire. — The Slain. — Israel Reed. — Calvin Gary. — McClure
to Blame. — The F'light in the Country. — The Buffalo Road. — The Big Tree
Road. — Successive Vacancies. — Exaggerated Reports. — Return of the Brit-
ish.— More Burning. — Hodge's Tavern. — Keep and Tottraan. — The Scene at
Reese's. — Rebuilding. — Harris Hill. — Relief
On the 27th of December General Hall reviewed the forces
at Buffalo and Black Rock, which were thus described in his
report :
At Buffalo there were a hundred and twenty-nine mounted
volunteers under Lieutenant-Colonel Seymour Broughton, of
Ontario county ; four hundred and thirty-three Ontario county
volunteers under Lieutenant-Colonel Blakeslie ; a hundred and
thirty-six " Buffalo militia " under Lieutenant-Colonel Chapin ;
ninety-seven Canadian volunteers under Lieutenant-Colonel
Mallory ; and three hundred and eighty-two Genesee county
militia under Major Adams.
At Black Rock, under Brigadier-General Hopkin.s, were three
hundred and eighty-two effective men in the corps of Lieuten-
ant-Colonels Warren and Churchill ; thirty-seven mounted men
under Captain Ransom ; eighty-three Indians under " Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Granger," and one piece of field artillery, with twen-
ty-five men, under Lieutenant Seeley. The aggregate force at
both places on the 27th, according to the report, was seventeen
hundred and eleven. Colonel Churchill, above mentioned, com-
manded a detachment from Genesee county. The remainder
of the main body at Black Rock, under Colonel Warren, was
246 THE ENEMY AT TOXAWANDA.
composed of his own regiment from the south towns of Eric
county, and Major Hill's detachment from Clarence, still tem-
porarily consolidated with it. The Buffalo militia, which prop-
erly belonged in Hill's regiment, seem to have acted indepen-
dently under Chapin, at least around Buffalo.
About this time, a body of the enemy came up the river from
Fort Niagara as far as Tonawanda, or farther, burning everything
along the river shore. At Tonawanda they burned the guard
house, and what few dwellings there were in the vicinity with
one exception. In that a Mrs. Francis was sick up stairs, and
remained while every one else fled to the woods. Three separate
companies came along and applied the torch, and three times
the woman crawled out of bed and extinguished the flames.
On the 27th Gen. Hall received information which made him
certain that the enemy intended to cross. The 28th passed
quietly away. On the 29th there arrived a regiment of Chau-
tauqua county militia, under Lieutenant-Colonel McMahan,
numbering about three hundred men, bringing the aggregate
force to a trifle over two thousand.
Besides Seeley's field-piece there were seven otlier cannon at
the two villages, but none of them mounted on carriages. Sev-
eral of them were in a battery at the top of the hill overlooking
Black Rock, and with them was Major Dudley, with a part of
Warren's regiment. The rest, with Churchill's detachment, were
in the village of Black Rock. As near as I can estimate from
the official report and Gen. Warreij's statement, Dudley had
about a hundred men, Warren a hundred and fifty, and Churchill
also a hundred and fifty.
Capt. John G. Camp was quartermaster-general of the whole
force.
Patrols were constantly kept out. The excitement among the
people was of course intense, yet few believed that an attack
would be successful, looking on the two thousand defenders now
assembled, and remembering that three hundred men had driven
back a considerable body of assailants the summer before.
Near midnight of the 29th a detachment of the enemy landed
a little below Scajaquada creek. Immediately afterwards a horse-
patrol discovered them, was fii;ed on, and retreated. The news
was at once carried to Colonels Warren and Churchill, at Black
THE BRITISH CROSS THE NIAGARA. 247
Rock, and then to Gen. Hall, at Buffalo. The latter ordered
out his men, but, fetiring- that the enemy's movement was a feint,
and that he would land in force above Buffalo and march down,
he did not at first send any considerable force down the river.
Meanwhile, Gen. Hopkins being absent in Clarence on busi-
ness, the two colonels at Black Rock turned out their men and
consulted as to what should be done. Though Warren was the
senior in rank he seems not to have been formally invested with
the command at Black Rock, another evidence of the loose way
in which everything was done. However, the two officers agreed
that they would endeavor to reach Scajaquada creek before the
invaders, and hold it against them.
Warren's regiment being ready first, he set out in advance.
After marching about half-way he sent two scouts ahead. In a
short time he heard firing at the creek, and as they did not re-
turn he naturally concluded they were killed or taken. In fact,
both were taken. Presently Capt. Millard, {afterwards Gen.
Millard, of Lockport,) aide to Gen. Hall, galloped past, also in
search of information. He, too, was saluted with a shower of
bullets at the bridge, and captured.
Warren halted till Churchill came up, when they agreed that,
as the enemy had evidently got possession of the Scajaquada
bridge, and of what was called the " Sailors' Battery," situated
there, it would be impracticable to dislodge him in the darkness.
They determined to take position at a small run, a little way be-
low the village of Black Rock, and there oppose the further ad-
vance of the British. Thither they accordingly returned, placed
their single piece of artillery in the road, with a regiment on
each side, and awaited developments.
The enemy did not advance, but in the course of an hour or
so Colonel Chapin arrived with a body of mounted men. His
force is not described as mounted in Hall's report, but he must
have obtained horses for at least a part of Captain Bull's com-
pany. General Warren is positive that the force with which
Chapin came to Black Rock was mounted, and Bull was cer-
tainly present in the reconnoissance which followed.
The irascible doctor furiously damned the two colonels and
their men for not having driven away the British, and delivered
General Hall's order that they should immediately make an at-
248 HORSEMEN STAMPEDED.
tack. They replied with equal anger, and declared themselves
as ready as he to meet the British. Chapin then led the way
with his mounted men, in "column of twos ;" Warren followed
with his battalion, and then Churchill with his.
The men under Chapin and Bull advanced nearly to Scaja-
quada creek, without receiving any warning of the whereabouts
of the enemy. All was silent as death. Suddenly from the
darkness flashed a volley of musketry, almost in the faces of
the head of the column. Undisciplined cavalry are notoriously
the poorest of all troops, and Chapin's men probably acted pre-
cisely as any other mounted militia would have done, if led in
column, in the darkness, against an unknown force of hostile in-
fantr)'. They instantly broke and fled, rushing back through
the ranks of Warren's footmen, who became utterly demoralized
by the onslaught without receiving a shot. As the horsemen
stampeded through them, they broke up, some scattering into
the woods and some retreating toward Buffalo. Finding him-
self without men, Warren retired to the main battery, to endea-
vor to rally some of the fugitives. Churchill, with at least a
part of his men, remained below the village.
When General Hall received news of this failure, he ordered
Major Adams with his Genesee militia, and Chapin with such
force as he could rally, to march against the enemy. This
movement was equally futile ; in feict it is doubtful if the force
got within reach of the enemy's guns.
The general then ordered Colonel Blakeslie, with his Ontario
county militia, to advance to the attack. This sending of suc-
cessive small detachments to assail an unknown force in the
darkness, instead of concentrating his forces in some good de-
fensive position, shows clearly enough that General Hall had
little idea of the proper course to be taken, but he seems to have
labored zealously according to the best light he had.
On the departure of Blakeslie, Hall gathered his remaining
forces, of which McMahan's Chautauqua regiment constituted
the main part, and took the hill road (Niagara street) for Black
Rock. As he approached that village the day began to dawn,
and he discovered the enemy's boats crossing the river in the
direction of General Porter's house. A smaller number were
crossing farther up, opposite the main batter)-.
THE BATTLE OE BLACK ROCK. 249
Blakcslie's command was ordered to meet the approaching
force at the water's edge. That force consisted of the Royal
Scots under Colonel Gordon, and was estimated at four hun-
dred men. The invasion was under the general superintendence
of Lieutenant-General Drummond, but the troops were under the
immediate command of Major-General Riall. The artillery in
battery fired on them as they advanced, and Blakeslie's men
opened fire when they landed. They returned it, and a battery
on the other side sent shells and balls over their heads among
the Americans.
For half an hour the forest and riverside reechoed with the
thunder of artillery and ceaseless rattle of small arms. All
accounts agree that Blakeslie's men did the most of the fighting,
and sustained the attack of the Royal Scots with considerable
firmness. Had all the regiments been kept together and met
the enemy at his landing, the result might have been far different.
A portion of the Chautauqua county regiment took part in
the fight, and Colonel Warren, having rallied a part of his com-
mand at the battery, moved them down to the left of Blakeslie's
regiment. Major Dudley was killed during the combat, and
probably at this point. Besides the regiments just named, there
were squads and single individuals in the fight from all the dif-
ferent organizations. Regiments and companies had to a great
extent dissolved, and the men who had not run away fought
" on their own hook."
Meanwhile the hostile force at Scajaquada creek, consisting
of regulars and Indians, moved up the river, easily dispersing
Churchill's meagre force, and marched against Blakeslie's right.
It is not believed there were then over six hundred men in our
ranks, and these, thus assailed on two sides, were entirely unable
to maintain their ground. Large numbers were already scatter-
ing through the woods toward home, when Gen. Hall ordered
a retreat, hoping to make another stand at the edge of Buffalo.
This, as might be supposed, was utterly hopeless ; once the
men got to running, there were few that thought of anything
else. In a few moments all were in utter rout. A part hurried
toward Buffalo, others rushed along the " Guide-board road "
(North street) to Hodge's tavern, and thence took the Wil-
liamsville road, while many fled through the woods without
17
250 THE AMERICANS DEFEATED.
regard to roads of any kind. If the officers made any attempt to
rally their men, they were entirely unsuccessful, and there was
nothing for them to do but join in the general retreat.
A few men kept fighting till the last, but they too were soon
.obliged to retire. The first meeting of two gentlemen, both sub-
sequently presiding judges of the Erie County Common Pleas,
was at the battle of Black Rock. Samuel Wilkeson, then in
the ranks of the Chautauqua county regiment, was loading and
discharging his musket as rapidly as possible, when he noticed
a small, quiet man near by, who, he said, was firing faster than
he was. Presently the stranger looked around and exclaimed :
" Why, we are all alone ! " Wilkeson also cast his eyes about
him, and sure enough all but a very few were rapidly retreating.
The person whose acquaintance he thus made was Ebenezer
Walden.
Meanwhile, in Buffalo the women and children remained in a
feeling of comparative security ; believing that the foe would
surely be beaten back, as he had been before. Many, however,
had packed up their scanty stores in preparation for a flight if
necessary, and all had been anxiously listening to the fateful
sounds of battle. All the while scattering fugitives were con-
stantly rushing through the village, and striking out for Wil-
liamsville, W'illink or Hamburg.
Then the noise of battle ceased, and the scattering runaways
increased to a crowd. The Buffalonians of Hull's and Bull's
companies came hurrying up to take care of their families.
They declared that the Americans were whipped, that the Brit-
ish were marching on the town, and most terrible of all that the
Indians, the Indians, the INDIANS were coming.
Then all was confusion and dismay. Teams were at a pre-
mium. Horses, oxen, sleighs, sleds, wagons, carts — nearly every-
thing that had feet, wheels or runners — were pressed into service.
Some loaded up furniture, some contented themselves with sav-
ing their scanty store of silver ware and similar valuables ; most
took care to secure some provisions and bedding, threw them
promiscuously into whatever vehicle they could obtain, and
started. Children were half smothered with feather beds, babies
alternated with loaves of bread. Many, who neither had nor
could obtain teams, set forth on foot. Men, women and children
INCIDENTS OF FLIGHT. 25 I
by the score were seen hastening through the light snow and
half frozen mud, in the bitter morning air, up Main street or
out Seneca, or toward " Pratt's Ferry."
Dr. Chapin, on leaving for the field in the morning, told his
two girls, one eleven and the other nine years old, that they
must take care of themselves, directing them to go to his farm
in Hamburg, ten miles distant. Their only protector was Hiram
Pratt, then a member of the doctor's family and but thirteen
years old. The girls and their young knight set out through
the snow, and on passing the Pratt homestead Hiram per-
suaded his sister Mary, eleven years old, to accompany them.
At Smoke's creek they were overtaken by a wagon containing
the Pratt family, and Mary was taken on board. Nothing, how-
ever, could induce Hiram or the Chapin girls to accept of such
assistance. They had started to do the heroic, and were bound
to go through with it. And go through with it they did, mak-
ing the whole ten miles on foot through the snow ; an amazing
feat for two girls of that age.
Capt. Hull, as has been mentioned, was a silversmith. His
family gathered his small stock into a pillow case, and looked
about for some means of transportation. Presently came a man
on horseback, astride a side-saddle. He readily consented to
take charge of their valuables, and fastened the pillow-case to
the horn of his saddle. He rode off, and they saw no more of
man, side-saddle nor spoons.
The family of Samuel Pratt, Jr., were equally unfortunate
with their silver. They had packed it up ready to carry away,
but when they got into the wagon they forgot it. After going
a little way, a girl whom Mrs. P. was bringing up, a kind of
white- Topsy, mentioned the loss and proposed to go back after
it. This Mrs. Pratt forbade, but in a short time the girl slid
quietly out of the hind end of the wagon and scampered back.
She was never heard of by them again. Whether she confis-
cated the silver and emigrated to Canada with the returning in-
vaders, or fell beneath the tomahawk of the savage and per-
ished in some burning building, none ever knew.
Confusion was every moment worse confounded. " The In-
dians, the Indians !" was on every tongue. A crowd of teams
and footmen — and footwomen too — were hurrying up Main
■^D-
CONP^USIOX WORSK CONFOUNDED.
street, when suddenly the liead of the column stopped and
surged back on the rear.
" The Indians" was the cry from the front ; " they are coming
up the Guide-board road ; they are out at Hodge's." Back
down Main street rolled the tide. Horses were urged to their
utmost speed ; people on foot did their best to keep up, and
even the oxen, under the persistent application of the lash,
broke into an unwilling gallop, stumbling along, shaking their
horns and wondering what strange frenzy had seized upon the
people.
Turning up Seneca street the crowd sped onward, some going
straight to the Indian village, and thence across the reservation
to Willink, others making for Pratt's ferry, and thence up the
beach to Hamburg.' The ferryman, James Johnson, then a
young man of nineteen, now a venerable citizen of East Ham-
burg, set several loads across, and then began to think it was
time to leave, himself He was a Vermonter, only a few weeks
in this paft of the country, and found his experience extremely
discouraging.
There was good reason for the sudden retreat of the Main
street fugitives. While the main body of the enemy marched
down Niagara street, the Indians on the left flank pressed up
the "Guide-board road." Here it was that Job Hoysington, a
resolute volunteer, said to his comrades, with whom he was re-
treating, that he would have one more shot at the red-skins, and
in spite of remonstrance waited for that purpose. He doubtless
got a shot at them, for, when the snow went oft" in the spring,
his rifle was found empty by his side ; but they got a shot at
him, too, as was testified by a bullet through his brain, the
work of which was completed b)' the tomahawk and scalping
knife. His wife waited long for her husband's return, at their
residence at the corner of Main and Utica streets, and finally
set out on foot, with her children. She was soon overtaken by
two cavalrymen, who took two of the little ones on their horses.
For a long time she did not hear of them, but at length discov-
ered them, one in Clarence and one in Genesee county.
It was on the Guide-board road, too, that Alfred Hodge, flee-
ing from the pursuing savages, and finding himself unable to
outstrip them, jumped over the fence, where a turn in the road
ALFRED AND WILLIAM HODGE. 253
among- the thick bushes hid him for a moment from their view,
near the crossing of Delaware street, and flung himself down
behind a log, across which he laid his cocked musket, determined
to sell his life as dearly as possible, if discovered. The Indians
came up, and two of them stood in the road but a short dis-
tance from him, looking in every direction for the fugitive, but
luckily the bushes and the log secured him from their eyes.
His scalp must have felt somewhat loose at that time. At one
time they stood in range, so he thought that he could disable
them both at one shot, but before he could take aim they changed
their position.
These and other Indians in the vicinity fired several shots at
the crowd of fugitives rushing up Main street, and are known to
have wounded one if not more at that time. It was doubtless
these shots that sent the frightened throng down Main street at
double speed. But the fugitives exaggerated a little in saying
that the savages had reached " Hodge's," for they soon fell back
and closed in on the main body, giving Mr. Alfred Hodge a
chance to hurry forward to his residence.
William Hodge, Sr., brother of Alfred, and proprietor of the
" brick tavern on the hill," had rejected the idea that the Amer-
icans would be defeated, till the last moment, but when he saw
the crowds of militiamen hurrying past he began to think it
was time for him to move, and directed his hired man to hitch
up the oxen, his only team, while he made some hasty arrange-
ments in the house. He waited and waited, but no team ap-
peared. The man had concluded that an ox-express was too
slow for him, had put his own legs into rapid requisition, and
was never heard of more.
Unwilling to keep his family longer, Mr. H. persuaded the
driver of an army baggage-wagon to halt a few minutes, flung
in some bedding and provisions, lifted in his family and sent them
forward. Then, determined to save all he could, he yoked up
his cattle, piled into the cart as much household stuff as it
would hold, and followed at a slower pace. It is probable that
none of the enemy went that far up Main street that day, for
when Mr. Hodge returned, the next day, not even the liquor in
the cellar was disturbed. As he started his oxen up Main street
the smoke was already rising from the burning village.
254 ciiapin's negotiations.
For, meanwhile, events had come crowding thick and fast in
the lower part of the town. As the enemy approached, some
twenty or thirty men, apparently without any organization,
manned an old twelve-pounder mounted on a pair of truck -
wheels, at the junction of Main and Niagara streets. Soon the
foe was seen emerging from the forest, on the latter street, less
than a quarter of a mile away — a long column of disciplined
soldiers, marching shoulder to shoulder, the rising sun bathing
them in its golden light and tipping their bayonets with fire.
Colonel Chapin by general consent exercised whatever author-
ity any one could exercise, which was very little. Two or three
shots were fired from the old twelve-pounder, and then it was
dismounted. Chapin then went forward with a white handker-
chief tied to his cane, as a flag of truce, asked a halt, which was
granted, and began a parley. It was probably about this time
that the Indians were called in from the Guide-board road.
One account has it that Chapin succeeded in arranging some
kind of a capitulation ; but this must be rejected, for, in a state-
ment published by himself shortly after, he only speaks of
"attempting a negotiation," claiming that while this was going
on the people had a chance to escape ; which was probably true.
Just about the time the cannon was dismounted some of
our retreating .soldiers had reached Pomeroy's stand, at the
corner of Main and Seneca streets. Half famished after the
fatigues of the night, they besought Pomeroy for something
to eat. He told them there was plenty of bread in the kitchen
and they rushed in, provided themselves, and pursued their re-
treat, each with a piece of bread in one hand and his musket in
the other.
Presently they heard a cry from those ahead, " Run, boys,
run!" Looking northward they saw a long line of Indians,
with red bands on their heads, coming in single file at a rapid
"jog-trot" down Washington street. It is needless to say that
the injunction, "Run, boys," was strictly obeyed. The warriors,
however, never swerved to the right nor the left, but kept on
down to the Little Buffalo. Doubtless they had orders to sur-
round the town.
A few citizens remained to try to save their property ; among
them Messrs. Walden, Pomeroy, Cook and Kacne. But their
THOSE WUO STAYED. 255
success was less than that of one woman. Nearly opposite the
site of the Tifft House stood the new hotel built by Gamaliel
St. John, whose death by drowning, a few months before, has
been narrated. The widow had leased the hotel, though it was
not }'et occupied by the lessee, and had moved into a small
house just north of it, near the corner of Main and Mohawk
streets, also belonging to her husband's estate. Directly oppo-
site was the residence of Asaph S. Bemis, who had married one
of Mrs. St. John's daughters, who still survives, and from whom
much of this sketch is derived.
Close by Mr. Bemis' was the house occupied by Joshua Love-
joy. Mr. Lovejoy was absent. On the approach of the enemy
Mrs L. sent her young son, the late Henry Lovejoy, away across
the fields to the woods, but remained at home herself, apparently
reckless as to what might happen.
Mrs. St. John, a very resolute woman, had been unwilling to
believe the enemy would reach town, and had made no prepara-
tion for leaving. Mr. Bemis, who had been sick, determined to
take his wife out of the way, and hitched up his team for that
purpose. His mother-in-law requested him to take her younger
children, six in number, with him, while she and her two oldest
daughters remained to pack up her things. He did so, the ar-
rangement being that he should take them out a mile or two, and
return for the three women and the trunks. But before this ar-
rangement could be carried out the enemy were in town.
The Lidians came to Main street first, a considerable time be-
fore the troops, which were drawn up near the corner of Morgan,
Mohawk and Niagara streets, where Samuel Edsall had his tan-
nery. The savages had apparently full license to do what they
pleased in the way of plundering, though some British officers
went ahead and had the casks of liquor stove in, to prevent their
red allies from getting entirely beyond control.
Eight or ten Indians came yelling directly toward Mrs. St.
John's house. She waved her table cloth as a flag of truce, but
they burst in, and immediately began ransacking the trunks,
which stood ready packed for removal. There were four squaws
in the company, and they, almost the first thing, possessed them-
selves of the looking-glass, and stood grinning and jabbering at
the red faces reflected there, with childish delight. Presently
256 INDIANS AT MRS. ST. JOHN'S.
the ladies noticed that there was one Indian uho took no part
in the plundering;-, and they soon discovered that he could talk
a little English.
" What will be done with us ? " they anxiousl}- inquired.
"We no hurt you," he replied. "You be prisoner to the
squaws. Perhaps they take you to the colonel."
" Yes, yes," exclaimed the ladies, " take us to the colonel."
He spoke to the squaws, and they set forth with their "prison-
ers " down Mohawk to the corner of Niagara, where the troops
were drawn up, and where the ladies were taken before a British
officer, probably Col. Elliott, the commander of the Indians.
Mrs. St. John told him her condition — a widow, her husband and
eldest son taken from her by a sad calamity, a large family of
small children dependent upon her — and implored his protection.
"Well," said the colonel, "what can I do for you; shall I take
you to Canada .-' "
"No, indeed," replied Mrs. S., "but save my house; don't let it
be burned or plundered."
After a moment's hesitation he assented, and ordered two sol-
diers of the Royal Scots regiment to accompany the ladies home,
and see that no farther harm was done. They did so, ordered
the Indians away, and remained on guard until the British left
in the afternoon.
Soon after their return they saw Mrs. Lovejoy contending
with an Indian about a shawl, he pulling at one end and she at
the other. One of the St. John girls ran out into the road, call-
ing to her for heaven's sake to let the Indian have it, and come
over to their house where they had a guard. Mrs. L. rejected
the offer, and continued the altercation with the savage.
Presently flames burst forth from the houses in the main part
of the village, near the corner of Main and Seneca streets. A
lieutenant with a squad of men went from house to house, ap-
plying the torch.
Dr. Johnson being absent, engaged in his duties as surgeon,
Mrs. Johnson waited until her house was set on fire before she
atteniptcd to flee. She had a horse and sleigh but no wagon,
and there was little sleighing. She harnessed the horse to the
sleigh, put in the latter a feather bed, a looking-glass, and her
infant daughter Mary, (now Mrs. Dr. Lord,) and set out for Wil-
MURDER OF MRS. LOVEJOY. 257
liamsville, leadinj^- the horse. About this time, near ten o'clock,
Lieutenant Riddle, of the United States regular army, with
some forty convalescents from the Williamsville hospital, and a
six-pounder gun, came marching down Main street to drive out
the enemy! Mr. Walden went to meet him, convinced him of
the hopelessness of such a course, and persuaded him to retire
rather than needlessly exasperate the foe and his savage allies.
A little later a regiment in brilliant uniform came at a rapid
gait up Mohawk street, and wheeled down Main.
"Ah!" exclaimed one of the guard at Mrs. St. John's, proudly,
" see our Royal Scots."
But the ladies, though they could not but notice the stalwart
forms and splendid marching order of the soldiers, could not
sympathize with the pride of their comrade. A little later they
were all attracted to the windows by another altercation across
the road. The same or another band of Indians were again en-
deavoring to plunder Mrs. Lovejoy's house, and she was deter-
mined to resist them. They saw her standing in the doorway
barring the ingress of an angry savage. One account is that she
had an axe, but this is not certain. Suddenly there was the
flash of a knife, and, pierced to the heart, the woman fell on the
threshold she had defended. She was dragged into the yard,
and lay there for hours, her blood crimsoning the snow, and her
long black hair trailing on the ground, for in this instance the
savages forebore to scalp their victim.
Meanwhile the burning went on. The flames rapidly de-
voured the frail, wooden tenements of which the embryo city
was then chiefly composed. Dr. Chapin's and Judge Walden's
houses were spared on that day, and the burners respected the
little dwelling before which lay the corpse of Mrs. Lovejoy.
Both Chapin and Walden, however, were taken prisoners, and
the former was detained in Canada over a year. Mr. Walden,
who was less noted, managed to escape by quietly walking away
from his captors, as if nothing was the matter, and still re-
mained about the village.
The large hotel of Mrs. St. John was set on fire by a squad of
men, but, when they retired, the girls carried buckets of water
and extinguished the flames.
By three o'clock in the afternoon all of the lately flourishing
258 THE SLAIN.
village of Buffalo, save some six or eight structures, was smoul-
dering in ashes. What few houses there were at Black Rock-
were likewise destroyed, and the enemy then retired across the
river. After they left, Mr. Walden and the St. John girls car-
ried Mrs. Lovejoy's corpse back into her house, and laid it on
the bed.
The foe took with them about ninety prisoners, of whom
eleven were wounded. Forty of the ninety were from Blakes-
lie's regiment. Besides these, a considerable number of Ameri-
can wounded were able to escape — probably fifty or sixty.
Forty or fifty were killed. Most of these lay on the field of
battle, but some were scattered through the upper part of the
village. They were stripped of their clothing, and lay all ghastly
and white on the snow. On most of them the tomahawk and
scalping-knife had supplemented the work of the bullet.
Among the slain the officer of highest rank was Lieut.-Col.
Boughton, of Avon. In Erie county, reckoning according to
the present division of towns, the killed were Job Hoysington,
John Roop, Samuel Holmes, John Trisket, James Nesbit, Rob-
ert Franklin (colored), and Mr. Myers, of Buffalo; Robert Hil-
land, Adam Lawfer, of Black Rock; Jacob Vantine, Jr., of
Clarence; Moses Fenno, of Alden ; Israel Reed, of Aurora;
Newman Baker, Parley Moffat and Wm. Cheeseman, of Ham-
burg and East Hamburg; Major Wm. C. Dudley, and probably
Peter Hoffman, of Evans ; and Calvin Cary, of Boston.
Moses Fenno was the earliest pioneer of Alden. Israel Reed
was a middle-aged man, afflicted with asthma. He was on
guard duty when the alarm sounded, but persuaded another to
take his place, went forward to the fight and remained to the
last. He then retreated, in company with the late Col. Emory,
of Aurora. Pursued by the Indians, his asthmatic difficulty
retarded his flight. I^^or awhile Emory accommodated his pace
to that of his comrade, but at length Reed declared he could
go no further, sat down on a log and bade Emory go on. The
latter did so. Reed was afterwards found where Emory left
him, lying beside the log, his loaded musket by his side, show-
ing that he had made no resistance, but with a bullet through
his breast, his skull cloven by the relentless tomahawk, and his
scalp removed by the vengeful knife.
THE BRITISH STRENGTH. 259
Calvin Caiy, the oldest son of tlie pioneer, Deacon Richard
Gary, though only twenty-one years of age, was a man of gigan-
tic stature and herculean strength, weighing nearly three hun-
dred pounds. Pursued by three Indians, he shot one dead,
killed another with his clubbed musket, but was shot, toma-
hawked and scalped by the third. His broken musket, which
was found by his side and testified to his valor, is still preserved
by his kindred.
All the heavy guns of course fell into the hands of the enemy,
as well as a considerable quantity of public stores. A few small
vessels, lying near Black Rock, were also captured.
The force by w^hich all this injury was accomplished, accord-
ing to the British official report, consisted of about a thousand
men, detached from the Royal Scots regiment, the Eighth (or
King's) regiment, the Forty-first, the Eighty-ninth, and the One
Hundredth, besides from one to two hundred Indians. The en-
emy suffered a loss of about thirty men killed and sixty
wounded. Only two of his officers were wounded, and none
killed.
That a thousand veteran soldiers should whip two thousand
raw militia is not really very strange, yet there have been times
when militia, acting on the defensive, have done much better
than that. The repulse of three or four hundred invaders the
previous summer, by a force of militia and recruits hardly their
equal in number, shows what may be done under favorable cir-
cumstances and resolute leadership.
General Hall, on reaching Williamsville, rallied two or three
hundred of the fugitives, and collected reinforcements as rapidly
as possible. There was, however, no further conflict with the
enemy. Throughout this dismal epoch, the general seems to
have acted with all possible devotion and energy, and to have
failed only through the defection of his men and his own igno-
rance of the military art. He did the best that in him lay.
Gen. McClure, on the other hand, did the worst that in him
lay, and w^hen he retired to his home was justly followed by the
hatred and contempt of thousands. The destruction of the Ni-
agara frontier is chargeable chiefly to the cruelty and cowardice
of George McClure.
The news of the disaster fled fast and far. The chief avenue
26o SCENES IN THE COUNTRY.
of escape was up the Main street road to Willianisville and Ba-
tavia. Next to that was the road up the beach to Hamburg.
This was still the usual route, for teams, to all that part of the
county south of the Buffalo reservation.
On this occasion, however, many went on foot or horseback
to the Indian village, and thence through the woods to the Big
Tree road.
During all that day (the 30th) the road through Williamsville
and Clarence was crowded with a hurrying and heterogeneous
multitude — bands of militiamen, families in sleighs, women driv-
ing ox-sleds, men in wagons, cavalrymen on horseback, women
on foot, bearing infants in their arms and attended by crying
children — all animated by a single thought, to escape from the
foe, and especially from the dreaded Indians.
On the Big Tree road the scene was still more diversified, for
in addition to the mixed multitude which poured along the
northern route, was the whole body of Indians from the Buffalo
reservation. The author of the history of the Holland Pur-
chase, then a youth residing in Sheldon, Wyoming count}-, gives
a vivid picture of the scene from personal recollection:
" An ox-sled would come along bearing wounded soldiers,
whose companions had perhaps pressed the slow team into their
service ; another with the family of a settler, a few household
goods that had been hustled upon it, and one, two or three wear-
ied females from Buffalo, who had begged the privilege of a ride
and the rest that it afforded ; then a remnant of some dispersed
corps of militia, hugging as booty, as spoils of the vanquished,
the arms they had neglected to use ; then .squads- and families of
Indians, on foot and on ponies, the squaw with her papoose
upon her back, and a bevy of juvenile Senecas in her train; and
all this is but a stinted programme of the scene that was pre-
sented. Bread, meats and drinks soon vanished from the log
taverns on the routes, and fleeing settlers divided their scanty
stores with the almost famished that came from the frontiers."
Numerous incidents, pathetic, tragic, and sometimes comic,
occurred in this universal hegira. The news flew, apparently on
the wings of the wind, and as it flew people hitched up their
horse or ox teams and fled eastward, long before all the fugitives
from the western part of the county had arrived. Again and
again it happened that a party of tired travelers from Buffalo
SEPARATION OF FAMILIES. 26 1
or vicinity would at ni^^^htfall find a deserted house, with plenty
of furniture and provisions, somewhere in Aurora, or Wales, or
Newstead, and would go to keeping house in it. The owners
had 'perhaps gone on, another day's journey, and had found near
Batavia or Warsaw another abandoned residence, whose late oc-
cupants had determined to put the Genesee river between them
and the foe. Everybody wanted to get one stage farther east.
Selfishess was the prevailing characteristic — at least few^ looked
beyond their own families; yet there were some exceptions.
On the morning of the 30th a farmer from Hamburg, with a
load of cheese for the Buffalo market, met the fugitives on the
lake beach, a short distance from the village. He immediately
flung his cheese right and left upon the ground, filled his sleigh
with women and children and carried them as far as his home.
I have mentioned how Hoysington's children were carried off
by horsemen. Such aid by mounted men to children was quite
frequent. Sometin^es a horseman would take up two or three
children ; sometimes a gallant cavalier would be seen with some
weary woman seated behind him, and a child on the pommel of
his saddle.
The cases of separation of families were very numerous, and
sometimes they were not united for several weeks. In Clarence
a family hastily loaded some provisions and several children
into a sleigh, and drove eastward at full speed. After traveling
several miles they discovered that they had lost one of the chil-
dren out of the hind end of the sleigh. Fortunately, on returning,
it was found uninjured.
Those who fled told the most dismal stories, making the mis-
fortune even worse than the sad reality. The Indians were
represented as just in the rear, tomahawking men, women and
children indiscriminately.
Even particular individuals were causelessly reported as killed,
to their terror-stricken friends. A militiaman came to the log
tavern of Colonel Warren, where his frightened wife was anx-
iously awaiting news of her husband. He looked up and read
aloud the name on the sign — "William Warren."
"Well," said he "Colonel Warren is no more ; I myself stepped
over his dead body ;" and then hurried on. In fact, the colonel
was not even wounded.
262 THE SECOND RAID.
The fleeing Indians added to the dreadful rumors. During
the war they kept runners going almost constantly between the
Buffalo reservation and those of Cattaraugus and Allegany. One
of their trails ran through Eden. These, when they could talk
a little English, frequently enlivened the minds of the inhabi-
tants along the route by terrible tales of the "British Indians."
But after the burning of Buffalo they let loose all their powers
of description.
"Whoop!" cried the dusky runner, as he paused for an instant
before the door of some log cabin, where stood a trembling
matron surrounded by tow-headed children; "Whoop! Buffalo
all burned up! British Indians coming! Kill white squaw! Kill
papoose! Scalp 'em all! Burn up everything! W'hoop!" and away
he bounded through the forest, leaving dismay and wailing in
his track.
Still, when it was found that the enemy had retired, curiosity
induced many men from the nearest towns to visit the ruins.
Others went to render what assistance they could, and still
others, alas, to take advantage of the universal confusion and
purloin whatever might have been left by the invader. A few
went on the 31st of December, more on the ist of January.
On the former day everything was quiet. On the latter, as
the few remaining citizens and some from the country were star-
ing at the ghastly ruins, a detachment of the enemy suddenly
appeared, making prisoners of most of them ; among others of
Benjamin Hodge, Jr., of Buffalo, and David Eddy, of Ham-
burg. The former was kept prisoner throughout the war.
They then fired all the remaining buildings, except the jail,
which would not burn, Reese's blacksmith shop, and Mrs. St.
John's cottage. On their coming to the latter, Mrs. S. and her
daughters tried to persuade the commander not to burn the large
hotel, which was still standing. He, however, drew from his
pocket, and read, an order commanding him to burn every build-
ing except " the one occupied by an old woman and two
girls." So the big hotel went with the rest. The little house in
which lay the remains of the murdered Mrs. Lovejoy was also
fired, and the building and corp.se were consumed together.
As the detachment was about to depart, the commandant was
informed that there were public stores at Hodge's tavern, on the
EVENTS AT IIODGE'S. 263
hill. A squad of horsemen were sent thither to burn it. Benj.
Hodge, Sr., and Keep, the Cold Spring blacksmith, were there,
and ran on the enemy's approach. The sergeant in command
called to them to stop, and Hodge did so. Keep ran on a short
distance, when a carbine bullet pierced him and he fell — near
where is now the south gate of Spring Abbey.
The sergeant then entered, and, seeing a large quantity of
merchandise stored there by merchants of the village, ordered
the house set on fire, though assured that none of it was public
property. After the building was well aflame he found a cask
of old Jamaica, and was filling his canteen from it, when the cry
was raised, "The Yankees are coming."
A detachment of horse was seen crossing Scajac^uada creek.
The British hurriedly mounted, and rode off toward Buffalo.
The new comers were some mounted Canadian volunteers, under
Adjutant Tottman. He galloped up to the side of the rearmost
of the retreating Britons, and was instantly shot dead.
Close behind Tottman's force came Mr. William Hodge, who,
having returned from Harris' Hill the day before and found his
property undisturbed, was flattering himself that he had escaped
the general desolation. Now he saw his hopes shattered at a
blow. His house was the last one burned, both in point of time
and of distance from the village. After Tottman was shot, his
men, dashing up, caught a half-blood Indian setting fire to
Hodge's barn. He was taken into New^stead where he was
summarily disposed of.
At this same time, a squad of Indians went to Major Miller's
tavern, at Cold Spring. A Mrs. Martin, who was there, fed
them and kept them in good humor until our horsemen ap-
peared, when they escaped into the woods. This was the far-
thest that any of the enemy penetrated into the country.
A day or two after the second raid the people assembled and
picked up the dead bodies, and brought them to Reese's black-
smith shop. The number is variously stated, but the most care-
ful account makes it forty-two killed, besides some who were
not found, (Hoysington was not found until spring,) and some
prominent persons like Col. Boughton, who were taken care, of
earlier. At the shop they were laid in rows, a ghastly display,
all being frozen stiff, and most of them stripped, tomahawked
264 COMING BACK.
and scalped. After those belonging in the vicinity had been
taken away by their friends, the rest were deposited in a single
large grax^e, in the old burying ground on Franklin Square, cov-
ered only with boards, so they could be easily examined and
taken away.
Then quiet settled down on the destroyed village and almost
deserted county. Even Mrs. St. John left, and when, a few days
after the burning, James Sloan and Samuel Wilkeson came down
the lake shore, the only living thing which they saw between
Pratt's ferry and Cold Spring was a solitary cat wandering amid
the blackened ruins.
But the pioneers had plenty of energy and resolution, even if
they were not very good soldiers. On the 6th of January, just
a week after the main conflagration, William Hodge brought his
family back, it being the first that returned. Pomeroy came
immediately afterwards. That energetic personage raised the
first building in the new village of Buffalo, on the same spot
where he had been once mobbed and once burned out within
thirteen months. Hodge's was the second.
A few others came back and fitted up temporary shelters. A
Mr. Allen occupied Mrs. St. John's cottage, and did a good
business by keeping a house of entertainment for those who
came to see the ruins. Soldiers were stationed in the village — I
think a detachment of regulars — and as time wore on people
began to feel more safe. But the winter was one of intense
excitement and distress. Scarce a night passed without a rumor
of an attack. Many times some of the inhabitants packed up
their goods, ready to flee. Twice during the winter small squads
of the enemy crossed the river, but were driven back by the sol-
diers and citizens without much fighting. Most of the people
who came back had nothing to live on, save what was issued to
them by the commissary department of the army.
The rest of the county was hardly less disturbed. There were
houses to live in, and generally plenty to eat, but every blast
that whistled mournfully through the forest reminded the excited
people of the death-yell of the savage, and fast-succeeding
rumors of inv^asion kept the whole population in a state of
spasmodic terror.
The Salisburys evidently made good their escape with their
RELIEF. 265
type as soon as they heard of the capture of Fort Niag-ara. On
the 1 8th of January they issued their paper at Harris' Hill.
That point became a kind of rendezvous for business men.
Root & Boardman opened a law office there, locating, according
to their advertisement, " next door east of Harris' tavern and
fourteen miles from Buffalo ruins." Le Couteulx went east
after the destruction of his property, and Zenas Barker was ap-
pointed county clerk, establishing his office at Harris' Hill. The
nearest post-office, however, was at Williamsville.
The suffering would have been even greater than it was, had
not prompt measures of relief been taken by the public authori-
ties and the citizens of more fortunate localities. The legisla-
ture voted $40,000 in aid of the devastated district, besides
$5,000 to the Tuscarora Indians, and $5,000 to residents of
Canada driven out on account of their friendship for the United
States. The city of Albany voted a thousand dollars, and the
city of New York three thousand. The citizens of Canandai-
gua appointed a committee of relief, who raised a considerable
amount there, and sent communications soliciting aid to all the
country eastward. They were promptly responded to, and lib-
eral contributions raised throughout the State. With this aid,
and that of the commissary department, and the assistance of
personal friends, those who remained on the frontier managed
to live throu'di that woeful winter.
266 TROOPS AT WTLLIAMSVILLE.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814.
Mars and Hymen. — Soldiers' Graves.— Scott and Brown. — Elections and Appoint-
ments.—Discipline at Buffalo.— The Death Penalty.— The Advance.— Cap-
ture of Fort Erie. — Approaching Chippewa.— An Indian Battle.— A Retreat.
— A Dismounted Young Brave. — Victory. — Scalps. — "Hard Times."— Ad-
vance to Fort George. — Return. — Lundy's Lane. — The Romance of War. —
Retreat to Fort Erie.— The Death of the Spy.— "Battle of Conjockety
Creek.'"— Assault on Fort Erie.— The Explosion. — Call for Volunteers.— The
Response.— The Track through the Forest.— The Sortie.— Gallantry of the
Volunteers. — Gen. Porter. — Quiet. — Peace.
As Spring approached, the frontier began to revive. More
troops appeared, and their presence caused the paying out of
considerable sums of money among the inhabitants. There
was a ready market for produce at large prices.
By March the people had sufficiently recovered from their
fright to go to getting married. One number of the Gazette
contained notices of two weddings at Williamsville, one at Har-
ris' Hill, one in Clarence, one in Willink, and one in Concord —
the longest list which had yet appeared in that paper.
Williamsville was the rendezvous for the troops. There was a
long row of barracks, parallel with the main street of that vil-
lage and a short distance north of it, and others used as a hos-
pital, a mile or so up the Eleven-Mile creek. Near these latter,
and close beside the murmuring waters of the stream, rest sev-
eral scores of .soldiers who died in that hospital, all unknown,
their almost imperceptible graves marked only by a row of ma-
ples, long since planted by some reverent hand.
Buffalo began to rise from its ashes. A brick-company was
organized, and by the first of April several buildings had been
erected, and contracts made for the erection of twenty or thirty
more. By the 20th of that month several business men were
there. The post-office was reopened, at first at Judge Granger's
house and soon after at the village.
On the 1 0th of April there arrived on the frontier a stately
SCOTT AND BROWN. 26/
young warrior, whose presence was already considered a har-
binger of vMctory, and whose shoulders had lately been adorned
by the epaulets of a brigadier-general. This was Winfield Scott,
then thirty years old, and the beau ideal of a gallant soldier. Im-
mediately afterwards came his superior officer, Major-General
Brown, who had been rapidly advanced to the highest rank, on
the strength of the vigor and skill he had shown as a commander
at the foot of Lake Ontario.
An election was held in this month, at which General Porter
was again chosen to Congress on the Democratic ticket. Clar-
ence cast two hundred and twenty-three votes, while the
whole town of Buffalo only furnished a hundred and forty-
seven. It had only been a year and four months since the last
congressional election, which was doubtless owing to some
change in the law regarding the time of holding.
Jonas Williams was again elected to the assembly. The only
supervisors known were Simeon Fillmore of Clarence, Lemuel
Parmely of Eden, and Richard Smith of Hamburg.
A new " commission of the peace " was issued by which Dan-
iel Chapin, Charles Townsend and Oliver Forward of Buf-
falo, Richard Smith of Hamburg, and Archibald S. Clarke of
Clarence, were named as judges ; and Jonas Williams, James
Cronk, John Beach and David Eddy as assistant justices. The
justices of the peace named in the new commission were John
Seeley, Philip M. Holmes, Joseph Hershey and Edward S. Stew-
art, of Buffalo ; Daniel McCleary, Daniel Rawson, and Levi
Brown, of Clarence ; Joshua HenshaAV, Calvin Clifford, James
Wolcott, and Ebenezer Holmes, of Willink ; Daniel Thurston
and Amasa Smith, of Hamburg; Joseph Hanchett, of Concord;
Asa Cary and John Hill, of Eden. Joseph Landon, Rowland
Cotton and Henry Brothers were named as coroners.
Many changes were also taking place among the military men
of the county. A new commission, announcing promotions and
appointments in Lt.-Col. Warren's regiment, (the 48th New York
infantry,) designated Ezekiel Cook as first major, and Ezra Nott
as second ; Lyman Blackmar, Peter Lewis, P^rederick Richmond,
Luther Colvin, Benjamin I. Clougli, Timothy P\iller and James
M. Stevens as captains ; Thomas Holmes, Aaron Salisbury,
Dennis Riley, Moses Baker, William Austin, Oliver Alger,
268 THE DEATH PENALTY.
Micah B. Crook and Elihu Rice as lieutenants ; and John M.
Holmes, Otis Wheelock, Lathrop Francis, Sumner Warren,
George Hamilton, Calvin Doolittle, Giles Brings and Asa War-
ren as ensigns.
By the 20th of May there were three taverns in operation in
Buffalo, four stores, three offices and twelve shops ; besides
twenty-three houses, mostly occupied by families, and thirty or
forty huts. Dr. Chapin, having been exchanged, got home about
the first of June, and immediately began issuing statements.
Bodies of regular troops and some volunteers continued to
concentrate at Williams\ille and Buffalo. Scott removed his
headquarters to the latter place toward the last of May, where
the troops were encamped amid the ruins. Great efforts were
made to introduce rigid discipline. The men were under con-
stant drill, and desertion was mercilessly punished. Among the
reminiscences of that era, no scene appears to have been more
vividly impressed on the minds of the relators than the one
which was displayed near the present corner of Maryland and
Sixth streets, on the 4th of June, 18 14.
P^iv'C men, convicted of de.sertion, knelt with bandaged eyes
and pinioned arms, each with an open coffin before him and a
new-made grave behind him. Twenty paces in front stood a
platoon of men, detailed to inflict the supreme penalty of mili-
tary law. The whole army was drawn up on three sides of a
hollow square, to witness the execution, the artillerymen stand-
ing by their pieces with lighted matches, ready to suppress a
possible mutiny, while Generals I^rown, Scott and Ripley sat
upon their horses, surrounded by their brilliant staffs, looking
sternly on the scene.
When the firing party did their deadly work, four men fell in
their coffins or their graves, but one, a youth under t\vent)^-one,
was unhurt. He sprang up, wrenched loose his pinioned arms,
and tore the bandage from his eyes. Two men advanced to ex-
tinguish the last remains of life in those who haci fallen. He
supposed they were about to dispatch him, and fell fainting to
the ground. He was taken away without further injury.
Doubtless it had been determined to spare him on account of
his youth, and therefore all of his supposed executioners had
been furnished with unloaded muskets.
THE SIX NATIONS IN ARMS. 269
The work of preparation went forward, though not very rap-
idly. On the 28th of June a statement appeared in the Gazette
that the rumors of an immediate advance which had been in
circulation were not true, and that the transportation of the
army was not ready. This was no doubt inserted by order, for
on the 3d of July the advance began.
Brown's force consisted of two brigades of regulars under
Generals Scott and Ripley, and one of volunteers under General
Porter. This was composed of five hundred Pennsylvanians,
six hundred New York volunteers, all of whom had not arrived
when the movement began, and nearly six hundred Indians.
Six hundred was almost the entire strength of the Six Na-
tions, and these had been gathered from all the reservations in
Western New York. It is probable that the great age of Farm-
er's Brother prevented him from crossing. Acting as a private
in the ranks was Red Jacket, the principal civil leader of the
Six Nations, who, notwithstanding the timidity usually attribu-
ted to him, was unwilling to stay behind while his countrymen
were winning glory on the field of carnage. Col. Robert Flem-
ing was quartermaster of this peculiar battalion.
Fort Erie was garrisoned by a hundred and seventy British
soldiers. The main body of the enemy was at Chippewa, two
miles above the Falls, and eighteen miles below the fort.
On the 2d of July, Brown, Scott and Porter reconnoitred Fort
Erie and concerted the plan of attack. Ripley, with part of his
brigade, was to embark in boats at Buffalo in the night, and
land a mile up the lake from the fort. Scott with his brigade
was to cross from Black Rock, and land a mile below Fort Erie,
which, in the morning, both brigades were to invest and capture.
Scott and Ripley both started at the time appointed, but, as
in most military operations depending on concert of action be-
tween separate corps, there was a difficulty not foreseen. Rip-
ley's pilot was misled by a fog on the lake, and his connnand
did not land until several hours past time. Scott, however,
crossed promptly, and was able to invest the fort with his brig-
ade alone. At sunrise the artillery and Indians crossed at the
ferry, and after some parleying the fort surrendered, without
awaiting an attack.
The campaign along the Niagara, which followed, was out-
2-0 DOWN THE NIAGARA.
side the bounds of Erie county. I shall, however, give a sketch
of it for several reasons. It was participated in by many sol-
diers of Erie county, in the ranks of the New York volun-
teers, though I cannot ascertain whether they had any separ-
ate organization. The Indians who took part in it on our side
mostly belonged to the "oldest families" of Erie county. One
of Brown's three brigades was commanded by the Erie county
general, Peter B. Porter. And besides, my readers must be dis-
gusted by the poor fighting done by the Americans on the Ni-
agara during the previous years, and I want to take the taste
out of their mouths.
The afternoon of the 3d, Scott marched several miles down
the Niagara, and on the morning of the 4th drove in the en-
emy's advanced posts. He was followed by Brown and Riple)',
and both brigades established themselves on the south side of
Street's creek, two miles south of Chippewa.
On their left, three fourths of a mile from the Niagara, was a
dense and somewhat swampy forest on both sides of Street's
creek, extending to within three fourths of a mile of Chippewa
creek, which was bordered for that distance by a level, cleared
plain. On the north side of that creek the British army lay in-
trenched. The two armies were concealed from each other's
sight by a narrow strij) of woodland, reaching from the main
forest to within a hundred yards of the river bank.
During the night of the 4th the Americans were much an-
noyed by Indians and Canadians lurking in the forest, who
drove in their pickets and threatened their flanks.
Late that night General Porter crossed the river with his In-
dians and Pennsylvanians, and in the morning marched toward
Chippewa. He was met on the road by General Brown, who
spoke of the manner in which he had been annoyed by lurkers
in the forest, and proposed that Porter should drive them out,
declaring confidently that there would be no British regulars
south of the Chippewa that day. Still, he said he would order
Scott to occupy the open ground beyond Street's creek, in sup-
port of Porter. The latter accepted the proposition of his chief,
and at three o'clock started to put it in execution.
The Indians assumed their usual full battle-dress — of matur-
nip-line, breech-clout, moccasins, feathers and paint — and the
SOLDIERS AND WARRIORS. 2/1
war-chiefs then proceeded to elect a leader. Their choice fell
on Captain Pollard, a veteran of Wyoming and many other
fights.
Porter left two hundred of his Pennsylvanians in camp, think-
ing their presence needless, and formed the other three hundred
in one rank, on the open ground, half a mile south of Street's
creek, their left resting on the forest. The whole five or six-
hundred Indians were also formed in one rank in the woods,
their right reaching to the left of the whites. General Porter
stationed himself between the two wings of his command, Avith
Captain Pollard on his left. He was also attended by two or
three staff officers, by Hank Johnson the interpreter, and b}'
several regular officers, who had volunteered to see the fun. Red
Jacket w^as on the extreme left of the Indian line. A company
of regular infantry followed as a reserve. The war chiefs took
their places twenty yards in front of their braves, and a few-
scouts were sent still farther in advance.
Then, at a given signal, the whole line moved forward, the
whites marching steadily with shouldered arms on the plain,
the naked Indians gliding through the forest with cat-like
tread, their bodies bent forward, their rifles held ready for instant
use, their feathers nodding at every step, their fierce eyes flash-
ing in every direction. Suddenly one of the chiefs made a sig-
nal, and the whole line of painted warriors sank to the ground,
as quickly and as noiselessly as the sons of Clan Alpine at the
command of Roderick Dhu. This maneuver was a part of
their primitive tactics, and the chiefs rapidly assembled to
consult over some report brought back by a scout.
At another signal the warriors sprang up, and the feather-
crested line again moved through the forest. The maneuver
was repeated when the scouts brought w^ord that the enemy was
awaiting them on the north bank of Street's creek. General
Porter was informed of this fact, and made some slight changes
in his arrangements, and again the line advanced with increased
speed.
As the Indian.9 approached the creek, they received the fire of
a force of British Indians and Canadians stationed there. They
instantly raised a war-whoop that resounded far over the Ni-
agara, and charged at the top of their speed. The foe at once
2^2 AN INDIAN BATTLE.
fled. The Iroquois dashed through the httle stream and bounded
after them, whooping, yelHng, shooting, cleaving skulls and tear-
ing off scalps like so many demons. Many were overtaken, but
few captured. Occasionally, however, a Seneca or Cayuga
would seize an enemy, unwind his maturnip-line, bind him with
surprising quickness, and then go trotting back to the rear, hold-
ing one end of the maturnip, as a man might lead a hor.se by
the halter.
Such speed and bottom were displayed by the Indians that
neither the regulars nor volunteers were able to keep up with
them. For more than a mile the pursuit was maintained, in
the words of General Porter, "through scenes of frightful havoc."
At length the Indians, who had got considerably in advance,
emerged upon the open ground three (Quarters of a mile from
Chippewa creek, when they were received with a tremendous
fire from the greater part of the British regular army, drawn in
line of battle on the plain.
It looks as if General Riall had determined to attack the
Americans, and had sent forward his light troops to bring on a
battle, expecting probably that the whole American force would
get exhausted in pursuit, and become an easy prey to his fresh
battalions. The fact that the pursuit was carried on by the
American light troops and Indians alone broke up, and in fact
reversed, this programme.
The warriors quickly fled from the destructive fire in front.
General Porter, supposing that it came from the force they had
been pursuing, rallied the greater part of them, formed them
again on the left of his volunteers and moved forward to the
edge of the wood. Again the long, red-coated battalions opened
fire. The volunteers stood and exchanged two or three volleys
with them, but when the enemy dashed forward with the bayonet
Porter, seeing nothing of Scott with the supports, gave the order
to retreat. Both whites and Indians fled in the greatest confusion.
On came the red-coats at their utmost speed, supposing they
had gained another easy victor)^ and that all that was necessary
was to catch the runaways. The Indians, being the best runners
and unencumbered with clothing, got ahead in the retreat as
they had in the advance, but the whites did their best to keep
up with them. The flight continued for a mile, pursuers as
A SWIFT RKTREAT. 2/3
well as pursued becomintj greatly disorganized, and the speed
of the fugitives being accelerated by the constant bursting of
shells from the enemy's artillery.
Approaching Street's creek, Scott's brigade was found just
crossing the bridge and forming line. They took up their posi-
tion with the greatest coolness under the fire of the British artil-
lery, but Porter claimed that, through the fault of either Scott or
Brown, they were very much behind time. The former general
was always celebrated for his promptness, and the fault, if there
was one, was probably with Brown. Perhaps he didn't expect
Porter's men to run so fast, either going or coming.
The result, however, was as satisfactory as if this precipitate
retreat had been planned to draw forward the foe. Ripley's bri-
gade was at once sent off to the left, through the woods, to flank
the enemy. The fugitives, as they ran, also bore to the west-
ward, and Scott's fresh battalions came into line in perfect order,
making somewhat merry over the haste of their red and white
comrades.
Some of the Indians had taken their sons, from twelve to six-
teen years old, into battle, to initiate them in the business of
war. One of these careful fathers was now seen running at his
best speed, with his son on his shoulders. Just as he passed the
left flank of Scott's brigade, near where the general and his staff
sat on their horses, superintending the formation of the line, a
shell burst directly over the head of the panting warrior. "Ugh,"
he exclaimed, in a voice of terror, bounding several feet from
the ground. As he came down he fell to the earth, and the lad
tumbled off. Springing up, the older Indian ran on at still greater
speed than before, leaving the youngster to pick himself up and
scamper away as best he might. The scene was greeted with a
roar of laughter by the young officers around Scott, who re-
buked them sharply for their levity. In a few moments the}'
had plenty of serious work to occupy their attention.
The Americans reserved their fire till the enemy was within
fifty yards, when they poured in so deadly a volley that the Brit-
ish instantly fell back. They were quickly rallied and led to
the attack, but were again met with a terrific fire, under which
they retreated in hopeless disorder. Scott pursued them beyond
the strip of woods before mentioned, Avhen they fled across the
274 VICTORY.
Chippewa into their intrenchments, and tore uj) the bridge.
Scott's brigade then hiy down on the open phiin north of the
woods. The battle, so far as the regulars were concerned, lasted
only a few moments, but was one of the most decisive of the
whole war.
By order of Gen. Brown, who was in the midst of the fight.
Porter took his two hundred reserve Pennsylvanians to the left
of Scott's brigade, where they, too, lay down under the fire of
the British artillery. After awhile Ripley's brigade came out of
the woods, covered with mud, having had their march for noth-
ing, as the enemy they had attempted to flank had run away
before their flank could be reached. It not being deemed best
to attack the foe in his intrenchments, directly in front, the
Americans returned at nightfall to their encampment.
The battle of Chippewa was the first, during the war of 1812,
in which a large body of British regulars were defeated in the
open field, and the Americans were immensely encouraged by
it. Enlistment was thereafter much more rapid than before.
The total British loss, as officially reported, was five hundred
and fourteen, of whom between one and two hundred were
found dead on the field by the victors. About two hundred and
fifty were taken prisoners, mostly wounded. The Americans
had about fifty killed, a hundred and fort)' wounded, and a few
taken prisoners. The number of American regulars engaged
was thirteen hundred. Gen. Porter estimated the British regu-
lars in the fight at seventeen hundred, but I know not on what
grounds, nor how correctly.
It will be noticed that I am frequently referring to Gen. Por-
ter as authority. In fact it is from his statement, in Stone's " Life
of Red Jacket," that this description of the battle of Chippewa
is principally derived.
There was a somewhat amusing dispute as to whether the
American or British Indians ran the fastest and farthest. It
was asserted that our braves never stopped till they reached the
Buffalo reservation. This Porter declared to be a slander, in-
sisting that the only reason why the Indians reached the rear
before the whites was because they could run faster. It is certain
that the main body of them remained with the army some two
weeks after the battle. Tiie Canadian Indians were so roughly
A GRIM P:PIS()DE. 2/5
Ivandled that they fled at once to the head of Lake Ontario, and
never after took any part in the war.
The next morning Gen. Porter was horrified by the appear-
ance at his tent of some twenty cliicfs, each attended by a war-
rior of his band, bearing the bloody .scalps they had stripped
from their fallen foes. They had been informed that a bounty
would be paid them for every scalp they produced. The startled
general told them that nothing of the kind would be done,
whereupon the ghastly trophies were burned or flung into the
Niagara. The story that they were to be paid for scalps was in
direct contravention of the agreement under which they had en-
tered the American service, yet it found ready credence among
the Indians. This tends to show that the stories of the British
paying a bounty for scalps in the Revolution may have been
without foundation, even though believed by the savages
themselves.
After this grim episode, the chiefs obtained permission to
visit the field and bring off their own dead. They brought in
fifteen warriors, who were buried with the honors of war.
They also found three of their enemies mortally wounded
but not yet dead. They cut the throats of two of these, but,
recognizing the third as an old acquaintance, they furnished him
with a canteen of water and left him to die in peace. On their
relating what they had done, an officer angrily reproached Cat-
taraugus Hank for this brutality.
"Well, Colonel," said Hank, casting down his eyes, and speak-
ing with every appearance of contrition, " it does seem rather
hard to kill men in that way, but then you must remember these
are very hard times."
Red Jacket is said to have played his part at Chippewa as
well as any of his brethren. Yet even his admirers used to
rally him about his timidity. One of them was heard chaffing
him, declaring that he had given the sachem a scalp in order
that he, too, might have a trophy to show^ but that the latter
was afraid to carry it.
On the 7th of July, the six hundred volunteers from Western
New York joined Porter's brigade. I have found no account of
how they were organized, nor of the localities from which they
came.
2/6 TO QUEENSTON AND BACK.
On the 8th, Ripley's bri<,Mde and these New York volunteers
forced a passai^e of the Chippewa, three miles up, quickly driv-
ing back the force stationed there. General Riall, finding him-
self flanked, destro)'ed his works and retreated rapidly to Oueen-
ston, and then to Fort George. Brown pursued and took up
his quarters at Oueenston, but did not deem his force sufficient
either to assault or besiege the fortress.
On the 1 6th, Porter's brigade skirmished around the fort, to
give the engineers a chance to reconnoitre, but nothing came
of it.
At this time Red Jacket, who had all along opposed his coun-
trymen's taking part in the war, proposed that messengers
should be sent to the Mohawks, to concert a withdrawal of the
Indians on both sides. General Brown consented, and two
young chiefs w^ere dispatched on a secret mission for that pur-
pose. They were favorably received by some of the chiefs, but
no formal arrangement w'as made.
Meanwhile the British received reinforcements, and Brown de-
termined to return to Fort Erie. Riall followed. Before arriv-
ing at the Falls most of the Indians, through the management
of Red Jacket, obtained permission to retire to their homes,
agreeing to return if the British Indians should again take the
field. But the latter were perfectly satisfied with that terrible
drubbing in the Chippewa woods, and never again appeared in
arms against the Americans. Nevertheless, some forty or fifty
of our Indians remained with the army throughout the campaign.
On the 25th of July, Brown's army encamped near Chippewa
creek. Riall was pressing so closely on the American rear that
Brown sent back Scott's brigade to check him. Scott met the
enemy at Bridgewater, just below the Falls. Sending back
word to his superior, the impetuous Virginian led his columns
to the attack. F"or an hour a desperate battle raged between
Scott's single brigade and Riall's army, neither gaining any
decided advantage.
At the end of that time, and but a little before night. Brown
arrived with the brigades of Ripley and Porter. Determining
to interpose a new line and disengage Scott's exhausted men,
he ordered forward the two fresh brigades. The enemy's line
was then near "Lundy's Lane," a road running at right angles
lundy's lane. 277
with the river, which it reaches a short distance below the Falls.
His artillery was on a piece of rising ground, which was the key
of the position. Colonel Miller, commanding a regiment of
infantry, was asked by Brown if he could capture it. "I can
try, sir," was the memorable response of the gallant officer.
Though the regiment which should have supported Miller's
gave way, yet the latter moved steadily up the hill. Increasing
its pace it swept forward, while its ranks were depleted at every
step, and after a brief but desperate struggle carried the heights,
and captured the hostile cannon at the point of the bayonet.
At the same time Major Jessup's regiment drove back a part
of the enemy's infantry, capturing Major-General Riall, their
commander, and when General Ripley led forward his reserve
regiment the British fell back and disappeared from the field.
It was now eight o'clock and entirely dark. In a short time
the enemy rallied and attempted to regain his lost artillery.
Seldom in all the annals of w^ar has a conflict been fought under
more strange and romantic circumstances. The darkness of
night was over all the combatants. A little way to the north-
eastward rolled and roared the greatest cataract in the world,
the wonderful Niagara. Its thunders, subdued yet distinct, could
be heard whenever the cannon were silent. And there, in the
darkness, upon that solitary hillside, within sound of that
mighty avalanche of waters, the soldiers of the young republic,
flushed with the triumph which had given them their enemy's
battle-ground, and cannon, and commander, calmly awaited the
onslaught of England's defeated but not disheartened veterans.
At half past eight the Americans saw the darkness turning
red far down the slope, and soon in the gloom were dimly out-
lined the advancing battalions of the foe. The red line came
swiftly, silently, and gallantly up the hill, beneath the swaying
banners of St. George, and all the while the subdued roar of
Niagara was rolling gently over the field.
Suddenly the American cannon and small-arms lighted up the
scene with their angry glare, their voices drowning the noise of
the cataract. The red battalions were torn asunder, and the
hillside strewed with dead and dying men, but the line closed
up and advanced still more rapidly, their fire rivaling that of the
Americans, and both turning the night into deadly day.
2/8 THE AMERICANS VICTORIOUS.
Presently the assailants ceased firing, and then with thunder-
ing cheers and leveled bayonets rushed forward to the charge.
But the American grape and canister made terrible havoc in
their ranks, the musketry of Scott and Ripley mowed them
down by the score, and the sharp-cracking rifles of Porter's vol-
unteers did their work with deadly discrimination. More and
more the assailants wavered, and when the Americans in turn
charged bayonets the whole British line fled at their utmost
speed.
The regulars followed but a short distance, being held in hand
by their officers, who had no idea of plunging through the dark-
ness against a possible reserve. But the volunteers chased the
enemy down the slope, and captured a considerable number of
prisoners. Then the Americans reformed their lines, and then
again the murmur of the cataract held sway over the field.
Twice within the next hour the British attempted to retake
their cannon, and both times the result was the same as that of
the first effort. For two hours afterwards the Americans re-
mained in line, awaiting another onslaught of the foe, but the
latter made no further attempt.
Having no extra teams, the victors were unable to take away
the captured guns, with one exception. Accordingly, with this
single trophy, with their own wounded, and with a hundred and
sixty-nine prisoners, including Gen. Riall, the Americans at
midnight returned to their encampment on the Chippewa.
Their loss was a hundred and seventy-one killed, four hundred
and forty-nine wounded, and a hundred and seventeen missing.
Both Brown and Scott were wounded, the latter severely, and
both were removed to Buffalo.
One or two British writers have claimetl a technical victory at
Lundy's Lane, because the Americans finally left the field at
midnight, but they do not dispute the facts above set forth,
which are vouched for by Generals Brown, Porter and Ripley in
a public declaration, viz., the capture of the English cannon,
the attempt to recapture them, the utter failure, and the two
hours' peaceable possession of the field by the Americans, be-
fore leaving it.
The real condition of the two armies is plainly shown by the
fact that the next day the enemy allowed Ripley to burn the
e
AN INDIAN SPY. 279
mills, barracks and bridge at Bridgewater, without molestation.
The Americans then pursued their untroubled march to Fort
Erie.
On their arrival, the most of the volunteers went home, hav-
ing served the remarkably long time of three or four months.
Nevertheless they had done good service, and were entitled to a
rest according to the views of volunteering then in vogue. The
regulars had been reduced by various casualties to some fifteen
hundred men. The British on the other hand had received re-
inforcements, and felt themselves strong enough to besiege the
fort, if fort it could be called, which was rather a partially in-
trenched encampment.
Before narrating the renowned scenes around Fort Erie, I will
mention a somewhat peculiar event on this side. Though the
Senecas, Cayugas, etc., had mostly returned home, yet they were
all friendly to the United States, and willing to prove it in an>'
way which did not involve the risk of running against British bat-
talions, while chasing Mohawks. Captain Worth, (afterwards th
celebrated General Worth,) then a member of Scott's staff, was,
like his chief, wounded at Lundy's Lane. His affable manners
and dashing valor had made him a great favorite of the Indians,
and when he was brought wounded to Landon's hotel they vied
with each other in rendering him attention. The veteran Far-
mer's Brother, in particular, was in the habit of watching for
hours by the captain's bedside.
On the 31st of July a Chippewa Indian came across the river,
claiming to be a deserter. Individual desertion is a very un-
common crime among Indians, (though tribes sometimes change
sides in a body,) and his story was received w^ith suspicion by
the Senecas. Nevertheless he was allowed to circulate freely
among them, and a bottle of whisky being procured he was in-
vited to share it.
Warmed by the vivifying fluid, the Senecas began recounting
their valiant deeds, especially boasting of the red-coats and
British Indians they had slain at Chippewa. The new comer,
forgetful of the part he had assumed, began to brag of the great
deeds he had done, holding up his fingers to indicate how many
Yankees and Yankee Indians he had made to bite the dust,
especially mentioning " Twenty Canoes," a noted chief and friend
28o AN INDIAN COURT-MARTIAL.
of r^irmer's Brother. The wrathful Senecas at once gathered
around and denounced him as a sp)-. It is said, I know not
how truly, that he then confessed that he had come in that
capacity.
They were on Main street, close to Landon's, and the angry
altercation reached the ears of Farmer's Brother, who was then
at the bedside of Captain Worth. The old chief immediately
joined the assemblage, and inquired the cause. He was told
of the 'pretended deserter's offense, and particularly of his
boasting over the slaughter of " Twenty Canoes." By this time
Capt. Pollard, Major Berry and other chiefs had joined the
crowd, and several whites were standing by as spectators.
On learning the facts, Farmer's Brother grasped his war-club,
walked up to the unfortunate Chippewa, and felled him to the
earth with a blow which broke the club into splinters. It was
probably a fancy, full-dress war-club, not intended for such
severe service. For a moment the Chippewa lay senseless, then
suddenly sprang up, with the blood streaming down his face,
burst through the crowd of startled Senecas and bounded away.
Not a man followed him, but several cried out, (in their own
tongue, of course):
" Ho ! coward ! You dare not stay and be punished ! Coward I
coward !"
The Chippewa stopped, slowly retraced his steps into the
midst of his enemies, drew his blanket over his head, as Caesar
veiled his face with his toga, and lay down beside the wall of
one of the burned buildings.
A brief consultation took place among the chiefs. Some of
the whites who had gathered around manifested a disposition
to interfere, but were sternly informed that that was an Indian
trial, and the court must not be disturbed.
Presently a rifle was handed to P^armer's Brother, who walked
up to the recumbent Chippewa and said :
"Here are my rifle, my tomahawk, and my scalping-knife ;
take your choice by which you will die." The spy muttered his
preference for the rifle.
"And where will you be shot.^" continued the unconscious
imitator of the mercy of Richard the Third. The condemned
man put his hand to his heart, the chieftain placed the muzzle
"BATTLE OF CONJOCKETY CREEK." 28 1
of his rifle at the point indicated and pulled the trigger. With
one convulsive movement the spy expired. Four y^ung Senecas
picked up the corpse, carried it to the edge of the wood a quar-
ter of a mile east of Main street, flung it down and left it un-
buried, to be devoured by the wild animals of the forest.
On the other side of the river. General Drummond's army for
two weeks steadily worked their way toward the American
defenses. These consisted principally of two stone mess-houses
and a bastion, known as " Old Fort Erie," a short distance east
of the river bank, and a natural mound, half a mile farther
south and near the lake, which was surmounted with breastworks
and cannon and called "Towson's Battery." Between the old
fort and the battery ran a parapet, and another from the old
fort eastward to the river. On both the north and west a dense
forest came within sixty rods of the American works. The
British erected batteries in the woods on the north, each one
farther south than its predecessor, and then in the night chopped
out openings through which their cannon could play on our
works.
At this time the commander at Fort Erie was in the habit of
sending across a battalion of regular riflemen every night, to
guard the bridge over Scajaquada creek, who returned each
morning to the fort. About the loth of August a heavy British
force crossed the river at night, at some point below the Sca-
jaquada, and just before daylight they attempted to force their
way across the latter stream. Their objective point was doubt-
less the public stores at Black Rock and Buffalo.
Being opposed by the riflemen before mentioned, under Ma-
jor Lodowick Morgan, there ensued a fight of some importance,
of which old men sometimes speak as the "Battle of Conjockety
Creek," but of which I have found no printed record. Even
the Buffalo Gazette of the day was silent regarding it, though
it afterwards alluded to Major Morgan as "the hero of Con-
jockety."
The planks of the bridge had been taken up, and the riflemen
lay in wait on the south side. When the enemy's column came
up, Morgan's men opened a destructive fire. The English pressed
forward so boldly that some of them, when shot, fell into the
creek and were swept down the Niagara. They were compelled
19
282 STORMING OF FORT ERIE.
to fall back, but again and again they repeated the attempt,
and every time they were repulsed with loss.
A body of militia, under Colonels Swift and Warren, were
placed on the right of the regulars, and prevented the enemy
from crossing farther up the creek. Several deserters came
over to our forces, having thrown away their weapons and taken
off their red coats, which they carried rolled up under their arms.
They reported the enemy's force at seventeen hundred, but that
was probably an exaggeration.
After a conflict lasting several hours the enemy retreated,
having suffered severely in the fight. The Americans had eight
men wounded.
Early in the morning of the 15th of August, 18 14, the Eng-
lish attempted to carry Fort Erie by storm, under cover of the
darkness. At half past two o'clock, a column of a thousand to
fifteen hundred men moved from the woods on the west against
Towson's battery. Though received with a terrific fire they
pressed forward, but were at length stopped within a few yards
of the American lines. They retreated in confusion, and no
further attempt was made at that point.
Notwithstanding the strength of this attack it was perhaps
partly in the nature of a feint, for immediately afterwards two
other columns issued from the forest on the north. One sought
to force its way up along the river bank, but was easily repulsed.
The- other, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, advanced
against the main bastion. It was defended by several heavy guns
and field-pieces, by the Ninth United States infantry, and by
one company each of New York and Pennsylvania volunteers.
Received with a withering discharge of cannon and musketry,
Drummond's right and left were driven back. His center, how-
ever, ascended the parapet, but were finally repulsed with dread-
ful carnage.
Again Drummond led his men to the charge and again they
were repulsed.
A third time the undaunted Englishmen advanced over ground
strewn thick with the bodies of their brethren, in the face of a
sheet of flame from the walls of the bastion, and a third time
they were driven back with terrible loss. This would have sat-
isfied most men of any nation, and one cannot refrain from a
THE EXPLOSION. 283
tribute to English valor of the most desperate kind, when he
learns that Drummond again rallied his men, led them a fourth
time over that pathway of death, .mounted the parapet in spite
of the volleying flames which enveloped it, and actually captured
the bastion at the point of the bayonet.
Many American ofificers were killed in this terrible struggle.
Drummond was as fierce as he was brave, and was frequently
heard crying to his men, "Give the damned Yankees no quar-
ter." But even in the moment of apparent victory he met his
fate — a shot from one of the last of the retreating Americans
laying him dead upon the ground.
Reinforcements were promptly sent to the endangered locality
by Gens. Ripley and Porter. A detachment of riflemen attacked
the British in the bastion but were repulsed. Another and larger
force repeated the attack, but also failed.
The Americans prepared for a third charge, and two batteries
of artillery were playing upon the heroic band of Britons. Sud-
denly the whole scene was lighted up by a vast column of flame,
the earth shook to the water's edge, the ear was deafened by a
fearful sound which reechoed far over the river. A large amount
of cartridges, stored in one of the mess-houses adjoining the
bastion, had been reached by a cannon-ball and exploded. One
instant the fortress, the forest, the river, the dead, the dying and
the maddened living, were revealed by that fearful glare — the
next all was enveloped in darkness, while the shrieks of hun-
dreds of Britons, in more terrible agony than even the soldier
often suffers, pierced the murky and sulphurous air.
The Americans saw their opportunity and redoubled the fire
of their artillery. For a few moments the conquerors of the
bastion maintained their position, but half their number, includ-
ing most of their officers, were killed or wounded, their com-
mander was slain, and they were dazed and overwhelmed by
the calamity that had so unexpectedly befallen them. After a
few volleys they fled in utter confusion to the friendly forest.
As they went out of the bastion the Americans dashed in,
snatching a hundred and eighty-six prisoners from the rear of
the flying foe. Besides these there remained on the ground
they had so valiantly contested two hundred and twenty-one
English dead, and a hundred and seventy-four wounded, nearly
284 STARTLED BUFFALONIANS.
all in and around that single bastion. Besides, there were the
wounded who were carried away by their comrades, including
nearly all who fell in the other two columns. The Americans
had twenty-six killed and ninety-two wounded. Seldom has
there been a more gallant attack, and seldom a more disastrous
repulse.
During the fight the most intense anxiety prevailed on this
side. The tremendous cannonade a little after midnight told
plainly enough that an attack was being made. Nearly every
human being who resided among the ruins of Buffalo and Black
Rock, and many in the country around, were up and watching.
All expected that if the fort should be captured the enemy
would immediately cross, and the horrors of the previous winter
would be repeated. Many packed up and prepared for instant
flight.
When the explosion came, the shock startled even the war-
seasoned inhabitants of Buffalo. Some thought the British had
captured the fort and blown it up, others imagined that the Am-
ericans had penetrated to the British camp and blown that up ;
and all awaited the coming of morn with nerves strung to their
utmost tension. It was soon daylight, when boats crossed the
river from the fort, and the news of another American victory
was soon scattered far and wide through the country.
A day or two afterwards the wounded prisoners were sent to
the hospital at Williamsville, and the unwounded to the depot
of prisoners near Albany. Mr. William Hodge relates that when
the wagons filled with blistered, blackened men halted near his
father's house, they begged for liquor to drown their pain, but
some of the unhurt, who marched on foot, were saucy enough.
Looking at the brick house rising on the ruins of the former
one, they declared they would burn it again within a year.
They could not, however, have been very anxious to escape, for
they were escorted by only a very small guard of militia. The
late James W'ood, of Wales, was one of the guard. Many of
the prisoners were Highlanders, of the Glengarry regiment.
Having failed to carry the fort by assault, the British settled
down to a regular siege. Closer and closer their lines were
drawn and their batteries erected, the dense forest affording
every facility for uninterrupted approach. Reinforcements con-
VOLUNTEERS TO THE FRONT. 285
stantly arrived at the I'^nglish camp, while not a sohtary regular
soldier was added to the constantly diminishing force of the
Americans. By the latter part of August their case had become
so desperate that Gov. Tompkins called out all the militia west
of the Genesee, en masse, and ordered them to Buffalo. They
are said by Turner to have responded with great alacrity.
Arriving at Buffalo, the officers were first assembled, and Gen.
Porter called on them to volunteer to cross the river. There
was considerable hanging back, but the general made another
speech, and under his stinging words most of the officers volun-
teered. The men were then called on to follow their example,
and a force of about fifteen hundred was raised. The 48th
regiment furnished one company. Col. Warren volunteered and
crossed the river, but was sent back with other supernumerary
officers, and placed in command of the militia remaining at
Buffalo.
The volunteers were conveyed across the river at night, about
the loth of September, and encamped on the lake shore above
Towson's battery, behind a sod breast-work hastily erected by
themselves. They were commanded by General Porter, who
bivouacked in their midst, under whom was General Daniel
Davis, of Le Roy. General Brown had resumed command of the
whole American force.
At this time the enemy was divided into three brigades of
fourteen or fifteen hundred men each, one of which was kept
on duty in their batteries every three days, while the other two
remained at the main camp, on a farm a mile and a half west of
the fort.
Immediately after the arrival of the volunteers, a plan was
concerted to break in on the enemy's operations by a sortie.
The British had opened two batteries, and were nearly ready to
unmask another, still nearer and in a more dangerous position.
This was called "Battery No. Three," the one next north "No.
Two," and the farthest one "No. One." It was determined to
make an attack on the 17th of September, before Battery
No. Three could be completed.
On the 1 6th, Majors Eraser and Riddle, both officers of the
regular army acting as aids to General Porter, each followed by
a hundred men, fifty of each party being armed and fifty pro-
286 THE SORTIE.
vided with axes, proceeded from the camp of the vokinteers, by
a circuitous route through the woods, to within a short distance
of Battery No. Three. Thence each detachment cut out the un-
derbrush so as to make a track back to camp over the swampy
ground, curving where necessary to avoid the most miry
places. The work was accomph'shed without the British having
the sHghtest suspicion of what was going on. This was the
most difficult part of the whole enterprise, and its being accom-
plished without the enemy's hearing it must be partly attributed
to good fortune.
In the forenoon of the i/th the whole of the volunteers were
paraded, the enterprise was revealed to them, and a hand-bill
was read, announcing the glorious victories won on Lake Cham-
plain and at Plattsburg a few days before. The news was joy-
fully received and the sortie enthusiastically welcomed. The
volunteers not being uniformed, every one was required to lay
aside his hat or cap and wear on his head a red handkerchief,
or a piece of red cloth which was furnished. Not an officer nor
man wore any other head-gear, except General Porter.
At noon that commander led forth the principal attacking
body from the volunteer camp. The advance consisted of two
hundred volunteers under Colonel Gibson. Behind them came
the column designed for storming the batteries, composed of
four hundred regulars followed by five hundred volunteers, all
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Wood. These took the right
hand track cut out the day before. Another column, of nearly
the same strength, mostly volunteers, under General Davis,
intended to hold the enemy's reinforcements in check and co-
operate in the attack, took the left hand road.
At the same time a body of regulars, under General Miller,
was concealed in a ravine near the northwest corner of the in-
trenchments, prepared to attack in front at the proper time.
The rest of the troops were held in reserve under General
Ripley.
Just after the main column started it began to rain, and con-
tinued to do so throughout the afternoon. The march was
necessarily slow along the swampy, winding pathway, and had
it not been for the underbrushed tracks the columns would
probably have lost their way or been delayed till nightfall.
BRILLIANT SUCCESS. 28/
i\t nearly three o'clock Porter's command arrived at the end
of the track, within a few rods of Battery No. Three, entirely
unsuspected by its occupants. The final arrangements being-
made, they mov^ed on, and in a few moments emerged upon the
astonished workers and their guard. With a tremendous cheer,
which was distinctly heard across the river, the men rushed for-
ward, and the whole force in the battery, thoroughly surprised
and overwhelmed by numbers, at once surrendered, without
hardly firing a shot.
This attack was the signal for the advance of Miller's regu-
lars, who sprang out of their ravine and hurried forward, direct-
ing their steps toward Battery No. Two. Leaving a detachment
to spike and dismount the captured cannon, both of Porter's
columns dashed forward toward the same object, Gen. Davis
leading his volunteers and cooperating closely with Wood.
They arrived at the same time as Miller. They were received
with a heavy fire, but the three commands combined and car-
ried the battery at the point of the bayonet.
Leaving another party to spike and dismount cannon, the
united force pressed forward toward Battery No. One. But by
this time the whole British army was alarmed, and reinforce-
ments were rapidly arriving. Nevertheless the Americans at-
tacked and captured Battery No. One, after a severe conflict.
How gallantly they were led is shown by the fact that all
of Porter's principal commanders were shot down — Gibson at
Battery No. Two, Wood while approaching No. One, and Davis
while gallantly mounting a parapet between the two batteries
at the head of his men. In the last struggle, too, Gen. Porter
himself was slightly wounded by a sword-cut on the hand, and
temporarily taken prisoner, but was immediately rescued by his
own men.
Of course, in a sortie the assailants are not expected to hold
the conquered ground. The work in this case had been as
completely done as in any sortie ever made, and after Batter}-
No. One had been captured a retreat was ordered to the fort,
where the victorious troops arrived just before sunset.
The loss of the Americans was seventy-nine killed and two
hundred and fourteen wounded ; very few, if any, captured.
Four hundred British were taken prisoners, a large number
288 THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER.
killed and wounded, and what was far more important all the re-
sults of nearly two months' labor were entirely overthrown. So
completely were their plans destroyed by this_brilliant assault
that only four days afterwards Gen. Drummond raised the siege,
and retired down the Niagara.
After the enemy retreated the volunteers were dismissed with
the thanks of their commanders, having saved the American
army from losing its last hold on the western side of the
Niagara.
The relief of Fort Erie was one of the most skillfully planned
and gallantly executed sorties ever made. Gen. Napier, the
celebrated British soldier and military historian, mentions it as
one of the very few cases in which a single sortie had compelled
the raising of a siege.
It was also the first really important service performed by the
kind of soldier whose renown has since become world-wide, the
American volunteer. The previous efforts of the volunteers
had been very desultory, and, though often showing distinguished
courage, they had not before borne a principal part in any bat-
tle. At this sortie, however, they were the chief actors, and
then began that long series of brilliant services so well known
to every American. A few months later the battle of New Or-
leans was won by their valor. During the Mexican war the sys-
tem of volunteering was thoroughly matured, and during the
war for the Union the worth of the American volunteer was
tested on a hundred fields.
Very high credit was given to General Porter, both for his
eloquence in engaging the volunteers and his skill and valor in
leading them. The press sounded his praises, the citizens of
Batavia tendered him a dinner, the governor bre\'ctcd him a
major-general, and Congress voted him a gold medal — he being,
I think, the only officer of volunteers to whom that honor was
awarded during the war of 1812.
These guerdons were justly his due on account of the distin-
guished services then known to the public. In addition, there
is little doubt that he is entitled to the credit of originating and
planning the sortie of Fort Erie. For several days previous he
had been holding frequent interviews with General Brown, and
also with two officers of engineers, the object of which was con-
THE PIONEER OF THE VOLUNTEER SYSTEM. 289
cealed from his staff. He afterwards informed Col. Wm. A.
Bird that the secret interviews with General Brown and the en-
gineer officers were for the purpose of planning the sortie, and
that Brown hesitated and requested Porter to draw a plan in
writing, which he did, leaving the paper with Brown.
It is certain that it was Porter's aides who superintended the
cutting out of the roads over which the main columns of attack
passed, and it was Porter who was chosen to command that
force, though composed of both regulars and volunteers, and
though there were two or more regular generals under Brown at
the fort. There was no probable reason why he should have been
charged with the execution of the attack, except because he had
planned it. Of course it was sanctioned by Brown, and the latter
is fairly entitled to the credit belonging to every commander un-
der whose orders a successful movement is carried out, but there
is also especial credit due to the originator of a good plan, and
I have little doubt that in this case that honor belongs to Peter
B. Porter.
But the much higher honor is his of being the first distin-
guished leader of American volunteers against a disciplined foe.
If he cannot be called the father of -the v^olunteer system, he
was certainly its principal pioneer.
The raising of the siege of Fort Erie was substantially the
close of the war on the Niagara frontier. A few unimportant
skirmishes took place, but nothing that need be recorded here.
All the troops except a small guard were w^ithdrawn from Fort
Erie to Buffalo. It was known during the winter that commis-
sioners were trying to negotiate a peace at Ghent, and there was
a universal desire for their success. In this vicinity, at least, the
people had had enough of the glories of war.
On the 15th of January, 1815, the news of the victory of
New Orleans was announced in an extra of the Buffalo Gazette,
but although it occasioned general rejoicing, yet the delight was
by no means so great as when, a week later, the people of the
ravaged frontier were informed of the signing of the treaty of
Ghent. Post-riders as they delivered letters, doctors as they
visited their patients, ministers as they journeyed to meet their
backwoods congregations, spread everywhere the welcome news
of peace.
290 PEACE AND GLADNESS.
Gen. Nott, in his reminiscences, relates that the first sermon in
Sardinia was preached at his house by " Father Spencer," early
in 1 8 1 5. There was a large gathering. The people had heard that
the good missionary had a newspaper announcing the conclusion
of peace, and they were, most of them, probably more anxious
to have their hopes in that respect confirmed than for aught else.
Father Spencer was not disposed to tantalize them, and imme-
diately on rising to begin the services he took the paper from
his pocket, saying, " I bring you news of peace." He then read
the official announcement, and it may be presumed that the grat-
ified congregation afterwards listened all the more earnestly to
the news of divine peace which it was the minister's especial
province to deliver.
In a very brief time the glad tidings penetrated to the most
secluded cabins in the county, and all the people turned with
joyful anticipations to the half-suspended pursuits of peaceful
hfe.
THE SITUATION. 29I
CHAPTER XXVII.
1815 AND 1816.
The Situation. — Beginnings of Villages. — General Porter. — A. H. Tracy. — Sam-
uel Wilkeson. — Dr. Marshall. — Another Newspaper. — New Officials. — First
Murder Trial. — Reese and Young King. — An "Angel of Death." — The
Moral Society. — Marine Intelligence. — Buffalo Business. — Williamsville. —
Alden. — Willink. — An Unpleasant Meeting. — Cheap Money. — Holland Mills.
— Basswood Sugar. — Wright's Corners. — Duplicate "Smith's Mills." — Hill's
Corners. — "Fiddler's Green." — "The Old Court House." — -"The Man who
Knows all the World." — Civil and Military Dignitaries. — Lake Cargoes. — ■
"Grand Canal" Preliminaries. — Bank of Niagara. — Marshal Grouchy. — Red
Jacket on Etiquette. — " The Cold Summer." — The Consequences. — A Mighty
Hunter. — A Fruitless Sacrifice. — Asa Warren.
It is needless to give a resume of the condition of Erie county
at tlie close of the war of 18 12. It was just where it was at
the beginning of that contest, except that Buffalo and Black
Rock had been burned, and that here and there a pioneer had
abandoned his little clearing. No new business had been devel-
oped anywhere, hardly a solitary new settler had taken up his
abode in the county, and those already there had been so har-
rassed by Indian alarms and militia drafts that they had ex-
tended but very little the clearings which existed at the begin-
ning of the war.
Immediately after the conclusion of peace, however, the long
restrained tide again flowed westward, and for a while emigrants
poured on to the Holland Purchase more rapidly than ever.
It will of course be impracticable, henceforth, to give atten-
tion to the names of individual settlers, to petty officers and to
minor details, as during the pioneer period before the war. My
notices will necessarily be confined to men in more or less pub-
lic positions, to the general development of the county, to im-
portant events occurring in it, and to the origin of the scores of
pleasant villages which now dot its surface. Nearly all of these
first began to assume village shape during the ten years next
succeeding the war of 18 12.
292 A PATHETIC FAREWELL.
WilHamsville and Clarence Hollow were the only places, out-
side of Bufifalo and its afterward-absorbed rival, Black Rock,
which had advanced far enough to have a grist-mill, saw-mill,
tavern and store all at once. The acquisition of the last-named
institution, in addition to the other three, might fairly be con-
sidered as marking the beginning of a village. Taverns could
be started anywhere. A man bought a few gallons of whisky,
put up a sign in front of his log house, and forthwith became a
hotel-keeper. Saw-mills were not very expensive, and were soon
scattered along the numerous streams wherever there was the
necessary fall. Grist-mills were more costly, and he was a heavy
capitalist who could build one ; still they were so absolutely nec-
essary that they were frequently erected very early in the
course of settlement, and while residences were still widely
scattered.
But a store, a place where a real merchant dispensed calico,
tea, nails, molasses, ribbons and salt, marked a decided advance
in civilization, and almost always was the nucleus of a hamlet
which has since developed into a thriving village.
A considerable body of troops remained at Bufifalo during the
winter, but all were sent away in the spring.
With one of the officers. Colonel Snelling, Red Jacket had
formed a special intimacy. On his being ordered to Governor's
Island in the harbor of New York, the sachem made him the
following little speech, as published by a relative of the colonel:
" Brother— I hear you are going to a place called Governor's
" Island. I hope you will be a governor yourself. I understand
" that you white people think children a blessing. I hope you
" may have a thousand. And above all, wherever you go, I
" hope you may never find whisky above two shillings a quart."
' In March, General Porter was appointed Secretary of State of
New York by Governor Tompkins, and resigned his seat in
Congress. His new position, and the one which he subsequent-
ly accepted, of United States commissioner to settle the north-
ern boundary, seem to have had an obscuring effect on his fame;
for whereas, not only during but before the war he had been one
of the foremost men of the State, and almost of the nation,
yet immediately afterwards he nearly disappeared from public
sight. Nor did he ever regain the preeminent position he occu-
TRACY, WILKESON, ETC. 293
pied at the close of the war, though he afterwards for a brief
period held a cabinet office.
A young man, destined in a very brief time to acquire a large
part of the influence previously wielded by Porter, opened a law-
office in Buffalo in the spring of 181 5. This was Albert H.
Tracy, then twenty-two years old, a tall, erect, vigorous young
man, of brilliant intellect and thorough culture, a clear-headed
lawyer and a skillful manager of the political chariot.
Another man, who immediately after the war entered on a
career of great success and influence, was Samuel VVilkeson. In
fact he had made a beginning in Buffalo a little earlier, building
a shanty and opening a small mercantile business among the
ruins, while war was still thundering around. He was another
of the " big men," physically as well as mentally, who built up
the prosperity of the emporium of Western New York. Over six
feet high, with strong, resolute features, the index of a vigorous
mind, always driving straight at his object, tremendous indeed
must have been the difficulties which could divert him from it.
Dr. John E. Marshall was another influential man who set-
tled in Buff"alo in the spring of 1815. Like Wilkeson he came
from Chautauqua county, of which he had been the first county
clerk, and soon became prominent in his profession, in business
and in political life.
In April, 181 5, another newspaper, called the Niagara Jour-
nal, was established in Buffalo by David M. Day, who remained
its editor and proprietor for many years, and wielded a strong
influence in the county. The Gazette had leaned toward Fed-
eralism ; the Journal was Democratic.
The assembly district composed of Niagara, Cattaraugus and
Chautauqua counties was now awarded two members, the first
ones chosen being Daniel McCleary, of Buffalo, and Elias
Osborn, of Clarence. McCleary, also, soon after removed to
Clarence.
The data are somewhat obscure, but Senator Archibald S.
Clarke was elected to fill out Porter's term in Congress, and I
think it was at a special election in June, 1815. Mr. Clarke
was also appointed county clerk in 1815, and Dr. Johnson sur-
rogate.
The supervisors chosen in that year were Jonas Harrison, of
294 FIRST MURDER TRIAL.
Buffalo ; Otis R. Hopkins, of Clarence ; Lemuel Wasson, of
Hamburg ; Lemuel Parmely, of Eden. Concord and Willink
unknown. In the latter town Arthur Humphrey and Isaac
Phelps, Jr., were supervisors two or three terms each, between
its first and second divisions.
These were the days when "general trainings" were occasions
of great importance, and we must not neglect the military.
At the close of the war Gen. Hopkins resigned his brigadier-
ship, and in May a new military commission was issued by
which Lt.-Col. Wm. Warren was made brigadier-general. Wm.
W. Chapin (son of Dr. Daniel) became lieutenant-colonel, with
James Cronk and Joseph Wells as majors. Ezekiel Cook was
made lieutenant-colonel commanding the regiment in the south-
ern towns, its majors being Ezra Nott and Sumner Warren.
In June, 1815, there occurred the first murder trial in the
present county of Erie, when Charles Thompson and James
Peters were convicted of the murder of James Burba. They
had both been soldiers in the regular army, and during the war
had been sent on a scout with a companion, another soldier, a
mile and a half below Scajaquada creek. They had gone three
miles below the creek to Burba's residence, committed some
depredations, got into a quarrel with the owner, and finally
killed him. Their comrade escaped. The case furnishes
further evidence of the inattention paid by the journals of
that day to local news. To this important trial, at which two
men were convicted of a capital crime, the Buffalo Gazette de-
voted just seventeen lines! Not a word of the evidence was
given. Yet in the same issue that journal gave up a column
and a half to the execution of a forger in England.
In August the two men were executed in public, as was the
rule in that day. The prisoners and scaffold were guarded by
several companies of militia, under General Warren. Glezen
Fillmore, the young Methodist minister of Clarence, preached
the funeral sermon, and was assisted in the last rites to the con-
demned by Rev. Miles P. Squier, who, had just settled in Buf-
falo as the pastor of the Presbyterian church. On this occasion
the Gazette conquered its apparent antipathy to local matters
so far as to give a narrative of the crime in forty-six lines, but
restricted its description of the execution to sixteen.
REESE AND YOUNG KING. 295
Another event, which at an earher day would have set all the
people wild with fears of Indian massacre, was a conflict be-
tween David Reese, the blacksmith, and the Seneca chief,
" Young King." The former had had a quarrel with another
Indian, and had struck him. Young King rode up and de-
nounced him for doing so. Reese told the chief if he would
get off his horse he would serve him the same way. At this
Young King dismounted and struck the blacksmith with his
club. Reese immediately snatched a scythe from a bystander,
and inflicted on the chief's arm a blow so severe that it was
found necessary to amputate it.
Ten years before this might have brought on a bloody conflict
between the Indians and whites, but the latter were now strong
enough to protect themselves unless their red neighbors were
joined by the English, of which there was at that time no dan-
ger. There was, however, some danger to Reese himself from
the vengeance of Young King's friends. None of those around
Buffalo seem to have made any trouble, but John Jemison, the
half-breed son of the celebrated " White Woman," a man of
desperate passions, who murdered two of his own brothers, came
from the Genesee at the head of a party of Indians, with the
avowed intention of killing Reese. Turner, in his " Holland
Purchase," mentions having seen Jemison on his way, and de-
scribes him as well personifying the ideal Angel of Death. His
face was painted a bloody red, long bunches of horsehair, also
colored red, hung from his arms, and his appearance betokened
a determination to use promptly the war-club and tomahawk
which were his only weapons.
Reese's friends, however, either secreted or guarded him, and
the danger passed by. The dispute with Young King was prob-
ably settled by Reese's paying him a sum of money, though all
I can learn is that it was referred by the principals to Judge Por-
ter, Joshua Gillett and Jonas Williams, as arbitrators.
The proceedings of a brief-lived institution called the Buffalo
Moral Society, organized for the repression of vice in that vil-
lage, shows the change of public sentiment on two points. A
very guarded temperance resolution was adopted, in which it
was recommended to professors of religion and friends of mor-
ality " as far as practicable " to refrain from ardent spirits, to
296 MORALS AND MERCHANDISE.
admit their use cautiously if at all, and to devise means of les-
sening if not discontinuing their use among laborers.
As to Sabbath-breaking their ideas were far more positive, as
not long after they published a resolution declaring that the
laws should be strictly enforced, not only against all who should
drive loaded teams into the village, unload goods, keep. open
stores, etc., but also against all parties of pleasure, riding or
ivalking to Black Rock or elsewhere. Such a society would now
speak far more strongly against the use of liquor, but would
hardly dream of prohibiting people from walking out on Sunday.
The first marine intelligence published under the head of
" Port of Buff"alo" was on the 15th of August, 181 5, when the
Gazette announced the following for the week previous : Entered
— a boat from Detroit, loaded with fish and wool ; sloop Commo-
dore Perry, peltries. Cleared — sloop Fiddler, Cuyahoga, salt
and pork.
The vessels in use appear to have been all sloops, schooners
and open boats, and all but the last named craft landed at Black
Rock. Salt was the most common article of merchandise sent
up the lake. There were also sent in small quantities, dry goods,
groceries, furniture and clothing. There was still less return
freight. Nearly half of the few vessels came down the lake in bal-
last, but none went up so. When they were loaded on the return
trip, it was usually with fish, fur and peltries. Not a bushel of
grain, not a pound of flour, came down for many years after the
war.
Building went on apace, and in July the Gazette boasted that
there were nearly as many houses erected, or in process of erec-
tion, as had been burned a year and a half before.
VVilliamsville, which had become a place of considerable im-
portance during the war, did not increase much for a good while
after. Isaac F. Bowman was merchant and postmaster there in
1815.
Alden had been hardly as early in settlement as the other
towns north of the reservation. The first saw-mill was not
erected until 18 14, John C. Rogers being the owner and builder.
The next year a small log house was fitted up on the east part
of the site of Alden village, and u.sed both as school-house and
church; Miss Mehitable Estabrooks being the first school-teacher.
AURORA AND SOUTH WALES. 297
To the corners in Willink, a mile east of Stephens' ATills,
(now " East Aurora,") there came in the spring of 1815 a tall,
dark, slender young man, about twenty-one years old, who pur-
chased a small, unfinished frame and opened a store. This
was Robert Person, for fifty years one of the most prominent
citizens of Aurora, and this was the beginning of merchandis-
ing in Willink, aside from the abortiv^e attempt of 181 1.
A little before the close of the war a mail-route had been
established through Willink and Hamburg, from east to west,
running near the center of the present towns of Wales, Aurora
and East Hamburg. There was a post-ofifice called Willink at
Blakely's Corners, two miles south of Aurora village, and, I
think, one called Hamburg at "John Green's tavern." Simon
Crook was the first postmaster of the former. After the war it
was moved down to Aurora village, where Elihu Walker was
postmaster for nearly twenty years.
Dr. John Watson continued to be the physician for the local-
ity around Stephens' Mills. His brother, Dr. Ira G. Watson,
located at \yhat was afterwards called South Wales, where he prac-
ticed over thirty years, his ride extending over a large part of
Wales, Aurora, Holland and Colden. It would appear that
country doctors were sometimes short of medicines, for Dr.
John Watson took pains to advertise that he had medicines for
practice.
Mr. Wm. C. Russell, of South Wales, who came there, a boy,
with his father, John Russell, near the close of the war, says
there was then a road, which could be traveled by teams, from
Buffalo through the reservation to Stephens' Mills. It was suffi-
ciently wild, however. He and his oldest sister, a young girl,
drove a cow ahead of the team. Near what is now Spring
Brook a bear crossed the trail just ahead of them. Seeing the
children, he stood up on his hind legs to reconnoitre. Hearing
them scream and seeing them pick up clubs, he finally retreated.
At this time John McKeen kept the old " Eagle stand " at the
west end of the village of East Aurora, and there were a few
houses, mostly log, at each end of that village.
In 1 8 16, Aaron Warner opened a tavern at South Wales.
His son, D. S. Warner, in describing the scarcity of money
then, says he does not believe there was five dollars of current
298 HOLLAND AND HAMBURG.
money between Aurora and Holland. "Shinplasters," issued by
private firms, were in use in many parts of the countrj', which,
as Mr. Warner says, "were good from one turnpike gate to
another."
Before the close of the war. Col. Warren and r43hraim Wood-
ruff had bought the mill-site at Holland village, and finished a
grist-mill already begun — the first in the present town of Hol-
land. In the spring of 181 5 Warren bought out Woodruff and
moved to Holland, where he built a saw-mill, the first in that
vicinity. Robert Orr was the mill-wright, and in the autumn
of the same year he bought out Warren, who returned from Hol-
land to Aurora; that is to say, he returned from the place where
Holland was going to be to the place where Aurora was going
to' be.
Joshua Barron kept the first tavern in Holland, on the site
of the village, just after the war, in the only frame house in
the township. His sister, Lodisa Barron, since Mrs. Stanton,
and still an active woman, kept the first school in that vi-
cinity. There had been one in the Humphrey neighborhood
before.
James Reynolds opened a store in East Hamburg, near the
close of the war, not far from the site of the Friends' meeting-
house— afterwards still nearer Potter's Corners. A man named
Cromwell also had a store there not long after the war. His clerk
was from New York city, and old pioneers still smile aloud as
they relate how the young New Yorker attempted a grand
speculation in sugar, and began by tapping all the largest white
oaks and basswoods he could find.
Jacob Wright still kept the inn at or near Wright's Corners,
and there the "townsmen of Hamburg" met in 181 5, and, after
electing Mr. Wasson supervisor, voted a bounty of five dollars
on wolf-scalps. At this time tiie town was divided into nine
school-districts. The " Friends, called Quakers," as the record
says, presented a petition, and were set off in a district by
themselves.
About this time, too, a Mr. Bennett opened a dry-goods and
grocery store at Smith's ]\Iills, (Hamburg,) the first one there.
James I lusted also had a tannery there. Although that was
the principal place known as " Smith's Mills," there was another
smith's mills and fiddler's green. 299
point of the same name not a i^reat ways off, at the mills of
Humphrey Smith, in Willink, since called Griffin's Mills.
Mr. Wm. Boies, of the latter place, relates that when he first
came into Erie county, in the spring of 18 15, he was sent ahead
by his brother to find his way, on horseback, to a still older
brother who lived at " Staffordshire," in Aurora. He was di-
rected to go to Buffalo, then up the beach of the lake, inquiring
the way to "Wright's Corners," and there to inquire for " Smith's
Mills." He did so, and was surprised to find himself at Smith's
Mills only two miles from Wright's Corners. Further inquiry
led to his finding that there was another Smith's Mills six or
seven miles eastward, and thither he made his way.
Soon after the war John Hill's father, William Hill, formerly
a surgeon in the Rev'olution, came to what is now Eden Center,
and kept the first tavern there. The place was then called Hill's
Corners.
The people of the town of Concord, (which it will be remem-
bered comprised Sardinia, Concord, Collins and North Collins,)
began to make a kind of business center at the point on Spring
creek where Albro and Cochran had first settled, where Rufus
Eaton had built a saw-mill before the war, and where he had
afterwards erected a grist-mill and distillery.
Settlers had become so numerous around there that, in the
winter of 18 14, Mr. Eaton's son, Rufus C. Eaton, then nineteen,
taught a school with seventy scholars. David Stickney started a
tavern, and Capt. Frederick Richmond brought in some grocer-
ies shortly after the war — I cannot learn exactly when. There
was a small open space, used as a kind of common, where the
public square at Springville now is, which soon acquired the
name of Fiddler's Green. The reason is a little doubtful, but
the best account is that there were several good fiddlers living
in the immediate vicinity, and the people for miles around used
to assemble there for merry-makings of all kinds. From this
the little village received the same name, and for many years
" Fiddler's Green " was its universal designation. Notwithstand-
ing this godless name, a Presbyterian church was organized
there by Father Spencer, in 18 16, being the first in the place.
A Methodist and a Baptist church were formed not long after,
but I have not the exact dates.
300 "THE MAN WHO KNOWS ALL THE WORLD."
In the spring' of 1816 a new court-house was begun in Buffalo,
and the walls erected during the summer. Instead of being
placed in the middle of Onondaga (Washington) street, with a
circular plat around it, as before, it was built on the east side of
that street, and a small park was laid out in front of it. The
building then erected was the one which for the last twenty-five
years has been known as the " Old Court House," and which
has been torn down during the present season.
In that year Benjamin Ellicott, younger brother of Joseph,
was elected to Congress. He was a resident of Williamsville, a
surveyor by occupation, and not conspicuous after the expiration
of his official term. The Indians called him by a name signify-
ing " The Man who Knows all the World." They had observed
him draw maps from notes brought him by his subordinates
on which he depicted rivers and creeks which they knew
he had never seen ; hence the admiring appellation they gave
him. He was the last congressman from Erie county residing
outside tlie village or city of Buffalo.
The members of assembly chosen from this district were
Richard Smith of Hamburg, and Jediah Prendergast of Chau-
tauqua county. Frederick B. Merrill was appointed county
clerk in this year, in place of Archibald S. Clarke ; the latter
being made a member of the governor's council of appointment.
He was also commissioned as a judge of the Common Pleas. I
doubt if any other man in the county has ever held so many
offices as Judge Clarke.
The board of supervisors for that year was comprised of Na-.
thaniel Sill of Buffalo, Otis R. Hopkins of Clarence, Richard
Smith of Hamburg and Lemuel Parmely of Eden.
The town-book of Buffalo has been preserved since the war,
and this one of its records, in 1816, brings vividly before the
reader the then primeval condition of that great city and its
suburbs :
"Voted that a reward of $5.00 be i)aid for the destruction of
every w^olf killed in said town, to be paid by the town, and that
the evidence of their destruction shall be their scalp with the
skin and ears on."
Military affairs were not suffered to lag, so far as the appoint-
ment of officers was concerned. A new regiment was created
MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL. 3OI
in the spring of 18 16; Colonels Chapin and Cook disappear
from the record, and a commission was issued making Sumner
Warren of Willink (Aurora), James Cronk of Clarence (New-
stead), and Ezra Nott of Concord (Sardinia), lieutenant-colonels
commandant ; Joseph Wells of Buffalo, and Luther Colvin of
Hamburg (East Hamburg), first majors ; and Calvin Fillmore of
Clarence (Lancaster), Frederick Richmond of Concord, and
Benjamin L Clough of Hamburg, second majors.
The commerce of the port of Buffalo continued of a very
miscellaneous character, and articles of the same kind frequently
went both ways. From a few records of cargoes, taken in their
order, I find the articles going up were whisky, dry-goods, house-
hold-goods, naval stores, dry-goods, groceries, hardware, salt, fish,
spirits, household-goods, mill-irons, salt, tea, whisky, butter,
whisky, coffee, soap, medicines, groceries, household-goods, farm
utensils.
Coming down, the list comprised furs, fish, cider, furs, paint,
dry-goods, furniture, scythes, furs, grindstones, coffee, skins,
furs, cider, paint, furs, fish, household-goods, grindstones, skins,
'sc3^thes, coffee, fish, building-stone, crockery, hardware, pork,
scythes, clothing. It is difficult to guess whereabouts up the
lake crockery, hardware, dry-goods and coffee came from at that
day, but such is the record.
Nearly all the vessels were schooners, a few only being sloops.
The lake marine in 18 16 was composed, besides a few open
boats, of the schooners Dolphin, Diligence, Erie, Pomfret, Wea-
sel, Widow's Son, Merry Calvin, Firefly, Paulina, Mink, Mer-
chant, Pilot, Rachel, Michigan, Neptune, Hercules, Croghan,
Tiger, Aurora, Experiment, Black Snake, Ranger, Fiddler, and
Champion ; and the sloops Venus, American Eagle, Persever-
ance, Nightingale, and Black-River-Packet.
There certainly did not seem to be much commerce to justify
a grand canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie, but the statesmen
of the day, looking hopefully toward the future, deemed its con-
struction expedient, and they were eagerly seconded by the
people. There had been various suggestions put forth from a
very early day regarding the importance of a good water-com-
munication between the ocean and the lakes. Most of them, how-
ever, were directed toward the improvement of the natural
302 THE "GRAND CANAL."
channels, so as to connect the Mohawk with Lake Ontario at
Oswego.
The first distinct, public advocacy of a separate canal from
the Hudson to Lake Erie was made by Jesse Hawley, of On-
tario county, in a series of essays published in the Ontario Mes-
senger, in 1807-8. His idea was taken up by others, explora-
tions were ordered by the legislature, and just before the war
a law was passed authorizing the actual construction of the
canal. The war, however, caused its repeal. De Witt Clinton
had been foremost in urging forward the work, being strongly
seconded by Gouverneur Morris, Joseph Ellicott, Peter 11 Por-
ter and others. Mr. Ellicott, especially, showed at once great
breadth of view, and excellent practical judgment.
Immediately after the war the scheme was revived, Clinton
being still its warmest supporter. Public opinion was thor-
oughly awakened, and in March, 18 16, a bill passed the assembly
directing the immediate commencement of the canal. The
more conservative senate insisted on further surveys and esti-
mates, to which the assembly assented. The same summer a
route was surveyed from Buffalo to the Genesee, which was sub-
stantially the same as that finally adopted.
In July, 1 8 16, the first bank in Erie county was organized,
and named the Bank of Niagara. The whole capital was the
immense sum (for those times) of five hundred thousand dollars,
but the amount required to be paid down was modest enough,
being only six dollars and twenty-five cents on each share of a
hundred dollars. The directors were chosen from a wide range
of country — being Augustus Porter, of Niagara Falls ; James
Brisbane, of.Batavia; A. S. Clarke, of Clarence; Jonas Wil-
liams and Benjamin Caryl, of Williamsville ; Isaac Kibbe, of
Hamburg; Martin Prcndergast, of Chautauqua county ; Samuel
Russell and Chauncey Loomis (exact residence unknown), and
Ebenezer F. Norton, Jonas Harrison, Ebenezer Walden and
John G. Camp, of Buffalo. Isaac Kibbe was the first president,
and Isaac Q. Leake the first cashier.
In those days probably a man might move in the first circles
without his name being either Ebenezer, Jonas or Isaac, but
those were certainly the fashionable appellations.
Probably it had no perceptible influence on the destiny of
RED JACKET ON ETIQUETTE. 303
Erie county, yet it seems worth mentioning" that in November,
1 8 16, Marshal Grouchy and suite, returning from Niagara Falls,
came to Buffalo and then visited the Seneca Indian village. It
is interesting to pause a moment from chronicling the erection of
log-taverns and the election of supervisors, to contemplate the
war-worn French marshal, (the hero of a score of battles, yet
half-believed a traitor because he failed to intercept the march
of Blucher to support Wellington at Waterloo,) soothing his
vexed spirit with a visit to the greatest of natural wonders, and
then coming to seek wisdom at aboriginal sources, and exchange
compliments with Red Jacket and Little Billy.
Doubtless the renowned Seneca orator arrrayed himself in his
most becoming apparel, and assumed his stateliest demeanor to
welcome the great war-chief from over the sea, and doubtless he
felt that it was he, Sagoyewatha, who was conferring honor b}'
the interview. An anecdote related by Stone shows how
proudl}^ the sachem was accustomed to maintain his dignit}'.
A young French count came to Buffalo, and, hearing that
Red Jacket was one of the lions of the western world, sent a
messenger inviting the sachem to visit him at his hotel. Sa-
goyewatha sent back word that if the young stranger wished to
see the old chief, he would be welcome at his cabin. The count
again sent a message, saying that he was much fatigued with his
long journey of four thousand miles; that he had come all that
distance to see the celebrated orator, Red Jacket, and he thought
it strange that the latter would not come five miles to meet him.
But the chief, as wily as he was proud, returned answer that it
was still more strange that, after the count had traveled all that
immense distance for such a purpose, he should halt only a few
miles from the home of the man he had come so far to see.
Finally the young nobleman gave up, visited the sachem at his
home, and was delighted with the eloquence, wisdom and dig-
nity of the savage. Then, the claims of etiquette having been
satisfied, the punctilious chieftain accepted an invitation to dine
with his titled visitor at his hotel.
The same year, several Senecas were taken to Europe to be
shown, by a speculator called Captain Hale. The principal
ones were the Chief So-onongise, commonly called by the whites
Tommy Jemmy, his son. Little Bear, and a handsome Indian
304 THE COLD SUMMER.
called"! Like You." Jacob A. Barker, son of Judge Zena.s
Barker, went along as interpreter. The speculation seems not
to have been a success, and Hale ran away. An English lady,
said to have been of good family and refined manners, fell des-
perately in love with " I Like You," and was with difficulty pre-
vented from linking her fortunes to his. After his return, the
enamored lady sent her portrait across the ocean to her dusky
lover. There have been many such cases, and sometimes the
woman has actually wedded her copper-colored Othello, and
taken up her residence in his wigwam or cabin.
Among the farmers, the peculiar characteristic of 1816 was
that it was the year of the " cold summer." Tliough sixty
years have passed away, the memory of the " cold summer " is
still vividly impressed on the minds of the surviving pioneers.
Snow fell late in May, there was a heavy frost on the 9th of
June, and all through the summer the weather was terribly un-
propitious to the crops of the struggling settlers. There had
been a large emigration in the spring, just about time enough
having elap.sed since the war for people to make up their minds
to go West. Forty families came into the present town of Hol-
land alone, and elsewhere the tide was nearly as great.
An overflowing population and an extremely short crop, with
no reserves in the granaries to fall back on, soon made provisions
of all kinds extremely high and dear. The fact that there is
little or no grain in store always makes a failure of the crop
fall with treble severity on a new country, as has been seen in
the case of drouth in Kansas and grasshoppers in Nebraska.
How closely the reserve was worked up in this section may be
.seen by the fact that on the 17th of August, 18 16, just before
the new crop was ground, flour sold in Buffalo for $15.00 a bar-
rel, and on the 19th there was not a barrel on sale in the village.
The new crop relieved the pressure for a while, but this ran
low early in the winter, and then came scenes of great suffering
for the poorer class of settlers. In many cases the hunter's
skill furni.shed his family with meat, but in a large part of the
county there had been just enough settlement to scare away
the game. There is no proof that any of the people actually
starved to death, but there can be no doubt that the weakening
from long privation caused many a premature death.
A MIGHTY HUNTER. 305
Fortunate were tlie dwellers where the deer were still numer-
ous. There were many in the vicinity of the Cattaraugus creek.
Josiah Thompson, now of Holland, was a famous hunter of those
days, residing in the east part of Concord, now Sardinia. He
told me that in the winter after the "cold summer," when many
families were almost starving, the men would come to him for
the loan of his rifle to kill deer. But, like many hunters, he held
his rifle as something sacred. His invariable reply was that he
would not loan his rifle, but would willingly kill a deer for the
seeker, and did so again and again.
He stated that he had frequently, after killing deer all one day,
had a good sled-load to draw in the next day. Not only deer
but bears and wolves fell before his unerring rifle. On one oc-
casion he met five bears and killed three of them. But his
most remarkable feat was when, as he asserted, he went out
after supper and killed eighteen deer before quitting for the
night. I didn't ask him wdien he ate supper.
During the cold summer the Indians tried to produce a change
by pagan sacrifices. Major Jack Berry, Red Jacket's inter-
preter, a fat chief who usually went about in summer Avith a
bunch of flowers in his hat, said that to avert the cold weather
his countrymen burnt a white dog and a deer, and held a grand
pow-wow under the direction of the medicine men — but the next
morning there was a harder frost than ever before.
Notwithstanding the adverse weather, the large emigration
produced some progress even in 18 16. In the present town of
Alden, Amos Bliss opened the first tavern in that year. Seth
Estabrooks brought in a cart-load of groceries, etc., and set up
as the first merchant, in a one-roomed log-house, a few rods south
of the main road, on what is now called the Mercer road.
Gen. Warren built another frame tavern at the east end of
Willink village. His younger brother, Asa Warren, moved from
Aurora to Eden, settling first at a place now called Kromer's
Mills, two or three miles eastward from Eden Center, where he
built a grist-mill and saw^-mill, becoming one of the leading citi-
zens of the town.
About the same time, or a little earlier, Erastus Torrey, with
his younger brothers, located at what is now called Boston Cor-
ners, but which for many years was known as Torrey's Corners.
;o6 A WANDERING BALLOT-BOX.
chaptp:r XXVIII.
1817 AND 1818.
\\^rindei"ing Polls. — Officers. — Formalion of Boston. — First Cargo of Flour. — Furs.
— -A Presidential Visitor. — Terrible Roads. — The Four-Mile Woods. — Starv-
ing Indians. — Father Spencer. — A Revival. — Beginning the Canal. — Progress
Here and There. — Lost and Frozen. — Four New Towns. — Willink Destroyed.
— Political Complications. — A Youthful Congressman. — Wearers of Epau-
lets.— The "Walk-in-the- Water." — The "Horn Breeze." — Religious Im-
provement.— A Church Building. — Wright's Mills. — Springville. — Wales
Emmons. — A Wonderful Battle. — John Turkey's Victory.
The migratory character of the ballot-box, sixty years ago, is
well illustrated by the journeyings of that of the town of Buf-
falo in 1 8 17. On the 29th day of March, at 9 a. m., the polls
were opened at the house of Frederick Miller, at Williamsville.
At 5 p. m. they were adjourned to the house of Anna Ad-
kins, on Buffalo Plains. They opened there the next morning
at nine, and at twelve adjourned to the house of Pliny A. Field,
at Black Rock. At 5 p. m. they were adjourned to the house
of Elias Ransom, in the village of Buffalo, where they remained
during the next day, March 31st.
The assemblymen elected were Isaac Phelps, Jr., of Willink,
(Aurora,) and Robt. Fleming, of the present county of Niagara.
The known supervisors for 18 17 were Erastus Granger of
Buffalo, Otis R. Hopkins of Clarence, Isaac Chandler of Ham-
burg, and Silas Estee of P2den.
The town of Boston, with its present boundaries, was formed
from Eden on the 5th day of April, 1817. It comprised the
whole of township Eight, range Seven, except the western tier
of lots, which was left attached to Eden. It was organized the
next year, with Samuel Abbott as the first supervisor and young
Truman Cary as one of the board of assessors.
Cattaraugus county was separately organized in the summer
of 1 8 17. Shortly afterwards Samuel Tuppcr, first judge of Ni-
agara county, died, and ere long these changes caused a reor-
OFFICIAL AND COMMERCIAL. 307
ganization of the Court of Common Picas, by which William
Hotchkiss, from the present county of Niagara, was named as
first judge, with five associates ; of these Oliver Forward, Chas.
Townsend, Samuel Wilkeson and Samuel Russell were from
the present county of Erie.
I give a list of justices of the peace appointed in 18 17, which
I have chanced to meet with, though henceforth it will be im-
practicable, for lack of room, to include those increasing conserv-
ators of the law. They were James Wolcott, Jonathan Bowen,
Isaac Wilson, C. Clifford, Seth Abbott, Amos Smith, John Hill,
Nathaniel Gray, Salmon W. Beardsley, Gad Pierce, Morton
Crosby, Frederick Richmond, Rufus Eaton, Burgoyne Camp,
Elijah Doty, James Sheldon, Ezra St. John, Alexander Hitch-
cock, Rufus Spaulding, Simeon Fillmore and Luther Barney.
When I wrote the first draft of this chapter, I mentioned that
of all that list only Alexander Hitchcock, of Cheektowaga, sur-
vived. Before the revision for the press took place, he too passed
away. One of the number, James Sheldon, father of the pres-
ent Judge Sheldon, was a young lawyer who had lately settled
in Buffalo, forming a partnership with C. G. Olmsted, who had
been there a little longer.
The open boat Troyer, which came into port about the middle
of July, 18 17, brought the pioneer cargo of breadstuffs from the
West, being partly loaded with flour from Cuyahoga. This was
the feeble beginning of a trade which now rivals that of many
an independent nation.
Yet it was many years after that before the commerce in west-
ern breadstuff's became of any considerable consequence. Half
the vessels still came down the lake empty. One week six or
seven arrivals were in ballast. Furs still constituted the princi-
pal shipments, in value, from the West, and in the summer of
1817 a vessel bearing the curious name of "Tigress and Han-
nah" brought the largest and most valuable lot ever shipped at
once from the West, estimated to be worth over a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. It comprised five hundred and ninety-
four packages of beaver, otter, muskrat, bear and buffalo skins,
of which three hundred and twenty-two packages belonged to
John Jacob Astor.
A notable event for this frontier county was the first visit of
308 A PRESIDENTIAL VISITOR.
a President of the United States. President Monroe, having
spent a day at the Falls, came up the river on the 9th of Au-
gust, accompanied by General Jacob Brown, commander-in-
chief of the army. He was met below Black Rock by a com-
mittee of eminent citizens, and escorted to Landon's hotel.
There was an address by the committee, a brief, extemporane-
ous reply by the illustrious guest, the usual hand-shake accorded
to our patient statesmen, and then the President embarked the
same evening for Detroit. It was noticed by the press that the
President had then "already been more than, two months away
from Washington," and his western trip and return must have
consumed nearly a month more.
The distinguished visitor was certainly not detained to greet
the people of Tonawanda, for that now flourishing burg had
then not even made a start in the race for success. Mr. Urial
Driggs, who as a boy passed through there in that year, says
there was nothing there but an old log-tavern and a rope-ferry.
There were, however, two or three log houses on the north side.
Early in 18 17 a post-office was established at Black Rock,
James L. Barton being the first postmaster.
Even at this period there was only a tri-weekly mail from and
to the Ea.st, the stage leaving Buffalo Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays at 5 o'clock a. m. These were the days of terrible
roads, in both spring and fall. In summer the big coaches
bowled along easily enough over hill and dale, the closely-
packed passengers beguiling the time with many a pleasant tale,
until "stage-coach stories " have become famous for their wit
and jollity. But woe to the unlucky traveler, doomed to a
stage-coach experience in spring or fall. That he should be re-
quired to go on foot half the time was the least of his troubles.
His services were frequently demanded to pry the coach from
some fearful mud-hole, in which it had sunk to the axle, with a
rail abstracted from a neighboring fence, and through pieces of
wood it was often thought best to take a rail along. "To go on
foot and carry a rail," and pay for the privilege besides, was a
method of stage-riding as celebrated as it was unpleasant.
Erie county had something more than its full share of such
highways, as the reservations in it had no roads that were even
tolerable. Frequent were the complaints of the Cayuga Creek
ROADS AND INDIANS. 309
road, the Buffalo road, the J3ig- Tree road, etc., but the chmax of
despair was only reached at the "Four-Mile Woods," on the lake
shore, a little this side of Cattaraugus creek.
Old settlers tell wonderful stories of the Plutonian depths to
which the mud reached in that dreadful locality. The historian
of livans insists that it was there and nowhere else that the story
originated of the traveler who, while passing over a horrible
road, descried a good-looking hat just at the top of the mud.
Picking it up, he was surprised at being denounced by some one
underneath, for taking a gentleman's hat off his head without
leave. On offering to help the submerged individual out, he was
still more astonished when the latter declined on the ground
that he couldn't leave the horse he was riding, which was travel-
ing on hard ground. All agree that this event ought to have
happened in the " Four-Mile Woods," whether it did or not.
The Indians on the various reservations had suffered quite as
severely as any one from the effects of the "cold summer."
Their game had been largely driven away by settlement around
them, their own small crops had been destroyed by frost, and
even their annuities were reduced in actual value by the high
price of provisions. The schoolmaster, Mr. Hyde, made a pub-
lic appeal for help, declaring that there was great actual want.
At this time the few Onondagas received about six dollars
each, while the Senecas, numbering seven hundred, received
about two dollars and a half to each individual. Part of this
came from an annuity of five hundred dollars a year, being the
principal consideration for Grand Island, their claim to which
they had sold to the State a short time previous.
In passing, it may be mentioned that that island was entirely
unoccupied except by a few " squatters," who had located there
principally for the purpose of cutting staves out of the State's
timber. These gradually increased in number, and as it was not
yet fully decided whether the island belonged to the United
States or Canada, and also because it was very difficult to reach
the interlopers, they did about as they pleased.
Some of the Indians cut wood for the Buffalo market, receiv-
ing a trifling pay in flour and pork. Some of them obtained
credit for provisions, and Mr. Hyde declared that they were
honest and punctual in paying their debts. He said that after
3 10 FATHER SPENCER.
doing so they would have just about enough left of their annu-
ities to buy their seed. lie got little help from the people, who
had slight patience with Indian peculiarities. The Presbyterian
synod of Geneva, however, furnished some aid, and some way or
other the Indians worried through.
At this time the Presbyterians, including the Congregationalists,
with whom they were united for church work, were the leading
denomination of the county, so far as any could be said to lead,
though the Methodists, led by that enthusiastic young preacher,
Glezen Fillmore, were rapidly gaining upon them. I have be-
fore spoken of "Father Spencer," who was a Congregational
minister acting under the Presbyterian synod. I find his traces
everywhere, especially south of the Buffalo reservation. Almost
every old settler, whatever his religious proclivities, has a story
to tell of P^ather Spencer, a short, sturdy man, on a big, bob-
tailed horse, riding from one scattered neighborhood to another,
summer and winter, preaching, praying, organizing churches,
burying the dead and marrying the living ; a man full of zeal
in his Master's cause, but full also of life and mirth, ready to
answer every jest with another, and a universal favorite among
the hardy pioneers.
He, himself, would not admit being thoroughly beaten in jest
save in a single instance. His big horse was almost as noted as
himself. One day, when the roads were terrible, he was resting
the animal by going on foot ahead, leading him by the bridle.
The little man trudged sturdily along, but the horse, being old
and stiff, hung back the full length of the reins. Passing
through a little village, a pert young man suddenly called out :
"See here, old gentleman, you ought to trade that horse ofif
for a hand-sled ; you could draw it a great deal easier."
Father Spencer thought so too, and made no reply, but he
kept the big horse, and used to tell the story on himself with
great zest. I heard it from half a dozen informants. This
proves that there were some saucy young men in those days,
and also that people could get a great deal of enjoyment out of
a very moderate joke.
In 1817, 1 find the first account of anything resembling a
revival of religion. On one Sunday eight members were ad-
mitted into the Presbyterian church in Buffalo, and a writer con-
PROGRESS HERE AND THERE. 311
gratulatcs the public that "through this section of this lately
heathen country the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of the
Gospel are extending far and wide." The same writer is de-
lighted with similar results attained in "the towns of VVillink,
Hamburg and Edon, where lately the spirits of the evil one
enchained the hearts of many." The year 18 17 was also notable
in the history of the State for a measure deeply affecting the
interests of Erie county ; viz., the passage of a law actually
directing the construction of a canal from the Hudson to Lake
Erie. Previously all had been uncertain ; now the work was
made as sure as legislative enactment could make it. The first
ground was broken near Rome, on the 4th of July of that year.
Among the scattered signs of progress in this year, which I
have chanced to meet with, I find that John C. Rogers, the en-
terprising builder of the first saw-mill in Alden, in 18 17 also
erected the first grist-mill. My authority for this and several
other statements regarding that town is the "Oddaographic," an
odd and graphic little sheet published at Alden village.
About this time the Willink " Smith's mills " were sold to
James and Robert Griffin, and the place has ever since borne
the name of "Griffin's Mills," or " Griffinshirc." James Griffin
was a man of considerable prominence and was supervisor of
Aurora two or three years. Adams Paul also set up a store
there near the same time, perhaps a little earlier, which he kept
for nearly thirty years.
In this year, also, Leonard Cook, who still survives, residing
upon Vermont Hill, opened the first store in the present town of
Holland, at what is now Holland village.
That same fall there occurred in that locality one of those
events which most strongly excite the feelings of a frontier set-
tlement, and furnish a subject of conversation for scores of years
afterwards.
On the eastern side of Vermont Hill, nearly east from the
embryo village, lived John Colby, a young settler, some thirty
years of age, with a wife and two small children. Like many-
others he had been severely straitened by the "cold summer" of
1 8 16, and had barely struggled through the succeeding winter.
By the autumn of 181 7, he obtained a cow^ and one or two
young cattle.
312 LOST AND FROZEN.
When tlic first snow of the season came, in the month of
November, Colby's cattle and those of a neighbor strayed away,
and the two started out in search of them. The neighbor found
his and returned home, while Colby continued on in search of
his own.
All day and all night his wife expected his return, but he came
not. More snow fell during the night. The next morning the
news was sent around the neighborhood that John Colby must be
lost. The log dwellings of the settlers on the hill were widely
scattered, but the news spread rapidly and a goodly number of
hardy, active men were soon assembled. The snow of the last
night had not entirely obliterated the track of the wanderer,
and the searchers followed upon it.
For awhile it pursued the direction in which Colby was prob-
ably seeking his cattle. At length, however, it got among the
hills and ravines southward from the site of Holland village, and
then it would appear as if the traveler had entirely lost track of
home, and had wandered aimlessly among those forest-covered
steeps. Very likely night had overtaken him before he entered
among them.
His friends pursued among the gorges his devious pathway,
barely discernible under the new-fallen snow. So tortuous had
been his wanderings that, though the searchers pressed on with
all practicable speed, the forenoon passed and the afternoon
waned ere they discovered aught but the half-covered track of
the missing man.
At length, a little before nightfall, as the party was approach-
ing the settlements on Cazenove creek, the leader discovered,
curled up at the foot of a tree and covered with snow, some-
thing resembling a human form. All quickly gathered around,
and there lay John Colby, dead, only a short distance from the
clearing and house of a settler.
It would appear that, having once lost his way, he had be-
come entirely unable to adopt any line of action. When night
came on he had wandered about at random among the hills and
ravines, growing colder and weaker as he went. Had the obvi-
ous expedient of following a stream of water down hill sug-
gested itself to him, it would soon have carried him to a clearing,
but nothing of the kind seems to have come into his mind.
FOUR NEW TOWNS. 313
So he had strugt^lcd on, and at length, toward morning, had
leaned against a tree to rest, and then, overcome by cold and
fatigue, had fallen down in a heap at its foot.
Every event of that kind was pretty sure to be celebrated in
rhv-me b)' some rude versifier of the forest. One Simeon Davis
was the poetic genius of that locality, and ere long he had turned
the mournful story of poor John Colby into verse. No less than
two hundred and forty lines were produced by the facile poet, and
these being reduced to writing by some admirer, (for Simeon
himself was destitute of that accomplishment,) were copied, and
repeated, and sung in many a frontier home for more than a
score of years.
The year 18 r 8 was distinguished by the creation of four new
towns, and the annihilation of the oldest one in the county. On
the tenth day of April an act was passed forming the town of
Amherst out of Buffalo. It comprised the present towns of
Amherst and Cheektowaga, and nominally extended to the cen-
ter of the reservation.
Five days later the town of Willink, the organization of which
dated back to 1804, was stricken from existence. From its for-
mer magnificent proportions, rivaling those of a German prin-
cipality, comprising at one time a strip eighteen miles wide by
a hundred long, at another a space twenty-seven miles by
thirty-five, it had been reduced to a block twelve miles square,
and was now about to suffer annihilation.
Whether the settlers had some special grudge against the
worthy Amsterdam burgher who was the recognized head of the
so-called Holland Land Company, or whether they thought
his name lacking in euphony, I know not, but they determined,
so far as they could, to get rid of "Willink." Petitions were sent
to the legislature, and on the 15th of April the necessary law
was passed.
Township Eight, in range Five, and township Eight, in range
Six, were formed into a new town named Holland, comprising
the present towns of Holland and Colden. It could hardly
have been dislike of the Holland Company that led to the cast-
ing off of the name of "Willink," for Holland must ha\'e re-
ceived its appellation purely out of compliment to that com-
pany. J^othing could well have been more unlike the half-
314 WALES, AURORA, ETC.
submerged plains at the mouth of the Rhine than the narrow
valley, precipitous hillsides, and lofty table-lands of the new-
town.
There was more propriety in tlie name of " Wales," which was
given to another new town, composed of township Nine, range
Five, with the nominal addition of half the reservation-land op-
posite. Its hills, though not so lofty, were numerous enough to
give it a strong resemblance to the little principality which over-
looks the Irish channel.
Finally, by the same act, the remainder of Willink (viz., the
ninth township in the sixth range and the adjoining reservation-
land,) was formed into a town by the name of Aurora. As it
contained a larger population than either of the others, it has
usually been considered as the lineal successor of Willink, but
the law simply annihilated the latter town and created three
new ones.
The known supervisors for 1818 were Charles G. Olmstead of
Buffalo, Otis R. Hopkins of Clarence, Richard Smith of Ham-
burg, Samuel Abbott of Boston, and John March of Eden.
The new towns were not organized till the next year.
Early in 1818 S. H. Salisbury retired from the Gazette, a fact
which I notice in order to mention that his farewell address of
fifty-two lines was the longest editorial which had at that time
appeared in Erie county. In a few months H. A. Salisbury be-
came sole editor and proprietor. He changed the paper's name
to " The Niagara Patriot," and announced that in future it would
be a Republican sheet.
It will be observed that the name "Republican" was still ap-
plied to the party which had of old borne that appellation, but
which had recently been more often called "Democratic." This
was during what has been termed the "era of good feeling,"
when the Federal party had almost entirely disappeared and no
new one had taken its place. The Republican, or Democratic,
party was in full possession of the national field, but in local
matters it frequently split into factions, which waged war with a
fury indicating but little of the "good feeling" commonly sup-
posed to have prevailed.
In this congressional district the regular Republican conven-
tion nominated Nathaniel Allen, from the eastern part, and Al-
A VOUNG CONGRESSMAN.
j'5
bcrt H. Tracy, the young lawyer of Buffalo. Isaac Phelps, Jr.,
of Aurora was renominated to the assembly, along with Philo
Orton of Chautauqua county. Forthwith a large portion of the
party declared war against the nominees. The cause is hard to
discover, but there was a vast amount of denunciation of the
" Kremlin Junta." By this it is evident that the original " Krem-
lin block " was already in existence, having doubtless been thus
named because built amid the ruins of Buffalo, as the Kremlin
was rebuilt over the ashes of Moscow. It was there that the
"Junta," consisting of Mr. Tracy, Dr. Marshall, James Sheldon
and a few others, were supposed to meet and concoct the most
direful plans.
Ex-Congressman Clarke was the leader of the opposing fac-
tion. Ere long an independent convention nominated Judge
Elias Osborne, of Clarence, for the assembly, against Phelps, but
seem to have been unable to find candidates for Congress. The
old members, John C. Spencer and Benjamin Ellicott, declined
a renomination, but were voted for by many members of the
anti-Kremlin party. The Patriot was the organ of the Clarke-
Osborn faction, while the Journal fought for Tracy and Phelps.
Dire were the epithets hurled on either side. No political con-
flict, over the most important issues of the present day, has been
more bitter than this little unpleasantness during the " era of
good feeling." At the election in April, Tracy was chosen by
a large majority, and Phelps by twenty-three. The former was
then but twenty-five years of age, barely old enough to be le-
gally eligible to Congress, and considerably the youngest mem-
ber who has ever been elected in this county.
A law was passed this year abolishing the office of assistant-
justice, restricting the number of associate-judges to four, and
requiring a district-attorney in every county. Under this stat-
ute Charles G. Olmsted was the first district-attorney of
Niagara county.
Asa Ransom, w^ho had been four times appointed sheriff, made
his final retirement in 1818, and James Cronk, of what is now
Newstead, was commissioned in his place.
Passing from the stirring conflicts of political life to the peace-
ful scenes of the militia-encampment, we find that in the same
year Brigadier-General William Warren was appointed major-
3l6 SWORD AND EPAULET.
general of the twenty-fourth division, Colonel Ezra Nott being
made brigadier in his stead. Elihu Rice was Nott's brigade
major, Earl Sawyer his quartermaster, and Edward Paine quar-
termaster of another brigade.
By this time no less than four regiments of infantry had been
organized within the present county of Erie, and, as the law had
recently been changed, each had a colonel, lieutenant-colonel
and one major. The field officers of the i/th regiment, the one
north of the reservation, were James Cronk, colonel ; Calvin Eill-
more, lieutenant-colonel; and Arunah Hibbard, major. Cronk's
office was soon vacated by his appointment as sheriff, when I
suppose Fillmore and Hibbard were promoted.
Those of the 170th regiment, apparently comprising only the
old town of W'illink, (Aurora, Wales, Holland and Colden,)
were Sumner Warren, colonel ; Lyman Blackmar, lieutenant-
colonel ; and Abner Currier, major. Of the 48th regiment, in
the towns farther west, Charles Johnson was colonel; Asa War-
ren, lieutenant-colonel; and Silas Whiting, major. Farther south
was the 181st regiment, of which Frederick "Richmond was col-
onel ; Truman White, lieutenant-colonel ; and Benjamin Fay,
major.
Besides these the 12th regiment of cavalry and the 7th regi-
ment of artillery had a representation in the county, as I find
the name of Hawxhurst Addington, of Aurora, as captain in the
former, and Reuben B. Heacock, of Buffalo, in the latter. We
were a very military community in those days.
A hundred and thirty-nine years after the gallant La Salle
entered Lake Erie with the pioneer sail-vessel, there occurred
at the same point a similar event, which, though lacking the
heroic and romantic elements of the earlier scene, was yet a mat-
ter of intense interest to a great number of people.
In the previous November two or three capitalists had come
from New York to Black Rock, and caused to be laid the keel
of the first steamboat which any one had ever attempted to build
above the great cataract. In the spring the work was pressed
forward, and on the 28th of Ma}', 1818, the new vessel was
launched amid the acclamations of a host of spectators. It re-
ceived the appropriate and striking name of "Walk-in-the-
Water," partly because it did walk in the water, and partly in
THE WALK-IN-THE-WATKR. 317
honor of a great Wyandot chieftain who once bore that pccuhar
cognomen.
The new steamer was ready for use about the middle of Au-
gust, and then occurred a reproduction of La Salle's experience,
with an element of the ludicrous superadded. Again and again
the Walk-in-the-Water essayed to steam up the rapids into the
lake, and again and again it was compelled to fall back, its en-
gines not being strong enough for the purpose.
At length, after several days of unavailing trials, the owners,
to their intense mortification, were compelled to apply to Capt.
Sheldon Thompson, of Black Rock, for the loan of his cele-
brated " Horn Breeze," that is to say, of the dozen yoke of oxen
used to drag sail-vessels up the rapids, and which, as before
mentioned, the sailors had dubbed by that peculiar title.
On the 23d of August another trial was made. The " Horn
Breeze " was duly attached by a cable to the vessel, and steam
was generated to the utmost capacity of the boilers. The stok-
ers flung wood into the fire-places, the drivers swung their whips,
and w'ith steam-power and ox-power combined the vessel moved
slowly up the rapids.
Ere long the difficulty was passed, smooth water was reached,
the " Horn Breeze " was detached, and thus, a hundred and
thirty-nine years and sixteen days after the Griffin first ploughed
the waters of Erie, the Walk-in-the-Water inaugurated the sec-
ond great era of lake navigation.
Religious improvement steadily continued. A Presbyterian'
church, the first in the present town of Lancaster, was organized
on the 7th of February, 18 18, at the "Johnson school-house,"
on the site of Lancaster village, under the name of the Cayuga
Creek church. It was composed of five males and eight
females, Rev. Jas. H. Mills being the ofificiating minister, and
was the fruit of the revival of the previous year, which was con-
tinued during the succeeding summer. Before the infant church
was a year old, it numbered thirty-one members.
Notwithstanding the large and growing population of the
county, there was not a solitary church-building within its limits,
excepting the log meeting-house of the Quakers at East Ham-
burg. In 18 18, however, that energetic young servant of Christ,
Glezen Fillmore, after serving nine years as a local preacher.
3l8 A CHURCH IX FORTV-SKVEN DAYS.
was regularly ordained as a Methodist minister, at the age of
twenty-eight, and appointed to a circuit comprising Buffalo and
Black Rock, and a wide region northward from those villages.
On arriving at Buffalo he found just four Methodist brethren!
The Presbyterians held services in the court-house, and the Epis-
copalians in a building which, though private property, was used
as a school-house. At first Mr. Fillmore preached in the lat-
ter place, by permission of the owner, at sunrise and at early
candle-light. Besides this he preached twice at Black Rock,
making four services every Sabbath, and on week-days met
fourteen appointments in the country. His salary was seventy-
fi\-e dollars the first year.
Some difficulty arising, he was denied the privilege of preach-
ing in the school-house. It was determined to build a church.
A lot was leased on Tuscarora (Franklin) street, and a church
twenty-five feet by thirty-five was begun on the eighth of De-
cember, i8i8. Mr. Fillmore assumed the responsibility for
ever\'thing. As he expressed it afterwards, " I had no trustees,
no time to make them, and nothing to make them of." His peo-
ple, however, contributed according to their means, he wrote
to a zealous Methodist in New York who collected and sent
him a hundred and twenty dollars, and Joseph Ellicott gave him
three hundred. On the 24th day of January, 1819, just forty-
seven days after it was begun, the church was dedicated.
Near this time, though at a warmer season, the whole Metho-
dist church of Buffalo rode out to a quarterly meeting in Clar-
ence, in one lumber wagon. Fortunately for the horses there
were but seven members.
At the same time improvements were taking place in every
direction. The forest was being constantly swept away, and
every little while a new grist-mill or store marked another step
toward the condition of older communities.
In most cases the details have not come down to us, but oc-
casionally I have been able to get hold of an item showing the
course of progress.
A grist-mill was built at what is now Evans Center, in 18 18.
by a man named Wright, who had previously had a saw-mill
there. A few houses were built around, and for a long time the
little settlement was known as " Wright's Mills."
LEGAL LORE EXTRAORDINARY.
319
Springville had by this time probably a dozen houses, and
Mr. Rufus Eaton became so impressed with its prospects that he
procured a surveyor to make a regular map of it, several of the
streets then laid down corresponding with those of the present
day. Drs. Daniel and Varney Ingalls, two brothers, came there
about this time, and began practicing medicine, being the first
regular physicans. A Dr. Churchill had practiced before, with-
out a diploma.
The place of a lawyer was supplied by Wales Emmons, a
cabinet-maker, who had settled there the year before, whose
services in justices' courts were in wide demand, and whose many
pranks are still the theme of jovial rehearsal. One of the sto-
ries represents him as being employed by the defendant in an
action brought before a justice some miles from Springville.
Seeing that there was no defense, and knowing the dullness of
the magistrate, Emmons rode over to his residence a day or two
before the time appointed for the trial, and informed him that
the defendant had concluded to withdraw the suit and pay the
costs. To this the worthy justice assented, received the money,
and noted the withdrawal in his docket.
On the appointed day the plaintiff, with his counsel, (also an
amateur,) appeared, when the justice benignantly informed them
that the defendant had withdrawn the case and paid the costs.
"Withdrawn the case," roared the pettifogger; "what do you
mean ? The defendant can't withdraw the case."
" But he /urs withdrawn it," replied the justice, with dignity,
for he felt as if his word was disputed ; "he /uis withdrawn it
and paid the costs, and it is so entered on my docket, and I will
have nothing more to do with it."
The counsel advised a suit before another justice, but the un-
lucky plaintiff had had experience enough, and settled with
Emmons' client on the best terms he could obtain.
Notwithstanding the march of improvement, (as shown b}-
such courts of justice,) the fierce denizens of the forest still
prowled in large numbers around the frontier cabins.
Numerous combats took place between them and their human
antagonists, but there was one battle, which came off near the
beginning or close of 18 18, of such a remarkable character as
to deserve especial notice. In fact I doubt if all the annals of
320 A BATTLE ROYAL.
that kind of warfare can show a soHtar}- instance of greater
coohiess, courage or success than was seen on the occasion of
which I am speaking. It beats even the exploit of PhiHp Con-
jockety in kilHng the two panthers, which I thought sufficiently-
audacious.
So remarkable were the circumstances, that I hesitated to be-
lieve this story until investigation convinced me of its truth. I
have heard it from several different sources, and, though they
vary slightly as to details, yet as to the main points there is no
dispute. The following account of it is derived from a compar-
ison of the different stories, though the most direct statement
comes, through Mr. George Wheeler, from Mr. Isaac Hale of
North Collins, who was a boy of fourteen, residing near where
the event occurred. It is corroborated by John Sherman, Esq..
an old resident of the same place.
An Indian on the Cattaraugus reservation one day discovered
the trail of three panthers in the deep snow. Not desiring to
meet such game as that himself, he notified another brave,
named John Turkey, one of the celebrated hunters of the tribe.
As the latter told it: "Me sick when he come ; me well quick
when he tell about panther."
Turkey took his gun and accoutrements and started alone in
pursuit. He followed the trail about six miles to the head of
"Big Sister Swamp" in the present town of North Collins, two or
three miles southeastward from the village of that name. There
he came to two or three large trees, turned up by the roots and
lying close together. Looking beyond them he saw no tracks,
and at once concluded that the animals were concealed there.
Turkey put two balls in his mouth, took the stopper out of
his powder-horn, cocked his gun and approached. Suddenly a
panther sprang out on to one of the trees, while two others were
heard below ; all making a noise which Turkey describes as re-
sembling the caterwauling of a score of tabbies, fifty times in-
creased. I infer from the story, though it is not directly stated,
that the first was an old one, and the others not quite full grown.
Instantly leveling his gun, the hunter fired with so true an aim
that the panther fell dead to the ground. The two others sprang
out on the farther side, raising a yell that resounded afar through
the forest. Turkey reloaded almost in a second, pouring in
TURKEYS TRIUMPH. 32 I
plent}' of powder without mcasurinij, and snatching a ball from
his mouth and dropping it into the muzzle, without a patch and
without ramming. "Mebbe," said he, "ball go half way down ;
mebbe not." At the same time one of the young panthers
sprang on the trees and came toward him. Again he leveled
his weapon and the second enemy fell dead. The third one had
attempted to follow the first, but had struck his breast against
the farther tree, fallen back, and then turned to go around the
tops. This gave Turkey time to reload in the same expeditious
manner as before. He had hardly done so when number three
came around the tops, jumped on a log, and prepared to spring.
Just as he was doing so, Turkey fired for the third time. The ani-
mal was fatally wounded in the neck, but came on. Turkey
sprang aside, the panther stopped, and the Indian was about to
strike him with his clubbed rifle when he saw him stagger. He
gave him a push with the muzzle of his gun, when the animal
immediately rolled over and expired.
By this time it was nearly dark, and as Turkey was not very
well he did not purpose to travel any more that evening. So he
scooped away the snow between the trees, laid down hemlock
boughs for a bed, put some more across the two trunks for a shel-
ter, and thus made himself thoroughly comfortable for the night,
with his dead enemies all around.
The next morning he skinned his game, shouldered the pelts
with the heads attached, and went some three miles southwest-
ward to Hanford's tavern, at Taylor's Hollow. Hanford, or
some one else, gave him a certificate on which he obtained the
bounty paid by the town for panthers. He then took them to
Buffalo, and it is said obtained a county bounty also. Passing
through Hill's Corners, (Eden Center,) he showed the three
scalps to the children as they came out of school. I have
talked with those who saw them there, and the various stories
from which I have compiled the foregoing account difi"er only in
some minor details. It was certainly one of the boldest ex-
ploits ever performed, and fairly entitles John Turkey to espe-
cial mention in the annals of the brave.
THE "GRAND CANAL."
CHAPTER XXIX.
1819 AND 1820.
The "Grand Canal." — The Harbor Company. — Supervisors, etc. — Strong Lan-
guage.— The International Boundary. — An Indian Council. — Pagans and
Christians. — Red Jacket's Question. — Another Execution. — "The People of
Grand Island.'" — A .Small Rebellion. — Troops ordered out. — The Squatters
Removed. — A Sad Dilemma. — Governor Clark. — Clintonians and Bucktails.
— Tracy Reelected. — Other officials. — The Harbor Begun. — Wilkeson turns
Engineer. — His Services. — New Post-Offices.— Dr. Colegrove. — Niagara Ag-
ricultural Society. — Town-Managers. — Another Church. — The Amateur En-
gineer becomes a Judge. — Three New Towns. — New Use for a Psalm-Tune.
This chapter will be extended a little beyond the years named
in its title; it being most convenient to include the three months
of 1 82 1 previous to the forniation of Erie county.
More and more the "Grand Canal," as it was generally called,
(the name " Erie " was not at first applied to it,) attracted gen-
eral attention. At Buffalo and Black Rock, in particular, the
question as to which should be the terminal point became of
the deepest interest. It was plain that the chances of the
former must be gravely injured by the fact that it had no har-
bor, and steps to build one were taken by ten of the principal
citizens. Of ready money there was almost none in the village.
The State passed a law to loan twelve thousand dollars for the
required purpose, to be secured by the bonds and mortgages of
individuals for twice that amount. If the State officials should
approve the harbor when finished, they had the privilege of tak-
ing it and cancelling the indebtedness ; if not, the company
would have to pay the bonds and reimburse themselves out of
tolls.
These hard conditions caused all the managers to withdraw,
except Charles Townsend, George Coit and Oliver Forward.
The last of 18 19 Samuel Wilkeson joined with them, and then
the State's offer was accepted. Wilkeson, Forward and Town-
send (with whom Coit was associated) gave their separate bonds
and mortgages, each for eight thousand dollars. No work, how-
STRONG LANGUAGE. 323
ever, could be done till the next year. It .seems strange to learn
that, as Judge Wilkeson afterwards stated, no one ever thought
of applying to the general government to do a work so plainly
belonging to it as that.
Like almost everything in this country the canal question
found its way into politics. Candidates were interrogated as to
their position, and in this part of the State a charge of infidelity
to the "Grand Canal" was the most damaging that could be
brought.
Oliver Forward w^as elected to the assembly in the fall of 18 19,
along with Elial T. Foote, of Chautauqua county. Heman B.
Potter was appointed district attorney, and Dr. John E. Mar-
shall county clerk. The new towns created the year before were
organized in 18 19, Gen. Timothy S. Hopkins being elected the
first supervisor of Amherst, Ebenezer Holmes of Wales, and
Arthur Humphrey of Holland ; Aurora unknown. Those from
the other towns were Elijah Leach of Buffalo, Otis R. Hopkins
of Clarence, Abner Wilson of Hamburg, John March of Eden,
and John Twining of Boston ; Concord unknown.
Though politics were rather quiet at this time, there were other
subjects in which vigorous language could be used. Said a
writer on the Patriot one day, replying to a previous one in the
rival sheet: '^Some citizen, in the Journal, with a malignity well
worthy of a denizen of the lower region, has been kind enough
to empty the Augean stable of his bosom on the late cashier of
the Bank of Niagara."
"Augean stable of his bosom" is about as strong an ex-
pression as can be found in the vocabulary of any modern
vituperator.
There were some bad boys then, too, as well as now, if one may
judge from the terms in which one individual described his ab-
sconding apprentice. Apprenticing was more common then
than now, and there were a good mau}^ advertisements of run-
aways. But a return of the levanting youth w^as probably not
much desired by the master who offered " one cent reward "
therefor, describing him as about twenty years old, and adding:
" He has light complexion, knavi-sh look, quarrelsome disposi-
tion, knows more than anybody else, and is a great liar and
tattler."
324 THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY.
In the forepart of 1819 tlic boundary commission, comin<^
from the east, established the Hne between the United States
and Canada along the Niagara, and in July passed on to the
west end of Lake Erie. Gen. Porter was the American, and
Col. Ogilvie the English commissioner. The principal surveyor
on the part of the Americans was William A. Bird, (the well-
known Col. Bird, of Black Rock,) who had just succeeded to
that post, having previously been assistant.
The sovereignty of Grand Island was first decisively settled
by this commission, though previously claimed by the United
States. It vv'as found by actual measurement of depth, width
and velocity that the main channel of the river was on the
Canadian side. There passed on that side 12,802,750 cubic
feet of water per minute ; on the American side 8,540,080 cubic
feet rolled by in the same time. To prove the accuracy of these
measurements, the quantity passing Black Rock per minute was
calculated by the same method, and found to be 21,549,590
cubic feet, or substantially the same as the sum of the amounts
at Grand Island.
As, however, the determination of the "main channel" was
held by some to involve other considerations than the amount
of water, it is possible that Grand Island would not have fallen
to the Americans had not a large island in the St. Lawrence
just been awarded to Canada. All the small islands in the Ni-
agara were also, on account of their location, assigned to the
Americans, except Navy island, which fell to Canada.
In the summer of 18 19 a strong effort was made by the pre-
emption-owners to induce the Indians to sell the whole or a
part of their lands. A council was held on the Bufif\\lo reserve,
at which were present a commissioner on the part of the United
States, one on the part of Massachusetts, Colonel Ogden and
some of his associates, and all the principal chiefs of the Sene-
cas, Cayugas and Onondagas.
After the United States commissioner had explained the ob-
ject of the council, and had submitted two propositions, both
looking to the sale of the Buffalo Creek reservation, Red Jacket,
on the 9th of July, "rekindled the council fire" and made a long
speech. As usual he went over the whole ground of the inter-
course between the white men and the red men, and declared
CHRISTIANS AND PAGANS. 325
most emphatically as the voice of his people that they would
not sell their lands, no not one foot of them. Warming with
his subject, the indignant orator declared that they would not
have a single white man on their reservations — neither work-
man, school-master nor preacher. Those Indians who wished
could send their children to schools outside, and those who de-
sired to attend church could go outside the reservation to do so.
He added bitterly that if Colonel Ogden had come down
from heaven clothed in flesh and blood, and had proved that the
Great Spirit had said he should have their lands, then, and then
alone, they would have yielded.
Afterwards Captain Pollard and thirteen other chiefs apolo-
gized to the commissioner for the language of Red Jacket.
Captain Pollard declared that he saw nothing to admire in the
old ways of his people, and wished for civilization and Christian-
ity. But all were united in opposing the sale of any of their
lands, and nothing was effected to that end.
By this time two distinct parties had been developed among
the Indians. One favored Christianity and improvement, among
whom Captain Pollard was the most prominent. Captain Strong,
a distinguished chief on the Cattaraugus reservation, also an-
nounced himself a Christian. The other faction was devoted to
paganism, and resisted every attempt at change, of whom Red
Jacket was the unquestioned leader.
The great orator had become more and more bitter against
everything in anywise pertaining to the white race — except
whisky. He was doubtless sincere in the belief that the adop-
tion of white customs would work the destruction of his people,
and he fought them at every step. He could see the evil wrought
through the excessive use of liquor, of which he was himself a
most conspicuous example ; he could see that since the arrival
of the whites the once mighty Iroquois had dwindled to a few
feeble bands dependent on the forbearance of their conquerors,
and he could not, or would not, see anything else.
Even in minor matters he detested the laws of the whites, and
derided their justice. Not far from the time of which I am
speaking, an Indian was indicted at Batavia for burglary, in en-
tering Joseph Ellicott's house and stealing some trifling article.
Red Jacket and other Indians attended the trial, and the latter
7^26 THE sachem's SARCASM.
obtained permission to address the jury on behalf of the prisoner
(of course through an interpreter). He boldly questioned the
jurisdiction of the court, declared that the Senecas were
allies, not subjects, of the United States, and said that Indians
who committed offenses should be tried by their own laws ; as-
serting that if accused persons should be delivered to them the)-
would be so tried and, if guilty, duly punished.
The culprit was, however, convicted and sentenced to impris-
onment for life, which was then the penalty for burglary. At
the same time a white man who had stolen a larger amount than
the Indian, but without the accompaniment of burglary, was
sentenced to only a few years imprisonment. This was a new
cause of disgust to the chieftain, who in his youth had lived in
a wigwam, to whom a house had none of the sacredness that it
has to a white man, and in whose mind, consequently, the crime
of theft was not enhanced by that of burglary.
Going from the court-house to the tavern, after the session, in
company with some lawyers, the old sachem observed the State
coat-of-arms painted over the door of a newspaper-office. Point-
ing to the representation of Liberty, he mustered his little stock
of broken English and inquired :
" What— him — call ? "
" Liberty," replied one of the legal gentlemen.
" Ugh ! " exclaimed the chieftain, in a tone of derision. Then
he pointed to the other figure on the coat-of-arms and again
asked :
" What — him — call .? "
"Justice," was the reply.
Red Jacket's eye flashed and his lip curled, as he slowly
asked, in a tone of mingled inquiry and sarcasm :
" W'here — him — live — now .-' "
Very likely the sachem knew as well as his companions what
the figures represented, and asked the questions merely to make
a point.
In December, 1819, the second execution for murder took
place in the present county of Erie. The crime, however, was
committed outside its limits, having been the murder of a sol-
dier of the garrison of Eort Niagara, by Corporal John Godfrey,
who was impatient at his dilatory movements.
"THE PEOPLE OF GRAND ISLAND."
0^/
Again the people assembled in throngs, again the militia com-
panies guarded the prisoner, and again the sonorous tones of
Glezen Fillmore rolled out deep and strong, as he preached the
funeral sermon of the doomed man.
But probably the most important event of the year occurred
on Grand Island. The stave-cutting squatters, heretofore men-
tioned, had been so little disturbed by the civil authorities,
(partly because of the difficulty of reaching them, and parti}-
because it had not been quite determined whether the island be-
longed to the United States or Canada,) that they had grown to
consider themselves a kind of independent nation.
They set up a sort of government of their own, under which
they settled whatever difficulties may have arisen among them-
selves, but bade defiance to the authorities on both sides of the
river. A Mr. Pendleton Clark, one of the squatters, was recog-
nized as "governor" by his fellows, justices of the peace were
elected, and precepts were actually issued " in the name of the
people of Grand Island."
On one occasion a constable crossed to the island to arrest one
of these squatter-sovereigns, when several friends of the culprit
assembled, put the officer back in his boat, took away his oars
and set him adrift on the river. He might very likely have been
carried over the Falls, had he not been rescued by a more humane
outlaw, living farther down the stream, and taken to the Ameri-
can side.
Then the authorities of the State, to which all the land be-
longed, thought it was time to clear out this nest of offenders.
In April, 1 8 19, an act was passed requiring them to leave the
island, and in case they did not the governor was authorized to
remove them by force. To this they paid no attention.
In the fall the governor sent orders to remove the intruders, to
Sheriff Cronk. That official transmitted the orders to the trans-
gressors, with directions to leave by a specified day. Some
obeyed, but over many cabins the smoke continued to curl as
saucily as before.
The sheriff then called out a detachment of militia, under
Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel) Benjamin Hodge, of Buffalo, and
prepared to vindicate the laws by force. On the 9th of Decem-
ber, Lieutenant Hodge, with Lieutenant Stephen Osborn, of
328 THE ARMY OF INVASION.
Clarence, (afterwards sheriff,) and thirty rank and file, marched
down the river from Buffalo to a point opposite the head of the
island, to which they crossed by boats, landing about 5 o'clock
p. m. The first sergeant of the company was Nathaniel Wilgus,
who wrote an account of the expedition for the Buffalo Histo-
rical Society, to which I am indebted for many of the facts here
related.
Rumors of resistance having been rife, muskets were loaded
with ball-cartridges, and guards and pickets duly stationed ere
the men encamped for the night. As nearly all the squatters
were on the western side of the island, the command was marched
over there the next morning. It was then divided into three
parties ; a vanguard to read the governor's proclamation and
help to clear the houses where the parties were willing to leave,
a main body to forcibly remove all persons and property re-
maining, and a rear-guard to burn the buildings.
The boats, which were manned by sailors from the lake, had
come around the head of the island, and were in readiness to
convey the families to the United States or Canada, as they
might choose. With one exception they all preferred Canada.
Perhaps they had come from this side, and had good reasons for
not wishing to return.
That day was occupied in removing people to Canada and
burning houses. The next day was devoted to the same work,
but there w^as one case that was peculiar. Dwelling in a comfort-
able log house, the sheriff found a man and woman living together,
who begged piteously to be allowed to remain. They could not
make choice between the United States and Canada, for the
man said he had a wife living in the former country, and the
woman had a husband in the latter. The good-natured sheriff
appreciated the terrors of the dilemma, and, on their promising
to leave as soon as they could see a clear path of escape, he
o-ave them permission to remain a while on their island home,
and even furnished them with two quarts of whisky to relieve
the tedium of solitude.
On the next day (the 1 2th) the party found an old Irishman
named Dennison, who with two sons and some helpers was busy
putting up houses. He claimed the right to remain, and told
the sheriff he had discovered the secret of perpetual motion, in
" GOVERNOR " CLARK. 329
which lie would give Colonel Cronk a half interest if the latter
would let him stay. The colonel told him to put his "perpetual
motion" in use, and leave the island at once.
Two more days were devoted to the removal of families and
the destruction of buildings, making five days spent on the
island by the "army of invasion," besides the time occupied in
going and returning. About seventy houses (occupied and un-
occupied) were destroyed, and a hundred and fifty-five men,
women and children transported to the mainland. Nearly all
were desperately poor, and Mr. Wilgus stated that he did not
remember of seeing a cow or a hog on the island. There were
only about a hundred acres of clearing, all told. While crossing
the island, on their return, the troops found one of the precepts
before mentioned, "in the name of the people of Grand Island,"
fastened to the door of a deserted building.
The last house visited, and the only one on the eastern shore,
was that of "Governor" Pendleton Clark, who had already placed
his effects on a scow preparatory to removal. He went to the
American side, and not long after bought a tract of land at the
point where the Erie canal was expected to enter Tonawanda
creek. Here in time a village was built to which he gave his
own first name^ — Pendleton — and of which he was long; a
respected citizen.
Such is a condensed history of the only civil war (and that a
bloodless one) ever known within the bounds of Erie county.
A few of the dispossessed parties soon returned, but as they
kept very quiet, and were careful not to draw attention to them-
selves by committing any depredations, they were permitted to
remain for several years. Among them w^as "perpetual motion"
Dennison, who for fifteen years clung to his possession, and in-
sisted on the value of his "motion," with amusing pertinacity.
By the beginning of 1820 the Clintonian and Bucktail par-
ties were in full blast all over the State. Clinton was of course
the leader and candidate of the former, which claimed, and gen-
erally received, the benefit of the strong canal feeling which pre-
vailed. The latter had to some extent the benefit of the regular
Republican organization, and nominated Vice-President Tomp-
kins for governor.
Clinton was elected by a large majority, though his opponent
330 CLINTOXIANS AND BUCKTAILS.
had a few years before been the most popuhir man in the State.
In the present count}' of Erie, CUnton received seven hundred
and thirty-seven votes, to three hundred and ten for Tompkins.
Boston gave tliirty-five votes for Clinton, to one for Tompkins ;
Aurora a hundred and sixty-four for CHnton, to twenty for
Tompkins ; Wales a hundred and twenty-six for Clinton, to
twenty-seven for Tompkins ; and Concord a hundred and
twenty-eight for Clinton, to twenty for Tompkins. ,
The Patriot was the organ of the Bucktails, the Journal of
the Clintonians. It should be remembered that there was still
a property qualification, which accounts for the small vote. It
seems, too, that fraudulent voting was not an unheard of offense
in those days, for the Patriot charged that neither Aurora nor
Wales had a hundred legal voters, although the former polled a
hundred and eighty-four votes, and the latter a hundred and
forty-seven.
The assemblyman this year was Judge Hotchkiss, from north
of the Tonawanda. The young congressman, Albert H. Tracy,
was again electeci to the national legislature, as the candidate
of the Clintonians. Judge Oliver Forward, of Buffalo, was
elected to the State senate, and took a very active part in pro-
moting the canal, and bringing it to Buffalo.
The supervisors chosen in 1820 were Ebenezer Walden of
Buffalo, Oziel Smith of Amherst, Otis R. Hopkins of Clarence,
Lemuel Wasson of Hamburg, James Aldrich of Eden, John
Twining of Boston, Ebenezer Holmes of Wales, and Arthur
Humphrey of Holland. Isaac Phelps, Jr., of Aurora, was ap-
pointed a judge of the Common Pleas.
One hardly ever thinks of slavery as having existed in P!ric
county, and in fact slaves were extremely rare there, even when
the institution was tolerated by law. Yet I think there had
been two or three colored people permanently held in bondage,
besides those brought here by officers during the war. The law
of 1 8 18 decreed the gradual abolition of slavery, providing that
males under twenty-eight and females under twenty-five should
remain slaves until those ages, and allowing none but young
slaves to be brought from other states ; in which case the owner
was obliged to file an affidavit that they were only to be kept
till those ages respectively. The only case in this county under
BEGINNING A HARBOR. 33 1
the law, of which I am aware, occurred in 1820. Gen. Porter
marrieci a Mrs. Grayson, of Kentucky, daughter of Hon. John
Breckenridge, attorney-general of the United States under Jef-
ferson, and aunt of the late John C. Breckenridge. She brought
five young slaves to Black Rock, and a certified copy of the affi-
davit of herself and husband, under the above mentioned law,
is now on file in the old town-book of Buffalo. It is surrounded
on all sides by records of town-elections, stray heifers and
sheep's ear-marks, among which this solitary memento of a pow-
erful but fallen institution has a curious and almost startling
appearance.
It was not merely by voting for Clinton that the Buffalonians
sought to build up their town. The all-important work of con-
structing a harbor was begun. A superintendent was hired at
fifty dollars a month! Cheap as were his services, however, it
was soon found that his estimates were too liberal for a twelve-
thousand-dollar fund, and he was discharged. No one, however,
knew where a better man could be found, and none of the com-
pany knew anything about building a harbor.
Rather than see the work stop, Mr. Wilkeson abandoned his
own business and accepted the superintendency. Once installed
he pushed on the work with even more than his wonted energy.
The laborers' wages were increased two dollars a month abov^e
the ordinary price, to induce them to work in the rain, and then,
in all weather, superintendent and subordinates were seen at
their task.
I have read several reminiscences of that critical period of
Buffalo's history, and all agree that to Samuel Wilkeson, more
than to any other one man, the city is indebted for its proud
commercial position. If Ellicott was its founder, Wilkeson was
certainly its preserver.
In the spring of 1820 a new mail-route was established, run-
ning from Buffalo to Olean, with three new offices in this county —
one at " Smithville," more commonly called Smith's Mills, one
at " Boston," generally known as Torrey's Corners, and one at
" Springville," still in common parlance called Fiddler's Green.
Ralph Shepard was the first postmaster at Smithville, Erastus
Torrey at Boston, and Rufus C. Eaton at Springville.
A post-office had already been located on the lake shore, in
^^2 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
the present town of Evans, but under the name of Eden, which
was then the appellation of the whole to\\n. James W. Peters
was the first postmaster.
Although there was as yet nothing in the shape of a village,
nor even a post-office, in Sardinia, yet in 1820 a young physi-
cian established himself there, who soon acquired wide renown
in the healing art. This was Dr. Bela H. Colegrove, who located
at \\ hat has since been called Colegrove's Corners. As a sur-
geon, especially, his reputation in time became equal to that of
almost any one in Western New York, and he was often called
in difficult cases, not only in Erie and the adjoining counties,
but as far south as Pennsylvania. He was prominent, also, in
political life, and .show^ed himself in all respects a leader among
men.
In 1820 the first daily mail was established between Buffalo
and Albany. The year was also noteworthy for the holding of the
first agricultural fair, an important event in those days. It was
under the management of the Niagara County Agricultural
Society, which had been organized the fall before.
Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, Avho had been little heard of for a long
time, was its president. The vice-presidents were Arthur Hum-
phrey, Asher Saxton, Ebenezer Goodrich, Ebenezer VValden
and James Cronk ; the secretary was Joseph W. Moulton ; the
treasurer, Reuben B. Heacock ; and the auditor, Heman B.
Potter.
There was also a board of town-managers, consisting of three
in each town, which may be presumed to have comprised some
of the leading men, especially farmers, in their respective local-
ities. These were Elias Ransom, Adial Sherwood and Elijah
Leach, of Buffalo ; William W. Morseman, David P2ddy and
Abner Wilson, of Hamburg; Lsaac Phelps, Jr., Jonathan Bowen
and Ephraim Woodruff of Aurora ; Richard Buffum, Asa Crook
and Samuel Corliss, of Holland ; Ethan Allen, Ebenezer
Holmes and Henry B. Stevens, of Wales; John Hill, Benjamin
Bowen and John March, of Eden; Belden Slosson, Alexander
Hitchcock and Abram Miller, of Amherst; L. Parmcly, M. Cary
and Daniel Swain, of Boston. I can find no representation of
either Clarence or Concord.
The list of premiums offered is noticeable for some seldom
OFFICIAL AND NUMERICAL.
found on modern catalogues — which in fact would hardly hnd
takers if offered. As for instance — for the best fifteen yards of
woolen cloth, "made in the family," ten dollars; which is as
large as the premium offered for the best two acres of wheat.
For the best worsted cloth, "made in the family," six dollars.
For the best fine linen, " made in the family," six dollars.
For a long time the fair of the Agricultural Society was one
of the great events of the year. Everybody, high and low, at-
tended, and the proceedings were closed with a ball, which was
"•raced by whatever of aristocracy was to be found in the
county.
The first Episcopal church-building, and the third of any
kind in the county, was St. Paul's. The society of that name,
at Buffalo, erected a neat edifice in 1820, with a gothic tower
and spire, which was consecrated by Bishop Hobart the next
February.
Almost an entire new set of officers was appointed in Feb-
ruary, 1 82 1. Samuel Wilkeson was made first judge of the
Common Pleas, and Samuel Russell, Belden Slosson, Robert
Fleming and Henry M. Campbell, judges. John G. Camp was
appointed sheriff; Roswell Chapin, surrogate ; and James L.
Barton, county clerk.
The selection of Mr. Wilkeson for the office of "first judge "
had been strongly opposed by some, on the ground that he was
not an attorney. He w^as, however, earnestly supported by his
friends, and after his appointment his native common sense,
firmness and diligence enabled him to fulfill his duties accepta-
bly to the community.
By the census of 1820 the population of the whole of Ni-
agara county was 23,313, of which 15,668 were in the present
county of Erie. These numbers were considered sufficient to
justify a division, and the northern part of the county was anx-
ious to have its business transacted nearer home than Buffalo ;
a desire which was gratified by the legislature of 1821.
Just before the division of the county, three new towns were
created. By a law of the i6th of March, 182 i, all that part of
Eden comprised in township Eight, range Nine, was formed into
a new town named Evans. This was a little larger than an or-
dinary township, being nearly nine miles east and west on its
334 EVANS, COLLINS AND SARDINLV.
southern boundar)-, and thence narrowed by the lake to about
four miles and a half on its northern boundary.
By the same law the excessively long town of Concord was
subdivided into three towns. That part comprised in townships
Six and Seven, range Eight, and in three tiers of lots on the
west side of townships Six and Seven, range Seven, was formed
into a new town named Collins. That part comprised in town-
ship Seven, range Five, and three tiers of lots on the east side of
township Seven, range Six, and in the portion of township Six,
range Six, north of Cattaraugus creek, was formed into a new
town named Sardinia.
Collins was named by Turner Aldrich, the most prominent
of the old settlers, after his wife's maiden name. General Nott
states in his reminiscences that he named Sardinia after his favor-
ite psalm-tune. He says that " Concord," " Wales " and " Sar-
dinia " were all well known tunes in the old psalm-book, " Sar-
dinia" being his especial delight. Seeing that "Wales" and
" Concord " were immortalized by their names being given to
towns, he determined that his own favorite should receive equal
glory. So he claimed his privilege as the oldest resident, and
succeeded in getting the new town named Sardinia.
THE NEW COUNTY. 335
CHAPTER XXX.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The New County. — Niagara Perpetuated. — Change of Characteristics. — Change of
Names. — White's Corners. — Abbott's Corners. — A Black W^olf. — An Effect-
ive Blow. — A Curious Couple. — A Wolf's Strategy. — Trapped and Slain. —
An Impromptu Gallows. — Pigeons. — Black Rock. — Condition of Buffalo. —
Some of its Lawyers. — Anecdotes of John Root.
On the second day of April, 1821, a law wa.s passed, enacting
that all that part of the county of Niagara north of the center
of Tonawanda creek should be a separate county, by the name
of Niagara, while the remainder should thenceforth be known
as Erie.
Thus at length was formed and named the great county, the
annals of which I have the honor to record. It had the bound-
aries specified in the first chapter, and those boundaries it has
ever since retained.
As stated in chapter eighteen, the old county of Niagara was
perpetuated in most respects in the county of Erie rather than
in the one that bore the ancient name, since the former retained
more than half the area, two thirds of the population, the
county seat, the county records and most of the county officers.
In every respect except the name, Erie is a continuation of old
Niagara, organized in 1808, while the present Niagara is a new
county, organized in 1821.
Doubtless the reason for giving the old name to the smaller
and less important county was because the great cataract, which
makes Niagara's name renowned, was on its borders, and it was
felt that there would be an incongruity in conferring the name
on a county which, at its nearest point, was three miles distant
from the famous Falls. (Even this is probably nearer than most
people suppose, but it is a trifle less than three miles from the
cataract to the lower end of Buckhorn island.)
The reader and the author have now arrived at a turning point
in the history of the county. Not only was its name changed,
336 CIIANGK OF CHARACTERISTICS.
but it SO happens that that chanijc is very closely identical in
time with an important change in its general character. Hith-
erto it had been a pioneer county. Henceforth it might fairly
be called a farming county.
There was no particular year that could be selected as the
epoch of change, but 1821 comes very close to the time. Previ-
ously the principal business had been to clear up land. As a
general rule, there was little money with w^hich to build comfort-
able houses, little time even to raise large crops, except in a few
localities. After a time not far from 182 1, although there was
still a great deal of land-clearing done, yet it could not be called
the principal business of the county.
- The raising of cattle and grain for market assumed greater im-
portance, and in fact from that time forward, the county taken as
a whole, though still a uezvisJi country, would hardly be called a
new country. Yet there were a few townships almost entirely
covered with forest, and everywhere the characteristics of the
pioneer era were closely intermingled with those of a more ad-
vanced period.
Probably the most conspicuous manner in which the change
was manifested to the eye was by the material of the houses.
Hitherto, log houses had been the dwelling-places of nearly all
the people outside of the village of Buffalo. Even the little vil-
lages, which had sprung up in almost every township, were
largely composed of those specimens of primeval architecture.
But with improved circumstances came improved buildings.
.■\fter the time in question, a majority of the new houses erected
in the county were frames, and every year saw a rapid increase
in the proportion of that class of buildings over the log edifices
of earlier day.s.
When Erie county was named it contained thirteen towns.
At that time there were but ten post-offices in it, but there
were several others established a little later. The ten were situ-
ated at Buffalo, Black Rock, Williamsville, Clarence, Willink,
Smithville, Barkersville, Boston, Springville, and Eden. The
Eden post-office, as has been said, was in Evans, on the lake
shore. That of "Barkersville" was at the old Barker stand in
Hamburg, at the "head of the turnpike." "Willink " was at
Aurora villasfe.
white's corners, ABBOTT'S CORNERS, ETC. 33/
Besides these there had been one, and probably there was still
one, called "Hamburg," at John Green's tavern.
Although the post-office at what is now Hamburg village had
been called "Smithville," yet the name never stuck, and even the
old one of " Smith's Mills " began to fade away. Thomas T.
White had lately settled at that point, engaging heavily in busi-
ness, the Smiths had sold their mills to other parties, and ere
long the place began to be known as "White's Corners." This
was its only name for over forty years, and it is still generally
known by it, notwithstanding its present legal title, "Hamburg."
Mr. Seth Abbott also moved to the place previously known
as "Wright's Corners," not far from this time, and built a large
public house there. His son, Henry Abbott, engaged in trade
there, the old name fell into use, and for over half a century the
little village has been known only as Abbott's Corners.
At mo.st of the post-offices mentioned, there was the nucleus
of a village, but there was none at " Barkersville," nor at the
" Eden " post-office, in Evans. Whatever of metropolitan pos-
sibilities there were in the latter town manifested themselves at
"Wright's Mills," which ere long began to be called "Evans
Center," but where there was as yet no post-office.
There were also the nuclei of villages, but without post-offices,
at " Cayuga Creek" (Lancaster), Alden, Hall's Mills (or Hall's
Hollow), Holland, Griffin's Mills, East Hamburg and Gowanda.
Notwithstanding these signs of improvement, and the general
transformation of the county from a land-clearing to a land-
tilling district, the farmers met with incessant discouragement.
Keeping sheep was their especial difficulty, yet sheep must be
kept, for there was no money to buy clothes. The wolves were
almost as troublesome in peace as the Indians in war.
Besides the gray-backed prowlers, an occasional bold, black
wolf was seen, though very rarely. One, which had killed over
fifty sheep in Lancaster, came into the open fields within a fur-
long of Mr. Clark's house in the day time, and caught another.
Young James Clark and his brother saw the raid but were un-
able to prevent its successful execution. They, however, set a
trap for the dark slayer, and had the good fortune to catch him.
The bounty then was ten dollars. Afterwards it was, in some
towns, from sixty to ninety dollars ; whelps half-price. An
338 AX EFFKCTIVK BLOW.
Indian is rcpcM-tcd to have made $360 in one forenoon, catching
young wolves. It was generally supposed that many hunters,
both Indians and whites, were in the habit of letting old she-
wolves escape — in fact of guarding against their discovery by
others — in order to get an annual revenue from the whelps. In
this case it was the wolf that laid the golden eggs.
On several occasions the citizens in different parts of the
county got up grand wolf-hunts, forming long lines and beating
the woods for miles, or trying to enclose them in circles, but I
have heard of none that were successful. The " Anaconda Sys-
tem " did not work any better then than in later years. The
wily marauders always found a loop-hole of escape.
While these elaborate preparations usually failed, one of these
public enemies was frequently slain by the simplest means. A
Mr. Patterson, living a little south of Mr. Oren Treat's, in Aurora,
is said by that gentleman and others to have killed one, near
1820, at a single blow. Hearing a noise in a kind of outside pan-
try attached to his house, he picked up an unloaded gun and
ran out. A big wolf jumped out of the pantry window. With
all his might Patterson struck him with the breech of his gun,
and his wolfship fell to the ground. On bringing a light the
old musket was found to be broken short off at the breech, and
the wolf lay stone dead ; the single, well-directed blow having
broken his nock.
But the most remarkable of these primitive raiders, and the
only one for whose exploits I have further room, was an old she-
wolf which infested the territory of Collins and North Collins.
According to Messrs. Wheeler and Hale before mentioned, Mr.
George Southwick, of Gowanda, and others, she was a marauder
of most surprising intelligence and accomplishments.
In that she slaughtered sheep, she was like the rest of her
race. But her especial forte was to form an intimate acquaint-
ance with most of the large dogs of the vicinity. Those that
she could not tempt into forbidden paths she fought with and
whipped, and thus she was mistress of the situation so far as
the canine race was concerned.
Her most particular friend was a dog belonging to Levi
Woodward, in the present town of North Collins. This canine
Antony and lupine Cleopatra would roam the fields at night
A STRANGE COUPLE. 339
in company, killing sheep by the dozen, and retire to the swamps
in the day-time. Frequently a number of men would turn out
and follow them, but without avail, and they would perhaps
come back the very next night and kill more sheep.
The dog occasionally came around his master's house, but it
was thought best not to kill him, as if was hoped he might be
used to cause the destruction of the more dangerous offender.
So a bell was put on him, and he was left to seek the company
of his mistress, the project being that when that bell was heard
at night some one should get up and kill the wolf.
But she would never go by a house in his company. The bell
has been heard coming along a road, toward a lonely house,
when the owner would arise and wait, with loaded rifle, the ap-
pearance of the great marauder. But presently the dog would
go trotting along, alone. The next morning it would be seen by
the tracks that, while the dog trotted carelessly by, the w^olf had
gotten over the fence some distance from the house, gone around,
and reentered the road on the other side.
At length the people of the neighborhood three miles south-
ward from North Collins became satisfied that she had a litter
of whelps in the vicinity, and thought they could at least cap-
ture them, even if the old one was too much for them. They
made up a company of fourteen, which searched the woods
until at length the prize was found in a lair made in the boughs
of a basswood, which had been felled for browse.
Seven puppy-whelps, half-dog, half-wolf, were taken from the
lair, and just as the last one was drawn out, the maternal head
of the family put in an appearance, a short distance away. The
men seized their guns, but, ere one of them could take aim, the
madam comprehended the situation and vanished in the forest.
The scalps of her unfortunate family were taken to Springville,
and thirty dollars apiece received for them from the proper offi-
cials, sixty dollars being the bounty on full-grown wolves.
Young Hale, who was one of the party of fourteen, received
fifteen dollars for his share. Since the whelps were only half-
wolf, a question might have been raised by casuists as to whether
the captors w^ere entitled to more than half the usual bounty,
but since both father and mother were sheep-killers, probably
the officials thought the spirit of the law was complied with.
340 IGNOMINIOUS EXECUTIONS.
Madam Wolf did not return to that neighborhood, but estab-
hshed herself on the farm of Samuel Tucker, about a mile
from North Collins, and began to make her accustomed raids.
Mr. T. determined to ensnare her, but knew that she had always
avoided traps with remarkable skill, and therefore took extra
precautions. Having killed a calf, he placed a part of it in a corn-
field, putting in the midst of the bait a common fo.x-trap which
had been dipped in melted tallow, and heavily coated with that
material. This destroyed the smell of the iron, and the gray
depredator was at last outwitted and caught. A heavy clog
being attached to the trap, she was unable to drag it away,
and daylight revealed her misfortune to her enemies.
Word was sent out, and the men and boys from miles around
assembled to see the dreaded foe of the sheepfold. She was
slain amid universal rejoicing, and Mr. Tucker received sixty
dollars for her scalp.
Her canine friend met with a still more ignominious fate. One
Sunday he ventured to approach a house whence all the family
had gone to a Quaker meeting, save one woman. Recognizing
the sheep-slayer, she determined on his destruction, but having
no fire-arms, or not knowing how to use them, she was obliged
to depend on strategy.
First she arranged a rope into a slip-noose. , Ne.xt she pulled
down the long, heavy well-sweep and fastened it to the curb.
Then giving the dog some food, she invited him up to the well,
managed to slip the noose over his neck, fastened it to the small
end of the sweep, and loosened the sweep from the curb. The
heavy end went down with a rush, and in an instant the sheep-
killer was hanging a dozen feet above the ground.
Besides the four-footed wild game, pigeons were a frequent
resource in their season, especially for the Indians. Not merely
the few that can be shot as they fly, but the vast numbers that
can be obtained from their nests. The banks of the Cattarau-
gus were celebrated as their resorts, and a little west of Spring-
ville, on both sides of the creek, there were millions of nests.
The whole tribe used to go out from Buffalo creek to get a
supply. They were obtained by cutting down the trees, and of
this, as of all other work, the squaws at that time did the greater
part. Mr. C. C. Smith, of Springville, says he has seen the
BLACK ROCK AND BUFFALO. 34 1
squaws cut down trees from two to three feet through, getting
fifty or sixty nests from one tree. Each nest contained a single
"squab," that is a fat young pigeon, big enough to eat, but not
big enough to fly. Occasionally, but very rarely, there were two
in a nest. These were scalded, salted and dried by the thou-
sand, furnishing food most acceptable to the Indians and not
despised by the whites.
While the country was thus divided between raising crops,
starting villages and hunting game,,the embryo city at the head
of the Niagara was beginning to make rapid progress. At the
time of the formation of Erie county it had nearly two thousand
inhabitants.
Black Rock, too, which had long remained an insignificant
hamlet, was now rapidly advancing, and was making desperate
efforts to secure the termination of the grand canal. General
Porter had returned home from his work of locating the inter-
national boundary, had resumed a portion of his former influ-
ence, and was the leader of the Black Rock forces in their con-
test with Buffalo.
As Black Rock still had the only harbor in the vicinity, as
not a ship was built at, nor sailed from, any other American port
within a hundred miles, her chances of success appeared good,
and the little village grew even faster than Buffalo. It was
mostly situated on Niagara street, at the foot of the hill north
of the site of Fort Porter.
In Buffalo, the main part of the business was transacted on
Main street, between Crow (Exchange) street and the court-
house park. There were also numerous residences in the same
quarter. Other dwellings, more or less scattered, occupied parts
of Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora streets, for these
were still the appellations of the highways now known respect-
ively as Ellicott, Washington, Pearl and Franklin. There were
also a few dwellings on the cross-streets. The town was sup-
posed to be rich enough, and the people gay enough, so that
some one had built a place of entertainment called the Buffalo
Theater, but there are indications that it was not very largely
patronized.
Near Chippewa market there was a swampy place, and a
gully carried its waters toward the river, crossing Main street
342 THE BAR IN 1 820.
near Chippewa. All the northeastern part of the present city
was low ground, unoccupied and untilled. Not far up Busti
avenue (Genesee street) there was a log causeway, whither
the girls and boys went in summer to pick the blackberries
growing beside it.
As far up as Cold Spring, an irregular line of forest came up to
within from forty to a hundred rods of Main street. About this
time, or a little later, after a grand squirrel-hunt, lasting all one day.
the two parties of hunters, which had been led by two young
lawyers, Frederick B. Merrill and Joseph Clary, met the next
day to count their game at a spring near Delaware street, just
north of Virginia. They selected that place because there the
woods came from the west to Delaware street, affording a pleas-
ant shade.
Mr. Clary was a new addition to the Erie county bar, in which
he afterwards took a fair rank. There were none as yet, how-
ever, of that remarkable galaxy of lawyers who, fifteen years
later, made the bar of Erie county celebrated throughout the
State. Albert H. Tracy was probably the peer in intellect of
any of them, but he devoted himself largely to politics, and
seldom appeared in the legal arena.
Potter, VValden, Harrison, Sheldon, 'Clary, Moseley, Moulton.
and "Old Counselor Root" were the leading practitioners.
Sheldon Smith came a little later. Counselor John Root, a big,
round-shouldered, slouching man, whose practice was beginning
to decline on account of drink and idleness, was the " charac-
ter" of the Erie county bar in 1820. Two-thirds of the jokes
and sharp sayings related by the older members of the bar, are
attributed to "Old Counselor Root." As in other cases of a similar
kind, it is quite likely that he has been saddled with more than
is really chargeable to him, but there is no doubt of his great
readiness in repartee and tact in management.
H. W. Rogers, Esq., has collected a number of anecdotes of
Mr. Root, in his essay before the Historical Society, entitled,
" Wits of the Buffalo Bar." Some of them I will transfer into
this " Miscellaneous " chapter, to give a side-light on the men
and manners of half a century ago.
He was not inclined to spare even the court, and on one occa-
sion, when somewhat excited by liquor, in commentmg on an
" OLD COUNSELOR ROOT. ' 343
adverse decision of the judge, he dechired that it could only be
compared with the celebrated decree of Pontius Pilate.
"Sit down, Mr. Root, sit down," angrily exclaimed the judge;
"you are drunk, sir." The old counselor slowly sank into his
chair, saying, in rather low tones, but loud enough to be heard
by all around :
"That is the only correct decision your honor has- made
during the whole term." The court and bar were compelled to
laugh, and Root escaped without further censure.
Some time afterwards a young lawyer, who perhaps thought
he could be as brusque before the court as the old counselor, re-
ceived an unfavorable decision with the indignant exclamation
that he was astonished at the judgment of the court. He was
immediately arraigned for contempt. Finding himself in trouble,
he besought Root to help him.
The latter drew himself up to the utmost of his great height,
and, in the most solemn and dignified manner, besought the
court to pardon the offender.
" I know," said he, " that our brother is to blame. But he is
young — quite young. If he had been at this bar as long as I
have, your honor, he would long since have ceased to be aston-
ished at any decision which this honorable court might make."
The Court of Common Pleas, in the absence of its first judge,
was once held by the senior side-judge. Not being overstocked
with brains, and being entirely without experience as a presiding
judge, business dragged sadly under his administration. The
lawyers made irrelevant motions and interminable speeches, and
the court was powerless to control them. One morning the
temporary presiding judge and several lawyers, among whom
was Root, met in the court-house hall, just before the time for
opening court. Something was said about the slowness of the
proceedings, when the judge observed: 'T only wish some way
could be devised for shortening the lawyers' tongues."
"Perhaps, your honor," said the old counselor quietly, "the
same object could be effected by shortening the judges' ears."
In those times a charivari, or "horning," was the frequent
accompaniment of a wedding. On one occasion, occurring in
Amherst or Clarence, the father and brothers of the bride re-
sented the advent of the discordant crowd around their home by
344
A FERTILE SOIL.
firing on them with guns loaded with peas, wounding two or
three of the number. For this they were duly indicted and
brought to trial. Counselor Root defended them.
One of the wounded persons, a rough, unkempt-looking fellow,
testified to the shooting, and to being hit with peas in the calf
of the leg. On the cross-examination, Root insisted that he
should pull up the leg of his pantaloons and show where he was
shot. The witness hesitated but did as requested, displaying a
limb thickly covered with dirt. It looked as if it had never
known the use of soap or water.
"There" said he, pointing to a spot even more thickly in-
crusted than the rest, "is where the peas went in."
"And when," queried Root, "did the shooting occur.?"
"About six weeks ago," replied the witness.
"Oh, nonsense!" exclaimed the counselor, "if there had been
any peas planted in that soil six weeks ago, they would have
been four inches high by this time!"
OFFICIAL AND POSTAL. 345
CHAPTER XXXI.
1821 TO 1824.
Official and Postal. — Military and Journalistic. — Dramatic Scenes. — Kauquatau
Condemned. — The Flight and the Return. — The Wiles of So-onongise. — The
Execution. — The Arrest. — A Primitive Court-room. — The Trial. — Red
Jacket's Philippic. — Impotent Conclusion. — Ellicott's Resignation. — Tiie Old-
est Physician. — A Sardinia Merchant. — Buffalo Harbor. — Ingenious Channel-
Cutting. — A Warlike Pile-driver. — Loss of the Walk-in-the- Water. — A Haz-
ardous Bond. — First Work on the Canal. — New Constitution. — Officers under
it.^Oiher Officials. — Millard Fillmore. — A Vigorous Race. — Alden and
Eric. — "Cayuga Creek." — Beginning at Tonawanda. — Other Matters. — An
Uneventful Year. — Easier Payments.
In the spring of 1821 Judge Forward was elected to the State
senate, but neither of the two assemblymen from this district
were residents of Erie county. Roswell Chapin was appointed
surrogate in place of Dr. Johnson. Later in the season Samuel
Russell was chosen a delegate to the State constitutional con-
vention. The supervisors for the year, so far as known, were
Ebenezcr Walden of Buffalo, Oziel Smith of Amherst, O. R.
Hopkins of Clarence, Ebenezer Holmes of Wales, Lemuel
Wasson of Hamburg, James Green of Eden, John Twining of
Boston, Mitchell Corliss of Holland, Elihu Rice of Sardinia,
and John Lawton of Collins.
A new post-office was established during the year at East
Hamburg, with Lewis Arnold as postmaster, and one at Wales,
with Wm. A. Burt as postmaster. The latter gentleman had pre-
viously begun the business of merchandising in Wales, by sell-
ing a few goods in his house, according to the custom before
spoken of From one of the "military commissions" so fre-
quently published at this era, one learns that in 1821, Abner
Currier, of Holland, was made colonel, and Josiah Emery, of
Aurora, lieutenant-colonel, of the 170th regiment of infantry;
Hiram Yaw, of Boston, colonel of the 48th regiment, and
Robert Kerr, lieutenant-colonel. About this time Truman
Cary resigned a commission as lieutenant-colonel. Necessarily,
34^ STAKTI.IXt; EVENTS.
1 mention only the officers of whom there happens to be a record.
Frederick Richmond, of SprinLj'ville, was a brig^adier-y^eneral
about the same time.
The change of name of the county made it necessary for the
two newspapers in it to drop their old appellations. So the Ni-
agara Patriot (whilom the Buffalo Gazette) became the Buffalo
Patriot, and the Niagara Journal, the Buffalo Journal.
Scarcely had the county of P^rie entered on its separate career,
when there occurred within its limits a series of events of start-
ling and dramatic character, which show as vividly as anything
in American history how closely civilization treads upon the
footsteps of barbarism — how narrow in our country is the space
which separates the bloody rites of the savage council from the
stately deliberations of the Anglo-Saxon tribunal. The facts in
the case are derived from Stone's Life of Red Jacket, the papers
of the period, and the reminiscences of Mr. James Aigin.
In the spring of 182 1 a Seneca Indian died of some lingering
disease, the nature of which was incomprehensible by the medi-
cine-men. They accordingly attributed it to sorcery, and desig-
nated as the culprit a squaw named Kauquatau, who had nursed
the deceased during his sickness.
A council was assembled, and, after such evidence as the case
admitted of, Kauquatau was solemnly pronounced guilty, and
sentenced to death. The frightened woman fled to Canada.
The Indians w-ere shrewd enough not to attempt her execution
there, nor even in the United States, off from their own reserva-
tion. Some of them followed her to Canada, and by some
means, doubtless by false promises of security, persuaded her to
recross the Niagara.
Among her betrayers was the chief, So-onongise, common!)-
called by the whites Tommy Jimmy, who had been secretly ap-
pointed her executioner. On the second day of May, Mr. Aigin
states that he saw Tommy Jimmy treating Kauquatau from a
bottle of whisky, in the streets of Buffalo. The blandishments
of the chieftain and the quality of his liquor were too much for
poor Kauquatau, and toward night she accompanied her pre-
tended friend across the reservation line, which, as will be re-
membered, ran close to the village.
No sooner had she done so than the friend disappeared and the
EXECUTION ()1<- A WITCH. 347
executioner showed himself. Drawing his knife, Tommy Jimmy
seized the wretched woman and cut her throat, killing her on
the instant. Then, leaving her on the ground where he had slain
her, making no attempt to conceal the body, he strode off to the
Indian village, doubtless feeling that he had done his country
good service.
The next morning she was found by the whites, lying near
Buffalo creek, only a short distance above Pratt's ferry. A cor-
oner's inquest was held, and, as the Indians made no conceal-
ment, it was easily ascertained that Tommy Jinmiy was the
murderer. It appears to have been the first event of the kind
which had become known in Erie county, though Mary Jem-
ison says there was scarcely a year passed, while the tribe
lived on the Genesee, that one or more persons (generally wo-
men) were not killed as witches. The claim of sovereignty
over the reservation, set up by the Indians, did not reconcile the
whites to the shocking occurrence, and it was determined to
bring the slayer to trial.
Stephen G. Austin, then a young lawyer and justice of the
peace, issued a warrant. The constable to whom it was first
given objected to going out among a tribe of savages to arrest
one of their most popular chiefs, and Pascal P. Pratt, uncle of
the gentleman who now bears that name, was deputized for the
purpose. He was well acquainted with Tommy Jimmy and
was a particular friend of Red Jacket.
Pratt found the culprit at the house of the orator. Making
known his mission, he advised them to yield peacefully, and
make whatever defense they might have, before the courts.
Red Jacket pledged himself that Tommy Jinmiy should appear
before Austin the next day, and Pratt departed, perfectly satis-
fied that he would come.
Punctually, at the hour appointed, Sagoyewatha and So-onon-
gise came before the young justice of the peace, accompanied
by a crowd of other Indians. The whites, also, gathered in
numbers, and, as Austin's office was small, he held his court on
a pile of timber across the road from it. The slaying was ad-
mitted, the jurisdiction of the whites denied, and the victim de-
clared to be. a witch, executed in accordance with Indian law.
Austin, however, committed the slayer to jail, to take his trial
in a higher court.
34^ A RK.MARKAIJLK TRIAL.
So-onongisc, alias Tommy Jimmy, was duly indicted for
murder. The Indians obtained the assistance of able counsel,
who put in a plea to the jurisdiction of the court, claiming that
Kauquatau was executed in accordance with Indian law, on In-
dian land. This was denied by the district-attorney, and the
question was sent to a jury for trial.
Thus it was that at the Erie county Oyer and Terminer, in
June, 1 82 1, there occurred one of the most singular trials re-
corded in legal annals. The court-house was crowded by a
motley throng of red men and white men, the latter drawn by
curiosity, the former by intense interest in the fate of their
brother, and intense anxiety regarding their own privileges. All
the lights of the Buffalo bar were there, eager to know how this
curious legal complication would result.
Tommy Jimmy, a middle-aged and fairly intelligent Indian,
though the center of observation, sat perfectly unmoved, and
doubtless considered himself a martyr. By his side was Red
Jacket, acting as amateur counsel, and wearing his stateliest de-
meanor. He still had sufficient self-control to force himself into
a few days sobriety on great occasions, and was in full posses-
sion of iiis faculties. When the jurors were called he scanned
every man with his piercing eye, formed his opinion as to his
bias, and communicated to the regular counsel his decision in
favor of acceptance or rejection.
After several other witnesses had been sworn. Red Jacket was
put on the stand by the counsel for the accused. The prosecut-
ing attorney sought to exclude him by inquiring if he believed
in a God.
"More truly than one who could ask me such a question," was
his haughty reply.
When asked what rank he held in his nation, he answered
contemptuously :
"Look at the papers which the white people keep the most
carefully; they will tell you what 1 am." He referred to the
treaties,which ceded the Indian lands to the whites.
Like" the other Indians he testified that the woman had been
condemned by a regular council, in accordance with immemo-
rial law, and that So-onongise had been duly authorized to exe-
cute the decree. Seeing, or imagining, that some of the lawyers
RED JACKETS PHILIPPIC. 349
were disposed to ridicule his views of witchcraft, he broke out
in a fierce phiHppic, which, as interpreted, was thus pubHshed
in the Albany Argus, one of whose editors was present :
"What! Do you denounce us as fools and bigots because we
still believe what you yourselves believed two centuries ago ?
Your black-coats thundered this doctrine from the pulpit, your
judges pronounced it from the bench, and sanctioned it with the
formalities of law ; and would you now punish our unfortunate
brother for adhering to the faith of his fathers and of yours ?
Go to Salem ! Look at the records of your own government,
and you will find that thousands have been executed for the
very crime which has called forth the sentence of condemna-
tion against this woman, and drawn down upon her the arm of
vengeance. What have our brothers done more than the rulers
of your people ? And what crime has this man committed, by
executing in a summary way the laws of his country and the
command of the Great Spirit .'"
As Red Jacket had certainly not read the story of Salem
witchcraft, he must have informed himself by conversation be-
fore the trial, doubtless for the express purpose of making a
well-studied point against the pale-faces. His appearance as
he delivered his philippic, his tall form drawn up to its utmost
height, his head erect and his black eye flashing with ire, is said
to have been impressive in the extreme.
On the question of fact submitted to them, the jury found
that Kauquatau was really executed in accordance with Indian
law. The legal question still remained as to whether this would
exempt him from punishment. The case was removed by certio-
rari to the Supreme Court, where it was argued the ensuing
August. The result was a most lame and impotent conclusion
of so dramatic a trial. No judgment was rendered. The court,
being unable to deny that the Indians had from the beginning
been recognized to a certain extent as independent peoples, and
yet unwilling to decide that they had absolute authority to com-
mit murder, permitted the discharge of the prisoner by the
consent of the attorney-general.
Laws were afterwards passed, subjecting the Indians to the
same penalties for crimes as the whites.
In the autumn of 182 1 Joseph Ellicott, the founder of Buf-
falo, resigned the local agency of the Holland Company, which
he had held for twenty-one years. There had been considerable
350 ELLICOTTS RETIREMENT.
dissatisfaction on the part of the settlers, during the latter
years of his administration, but it principalh' originated in the
difficulty of keeping up the pa)-ments on their lands, in the hard
times succeeding the war. Probably the chief fault of the corn-
pan}' and its agents was in permitting men to buy large tracts
without any substantial payment in advance, and in letting
the occupants get so far in arrears as they did during the first
ten or fifteen years. There is nothing like a steady, gentle pres-
sure to stimulate industry and compel frugality. Mr. E.'s mind
was still clear, but he had already developed that tendency
toward hypochondria which, after five years of inaction, led to
the insanity and final suicide of one who had been for two de-
cades the most influential man in Western New York. Jacob
S. Otto, of Philadelphia, took his place as local agent.
Among the new comers was one Avho has had an exceptional
career. Dr. George Sweetland, then about twenty-three years
old, located himself, in 1821, in the woods where now stands the
little village of East Evans, and began practicing as a physi-
cian. During all the fifty-five years since that time he has re-
mained at the same place, engaged in the duties of his profes-
sion, being now the oldest and earliest practitioner in Erie
county. In the earlier part of his professional career, he fre-
quently visited Eden, Hamburg and Collins, riding on horse-
back as was the wont of country doctors. Sometimes, \\hen the
roads were at their worst, he took his saddle-bags on his arm,
and went on foot five or six miles to visit a patient. Now, of
course, his range is more circumscribed, but he still bravely up-
holds the banner of P^sculapius, which he unfurled fifty-five
years ago.
In the same year Chauncey Hastings opened the first store
in what is now Sardinia village, and the first of any consequence
in the town. There were then but three houses in the "village."
He was the only merchant there for over twenty-five years.
Afterwards he built a hotel which he kept for an equal length
of time, being, as may easily be seen, the principal business man
of the town.
As soon as spring opened in 182 1, superintendent Wilkeson
recommenced work on the Buffalo harbor. The mouth of the
creek was sixty rods north of where it now is, the stream run-
UNIQUE ENGINEERING. 351
ning- for that distance nearly parallel with the lake. The ridge
between them wa.s found to be of gravel, so solid that it could
not be removed, (as w^as necessary to make a new mouth and a
straight channel,) by manual labor, without immense expen.se.
The method adopted was so ingenious as to be worthy of es-
pecial mention.
A stout dam was built across the creek just below where it
turned to the north. Then a small opening was made in the gravel
at the end of the dam next the lake, when the imprisoned water
rushed around it, tearing out a great hole in the ridge. Then
the dam was advanced still further westward, and the stream re-
moved more gravel. The process was repeated until a straight
channel, large enough for small vessels, was cut clear through
into the lake.
In this and other parts of the work it was absolutely neces-
sary to have a pile-driver, and impossible to get one of the
usual make. So one was improvised for the occasion, the ham-
mer being composed of an old mortar which had been used in
the war of 1812. The trunnions were knocked off, and it served
the needs of peace better, I am afraid, than it had those of war.
The harbor was completed in the summer of 1821, two hun-
dred and twenty-one working days having been occupied in its
construction.
In November, Lake Erie lost the pioneer of her steam-marine,
the solitary and celebrated Walk-in-the-Water. Having just
left Black Rock one afternoon, and being struck by a squall
about four miles above Bird Island, she lay at anchor all night,
and the next morning was driven ashore near the light-house.
No lives were lost, but the \Valk-in-the-\\'ater had sustained
such serious injuries that she ceased forever from her aquatic
pedestrianism.
Steps, however, were immediately taken to supply her place;
and in January, 1822, an agent of an eastern company came on to
select a place to build a new steamer, and make a contract for
the same. He was directed to build at Buffalo, unless he should
be satisfied that its harbor was not available. He went to Black
Rock first, and its people soon satisfied him that the new harbor
was useless, laying especial stress on the assertion that it would
remain filled with ice after the lake was clear in the spring. The
352 A HAZARDOUS BARGAIN.
agent thereupon made arrangements to build at Black Rock,
and went to Bufifalo to have the papers drawn.
The BufTalonians heard what was going on, and an excited
crowd gathered around the hotel where he was staying. To
have it decided that their harbor was not fit to build a steam-
boat in might be ruinous. It was rumored that the agent was
about to return east the ne.xt morning, and no time was to be
lost. Judge Wilkeson was deputed to wait on him. His only
instructions were to get the steamboat.
"Make any arrangement you think necessary," said the citi-
zens, "and we will stand by you."
The committee of one entered the agent's room, introduced
himself, and asked why he did not propose to build at Buffalo,
as his principals expected. That gentleman gave the reasons
which had prompted his action, naming especially the danger
that the steamer would be detained by ice. Wilkeson promptly
replied :
"We will furnish timber at a quarter less than Black Rock
prices, and give a judgment-bond with ample security, provid-
ing for the payment of a hundred and fifty dollars for every
day the boat shall be detained in the creek, beyond the first of
May."
The offer was at once accepted, the necessary arrangements
were made, a contractor was found for the timber, and the bond
agreed upon was signed by nearly every responsible citizen.
The building of the vessel soon began, and went steadily forward.
As spring approached the citizens looked for a freshet to clear
out the loose sand, gravel, etc., which still remained in the har-
bor. A freshet did come, but, as there was a large bank of ice
at the new mouth of the creek, the high water carried an im-
mense amount of sediment upon it, making a formidable dam.
Several expedients were tried for removing it, but without avail
Meanwhile the first of May was approaching. At length it
was evident that extraordinary exertions must be made, or the
citizens would be saddled with a bill for damages on their bond,
which at that time would have been enormous. A subscription
of $1,361 was raised ; a little in ca.sh, the rest in goods or labor.
Dr. Johnson subscribed the largest sum, $110, "in goods at cash
prices." The other amounts ranged from a hundred dollars
THE CANAL BEGUN. 353
down to two. One man subscribed "a certain brown cow with
a white head, to be appraised by the harbor commissioners."
By the energetic use of the aid thus provided, a channel was
cut through b}- the ist of May. On that day the steamboat,
which bad been named the "Superior," went down to test it. The
work was still incomplete and the channel dangerous, but the
pilot was a Bufifalonian who thoroughly understood the track ;
he took the Superior safely through and the bond was cancelled.
All this while there had been a continuous contest between
the Bufifalonians and Black Rockers, to influence the canal com-
missioners in the selection of a terminus. The Black Rock
men also built a pier to enclose a harbor, and General Porter's
influence was strong in favor of his village. In this as in other
contests Judge Wilkeson led the Bufifalonians, and his arguments
before the commissioners and other ofificials, though perhaps
lacking in grace, and delivered with all the energy of the most
energetic of men, went straight to the point and were eminently
effective.
At length the controversy was decided in favor of Buffalo,
and on the 9th of August, 1823, work on the grand canal was
begun in Erie county. Ground was broken near the Commer-
cial-street bridge, in Buffalo. There was of course a celebration,
including procession, speech-making, etc. The assembled crowd
were so eagerly interested in the great work that they did not
content themselves with the formal removal of a few spadefuls,
but fell in procession behind the contractor's ploughs, and fol-
lowed them for half a mile, with music playing and cannon
firing. "Then," says the account, "they partook of a beverage
furnished by the contractor," and afterwards dispersed with
vociferous cheers.
During the summer of 1822, a new State constitution was
formed, and adopted by the people. By its provisions sheriffs
and county clerks were to be elected by the people instead of
appointed — each holding for three years. Justices of the peace
and district-attorneys were appointed by the judges of the
Common Pleas and the board of supervisors, acting conjointly.
All other judicial officers were appointed by the governor and
senate. Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties
became the thirtieth congressional district, entitled to one
354 OFFICIAL. MII.ri'ARV AND POSTAL.
member. At tlii.s time, too, the date of holding- elections was
changed from April to November.
Accordingly, in the fall of 1822, Wray S. Littlefield, of Ham-
burg, was elected sheriff, and Jacob A. Barker, of Buffalo, son
of the pioneer judge, Zenas Barker, was chosen county clerk.
At the same time Albert H. Tracy was elected to Congress for
the third time. Considering that he was still on the sunny side
of thirt)-, his success was something astonishing. Ebenezer F.
Norton, a Buffalo lawyer, was chosen member of assembly, and
about the same time Dr. Josiah Trowbridge was appointed a
judge of the Common Pleas. The supervisors for 1822, the rec-
ords of whose election have been preserved, were Ebenezer
Waldcn of Buffalo, Oziel Smith of Amherst, Otis R. Hopkins
of Clarence, Ebenezer Holmes of Wales, Lemuel Wasson of
Hamburg, James Green of Eden, John Twining of Boston,
Mitchell Corliss of Holland, Benoni Tuttle of Sardinia, and
Henry Joslin of Collins.
The military record shows no lack of epauletted gentlemen.
The 17th regiment of cavalrj^ was evidently a Buffalo institu-
tion, of which, in 1822, S. K. Grosvenor was appointed colonel;
David S. Conkey, lieutenant-colonel ; and Lucius Storrs, major.
Of the 13th regiment of infantry Orange Mansfield (of Clar-
ence) was made colonel; Francis Lincoln, lieutenant-colonel; and
George Stow, major. The same commission appointed Earl
Sawyer, lieutenant-colonel, and Asa Wells, major, of the iSist
regiment of infantry.
Several new post-offices were established this year. One was
at Holland, with Lyman Clark as postmaster. One was in
Collins, named Angola, (at Taylor's Hollow,) with Jacob Taylor,
the old Quaker instructor of the Indians, as postmaster.
There was already one in Evans, called I'^den, in which town it
had originally been included, and in this year there was one es-
tablished in l^den, with John M. Welch for postmaster, which,
by some blunder, was called Evans. These names were soon
afterwards transposed so as to give each town a post-office of
its own name.
Col. Asa Warren removed to "Hill's Corners" in 1822, and
built a large hotel, though in two or three years he gave up
keeping it on account of scruples against selling liquor. This
MII.I^ARI) KILL?»IORE. 35 5
was about the time of the earhest development of feeling on
that subject. Fillmore & Johnson had a small store there a
little later, the place began to take village shape, and people
began to call it " Eden Corners."
The allowance of three post-offices for the single town of
Hamburg seems to have been thought altogether too extrava-
gant by the department. So "East Hamburg," " Smithville "
and " Rarkersville " were all -discontinued, and a new office,
called " Hamburg," was established at Abbott's Corners, under
Harry Abbott as postmaster, as stated in the journals of the
day. The old office called " Hamburg," at John Green's tavern,
must have been previously discontinued. Another post-office
was also established in 1822, at "West Clarence," of which
Simeon Fillmore was the first postmaster.
Apropos of that name, it was in the spring of 1822 that a tall
young man, of stalwart form, open countenance and pleasing
demeanor, came from an eastern county and entered the law
office of Joseph Clary. This was Millard Fillmore, the future
President of the United States. Born in Cayuga county, at the
very beginning of the century, he had passed his boyhood amid
the privations of a backwoods farm, and had in early youth
learned the trade of a clothier. Approaching man's estate, his
aspiring mind had sought more congenial employment in the
study of the law. A lawyer who appreciated his abilities gave
him some assistance, and the young man supported himself
partly by working at his trade, and partly by teaching a country
school. Meanwhile his father, Nathaniel Fillmore, had emi-
grated to Aurora in this county, about the same time that his
(Nathaniel's) brother Calvin moved thither from Clarence. Mil-
lard, as before stated, followed in 1822, and continued his law
studies in Buffalo.
All of the elder Fillmores were men of powerful frame, and
all had considerable local prominence, such as is often gained in
country-towns by sensible though not highly educated men.
Simeon was supervisor of Clarence several years. Calvin was a
prominent local politician, a colonel of militia, and at one time
a member of the assembly. Millard's father, Nathaniel, was less
noted, but was for several years a justice of the peace, and was
generally recognized as a man of unblemished integrity and
356 ALDEN AND ERIR.
sound judi^ment. Of Glezen Fillmore, the son of Simeon, I
have spoken at some length before.
Young Millard continued his studies through the summer, and
in the winter taught a school at Cold Spring. It is .said that the
young school-teacher and law-student wms recognized as a man
of considerable ability, and that some of his admirers predicted
that he would yet fill a seat in the State legislature ! In the
spring of 1823 he was admitted to practice in the county court,
and immediately opened an office at Aurora. He was the first
lawyer in the county, outside of Buffalo and Black Rock.
Another gentleman in the southern part of the county, whom
I must mention on account of his prominence and his long pro-
fessional career, was Dr. Carlos Emmons, who in 1823 settled
at Springville. For nearly half a century he practiced his pro-
fession there, besides filling many important positions, and only
within the last year has he passed away from life.
Early in that year the legislature erected two new towns from
Clarence — Alden and Erie. The former occupied the same ter-
ritory as now, with the nominal addition of part of the reserva-
tion opposite. The name of the latter was afterwards changed
to Newstead, and the existence of the previous town of Erie,
which was formed in 1804 and obliterated in 1808, has caused
remarkable confusion among the statisticians. All the gazet-
teers, civil-lists, etc., that I have seen, state that the town of
Newstead was "formed as Erie, in 1804," whereas the town of
Erie, which was formed in 1804, had ceased to exist for
fifteen years when the town of ICrie which afterwards became
Newstead was erected, and the two " Fries " were six miles
apart at the nearest point.
The town-records of Newstead were burned a few years ago,
but those of Alden have been preserved and show that the first
town-meeting was held at the house of Washburn Parker, on the
27th day of May, 1823, when Edmond Badger was elected tho
first supervisor. It is said that Alden was so designated by
one of its citizens after the name of his wife's mother, and was
thereupon for several years denominated " Grannytown," by the
irreverent youth of the period.
Clarence, after the division, still included the present Lan-
caster, making a town six miles wide and nearly twenty long.
LANCASTER AND TONAWANDA. 357
The south part, however, had grown so that the next winter a
post-office was established at the present village of Lancaster,
by the name of " Cayuga Creek ; " Thomas Gross being the
first postmaster.
The grand canal was now fairly under way in this section.
All along the banks of the Niagara, from Buffalo to Tonawanda
creek, ploughs and spades were busily at work. Early in the
winter the commissioners had let the contract for a dam at the
mouth of that creek to Judge Wilkeson and Dr. Johnson, and
throughout the summer of 1823 those energetic business men
kept that locality alive with the noise of a host of laborers.
Mr. Wilkeson also established a store there, the first one nearer
than Williamsville. Soon afterwards, Tracy, Townsend and
other Buftalonians formed a company, bought a tract of land,
and laid oft" a village at that point. This was the beginning of
Tonawanda, a place of which large expectations were formed,
that waited long for their fulfillment, but which in the last ten
years have been amply realized.
The war between Buffalo and Black Rock was at its height
in 1823, the champions of the former place being the Buftalo
Patriot and the Buffalo Journal, and that of the latter the Black
Rock Beacon, which had been started the year before. This
was the time when the fortunes of Black Rock reached their
climax, its citizens being still inspired by the hope of having
a "cut oft," which should give them the actual terminus of the
canal. It was probably nearly half as large as Buftalo. But
thenceforward it stood nearly still, until it was absorbed in Buffalo
and began to share its growth.
Buffalo's lack of a harbor had been so fully remedied in 1823
that, on the 12th of July, one of her journals proudly boasted of
twenty-nine vessels at her wharves at once. The imports in-
cluded cedar posts, flax-seed, corn, oats, whisky, maple-sugar,
ashes, and gmseng. No wheat nor flour that time — though
wheat and flour occasionally came, in small quantities.
In the spring of this year (1823) Mr. Wilkeson resigned his
judicial position, and iibenezer Walden, the pioneer lawyer of
the county, was appointed first judge of the Common Tleas.
In the fall the ex-judge was selected to represent the county in
the assembly.
358 AN UNEVENTFUL YEAR.
The undestroycd records show the following supervisors
elected in 1823 and '24, nearly all of them serving both years:
Buftalo, Josiah Trowbridge; x\mherst, John Grove and Oziel
Smith; Clarence, Simeon Fillmore; Alden, Edmond Badger;
Wales, Ebenezer Holmes; Hamburg, Lemuel Wasson ; Eden,
James Green and Asa Warren ; Boston, John Twining ; Holland,
Mitchell Corliss; Sardinia, Morton Crosby and Horace Clark;
Collins, Stephen White and Nathaniel Knight.
The year 1824 was not an eventful one in Erie county. The
canal was nearly finished within the county limits, and only
awaited the completion of the great cut through the mountain
ridge at Lockport, and some work of less importance on either
side. While it was thus in progress its great advocate, DeWitt
Clinton, who after being governor many years was then serving
as canal commissioner, was removed from that humble but im-
portant office through partisan hostility. This ungrateful act
roused the intense resentment of a large portion of the people,
and in the fall he received an independent nomination for gov-
ernor, and was triumphantly elected. Erie county remembered
her benefactor and gave him a handsome majority.
At the same time Colonel Calvin Fillmore, of Aurora, was
chosen to represent the county in the assembly, and Judge
Wilkeson was elected to the senate. Daniel G. Garnsey, of
Chautauqua county, was elected to Congress. Mr. Tracy de-
clined a renomination for that position, and in the winter was
nominated by the State senate for United States senator, though
then but thirty-one years of age. The assembly, however, failed
to concur, and on a subsequent joint ballot another aspirant was
elected. Another weekly paper was established this year, by
Lazelle & Francis, called the Buffalo Emporium.
Not far from the time under consideration, certainly during
the administration of Mr. Otto as local agent, the Holland
Company adopted a system of receiving from the settlers the
products of their farms, in payment for land. Agents yearly
received cattle at certain advertised points, and endorsed the
value thereof on the contracts. Turner states that, while the
measure was highly beneficial to the settlers, the company, by
reason of the expense of agencies, etc., lost largely by the new
system.
AN EXCITING 8KARCH. 359
CHAPTER XXXII.
A YEAR OF SENSATIONS.
An Exciting Search. — The Thayers. — John Love. — The Shooting Match. — The Dis-
covery.— The Trial. — The Confession. — The Execution. — Reception of La-
fayette.— Interview with Red Jacket. — An Amusing Episode. — Major Noah.
— Ararat. — Laying the Corner-stone. — Noah's Proclamation. — The End of
Ararat. — The Climax of Absurdity. — Completion of the Canal. — The Grarul
Celebration. — De Witt Clinton. — The State Salute. — The Wedding of Lake
and Ocean. — Political Matters.
The quiet of 1824 wa.s more than compensated by the excite-
ment.s of 1825. Since the close of the war no such eventful
twelvemonth had passed over the county of Erie.
Early in the year the public first learned of a tragedy which
became celebrated throughout the country, and to which old
residents of Western New York still look back as the event
most deeply branded on their memories. For many reasons I
would be willing to omit all mention of this wretched event, yet
it was so notorious that it would obviously be out of the question
for any one to pretend to write a history of Erie county, without
giving some account of the episode of " The Three Thayers."
In the latter part of February, 1825, there was a great excite-
ment in the town of Boston, especially in the northern portion.
Men and boys were out on all the hillsides and in all the valleys,
peering into bushes, looking under logs, exploring every nook
where a human body might be secreted. They were searching
for the corpse of John Love. Love was a Scotchman by birth,
who made a practice of sailing the lake in summer and going
on peddling tours in winter. He was an unmarried man, and
for two or three years had made his headquarters among the
Thayers, near North Boston.
These were an old man, Israel Thayer, and his three sons,
Nelson, Israel, Jr., and Isaac. The two first were married,
though the oldest was but twenty-three years of age, the young-
est of the three being nineteen. They were all in very humble
360 THE TIIKKl:: THAVERS.
circumstances, and the young' men have generally been reputed
as of reckless and evil character. On the other hand, it has
been said by some who knew them well that their general be-
havior was no worse than that of many young men, and that,
had it not been for their subsequent crimes, their characters
would have passed without special reprobation. S. V. R. Graves,
Esq., of East Hamburg, so informed me, and added that either
of them would share his last sixpence with an acquaintance, in
case of need. Certain it is that the two oldest both married
into respectable families.
Love had acquired some money, which he was in the habit of
loaning. He had lent some to the Thayers. During the sum-
mer of 1824 he sailed in the employ of young Bennett, now the
venerable Deacon Joseph Bennett, of Evans, then the owner and
captain of a small vessel on the lake. Deacon Bennett declares
Love to have been a penurious, grasping man, and says he has
no doubt, from circumstances within his knowledge, that he was
planning to get possession of all the little property the Thayers
had.
In the fall of 1824, Love, after returning from the lake to
Boston, and remaining with the Thayers for awhile, suddenly
disappeared. Little was thought of it at first, as it was sup-
posed he had gone on one of his peddling trips. Ere long, how-
ever, it was noticed that the Thaj-ers, usually so poor, were well
supplied with money.
Perhaps the first suspicion against them was aroused at a
shooting-match in Boston, on Christmas day. Shots were a six-
pence apiece, and sixpences were scarce in those times. Marks-
men were in the habit of economizing, especially if they found
themselves missing many shots. But all the afternoon the three
Thayers kept up a constant firing at the match-maker's turkeys,
careless whether they hit or missed, and flinging out their six-
pences with a profusion positively startling to the rural mind of
that era.
Soon, one or another of the young men was seen riding a
fine horse which had belonged to Love, and which they said he
had given them. Finally, with that fatuity which so often lures
criminals to their destruction, the Thayers attempted to collect
notes and accounts, which they represented that Love had left
DISCOVERY, TRIAL AND CONVICTION. 36 1
witli them for that purpose. The debtors demurred. . One of
them refused to pay because no power of attorney was pro-
duced. In a few days a power of attorney was brought forward.
Then suspicions rapidly grew rife. The Thayers were closely
questioned as to Love's whereabouts, and their unsatisfactory
answers increased the suspicions.
At length Nelson and Israel were arrested, and, as I have
said, men gathered from all the country round to search for the
bod}^ of Love. The magistrates of Boston offered for its recov-
ery a reward of ten dollars! But ten dollars was more then
than it is now. The searchers circled far and near, exploring
every suspicious nook, but without results, and toward nightfall
they retunfed, wearied and unsuccessful, but still unsatisfied.
One of them had his attention called to a piece of sloping
ground back of the cabin of Israel Thayer, Jr. It is generally
reported that this was caused by old Mr. Thayer's asking
whether they had examined that locality, but there is nothing
in the sworn evidence to that effect. At all events several men
went to examine the spot. And there, lying on his back in a
shallow grave, carelessly covered with brush, his toes peeping
through the frozen ground, was the body of John Love, only
twenty or thirty rods from the house of his murderer. The ar-
rest of Isaac and the old man immediately followed, and all
were soon in jail.
They were tried at the Erie county Oyer and Terminer, on
the 19th and 20th of April. Reuben H. Walworth, judge of
the fourth district and afterwards chancellor of the State, pre-
sided, while on the bench with him sat Ebenezer Walden, first
judge of the Common Pleas, and Associate-Judges Russell, Doug-
lass and Camp. District- Attorney Potter appeared for the peo-
ple, assisted by Sheldon Smith and Henry B. White, both young
lawyers, lately admitted. The prisoners were defended by Thos.
C. Love, P2benezer Griffin and P2than B. Allen. Israel, Jr., and
Isaac were tried first, and Nelson separately, afterwards. The
father was not put on trial. Associate-Judge William Mills was
also on the bench, at the second trial. Of the jurors, Jas. Clark
of Lancaster, and Elijah Knight of Michigan, still survive, and
possibly others. The evidence was too plain for serious contest,
and all three were found guilty and sentenced to death.
24
362 CONFESSION AND EXECUTION.
Finding their doom sealed, they made a full confession of their
crime. I pass, as briefly as may be, over its tragic details. The
murder had been planned for several days before the 15th of
December, 1824. On that day Love had been persuaded to go
to the house of Israel, Jr., whose wife had been sent away. While
he was seated before the fire-place, Isaac, from the outside, fired
through the window, hitting him in the head. As he did not
fall from his chair, the oldest of the brothers struck him with
an axe in the neck, completing the work. Isaac then went
away, declaring that he had done his part, and the other two
buried the body, as has been said, in a grave so shallow that the
earth scarcely covered its feet.
They all said their father had nothing to do with the crime,
and it was not generally believed that he had, except that he
might, perhaps, have been made aware of it after its commission.
On the 7th of June, 1825, was seen the remarkable spectacle
of three brothers led to execution for murder. It was this cir-
cumstance which made the crime famous, and which drew an
enormous crowd to the scene of doom. When executions were
public every one attracted a throng — but three executions at
once had a fascination which hardly any one could resist. Even
the day before the last tragedy, many bent their way toward
Buffalo, and on the morning of the execution, every road was
crowded with people — men, women and children — hurrying for-
ward in every kind of vehicle, on horseback and on foot. Never
had there been seen such thronging numbers since that dismal
day in December, 1813, when all the people fled, not to, but from,
the execution which they feared at the hands of savage inv^aders.
There was, however, one notable exception. As Judge Wal-
den was entering the village from his farm in Hamburg, he met
the veteran Red Jacket, striding alone toward his home at the
Seneca village.
"Why, how is this," said the judge, "why do you not go to
see the execution, like the rest.-*"
"Ugh," growled the old chieftain contemptuously, "fools
enough there now — battle is the place to see men die ; " ami
with this aphorism he haughtily pursued his way.
The morning of the execution the wretched father was re-
leased, and returned to his desolate home.
A HUNGRY THRONG. 363
As usual the militia was called out, and besides the regiment
of foot, commanded by Colonel and District-Attorney Potter, I
find mention of Captains Matthews' and Vosburgh's troops of
horse, and Captain Crary's artillery. A mass of people, es-
timated at from twenty to thirty thousand but probably not half
so large, was gathered about Niagara Square, near the west side
of which the gallows was situated. Again, as twice before,
Elder Glezen Fillmore was chosen to preach the customary ser-
mon, and the survivors of the scene still remember the solemn
impression which he made, as his mighty voice rolled out over
the heads of the hushed throng.
This was the last public execution at Buffalo, and the only
one in Erie county after its separate organization. Like most
other noted events of that era, the tragedy was celebrated in
divers most unmelodious attempts at rhyme. One of them was
so remarkably uncouth in style, and so disjointed in meter, that
it may fairly be termed a classic among doggerels. Verses are
often quoted from it by old residents, and the newspapers have
several times reprinted it for the delectation of their younger
readers.
One somewhat curious item illustrates the eagerness of the
people to visit the execution, and marks a point in the history
of Alden. Thomas Farnsworth, as his son informs me, had put
up a large house on the site of Alden village in 1823. He
sometimes entertained travelers, but kept no regular tavern for
two years. When the crowd came flocking to the execution
they, in common parlance, ate him out of house and home.
He furnished them everything he could, and then prepared a
large supply of eatables and drinkables in expectation of their
return. Again the hungry throngs cleared his larder ; he then
concluded that he might as well keep a tavern in earnest, and
accordingly put up a sign.
It may be noted, too, as another landmark of progress, that
in that year James Wood and Orsamus Warren, both deceased
within the past year, opened the first store at "Wood's Hollow"
in Wales. In fact it was about the first large store in that
section, and drew trade from a wide range of country.
Between the trial and execution of the Thayers occurred an-
other event of wide-spread interest. For two or three days Cap-
364 LAFAYETTE AND RED JACKET.
tain Vosburgh's cavalry and Captain Rathbun's Frontier Guard
were kept under arms at Buffalo, awaiting the arrival of the
steamer Superior. A large concourse of citizens also assembled
daily.
At length, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of June 4th, the
steamer came, and from it descended an old man of medium
height, venerable appearance and mild demeanor. A great
crowd saluted him with enthusiastic cheers, the soldiers pre-
sented arms, and under their escort the stranger passed up Main
street, to Rathbun's Eagle tavern. It was Lafayette, the guest
of the nation, returning from his western tour.
In front of the hotel a handsome pavilion had been erected,
where Judge Forward, on behalf of the people, welcomed the
distinguished stranger in a brief address, to which the general
made an appropriate reply.
Among those who had awaited his arrival was Red Jacket,
proudly displaying his Washington medal, and doubtless looking
forward with his usual vanity, though with apparent stoicism,
to a scene in which it was arranged that he should play a strik-
ing part. As the whites naturally wanted their aboriginal lion
to make a creditable appearance, a special committee kept close
watch to see that the lion did not get drunk before the visitor
came.
After the formal reception was over, the orator was escorted
on the stage by the committee. "The Douglass in his hall,"
says Turner, who was present, "never walked with a firmer step
or a prouder bearing." He almost seemed to condescend to
take notice of the gentleman from France.
Their conversation was through an interpreter ; in fact Red
Jacket always employed one on state occasions. In the course)
of it the treaty of Fort Stanwix was mentioned. Lafayette
asked his interlocutor if he knew what had become of the young
chief, who at that time eloquently opposed the " burying of the
tomahawk."
" He stands before you," proudly and promptly replied the
aged orator. Nevertheless there is a good deal of doubt as to
whether Red Jacket was present at Fort Stanwix at all. If he
saw a good chance to add to the dramatic interest of his inter-
view with Lafayette, he would probably be quite willing to seize
AN AMUSING EPISODE. 365
it, without regard to the trifling matter of his absence from the
council.
In further conversation, the sachem remarked that time liad
not visited the general so hardly as himself
"Time has left you a fresh countenance, and hair to cover your
head ; while as for me — see!" and taking off the handkerchief
which had covered his head, he disclosed that he was nearly
bald. A laugh went round among the spectators, for most of
them knew that Lafayette himself wore a wig. On the chief-
tain's being informed of this fact, he drily remarked that he
supposed he, too, might supply himself with a new head of hair,
with the aid of his scalping-knife.
That evening the village was illuminated, and the next morn-
ing the general set out for the Falls, being escorted as far as
Black Rock by the military.
The occurrences which I shall next describe form altogether
the most amusing episode in the history of the county of Erie.
Seldom, indeed, have there happened anywhere events which
properly entered into history, and yet which were of so intensely
farcical a character. This account of them is to a great extent
condensed from an essay read by Hon. Lewis F. Allen before
the Buffiilo Historical Society, though the journals of the time
have also been consulted.
From the time of its "conquest," and the expatriation of its
would-be sovereigns, in 18 19, Grand Island had remained un-
tenanted by man, save perchance by an occasional squatter, who
had stolen back and occupied his old ground so quietly that no
one had cared to disturb him. Deer Avere abundant. Bears
and wolves were occasionally seen, and fish could be caught in
unlimited quantities. White hunters occasionally visited the
island, and the Indians of the neighboring reservations held an-
nual carnivals of weeks at a time, always returning with canoes
filled with venison.
After several years of this Arcadian existence, the State
caused the island to be surveyed into farm lots in 1824 and '25,
and in the latter year they were offered for sale. While the sur-
vey was going on. Major Mordecai Manuel Noah, a prominent
Israelite of the city of New York, formed a plan to purchase the
island, (a part of it at first,) found a city, and gather there the
^66 THE "JUDGE OF ISRAEL."
Hebrews of all nations, making it an asylum for that oppressed
people.
Despite the visionary nature of his scheme, Major Noah was
a shrewd man of the world in ordinary affairs — a native of the
United States, a counselor at law, a successful politician, and the
editor of the principal organ of the Tammany, or " Bucktail,"
party in the metropolis. By the favor of that party he had
been made consul at Tunis and high sheriff of the county of
New York.
He does not, however, seem to have had much influence with
his own people, though always a loyal and devoted son of Abra-
ham. The Hebrews, even of his own acquaintance, distrusted
his judgment and rejected his proposals.
Nevertheless he persisted in his plan. Poor in means himself,
notwithstanding his political influence, he persuaded his Gentile
friend, Samuel Leggett, to purchase about a thousand acres at
the head of Grand Island, and fifteen hundred on the eastern
side, opposite Tonawanda. Mr. L. agreed to pay nearly seven
dollars an acre, but only one-eighth was paid down. Other par-
ties, including Peter Smith, father of the late Gerrit Smith,
stimulated by Noah's talk of building a city, purchased nearly all
the rest' of the island at a little less than four dollars per acre.
Noah now assumed the title of "Judge of Israel," without the
slightest sanction from any assemblage of his compatriots, how-
ever small, or from any of the actual dignitaries of the Jewish
church. He then provided himself with robes of office, and, at-
tended only by a solitary secretary, set forth to found his city.
For it he had selected the appellation of "Ararat," ancl the wits
of the day declared it very natural that, in searching for a name,
NoaJi should light on Ararat.
He arrived in Buffalo near the middle of September, 1825.
Some of the necessary arrangements had been made in advance.
A flag-staff had been erected on the island to bear the Grand
Standard of Israel, and a flat stone, resembling in appearance a
large, old-fashioned gravestone, had been inscribed by a Buf-
falo mechanic with a suitable device, furnished by Major Noah.
Though called a "corner-stone," it does not ajjpear to have been
intended for any particular building, but rather as a memento
of the founding of the city.
A GRAND PROCESSION. 367
And here comes the most amusing and surprising part of all
this strange performance. Finding, according to his own state-
ment, that enough boats could not be procured to convey to the
island all who wished to see the ceremony, Major Noah deter-
mined to lay the foundation-stone of the city of Ararat in the
village of Buffalo, twelve miles distant, and on the other side
of the east branch of the Niagara river. I suspect, however,
that this astonishing absurdity was due rather to the facilities
which the village afforded for a good show, as compared with
the wilds of Grand Island ; for vanity was certainly one of the
principal characteristics of the self-styled judge.
The people of Buffalo were full of excitement over the almost-
completed canal, and their own expected greatness, and gladly
availed themselves of any opportunity to make a display. More-
over, as if to add to the oddity of the whole aff^iir, it was de-
termined to lay the foundation of this Jewish city of refuge
within the walls of the Episcopal church of St. Paul's. The
masons, too, lent their aid, some of the military companies
agreed to turn out, and the officers of the corporation consented
to appear in a body.
The 15th of September was fixed as the day for the cere-
mony. At sunrise salutes were fired in front of the court-house
and on the Terrace. At eleven o'clock a procession formed in
front of the masonic lodge-room, and moved toward the church.
Colonel Heman B. Potter acted as grand marshal.
There was a band of music, and militia companies, and citi-
zens, and various officers both civil and military. Then came
the masons, in full regalia, with the emblematic corn, wine and
oil. Then, almost at the last, followed only by a few royal arch
masons and knights templar, came the principal figure of the
procession. In an article written by Major Noah himself, for
an extra edition of the Buffalo Patriot, that figure is described
as " The Judge of Israel, in black, wearing the judicial robes
of crimson silk, trimmed with ermine, and a richly embossed
golden medal suspended from the neck."
At the church the troops opened each way, and the proces-
sion entered, while the band played the grand march from Judas
Maccabees. The " corner stone" lay on the communion table !
The masonic corn, wine and oil lay in silver cups on the stone.
368 A WONDERFUL PROCLAMATION.
The latter bore tlic following inscription, the first line being in
Hebrew :
Mcar, O Israel, the Lord is our God — the Lord is one.
ARARAT,
A City of Refuge for the Jews. Founded by
MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH,
In the month of Tizri 5586 — Sept. 1825, in Uie 50th year
of American Independence.
The Episcopal morning service was read by the Rev. Addison
Searle, the missionary rector of St. Paul's, and then a hymn was
sung to the tunc of " Old Hundred." Then came various
prayers, readings from the Bible, a psalm in Hebrew, and finally
the benediction. The ordinary ceremony of laying a corner-
stone with trowel and mortar was necessarily omitted.
IVLajor Noah then delivered a speech, going through with the
details of his plan, after which the procession returned to the
lodge-room, the artillery fired a salute of twenty-four guns, the
band played patriotic airs, and the crowd dispersed to their
homes.
The same number of the Buffalo Patriot which gave a descrip-
tion of the scene contained also a " proclamation to the Jews,"
quite as amusing as the rest of the proceedings. After declar-
ing that God had manifested the approach of the day when the
Jews should be reunited, and mentioning the spirit of liberality
which encouraged them, the document continued :
"Therefore I, Mordecai Manuel Noah, citizen of the United
States of America, late consul of said States for the City and
Kingdom of Tunis, High Sheriff of New York, Counselor at
law, and by the grace of God Governor and Judge of Lsrael,
have issued this, my proclamation, announcing to the Jews
throughout the world that an asylum is prepared, and hereby
offered to them, where they can enjoy that peace, comfort and
happiness which have been denied them through the intoler-
ance and misgovernment of former ages."
The proclamation next proceeded to describe the agricultural
and commercial advantages of Grand Island, and of the State
of New York, in the most glowing terms. Then the judge
continued :
" In his [the Lord's] name do I revive, renew and establish
the government of the Jewish nation, under the auspices and
protection of the constitution and laws of the United States of
AUDACIOUS ORDERS. 369
America, confirmini^ and perpetuatiiif^ all our rights and privi-
leges, our name, our rank and our power among the nations of
the earth, as they existed and were recognized under the gov-
ernment of the Judges."
How their rank and power among the nations, as they were
in the time of the Judges, were to be reconciled with the author-
ity of the United States over Grand Island, the enthusiastic
ruler did not deign to explain. With sublime audacity he pro-
ceeded to issue a series of commands to all the Israelites of the
world, not one of whom, except perhaps his secretary, had
ever recognized his authority.
He commanded that a census of the Hebrews should be taken
throughout the world. He prohibited marriage, or giving
" Keduchim," unless both parties were of suitable age, and able
to read and WTite the language of the country they inhabited.
He commanded that a strict neutrality should be observed in
the pending war between the Greeks and Turks. He declared
that the American Indians were in all probability descended
from the lost tribes of Israel, and that measures must be
adopted to cultivate their minds and reunite them to the chosen
people.
Most audacious of all, he levied a capitation tax of " three
shekels," or one Spanish dollar, per annum, on every Jew
throughout the world, to defray the expenses of reorganizing
the government and assisting emigrants. Finally he designated
ten of the most eminent Israelites of Europe as commissioners
to carry out his instructions.
The proclamation was signed " By the Judge. A. B. Siexas,
Secretary/;'^ tern!'
A day or two later the redoubtable counselor, editor, major,
sheriff and judge returned to New York, without having ever
visited Grand Island, and that was the end of Ararat. Not an
Israelite went to Grand Island, not a " shekel " was paid into
the treasury, not a rabbi acknowledged the authority of the Su-
preme Judge. All unanimously rejected the enticing scheme,
and Noah himself, apparently becoming satisfied of its hope-
lessness, utterly abandoned it immediately after his return to the
metropolis.
In his description of the affair he called the services " impres-
370 NOAII SURVIVKS.
sive and unique." Unique they certainly were. I doubt if a
"queerer" performance has ever happened outside the Hmits of
opera bouffe. The foundation-stone of a Jewish city is laid with
masonic ceremonies, on the communion table of a Christian
church, twelve miles and across a river from the site of the pro-
po.sed metropolis, by a man claiming to be the .supreme ruler of
Israel without the support of a single Israelite, while an Epis-
copal clergyman reads the service and the choir sing Old Hun-
dred. Moreover, the ceremonies are under the escort of a
detachment of New York militia, their colonel acting as grand
marshal, he being at the same time district-attorney of Erie
county, aiding the high sheriff of New York to set up the an-
cient government of the Hebrew judges within the jurisdiction
of the United States of America.
A score of exclamation points would be inadequate to do
justice to the situation.
Noah did not even take care to destroy or conceal the stone
memento of his folly. For several years it lay in the rear of St.
Paul's church, and afterwards went through some curious mi-
grations which will perhaps be narrated by-and-by.
Not the least singular part of the whole matter is that after this
astoni.shing fiasco Noah was still able to maintain his prestige
as an editor and politician. If he was the cause of wit in others,
he was not without wit of his own, and in his newspaper he met
the ridicule flung upon him, with a readiness and good humor
that in time disarmed his adv^ersaries. Though he could not
make himself a judge in Israel, he could in New York, being
appointed to preside in one of the courts of that city some years
after his Grand Island escapade. He is .said to have performed
his judicial duties with marked ability and integrity.
There was still another grand sensation for the year 1825.
The progress of the Erie canal had been anxiously watched
throughout the final summer of its construction. In September
there remained only the la.st touches at the "Mountain Ridge,"
where the village of Lockport was rapidly growing in the forest-
On the 29th of that month William C. Bouck, the commissioner
in charge of the western section, gave notice that the canal
would be ready for the passage of boats, along its entire length,
on the 26th of October.
GRAND CANAL CELKBRATION. 3/1
Immediately a grand celebration was resolved on, and com-
mittees were appointed all along the line to carry it out. P^-om
Albany to Buffalo everybody was in a state of excitement over
the canal and the celebration, and even New York took an ac-
tive part. Nowhere was the feeling stronger than at Buffalo,
which at length saw its hopes of greatness approaching realiza-
tion. Though the adoption of that place as the terminus of
the canal was perhaps the real turning-point in her destiny, yet
her triumph was still liable to be checked by hostile legislation.
The completion of the canal set the seal of permanent success
on her endeavors, and all her people were ready for a jubilee.
The whole county of Erie, too, was deeply interested in the
event about to be celebrated, for it not only provided the people
with an unfailing outlet for their surplus produce, but it brought
to their doors the market which a great city always affords.
As the designated hour drew near, the force at the Mountain
Ridge was largely increased, and even then there was no time
to spare. It was not till the evening of the 24th of October
that the guard-gates were opened, and the filling of the Lake
Erie level commenced, and not till the evening of the 25th that
the entire canal was provided with water, and ready for naviga-
tion. On that evening Governor Clinton and the New York
committee arrived at Buffalo, finding everything in perfect
readiness for the ovation.
On the 26th the morn was ushered in by the thunders of ar-
tillery, and everybody was soon astir. At an early hour mar-
shals were riding to and fro, soldiers were hurrying to their
rendezvous, banners were waving from every housetop, mechan-
ics of every description were assembling at the appointed local-
ities, and citizens of every station were preparing to join in the
joyful duties of the day. At 9 o'clock the procession formed
at the park and moved down Main street, headed by a band of
music and Captain Rathbun's rifle company. Then came a
body of canal diggers with shovels, axe-men with axes, stone-
cutters, masons, ship-carpenters, and sailors of the lake with
their officers. All the mechanics of the village followed, (I
doubt if one was absent) ; the representatives of each trade
marching together. Then came the citizens in general, then a
body of military officers in uniform, members of the village
1^2 DE WITT CLINTON.
corporation, strangers of distinction, canal engineers and com-
missioners, followed by the orator of the day, Sheldon Smith.
Last of all, rode one who has been universally recognized as
the master-mind of the work then celebrated — whose genius
discerned the wisdom of the much-ridiculed project of the
" Grand Canal," whose talents gave it effective advocacy, whose
resolute will forced it to completion — De Witt Clinton, governor
of the State of New York. A square-built, broad-shouldered
man of fifty-six, his stern countenance may have hidden his
feelings from the crowd, but he must have been more or less
than human had not his heart beat quicker with triumph as he
saw his hopes and his labors at last realized. Henceforth his
position was secure. Politicians might outwit him, enemies
might assail him, disease might torture him, death might soon
claim him for its own, but the " F'ather of the Erie Canal " had
achieved a place in the history of his State and nation, of which
neither politicians, nor enemies, nor disease, nor death itself
could rob him.
The procession, under the direction of Major John G. Camp,
grand marshal of the day, moved down Main street, and thence
to the canal basin, where the boat Seneca Chief, which was to
make the first voyage through to the Hudson, was awaiting
it. The governor and other distinguished passengers went on
board. Jesse Hawley, the earliest projector of the canal in
its entirety, made a short address of congratulation on the part
of a committee from Rochester. Judge Forward responded on
behalf of the Buffalo committee.
Then, at precisely lO o'clock, the boat moved off, and, as it
did so, a 32-pound cannon on the bank was fired. Ere its echoes
died away, it was responded to by another gun far down the
canal ; and those who listened closely for a moment more might,
perchance, have heard still another faint report, from a yet
greater distance. The grand State-salute was being fired. All
along the canal, from Buffalo to Albany, heavy pieces of artil-
lery had been stationed within hearing distance of each other,
and the shot fired at Buffalo was repeated by gun after gun, as
fast as sound could travel.
After the boat had started, the procession returned to the
court-house, where, after prayer and singing, Mr. Smith delivered
WEDDING OF LAKE AND OCEAN. 373
cin oration on the great event, in which, after depicting the
benefits which the canal, though incomplete, had already con-
ferred, he indulged in a glowing description of the blessings
which it would bestow in the future, not only on the people of
the Empire State, but on the many millions of the mighty
West ; anticipations which have been more than made good by
the beneficent reality.
The services at the court-house were closed by the singing of
an "ode written for the occasion," which was not, as is often the
case with such productions, entirely destitute of poetic fire.
The procession then re-formed and marched through several
streets. Afterwards, a large number of the citizens partook of a
dinner at " Rathbun's Eagle," and another body at " Landon's
Mansion House."
A few minutes before sitting down, a faint report was heard
to the northward.
" Ah ! the return shot," cried the people, and at the same in-
stant the big 32-pounder at the basin thundered forth the last
shot in the State-salute. The announcement of the starting of
the Seneca Chief had occupied but three hours and twenty min-
utes in traveling to Albany and back by this unique telegraph.
The dinners were duly discussed, with numerous toasts appro-
priate to the occasion, and the festivities of the day were con-
cluded by a grand ball at Rathbun's, at which, we are told,
" most of the fashion and beauty of the village attended."
The Buffalo committee, headed by Judge Wilkeson, went
through to New York, and obtained a keg of the water of the
Atlantic, which they brought back to Buffalo. On their arrival
there was a final ceremony, which reminds one of the wedding of
the Adriatic by the doge of Venice. The sentiment was quite
as poetic, though it must be confessed that the accessories were
far less so.
The committee, with other citizens, went out upon the lake in
a vessel. Then, with appropriate formalities, the water of the
Atlantic was poured upon the bosom of Erie. This was the
last ceremonial which celebrated the grand wedding of Lake
and Ocean.
It was in 1825, or very near it, that the trustees of Buffalo
changed the old names of many of the streets to others more
374 CHANGING NAMES.
easil)' manag^eablc. Vollcnhoven avenue became Erie street,
Cazenove avenue Court street, Schimmelpenninck avenue Niag-
ara street, and Busti avenue Genesee street. Onondaga street
was changed into Washington, and Tuscarora into Franklin, and
terrible Missisauga was subdued to simple Morgan. Even the
modest names of Oneida and Cayuga were not spared, but were
changed into EUicott and Pearl. Finally, Crow street, which
commemorated the name of the pioneer landlord, was rechrist-
ened Exchange, and then the reformers stayed their hands.
Another change of name was made, about this time, on the
banks of the Cattaraugus. The hamlet called Aldrich's Mills
became the village of Lodi. A year or two previous Mr. Ralph
Plumb had purchased the solitary store there, and had begun
the prominent business career which he so long and successfully
pursued. Probably the name of Lodi was suggested by Na-
poleon's " Bridge of Lodi," on account of the long bridge over
the Cattaraugus, which connected the two parts of the village.
But there was another Lodi in the State, their letters went
wrong, and for a long time they never could get a post-office
name to suit them.
At the election in November, John G. Camp was chosen
sheriff, and Jacob A. Barker was reelected county clerk. Reu-
ben B. Heacock was selected to represent the county in the as-
sembly, and Judge Wilkeson in the State senate. The supervi-
sors for that year, of which there happens to be a complete list
extant, were as follows: Amherst, Job Bestow; Alden, Moses
Case; Aurora, John C. Fuller; Buffalo, Josiah Trowbridge;
Boston, John C. Twining; Collins, Nathaniel Knight; Concord,
Thomas M. Barrett; Clarence, Simeon Fillmore; Evans, Na-
thaniel Gray; Eden, James Green; Erie (Newstead), John
Boyer; Hamburg, Thomas T. White, and after his death Joseph
Foster; Holland, Asa Crook; Sardinia, Bela H. Colegrove;
Wales, Ebenezer Holmes.
The State census was taken in June of this year, and showed
the population of Erie county to be twenty-four thousand three
hundred and sixteen. Jiuffalo numbered two thousand four
hundred and twelve inhabitants — onl}- one tenth of the whole
population of the county.
JUST FIFTY YEARS AGO. 375
CHAPTER XXXIII.
1826 TO 1830.
The Semi-Centennial. — Dr. Lord. — Purchase of Indian Land. — Abduction of Mor-
gan.— Excitement. — Anti-Masonry in Politics. — The Holland Company. —
A Bogus Murderer. — Shooting Niagara. — A Menagerie in Troul)le. — Depo-
sition of Red Jacket. — Restoration. — An Erie County Cabinet-Officer. — Mili-
tary.— Early Germans. — Political Matters. — Catholics. — A Classical School.
Millard Fillmore. — Post-offices in 1830. — Condition of the County. — Death
of Red Jacket. — Fate of his Remains.
The construction of the canal was not, at first, rewarded by
the immense business which its sanguine supporters expected.
But httle grain, as yet, found its way down the lake, and for
several years loads were light. A large part of the business of
the canal was the carrying of passengers in packet boats, a busi-
ness which became quite extensive, yet did not prevent an im-
mense amount of travel by stage-coach.
Few incidents of special local interest occurred during the
forepart of 1826. As this is a "Centennial History," however,
it would be inconsistent not to mention that in 1826 occurred
the Jubilee, or Semi-Centennial, of American Independence,
celebrated with great rejoicing throughout the country, and made
doubly memorable by the most remarkable coincidence in his-
tory— the death of Jefferson, the author of the declaration, and
of Adams, its chief supporter, just fifty years from the day of
its being signed.
At the celebration in Buff'alo the principal part was borne by
a young man admitted the year before to the Erie county bar^
of which he is now the earliest surviving member, though he has
long given all his efforts to another field. I refer to John C.
Lord, now the Rev. Dr. Lord, the orator of the day on that
occasion.
The supervisors for the year, so far as known, were Job Bes-
tow of Amherst^ Moses Case of Alden, Josiah Trowbridge of
Buffalo, Truman Cary of Boston, O. R. Hopkins of Clarence,
Nathaniel Knight of Collins, Asa Warren of Eden, Joseph
1^6 PURCHASE OF MILE-STRIPS, ETC.
Foster of Hamburg, Asa Crook of Holland, Horace Clark of
Sardinia, and Ebenezer Holmes of Wales.
During this year the efforts of the preemption-owners to pur-
chase Indian lands were at length rewarded with partial success.
A council was held the last of August, 1826, and, notwithstand-
ing the remonstrances of Red Jacket and his supporters, a treaty
was made by which the Indians ceded to the Ogden Company
11,^17 acres of the Buffalo reservation, 33,409 of the Tonawanda
reservation, and 5,120 of the Cattaraugus reservation, besides
some 1,500 acres in the Genesee valley.
All of the Tonawanda reservation in Erie county was thus
ceded, except a strip about a mile and a half wide anci two
miles and a half long, in the northeast corner of the town of
Erie, or Newstead. The thriving village of Akron is on the
land then purchased, near its southwest corner.
From the Buffalo Creek reservation a strip a mile and a half
wide was sold off on the south side, running from a point in
the present town of Cheektowaga, a mile and a half east
of Cayuga creek to the cast end of the reservation. Also a strip
about three miles wide from the east end, (including all east of
the "two-rod road" in Marilla), and finally a tract a mile wide,
commonly called the "mile-strip," extending along the whole
south side of the reservation.
Of the Cattaraugus reservation, besides a mile square in
Chautauqua county there was ceded in Erie county a strip a
mile wide along the north side of the reservation, for six miles
from the northeast corner, also called in that section the "mile-
strip," and a tract a mile sc^uare, known as the "mile-block,"
south of the east end of that strip. Boih are in the present town
of Brant, the north edge of that " mile-strip " being about half
a mile south of Brant Center.
Red Jacket's influence was evidently waning, but he still
clung to the semblance of his former greatness. After the
treaty was agreed to by the greater part of the chiefs, the agent
of the Ogden Company told the veteran orator that as he had
opposed its adoption he need not sign it. Ikit no ; the name of
Sagoyewatha had been affixed to every treaty made by his
people for nearly forty years, and must not now be omitted.
His opposition to Christianity and civilization was yearly
morgan's abduction. uj
growing more bitter, and the breach between his pagan adherents
and that large part of the Indians who favored progressive doc-
trines was all the while becoming wider. Although his vanity
prompted him to have his name in its usual prominent posi-
tion, yet he afterwards tried to have the treaty set aside as fraud-
ulent. On examination, however, the negotiations appeared to
have been conducted with entire fairness.
As soon as practicable, the land thus purchased was divided
among the several individuals who were collectively called the
Ogden Company, and most of it was put in market.
That year, too, the State offered for sale its land adjoining
Buffalo, on the State reservation, which came as far east as Mor-
gan street. It was appraised at twenty-five dollars an acre!
The price, however, advanced very rapidly after the sale. Mr.
James Miller relates that he bought twelve acres of the first
purchasers for nine hundred and fifty dollars, kept it a year and
sold it for six thousand.
It was in September of this year that the celebrated William
Morgan, of Batavia, when on the eve of publishing his exposure
of the secrets of masonry, was abducted from Canandaigua,
where he had been confined in jail on trivial charges, and taken
in a close carriage in the direction of Niagara river. The ab-
duction created much excitement throughout Western New
York, but does not appear in any way to have affected the
election that fall.
In this congressional district a very bitter contest, chiefly on
personal grounds, took place between Garnsey, the sitting mem-
ber, and Albert H. Tracy, the ex-member, the former being
elected by a small majority. Mr. Tracy had, a few months be-
fore, been appointed judge of the eighth circuit by Governor
Clinton, but had declined the office. Wm. B. Rochester, who
had previously held it, had resigned in order to come to Buffalo
and accept the presidency of a branch of the United States
Bank, then established there.
By the census of 1825, Erie county had become entitled to
two members of the assembly ; David Burt of Buffalo, and
Oziel Smith of Williamsville, were the first elected under the
new rule.
As time passed, and Morgan could not be found, the people
25
3/8 ANTI-MASUNIC FEELING.
became still more excited. Meetings were held, and commitees
of investigation appointed, and bitter language toward all ma-
.sons began to be used throughout Western New York. At
length it was discovered that the unfortunate man had been
taken from Canandaigua to Fort Niagara, thence across the
river to Canada, and thence back to the fort, in the magazine of
which he was kept until about the 29th of September, when all
traces of him disappeared forever. Plentiful inferences have
been drawn, but his precise fate is still unknown. Some of his
first abductors were discovered and indicted, but they pleaded
guilty of the abduction in January, 1827, leaving the main ques-
tion undecided. The feeling grew stronger and spread wider,
and nowhere was it stronger than in Erie county, except per-
haps in Genesee. Many masons abandoned the connection.
As the town elections approached in the spring of 1827, the
prevalent excitement began to show itself in politics. In many
towns, meetings were held at which resolutions were adopted
that no adhering mason should be supported for any office.
The following supervisors were chosen at that time : T. S.
Hopkins of Amherst, Moses Case of Alden, Thomas Thurston
of Aurora, Josiah Trowbridge of Buffalo, Epaphras Steele ol
l^oston, Nathaniel Knight of Collins, Otis R. Hopkins of Clar-
ence, Levi Bunting of Eden, William Van Duzer of Evans, Asa
Crook of Holland, Joseph Foster of Hamburg, Horace Clark
of Sardinia, and Niles Cole of Wales.
During the year many masonic lodges in Western New York
gave up their charters, and distrust of the institution extended
to other parts of the country. Parties were in a chaotic state,
nearly all men claiming to be Democrats. The most definite
division was into supporters of the Adams-Clay administration,
on the one hand, and of Jackson's aspirations to the succession
on the other. Neither of these parties would consent to the ex-
clusion of masons from office, so the ardent anti-masons advo-
cated the policy of separate nominations. Some of the counties
were carried by an anti-masonic ticket in the fall of 1827.
In Erie, however, that question was complicated with that of
opposition to the Holland Land Company. Notwithstanding
the reception of produce by the company, there was still a large
indebtedness, with poor prospects of payment. When, added to
A BOGUS MURDERER. 379
this, came rumors that the company was about to raise the price
of land on which the time of payment had passed, there was
a general desire for legislative relief. Doubts were started as to
the title of the company, and the proposition that in some way
its property should be subjected to very heavy taxation was re-
ceived with favor. David E. Evans had succeeded Mr. Otto as
agent, and during his administration the contracts were some-
what.modified in favor of the settlers.
At this time the veteran soldier and statesman, Peter B. Por-
ter, again came to the surface of political affairs. He was
almost unanimously elected to the assembly, representing a
mingled feeling of opposition to masonry and to the Holland
Company. David Burt was reelected by a large majority.
In the fall, the masons charged with the murder of Morgan
were brought to trial in Niagara county, the trials resulting in
disagreement of the juries. While the excitement was running
high an incident occurred, curiously illustrative of the proclivity
of minds, at once weak, vain and vicious, to seek an evil notori-
ety at every hazard. One R. H. Hill, a resident or sojourner in
this county, confessed with great circumstantiality that he had
been a party to the murder of Morgan. He declared that with
his own hand he had cut the victim's throat, and then helped to
throw him overboard from a boat, and that in doing so one of
the party of murderers became entangled in some ropes, fell
overboard and was drowned. He added that remorse alone had
caused this confession. He was put in jail, but when the grand
jury examined the matter they came to the unanimous opinion
that Hill knew nothing of Morgan or his fate. The would-be
culprit was accordingly discharged, a proceeding which he took
in high dudgeon. Not long after, he again got himself arrested,
but was again discharged, being thus finally compelled to aban-
don all his hopes of fame. In the reports of the affair there is
no suggestion of insanity — but insanity was not as fashionable
then as now.
Stimulated by the prevalent feeling, an anti-masonic newspaper,
called the Western Advertiser, was started in Bufialo, but it
only lasted about three months. A separate organ was not
necessary, as the principles of the anti-masons were vigorously
supported by the Buffalo Patriot, while the Journal defended
380 BLACK ROCK, TONAWANUA, ETC.
masonry. It defended it very moderately, however, for the feel-
ing in opposition was too strong to be rudely dealt with.
The Black Rock Gazette was moved to Buffalo in 1827, by
its proprietor. Smith H. Salisbury, and published for a year as
the Bufitalo and Black Rock Gazette. The Black Rock Advo-
cate, which had maintained a precarious existence for a year,
gave up the ghost in 1827. It was evident that the tide of pro-
gress was rapidly drifting away from Black Rock.
Tonawanda village had at this time advanced so that it had
a bridge, a few houses and two small stores ; Mr. Driggs, before
referred to, who located there permanently in 1827, opened the
third. The Methodists then had an organization, but there was
no church-building.
In fact church-buildings were extremely rare anywhere in the
county. I cannot learn of one, out of Buffalo, in the beginning
of 1827, except the PViends' meeting-house at East Hamburg.
In that year the Baptist and Presbyterian churches in Aurora
combined, and built a good-sized frame church. The Methodists
there erected one about the same time, and thenceforth white
spires began to arise in all parts of the county.
At this time, too, the village of Lodi, formerly vVldrich's
Mills, had progressed so that it was thought possible to support
a paper there, and the Lodi Pioneer was accordingly established.
It had but a brief existence.
There were already several steamers on the lake, and a large
fleet of sail vessels. Two or three small steamers had also been
built to run on the Niagara. A curious exhibition was seen on
that river in September, 1827. The schooner Michigan, which
was found to be too large to enter the lake harbors, and had be-
sides become partially unseaworthy, was purchased by several
hotel-owners and others, and public notice given that on a cer-
tain day it would be sent over the P'alls. The novel exhibition
drew immensely. Strangers came for days beforehand, and at
the time appointed the number of people on Goat Island and the
neighboring shores was estimated all the way from ten to thirty
thousand. P'ive steamers, all there were on both lake and river
except the Superior, went down from Buffalo loaded with pas-
sengers, besides thousands who took land-conveyance.
The Michigan was towed by one of the steamers to Yale's
SHOOTING NIAGARA. 38 1
landing, three miles above the Falls, on the Canadian side. In
the afternoon it was taken in charge by Captain Rough, the old-
est captain on the lake, who with a yawl and five oarsmen un-
dertook to pilot the doomed vessel as near the rapids as was
possible. The Michigan had been provided with a crew, for that
voyage only, consisting of a buffalo, three bears, two foxes, a
raccoon, a dog, a cat and four geese. It had also been officered
with effigies of General Jackson and other prominent men of
the day.
Captain Rough took the schooner to a point within a quarter
of a mile of the first rapids, and but little over half a mile
from the Horse-shoe Fall. Then it was cut adrift, and the oars-
men had to pull for their lives, but succeeded in insuring their
safety. Both shores were lined with immense crowds, eagerly
watching this curious proceeding.
With the American ensign flying from her bowsprit, and the
British jack at her stern, the Michigan went straight down the
center of the stream, keeping the course the best pilot would
have pursued, and was soon dashing over the first rapids. Then
there was trouble among the amateur crew. One of the bears
was seen climbing a mast. The foxes, the coon, the dog and
the cat were scampering up and down, apparently snuffing mis-
chief in the air, but not knowing how to avoid it. Two of the
bears plunged into the seething rapids and swam to the Cana-
dian shore. The poor buffalo was inclosed in a pen, and could
do nothing but meet his fate in dignified silence.
Passing the first rapids uninjured, the schooner shipped a sea,
but came up and entered the second, still "head on." There
its masts both went by the board. Then it swung around, en-
tered the third rapid stern foremost, and the next instant plunged
over the Horse-shoe Fall. Of course it was shivered into ten
thousand pieces, many of the largest timbers being broken into
atoms. Two of the geese survived the tremendous plunge and
swam ashore, being the only animals, except fish, ever known to
have descended alive over that fearful precipice. Their covi-
pagiions de voyage all disappeared ; even the buffalo was never
heard of more. Of the effigies. Gen. Jackson's alone passed un-
injured over the cataract, and was seen with head, arms and legs
complete, riding triumphantly around one of the eddies — which
382 DEPOSITION OF RED JACKET.
was doubtless considered by the friends of the real general as
an omen of success at the next Presidential election.
About the same time that this singular pageant was attracting
a multitude of spectators, the old orator of the Scnecas was be-
ing metaphorically sent over the Falls, as an unseaworthy hulk,
by his countrymen. The school at the Seneca village was then
in a forward condition, and many of the most prominent Indians
began to profess their belief in Christianity. Red Jacket's oppo-
sition became more bitter than ever, while his personal habits
were those of a perfect sot.
His wife had lately joined the Christians, whereupon the angry
old pagan abandoned her, and lived for several months with an-
other woman on the Tonawanda reservation. At the end of
that time, however, he returned to his wife, and afterwards man-
ifested no opposition to her attending church.
Twenty-five of the chiefs determined to depose him from his
sachemship. They accordingly had a written deposition drawn
up, which they all signed. The list was headed by "Gayanquia-
ton," or Young King, followed by the veteran Captain Pollard,
White Seneca, Seneca White, Captain Strong and the rest.
This singular document was directly addressed to him, saying,
" You, Sagoyowatha," have committed such and such offenses ;
accusing him of sending false stories to the President, of oppos-
ing improvement, of discouraging children from attending school,
of leaving his wife, of betraying the United States, in the war of
18 1 2, of appropriating annuity goods to his own use, and of hid-
ing a deer he had killed, while his people were star\'ing. His
accusers closed by renouncing him as chief, and forbidding him
to act as such.
These charges extended over a long time, and as to many of
them there are no means of ascertaining their correctness.
Those relating to his opposition to " improvement," etc., were
doubtless true, but were hardly proper .subjects of impeachment.
As to the accusation of betraying the United States in the war,
it was generally repudiated by American officers, who doubted
Red Jacket's courage, but not his fidelity. He sought, indeed,
to keep his people out of the fight entirely, but his right to do
this can hardly be questioned. It will be observed that his ac-
cusers say nothing about the gross drunkenness which really
AN ERIE COUNTY CABINET-OFFICER. 383
unfitted him for performing any official duties which may have
attached to his rank. Probably a good many of them thought
it not best, on their own account, to meddle with that subject.
Chiefs were so numerous among the Indians that twenty-five
was a minority of those who could claim that dignity ; and the
action of that number could not be considered the voice of the
nation. Red Jacket, however, was deeply cut by it. He made
a visit to Washington in 1827 or '28, and the commissioner of
Indian affairs advised him to return and offer his opponents to
bury the hatchet. He came back and called a council. Much
indignation was unquestionably felt among the Indians that
their greatest man should have been treated with such indignity.
He exerted his waning powers to the utmost, and made a most
eloquent speech. The council agreed to restore him to his rank,
and it is reported that it was done by a unanimous vote, his op-
ponents being awed into silence by the popular feeling.
But this was the last effort of that brilliant niind. He sank
rapidly into comparative imbecility and utter sottishness.
At the spring elections, in 1828, Timothy S. Hopkins was
chosen supervisor from Amherst, Moses Case from Alden, Reu-
ben B. Heacock from Buffalo, Epaphras Steele from Boston,
Nathaniel Knight from Collins, Joshua Agard from Concord,
Otis R. Hopkins from Clarence, Levi Bunting from Eden, Jo-
seph Foster from Hamburg, Asa Crook from Holland, Horace
Clark from Sardinia, Niles Cole from Wales, and Silas Lewis
from Colden ; the latter being the first from that town.
Judge Walden retired from the bench, and Thomas C. Love
was appointed first judge of the Common Pleas. His associates
were Charles Townsend, Philander Bennett, Samuel Russell and
William Mills.
A little later, a vacancy having occurred in the office of Sec-
retary of War, President Adams selected Gen. Peter B. Porter
for that position. He was the first cabinet gfficer from Western
New York. Gen. Porter discharged with credit the duties of his
office during the remainder of Mr. Adams' term, and then re-
tired permanently from public life. Still later he removed to
Niagara Falls, where he died in 1844. His only son was the late
Col. Peter A. Porter, (a native of Erie county, though long a
resident of Niagara,) who inherited the valor of the pioneer
384 MILITARY AND POLITICAL.
volunteer, and fell at the head of his rei,nnient in the war for
the Union.
H. B. Potter still remained district-attorney. He had also
become general of the 47th brigade of infantry, New York mi-
litia, and a roster on file in the Historical Society gives the names
of his field and staff officers. I do not know the exact year it
was made out, but it was not fiir from 1828. It ran as follows :
Brigadier-general, Heman B. Potter. Colonels, Jonathan
Colby of Holland, David Burt of Buffalo, Harry B. Ransom of
Clarence, and Uriel Torrey of Boston. Lieutenant-colonels, Na-
than M. Mann of Wales, L}man Rathbun of Buffalo, Alanson
Fox o^ Clarence, and Perry G. Jenks of Boston. Majors, Edward
H. Nye of Aurora, Alanson Palmer of Buffalo, Ansel Badger
of Alden, and Whitman Stone of Eden. The brigade staff was
composed as follows : Hospital surgeon, John E. Marshall ; judge
advocate. Philander Bennett ; brigade-quartermaster, James W.
Higgins ; aide-de-camp, George Hodge ; brigade major and in-
spector, Millard Fillmore. After this time, although generals and
colonels continued to abound, yet few notices of their appoint-
ment were published, and consequently I shall not, as a rule, be
able to give them a place in this history.
Although the feeling against masonry was very strong in this
.section, and constantly growing more so, yet the lodges at Buf-
falo and Black Rock still continued to meet, and in 1828 cele-
brated in the usual manner the ancient festival of St. John. As
the fall elections approached, the combat grew more intense.
Charges of murder and of abetting murder were freely used on
the one hand, and were met by accusations that the leading
anti-masons were merely stirring up strife for the purpose of
obtaining office.
This was also the autumn of the first election of Jackson,
and the contest was exceedingly bitter, throughout the country,
between his supporters (who by this time were generally recog-
nized as the actual Democratic party) and those of the Adams-
Clay administration. In Western New York the lines were
pretty closely drawn between the Jackson Democrats on the one
hand and the anti-masons on the other, the latter having a large
majority.
In the 30th district, Ebenezer F. Norton, of Buffalo, was
EARLY GERMAN EMIGRATION. 385
elected to Congress over John G. Camp. In this county Lemuel
Wasson, of Hamburg, was chosen sheriff, and Elijah Leech, of
Buffalo, county clerk. To represent the county in the assembly
the anti-masons elected David Burt, of Buffalo, and the young
Aurora lawyer, Millard Fillmore, who then first entered public
life. Dr. Johnson was again appointed surrogate, in place of
Roswell Chapin.
Notwithstanding the feebleness of the Democracy in this
county, a paper was established during the campaign to dis-
seminate their principles, which has adhered to that party ever
since, and which, after several changes of name, has for thirty
years been known as the Buffalo Courier. At its birth it was
called the Buffalo Republican.
It was during the semi-decade under consideration in this
chapter, that there, began to appear in Erie county a few scat-
tered families of a nationality which is now represented within
our borders by near eighty thousand of our most prosperous
citizens. A few Germans had come to Buffalo on the comple-
tion of the canal, and from year to year thereafter. One of the
number, Mr. E. C. Grey, who came in 1828, says there were
not over twenty-five German families in Buffalo when he
arrived. There were substantially none in the country towns.
From that time forward the number kept steadily increasing,
and I shall endeavor as fully as practicable to trace their growth
up to its present remarkable development.
The anti-masons continued to hold sway throughout 1829,
and the adhering masons gradually decreased in numbers. Then
or not long afterwards the Erie county lodges gave up their
charters. In the fall of 1829 Albert H. Tracy again entered
political life, being elected State senator by the anti-masons, by
a majority of over seven thousand in the eighth senatorial dis-
trict. At the same time Mr. Fillmore was reelected to the as-
sembly, in which he had taken high rank by his industry and
talents. The other member then elected was Edmund Hull, of
Clarence.
Thomas C. Love resigned the post of first judge to accept
that of district-attorney, from which General Potter retired
after ten years of service — the longest time that any one has
held that office in the county. Associate-judge Philander Ben-
^S6 MARILLA, XEWSTKAD, ETC.
nett was made first judge in place of Love, and James Stryker
appointed associate.
The supervisors for 1829 and 1830, so far as known, were as
follows : Amherst, Timothy S. Hopkins ; Alden, Moses Case ;
Buffalo, Ebenezer Walden ; Boston, Epaphras Steele ; Clarence,
Benjamin O. Bivins and John Brown ; Collins, Nathaniel Knight ;
Colden, Silas Lewis and William Lewis ; Eden, Levi Bunting ;
Hamburg, Joseph Foster ; Holland, Chase Fuller ; Sardinia,
Horace Clark ; Wales, Niles Cole and Moses McArthur.
Most of the present town of Marilla was included in the
tract bought of the Lidians. Its excellent soil caused it to be
quickly settled as soon as the land was for sale. Jeremiah and
G. W. Carpenter opened farms near the site of Marilla village
in 1829 and '30. Jesse Bartoo had settled still earlier, near what
is now Porterville, but was long called Bartoo's Mills.
The large tract purchased in Erie (Newstead) was also rapidly
filling up. The Erie post-office was on the old Buffalo road,
but business had already begun to be drawn toward what is now
the village of Akron, and in 1828 or'29 Jonathan Russell opened
a store there. For some unknown reason the place was ere
long called " The Corporation," and for many years went prin-
cipally by that name. The interior of the vast limestone ridge,
however, was as yet unexplored.
Meanwhile Williamsville, which had remained about the same
ever since the close of the war, began to revive. Oziel Smith
bought the extensiv^e mill-property, which had been unused for
some time, new machinery was set in motion, and the place
began to assume the appearance of progress.
Li 1829 the Catholics had become so numerous at Buffalo that
Bishop Dubois paid them a visit, preached, and administered the
sacraments of his Church. He states that he found seven or
eight hundred Catholics, instead of the seventy or eighty he had
expected. He speaks of hearing the confessions of two hun-
dred Swiss, and the same year he sent thither Father Nicholas
Merz, the first Catholic priest settled in Buffalo. There were
also a few Catholics in Lancaster at that time, but none else-
where in the county, except scattered individuals.
Up to this time there had been substantially no means of ed-
ucation higher than that of a common school, outside of Buffalo,
THE VILLAGE LAWYER. 387
and very little even in that village. Mr. Theodotus Burwcll,
afterwards Judge Burwell, was then conducting an academy there.
For several years efforts had been made to have an academy
in Springville. At length one was incorporated, and the first
election of trustees took place in 1829. Two thousand five
hundred dollars were raised by sub.scription, in shares of fifteen
dollars, and a building was begun.
In the spring of 1829 Mr. George W. Johnson, a young grad-
uate of Dartmouth college, opened a classical school, or academy,
at Aurora village ; the first of its kind, out of Buffalo, in the
county. Mr. J. mentions Joseph Howard, Jr., a leading mer-
chant and hotel-keeper of that village, as one of the warmest
patrons of both the private academy and the public one which suc-
ceeded it. In June, while conducting his school, Mr. Johnson
became a law student in the office of Millard Fillmore, who had
just returned from his first session in the legislature. The other
students were a gentleman named Warren, and Nathan K. Hall,
the son of a shoemaker in the adjoining town of Wales.
Mr. Johnson, who after a long professional life in Buffalo is
now a resident of Niagara county, has furnished me with some
reminiscences of that period, from which I extract a few relating
to the future President. Mr. J. speaks of him as being ever the
same accessible, genial and obliging gentleman, rarely or never
losing his temper, and noted for quiet, persistent industry. These
are traits with which all are familiar who know anything of the
distinguished gentleman in question ; there were others not so
generally known, and which were perhaps overlaid by the cares
and dignities of his subsequent life.
His quondam student relates that he had a quick sense of the
ridiculous, large imitative powers, and much amusing but inoffen-
sive humor, which made him a capital teller of anecdotes and
stories ; he not only relating the story, but with voice and gest-
ure " acting it out " to the life. While fond of humor, however,
he was not given to wit, and in sarcastic wit he never indulged.
His student, and subsequent cabinet-officer, Mr. Hall, was some-
what like him in both respects, as well as in his other qualities
of industry, perseverance and moderation.
Mr. Fillmore, while in Aurora, eked out the slender income of
a village lawyer by frequent practice as a land-surveyor, being
388 AMBITIOUS HOPES.
the owner of a compass and otlier surveyini^ instruments, for
which there was more use then than now. Obtaining sufficient
exercise in that way, he rarely or never sought recreation in the
neighboring forest with rifle or fish-pole, as did almost all young
men of the period. One of his few relaxations was to sit before
his ofiice of a summer evening, in the midst of a group of vil-
lagers, smoking his pipe, and relating and listening to anecdotes
and gossip. On one of these occasions, during a lull in the con-
versation, Mr. Johnson suddenly accosted him, saying:
"Mr. Fillmore, why don't you get into Congress, and procure
by your influence profitable positions for Hall and me.'"
The oddity of the question excited a general laugh, for Mr.
Fillmore, though a member of the assembly, was still only a
village lawyer and country surveyor. Deliberately taking his
pipe from his mouth, however, and puffing forth a cloud of smoke,
he replied, quite seriously:
"Stranger things than that have happened, Mr. Johnson."
And much stranger things than that did happen.
In the summer of 1829 Mr. Fillmore was the orator on the
Fourth of July, and young Hall the reader of the declaration.
And this brings me to notice that in those times the " glorious
Fourth" was celebrated with a regularity now unknown. Every
year, in the vicinity of 1830, I find a record of its due commem-
oration in Aurora, and I presume the same was the case in other
villages of similar si/.e.
By 1830 the opponents of Jackson's administration through-
out the country had generally assumed the name of National
Republicans, but in Western New York the anti-masons still ab-
sorbed nearly all the elements of opposition. In the autumn of
that year they elected Bates Cooke, of Niagara county, to rep-
resent this district in Congress. Mr. Fillmore, who had mean-
while moved to Buffalo and entered into partnership with his old
tutor, Joseph Clary, was chosen to the assembly for the third
time, and with him Nathaniel Knight, for several years super-
visor of Collins. Mr. Knight was the first assemblyman from
any town south of Aurora and Hamburg.
The supervisors for the year were Moses Case of Alden, T.
S. Hopkins of Amherst, Jonathan Hoyt of Aurora, Ebenezer
Walden of Buffalo, Epaphras Steele of Boston, William Lewis
POST-OFFICES IN 183O. 389
of Golden, Oliver Needham of Concord, Nathaniel Knight of
Collins, John Brown of Clarence, Jonathan Hascall, Jr., of
Evans, Levi Bunting of Eden, Elisha Smith of Hamburg,
Chase Fuller of Holland, John Boyer of Erie, Horace Clark
of Sardinia, and Moses McArthur of Wales.
By the census of 1830 the population of the county was
35,719; showing an increase of 11,413, or forty-seven per cent.,
in five years. The population of Buffalo was 8,668.
From a register of that year I find there were then twenty-
seven post-offices in the county. I have been able to give the
exact year of establishing many of them; the others had all
been established between 1825 and 1830. Nine of the sixteen
towns had one office each, viz., Alden, Amherst, Boston, Eden,
Erie, Colden, Concord, Holland and Sardinia. Each was of
the same name as the town, except those in Amherst and Con-
cord, which were named respectively VVilliamsville and Spring-
ville. Four towns had two offices each; Aurora having VVillink
and Griffin's Mills ; Clarence having Clarence and Cayuga
Creek ; Evans having Evans and East Evans ; and Wales hav-
ing Wales and South Wales. Two towns had three offices
each ; Buffalo, with Buffalo, Black Rock and Tonawanda ; and
Hamburg, with Hamburg, East Hamburg and Hamburg-on-the-
Lake. Finally, the fertile fields of Collins must have attracted
a very large emigration, or else its people were especially given
to letters, as that town had four post-offices in 1830 — Collins,
Angola, Collins Center and Zoar.
It will be seen that two of the offices, discontinued when that
of " Hamburg " was located at Abbott's Corners, had been re-
established, though one of them took the name of " Hamburg-
on-the-Lake," instead of "Barkersville." The office at "Collins"
was then kept by Elijah Kerr, and it must have been near that
time that the little hamlet there, which had previously been known
as Rose's Corners, began to be called Kerr's Corners. I'he post-
master at South Wales was then Nathan M. Mann, but he offi-
ciated only a little while, when David S. Warner was appointed,
who, with a short interval, has held the place ever since. He is
probably the senior postmaster in the county.
In this year (1830) the Springville academy building was fin-
ished, and the academy opened in it, under the charge of Hiram
390 CONDITION OK THE COUNTY.
H. Barney, Esq., afterwards principal of Aurora academy, and
still later commissioner of schools of the State of Ohio. This
was the first incorporated high school, with a building of its own,
in the county, not excluding Buffalo.
It will have been observed that there was in the county, out-
side of Buffalo, about thirty thousand people. There are now
sixty thousand. But of these about ten thousand are residents
of the towns carved out of the Buffalo Creek reservation, and of
Grand Island. So that, in the towns then settled, outside of
Buffalo, the increase has been but about sixty-six per cent.
The country towns had then begun to assume something of their
present appearance. Nearly all the villages now existing were
then in being — and many of them were nearly as large as now.
The buildings in them, however, were by no means as large or
expensive as at the present day. There was probably not a
three-story building in the county except in Buffalo, and several
villages were not yet in existence.
Log houses were frequently seen, even on the main roads, and
on the back roads were still in the majority. Few new ones,
however, were built. Of the frame houses the common ones re-
tained their original wood-color, but the aristocracy covered
theirs with a coat of glowing red. The old well-sweep still held
its own, or was replaced by a windlass; the pump was still an
institution seldom affected by the farmer.
The animals of the forest were still often seen, though in de-
creasing numbers every year. Along the Cattaraugus the bears
lasted longer than the wolves, and were still frequent in 1830.
One case, occurring about that year, was especially noted, in which
an old Sardinia bear and four cubs were slain in one short cam-
paign. She was driven across the creek, and shot in Cattarau-
i/us. but swam back to her home on this side, where she and all
her family were finally slain.
Deer frequently strayed even into the immediate vicinity of
Buffalo. Mr. William Hodge mentions killing deer about 1828
and '30 in the vicinity of the Insane Asylum, and as far south
as the Normal School.
On the 20th of January, 1830, the renowned orator. Red
Jacket, died at his log cabin near the mission church, on the
Buffalo reservation, lie had sunk very low since the time of his
DEATH OF Ri:U JACKET. 391
great struggle over the question of his rank, even hiring himself
to keepers of museums to be exhibited for money. Having
returned home, and being satisfied that death was approaching.
he rallied his waning powers to give counsel to his people. He
visited his friends at their cabins, conversed with them on the
wrongs of the Indians, and urged them when he was gone to
heed his counsels, to retain their lands and to resist all efforts to
convert them to the habits of the white man. According to
McKenney's "Indian Biography," he was anxious that his fu-
neral should be celebrated in the Indian manner.
"Bury me," he said "by the side of my former wife ; and let
" my funeral be according to the customs of our nation. Let
" me be dressed and equipped as my fathers were, that their
"spirits may rejoice at my coming. Be sure that my grave be
" not made by a white man ; let them not pursue me there."
Nevertheless, while thus earnest, he was not so bitter as he
had formerly been. Almost at the last he convened a council
of his people, both Christians and pagans, and advised them to
live in harmony, leaving every one to choose his religion with-
out interference. He was taken mortally sick (with cholera
morbus) during the council, but a resolution was adopted in
accordance with his wishes, at which he was much pleased.
He said he knew the attack was fatal, and refused all medical
aid. One of his last requests was that, when she saw him near-
ing his end, his wife should place in his hand a certain vial of
water, to keep the devil from taking his soul ! Thus, enveloped
in the superstitions of his race, passed away the last of the Iro-
quois orators, the renowned Red Jacket. His precise age was
unknown, but he was probably about seventy-five. His sons
had all died before him, and but one or two daughters remained
of a large family, who mostly fell victims to consumption.
Notwithstanding his wishes, as the members of the Wolf clan,
to which he belonged, were largely Christian, as well as his wife
and her family, he w^as buried according to the rites of the
Christian Church.
The remains of Red Jacket had a strange fate, though one
not inconsistent with his own hapless career. For many years
his grave remained unmarked. In 1839, however, a subscrip-
tion was set on foot under the auspices of the actor, Henry
392
THE orator's remains.
Placide, and a marble slab with a suitable inscription placed over
his grave. Long after the Senecas had removed to the Cat-
taraugus reservation, some admirers of the orator, perhaps fear-
ing that his grave would be ploughed up, took up his bones and
put them in a lead coffin, intending to remove them to Forest
Lawn. His Indian friends, however, heard of the project with
strong dislike, and immediately came from Cattaraugus, and de-
manded and obtained the precious relics. The monument was
afterwards transferred to the rooms of the Buffalo Historical So-
ciety, where it still remains.
The most singular part of the matter is that the bones were
never reburied. When visiting the Cattaraugus reservation, with
other parts of the county, last year, I was informed that the
mortal remains of the most celebrated orator produced by
the aborigines of America are preserved in a bag, under the
bed of an old Indian woman who has constituted herself their
custodian !
"THE YKAR THAT HOLT WAS HUNG." 393
CHAPTER XXXIV.
1831 TO 1835.
" The Year that Holt was Hung."' — An Ugly Captive. — Political. — Newstead Ab-
bey and Newstead Town. — The White Woman. — Buffalo Incorporated. —
Eillmore in Congress. — The Cholera. — Allen, Haskins and Pierce. — A Mid-
night Scene. — Commercial Progress. — Lancaster. — Senators, Assemblymen,
etc. — Speculation .
The first year of the new decade passed ahiiost eventless away.
The circunistance which most strongly marks it on the memo-
ries of old settlers is that it was " the year that Holt was hung."
Murders had not yet become so common in the county as to be
flung aside with the morning paper. Nearly seven years had
passed since the last one, and a still longer time was to elapse
before there should be another ; so, although the execution of
the wretch who slew his wife with a hammer, in their room over
his grocery, on Main street, Buffalo, obtained no such celebrity
as the awful doom of the three brothers in 1825, still it formed
an era to which local events are often referred by the men of
that day. The crime was quickly punished; it was committed
in October, Holt pleaded guilty the same month, and he was
executed on the 22d of November.
It was "the year that Holt was hung" as Mr. Mills Hall, of
Wales, relates, that nearly if not quite the last wolf was seen in
that town. Having set a trap for the purpose, young Hall, with
his brother and another youth, visited it one morning, and found
a gigantic sheep-destroyer fast in its embrace. Desiring to ex-
hibit their trophy alive. Mills Hall seized the wolf by the head,
one of the others supported his shoulders, and the third grasped
his hind legs, and thus they bore him home. On the way his
wolfship twisted his head around so as to slightly bite his fore-
most bearer, but the latter only tightened his grasp, and the
struggling animal was carried safely to the little village of Hall's
Hollow. There he was exhibited for a few days, and then slain.
A bounty of twenty-five dollars rewarded the captors.
26
394 NEWSTEAD ABBEY AND NEVVSTEAD TOWN.
The Anti-Masonic-National-Republican opposition to Jack-
son's administration still maintained absolute control of the
county, and in the Hill of 1831 elected to the assembly William
Mills, of Clarence, and Horace Clark, of Sardinia. At the same
time, Stephen Osborn, of Clarence, was chosen sheriff, and Noah
P. Sprague, of Buffalo, county clerk. Edward Paine, of Aurora,
was appointed associate-judge.
In April, 1831, the name of the town of Erie was changed to
'■ Newstead." It is said that there was much confusion and dif-
ficulty on account of letters going to Erie, Pennsylvania ; so
it was determined to alter the name of the town, preparatory to
changing that of the post-office. But the inhabitants could not
agree on a satisfactory appellation, and so sent their petition to
Mr. Fillmore, their representative in the assembly, requesting
him to have the name changed, and leaving him to select a sub-
stitute. This being a matter of taste, he consulted his wife.
Mrs. F. happened to be reading Byron at the time, and she rec-
ommended the title of the noble poet's ancestral hall, " New-
stead Abbey," as a convenient and euphonious designation for
the new town. Her husband adopted her suggestion, and in
due time the name of Byron's home was transferred to the
northeastern town of Erie county. As I understand it, the name
of the post-office was also changed to Newstead, and afterwards
again changed to Akroji.
The supervisors for 1831, so far as known, were T. S. Hop-
kins of Amherst, Moses Case of Alden, John Brown of Clar-
ence, Ebenezer Walden of Buffalo, Epaphras Steele of Boston,
Nathaniel Knight of Collins, Thomas M. Barrett of Concord,
Erastus Bingham of Colden, Levi Bunting of Iiden, Elisha
Smith of Flamburg, Chase F^uller of Holland, John Boyer of
Newstead, George S. Collins of Sardinia, and Moses jMcArthur
of Wales.
It was about 1831 or 1832 that the first Germans — that is, na-
tive Germans, as distinguished from Pennsylvania Germans — be-
gan to settle in the county, outside of Buffalo. They located in
and about White's Corners, now Hamburg, and some of them
found their way to the high land in the eastern part of Eden.
Among minor matters it may be noted that the Congregational
church at Griffin's Mills (Aurora) was built in 1831.
MARY JEMISON. 395
In the year 183 1, there came to make her home in the county
of Erie one whose Ufe had been of the most strange and ro-
mantic character — albeit the romance was of such a kind that
few would wish to undergo her experience. Born on the At-
Lmtic, in 1743, while her parents were migrating from the old
world to the new, the restless billows of Mary Jemison's birth-
place well typified the ever-changing vicissitudes of her long
career.
At the age of twelve she saw her home on the frontier of
Pennsylvania destroyed by a band of savages, and all its in-
mates save herself — father, mother, brothers and sisters — all slain
by the same ruthless foes. But the caprice so often manifested
by the Indians toward their captives induced them to spare her
alone, and to take her to Fort Du Ouesne. There she was
adopted by two Indian sisters, who treated her with the greatest
kindness and gave her the name of Dehhewamis.
Ere she had hardly attained to womanhood she was required
to wed a young Delaware brave, and, though she became the
bride of an Indian with great reluctance, yet, as she always de-
clared, his unvarying kindness was such as to gain her affection.
"Strange as it may seem," she said, "I loved him." For some
unknown reason she went (on foot, with her children on her back)
several hundred miles from her home on the Ohio, to take up
her residence among the Senecas on the Genesee, where her
husband was to join her. He died, however, before doing so.
This is the most curious part of her story, and it looks as if
there was something hidden about that portion of her life.
She soon married a Seneca, a monster of cruelty toward his
enemies, but kind to her. By this time she had become so fully
reconciled to her savage surroundings that she declined the op-
portunity to return to the whites, afforded by the peace between
England and France, and when an old chief sought to take her
to Fort Niagara by force, to obtain the reward offered for pris-
oners thus delivered up, she used every means to baffle his efforts,
and finally succeeded in doing so.
She remained among the Senecas during the Revolution, her
cabin being the habitual stopping-place for Butler, Brant and
other leaders, while going on or returning from their raids against
the wretched inhabitants of the frontier. When Sullivan came on
396 A WILD CAREER.
his mission of vengeance, her cabin and crops were destroyed
with the others ; I say " her," for she seems to have been the
principal personage in the household, as well of her second as
of her first husband. With her two youngest children on her
back and three others following after, she hunted up a couple
of runaway negroes living with the Senecas, whose crop had es-
caped destruction, and by husking their corn on shares obtained
enough to feed herself and children through the winter.
She remained near her old haunts when most of the Senecas
came west, and, when they sold to Phelps and Gorham, she
managed to procure for herself a reservation of near thirty
square miles. This might have afforded her an ample fortune,
and she did draw considerable revenue from it. But she showed
little desire for the comforts of civilized life, and retained to a
great extent the dress, appearance and habits of a squaw. She
was commonly called "The White Woman" by the Indians, and
even those of her own race generally adopted this curious
appellation.
In time her second husband died, leaving his savage charac-
teristics to his eldest son, who developed a nature of the deepest
malignity, inflamed by drunkenness, who in different quarrels
slew his only two brothers, and who was finally murdered him-
self in a drunken brawl. Sad indeed were the latter days of the
old "Wliite Woman," and they were made still more so by the
progress of settlement, which shut her off from the wild com-
panions of so many years.
At length she determined to spend her remaining days with
her old friends, and in 1831, at the age of eighty-eight, she dis-
posed of her remaining interest on the Genesee and came to
make her last home on the Buffalo Creek reservation. There,
amid the barbaric customs which had so strangely fascinated
her, she survived for two more years ; and then Mary Jemison,
Dehhewamis, "The White Woman," found rest in the grave, after
nine decades of a tempest-tossed life.
In 1832 Buffalo was incorporated as a city, with five wards,
and a population of about ten thousand. Two aldermen were
elected in each ward, and they, under the charter, elected the
mayor and other executive officers. Dr. Ebenezer Johnson was
chosen the first mayor of the infant city. George P. Barker, a
MR. FILLMORE IN CONGRESS. 397
young lawyer admitted to the bar only three years before, was
the first city-attorney.
The supervisors chosen in the spring, of which there happens
to be a complete list, were Jacob Hershey of Amherst, Jonathan
Hoyt of Aurora, Epaphras Steele of Boston, James L. Barton of
Buffalo, John Brown of Clarence, Erastus Bingham of Colden,
Nathaniel Knight of Collins, Carlos Emmons of Concord, James
Green of Eden, Orange H. Dibble of Evans, Elisha Smith of
Hamburg, Chase Fuller of Holland, John Boyer of Newstead,
George S. Collins of Sardinia, and Nathan M. Mann of Wales.
In the fall (which, as will be remembered', was the time of
Jackson's second election) the two Erie county members of as-
sembly, Mills and Clark, were both reelected. At the same time
Millard Fillmore was chosen to represent the thirtieth district of
New York in Congress.
To achieve such a success at the age of thirty-two is most
creditable to the abilities of any man ; and was all the more so
in this case, the young congressman having had absolutely no
aid from extraneous sources, and having achieved his entrance
into the national legislature only nine years after commencing
life in a country village, as an attorney in the Common Pleas.
What makes this rapid success the more remarkable is that Mr.
Fillmore had none of those attributes by which the people are
most easily captivated. He was neither a " hail-fellow " nor a
brilliant orator. He succeeded, and succeeded rapidly, by virtue
of industry, perseverance, clear reason and sound judgment.
It will be understood that the only difficulty was in regard to
the nomination ; the election of the anti-administration candi-
date was a foregone conclusion. The strength of the feeling is
shown by the fact that in this county William L. Marcy, the
Democratic candidate for governor, received but 1,743 votes,
while 4,356 votes were cast for Francis Granger, the opposition
nominee.
Israel T. Hatch, a young lawyer just come to Buffalo, was
appointed surrogate in place of Martin Chittenden, deceased.
The latter, together with Henry White, a brilliant and much-
admired young advocate, had fallen a victim to the cholera; for
it was in 1832 that that dreadful scourge made its first visit to
the shores of America.
398 THE CHOLERA.
Passing along the main thoroughfares it inflicted a heavy blow
upon Buffalo, but it did not spread into the country. Yet none
knew what track the destroyer might take, and for many weeks
every village waited with fear and trembling the appearance of
this hitherto unknown scourge. During a few weeks of July and
August there were a hundred and eighty-four cases in Buffalo,
6( which eighty proved fatal. The number was large, for the
population of the young city, and the horror was rendered
greater by the mysterious character of the disease.
The board of health of the new city had for a time plenty of
business. It consisted of Dr. Johnson, as mayor, Lewis F. Al-
len and Roswell W. Haskins. Dr. IMarshall was city physician,
and Loren Pierce was city undertaker. All were vigilant and
effecti\'e, and spared no sacrifice in their efforts to counteract
and circumscribe the disease.
Very likely Mr. Haskins was no more zealous than the others,
but his peculiar ways drew particular attention. An energetic
and somewhat eccentric man, a printer by trade, and for many
years a newspaper proprietor, his character, as described by
his contemporaries, reminds one in some respects of that of
Horace Greeley. Being a person of nervous quickness of move-
ment, and most incisive language, every one noticed what he did,
and many still remember him hurrying around tlie stricken city,
removing patients to the hospital, and sometimes carrying one
down stairs, from some wretched tenement house, on his own
strong shoulders.
Of a far different temperament, Mr. Pierce performed his du-
ties in the quietest possible manner, bearing the victims of the
mysterious destroyer to their last repose with unfailing prompt-
ness and unflinching courage, but as calmly as if nothing un-
usual was transpiring. Mr. Allen, who himself served throughout
the crisis with unflagging zeal, narrates a curious instance of the
sang-froid of the worthy undertaker.
One night, in the very height of the cholera season, Mr. A.
had retired to rest at his residence on Main street, exhausted
with the labors of the day, when a terrific thunder-storm burst
forth, extending far into the night. About midnight he was
awakened by a rapping at the window. Going to the door he
found Loren Pierce. The thunderbolts were resounding contin-
A MIDNIGHT SCENE. 399
uously through the heavens, the h'ghtnings were flashing from
side to side of the abyss of darkness, and the rain was falHng in
torrents. It was an era of dread, and visions of some new form
of disease and death rose before the appalled mind of the mem-
ber of the board of health.
"For Heaven's sake, Pierce," he exclaimed, "what is the mat-
ter.^ Is there any new trouble.^"
"No," quietly replied the undertaker, "nothing new; I have
six bodies in the wagon out here, going to the graveyard, and I
thought perhaps you would like to know that everything was all
right."
"Good heavens," said the astonished Allen, "have you called
me up on such a night as this, to tell me that you are taking six
corpses to the graveyard in a storm that is almost enough to
drown the city.? You don't mean to say that you are alone.?"
"Oh no," replied Pierce, "Black Tony is with me — he is
holding the horses now — I guess we can manage it." Mr. Allen
had no directions to give — in fact had nothing to say — and
away through the midnight storm and darkness moved the man
of death, with his solitary assistant, Black Tony, to dispose of
his ghastly burthen. It must have taken nearly all night, yet
at eight o'clock the next morning he was at the meeting of the
board of health, composed and quiet as ever.
The cholera returned in 1834, when another epoch of death
and dismay occurred. It then ceased its visitations for nearly
twenty years, and, save by the immediate friends of the dead,
it was soon forgotten in the increasing prosperity of the city and
county.
The citizens of Aurora had made frequent endeavors to turn Mr.
Johnson's private academy into an incorporated institution, and
when that gentleman removed to Buffalo, in 1832, they raised,
by subscription, the money to erect a building and obtained a
charter from the legislature. The building was completed, and
the school opened, the next year. In 1834, also, a church-build-
ing was erected by the Presbyterians in Springville, and another
at "Cayuga Creek," the first, respectively, in the present towns
of Concord and Lancaster. About the same time (I cannot
learn the exact year) the same denomination built a church at
Lodi — now Gowanda.
400 PROSPERITY AND IXFLATIOX.
Wc have now reached the time when the tide of commerce
began to roll steadily through our borders. The fertile lands of
Michigan, northern Indiana, northern Illinois and other parts of
the West were opened to settlement, and their products began
to find their way into the Erie canal. Its boats now went loaded
to the sea coast, and brought back crowds of emigrants, most of
whom went farther west, but many of whom sought the compan-
ionship of their countrymen in and around Buffalo.
Almost at the same time, the closing of the United States
Bank caused the chartering of a large number of State banks,
which issued an immense amount of paper money. Frequently
the guaranties required by the States were wretchedly inade-
quate, especially in the West and South, so that the new money
had no better foundation than the faith of the people.
From these two causes, the increase of western production,
and the increase of money, the one real and the other fictitious,
there followed a general inflation of business and advance of
prices. This inflation extended throughout the United States,
but nowhere else was it quite so balloon-like in its growth and
collapse as along the line of the great lakes, where both the
causes above mentioned were in their fullest vigor.
The first symptoms of the great "land speculation" began to
be seen in 1833, but they were comparatively slight. In 1834
the tide rose considerably higher, and in 1835 there was a de-
cided fever, though still the mania had not reached its climax-
Before noticing farther the great speculation which holds so im-
portant a place in the history of the count}-, there are some
routine matters that need mention.
There had been no new towns formed since the creation of
Colden, in 1827. Though Clarence was about seventeen miles
long, (besides the part included in the reservation,) the steady-
going Pennsylvania Germans who formed a large part of its
population were in no haste to create a new set of officers. At
length, however, the numbers in the southern part of the town
became so large that a division was almost imperative, and on
the 20th of March, 1833, a new town was formed, comprising
the eleventh township in the sixth range of the Holland Com-
pany's survey, and that part of the mile-and-a-half-strip, sold
in 1826, which lay opposite that township — besides a nominal
MR. TRACY IN THE SENATE. 4OI
jurisdiction over the unsold Indian land, to the center of the
reservation.
As Chirence had been named after one EngHsh dukedom,
that of another was selected for the new town, which received
the appellation of Lancaster. The flourishing settlement so
long called "Cayuga Creek" was now known by the more con-
venient designation of " Lancaster," and not long afterwards the
o'fficial name of the post-office at that point was similarly changed.
This was emphatically the church-building era in Erie county.
Every few months a new one was erected. The Methodist
church at Clarence Hollow was built in 1834. The same year
the Baptists built one at Springville.
In the fall of 1833, Joseph Clary, of Buffalo, and Dr. Carlos
Emmons, of Springville, were chosen to represent the county in
the assembly, and Albert H. Tracy was reelected to the State
senate. This gentleman had taken very high rank in the senate,
especially when that body was sitting as the Court for the Cor-
rection of Errors, then the highest judicial tribunal in the State.
A large number of the opinions in that court were written and
delivered by Mr. Tracy, and the acumen and legal knowledge
displayed in them showed that, had he accepted the judgeship
tendered him by Governor Clinton, he would have stood in the
first rank of the judicial minds of the State. The mayor of
Buffalo in 1833 was a gentleman with the peculiar name of
Major A. Andrews.
In 1834, William A. Mosely, of Buffalo, and Ralph Plumb, of
Lodi, were elected to the assembly, while Lester Brace, of Black
Rock, was chosen sheriff, and Horace Clark, of Sardinia, county
clerk. In that year, too, Thomas C. Love was elected to Con-
gress by the dominant party, in place of Mr. Fillmore. Usually
the dropping of a congressman by his own party, after a single
term, indicates that he has been "shelved," but such was not the
result in Mr. Fillmore's case. Dr. Johnson was again chosen as
mayor of Buffalo.
In 1835 the assemblymen elect were George P. Barker, of
Buffalo, and Wells Brooks, of Concord— the latter a young lawyer
who had established himself, as had C. C. Severance, at Spring-
ville, two or three years before. Buffalo's first officer this year
was Hiram Pratt, who will be remembered as the young cavalier
402 SUPERVISORS AND NEWSPAPERS.
of the Chapin .i^irls, in their fli-ht from Buffalo on the terrible
30th of December, 18 13.
The supervisors for the three last years of the semi-decade in-
cluded in this chapter were as follows: Alden, 1833 and '34,
Jonathan Larkin ; 1835, Moses Case. Amherst, for the three
years, John Hutchinson. Aurora, 1833 and '34, Jonathan Hoyt;
1835. John C. Pratt. Buffalo, 1833, John G. Camp; 1834, un-
known ; 1835, James L. Barton. Boston, 1833, Epaphras Steele ;
1834, John C. Twining; 1835, Thomas Twining. Concord, 1833,
Carlos Emmons; 1834, unknown ; 1835, Oliver Needham. Col-
lins, Ralph Plumb, the three years. Colden, Leander J. Roberts,
the three years. Clarence, Benjamin O. Bivins, the three years.
Eden, 1833 and '34, Harvey Caryl; 1835, Daniel Web.ster. Evans,
Aaron Salisbur\-, the three years. Hamburg, Elisha Smith, the
three years. Holland, 1833 and '34, Moses McArthur ; 1835,
Isaac Humphrey. Lancaster, 1833 and '34, John Brown; 1835,
Milton McNeal. Newstead, 1833, Wm. Jackson; 1834, un-
known; 1835, Cyrus Hopkins. Sardinia, Henry Bowen, the
three years. Wales, N. M. Mann, the three years.
In 1834 the first daily newspaper was issued in the county,
under the name of the Buffalo Daily Star. It was Democratic
in politics ; so the proprietors of the Patriot, the chief opposi-
tion organ, followed suite, on the first day of the next year, with
a daily called the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. The Star
was soon united to the Republican, and with it in due time
transformed into the Courier. In 1835 the Aurora Standard
was established by A. M. Clapp at that village, where it was
published for three years.
In 1834 the first work was done on Grand Island by legal
owners of the soil. Lewis F. Allen, on behalf of a Boston com-
pany, had bought all the lands purchased by Leggett, Smith and
others, at the time of the "Ararat" excitement, amounting to
about 16,000 acres. The principal object was to cut the white-oak
ship-timber with which the island abounded, and send it to Bos-
ton. A steam-mill and several houses were erected opposite
Tonawanda. About the same time Mr. Allen found Noah's old
corner-stone in the possession of General Porter, who had taken
charge of it at Noah's request, after it had stood for two or three
years behind St. Paul's church. Mr. A. persuaded the general
NOAIl'S CORNKR-STONE. 4O3
to let him have it, took it to "White Haven," as he called his
little settlement, erected a brick monument six feet square and
fourteen feet high, and set the historic stone in a niche on its
river front. Nearly all who saw it supposed that Major Noah
went through the ceremony of founding- his city there, and
placed the stone where it was so plainly to be seen — though, in
fact, the redoubtable "Judge of Israel " never set foot on Grand
Island. The monument remained standing some fifteen years,
when, having become dilapidated, it was taken down. The
" corner-stone " was removed to various places on the island, but
was finally secured by Mr. Allen and presented to the Buffalo
Historical Society, in whose rooms it now stands, side by side
with the monument of Red Jacket. In view of Noah's idea
that the Indians were descended from the lost tribes of Israel,
there is a peculiar and poetic fitness in the juxtaposition of the
two memorials.
As I have said, a slight advance of prices began to be ob-
served in 1833. They increased through 1834, and in 1835 the
great speculation was under full headway. It of course ran
highest in Buffalo, but was strongly felt throughout the county.
All up the lakes, too, wherever there was a possibility of a har-
bor, and sometimes where there was not even a possibility, a
city was laid out, a magnificent name was given it, and its pro-
prietors became Rothschilds and Astors — on paper. That there
was some ground for the advance in Buffalo is shown by the
fact that the population had increased from 8,653 i" 1830, to
15,661 in 1835, or more than eighty-one per cent. The popula-
tion of the whole county in 1835 was 57,594, to 35,719 in 1830,
an increase of over sixty-one per cent.
The Bufifalonians, however, had not quite forgotten everything
else in their desire to make money. It was just at the close of
1835 that the Young Men's Association of that city was organ-
ized, though it was not chartered till eight years later. Begin-
ning with few members, a diminutive library and an infinitesimal
treasury, it has ever since grown with the city's growth, exercis-
ing each year a wider influence for intellectual improvement.
Church-building, too, had gone on apace, and there were thirteen
houses of worship in the youthful city, in place of the six of
three -years before. One of these was Presbyterian, one Con-
404 ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.
gregational, one Methodist, one Episcopal, one Baptist, one
Universalist, one Reformed Methodist, one Unitarian, one Ger-
man Lutheran, one German EvangcUcal, one Bethel chapel, and
two Roman Catholic. By this time the little village of Collins
Center had advanced so that the Methodists built a church there.
In that year, too, the first anti-slavery society in the county
was organized at Griffin's Mills. Judge Mills, of Clarence,] udge
Freeman, of Alden, Judge Phelps, of Aurora, George W. John-
son, Abner Bryant, and Daniel Bowen, of Buffalo, and Asa
Warren, of Eden, were among the leading members, and the
work then commenced was continued by yearly meetings and
discussions till the abolition of slavery.
THE FLUSH TIMES. 405
CHAPTER XXXV.
SPECULATION AND HARD TIMES.
A Rapid Advance. — A Princely Bargainer. — The King of Speculators. — His Down-
fall.— The Method of his Forgeries. — Politics and Business. — Opposing the
Holland Company. — An Agrarian Convention.
Early in 1836 the flame of speculation blazed up with redoub-
led energy. I cannot better illustrate the extraordinary state
of affairs existing at that time than by repeating an anecdote, re-
lated by the late James L. Barton.
In 181 5 he had bought two lots at Black Rock for two hun-
dred and fifty dollars ; one of two-thirds of an acre, between
Niagara street and the river, and one of five acres, about half a
mile distant. For a long time there was but a slight advance in
the price. In the fall of 1835, however, land rose rapidly, and
Mr. B. began to think that those lots might perhaps bring him
three thousand dollars.
In the forepart of February, 1836, he left Buffalo, and did not
return till the 20th of April. He knew that land was up, and
was determined to ask a round price for his lots. As he was
passing down Main street, the morning after his arrival, some
one met him and inquired :
" How much will you take for those Black Rock lots of
yours.'"
" Six thousand dollars," was the prompt reply of Mr. Barton.
The man hesitated and Barton passed on. A few minutes later
he was accosted by another gentleman with the same query :
" What is your price for those Black Rock lots .'' "
" Seven thousand five hundred dollars," answered Barton.
" I guess I'll take them — let you know to-morrow," said his
interlocutor. A little farther down the street a third man stop-
ped him, and as they shook hands said :
" Glad to see you ; what will you take for your lots down at
Black Rock .? "
406 A RAPID ADVANCE.
" I have just offered them to Air. for seven thousand five
hundred dollars," replied l^arton ; " he said he would let me
know to-morrow."
" If he doesn't take them, I will," quickly exclaimed the anx-
ious speculator.
By this time Mr. Barton's ideas of the value of his property
had become very much elevated. He had gone but a few rods
farther when he heard a shout, and a man came rushing" across
the street, exclaiming as he came up :
" I say, Barton, what is your price for those lots of yours at
the Rock ? "
" Twenty thousand dollars," immediately replied the excited
land-owner.
" What are your terms ? "
" Ten per cent, down and the rest in four annual payments ? "
" Make it six payments and I will take them," said the other.
Barton assented, they walked into an office, the two thousand
dollars was paid over, and the next day the deed and the bond
and mortgage were exchanged.
Mr. Barton does not state whether he ever received the
eighteen thousand dollars secured by bond and mortgage. If
he did, he was more fortunate than most of those who sold land
on credit in that era.
And it was almost entirely on credit that sales were made.
Notwithstanding the cheapness of paper money, bonds and mort-
gages were still cheaper. Mr. Barton received a larger cash per-
centage than was usually paid.
There was no such thing as land clear of incumbrance.
Second and third mortgages were common. Hon. George R.
Babcock relates that nearly the whole of outer lot No, i, extend-
ing from Main street to the first angle of the Terrace, and thence
southwestwardly to the dock, was sold for a great sum, and the
only money used was the seventy-five cents paid to Mr. B., as
commissioner of deeds, for acknowledging the papers.
The late Guy H. Salisbury, in a sketch of those times, de-
clared that everybody was so intent on the subject of buying
and selling land, that physicians, when asked how their medi-
cine was to be taken, replied :
" One-fourth down and the rest in three annual installments."
A PRINCELY PURCHASER. 407
One Patrick Smith, a saddler, being- asked by an old customer
when he could do a piece of work, replied with dignity :
" My man, I don't do any more business now ; I've bought a
lot."
All was excitement. Men of sagacity bought of unknown
persons, without knowledge of title or incumbrances. Men of
no means built blocks on credit, gave mortgages, and sold out
with no security against those incumbrances.
Of the financial magnates of the day, Col. Alanson Palmer
was one of the first. Perhaps he ranked as the second greatest
man in Buffalo. No one bought or sold with more royal disre-
gard of trifles than he. Seated at table, with a friend, where
the champagne passed freely, Palmer suddenly exclaimed :
" ril give you a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for every-
thing you have, except your wife, babies, and household furniture.
" Done," replied the other.
The bargain was carried out, a small amount was paid down,
and the inevitable bond and mortgage were given to secure the
remainder.
This princely purchaser spent some of his later years in the
poor-house, and died not long since in an insane asylum.
But Benjamin Rathbun was unquestionably the great man of
Buffalo, in those halcyon days. Plaving begun as a hotel-keeper
previous to 1825, he had eminently succeeded in that vocation,
and had made the name of "Rathbun's Eagle" synonymous with
comfort and good cheer.
When the flush times came on he plunged into business and
speculation, with a boldness and an apparent success which made
him the envy of thousands. He built the American hotel. He
built and managed a grand store on the east side of Main street.
He entered into contracts of every description, and gave em-
ployment to thousands of workmen. He bought and sold land,
not only in Buftalo but throughout this whole section of the
country.
His ideas were of the grandest kind. He laid the foundation
of an immense hotel and exchange, opposite "the churches,"
which was designed to occupy the whole square between Main,
North Division, South Division and Washington streets. The
rotunda was to be two hundred and si.xty feet high!
408 BENJAMIN RATHBUN.
Although prices began to drag in the summer of 1836, yet
Rathbun still urged forward his gigantic projects. He bought
land and laid out a grand city at Niagara Falls, and advertised
an auction of lots to come off on the second of August, to ex-
tend as many days as might be necessary.
On the appointed day a great number of bidders, from all
parts of the compass, were present. During the forenoon the
bidding was spirited and sales were numerous. At the dinner
table Rathbun sat opposite Mr. G. R. Babcock, the junior mem-
ber of the law-firm of Potter & Babcock, who, like almost ev-ery-
body else, combined the land business with that of their regular
profession.
"I observed, Mr. Babcock, "said Rathbun, "that you made no
bids this forenoon."
"No," replied the young man, "the lots sold were not in what
I thought the most desirable locality."
"Ah, well," said the great speculator, "come with me after
dinner and show me some lots you would like to buy, and I will
have them put up."
Accordingly, after dinner the two strolled out over the ground
of the future city, and Rathbun appeared to be in the best of
spirits. He chatted, laughed, told stories, discoursed of his
plans, and seemed to look forward to a future as prosperous as
his past was supposed to have been.
As they returned to the hotel, Mr. Babcock observed a car-
riage at the door. Some one called to Mr. Rathbun to " hurry
up." He did so, entered the carriage with one or two others,
and drove off toward Buffalo.
Yet, while he was thus jesting with his companion and talking
of his future achievements, he knew that his forgeries to a large
amount had been discovered, that the country was flooded with
his forged paper, and that the gentlemen with whom he rode
off had got everything arranged for him to make an assignment
of all his property.
On his arrival at Buffalo he was arrested. The forgeries had
been discovered in Philadelphia by David E. Evans, whose
name Rathbun had forged as endorser on notes to a large
amount, which he had deposited as security in a bank in that
city. Returning to Buffalo, Evans confronted Rathbun, who
MODE OF FORGERY. 409
confessed that this was but a tithe of the spurious paper he had
set afloat. An assignment was arranged, but in the meantime
Rathbun allowed the sale at the Falls to take place, and kept
up appearances to the very last.
The arrest of Rathbun hastened, so far as Buffalo and vicin-
ity was concerned, the financial catastrophe impending over the
whole country. Work was stopped on all his numerous enter-
prises. The workmen clamored for their pay, and almost broke
out into mob violence. The assignees paid them off, though it
required nearly all the assets of the estate. The millionaires of
the day turned pale with consternation. If Rathbun had failed,
who was safe.'' His forgeries amounted to enormous sums. It
was found that he had been committing them for several years,
taking up the old notes as they became due, with money ob-
tained by means of new ones, also forged.
His brother. Colonel Lyman Rathbun, and his nephew, Rath-
bun Allen, were implicated with him, and the latter turned
State's evidence. He was the one who actually wrote the forged
names, under the direction of his uncle. The method of oper-
ation was as follows : First, they obtained the actual signature
of some responsible man, as an endorser for a small amount.
A small lamp was then placed in a common candle-box, over
which was laid a large window-glass. On this glass was placed
the note havuig the genuine signature, with another for a large
amount on top of it. The strong light from below, shining
through the thin paper used for notes, brought the lower signa-
ture into plain view, and the forger was thus enabled to follow
it closely on the paper above. An expert would perhaps have
detected the difference, but to the ordinary observer the simili-
tude seemed complete.
These facts, however, did not all come out till the next sum-
mer, when Benjamin Rathbun was brought to trial at Batavia,
convicted, and sent to the State prison for five years. He
served his time, and afterwards regained some of his former
prosperity, at his old business of hotel-keeping, in New York
city.
Amid the general dismay, the Presidential election probably
drew less attention than any other that ever occurred in the
county. While Van Buren was elected President, and Marcy
27
4IO POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL.
governor, Erie county as usual went heavily for the opposition,
which had now assumed the name of the Whig party through-
out the country. Anti-masonry had ceased to exist as a polit-
ical organization, or as a source of present excitement, but its
results were seen in the large Whig majorities which Western
New York gave throughout the existence of that party. Ma-
sonry, too, was utterly extinct in this section, and any attempt
to revive it at that time would undoubtedly have caused a re-
newal of the old excitement. Millard Fillmore, after his two
years retirement, was again elected to Congress. The increase
of population shown, by the census of 1835, entitled Krie county
to three members of assembly, the persons chosen being Squire
S. Case of Buffalo, Benjamin O. Bivins of Clarence, and Dr.
Elisha Smith, who had for seven years been supervisor of Ham-
burg. George P. Barker was appointed district-attorney, and
Samuel Caldwell surrogate. Judge Samuel Wilkeson was
chosen mayor of Buffalo.
The following is a full list of the supervisors for the year :
Alden, Moses Case; Amherst, John Hutchinson; Aurora, Law-
rence J. Woodruff; Buffalo, James L. Barton ; Boston, Thomas
Twining, Jr.; Collins, Ralph Plumb; Concord, Oliver Needham;
Colden, William Lewis ; Evans, Aaron Salisbury ; Eden, Har-
vey Caryl; Hamburg, Elisha Smith; Clarence, Levi H. Good-
rich ; Holland, Isaac Humphrey ; Lancaster, Albert E. Terry ;
Sardinia, Matthew R. Olin ; Wales, Nathan M. Mann.
Tonawanda is not represented in the above list, though that
town was formed from Buffalo April i6th, 1836, comprising the
present towns of Tonawanda and Grand Island.
The year closed in gloom and anxiety, though the depression
had not yet reached its lowest point. Nevertheless, it was dur-
ing this year that the first railroad was completed in Erie county,
that from Buffalo to Niagara P'alls.
Steadily prices went down, down, down, all through 1837.
Throughout the country, failure, bankruptcy and disaster were
the order of the day. As .speculation had probably reached its
climax in Buffalo, so there the universal reaction was most
strongly felt. P'ortunes disappeared almost in a night. Mort-
gages were foreclosed on every hand, and property which but yes-
terday had been sold for thirty, forty, fifty dollars per foot would
THE HOLLAND COMPANY. 4I I
now hardly bring as many per acre. Banks failed everywhere,
and the wretched paper money of the country became more
w^orthless than before.
Even in the country towns the reaction, though of course less
than in the city, produced great distress, and some who had
deemed themselves rich suffered for the necessaries of life.
In the course of 1837, matters probably got about as bad as
they could be, so that after that they did not grow any worse ;
but it was several years before there was any sensible recovery
from the " Hard Times," as that era was universally called.
Unquestionably the designation was a correct one ; for never
has the country, and especially this part of it, known so disas-
trous a financial crisis. The "hard times " inaugurated in the
fall of 1873 were mere child's play in comparison.
Even before the crash there had been a steadily growing op-
position to the Holland Company, throughout the Holland Pur-
chase, and an increasing desire, on the part of the possessors of
lands not paid for, to lighten what they felt to be an intolerable
burden, the long arrears of interest then due. When to these
was added the weight of universal hard times, the di.scontent
rose to still greater heights.
Meetings were held in many towns, denouncing the company,
demanding a modification of terms, requesting the legislature to
interfere, and asking the attorney-general to contest the com-
pany's title. In February, 1837, there assembled at Aurora a
meeting at which the counties of Erie, Genesee, Niagara and
Chautauqua were represented, and which boldly assumed the
name of an " Agrarian Convention." Dyre Tillinghast, of Buf-
falo, was president ; Charles Richardson, of Java, Genesee county,
(now Wyoming,) and Hawxhurst Addington, of Aurora, were
vice-presidents ; and A. M. Clapp, of Aurora, and H. N. A.
Holmes, of Wales, were secretaries. Resolutions were passed
.denouncing the " Judases " who sided with the company, and
requesting the attorney-general to contest its title.
In some localities the people did not confine themselves to reso-
lutions. Without any very decided acts of violence, they made
every agent of the company who came among them feel that
there was danger in the air. Whenever an attempt was made
to take possession of a place of which its holder was in arrears,
412 A GERMAN NEWSPAPER.
armed men gathered on the hillsides, threatening notices were
sent, and a state of terror was kept up until the company's rep-
resentatives became demorahzed and abandoned the field.
There was no chance for contesting the company's original
title, and the legislature refused to interfere. In most of the
towns the settlers, in the course of many weary years, paid up
and took deeds of their lands. In a few localities, however,
they made so stubborn a resistance, and the company was so
long in enforcing its claims, that many of the occupants acquired
a title by " adverse possession," which the courts sustained.
By 1837 the German population had increased so that it
would support a German newspaper, and, notwithstanding the
hard times, a weekly was established by George Zahm, called
" Der Weltbiirger," It still exists as the "Buffalo Demokrat
und Weltbiirger."
Notwithstanding the "hard times," a company was chartered
to build a macadam road from Buffalo to Williamsville, and ac-
tually did build it within a year or two afterwards. This was
nearly, or quite, the first successful attempt to replace one of our
time-honored mud roads by a track passable at all seasons.
The supervisors of 1837 were Moses Case of Alden, John
Hutchinson of Amherst, Lawrence J. Woodruff of Aurora, James
L. Barton of Buffalo, Amos Wright of Clarence, Oliver Need-
ham of Concord, William Lewis of Colden, Harvey Caryl of
Eden, Aaron Salisbury of Evans, Isaac Humphrey of Holland,
John Boyer of Lancaster, Cyrus Hopkins of Newstead, Mat-
thew R. Olin of Sardinia, W^illiam Williams of Tonawanda, and
Nathan M. Mann of Wales.
In the fall of that year William A. Mosely, of Buffalo, was
elected State senator in place of Albert H. Tracy, who then
finally retired from public life, at the early age of forty-four,
after a twenty-years career of remarkable brilliancy. The as-
semblymen then chosen were Lewis F. Allen of Buffalo, Cyre-
nius Wilber, of Alden and Asa Warren of Eden. At the same
time Charles P. Person, of Aurora, was elected sheriff, and Cy-
rus K. Anderson, of Buffalo, county clerk. James Stryker was
appointed first judge of the Common Pleas, and Henry W.
Rogers district-attorney. Josiah Trowbridge was mayor of
Buffalo.
OUTBREAKS IN CANADA. 413
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PATRIOT WAR, ETC.
Outbreaks in Canada. — American .Sympathy. — Navy Island. — The Destruction of
the Caroline. — Intense Excitement. — Conflicting Rumors. — The Militia
Called Out. — Arrival of Scott. — Scott and the British Schooners. — Navy Is-
land Abantloned. — Stealing Cannon. — Expedition up the Lake. — Worth and
the Volunteers. — A Mild Winter. — Encampment on the Ice. — A Hemlock
Track to Canada. — Chapin's Death. — A Raid by Sympathizers. — The Last
Camp. — Bufifalo Public Schools. — A Political Revulsion. — An Unsavory
Treaty. — Cheektowaga. — Brant. — Black Rock. — Many-term Supervisors. —
The Harrison Campaign.
As the winter of 1837-8 approached, the people of Erie county,
with those of the rest of the northern frontier, were at least fur-
nished with something else than their own misfortunes to talk
about.
For sev^eral years there had been a growing discontent in the
Canadian provinces with the government of Great Britain.
Among the French population of Lower Canada it was quite
strong, and at length it broke out in armed rebellion, which was
only suppressed at considerable cost of blood and treasure.
After the outbi"eak there was put down, there were some small
uprisings in Upper Canada. But, whatever political opposition
there might have been in that section to the home government,
there was little disposition to seek the arbitrament of battle,
and very few appeared in arms.
What there were sought a position close to the American line
in order that they might receive all possible aid from their sym-
pathizers on this side. For it was impossible that anything in
the shape of a revolt against British power, whatever the cause,
or whatever its strength, should not awaken interest and sym-
pathy on the part of Americans. The two contests in which
we had been engaged with that country, and the fact that
we owed our national existence to a successful revolt against
monarchical government, combined to produce such a result.
Secret lodges of "hunters," as they were called, were formed along
414 OCCUPATION OF XAVV ISLAND.
the frontier for the purpose of affording aid to the "patriots,"
which was the designation generally given to the insurgents, and
some armed men crossed the Hne.
WiUiam Lyon Mackenzie, an ex-member of the provincial
parliament, and the leader of the rebellion in Upper Canada,
after a slight and unsuccessful outbreak north of Toronto, fled
to Buffalo in the forepart of December, 1837. Meetings were
held, and addresses made by Mackenzie, by one T. J. Suther-
land, who was called general, and by several Buffalonians. About
the middle of the month there was still greater excitement along
the Niagara frontier, for it was learned that the main force of
the " patriots " had established themselves on Navy island.
This was closer to American territory than any other British soil
in this vicinity. Between it and Grand Island the channel is less
than a quarter of a mile wide, and it was besides convenient of
access from the old laniding-place at Schlosser.
There were perhaps three or four hundred men on the island.
Of these a considerable proportion were Americans, and their
commander was General Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, who, I am
informed, was a son of the gallant Colonel Solomon Van Rens-
selaer, who was wounded on Oueenston Heights.
Days passed on. The people were all in a fever to do some-
thing for the " patriots." The United States marshal appointed
thirty deputies from among the most prominent citizens of Buf-
falo, to prevent violations of neutrality. The winter was one of
unexampled mildness, and vessels still continued to run on both
lake and river. On the 29th of December the little steamer
Caroline, belonging to William Wells, Esq., of Buffalo, went
down to Navy island, the intention being that she should run
back and forth between the camp of the insurgents and Schlos-
ser, carrying men and supplies. After discharging freight at
the island, she made two trips to and from Schlosser, that after-
noon, and then tied to the wharf at the latter place.
Karly the next morning hurrying messengers reached Buffalo
with the news that a l^ritish force had crossed the river, cut out
the Caroline, killed fifteen or twent)' men, and then set her on
fire and sent her over the Falls.
As may be imagined, the excitement was intense. Rumors
of every kind flew about the streets. The British had invaded
DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE. 415
Grand Island. They had threatened to attack Buffalo. They
had killed everybody on board the Caroline and some on shore —
etc., etc. Further news, while it refuted some of these stories,
confirmed the main statement. The Caroline had certainly
been cut loose from the Schlosser wharf by a British force, set
on fire, and sent over the Falls.
A man named Durfee was found dead on the wharf the morn-
ing after the attack, shot through the brain. His body was
brought to Buffalo and buried, the funeral being attended by a
vast and excited crowd, after which a speech of extraordinary
eloquence and power was made in the park by that fiery young
advocate, Henry K. Smith. For a long time it was asserted that
from ten to twenty men had been slaughtered on board the Car-
oline, and even the English official report stated that five or six
had been killed. But after thorough investigation it w^as found
that no one was slain except Durfee, though two or three others
were wounded.
It soon transpired that the assailing expedition was sent over
by Sir Allan McNab, commanding the British forces on the
frontier, under an officer of the royal navy, whose proceedings
were fully endorsed by Sir Allan, and by the governor-general
of Canada. It was as clear a violation of American sovereignty
as it would have been of English sovereignty if a successful
blockade-runner, during the rebellion, had been attacked and
burned in an English port by an American man-of-war. But
there was some palliation in the fact that so many of the insur-
gents were Americans, and Mr. Van Buren, who was then Pres-
ident, was a very pacific personage. So, notwithstanding a long
diplomatic contest, no redress was ever obtained.
Sir Allan McNab claimed that the Caroline had been bought
by the Navy-islanders. This, however, was denied under oath
by Mr. Wells, and the denial was undoubtedly true; for the
whole treasury of the " patriots " would have been hardly suffi-
cient to buy a canoe.
The officers and crew of the Caroline numbered ten men, and
twenty-five more went on board at Schlosser, on account, as
was alleged, of the lack of hotel-accommodations at that place,
but probably for the purpose of crossing to Navy island the
next morning. It was stoutly asserted that none of the crew or
4l6 SCOTT ON THE FRONTIER.
passengers were armed, but as three of the attacking party were
wounded, this looks improbable. It was claimed by some that
they wounded each other in the darkness.
Over these, and a hundred other controverted points, the Buf-
falo Daily Star and the Daily Commercial long kept up a heated
controversy, the former accusing the latter of being in the inter-
est of the ])ritish, and opposed to the patriots who were striv-
ing to throw off the yoke of a foreign tyranny, etc., etc., while
the Commercial retaliated by charging the Star with abetting
unlawful operations, fomenting war, etc., etc.
Meanwhile, the American authorities were taking vigorous
measures both to prevent armed expeditions from going from
this side, and to repel further invasion from the other. A com-
pany was organized in Buffalo, called the City Guard, under
Captain James McKay. By order of Gov. Marcy, Gen. David
Burt called out the 47th brigade of militia, (infantry,) the larger
part of whom responded, and rendezvoused at Buffalo. Ran-
dall's brigade of artillery was also called out, and all its com-
panies marched to the same point. The 47th brigade of infantry
vv^as entirely from Erie county, and every town furnished its
quota. Among the officers were Col. Orange T. Brown, of
Aurora, and Col. Harry B. Ransom, of Clarence. Randall's
brigade of artillery covered a much larger district.
On the 5th of January, 1838, the President issued a proclama-
tion, and sent Gen. Scott to the frontier. He was accompanied
by Col. William J. Worth, as aide and chief of staff. Scarcely
had he arrived, when rumors came that the British were about
to cross and attack Schlosser. The troops, regulars and militia,
were ordered out and marched to that point. No attack took
place and they returned.
A day or two afterwards it was reported that three ICnglish
armed schooners, lying opposite Lower Black Rock, were about
to fire on the steamer Barcelona, which was plying between Buf-
falo and Navy island. To Lower Black Rock the troops were
accordingly marched, and there, sure enough, were seen the three
British schooners, lying nearly in line, awaiting the Barcelona,
one of them being in American waters and not far from the
shore. Scott formed his infantry along the bank, and po.sted
his artillery on the high ground in the rear. Then the veteran
THE INSURGENTS DISPERSE. 417
general rode down to the water's edge, hailed the nearest
schooner, and ordered her to draw out of American waters, and
not to molest the Barcelona, which could then be seen steaming
up the river, close along the American shore. After some hesi-
tation, the schooner lifted her anchor and drew off across the
line, and the Barcelona passed safely by.
But the "revolution" could not be kept up much longer. The
British regulars and Canadian militia concentrated opposite
Navy island, fiercely cannonaded the forest which covered it,
and prepared to cross the channel. Rensselaer Van Rensselaer
was brave enough, but his exchequer was low, his followers few,
and the hope of reinforcements cut off by the vigilance of Scott.
So, on the 15th of January, his army fled to the American main-
land and dispersed in every direction.
Their stolen cannon they gave up to the State authorities.
Soon after, however, another attempt was made to furnish the
disorganized "patriot" army with artillery. Five of these same
cannon were in charge of a body of militia, at Tonawanda,
under Colonel Harry B. Ransom. To him came a squad of
men, whose acting commandant presented an order for the de-
livery of the five guns, signed by Winfield Scott, major-general
commanding. Ransom hesitated, but a prominent citizen came
forward, declared that he knew Scott's handwriting, and that
the signature was genuine. So the cannon were delivered — on
a forged order. But the "patriots" were obliged to scatter for fear
of the United States marshal, and the guns were again recov-
ered by the State.
Meanwhile Brigadier-General Thomas Jefferson Sutherland
had gone to the other end of Lake Erie, gathered a few men,
and begun issuing proclamations preparatory to an invasion of
Canada across the Detroit river. A body of United States
regulars was forthwith sent to put a stop to unlawful proceed-
ings in that quarter. It was desired to send with them a small
detachment of militia as far as Erie, Pa., to watch move-
ments there. Twenty volunteers w^ere called for, and twenty
men responded from the Aurora company, commanded by
Captain Almon M. Clapp, then editor of the Aurora Standard.
The regulars and Captain Clapp's detachment went up the
lake under the command of Colonel Worth, on the steamboat
41 8 WORTH AND THK VOLUNTEERS.
Robert Fulton. An incident which occurred on the steamer
illustrates the character of that gallant officer. Soon after leav-
ing Buffiilo, the regular commissary brought the rations for both
regulars and volunteers, and flung them down on the l(M\er deck.
The volunteers demurred. They said they were not used to
taking their victuals off from the floor, and did not propose to
begin then. The commissary roughly told them they might go
without. Tliey made known their dissatisfaction to Captain
Clapp, who was in the cabin with the regular officers. He at
once appealed to Colonel Worth, declaring that his men were
accustomed to as decent treatment as himself, and did not relish
such conduct.
" Certainly not, certainly not," said Worth ; " bring your men
into the cabin here and let them have their breakfast."
So the cooks were set at work, and in a short time the squad
of volunteers sat down to an excellent breakfast, and did not
have to take it off from the deck, either.
Stopping at Dunkirk, the troops went to Fredonia, took two
or three hundred stand of arms, stored there by the "patriots,"
and proceeded by steamer to Erie. A vessel on Lake Erie
in January is a sight seldom seen, and the presence of one in the
first month of 1838, marks the mildest winter of which there is
any record as visiting this county since its settlement. When-
ever, during the past winter of 1875-6, reference has been made
to the weather as the mildest ever known, if any elderly resident
were present, he generally answered: "Not quite; the winter
of the patriot war was warmer than this."
The lake was certainly open much longer than in 1875-6.
But when the Fulton reached Eric the ice was rapidly forming,
.so that it was difficult to enter the harbor, and the planking of
the boat was badly injured by it. The volunteers remained
there eleven days and returned by land.
By this time it was thought the danger of trouble in this vi-
cinity was nearly over, and Burt's infantry and Randall's artil-
lery were both .discharged. The Buffalo City Guard, however,
had much increased in number, and was organized into a regi-
ment ; the first regiment of uniformed militia in the city. James
McKay was colonel. Dr. Johnson lieutenant-colonel, and George
P. Barker major.
PATRIOTISM ON ICE. 419
The ice rapidly closed over the whole lake, and this circum-
stance was taken advantage of by bands of sympathizers to
project another invasion of Canada. A company of the Buffalo
City Guard and Clapp's volunteers were sent, one cold winter
night, in sleighs, to the "head of the turnpike," in Hamburg, and
thence three or four miles on the ice, toward the middle of the
lake. There they found a most remarkable scene. Thirty or
forty men had established themselves there on the ice, built
shanties, procured a plentiful allowance of hemlock boughs to
sleep on, and were awaiting reinforcements to liberate Canada !
They readily surrendered on the appearance of the troops.
Only a part of them had fire-arms, but there were a large num-
ber of rude pikes, each consisting of a strong pole with a spear
several inches long, and a hook of proportionate size. The
shanties were torn down, the arms seized and the would-be heroes
dispersed.
One part of their preparations was peculiar enough to deserve
especial mention. Extending from their camp, in a straight line,
nearly to the Canada shore, was a row of hemlock bushes, waving
over the vast field of ice. It was intended that the liberating
army should march over in the night. But if they did so there
was danger that in the middle of the lake, with an unbroken
plain of ice extending in every direction, they might lose their
way and perhaps perish with the cold. For the part of the
shore where they intended to land was uninhabited, and there
woLtld be no lights to steer by. So they put up that line of
hemlock boughs to guide them on their conquering way, making
holes in the ice with their pikes, planting the bushes, and pour-
ing on water, which soon froze solic^ around them.
Old Dr. Chapin had been prominent during the winter, making
speeches at the meetings of the sympathizers, and feeling all his
youthful fires revive at the prospect of another war with England.
But his waning powers were unable to keep pace with his feel-
ings, and in February he sickened and died. He was buried on
Washington's birthday with military honors, his funeral being
attended by a vast crowd from whom, despite his failings, he
had long been a subject of respectful attention as one of the
founders of the city.
While some of the people, organized in militia companies.
420 END OF THE PATRIOT WAR.
were faithfully at work to prev^cnt the violation of the neutrality
laws, their friends and neighbors were willing to run a good deal
of risk to aid the insurgents. One of the companies of Randall's
artillery-brigade, belonging in Allegany county, had returned
home by way of Aurora and Holland, but, owing to the badness
of the roads, had been obliged to leave one of their pieces at the
latter place. It was stored in a barn to await better traveling.
Some of the sympathizers at Aurora determined to secure it for
the use of a body of liberators, who were expected to make an-
other effort to cross the lake on the ice. Accordingly, the first
sleighing that came, two good teams were hitched to sleighs,
which, with several men in each, started just after nightfall
for Holland. Passing rapidly over the intervening ten miles,
they arrived at that village, drove to the barn where the cannon
was kept, loaded it into one of the sleighs, put the caisson into
the other, and had the horses going down the creek-road at full
speed ere any one else knew what was going on. It is not likely,
however, that any one would have interfered, even if they had
known, for the feeling of friendship for the insurgents was so
general that (ew cared to oppose it, save when compelled by
official duty. The stolen gun was forwarded through Hamburg
to the lake shore.
Getting possession of another piece of artillery, the "patriots"
assembled to the number of three or four hundred near Com-
stock's tavern, in Hamburg. But on the 24th of February a
detachment of regulars and volunteers, and the crew of a revenue
cutter, all under the command of Col. Worth, who had returned
from the West, marched out from Buffalo, surprised the camp of
the four hundred "patriots," dispersed them, and captured their
cannon. This was the last serious attempt to invade Canada
from within the borders of Erie county.
Rumors of fighting, however, continued to come from the vi-
cinity of Detroit, but the battles turned out to be of the most
trivial character. By the 6th of March even these rumors ceased,
and that was the end of the " Patriot War." A (t\v of the vol-
unteer militia, however, were kept in service for three months,
and then returned home.
Then there was nothing for the people to think of except the
universal depression of business throughout the country. P^or
BUFFALO SCHOOLS. 42 I
this, as is not unfrcqucntly the case, they blamed the administra-
tion and the party in power, and already murmurs, deep and far-
extending, foreboded their temporary overthrow. There was no
need of such aid to the Whigs of Erie county, as they already
had an overwhelming majority, but even that majority was
doubtless increased by the prevailing discontent.
The supervisors elected in the spring were nearly every man
of that party, being as follows : Josiah Fullerton of Alden, Ja-
cob Hershey of Amherst, Joseph S. Bartlett of Aurora, Joseph
Clary of Buffalo, Thomas Durboraw of Clarence, Enoch N. Fay
of Concord, Leander J. Roberts of Colden, Ralph Plumb of
Collins, Levi Bunting of Eden, Aaron Salisbury of Evans, Eli-
sha Smith of Hamburg, Moses McArthur of Holland, Milton
McNeal of Lancaster, John Rogers of Newstead, Elihu Rice of
Sardinia, William Williams of Tonawanda, and Elon Virgil of
Wales.
Ebenezer Walden was mayor of Buffalo that year.
It was during this period, while war seemed imminent, and the
country was overwhelmed by financial troubles, that the school
system of Buffalo was reorganized. Before that, there had been
no public schools there, except district schools, which were un-
suited to a city, and were attended only by the children of the
poorer classes. But the financial crash of 1837 brought a great
many people under that designation. Most of the private insti-
tutions went down. The people turned perforce to their long-
neglected public schools. After one or two attempts, a satisfac-
tory law was passed in the forepart of 1838, reorganizing the
whole school-system of the city, on very nearly the same plan
which is still maintained. Oliver G. Steele had been appointed
superintendent, and he and N. K. Hall originated the law.
It devolved on Mr. Steele to put the improved system into
practical operation. Its principal features were large schools,
divided into departments, thorough supervision by the superin-
tendent, and substantially free admission to all children residing
in the city. The schools were soon made entirely free, and a
central high-school, established a few years later, completed the
frame-work of the system. There was great interest manifested
in the subject in the summer of 1838, numerous meetings were
held, and, notwithstanding much opposition, the people gener-
422 EFFORTS TO BUY THE RESERVATIONS.
ally sustained the new plan. Albert H. Tracy, N. K. Hall, Ho-
ratio Shumway and Mr. Steele were especially warm in its advo-
cacy, and prompt in suggesting needed improvements. In the
summer of 1839 '''o I'^^s than six large, new school-houses were
built under Mr. Steele's supervision, competent teachers were
emplo)'cd, and since that time the schools of Buffalo ha\'e been
maintained in a condition of efficiency probably not surpassed
in the State.
In the fall of 1838 the popular discontent made itself plainly
visible in numerous State elections throughout the country.
Governor Marcy in this State being defeated by William H.
Seward, who became the first Whig governor of New York.
Millard Fillmore, who had entered public life at the same time
with Mr. Seward, was for the third time elected member of Con-
gress from the 30th congressional district. The assemblymen
chosen that fall were Jacob A. Barker, of Buffalo, Henry John-
son, of Lancaster, and the Boston pioneer and soldier, Truman
Gary.
The year 1838 was also marked by a most strenuous attempt
to obtain possession of all the Indian lands in this county, as
well as elsewhere in Western New York. A treaty was sanc-
tioned by the executive department of the government, by which
the government agreed to give the New York Indians 1,820,000
acres of land in Kansas, and build mills, shops, churches, schools,
etc. A council of chiefs was called at the council-house on the
Buffalo Greek reservation, in January, 1838. The treaty was
laid before them, and also a deed by which they agreed to cede
to the Ogden Gompany all their reservations, for two hundred
and two thousand dollars; a hundred thousand for the land, and
a hundred and two thousand for the improvements. It received
forty-five signatures of chiefs, either actual or claimed, for it was
always difficult to tell who were and who were not chiefs.
The treaty was sent to the senate, who amended it by strik-
ing out the various appropriations for milLs, schools, etc., and
inserting the sum of four hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Gil-
lett. United States commissioner, again called the chiefs to-
gether, and insisted that the deed was good, even if the treaty
was not ratified. General Dearborn, commissioner for Massa-
chusetts, declared it was not. The treaty, as amended, was
NEW TOWNS. 423
signed by sixteen chiefs, and a remonstrance by sixty-three.
By some means twenty-six more names were obtained, some say
by bribing- the chiefs or getting them drunk. But, after all
efforts were, used there were only forty-one signatures out of all
the ninety-seven claimed by both parties as chiefs, while of the
.seventy-five undisputed chiefs but twenty-nine were signers.
It afterwards transpired that written contracts had been entered
into by which the agents of the Ogden Company agreed to pay
certain chiefs considerable sums of money, besides giving them
life-leases of their improvements, on condition of their doing
their best to help forward the treaty and sale. These payments
were to be in addition to the pay for improvements which those
chiefs would receive in common with their brethren, and could
only be looked on as bribes. Nothwithstanding the defective
number of signatures, and the means used to obtain them, the
treaty was ratified by the senate. Yet the facts brought to light
caused so much popular feeling, and the determination of the
Indians was so strong not to go west, that the company was un-
willing to proceed to extremities, and did not attempt to remove
them. The manner in which the difficulty was finally settled
will be described further on.
In March, 1839, three new towns were created. On the 22d of
that month the south part of Amherst was cut off and called
Cheektowaga, a modification of the Indian name Jiikdowaageh,
meaning "the place of the crab-apple tree." It is said to have
been so named on the suggestion of Alex. Hi.chcock. Amherst
was the last of the very large towns of Erie county. Before its
division it w^as eighteen miles long, besides the part on the res-
ervation. Afterwards, there was no town over eleven miles in
length.
Cheektowaga was already largely inhabited by Germans, and
since then it has been more completely occupied by them than
any other town in the county. Curiously enough, consid-
ering their habit of living in villages in their native country,
they dwelt and dwell entirely separate in this town. There was
not, and is not, even the smallest of hamlets within its borders.
Yet the soil is probably as fertile as any in the county, and it is
cultivated like a garden. Doubtless its nearness to the city pre-
vents the growth of villages. At the time of its erection it had
424 BRANT AND BLACK ROCK.
not even a post-office. It was organized the same year, and
Alexander Hitchcock was elected its first supervisor.
On the 25th of March the town of Brant was formed by the
legislature out of the south part of Evans, and a part of the Cat-
taraugus reservation, nominally belonging to Collins. It included
the " mile-strip " and " mile-block " sold off from that reservation
in 1826. It was doubtless expected, when the town was formed,
that the sale of the whole reservation would soon be consum-
mated, in accordance with the " treaty" of 1838, and that Brant
would thereby become a town of the ordinary size. This ex-
pectation, however, was disappointed and the space outside of
Indian teritory is smaller than in any other town in the county.
What business there was in the town soon began to be attracted
to Brant Center, where a small hamlet grew up. Brant was
duly organized, and Jonathan Hascall, Jr., was elected its first
supervisor.
The same spring, all that part of the town of Buffalo outside
of the city was formed into the town of Black Rock. It ex-
tended clear around the city from Black Rock village to the lake
shore. Col. William A. Bird was elected its first supervisor.
About the same time a law was passed allowing Buffalo a super-
visor for each of her five wards, but I have been unable to find
a full record of the persons elected, for several years afterwards.
The county legislators, so far as known, for the two last years
of that decade, were as follows — where but one name and no
year is given, the person mentioned held both years : Alden,
Josiah FuUerton ; Amherst, J^cob Hershey and Timothy A.
Hopkins; Aurora, Thomas Thurston; Boston, Epaphras Steele;
Buffalo, (for 1839 only,) 1st ward. Miles Jones; 2d, Emanuel
Ruden ; 3d, Henry Root ; 4th, John D. Harty ; 5th, Nathaniel
Vosburg ; Black Rock, W^illiam A. Bird ; Brant, Jonathan Has-
call, Jr, ; Clarence, Thomas Durboraw ; . Cheektowaga, Alexan-
der Hitchcock; Colden, Leander J. Roberts; Collin.s, Ralph
Plumb; Concord, Enoch N. Fay; Eden, Levi Bunting; Evans,
Sayles Aldrich ; Hamburg, Elisha Smith ; Holland, Moses
McArthur; Lancaster, Milton McNeal ; Newstead, Hezekiah
Cummings ; Sardinia, George Bigelow and Bela H. Colcgrove ;
Tonawanda, Jedediah II. Lathrop and Theron W. Woolson ;
Wales, Elon Virgil.
POPULAR SUPERVISORS. 425
Hiram Pratt was again chosen mayor of Bufifalo, in 1839, by
the common council. The next winter a law was passed that
the mayor should be elected directly by the people ; Sheldon
Thompson was thus elected in 1840.
It will be seen that, with three exceptions, the supervisors of
all the country towns were elected both years, and many of them
had already been in service for several years before, and remained
so several years afterwards. In fact, it may be said that, as a
general rule, supervisors were kept in office a much longer time
than in these later days. Dr. Elisha Smith was elected super-
visor of Hamburg twelve years in succession (from 1830 to
1841,- inclusive). Nathaniel Knight was chosen supervisor of
Collins nine years in succession (1824 to '32, inclusive). Imme-
diately after him Ralph Plumb was elected to the same office
eleven consecutive years (1833 to '43, inclusive). So that for
twenty-four years there were but two supervisors of Collins.
After an interval. Plumb was again chosen for two terms. For
fourteen years, (1838 to '51, inclusive,) Thomas Durboraw, Orsa-
mus Warren and Archibald Thompson held the supervisorship
of Clarence, alternating almost regularly during the time, though
Durboraw was the most favored, holding it six of those yeans.
One of the most decided cases of official long life was that of
Moses McArthur, who was supervisor of Holland for fourteen
years, after having previously held the same position in Wales
for two years. His terms, however, were not in regular suc-
cession, but extended from 1833 to 185 1. There were several
intervals filled by some one else, but every time the people fell
back on Moses McArthur. Jonathan Hascall, Jr., whose elec-
tion as first supervisor of Brant I have just mentioned, also had
a career of remarkable official longevity. He had been super-
visor of Evans several term.s, and on the organization of Brant
he was thirteen times elected its chief officer. So great was his
local influence that he was popularly known throughout the
county by the name of "King Hascall." In later years only
one supervisor has remained in office eight years, and the aver-
age time of holding the position has been only about half what
it was before 1840.
There was little or no change for the better in the financial
situation during the last two years of the decade, and the coun-
28
426 "TIPPECANOE AND TYLER TOO."
try grew more and more whiggish. In the fall of 1839, three
Whigs, Seth C. Hawle)', of Buffalo, Stephen Osborn, of Clar-
ence or Newstead, (the ex-sheriff), and Aaron Salisbury, of
Evans, were chosen to represent Erie county in the assembly.
The next year came the great excitement of the Harrison
campaign. Erie county was one of the greatest strongholds of
whiggery in the United States, and probably developed more
than the average amount of the enthusiasm then so prevalent.
Nowhere were there more log cabins erected, more hard cider
drank, or more coon skins displayed, and nowhere were there
louder shouts for "Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
When election day came the Harrison electoral ticket received
nearly two to one in this county, and was triumphantly elected
in the nation. Henry W. Seymour was the Presidential elector
for this district.
Eor the fourth time Millard Fillmore was chosen as represent-
ative in Congress, that being one term longer than any other
member from Erie county has ever held that office. Lorenzo
Brown was elected sheriff, and Noah P. Sprague county clerk.
The assemblymen chosen were Seth C. Hawley and Stephen
Osborn, reelected, and Dr. Carlos Emmons, of Springville.
The general depression is shown by the fact that the popula-
tion of Buffalo in 1840 had only increased a fraction less than
ten per cent, over that of 1835, having reached the number of
18,213. The population of the whole county was 62,465, an in-
crease of ten and a fifth per cent, over 1835. This is the only
instance of the county's increasing faster than the city.
In 1839 '^ 'ic^^' court of record was established in Buffalo, for
the benefit of city litigants, the judge of which was called the
recorder. Horatio J. Stow was appointed the first recorder,
holding his office for four years.
In 1840 a very important business was started at Akron. A
Mr. Delano opened a quarry of water-limestone, and began to
prepare the lime for market. There had previously been some
small works established at Williamsville, but the Akron water-
lime soon took the lead, and its manufacture has ever since been
increasing in importance. The small village, existing at that
point in 1 840, rapidly increased under the stimulus of the new
industry, and has ever since steadily kept pace with it.
MODERN TIMES. 427
CHAPTER XXXVII.
1841 TO 1845.
The Historic Period Passing Away. — New Treaty with the Indians. — The Tona-
wanda Reservation Given to them in Fee. — They Surrender the Buffalo Creek
Reservation. — Its Occupation by the Whites. — Senators, Assemblymen, etc.
— .Supervisors. — The Bar of T.rie County. — A Brilliant Galaxy.
We have now reached a period within the memory of thou-
sands of not very aged persons, throughout the county. More-
over, the events and circumstances of historic interest have nearly
all been passed in review. After describing the hardships of
pioneer life, the stirring scenes of border war, the construction
of vast public works, and the general growth of the county
from a state of nature to that of a civilized community, it would
be alike tedious and impracticable to recount with equal par-
ticularity the routine life of contemporary existence. The re-
maining portion of the county's history will therefore be more
rapidly passed over. It will not be practicable to note the
building of churches, and similar minor events, but I will en-
deavor to make mention of all facts of especial prominence.
During the period under consideration in this chapter, the
county was slowly recovering from the terrible financial crisis
heretofore described. It was not till near 1845 that it could be
considered to have fully regained a healthy condition, by which
time moderate prosperity was the rule throughout its borders,
as distinguished from the feverish fortune-making of ten years
before. The emigration from Germany steadily continued, and
in 1841 the men of culture of that nationality, in Buffalo, es-
tablished the German Young Men's Association, which has
ever since remained the nucleus of German literary culture in
that city.
In 1842, the Buffalo and Attica railroad was completed, giving
the former place its first railroad connection with the East. Travel
westward was still by boat in summer, and by stage in winter.
This was a grand time for Buffalo hotels. Every traveler had
428 BUFFALO CREEK RESERVATION.
to sta)' in town at least one meal, generally over night, and fre-
quently, in spring and fall, for sex'eral days.
So much opposition was made by the Indians to surren-
dering their lands, under the deed made by a portion of their
chiefs in 1838, and so unsavory were the developments in regard
to the manner in which the sanction of those chiefs was obtained,
that no attempt was made to take possession of the reserva-
tions. In May, 1842, however, a new agreement was made, by
which the Ogden Company allowed the Senecas to retain the
Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations, (subject to the compa-
ny's preemption right) and the Indians gave up the Buffalo
Creek and Tonawanda tracts, on condition of receiving their
proportionate value. That is to say, the value of all four of the
reservations was estimated as before at $100,000, and the value
of the improvements at $102,000, and the company agreed to
pay the proportion of $100,000 which, according to the decision
of arbitrators, the possession of the Buffalo Creek and Tona-
wanda reservations bore to the possession of the whole, and
the proportion of $102,000 which the improvements on those
reservations bore to the improvements on the whole. This
was satisfactory to the Buffalo Creek Indians, but not to the
Tonawandians.
Arbitrators duly chosen decided that the proportionate value
of the Indian title of those two reservations was $75,000, and
that of the improvements on them $59,000. They also awarded
the portion of the $59,000 due to each Indian on the Buffalo
reservation, but could not do it on the Tonawanda one, because
the inhabitants of the latter refused to let them come on the
reservation to make an appraisal. After some two years, one of
the claimants undertook to expel one of the Tonawanda Indi-
ans by force, whereupon he sued them and recovered judgment;
the courts deciding that the proper steps had not been taken to
justify the claimant's action. Finally, to end the controversy,
the United States opened its purse, as it has so often done before
and since to help individuals. The government bought the en-
tire claim of the Ogden Company to the Tonawanda reserva-
tion, and presented it to the Indians residing there. Consequently
they now own the "fee-simple" of the land as well as the pos-
sessory right. That is, they hold it by the same title by which
EDEN AND MARILLA. 429
white men own their lands, except that the fee is in the wliolc
tribe, and not in the individual members.
Meanwhile the Buffalo Indians quietly received the money
allotted to them, and, after a year or two allowed for prepara-
tion, they in 1843 and '44 abandoned the home where they had
dwelt for over sixty years, and which had been a favorite ren-
dezvous of their nation for near two centuries. Most of them
joined their brethren on the Cattaraugus reservation, some went
to that on the Allegany, and a few removed to lands allotted
them in Kansas.
The company immediately had the land surveyed and divided
among the members, who began selling it. Settlers began to oc-
cupy Elma, and that part of Marilla not included in the purchase
of 1826. Even before the Indians removed, Zina A. Hemstreet
had previously been allowed to establish a saw-mill at the point,
long known as Hemstreet's Mills, now generally called East
Elma. Soon a log tavern and a few houses were erected on the
site of the present village of Spring Brook. Messrs. Hurd and
Briggs came to the site of Elma village in 1845, (or possibly in
1846,) and established large saw-mills there. Ten or a dozen
Indian families were still occupying their little clearings in that
vicinity. "Little Jo.," "Isaac Jonnyjohn " and " Little Jo.'s
Boy," were among the appellations of the heads of these ancient
houses. In a year or two more most of them went to the Cat-
taraugus reservation, and their clearings were occupied by white
settlers. New clearings, too, were made here and there, log
houses were erected, and all over the reservation the traveler
witnessed a reproduction of the scenes of pioneer life. The old
towns, it will be remembered, still ran to the center of the reser-
vation, so that the newly opened territory belonged to Black
Rock, Cheektowaga, Lancaster and Alden, on the north, and to
Hamburg, Aurora and Wales on the south.
The increase by the settlement of this new territory was but
slight during the period under consideration, and the county was
but partially recovered from the great downfall of 1837, yet the
census of 1845 found us with a population of 78,635, against
62,465 in 1840. Buffalo had 29,773 in 1845, to 18,213 in 1840.
Though still strongly Whig, the county was not so overwhelm-
ingly so in the previous years. The old anti-masonic feeling was
430 POLITICAL AND JOURNALISTIC.
passing away, new settlers of various politics were coming in,
even among the Americans, and the immigrants of foreign birth
were very largely Democratic.
In 1842, Mr. Fillmore declined a reelection to the office which
he had so long and so creditably filled. During the last two
years of his service he was chairman of the commitce of
ways and means, the most important post in the house of rep-
resentatives next to that of speaker, and discharged its duties
with marked ability and fidelity. The judicial quality of his
mind was especially noticed. Said the veteran statesman,
John Ouincy Adams, of Mr. Fillmore, in the fall of 1842: "He
was one of the ablest, most faithful, and fairest-minded men
with whom it has ever been my lot to serve in public life."
William A. Moseley was elected to Congress in Mr. F.'s place.
In 1844, when Henry Clay was nominated for President by
the Whig national convention, Mr. Fillmore's name was pre-
sented by the delegates from New York, and from some of the
Western States, for the second place on the ticket. Mr. Freling-
huyscn was, however, selected, and then the Whigs, with hardly
a division, chose Mr. F. as their candidate for governor. The
State, however, as well as the nation, went for Polk, and Silas
Wright was elected governor. Jonathan Hascall, Jr., of Brant,
was the presidential elector from this county. Dr. Carlos Em-
mons, of Springvillc, was chosen State senator.
By this time that pleasant village — Springville — had become
of sufficient importance to sustain a newspaper, and the Spring-
ville Express was established ; being published there for four
years. In 1845 the Buffalo Daily Express was founded by
A. M. Clapp. The Buffalo Daily Telegraph, a German paper,
was established the same year, and Dr. Austin Flint founded
the Buffalo Medical Journal, a monthly devoted to medical
science.
In the fall of 1841 the people elected to the assembly Squire
S. Case of Buffalo, William A. Bird of Black Rock, and Bela
Colegrove of Sardinia. In 1842 they chose George R. Babcock
of Buffalo, Wells Brooks of Concord, and Milton McNeal of
Lancaster. In 1843 the successful candidates were Daniel Lee
of Buffalo, Amos Wright of Clarence, and Pllisha Smith -of
Hamburg. In 1844, Daniel Lee was reelected, his associates
SUPERVISORS FOR FIVE YEARS. 43 1
being Truman Dewey of Evans, and John T. Bush of Tona-
wanda. The next year Mr. Bush was reelected, his colleagues
being- Judge Nathan K. Hall of Buffalo, and James Wood, the
Wales pioneer.
In 1843 Manly Colton, of Buffalo, was elected county clerk,
and Ralph Plumb, of Collins, .sheriff. Thomas C. Love, the ex-
congressman, was appointed surrogate in 1841, and succeeded
by Peter M. Vosburgh, of Aurora, in 1845. Henry W. Rogers
was appointed district attorney in i84i,and Solomon G. Haven
in 1844. Nathan K. Hall was appointed first judge of the Com-
mon Pleas in 1842, but resigned in 1845, being succeeded by
Frederick P. Stevens.
The mayors of Buffalo for this semi-decade were Isaac R.
Harrington in 1841, George W. Clinton in 1842, Joseph G.
Masten in 1843 and '45, and William Ketchum in 1844.
The records of supervisors for this period are nearly complete,
except in the city of Buffalo, where there appears to have been
none preserved until 1844. So far as known the list is as follows :
Amherst, 1841, 42 and 43, Timothy A. Hopkins ; 1844 and
'45, John Hershey. Alden, 1841 and '42, Dexter Ewell ; 1843,
'44 and '45, John D. Howe. Aurora, 1841, '42 and '44, Thomas
Thurston; 1843, Jonathan Hoyt ; 1845, Hezekiah Moshier.
Boston, 1840 and 41, Epaphras Steele; 1842, Ezra Chaftee ;
1843, John Brooks ; 1844, Orrin Lockvvood. Black Rock, 1841
and '45, William A. Bird ; 1842, Alvan Dodge; 1843, Samuel
Ely; 1844, Robert McPherson. Brant, 1841, '42, '43 and '44,
Jonathan Hascall, Jr. ; 1845, Job Southwick.
Buffalo, 1st ward, 1844, Walter S. Hunn, 1845, Charles S.
Pierce; 2d ward, 1844 and '45, Noah H. Gardner; 3d ward,
1844 and '45, Henry Daw ; 4th ward, 1844. George W. Clinton,
1845, Dyre Tillinghast ; 5th ward, 1844, John M. Bull, 1845,
Francis C. Brunck.
Clarence, 1 841, Thomas Durboraw; 1842 and '44, Archibald
Thompson ; 1843 and '45, Orsamus Warren. Golden, 1841, '42
and '43, Philo P. Barber; 1844, Samuel B. Love; 1845, Benja-
min Maltby. Cheektowaga, 1841, 43 and '44, Alexander Hitch-
cock ; 1842, Darius Kingsley ; 1845, James Warner. Collins,
1 841, '42 and '43, Ralph Plumb ; 1844 and '45, John L. Henry.
Hamburg, i84i,Elisha Smith ; 1842, Isaac Deuel; 1843, Joseph
Foster; 1844, Clark Dart; 1845, Amos Chilcott. Holland.
1841, Samuel Corliss; 1842, '43, '44 and '45, Moses McArthur.
Lancaster, 1841, Norman R.Dewey; 1842, '44 and '45, Mil-
ton McNeal ; 1843, Elijah M. Safiford. Eden, 1841, '44 and
43-
THE ERIE COUNTY BAR.
'45, William H. Pratt ; 1842, James Tefift ; 1843, Harvey Caryl.
Sardinia. 1841 and '45, Bela H. Colegrove ; 1842 and '44, Fred-
erick Richmond; 1843, George Bigelow. Wales, 1841, Ira G.
Watson ; 1842, Elon Virgil ; 1843 and '44, Isaac Brayton ; 1845.
David S. Warner.
These were the halcyon days of the Erie county bar. Un-
less all traditions are utterly false, our county, during the period
from 1830 to 1850, was distinguished by a galaxy of legal lumi-
naries hardly surpassed in the State ; a galaxy which probably
reached its greatest brilliancy between 1840 and 1845.
The celebrated firm of Fillmore, Hall & Haven had dissolved.
and its second member had gone upon the bench, but juries
were still occasionally swayed by the persuasive yet candid ad-
vocacy of Millard Fillmore, and often delighted by the wit and
tact of Solomon G. Haven. Then the old court-house, which
has just been torn down, rang with the fiery denunciations of
Henry K. Smith, whose dark features and fervid speech re-
minded one of the Cuban shore on which he was born. Then
a younger orator, of elegant yet commanding presence, lifted
up his voice in tones of alternate pathos and scorn, till men
from both city and country willingly surrendered their hearts to
the eloquence of h^li Cook. Then Thomas T. Sherwood fumed
and fretted around the bar, and thundered in somewhat sledge-
hammer style, but all the while kept up an excellent understand-
ing with the jury, forced his own ideas into them by main
-Strength, and carried verdicts by the .score. Mr. S. seems to
have been predisposed toward his overwhelming style of con-
ducting a case, not only by his temper but his judgment. He
believed in pounding. On one occasion the junior counsel in a
suit in which he was engaged opened the case to the jury. As
he was about to close, Mr. Sherwood got his ear and whispered :
" Go over with the case again, and make this point — and this
one — and this one."
"Why," replied the surprised junior, " I have made all those
points already."
"Yes, I know," said Sherwood, "but hammer it into them —
hammer it into them." And by " hammering it into them," he
gained many a case.
Of a far different order of mind, deliberate and impressive in
speech, logical in intellect, and thoroughly versed in legal lore.
GEORGK r. BARKER. 433
was John L. Talcott, one of the few survivors of that brilHant
throng. A. H. Tracy seldom appeared in the legal arena, but
was recognized as possessing forensic abilities of the highest class.
The veteran Potter, the Nestor of the profession, was an au-
thority on every thing relating to real estate, and his partner,
George R. Babcock, had already attained a prominent position.
Henry W. Rogers, who was district-attorney during most of
the period in question, ranked high as a learned and successful
practitioner, as did also Congressman Moseley, Dyre Tillinghast,
Benj. H. Austin and the future judge, Seth E. Sill. The county
had not been so fully absorbed into the city as now, and Albert
Sawin and Lafayette Carver, of Aurora, Wells Brooks and C. C.
Severance, of Springville, and some others, were resorted to by
numerous clients.
But the bright particular star of the bar of Erie county, the
orator on whose lips juries and audiences hung with most intense
delight, was George P. Barker. The period of his great brilliancy
extended from about 1835 to '45, during the last three years of
which time he was State attorney-general, when his health began
to decline as he drew toward the close of his brief and brilliant
career. Others might have had abetter knowledge of law, more
logical methods of argument, or more skill in the management
of cases, but none had such wondrous powers of language, none
had such control over the feelings of an audience. No matter
whether in the court-room or on the political platform, whether
in city hall or on back-woods stump, his name never failed to
draw a numerous audience, and his voice never failed to charm
those whom his name had drawn. Being a radical Democrat,
his party was in a hopeless minority in the county and the dis-
trict, but he clung to it with unwavering fidelity. Had fortune
given power to his political friends, he would doubtless have
been chosen to represent them in Congress, and would have
been expected to measure lances with the most brilliant pala-
dins of debate in the national tournament.
434 RETURN OF PROSPERITY.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
1846 TO 1850.
Prosperity. — The University of Buffalo. — The Medical Department. — Hamilton,
Flint and White. — The New Constitution. — Officials of the Period. — Mr.
Fillmore Nominated for Vice-President. — The Free-Soil Movement. — The
Buffalo Convention. — Mr. Fillmore Elected Vice-President. — He Becomes
President. — The Compromise Measures. — Mr. Haven Elected to Congress.
— Hamburg Divided. — Mayors and Supervisors. — The Ebenezer Society. —
German Progress.
We now find the subject of this history in a condition of decid-
ed prosperity. Money was reasonably plenty, without being so
abundant as to cause fears of another crash. After long years
of labor, most of the farmers had their land paid for, or so nearly
as to be able to see their way through. On all the back roads
handsome farm-houses were being erected in place of the log
structures of primeval times. New churches sent up their spires
in almost every hamlet, and the old log or red frame school-
house was frequently replaced b}^ a neat, white building, the
typical American school-house of the present day.
The villages showed less improvement than the farming coun-
try ; for l^ufifalo more and more absorbed the trade of all the
country around. That city was again on the high tide of suc-
cess. No financial depression could long hinder the growth of
the mighty West, and, as there were no through lines of railway,
its produce must be poured through the Eric canal. Great fleets
transferred their cargoes of gi"ain from the lake to the canal, at
Buffalo, and the vicinity of the harbor swarmed with thousands
of laborers.
New streets were laid out, and old ones pushed their way far-
ther into the country. New and better buildings rose, too, on
the sites of old ones, but not of a very high order ; Buffalo has
never been distinguished by the splendor of its architecture.
The grand crash of 1836 came too soon to allow the newly-
found wealth of the citizens to bloom into architectural magnifi-
cence, and j)robab!y remembrance of it lias tended very strongly
BUFFALO MEDICAL COLLEGE. 435
to repress all seven-story aspirations. Not only has no attempt
been made to equal Rathhun's abortive Exchange, but the busi-
ness blocks of Buffalo are plainer in appearance than those of
almost any other city of its size in the country.
One grand project was originated about 1845, but it was only
partially carried out. This was the "University of Buffalo."
A charter was procured for a grand institution of learning, in-
tended to rival Harvard and Yale, with separate departments
for the liberal professions. Under this charter, the medical de-
partment was organized in August, 1846, as the Buffalo Medical
College. It soon took, and has ever since maintained, high rank
among American institutions of that class, while the university
of which it was to be a part has disappeared even from the
imaginations of men.
Dr. Frank H. Hamilton, Dr. Austin Flint and Dr. James P.
White soon took the lead among the instructors of the infant
college, and are designated as its founders by those who best
know its history. After bringing the institution to a high de-
gree of efficiency, Hamilton and Flint went to the city of New
York, where they now stand in the front rank of the physicians
of the metropolis, while Dr. White remained at the head of the
Buffalo college.
In 1846 a new State constitution was formed, being, except
some amendments, the same under which we now live. By its
provisions, judges, district-attorneys and nearly all other officers
were to be elected by the people. It also provided that senators
should hold but for two years, and that there should be a sen-
atorial district for every senator, and an assembly district for
every assemblyman. The court of Common Pleas was ex-
changed for a county court, presided over by a county judge.
There were no associate judges, but in criminal cases he was to
be assisted by two justices of sessions. The State was also
divided into eight judicial districts, each of which elected four
justices of the Supreme Court, Erie county being in the eighth
district. The new constitution was ratified by the people in
1846, but no officers were elected under it until the next year.
In the fall of 1846, Timothy A. Hopkins of Amherst, son of
the early pioneer and soldier, General Hopkins, was elected
sheriff, and Moses Bristol of Buffalo, county clerk. At the same
436 A DEMOCRATIC VICTORY.
time Horatio Shumway of Buffalo, John D. Howe of Alden.
William H. Pratt of Eden, and Obadiah J. Green of Sardinia,
were elected to tlie a.ssembl\^ The increase from three to four
members was the result of the new apportionment, under the
census of 1845.
A special election was held in June, 1847, to choose judi-
cial officers and district-attorneys, as directed by the new con-
stitution. The eighth judicial district being overwhelmingly
Whig, four Whig justices of the Supreme Court were elected,
among whom were Seth E. Sill of Buffalo, and James Mullett of
Chautauqua county, who also kept an office in Buffalo. In this
county, however, owing to a defection among the Whigs, all their
candidates were defeated — for the first time since the organiza-
tion of the party. The Democrats elected Frederick P. Stevens
county judge, Peter M. Vosburgh surrogate, and Benjamin H.
Austin district-attorney.
In the succeeding autumn the first State officers were chosen
under the new constitution. Millard Fillmore was nominated
by the W^higs for comptroller. The fight between the " Hunker"
and " Barnburner" wings of the Democracy w^as then in full blast,
and Mr. h'illmore and his associates were elected by a large ma-
jority. At the same time John T. Bush, of Tonawanda, was
chosen as State senator from the 31st senatorial district, (Erie
county,) with the following assemblymen : Elbridge G. Spauld-
ing and Harry Slade of Buffalo, Ira E. Irish of Hamburg, and C.
C. Severance of Concord.
In June, 1848, after Gen. Taylor had been nominated for the
Presidency by the Whig national convention at Philadelphia,
Mr. Fillmore was selected for the second place on the ticket.
The Democratic national convention nominated Cass and But-
ler for President and Vice-President, but the contest was not
confined to the two tickets just named. The " Barnburners,"
or Radical Democrats, had espoused the cause of the Wilmot
Proviso, which was intended to exclude slavery from the terri-
tory lately acquired from Mexico. The proceedings of the Dem-
ocratic convention at Baltimore not having been satisfactory to
them, the " Barnburners " met in convention at Utica, and nom-
inated Martin Van Buren for President, with a Vice-Presidential
candidate from the West, who declined the honor.
THE BUFFALO CONVENTION. 437
As it was desired, however, to unite as many as possible of the
opponents of slavery-extension throughout the country, the cel-
ebrated Buffalo convention was called to meet in that city.
Thus it was that on the ninth day of August, 1848, the Oueen
City of the Lakes was crowded with distinguished strangers, and
with numerous residents of the vicinity, about to take part in
the only political assemblage of national interest which has ever
met within its limits.
It was a mass convention, attended by men from every North-
ern State, and also from Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. A
great tent had been erected in the court-house park, and at
noon the multitude assembled beneath it was called to order.
Nathaniel Sawyer, of Ohio, was elected temporary chairman.
A committee on permanent organization was then appointed,
consisting of one from each State represented. Of its members
many have since died, and all hav^e ceased to be known in polit-
ical circles, with one exception : Michigan was represented by
Isaac r. Christiancy, now senator from that State.
At the beginning of the afternoon session the park was tilled
with an eager throng, and large numbers congregated in the ad-
jacent streets. The committee on organization, through their
chairman, Preston King, reported the name of Charles Francis
Adams, of Massachusetts, as president of the convention, who
was forthwith elected. Thereupon a committee of two escorted
to the chair a small, unpretendmg man, scarcely forty years of
age, but looking somewhat older from partial baldness, who then
for the first time became prominent before the nation, but who
has since been a leader among its statesmen, has fulfilled its
most important diplomatic trusts with consummate skill, and
now remains almost the only survivor of the then eminent mem-
bers of the convention, over which he presided twenty-eight years
ago.
One of the committee who attended him to the chair was a
robust, broad-shouldered man, about thirty-eight years old, with
a bold, high forehead, a compressed mouth, and a face written
all over with the evidence of courage and determination. This
was Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, then just entering on his bril-
liant and useful national career.
A committee on resolutions was appointed, of which Benjamin
438 CHASE, BUTLER AND GIDDINGS.
F. Butler was chairman. That gentleman has been obliterated,
as it were, by another political luminary bearing the same name,
but m his day Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, was a power
in the land, being the right-hand man of Mr. Van Buren in his
political contests, and attorney-general of the United States
during his friend's Presidency.
For the purpose of equalizing the representation a committee
of conference, consisting of six conferees-at-large from each State,
and three from each congressional district, was appointed by the
delegates of the respective States, to whom was referred the
nomination of candidates.
While awaiting the action of these committees several gen-
tlemen addressed the convention, and members of the celebrated
Hutchinson family sang their inspiring songs of freedom.
Among the speakers none attracted more attention than a tall,
white-haired old man, whose bold and vehement denunciations
of slavery were cheered to the echo by the multitude. This was
Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, long known as the Nestor of the
anti-slavery contest. There were several other speakers, and
seated modestly with the Massachusetts delegation was a young
cfentleman, since well known to fame as Richard H. Dana, Jr.
The committee of conference met at the court-house in the
evening, and appointed Salmon P. Chase chairman, but declined
to nominate candidates until the convention should have adopted
a platform of principles.
The next morning the proper committee reported a series of
resolutions, embodying the creed of the free-soilers, which was
substantially the same as that afterwards promulgated by the
Republican party. While repudiating all claim on the part of
the Federal government to interfere with slavery in the States,
they declared that that institution should be prohibited in all
the territory subject to the jurisdiction of Congress. "No more
slave States and no slave territories," was the summing up of
the whole. Of course they were enthusiastically adopted.
On this action being reported to the committee of conference,
which had met in the Second Universalist church, they pro-
ceeded to the nomination of candidates. The selection was by
no means a foregone conclusion. Although they were entering
on an utterly hopeless contest, and although Mr. Van Buren had
VAN BUREN AND ADAMS. 439
been nominated by a convention of the Free-Soil Democrats of
New York, who constituted the bulk of the new party, yet there
was a strong feeling among the thorough-going anti-slavery
men in favor of selecting Hon. John P. Hale, of New Hampshire.
Mr. Butler was called on by the committee of conference to
explain the position of Mr. Van Buren, and did so at consider-
able length. When the informal ballot was taken Martin Van
Buren had 244 votes and John P. Hale 181, while 41 were re-
ported as scattering. Mr. Van Buren had only 22 majority over
all others. However, the vote was at once made unanimous.
On consultation, the feeling in regard to the choice for Vice-
President was found to be so strong in one direction that all
other names were withdrawn, and Charles Francis Adams was
unanimously nominated.
It was not until the evening of that day that the names
adopted by the committee were reported to the mass conven-
tion. Mr. Adams, being one of the nominees, called Mr. Chase
to the chair, who submitted the nominations to the assemblage.
The multitude, which filled the great tent to its utmost capacity,
responded with tumultuous cheers, and Martin Van Buren and
Charles P^rancis Adams were made the standard-bearers of the
" Free Democratic " party in the coming campaign.
David Dudley Pleld then read a letter from Mr. Van Buren,
several short but vigorous speeches were made, and .it was eleven
o'clock ere an adjournment was carried, and the Buffalo Con-
vention became a thing of the past. Although its nominees did
not carry a single State, yet its action had .a strong influence in
strengthening the growing opposition to slavery propagandism,
which at length resulted in the entire overthrow of the in-
stitution.
Its only apparent result that year, however, was to give the
State of New York to the Whigs, and cause the election of
Gen. Taylor and Mr. P'illmore. At the same time, Elbridge G.
Spaulding was chosen as member of Congress from Erie county,
the assemblyman elect being Benoni Thompson of Buffalo, Au-
gustus Raynor of Clarence, Marcus McNeal of Newstead, and
Luther Buxton of Evans. Christian Metz, Jr., was elected
county treasurer.
The next spring a citizen of Erie county was installed in the
440 AN ERIE COUNTY PRESIDENT.
second office in the Republic. As Vice-President, Mr. Fillmore's
only duty was to preside over the senate, a duty for which his
equable temperament and judicial turn of mind peculiarly fitted
him.
In the autumn of 1849, George R. Babcock was chosen State
senator, while Orlando Allen and Elijah Ford of Buffalo, Ira E.
Irish of Hamburg, and Joseph Candee of Sardinia, were elected
to the assembly. Le Roy Farnham of Buffalo was chosen
sheriff, and Wells Brooks of Concord, county clerk.
On the 9th day of July, 1850, General Taylor died, and Mil-
lard Fillmore became President of the United States. Fie was
then fifty years of age ; it was twenty-one years since he had
entered public life as a member of the assembly, twenty-seven
years since he had commenced the practice of law in Aurora,
and thirty-one years since he had been a clothier's apprentice.
His first task was of course the formation of his cabinet. In
selecting its members, after making Daniel Webster secretary of
state, Thomas Corwin secretary of the treasury, and John J.
Crittenden attorney-general, he called his former student and
partner, Nathan K. Hall, who had been a member of Congress
but a single term, to the office of postmaster-general. The
seeming favoritism occasioned some comment, but Mr. tlall's
unquestioneci integrity, sound judgment and laborious devotion
to duty well fitted him for the post to which he was called, and
it is doubtful if it has ever been more worthily filled.
Congress was still in session when Mr. Fillmore became Pres-
ident, and all through the hot summer months it continued to
wrestle with problems caused, and passions aroused, by the same
question of slavery which ten years later came to a bloody ar-
bitrament. Both houses at length passed the celebrated "Com-
promise Measures" embodied in five acts, which provided for
the admission of California, the organization of the territories
of New Mexico and Utah without any prohibition of slavery,
the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and
the summary return of fugitive slaves, claimed to have escaped
from one State to another. The President signed them all.
The last named act, commonly called the Fugitive Slave Law,
was strongly denounced by a large portion of the Whig party,
as well as by a considerable number of the northern Democrats.
LODI AND GOWANDA. 441
It is not necessary here to discuss the merits or demerits of that
hiw, nor of the compromise measures generally. Notwithstand-
ing the opposition just referred to, all those measures were sanc-
tioned by a majority of both parties, and for a short time the
excitement regarding slavery sank to comparative quiet.
Mr. Fillmore's friends were naturally desirous that his own
county should be represented by some one who approved his
course, and it was probably for that reason that Solomon G.
Haven, the third member of the renowned firm of Fdlmore,
Hall & Haven, was brought forward as a candidate for Congress.
There was a very earnest contest for the Whig nomination, but
Mr. Haven carried the convention, and was duly elected in No-
vember. By the census of 1850 the population of the county
was 100,993, an increase of 22,358 in five years, while that of
Buff'alo was 42,261, an addition of 12,488 to the number in
1845.
Near the close of this decade, (about 1848,) the village on the
Cattaraugus, first called Aldrich's Mills and then Lodi, suftered
another change of title. The fact that there were a village and
a post-office called Lodi, in Seneca county, caused constant con-
fusion in regard to letters. There had by this time grown up a
thriving place on both sides of the Cattaraugus, the people of
which thought themselves numerous enough to be incorporated
as a village. They determined to have a name entirely unique,
and they succeeded. The village was incorporated as " Go-
wanda," and it is safe to say that that name is not mistaken for
any other. The village is partly in Erie and partly in Cattar-
augus counties, and has, since its incorporation, been steadily
growing into one of the most flourishing places in Western
New York.
No new town was formed during the semi-decade under con-
sideration until October 15th, 1850, \\hen Hamburg, which had
stood unchanged since 1812, was divided by the board of super-
visors, who were then intrusted with the necessary power. All
but the two western tiers of lots in township Nine, range Seven,
were included in the new town, which received the name of Elli-
cott. It was organized by the election of officers the next spring.
The name was soon changed to East Hamburg.
The mayors of Buffalo, during the five years treated of in this
29
442 SUPERVISORS FOR FIVE YEARS.
chapter, were Solomon G. Haven in 1846, Elbridge G. Spaul-
ding in 1847, Orlando Allen in 1848, Hiram Barton in 1849,
and Henry K. Smith in 1850. The following- is a list of the
supervisors of the county, so far as known, during the same
period :
Alden, 1846, John D. Howe; 1847 and "48, Alexander Kellogg;
1849, Nathan Willis; 1850, Ziba Durkee. Amherst, 1846, John Her-
shey; 1847, '48 and 49, Jasper B. Youngs; 1850, unknown. Aurora.
1846, Hezekiah Moshier ; 1847, '48 and '50, Hiram Harris; 1846,
William Boies. Black Rock, 1846, William A. Bird; 1847, Robert
McPherson ; 1848, '49 and '50 Warren Granger.
Buffalo, First ward, 1846 and '47, W. W. Stanard ; 1848, Van Rens-
selaer Newell ; 1849, H. W. Millard ; 1850, C.S. Pierce. Second ward,
1846, N. H.Gardner; 1847, '48, '49 and '50, William Ketchum. Third
ward, 1846, Moses Bristol; 1847 and '50, Henry Daw ; 1848 and '49,
Jeremiah Staats. Fourth ward, 1846, Dyre Tillinghast ; 1847 and '48,
Henry P. Darrow ; 1849, Horatio Warren; 1850, I. V. Vanderpoel.
Fifth ward, 1846, '47 and '48, Peter Curtis ; 1849 and 50, K. J. Baldwin.
Boston, 1846, "47 and 49, Orrin Lockwood ; 1848, Allen Grifhth :
1850, John Anthony. Brant, 1846, '47, '49 and '50, Jonathan Hascall,
Jr.; 1848, Horace Goodrig. Clarence, 1846, and '50, Thomas Dur-
boraw ; 1847, Archibald Thompson; 1848 and '49, Orsamus Warren.
Cheektowaga, 1846, '48 and '49, Manly Brown ; 1847, Alexander
Hitchcock ; 1850, E. P. Adams. Colden, 1846, Benjamin Maltby ;
1847 3nd 48, Cyrus Cornell ; 1849 and '50, Charles H. Baker. Collins,
1846, '47 and '48, Thomas Russell ; 1849 and '50, Ralph Plumb.
Concord, 1849, C. C. Severance ; 1850, C. C. Sears. Eden, 1846, Wm.
H. Pratt; 1847 and '49, Pardon Tefft ; 1850, Nelson Welch. Evans,
1847, Joseph Bennett; 1850, John Borland. Hamburg, 1846, Clark
Dart; 1847 and '48, Isaac Deuel; 1849, Jesse Bartoo ; 1850, Jacob
Potter. Holland, 1846, '47, '49 and '50, Moses McArthur ; 1848.
J^hilip D. Riley. Lancaster, 1846 and '48, Jonathan W. Dodge ; 1847,
Milton McNeal ; 1849, Robert Neal ; 1850, Henry Atwood. New-
stead, 1850, H. S. Hawkins. Sardinia, 1846, B. H. Colegrove ; 1847,
and :|8, Thomas Hopkins ; 1849, Joseph Candee ; 1850, Henry Bowen.
Tonawanda, 1846 and '47, James Carney; 1848, '49 and '50, J. H.
Phillips. Wales, 1846 and '47, David S. Warner; 1848, '49 and '50,
James Wood.
I will now devote a few pages to a brief account of a peculiar
society, which settled in the county during the period under con-
sideration. Soon after the final sale of the Buffalo Creek reser-
vation and the removal of the Indians, a German society began
negotiations for the purchase of a large tract near Buffalo.
About the year 1845, five thousand acres were conveyed to
them, to which they afterwards added five thousand more.
Their tract lay at the west end of the reservation, in the present
THE EBENEZER SOCIETY. , 443
town of West Seneca, and embraced the old Indian villai;c and
the clearings around it.
In 1845 and '46, the purchasers moved to their new home.
They were generally known as the Ebenezer Society, and com-
prised nearly two thousand Germans — men, women and children
— mostly from Rhinish Prussia, and Hesse. All their property
was held in common, everything being controlled by a board
of managers, or trustees. These w^ere commonly called " el-
ders," but were not religious ministers. These managers di-
rected what buildings should be built, what lands should be
ploughed, what crops should be sown.
They lived in separate families, but the managers allotted to
each their allowance of provisions and clothing. A law was
passed permitting them to hold their property according to their
own regulations, and throughout their residence in the county
they had very little communication with the outside world, ex-
cept through their agents. Of these the chief, and the principal
manager of their outside business, was Charles Meyer, a native
of the city of Hamburg, who had been a merchant in Brazil,
and was a most excellent business man and financier. Hon.
George R. Babcock was their legal adviser.
Their residences, which were large, substantial, frame build-
ings, capable of holding two or more families, were grouped in
two villages, and two or three smaller clusters. What most struck
the eyes of their American neighbors, was their method of work-
ing. The sight of great gangs of men and women, fifty to a hun-
dred in number, engaged in the ordinary avocations of the farm,
was something entirely new to the eyes of Erie county people.
Especially striking was it to see, in harvest-time, on the rich flats
of the Cazenove, a row, half a mile long, of women, a few yards
apart, reaping with sickles the grain of the community.
Another curiosity to Yankee eyes was the shepherd, with his
little portable residence and his watchful dogs, pasturing his
sheep by the roadside, and on the grass-bordered paths leading
through the grain. By this means every spear of grass was
saved, and not a spear of grain was lost.
Their religious creed appears to have been somewhat like that
of the Quakers. They depended much on spiritual insight, but
did not neglect stated services. Prayers were held every day.
444 GERMAN PROGRESS.
They strenuously avoided all conflicts of every description. At
one time, under a law passed by the legislature, a circular was
sent out by the secretary of state of New York to all city, town
and village authorities, asking for information which might bear
on numerous social questions. Each local board was requested
to state how many paupers there were within their jurisdiction,
how many lawsuits in a given time, how many crimes commit-
ted, how many minor offenses, etc., etc. On receiving one of
these circulars, the Ebenezer managers took it to Mr. Babcock,
who explained its meaning, and told them to draw up an answer
to its queries. In due time they returned with the reply. It was
very simple; there were no paupers among them; none of them
had ever received any relief from the civil authorities ; none of
their number had ever been convicted of or indicted for any
crime; none had ever been punished for any misdemeanor;
none of them had ever had a lawsuit, either among themselves
or with outsiders. And the report was literally true. In one or
two cases of quarrels with outsiders, the managers immediately
settled them without allowing them to go to a legal arbitrament.
Meanwhile the German element had increased largely in both
city and country. After the disturbances in Europe in 1848, a
fresh impetus was given to German emigration. Some brought
capital ; nearly all brought habits of industry, frugality and
order which were certain to bring them at least a moderate de-
gree of success. Many were added to the German settlements
in Collins, Eden, Hamburg, Cheektowaga and Lancaster, and
still larger numbers filled up Batavia and Genesee streets, and
began to spread over all the northeastern part of Buffalo. The
German love of music soon began to show itself in their adopted
country. In 1847 the Buffalo " Liedertafel " was organized, and
has ever since remained a permanent institution of the city.
In 1850 Mr. George J. Bryan founded a newspaper called the
Daily Queen City. Two years later the name was changed to
the Buffalo Evening Post, under which name it is still published.
The Springville Herald (weekly) was also in that year established
in Springville by E. D. Webster. After divers changes it is now
the Journal and Herald. Still another journalistic venture of
that year, which has proven permanent, was the Buffalo Chris-
tian Advocate, the organ of the Methodist Church.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENT. 445
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE SIXTH DECADE.
General Improvement. — Stump Fences. — West Seneca. — Enlargement of Buffalo. —
North Collins. — Grand Island. — President Fillmore's Administration. — Coun-
ty Officers and Members of the Legislature. — Supervisors. — Marilla. — Polit-
ical Changes. — The American and Republican Parties. — The Contest of 1856.
— Mr. Fillmore's Retirement. — His Father. — "The Old Colonel." — A Curi-
ous Scene. — Another Official List.— The Panic of 1857.— Elma. — Removal
of the Ebenezer Colony. — Perfect Honesty. — Supervisors after Increase of
Buffalo. — 1860. — The Approaching Storm.
The forepart of this period wa.s hkewise a time of great gen-
eral prosperity. The farmers, now mostly out of debt, still
further improved their property, and even the back roads showed
hundreds of neat, white houses, with outbuildings to correspond.
Before their front yards, handsome board or picket fences super-
ceded the crooked barrier of rails, which still did duty around
the rest of the farm. As the old well-sweep had been super-
ceded by the windlass, so the latter was now replaced by the
still more convenient pump.
It was about this time that the farmers in the pine districts
began to rid themselves of their veteran stumps. The hard-
wood stumps rotted down in a few years after the trees were cut,
but the pines remained intact after twenty, thirty, or even forty
years of lifelessness, and seemed likely to defy the attacks of
centuries. Machines of various kinds were invented, and ere
long the business of pulling stumps became an important part
of the industry of the piney regions. These, when pulled, were
generally placed in the road-fence, the bottoms of their roots
facing outward, forming one of the most durable, though also
one of the homeliest enclosures ever known. Notwithstanding
the general improvement in the rural districts, the amount of
grain raised did not increase, as the farmers engaged more and
more in the dairy business, and in raising hay, potatoes, etc., for
the Buffalo market. As a rule, the villages remained nearly
446 15UFFALO ENLARGED.
dormant, though exceptions were seen in Akron, Lancaster,
Marilla. White's Corners, Angola and Gowanda. Tonawanda,
too, for a while did considerable grain business, but in 1854 or
'55 its elevator was burned, and trade again suffered a depression.
On the i6th of October, 185 i, a new town was formed, called
"Seneca." It was entirely a part of the Buffalo Creek reserva-
tion, and comprised almost all that part of it previously em-
braced in the towns of Black Rock, Cheektowaga, Hamburg and
East Hamburg. The Ebenezer colony comprised the greater
part of its inhabitants. As its name clashed with one some-
where else in the State, it was changed the next spring to "West
Seneca." There had been an attempt, two years before, by the
board of supervisors, to organize a town with substantially the
same boundaries, by the appropriate name of Red Jacket, but I
believe it failed through lack of confirmation by the legislature.
Buffalo continued to engulf the business of the county ; its
streets pushing out in every direction, and its houses overflow-
ing the old city line into the town of Black Rock. At length it
was determined to extend the municipal boundaries, and, as the
population was then rapidly increasing, it was thought best to
make the city large enough for all exigencies. Accordingly, by
a new charter, granted in April, 1853, the whole town of Black
Rock was included in the city of Buffalo. The new metropolis
was nine miles long, north and south, by from three to six miles
wide, with an area of about forty square miles. This magnifi-
cent municipal domain was divided into thirteen wards, which
still remains the number. The mayors, up to this time, were
James Wadsworth in 1H51, Hiram Barton in 1852, and Eli
Cook in 1853.
Ever since the division of Amherst, Collins had been the
largest town in the county. On the 24th of November, 1852,
that part of it north of the line between townships Seven and
Eight (except the southernmost tier of lots) was formed into a
new town called Shirley, the name being derived from a little
hamlet and post-office two miles southwest of Kerr's Corners.
But, as in the case of East Hamburg, the inhabitants soon be-
came tired of any name which did not remind them of the old
town in which they had so long resided, and the next spring
"Shirley" was changed to "North Collins."
PRESIDENT FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION. z|47
That same autumn, on the 19th of October, Grand Island
was organized as a town. Thus, at length, the locality which
had been the seat of "Governor" Clark's independent national-
ity, and of Major Noah's Hebrew-judge government, was sup-
plied with the more humble, but more appropriate, organization
of an American town. The population was still sparse, and most-
ly distributed along the shores of the Island, but their isolated
position made a separation seem desirable.
President Fillmore's course, after the passage of the compro-
mise acts, was in harmony with his party, and his administra-
tion of the government was creditable both to his ability and
integrity. He was, however, considered the leader of the con-
servative portion of the party, and when the Whig national con-
vention assembled, in 1852, he was opposed by all those who
considered themselves more progressive, especially in regard to
slavery. The convention nominated Gen. Scott, over both Mr.
Fillmore and Mr. Webster. Though his selection was looked
on as a defeat of the conservatives, yet the " platform " was as
decidedly in favor of the compromise measures as Mr. Fillmore
himself could have desired. As it turned out, it made but little
difference who received the nomination, since the Whig party
was overwhelmingly defeated, and probably would have been
with any candidate it could have selected.
The previous year (185 1) George R. Babcock had been re-
elected to the State .senate, while for the assembly the success-
ful candidates were Israel T. Hatch of Buffalo, Jasper B. Youngs
of Amherst, Aaron Riley of Aurora, and C. C. Severance of
Concord. At the same time, Jesse Walker was elected county
judge, and Charles D. Norton surrogate.
In 1852 Judge Walker died, James Sheldon (son of the early
lawyer of that name) was appointed in his place for a few
months, and in November was elected for the full term. A Ut-
tle later, Mr. Williams resigned the district-attorneyship, and
John L. Talcott was appointed for the remainder of the term. In
that November, also, S. G. Haven was reeelected to Congress,
Joseph Candee, of Sardinia, was chosen sheriff, and VVm. Andre,
of Buffalo, county clerk. The members of assembly then elect-
were Almon M. Clapp of Buffalo, Wm. T. Bush of Tonawanda,
Israel N. Ely of Cheektowaga, and Nelson Welch of Eden.
448 SUPERVISORS FROM 1 85 I TO 1 85 3.
In, 1853, Albert Sawin, who had removed from Aurora to
Buffalo, was elected district-attorney, and James O. Putnam
State senator. The assemblymen chosen were Wm. W. Weed
and Rollin Germain of Buffalo, Charles A. Sill of Wales, and
Edward N. Hatch of Boston. Benjamin F. Greene, of Buffalo,
was elected a justice of the Supreme Court in place of Justice
Sill, deceased, or rather in place of Justice Taggcrt of Batavia,
who occupied the seat of the deceased justice a short time, by
appointment.
The supervisors up to the time of the extension of Buffalo
were as follows :
Amherst, 1851 and '52, Emanuel Herr ; 1853, Christian Z. Frick.
Alden, 1851, Asa Munn ; 1852 and '53, Nathan Willis. Aurora, 1851
and '52, Daniel D. Stiles; 1853, George W. Bennett. Boston, 1851,
Perry Cobb; 1852, Orrin Lockwood ; 1853, E. Blanchard. Brant,
185 1 and '52, Jonathan Hascall ; 1853, Kester Tracy. Black Rock.
1 85 1, Warren Granger; 1852, Samuel B. Love; 1853, Frederick P.
Stevens. Buffalo, first ward, 185 1 and '52, Miles Jones; 1853, Patrick
Milton. Second ward, 1851 and '52, Orlando Allen; 1853, Charles E.
Young. Third ward, 1851, E. D. Loveridge ; 1852, L. E. Harris:
1853, P. W. Sawin. Fourth ward, 1851, I. V. Vander])oel ; 1852 and
'53, Joshua M. Wilbur. Fifth ward, 1851, E. J. Baldwin; 1852 and
'53, Charles E. Clarke. Cheektowaga, 185 1, Manly Brown ; 1852, Is-
rael N. Ely; 1853, Marvin Seamans. Colden, 1851 and '52, William
A. Calkins; 1853, O. P. Buffum. Clarence, 1851, '52 and '53, James
D. Warren. Concord, 185 1, '52 and '53, Seth W. Goddard. Collins,
185 I, Thomas Russell; 1852 and '53, S. Cary Adams. Ellicott, 1851,
Amos Chilcott ; East Hamburg, (to which the name of Ellicott was
changed,) 1852, Isaac Baker; 1853, Jacob Potter. Evans, 1852, Jo-
seph Bennett ; 1853, Myron D. Winslow. Eden, 1851 and '52, Nelson
Welch; 1853, Pardon Tefft. Grand Island, 1853, John Nice. Ham-
burg, 1851 and '52, John Clark; 1853. Ira Barnard, Jr. Holland,
185 1, Moses McArthur; 1852, Abner Orr ; 1853, Ezra Farrington.
Lancaster, 1851 and '52, Henry S. Bingham; 1853, J. Parker. New-
stead, 185T, Lorenzo D. Covey; 1852 and '53, Edward Long. North
Collins, 1853, E. W. Godfrey. Sardinia, 1851 and '52, Joseph Candee:
1853, Mitchel R. Loveland. Tonawanda, 185 1, '52, and '53, Theron
W. Woolson. Wales, 185 1, James Wood; 1852 and '53, Charles A.
Sill. West Seneca, 1852, Levi Ballou, Jr. ; 1853, Erasmus Briggs.
On the 2d day of December, 1853, a new town was formed,
called Marilla. It comprised all of the old Buffalo Creek reser-
vation within the limits of Wales and Alden, except the mile-
and-a-half-strip on the north side, first sold off. A strip about
a mile and a quarter wide, within the limits of the survey town-
ship, (township Ten, range Five,) but lying outside and east of
POLITICAL DISINTEGRATION. 449
the reservation, had for convenience been left in Genesee county
at the original division, in 1808, so that Marilla is only about
four and three fourths miles wide by five and a half long. A
settlement had grown upon the east line of the tract first
sold, which in its early days went by the uncouth name of Shanty
Town, the inhabitants being largely devoted to the manufacture
of shingles. When the rest of the reservation was sold, the
rude hamlet began to assume the appearance of a village, Niles
Carpenter built a store there about 1850, and afterwards a
tavern. When the new town was organized, the chief settle-
ment, too, soon took the name of Marilla, white houses began
to appear, streets were laid out, and in a very short time the an-
cient "Shanty Town" became one of the handsomest little vil-
lages in Western New York.
Up to this time (1853) the Whig party had, during its whole
existence, maintained complete control of the county, electing
every member of Congress, every State senator, nearly every
assemblyman, and all the county officers except in 1847, when
there was a temporary defection. At each election the result
could be predicted with almost infallible certainty. But in 1854
came the repeal of the Missouri compromise, followed by the
general indignation of the North, and the taking of steps to
•organize a new, anti-slavery party. Almost at the same time
the American, or "Know-Nothing," party began its existence in
secret lodges, which soon spread rapidly over a large portion of
the country. Its creed of opposition to foreign and papal in-
fluence found many supporters, but its chief strength was received
from the conservative members of the Whig party, who saw the
time had come for abandoning that organization, but were un-
willing to join either the Democrats or the anti-slavery men.
The new party made a full set of nominations in this State,
their candidate for lieutenant-governor being General Gustavus
A. Scroggs, of Buffalo. The Whigs, howeyer, maintained their
organization till the fall election, and carried the State. In this
county, Mr. Haven, who had voted against the Nebraska bill,
was elected member of Congress, and James D. Warren, of
Clarence, county treasurer. The assemblymen chosen were
William W. Weed and Daniel Devening of Buffalo, Lorenzo D.
Covey of Newstead, and Seth W. Goddard of Concord.
450 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
In that year the old Recorder's Court, of Buffalo, was reorgan-
ized as the Superior Court, with three judges, holding six years
each. The recorder, Geo. W. Houghton, was continued as one
of the Superior Court judges till the expiration of his term, two
years later. The two judges elected in 1854 were George W.
Clinton and Isaac 'A. Verplanck. When Judge Houghton's
term expired, Hon. Joseph G. Masten was chosen in his place,
and then the court was maintained by successive reelections as
thus constituted until within a few years past.
In 1855 the Republican party was organized, and received in-
to its ranks a large proportion of the voters of Erie county, but
not a majority, nor even a plurality. Three tickets were nomi-
nated. For the first time in over a quarter of a century, the
Democrats carried the county, at a regular election, electing
James Wadsworth, of Buffalo, State senator ; Orrin Lock-
wood, of Boston, sheriff ; Peter M Vosburgh, of Buffalo, county
clerk ; and Abram Thorn, of Hamburg, surrogate. Mr. Deven-
ing was reelected to the assembly, his associates being John
G. Deshler of Buffalo, John Clark of Hamburg, and Benjamin
Maltby of Golden.
The next year came the exciting triangular contest between
the Democrats, Republicans and Americans, the three parties
being more nearly equal in strength in Erie county than in al-
most any other in the Union. In February, the National Amer-
ican convention nominated Millard Fillmore for the presidency,
with A. J. Donelson, of Tennessee, as the vice-presidential can-
didate. But that party, after a few spasmodic successes, was al-
ready on the wane. In some parts of the country it had almost
entirely disappeared. Probably Mr. Fillmore's candidacy helped
to keep it alive in this county, and caused the comparative
equality, just mentioned, between the three parties. Notwith-
standing, however, all local pride as to the candidate, and not-
withstanding the elgquence of Solomon G. Haven, who again
acted as Mr. Fillmore's lieutenant, and was for the fourth time
a candidate for Congress, the American party was third in the
race, even in ICrie county.
The Democrats carried the county, as well as the nation, elec-
ting Israel T. Hatch member of Congress, and James M. Hum-
phrey district-attorney. Judge Sheldon, however, was reelected
A VENERABLE OLD MAN. 45 I
by the Republicans. Rufus Wlieeler, of Buffalo, was chosen
presidential elector, the State being carried by the Republicans.
The assemblymen elected that fall were Augustus J. Tiffany and
George De Witt Clinton of Buffalo, Horace Boies of Hamburg,
and S. Gary Adams of Gollins.
This was the last appearance of our Erie county President in
the political field. The remainder of his life was passed in
quiet and dignified retirement, mostly at his residence in Buffalo.
I have mentioned several relatives of Mr. Fillmore, all men of
grand physical proportions and more than ordinary mental vigor,
and all of some local prominence. His father, Nathaniel Fill-
more, whom I well remember, living in a low, red house on his
farm, a mile south of Aurora village, was, I think, the finest and
most venerable looking old man that I ever saw. Some time
after his son ceased to be President, the "Old Squire," (as he
was commonly called from having been a justice of the peace
at some time of his life,) sold his farm and came to live in the
village. He was then nearly eighty, tall, large-framed, but not
fleshy, nearly erect, with large, intellectual and benevolent fea-
tures, crowned with perfectly white hair, and, as he walked the
streets of the little village, always neatly attired, the old farmer
was the impersonation of venerable dignity. His distinguished
son was an eminently fine-looking man, but was not the equal
in that respect of the "Old Squire."
The President's uncle, Galvin Fillmore, less dignified than his
brother Nathaniel, was noted among his townsmen for his genial
ways and quaint sayings. Having been a colonel of militia, (as
well as a mill-owner, tavern-keeper, and member of assembly,)
he was in his later years dubbed "the Old Colonel," by his ac-
quaintances. He was a great admirer of Shakespeare, and might
frequently be heard in some village resort, quoting passages
from his favorite bard, an acquaintance with whom was not, as
may be imagined, a common accomplishment among frontier
settlers. After he became quite aged he leased his house — a
large, old-fashioned, red, frame building, between the two villages
of Aurora — to Mr. David Johnson, with whom he boarded. Mr.
J. was a shoemaker by trade, but, being himself quite old, did
only such work as he could perform at his residence.
J . H. Shearer, of Aurora, relates a curious incident which he ob-
452 A CURIOUS SCENE.
served at the house just mentioned, one winter afternoon, about
1858 or 1859. Mr. Johnson had located his shoe-bench and its
accessories in one of the most comfortable rooms in the house,
and there the old colonel was accustomed to sit, and chat, and
tell stories, and quote Shakespeare, to such of his neighbors as
mi<^ht happen in.
On the occasion in question Mr. Shearer, on entering; the
room, found Mr. Johnson on his bench, pegging away at a dilap-
idated sole, the old colonel near by with a look of eager inter-
est on his face, two or three other elderly gentlemen of the
neighborhood in listening attitudes, while in the midst of them
sat Hon. Millard Fillmore, reading Shakespeare under the direc-
tion of his venerable relative.
Mr. S. quietly took a seat and the reading proceeded, the deep
voice of the ex-President being but slightly interrupted by the
noise of Mr. Johnson's shoe-hammer. One selection being con-
cluded, the colonel would say :
" Now, Millard, read that passage about — " referring to some
favorite portion of "Macbeth," or "Julius Cjesar," or "Coriola-
nus," as the case might be — and "Millard" would accordingly
turn to the designated place, and again deliver the lofty thoughts
of Avon's bard in sonorous tones, with a subdued accompani-
ment of pegging-hammer. Then another and another passage
would be pointed out, and thus for an hour or more the enter-
tainment proceeded, apparently to the great interest of the little
audience, and certainly to the intense delectation of the old
colonel.
It was a peculiar scene, and one oddly illustrative of several
phases of American life.
In 1857 the assemblymen elected were Albert P. Laning and
Andrew J. McNett of Buffalo, John T. Wheelock of Lancaster,
and Amos Avery of Evans. At the same time Lyman B. Smith,
of Buffalo, was chosen county treasurer, and James Wadsworth
was reelected State senator. Both were Democrats.
By 1858 the American party had become so feeble that it was
clearly seen that its continued existence could be of no j^racti-
cal use. In this county it dissolved, some of its members join-
ing the Republicans, some the Democrats, and some endeavoring
to stand aloof from the constantly deepening strife. A combi-
THE PANIC OF 1857. 453
nation was formed between the Republicans and a portion of the
Americans, by which Elbridge G. Spaulding was elected mem-
ber of Congress, Gen. G. A. Scroggs sheriff, and O. J. Greene, of
Sardinia, county-clerk. The assemblymen elected were Daniel
Bowcn and Henry B. Miller of Buffalo, John S. King of Amherst,
and Wilson Rogers of North Collins.
The next year the line was pretty closely drawn between Re-
publicans and Democrats, the former carrying the county and
electing Erastus S. Prosser State senator. Freeman J. Fithian
district-attorney, and Charles C. Severance, of Concord, surro-
gate. The following gentlemen were the successful candidates
for the assembly : Orlando Allen and Henry B. Miller of Buffalo,
Hiram Newell of Tonawanda, and Joseph H. Plumb of Collins.
This brings us to the eve of the great political struggle of i860.
Before narrating that, however, 1 will turn back and devote a few
pages to other matters.
The tide of prosperity, which in the middle of this decade had
been growing and swelling for ten or twelve years, maintained its
onward course until the autumn of 1857. The commerce of the
West continued to roll through Buffalo, leaving golden deposits
as it passed. The county had a ready market for its produce,
and the numerous plank-roads teemed with wagons in summer
and sleighs in winter, laden with hay, grain, potatoes, and other
products of the farm. Similar prosperity was seen throughout
the country, though it was more marked here, in consequence of
the nearness of a great commercial city. But, as has so often been
the case, prosperity brought recklessness and over-trading. The
banks inflated the currency beyond what was necessary for bus-
iness purposes, and again, as in 1837, inflation was followed by
disaster. The crisis came in the fall of 1857.
It was not, however, by any means as injurious in its results
in this section as that of 1837, both because the preceding spec-
ulation and inflation had been less reckless, and because the
people were far better prepared to meet it. Their farms were
paid for, and their houses were seldom covered with second and
third mortgages, as in the time of the great wreck of 1837. There
was a good reserve of crops on hand, of valuable improvements,
and of other actual property, to resist the shock of financial dis-
aster. In some parts of the Far West, where there was no such
454 ELM A AND EBENEZER.
reserve, the hard times which followed the panic of 1857 bore a
strong resemblance to those consequent on the disaster of 1837,
in the East.
Still, compared with previous prosperity, the times were "hard"
throughout 1858 and '59, and had only just begun to be ameli-
orated when the alarum of war gave notice of still severer
troubles.
On the 4th of December, 1857, a new town was formed from
that part of the Buftalo Creek reservation within the limits of
Aurora and Lancaster. As in the case of Marilla, it included
the mile-strip on the south side, but left the mile-and-a-half-
strip, on the north side, in Lancaster. It received the name of
Lima, in commemoration of a grand old elm, near the village
of that name. Some cynic, who thought the names of Marilla
and Elma rather "soft," said that the next new town had better
be called " Miss Nancy." To me, however, " Elma " sounds
like a very appropriate and euphonious appellation. At all
events there has been as yet no opportunity to put the sugges-
tion in practice, for no town has been formed since that time,
and Elma is still the municipal baby of the county.
The managers of the Ebenezer Society found that the prox-
imity of a growing city interfered seriously with their control
over the younger members of the fraternity. There was alto-
gether too much communication with the unregcnerate Yankees,
for what they considered the spiritual health of those under
their charge. Besides, they wanted more land for cultivation
and pasturage. Accordingly, after due invocation of the great
spirit of wisdom, they sent agents in 1856 to the West, who se-
lected a new home in Iowa. The managers approved their
choice, and the rest had naught to do but obey. A large tract
of wild land having been secured, the leaders applied to Hon.
George R. Babcock to sell their real estate in West Seneca.
Some of the circumstances attending the subsequent transac-
tions well illustrate the business principles of these men. Mr.
B. agreed to sell their land, on condition that they should divide
it into suitable tracts, and fix the price and terms on each tract,
from which he should make no deviation ; though they might
revise the whole whenever they saw fit. To this they readily
assented, appointed appraisers who determined the value of each
EXTREME HONESTY. 455
piece of land, and these prices were marked on a map hung- in
Mr. B.'s office.
In 1857 he began selUng. After he had disposed of about a
hundred thousand dollars worth, the financial crisis just described
came upon the country. Sales suddenly stopped. After wait-
ing several months for better times, which did not come, Mr.
Babcock notified his principals that they would either have to
postpone selling or lower their prices. They decided on the
latter course. They accordingly caused a new appraisal to be
made, re-marked their map at an average reduction of about
twenty per cent., and again brought it to Mr. Babcock. That
gentleman promised to press the sales as rapidly as possible,
but said :
" I suppose some of those who have bought heretofore will
feel somewhat dissatisfied at having to pay a larger price than
those who purchase hereafter."
" We have considered that matter," replied the men of Eben-
ezer, " and have determined to lower the price for those who
have already bought, in the same proportion as the others."
" Indeed," said Mr. B., "and how about those who have paid
for their land in cash ? "
"The same reduction must be made," replied the Germans,
" and the surplus must be refunded to them in money."
And these remarkable ideas were actually carried out. The
payments of those who had previously bought were reduced as
much as those of subsequent purchasers, and to those who had
paid in cash an equal percentage was refunded. This was really
going further than the strictest honesty required, and might
fairly have been called quixotic conduct, yet it forms a not un-
pleasant contrast to the ordinary run of business transactions.
As soon as the selling was well under way, the managers be-
gan transferring their people to Iowa. There was none of the
confusion usually attendant on the migration of large numbers.
None were removed until there was a place for them at their new
home, and work ready for them to engage in. As the sales went
forward, the people were transferred, but it was not until 1863 or
'64 that the work was entirely completed, and the colonists all
settled in their western home. Their lands in West Seneca
were almost all purchased by Germans, but in separate tracts.
456 A sevi:n-year list.
for the use of individuals. Yet, as the houses were already
built in villa<jes, and as the farmers who bought the land could
buy those houses cheaper than they could build, the locality in
question is, to some extent, a reproduction of a German dis-
trict, where the peasants live in a hamlet and cultivate the land
outside.
The supervisors of the various towns and wards, from the re-
organization of Buffalo to the close of the decade, were as
follows :
Alden, 1854, John B. Pride; 1855, Lester Gary; .1856 and '60,
Herbert Dayton; 1857, Nathan Willis; 1858 and '59. Festus Tcnny.
Amherst, 1854 and '56, Peter Grove; 1855, Samuel L. Bestow; 1857
and '58, Miranda Root; 1859 and '60, Charles C. Grove. Aurora,
1854 and '55, George W. Bennett; 1856, Hiram Harris; 1857 and '58,
Edward Pame; 1859 and '60, William N. Bennett. Boston, 1854, John
Churchill; 1855, Palmer Skinner; 1856, "57, '58 and '59, Martin Kel-
ler; i860, George Brinley. Brant, 1854, '56, '58 and '59, Nathaniel
Smith; 1855, Jonathan Hascall ; 1857, David Gail; i860, Thomas
Judson.
Buffalo, First ward, 1854, Patrick Milton; 1855, '56, '57 and '58,
Thomas Edmonds; 1859, Michael Collins; i860, John O'Donnell.
Second ward, 1854, Charles E.Young; 1855, Nelson K. Hopkins;
1856, Orlando Allen ; 1857, '58, '59 and '60, William C. White. Third
ward, 1854, N. H. Gardner; 1855, '56 and '59, Zadoc G. Allen; 1857,
John M.Daniel; 1858, William M.Scott; i860, Whitney A. Case.
Fourth ward, 1854 and '55, O.Vaughn; 1856, S. Bettinger ; 1857,
Harry Slade ; 1858, Nicholas Ottenot ; 1859, George P. Stevenson;
i860, Richard Flach. Fifth ward, 1854, A. Webster; 1855 and '56,
Sebastian Diebold; 1857 and '58, George Zillig ; 1859 and '60, Andrew
Gross. Sixth ward, 1854, John Schwartz; 1855, Peter Rechtenwalt ;
1856, '57, '58 and '60, John Davis ; 1859, John Stengel. Seventh ward,
1854 and '56, Samuel Hecox; 1855 and '59, Anthony Kraft; 1857 and
'58, Volney Randall; i860, George Reichert. Eighth ward, 1854,
David Page; 1855 and '56, Thomas O'Dwyer; 1857, James Duffy;
1858, John P. O'Brien; 1859, William Ashman; i860, John H. Not-
ter. Ninth ward, 1854, '55, '56, '58 and '59, George L. Marvin; 1857,
Nelson Randall; 1858, Fayette Rumsey. Tenth ward, 1854, "55, '56,
'57 and '59, Wells Brooks; 1858, O. G. Steele; i860, Joseph Candee.
Eleventh ward, 1854, '55, '58 and '59, Harry Thompson ; 1856 and 57,
James i'atterson ; i860, Thomas Stocking. Twelfth ward, 1854, Sam-
uel Ely; 1855, Harmon H. Griffin; 1856 and '57, G. W. Hall; 1858,
Charles Manly ; 1859, Job Gorton ; i860, Elisha Safford. Thirteenth
ward, 1854, Horace A. Buffum ; 1855 and '56, Job Taylor; 1857,
George Moore; 1858, John Kelly; 1859, William B. Hart; i860.
Aaron Martin.
Cheektowaga, 1854, Marvin Seamans ; 1855, Gardner J. Kip; 1856
and '57, Frederick Loosen; 1858, '59 and '60, Eldridge Farwell. Clar-
THE LIST CONTINUED. 457
ence, 1854, James D.Warren; 1855, Thomas Durboraw ; 1856, '57,
'58 and '59, Henry S. Cunningham; i860, David Woodward. Colden,
1854, U. P. Buffum ; 1855, '57 and '58, Benjamin Maltby ; 1856, A.
G. Buffum; 1859, ]\Ioses Calkins; i860, Nathan C. Francis. ColHns,
1854 and '55, J. H. McMillan; 1856, Benjamin W. Sherman; 1857
and '58, Joseph H. Plumb; 1859 and '60, Anson G. Conger. Con-
cord, 1854, '58, '59 and '60, Seth VV. Goddard ; 1855, Lucius B. Tows-
ley; 1856, ; 1857, Morris Fosdick. East Hamburg, 1854, L. B.
Littlefield; 1855 and '56, John T. Fish; 1857 and '58, L. M. Bullis ;
1859, Ivory H. Hawkins; i860, James H. Deuel. Eden, 1854, Par-
don TefFt ; 1855, Homer J. Redtield ; 1856, '57 and '58, Nelson Welch ;
1859, Lyman Pratt; i860, Azel Austin. Elma, 1857 and '58, Paul B.
Lathrop ; 1859, ; i860, Zina A. Hemstreet. Evans, 1854 and
'55, Peter Barker; 1856 and '59, Myron D. Winslow; 1857 and 58,
Ira Ayer; i860, James Ayer. Grand Island, 1854 and '60, John Nice;
1855, '56 and '59, David Morgan; 1857 and '58, Asa Ransom. Ham-
burg, 1854, Ira Barnard, Jr. ; 1855 and 56, G. N. Barnard; 1857 and
'58, Maurice Osborn; 1859, J. S. ParkhiU ; i860, Hoel White. Hol-
land, 1854, Abner Orr; 1855 and '60, Philip D. Riley; 1856 and '58,
O. G Rowley; 1857, Ezra Farrington ; 1859, John A. Case. Lancaster,
1854, J. Parker; 1855, Eli H. Bowman; 1856, Henry L. Bingham;
1S57, "58, 59 and '60, Robert Looney. Marilla, 1855, S. P. Taber;
1856, Niles Carpenter; 1857, Peter Ostrander ; 1858, S. Franklin ; 1859,
J. Stedman ; i860, Harrison T Foster. Newstead, 1854, H. S. Haw-
kins; 1855, B. K. Adams; 1856, L. D. Covey; 1857 and '58, E. J.
Newman; 1859 and '60, Ezra P. Goslin. North Colhns, 1854 and '55,
E. W. Godfrey; 1856 and '57, Lyman Clark; 1858, '59, and '60,
Charles Kirby. Sardinia, 1854, B. H. Colegrove ; 1855, Seymour P.
Hastings; 1856, Mitchell R. Loveland ; 1857 and '58, James Hopkins;
1859 and '60, George Bigelow. Tonawanda, 1854, Theron VV. Wool-
son; 1855 and '56, Warren Moulton ; 1857 and '58, Paul Roberts;
1859, Christopher Schwinger; 1S60, Emanuel Hensler. Wales, 1854,
D. S. Warner; 1855 and '56, Harry A. Stevens; 1857, Comfort Par-
sons; 1858 and '59, Jared Tiffany ; i860, John McBeth. West Seneca,
1854 and '55, Erasmus Briggs ; 1856, Levi Ballou; 1857 and '58, Aaron
P. Pierce; 1859 and '60, J. C. Langner.
The census of i860 showed a population of 141,971 in Erie
county, of which 81,129 were in the city of Buffalo. It will be
seen that there were then a trifle over 60,000, outside the city.
In 1850 there were 51,224 in the country towns, aside from
Black Rock, which had since been absorbed in Buffalo. The
rate of increase in the city, (including Black Rock,) was sixty-
three per cent.; that of the country, sixteen.
In i860 came the great Presidential contest, the most impor-
tant since the formation of the government. Of the four presi-
dential tickets in the field, that headed by Mr. Breckenridge re-
30
458 THE APPROACHING STORM.
ceived almost no votes in Eric county, and that by Mr. Bell very
few. The vote of the county was substantially divided between
Lincoln and Dout^las, the former having a majority. Mr. Spauld-
ing was reelected to Congress, James Sheldon was for the third
time chosen county judge, and Norman B. McNeal was elected
county treasurer. The successful candidates for the assembly
were S. V. R. Watson and Victor M. Rice of Buffalo, Benjamin
H. Long of Tonawanda, and Zebulon Ferris of East Ham-
burg. Hon. James G. Hoyt, having removed to Buffalo, was
again elected a judge of the Supreme Court. The presidential
elector from Erie county was John Greiner, Jr., of Buffalo. James
O. Putnam was one of the electors at large, William C. Bryant,
of New York city, being his associate.
Scarcely had the rejoicings of the triumphant party ceased,
ere there came from the South murmurs of discontent and
anger. How they swelled and increased through all that fateful
winter, how State after State fell away from its allegiance, how
the whole South resounded with preparations for war, need not
be recounted here. It is a part of the nation's history. Here,
as elsewhere throughout the North, men looked on in amaze-
ment, hoping even to the last for peace, deeming it impossible
that the lunacy of secession could ever ripen into the open mad-
ness of armed rebellion. Few made any preparation for the
event, yet nearly all were in that angry and excited condition
which needs but a word to develop into the most determined
action.
THE OUTBURST. 459
CHAPTER XL.
1861.
The Outburst. — Bombardment of Sumter. — The First War-meeting. — The First
Volunteer Company. — The Militia Regiments. — First Troops Sent Forth. — A
Difficult Task. — A Disgusted Soldier. — Organization of the First Erie Coun-
ty Regiment. — The Twenty-first during the Year. — Formation of the Forty-
ninth Regiment. — Its Departure, Organization, etcj — The One Hundredth
Regiment. — The Springville Company. — County Officers, Supervisors, etc. —
The Erie County Member of Congress. — Origin of the Greenbacks.
On the 15th of April the .spark came. The Buffalo morning
papers contained the news of the bombardment and surrender
of Fort .Sumter. Everywhere men were seen scanning the
fateful lines with eager gaze, and denouncing to each other the
inexcusable treason. All business was at a stand-still, save at
the printing offices, which every hour sent out new editions con-
taining the latest details, which were instantly purchased by the
excited crowd.
Soon there appeared a call for a meeting at the old court-
house, at 7^ o'clock that evening, to organize a body of "min-
ute men '" for immediate service. Early in the evening great
numbers came hurrying toward the venerable temple of justice.
The court-room was soon filled, and Eli Cook was elected
chairman of the meeting. In an eloquent speech he declared
that the time for discussion had passed, and that all must now
work together to save their imperiled country. But the people
came surging in, in such numbers that it was found necessary to
adjourn to Kremlin Hall, and still again to the street, in front
of the American hotel. After fiery speeches had been made by
prominent men, it was announced that a roll was at the old
court-house, ready for the signatures of volunteers. Away
rushed the crowd, and so great was the press that it was with
difficulty men could get to the table to sign. A hundred and
two names were taken that evening.
On the succeeding days there were similar scenes of excite-
ment, meetings of citizens, and enrolling of volunteers. On the
460 OFF FOR TIIK WAR.
18th, General Scroggs called a meeting of those who had en-
rolled their names. A portion of them were then organized
into the first volunteer company of Erie county. They elected
William H. Drew as captain, R. P. Gardner as first lieutenant,
and E. R. P. Shurley as second lieutenant.
Meanwhile the news flew into every village, and hamlet, and
farm house, in the county, and everywhere awakened the same
feelings of indignation and patriotism. Owing, however, to the
predominant influence in the affairs of Erie county, naturally
obtained by the great city within its borders, separate action
was not at first generally taken by the towns in organizing vol-
unteers, but their young men began hurrying toward Buffalo to
enroll themselves as soldiers of the Union.
The militia regiments also began to prepare for whatever ex-
igencies might arise. In response to an inquiry of the gover-
nor, Col. Chauncey Abbott, of the 67th, reported two hundred
and fifty men ready for duty. The 74th and 65th regiments
established recruiting offices in the city. The people subscribed
thirty thousand dollars to provide for volunteers and their fami-
lies, and the common council appropriated fifty thousand more.
Nearly a hundred prominent, elderly citizens enrolled them-
selves as a company of " Union Continentals." The old conti-
nental uniform was adopted, and ex-President iMllmore was
chosen captain.
On the 3d of May four companies had been organized, which
then left for Elmira. Nearly all Buffalo turned out to see them
off. The Union Continentals acted as escort. These were
mostly tall, hale old men, and made a remarkably fine appear-
ance as they marched down the street, with the stately lorm of
the ex-President at their head. At Niagara Square an immense
assemblage greeted the departing warriors, and a flag was pre-
sented to them by Miss Julia Paddock, on behalf of the Central
School. Gen. Scroggs responded, and thirty-four young ladies
sang the " Star Spangled banner."
Then the drums rattled, the newly made soldiers with their
venerable escort marched to the depot, the former embarked on
the cars, ten thousand larewells were spoken, and amid cheers,
and tears, and blessings unnumbered, the first body of Erie
county volunteers left their homes, to defend the nation's life.
A DIFFICULT TASK. 46 1
I will endeavor in the next few chapters to give a sketch of
their course, and of that of their thousands of gallant followers,
in the terrible struggle on which they were entering. Yet I
must confess that this is the most difficult part of my task.
One would think that it would be comparatively easy to de-
scribe events of such recent occurrence. It rather seems, how-
ever, as if a certain amount of distance was necessary (the same
as in looking at a picture) to give clearness to the view. Had I
shared the experience of the Erie county soldiers in their Vir-
ginia and Carolina campaigns, memory might have aided the de-
scription. But, though a native and most of my life a resident of
that county, my service throughout the war was in the ranks of
a Kansas regiment, in the southwestern army. So I can only
hope that some general knowledge, thus gained, of the ways of
war, may tend to give a little vivacity to the tale.
But it is extremely difficult to make a brief yet entertaining
story out of the exploits of single and widely-separated regi-
ments, surrounded by the mighty throng of their comrades, who
went forth to battle for the Republic. It would be impossible
to give even a sketch of the operations of our grand armies,
without occupying ten times too much space, and yet without
some such sketch, a condensed report of the operations of a
regiment here and there will necessarily have a somewhat dry
appearance. The account of the Erie county regiments is
almost entirely derived from the histories of them heretofore
published, respectively, by Mr. Mills of the Twenty-first, by Major
Stowits of the One Hundredth, and by Captain Clark of the
One Hundred and Sixteenth. Other sources of information
have been utilized as far as practicable, but, after doing my
best, I feel that I have only given an idea of the achievements
of our Erie county soldiers. I do not pretend to have done
them justice.
While the first volunteers were organizing and setting forth,
the 74th militia regiment was in a state of inglorious uncer-
tainty. At first its members expected to be sent to the field as
a regiment, for a short term, and were eager for the fray. Then
there were days of doubt. Then came an order to march, and
the enthusiasm rose to fever heat. Everywhere the men of the
74th were joyously preparing for immediate departure, and their
462 THE FIRST KRIE COUNTY REGIMENT.
female friends were busily aiding their preparations. Suddenly
the order was positively revoked. No militia regiments were
wanted. The men of the 74th went sadly to their homes, or
angrily about the streets. An amusing anecdote is told of
George M. Love, afterwards General Love, then a private in Co.
D, of the Seventy-fourth. Hearing of the order of revocal, he
rushed home, flung himself into a chair and burst into tears.
"What is it ?" " What's the matter ? " exclaimed his alarmed
sisters.
" We ain't going ; we ain't going," was the only reply.
That there was but little "buncombe" about the manifesta-
tions of the 74th is shown by the subsequent facts. Immediate
steps were taken to enter new organizations for a long term.
Company F, numbering eighty-five men, under Captain George
De Witt Clinton, at once volunteered, to a man. Five more
companies of the 74th were speedily transformed into volun-
teers. On the I ith of May, the six new companies left to join
the other four. Similar manifestations of regard attended their
departure, and Eagle hose company escorted them to Elmira.
Immediately after their arrival, the ten companies were organ-
ized into a regiment. The line officers had been elected by the
men, and the former in turn chose the field and staff. In those
early times, the officers thus selected were commissioned without
hesitation by the governor. The colonel and major had been
the captains, respectively, of companies C and A.
The following is a list of the officers :
Colonel, William F. Rogers; lieutenant-colonel, Adrian R. Root;
major, William H. Drew; adjutant, C. W. Sternberg; surgeon, H. P.
Clinton ; assistant surgeon, J. A. Peters ; chaplain, John E. Robie.
Co. A, captain, Robert P. Gardner; lieutenants, Levi Vallier and
Chades S. McBean. Co. B, captain, Henry M. Gaylord ; lieutenants,
Algar M. Wheeler and James J. McLeish. Co. C, caj^tain, J. P. Wash-
burn ; lieutenants, Allen M. Adams and John H. Canfield. Co. D,
captain, William C. Alberger; lieutenants, Cieorge M. Baker and Wil-
liam F. Wheeler. Co. E, captain, James C. Strong; lieutenants, Charles
. E. Efner and Thomas Sloan. Co. F, captain, George De Witt Clinton ;
lieutenants, Thomas B.' Wright and Chades B. Darrow. Co. G, cap-
tain, Edward L. Lee ; lieutenants, Daniel Meyers, Jr., and J. E. Berg-
told. Co. H, captain, Elisha L. Hayward ; lieutenants, Samuel Wilke-
son and Hugh Johnson. Co. I, captain, Horace G. Thomas ; lieuten-
ants, Abbott C. Calkins and William O. Brown, Jr. Co. K, captain,
John M. Layton ; lieutenants, Augustus N. Gillett and John Nicholson.
THE TWENTY-FIRST DURING THE YEAR. 463
The regiment then numbered 791, all told, and probably every
man was from Eric county. After organizing, they were mus-
tered into the United States service for two years. They had
enlisted for that time, but some of them had since imbibed the
idea that they were to serve for only three months. Conse-
quently there was some dissatisfaction, which showed itself more
strongly at a later date.
The regiment remained at Elmira till the i8th of June, when
it was sent to Washington. In July it was stationed at Fort
Runyon, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, and was there
when the battle of Bull Run gave the Union soldiers their first
taste of real war.
When three months from the time of enlistment had expired,
a portion of the men, for whom war had lost its romance, were
unwilling to continue in the service. When it came to the test,
however, only forty-one refused to do dut3^ These were arrested,
permanently separated from the regiment, and sent to Fort-
ress Monroe. Some time later they unanimously consented to
return to duty, but were assigned to another regiment.
The last of August, the 21st was assigned to Wadsworth's bri-
gade, McDowell's division, and during the rest of the year con-
tinued in the vicinity of Washington, preparing under the eyes
of McClellan for the hour of deadly strife. Eighty-four men
died or were discharged before the end of the year, and sixty-
four recruits took their places.
Several changes took place among the officers. Capt. Alber-
ger and Lt. Wheeler were transferred to the 49th New York,
Lts. Gillett and McBean resigned. Lt. Baker was made captain
of Co. C, Sergeant James S. Mulligan 2d lieutenant of Co. K,
Sergeant George L. Remington 2d lieutenant of Co. C, (vice
Canfield transferred,) and Sergeants Byron Schermerhorn and
Henry C. Beebee, lieutenants of Co. D. Sergeant-major
George M. Love was transferred to another regiment as ist
lieutenant.
Meanwhile Erie county was sending forth other gallant bands
to maintain the honor and preserve the existence of their country.
Li the month of July Daniel D. Bidwell, long known as the
commander of Buffalo's pet militia corps, Co. " D," obtained au-
thority to raise another regiment. On the 30th of that month
464 THE FORTV-NINTII NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
he issued liis first recruitin<^ commissions. Others were soon sent
out, several being furnished to citizens of Chautauqua county.
By the i6th of September, though the new regiment was not
quite full, it had enough men so that it was ordered to New
York. " Captain " Fillmore's continentals again acted as escort,
assisted by other military organizations, and the people again
assembled in crowds to bid their defenders enthusiastic adieu.
Arriving at New York, some detachments were consolidated, a
Westchester county company was added, the officers were com-
missioned, and the regiment was ready for the field, under the
name of the Forty-ninth New York volunteers. Daniel D. Bid-
well was colonel, and William C. Alberger lieutenant-colonel.
The major was George W. Johnson, a veteran of the Mexican
war, and latterly adjutant of the 74th militia. The staff" con-
sisted of Henry D. Tillinghast, quartermaster ; William D.
Bullymore, adjutant; James A. Hall, surgeon ; William W. Pot-
ter, assistant surgeon ; and Rev. John Bowman, chaplain.
Of the companies, four were from Erie county, four from
Chautauqua, one from Niagara, and one from Westchester.
The officers of the Erie county companies were as follows :
Co. B, captain, J. F. E. Plogsted ; lieutenants, Frederick Von Gayl
and William Wiirtz. Co. D, captain, William F. Wheeler; lieutenants,
George H. Selkirk and Peter A. Taylor. Co. E, captain, Reuben B.
Heacock (son of the pioneer merchant) ; lieutenants, George W. Gil-
man and William Ellis. Co. F, captain, Erasmus W. Haines; lieuten-
ants, Charles H. Bidwell and Charles H. Hickmott.
The last of September, the 49th went into camp near Lewins-
ville, Virginia, where they remained till the next spring, engaged
in making the usual preparations for the time of trial.
In August, 1 86 1, steps were taken to raise still another Erie
county regiment. On the 19th of that month, Gen. Scroggs re-
ceived authority to enlist four regiments. Of these he intended
that one should have its recruiting headquarters at Buffalo, and
the others in the eastern part of the State. The general named
them the " Eagle Brigade," but they were never actually bri-
gaded together.
On the second of September General Scroggs issued the first
recruiting-order to Capt. Moore, of Genesee county. During
that month and the next he issued nine more recruiting-orders,
all to residents of Buffalo, except one to Capt. Payne, of North
STILL ANOTHER REGIMENT. 465
Tonawanda, and one to Capt. Nash, of Springville The au-
thority was given to the latter (and several others) on the i8th of
September. The captain was a young law-student of Spring-
ville, only twenty-two years of age, but stalwart of form and
prompt in action. That pleasant little rural village, and the
towns of Concord and Sardinia, sprang energetically to the work
of filling up this company of their own, and on the 25th of Sep-
tember, just a week after Captain Nash received his authority,
his company, with full ranks, attended by the cheers of men and
tears of women, marched out of Springville for Buffalo. It was
the first company filled up in the new regiment, and its young
commander was, therefore, the ranking captain. It was, also,
the first of the few Erie county companies entirely enlisted
outside of the city, and the ease with which it was raised tends
to show that good effects would have resulted, if more recruit-
ing-orders had been issued to men in the country towns.
James M. Brown, a Scotchman by birth, a lawyer of James-
town, who had served through the Mexican war, and had raised
the first company enlisted in Chautauqua county, was selected
by General Scroggs as colonel of the new command. Phineas
Staunton, then an artist of New York city, but originally from
Genesee county, and a son of the gallant soldier whose services
in the war of 18 12 will be remembered by my readers, was se-
lected as lieutenant-colonel, and Calvin N. Otis, an architect
of Buffalo, as major. The regiment, however, was not filled up
and its officers mustered into service, till the next year.
One of the most famous of Erie county organizations was
" Wiedrich's Battery." It was formed in August, 1861, as Bat-
tery I, of the First New York artillery, but acted as a separate
organization during the greater part of the war. It had a hun-
dred and forty men and the following officers : Captain, Michael
Wiedrich ; first lieutenants, Nicholas Sahm and Diedrich Erd-
mann ; second lieutenants, Christopher Schmidt and Jacob
Schenkelberger. It was composed entirely of Germans, and, on
many a hard fought field, well maintained the reputation for
stubborn courage of men of that nationality. The battery left
Buffalo for the front on the i6th of October. Arriving in Vir-
ginia, it was attached to Blenker's division, but remained mostly
in camp during the winter of 1 861-2.
466 VARIOUS COMPANIES.
Besides these commands, there were several separate compa-
nies raised in Erie county, for regiments whose headquarters
were elsewhere. Among these was Co. A, of the 44th New
York volunteers, commonly called the " Ellsworth " regiment.
Edward P. Chapin, a young lawyer of Buffalo, was captain,
George M. Love first lieutenant, and Benjamin Kimberly second
lieutenant. Its members were scattered through the county,
and I have no special record regarding it.
Co. A, of the 64th New York volunteers, was almost entirely
raised in Collins, Erie county, and Persia, Cattaraugus county,
the major portion coming from the former town. Rufus P.
Washburn was captain, and Albert Darby and James M. Pettit
lieutenants. Four companies of the Tenth New York cavalrj'
were also partially recruited in Erie county. Their captains
were Norrls Morey, Albert H. Jarvis, John Ordner, and Wilkin-
son W. Paige. Among the multifarious calls upon my time, I
have been able to learn little regarding those companies that
were attached to outside regiments. All that I know of the
Tenth cavalry is that it fought in the army of the East, and at
one time suffered severely. I am informed that there is more
than one family in the south towns which has lost three mem-
bers in the Tenth New York cavalry. Co. M, of the Eleventh
cavalry, was also raised in Erie county. It went to the front
under Captain John Norris, (who was discharged for wounds,)
and was mustered out under Lieutenant Thomas Mitchell.
There was but little talked of, or thought of, during that first
war-summer, save the news from the front and the raising of
troops to go there. As the fall election approached, the issue
was distinct between the Republican and Democratic parties.
Notwithstanding that the Republicans swept the State by over
a hundred thousand majority, and although they had carried
the county the two previous years, yet this time the Democrats
were at least partially successful. John Ganson was elected
State senator, Robert IT. Best sheriff, and Charles R. Durkee, of
Alden, county clerk. The assemblymen chosen at the same
time were John W. Murphy and Horatio Seymour of Buffalo,
Ezra P. Goslin of Newstead, and John A. Case of Holland.
The following is a list of the supervisors :
Amherst, Charles C. Grove ; Aurora, Scth Fenner ; Alden, Andrew
ORIGIN OF THE GREENBACKS. 467
P. Vandervoort ; Boston, George Brinley; Brant, Thomas Judson.
Buffalo, ist ward, John O'Donnell ; 2d ward, J. K. Tyler ; 3d ward,
Joshua Barnes ; 4th ward, ; 5th ward, Orrin Lockwood ; 6th
ward, Joseph Davis ; 7th ward, George Reichert ; 8th ward, James Ryan;
9th ward, Albert Sawin ; 10th ward, Joseph Candee ; nth ward, Thos.
R. Stocking; 12th ward, Jacob Reichert; 13th ward, Aaron Martin.
Cheektowaga, Eldridge Farwell ; Clarence, David Woodward ; Golden,
Nathan G. Francis ; Gollins, Elisha W. Henry ; Goncord, S. W. God-
dard ; East Hamburg, Ivory H. Hawkins ; Eden, Lyman Pratt ; Elma,
Zina A. Hemstreet ; Evans, James Ayer ; Grand Island, Ossian Bedell ;
Hamburg, Hoel White; Holland, Nathan Morey ; Lancaster, ;
Newstead, Ezra P. Goslin ; Marilla, Harrison T. Foster ; North Gollins,
Wilson Rogers ; Sardinia, James Rider ; Tonawanda, Emanuel Hens-
ler; Wales, John McBeth ; West Seneca, J. G. Langner.
On the assembling of Congress in December, the member
from Erie county, Mr. Elbridge G. Spaulding, was placed on the
most important committee of the house, that of ways and means,
of which Thaddeus Stevens was chairman. That committee
soon constituted two sub-committees from among its members,
to one of which all subjects were referred relating to the making
of loans, the issuing of treasury-notes and the creation of a
currency. Of the latter Mr. Spaulding was chairman.
The secretary of the treasury had, in his report, opposed the
issuing of treasury-notes, and had recommended that the entire
money of the country, aside from coin, should be furnished by
national banks. At the request of the secretary, Mr. Spaulding
drew up a bill embodying these views, but, while doing so, be-
came convinced that such a currency could not be made availa-
ble quick enough to meet the enormous and pressing demand
for money. He therefore drafted a legal-tender, treasury-note
section, which the urgency of the case soon caused him to change
into a separate bill, which he introduced into the house of repre-
sentatives on his own motion, on the 30th of December, 1861.
It provided that, for temporary purposes, the secretary of the
treasury was authorized to issue $50,000,000 of treasury-notes,
payable on demand, of denominations not less than five dollars,
which should be a legal tender for all debts public or private,
and which should be exchangeable for the bonds of the govern-
ment at par. This was the germ of the vast " greenback "
currency of the United States.
468 MR. spaulding's treasurv-xote act.
CHAPTER XLI.
1862.
Establishment of the Treasury-Note System. — The Twenty-first Retjimenl. — Its
First Battle. — A Glowing Description. — Severe Loss. — South Mountain and
Antietam. — The Twenty-first at Fredericksburg. — The Forty-ninth on the
Peninsula.— In Battle at Antietam.— Alberger and Ellis. — Roster of the One
Hundredth. — It goes to the Front. — The Regiment at Seven Pines. — " Charge,
the One Hundredth." — Severe Loss. — Death of Col. Brown. — Action of the
Board of Trade.— Record of the One Hundredth during the rest of the Year.
— Organization of the One Hundred and Sixteenth. — Its Officers. — Wiedrich's
Battery at Cross Keys. — Its Gallantry at Bull Run. — Political Matters. — A
Democratic Victory. — County Officers, etc. — The Buffalo Historical Society.
I will devote a little more space to the financial system which,
whatever its defects, carried the country through the war, and in
the adoption of which the representative of Erie county bore so
important a part. The committee of ways and means was about
equally divided in regard to it, and it was severely criticised by
some financiers. To such critics Mr. Spaulding had, in substance,
but one reply :
" Show us a better way. We shall be out of money in a very
brief period. Taxes cannot be raised in time. A national-bank
act cannot be put in operation in time. What is to be done .'' "
Most of those who were in earnest in support of the govern-
ment either favored the bill from the first, or were convinced by
Mr. Spaulding's cogent statement of the case. After considera-
ble hesitation, the secretary of the treasury gave his assent to it.
and a majority of the committee of ways and means reported it
to the house. There it was strongly opposed, not only by lead-
ing Democrats but by a few Republicans. While it was under
discussion. Secretary Chase became urgent in its favor, as he
found he had no other means to carry on the government. The
amount of currency provided for was changed to $150,000,000,
and a section was added providing for $500,000,000 of Unit-
ed States bonds, in which these legal-tender notes should be
fundable.
THE TWENTY-FIRST IN THE FIELD. 469
In this shape the bill was passed by the house. The senate
amended it so as to provide for the payment of the interest on
the bonds in coin, which occasioned another hot debate in the
house. Mr. Spaulding and other leaders believed that the coin
could not be obtained without a ruinous sacrifice. Finally, the
expedient was hit on of providing for the payment of the mter-
est in coin, by making the duties on imports also payable in coin.
In this form (for the other changes were of minor importance)
the bill was passed by both houses, and on the 25th of Febru-
ary, 1862, was approved by the President. The bank act was
not passed until a year later, and by that time the "greenbacks"
authorized by Mr. Spaulding's bill had become the principal
currency of the country, and remained so throughout the war.
The only practicable way of giving an idea of the services of
the different Erie county regiments is to take them up, one after
another, and follow it through the year. Accordingly, I now
revert to the Twenty-first New York volunteers. When the
great body of the army of the Potomac was transferred to the
peninsula, in the spring of 1862, that regiment remained m Mc-
Dowell's command, and did not meet the enemy till late in the
season. In August it shared the fortunes of Pope's army, being
then in the brigade of that strict old soldier, Gen. M. R. Patrick.
Marches of fearful length and weariness are chronicled by the
historian of the regiment. Several times it was in face of the
enemy, and sometimes under fire, but without loss. Its first ac-
tual battle was a fearful introduction to the business ot war.
In the afternoon of the 30th of August, the day after Fitz
John Porter's celebrated failure to attack the enemy, Patrick's
brigade was lying down in the second line of our army, while a
brigade commanded by Gen. Hatch formed the line in front of
it. A road, with a rail fence on each side, was before them, a
field beyond that, and still farther on was a railroad embank-
ment held by the enemy. The fight which then took place has
been so vividly described by Mr. Mills, who took part and was
wounded in it, that in regard to a portion of it I will quote his
precise words.
As they were lying down. General Hatch galloped up and
screamed out an order. Instantly Col. Rogers' ringing voice
was heard : " Rise up, Twenty-first ! Fix bayonets ! P orward !
470 THE TWENTY-FIRST IN BATTLE.
Double quick ! March ! " Bayonets clattered all along the line.
Officers leaped to the front. The first lines dashed over the
road and fences. The second followed. Mr. Mills continues :
" Ten steps from the fence Tom Bishop goes down with the
colors. Our company is next them and there is a rush. Hur-
rah ! Dan Sheldon has got them and his noble face is transfig-
ured as he flings out the folds high and free. Brave Dan ! a
ball strikes that forehead and he falls upon the dear old flag.
And now two stages, of ten steps each, cost each a man with
the colors. Yet there are plenty more. Henry Spicer of Co.
F is next upon the glorious list. Half down the slope and
the left is wheeling round to bring our line fronting upon an old
railway embankment, that literally swarms with the enemy.
Our right has reached it and is hand to hand in the death strug-
gle. The center nears it swiftly. I have almost reached the
ditch when a stunning blow seems to tear me in two, and I find
myself doubled up in its dry bed."
Scores of others fall at the same time. Sheltered as the en-
emy are, their fire is terrific, and our soldiers are unable to seize
the embankment. The Twenty-first is ordered to shelter itself
in a dry ditch, about two feet deep, half way between the road
and the railroad. Cool as on parade, Colonel Rogers walks
along the edge, encouraging the men. A fierce fire is kept up
between the ditch and the embankment. Finally the enemy
turns the right, where there are no supports, and the 21st is or-
dered to fall back. They do so slowly, gathering around the
standard, of which so many bearers have been shot down.
Four hundred men went into that charge, of which fifty were
killed, and one hundred and thirteen wounded so as to be sent
to the hospital, besides many others slightly wounded. But a
very small proportion were entirely uninjured. Capt. Washburn
and Lieutenant Whiting were killed, and Lieutenant Mulligan
mortally wounded. Colonel Rogers was slightly, and Major
Thomas severely wounded. Captains Lee, Canfield and Wheeler,
and Lieutenants FJner, Barney and Myers were also wounded.
After this, the 21st marched to Germantown and Upton Hill,
and finally to Washington. Thence, under the orders of Mc-
Clellan, who had been restored to the command, they moved
northward to the banks of the Monocacy, and on the 14th of
September the army attacked the enemy on South Mountain.
Hooker's corps (late McDowell's) moved up the mountain, with
SOUTH MOUNTAIN AND ANTIETAM. 47 1
the 2 1st and 35th New York in front, as skirmishers. On their
way the skirmish Hne was met by an old lady, who came rush-
ing" down the hill, frightened from home by these unwonted
proceedings.
"Where be you going.''" she cried to the advancing soldiers.
" Only up on the hill," replied some of the men.
" Don't you go there; don't go," she exclaimed eagerly, waving
them back with her hands ; " there's hundreds of Southern peo-
ple up there ; some of you will get hurt if you go."
Disregarding with a laugh this well-meant warning, the line
moved on. They soon came across " hundreds of them " — in
fact thousands of them — and the battle of South Mountain was
begun. The Twenty-first fought in skirmish line, and obtained
a sheltered position, whence the enemy attempted to dislodge
them. But experience has proven, a hundred times over, the
immense advantage of a good defensive position. This time it
was the Twenty-first, instead of the foe, that had that advantage,
and its loss was consequently small ; only four men wounded,
one mortally. The enemy suffered severely, some of their men
falling within ten paces of the line of the Twenty-first. The
rest of the Union forces were equally successful, and South
Mountain was firmly held in their grasp.
On the morning of the i6th, the army advanced to the banks
of the Antietam. The Twenty-first was soon in the thick of
the fight. On one occasion they charged with fixed bayonets,
and drove the enemy from two fences where they had ensconced
themselves. General Patrick ordered them back, as they had
got too far in advance of the brigade. The enemy thought
they were retreating, and charged after them, but were again
driven back with severe loss. The next day the foe retired,
leaving the Union forces in possession of the whole field.
At Antietam the Twenty-first lost seventeen men killed, and
fifty-three wounded. Captain Gardner and Lieutenants Vallier
and Hickey were wounded. Some of the companies, being
weak before, were reduced to nine or ten men each, commanded
by a sergeant, and the average of privates for duty in a com-
pany was only twelve. Yet all were exultant, and desirous to
advance. But slight advance was made, however, and after
weeks spent in preparation McClellan was at length replaced by
472 FREDERICKSBURG, ETC.
Burnside, in the command of the army of the Potomac. Not-
withstanding their dishke of the previous inaction, the men
were angry and sullen, for McClellan, whatever the reason, un-
questionably had the confidence of that army. Meanwhile
General Patrick was detached as provost-marshal, and General
Paul placed in command of the brigade. The irreverent sol-
diers declared that St. Patrick was succeeded by St. Paul.
Then the army marched to Fredericksburg. When the main
body crossed the Rappahannock, on the fatal I2th of Decem-
ber, the Twenty-first was kept on the north side. On the 13th
they were brought up to the river shore, and remained some time
in an exposed position. One man was killed and three wounded.
Burnside recrossed the river, and all fell back. The weather
was fearfully cold. Good Parson Robie, who had cheerfully
followed the fortunes of the regiment through all its service,
lost heart amid the crowds of swearing soldiers, during those
days of sad retreat and nights of bitter cold. His diary reveals
that he suffered the greatest physical and moral discomfort, and
felt that he was doing very little good. Shortly afterwards.
General Patrick's old, decimated brigade was sent back to him,
as provost-guard of the army of the Potomac, and began the
new year in that comparatively easy service.
Besides the deaths before noted, there were some resignations
and transfers among the officers, and consequent promotions.
Lieutenant-colonel Root was made colonel of the 94th New
York, Major Drew was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and Cap-
tain Thomas to major. Captain Strong was made lieutenant-
colonel of the 38th New York. Lieutenants Canfield and
Wheeler were promoted to captains. Second Lieutenant Gail
and Sergeant Minery were commissioned as first lieutenants, and
Sergeant George Hurst, and John E. Remsen, James J. McLeish
and John W. Davock were appointed second lieutenants.
The P'orty-ninth regiment, after remaining encamped near
Lewinsville through the winter of 1 861-2, moved to Fortress
Monroe in March of the latter year, being assigned to the Si.xth
corps. After participating in the siege of Yorktown, it marched
with the army up the peninsula. It was at the battle of Wil-
liamsburg, and was in close support of Hancock's brigade in
the decisive charge of that da}-. It participated in all the ardu-
THE FORTY-NINTH IN 1 862. 473
ous toils of the Chickahoniiny campaign. It took part in the
battles of Golden's Farm and Garnet's Farm, June i8th and
26th. On the 29th it made a brilliant charge, with its brigade.
It was engaged in severe conflict at White Oak Swamp, and was
present at the terrible defeat inflicted on the rebels at Malvern
Hill. It then returned, with the rest of the army, to defend
Washington.
Yet in all these services it so happened that the Forty-ninth
was not required to engage in very severe combat. Not an offi-
cer was killed, and I cannot learn that the men suffered any
very serious loss. This frequently happens, in the fortunes of
war, regiments chancing to be kept in reserve or otherwise saved
from loss for a long time, and then suddenly subjected to the
fiercest storms of battle.
The Sixth corps did not reach Manassas till after the close of
that conflict, and the regiment suffered no loss on that side of the
Potomac. But at the battle of Antietam it was hotly engaged,
and Lieutenant-colonel Alberger was severely wounded. I
regret that I have not been able to obtain a detailed account of
the part it took in that battle.
On account of his wound, Colonel Alberger resigned, and
Major Johnson became lieutenant-colonel in his place. Captain
William Ellis was promoted to major. When the rebellion
broke out. Major Ellis was in the ranks of the British army.
Purchasing his discharge, he entered the Forty-ninth as second
lieutenant. His abilities were so decided that he was soon pro-
moted to captain, and then to major. The regiment was present
at Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, but not in any severe
fighting. Adjutant Bullymore, Quartermaster Tillinghast, Capt.
Moss and Lieut. Von Gayl, all died of disease during this year.
The ranks of the regiment commanded by Colonel Brown
were filled up, and the regiment mustered into the national
service in P'ebruary, 1862, under the name of the One Hundredth
New York volunteers, with the following roster of officers :
Colonel, James M. Brown ; lieutenant-colonel, Phineas Staunton ;
major, Calvin N. Otis ; adjutant, Peter Remsen Chadwick ; quarter-
master, Samuel M. Chamberlain; surgeon, Martin S. Kittenger; assist-
ant-surgeon, William D. Murray. Co. A, captain, Daniel D. Nash ; ■
lieutenants, William L. Mayo and Charles Farnham. Co. B, captain,
Walter B. Moore ; lieutenants, M. H. Topping and Martin S. Bogart.
31
474 THE ONE HUNDREDTH AT SEVEN PINES.
Co. C, captain, |ohn Nicholson; lieutenants, U. C. Mackay and Wm.
Noble. Co. D," captain, Lewis S. Payne; first lieutenant, Augustus
Newell. Co. E, captain, Michael Bailey; lieutenants, \\'illiam Brown
and Timothy Lynch. Co. F, captain, Charles H. Rauert ; lieutenants.
Charles F. Gardner and C. E. Claussen. Co. G, captain, CJeorge Hhi-
son; lieutenants, Samuel S. Kellogg and Jacob L. Barnes. Co. H.
captain, P. Edwin Dye ; lieutenants, R. B. Smith, Jr., and C. E. Wal-
bridge. Co. I, captain, Chas. E. Morse ; lieutenants, Frank C. Brunck
and H. H. Haddock. Co. K, captain, Charles H. Henshaw ; lieuten-
ants, John Wilkeson, Jr., and Warren Granger, Jr.
On the seventh day of March, 1862, the regiment left for tlie
seat of war, with full ranks and completely organized. Arriving
at Washington, it was assigned to the first brigade, Casey's di-
vision. The last of March it was transferred to Fortress Mon-
roe. With the rest of McClellan's army it participated in the
siege of Yorktown, and the march up the peninsula. At the
battle of Williamsburg the brigade, then commanded by the
gallant and impetuous Gen. Naglee, supported Hancock while
the hitter made the charge which decided the conflict. Arriv-
ing'- in front of Richmond, the One Hundredth shared the ex-
citements and discomforts of that period, being under slight fire
two or three times, but without loss until the 31st of May, the
day of the battle of Seven Pines.
Their introduction to the work of war was a terrible gne.
Three companies of the regiment were on picket, the rest were
with their brigade. After divers marchings and countermarch-
ings, Casey's division, a little after noon, became engaged with the
enemy. Those who were present declare that overwhelming
numbers of the foe were hurled against its unsupported ranks,
and the loss sustained by it certainly proves that it was con-
fronted by a very heavy force. The One Hundreth was on the
left of the Richmond road, and in front of it was a quantity
of "slashing," or trees felled hit or miss, so as to obstruct an
advance.
Col. Brown had the reputation of a severe disciplinarian, but
his valor was of the truest metal. During the first part of the
battle he sat on his horse, coolly smoking his pipe. When the
fight raged more fiercely, he galloped up and down the line, en-
couraging the men with his ringing words. At length came an
order for Naglee's brigade to charge the enemy. To do this the
One Hundredth would be compelled to march into the dense
"CHARGE, THE ONE HUNDREDTH." 475
slashing in front of them. Col. Brown was heard to mutter
an angry denunciation of the order, but the next moment he
thundered out the command, "Charge, the One Hundredth;"
and with their leader at its head, the regiment dashed into the
slashing. The rest of Naglee's brigade went forward on their
right. In the slashing the troops soon broke up, and as the
rebels, according to the testimony of many officers, massed sev-
eral divisions on this point, Casey's whole command was soon
obliged to give way. It suffered fearfully, the casualties in that
one division numbering about seventeen hundred, or one-third
of the entire loss of the army in the battle of Seven Pines.
The One Hundredth New York lost a hundred and sixteen
men, in killed, wounded and missing, out of the four hundred
present at the beginning of the fight. Lieutenants Wilkeson
and Kellogg were slain. Captain Nash and Lieutenants Mtvyo
and Brown were wounded. Lieut. -colonel Staunton was also
slightly wounded. The last that was seen of Colonel Brown
he was striving, with all his might, to rally the shattered and re-
treating lines. Then he disappeared, and was never seen more.
Battling to the uttermost, he must have fallen in the deadly
fray, and some one of the thousand accidents of the battle-field
prevented the subsequent discovery of his body. Lieutenant
Wilkeson, just mentioned as one of the killed, was a grandson
of Judge Samuel Wilkeson, so often spoken of in the earlier
part of this work. Post Wilkeson, of the Grand Army of the
Republic, is named in honor of the slain hero of Seven Pines.
Gen. McClellan at first censured Casey's division for giving
way, but on learning all the facts he revoked his criticism. Be-
sides the casualties above mentioned, Captain Bailey, Lieuten-
ants Lynch and Newell, and twelve men, were cut oft" and cap-
tured while on picket.
Throughout that fateful month of June, the One Hundredth,
with Lieut.-Col. Staunton in command, shared the toils and
perils of the army, but was not again in severe conflict. When
McClellan determined to change the scene of operations to the
banksof the James, Naglee's brigade was the rearguard of one line
of march. It was engaged at Gaines' Mills, and suffered a small
loss. Lieut. R. B. Smith, of the One Hundredth, was reported
missing, and was never heard of afterwards. Doubtless he was
476 CHANGES, PROMOTIONS, ETC.
killed, and buried in some nameless grave. Being exhausted by
their arduous duties as rear guard, Naglee's command was not
called on to take part in the battle of Malvern Hills, where the
rebels suffered such terrible punishment. Immediately after-
wards, the army moved to Harrison's Landing, twenty-five miles
below Richmond, where it remained during July and part of
August.
During all this time disease as w^ell as battle was thinning the
ranks of our soldiery. The One Hundredth was reduced to fif-
teen officers and four hundred and thirty-six men, all told ; less
than half the number that left Buffalo four months before. It
was proposed to consolidate it with some other command.
Alarmed lest the identity of the regiment should be lost, its
friends aroused themselves, and on the 29th of July the Buffalo
Board of Trade adopted it as their especial charge. By
their exertions, with other influences, the ranks were rapidly
recruited.
When the greater part of McClellan's army was sent into the
vicinity of Washington, the One Hundredth was left near York-
town, and remained there till December. After much delay,
the vacancy caused by the death of Col. Brown was filled by the
appointment of George F. B. Dandy, of the regular army. This
caused much dissatisfaction in the regiment, and Lieutenant-
colonel Staunton resigned, on account of being overslaughed
by an outsider. Major Otis was made lieutenant-colonel, and
Captain Nash, the youthful conmiander of company A, was
promoted to major. Several vacancies among subordinate offi-
cers had been caused during the season by deaths and resigna-
tions, and conscc^uent promotions took place. Edwin S. Bishop
was appointed quartermaster. Lieutenant Granger, then only
nineteen years old, (and who by the way was a grandson of the
early pioneer. Judge Granger,) became captain of company K.
Lieutenants Mayo, Brunck and Topping were also appointed
captains of their respective companies. Second Lieutenant
Haddock, and Sergeants Charles Shaffer and Horace Baker
were promoted to first lieutenants, and Charles H. Runckle,
Charles Coleman, W^illiam Richardson and John McMann were
commissioned as second lieutenants.
x\fter the disasters around Richmond, in June of this year.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH. 477
the President called for 300,000 more volunteers. Governor
Morgan immediately divided this State into regimental districts,
of which Erie county was one, appointing a-committee of prom-
inent citizens in each district to superintend the raising of a new
regiment. After several efforts to find a proper commander, the
committee in this district happily hit on Major Edward P. Cha-
pin, the officer who, in 1861, had raised the Erie county company
for the Forty-fourth New York, or Ellsworth regiment. His
marked abilities as a soldier had soon caused his promotion to
major of that regiment, in which capacity he had been present
with it at the battle of Hanover Court House, where he was
severely wounded. After some difficulty, he obtained the per-
mission of his superiors, and assumed command on the i6th of
August. Meanwhile a large number of recruiting-orders were
issued, the work was vigorously pressed, and on the 3d of Sep-
tember the regiment was mustered into the United States service
at Fort Porter, with 929 men, under the name of the One Hun-
dred and Sixteenth New York volunteers. From among the
numerous recruiting officers to whom permits had been given.
Colonel Chapin recommended the necessary regimental officers,
who were commissioned by the governor. The roster was as
follows :
Field and staff, colonel, Edward P. Chapin ; lieutenant-colonel, Rob-
ert Cottier ; major, George M. Love ; adjutant, John B. Weber ; sur-
geon, C. B. Hutchins ; assistant surgeons, Uri C. Lynde and Carey W.
Howe ; quartermaster, James Adams ; chaplain, \Velton M. Moddesit.
Co. A, captain, Ira Aver ; lieutenants, J. C. Thompson and Warren T
Ferris. Co. B, captain, Albert J. Barnard; lieutenants, Leander Willis
and Daniel Corbett. Co. C, captain, David W. Tattle ; lieutenants,
Robert F. Atkins and Edward J. Corn well. Co. D, captain, John Hig-
gins ; lieutenants, Charles F. Wadsworth and Elisha Seymour. Co. E,
captain, Richard C. Kinney ; lieutenants, James McGowan and Thos.
Notter. Co. F, captain, George G. Stanbro ; lieutenants, Wilson H.
Grey and Clinton Hammond. Co. G. captain, John M. Sizer ; lieuten-
ants, Timothy Linahan and George Peterson. Co. H, captain, W' illiam
Wiirz ; lieutenants, David Jones and Frederick Sommers. Co. I, cap-
tain, P. R. Stover ; lieutenants, George W. Carpenter and Edward
Irvin. Co. K, captain, James Ayer; lieutenants, P. W. Gould and John
W. (irannis.
The One Hundred and Sixteenth, like the Twenty-first, was
entirely an Erie county regiment. Recruiting commissions had
been sent into the country towns more liberally than before, and
a large part of the command was composed of stalwart young
4/8 wikdrrh's battery.
farmers, mechanics, etc., from the rural districts. Companies A
and K were principally recruited in Evans, Hamburg, East Mam-
burg and vicinit)^ Their two captains, Ira and James Ayer,
were brothers, both farmers of the town of Evans, whose enter-
ing the service was especially noticeable, as both were approach-
ing the age of fifty, a time when most civilians think themselves
exempt from the hardships of military life. Lieutenant, after-
wards Major, Carpenter, with a portion of his company, was from
Marilla. Co. F was raised in Concord and adjoining towns.
The regiment departed for the front on the 5th of September.
Until the ist of November it remained most of the time near
Baltimore, engaged in unremitting drill. Colonel Chapin was a
born soldier, and soon brought his command to a high degree of
efficiency. On the 2d of November the One Hundred and Six-
teenth, \\ith other regiments, was ordered south, and after sev-
eral delays and a tedious sea-voyage reached Ship Lsland, off
the southern coast of Mississippi, on the 13th of December.
Just at the close of the year they proceeded to New Orleans,
and went into camp near that city.
Wiedrich's battery fought bravely and suffered severely during
the campaign. On the 8th of June it was at Cross Keys, under
Fremont, where six of its men were wounded, two mortally.
On the 22d of August it took part in the battle of Freeman's
Ford, where it had one man killed and five wounded. At the
second battle of Ikill Run, the gallant Germans were in the
thickest of the fight. Lieutenant Schenkelberger and thirteen
men being wounded, out of a little over a hundred engaged.
Five of the six guns belonging to the battery were disabled, and
two of their carriages had to be left on the field, but by desper-
ate exertions the men saved the pieces. The battery was only
in some minor engagements during the remainder of the year.
Turning from fields of battle to the less dangerous, though
hardly less bitter, conflicts of the political arena, we find that the
defeats suffered by the Union arms, during the disastrous summer
of 1862, had naturally injured the administration and the party
which supported it. The Democratic majority of 1861, in Erie
county, was greatly increased in 1862. Hon. John Ganson, then
State senator, was elected to Congress by about three thousand
majority, and Cyrenius C. Torrance, of Collins, was chosen dis-
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 479
trict-attorne}'. The assemblymen elected this year were John
W. IMurphy and Horatio Seymour of Buffalo, T. A. Hopkins of
Amherst, and Anson G. Conger of Collins.
By a law passed this year, Buffalo was allowed more than one
supervisor for each ward, except the 13th. Some had two and
some three. The list for 1862 was as follows :
Amherst, Charles C. Grove ; Alden, John C. Baker ; Aurora, Seth
Fenner ; Boston, George Brindley ; Brant, Thomas Judson. Buffalo,
ist ward, Thos. Edmunds, John O'Donnell and James Fleeharty ; 2d
ward, John M. Scott, Amos Morgan and Jas. S. Lyon; 3d ward, James
P. Bennett and John Stearn ; 4th ward, B. W. Skidmore, Philip G.
Lorenz and Frank Fischer; 5th ward, James S. Irwin, Henry Nauert and
George Baldus ; 6th ward, Jacob H. Pfohle, John Haller and Felix
Bieger ; 7th ward, George Reichert, Adam Weller and Henry Bitz ;
8th w^ard, Thomas H. Myers and Dennis M. Enright ; 9th ward, George
P. Baker and William Ring; loth ward, Joseph Libby and Joseph
Candee ; nth ward, Thomas R. Stocking and Alfred H. Giddings :
1 2th ward, Christopher Laible and John A. Smith ; 13th ward, Daniel
M. Joslyn. Cheektowaga, Eldridge Farwell ; Clarence, David Wood-
ward ; Colden, Nathan C. Francis ; Collins, Marcus Bartlett ; Concord,
S. W. Goddard ; East Hamburg, James H. Deuel ; Eden, Lyman Pratt ;
Evans, Lyman Oatman ; Elma, Christopher Peek ; Grand Lsland,
Ossian Bedell ; Hamburg, Allen Dart ; Holland, Nathan Morey ; Lan-
caster, Wm. W. Bruce ; Marilla, H. T. Foster ; Newstead, Henry At-
wood ; North Collins, Wilson Rogers ; Sardinia, Jas. Rider ; Tonawan-
da, David Kohler ; Wales, A. G. White ; West Seneca, Nelson Reed.
While it is impracticable to notice all of the numerous insti-
tutions which have sprung up in the city of Buffalo within the
last twenty years, there is one of them, the objects of which are
so intimately connected with a history of Erie county that some
mention of it cannot well be omitted. On the very last day of
December, 1862, a few gentlemen of Buffalo signed a certificate,
associating themselves together as a corporation, to be called
"The Buffalo Historical Society." Its object, as stated by its
constitution, was " to discover, procure and preserve whatever
may relate to the history of Western New York in general, and
the city of Buffalo in particular, and to gather statistics of the
commerce, manufactures and business of the lake region, and
those portions of the West that are intimately connected with
the business of Buffalo." A very great measure of success
has rewarded its efforts, and a vast amount of valuable infor-
mation has been brought together, and arranged in admirable
order in its archives.
480 RETURN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST.
CHAPTER XLII.
1863.
The Twenty-first Regiment. — Its Return. — The Forty-nintli during the Year. — The
One Hundredth in South Carolina. — Assault of Fort Wagner. — The Usual
Result. — "A Mighty Nice Thing to be inside of." — The Night Attack. —
Another Repulse. — Terrible Loss. — The Siege of Wagner. — Tall Men called
for. — The Fort Abandoned.- — The Rest of the Year. — Wiedrich's Battery. —
The One Hundred and Sixteenth. — Plain Store. — Assault of Port Hudson. —
Death of Col. Chapin. — The Siege and Capture. — Other Services. — The
Eighty-ninth Colored Regiment. — Home Affairs.
The year opened with a feeHng of sadness weighing on the
whole North, on account of the numerous disasters of the pre-
ceding campaign. The Twenty-first New York remained on
provost duty during the rest of its term. Capt. Sternberg was
commissioned as heutenant-colonel. The last of April, its time
having expired, the regiment started for home. Its total strength
had been reduced to four hundred and ninety-five officers and
men. At Buffalo it received a grand ovation. Again the Union
Continentals turned out under their distinguished commander.
The 65th and 74th regiments of militia, and nearly the whole
fire department, was in line, to greet the returning heroes, and
hundreds of banners waved in welcome, on either side of their
pathway. At the Central School the flag given to the regiment
two years before was returned to the donors, the same young
lady who had presented it in its unstained beauty, now receiving
back the tattered and war-worn banner. Then, after the neces-
sary formalities, the Twenty-first was disbanded, and the first
regiment of volunteers ever enlisted in the county of Erie dis-
solved into the community from which it sprang.
The Forty-ninth again took the field in the spring of 1863,
being part of the third brigade, second division of the Sixth
corps. At Chancellorsville it was under fire, but not in the hot-
test of the fight. With the rest of the corps it m:irchcd north-
ward, watching the enemy as he moved toward Pennsylvania.
At 5 p. m., July 2d, the Sixth corps arrived on the field of Get-
THE FORTY-NINTH AND THE ONE HUNDREDTH. 48 1
tysburg-, after havini^ accomplished the tremendous feat of march-
ing two hundred and fifty miles in seven days, carryiiig arms,
accoutrements, ammunition and rations. The Forty-ninth, how-
ever, was held in reserve during the rest of the battle. Through
the remainder of the season it was engaged in those marches
and countermarches in Northern and Central Virginia, which
formed so large a part of the occupation of the army of the Po-
tomac. Early in December it went into winter-quarters, near
Brandy Station. Up to this time the regiment had been singu-
larly fortunate in escaping loss. Not an officer had been killed,
and very few of the men. Just at the close of the year the
" veteran " order was issued, calling on the soldiers to reenlist
for three years more, the new term to commence forthwith, with-
out waiting for the end of the old one. Of the Forty-ninth, a
hundred and forty-nine accepted the risks of another term.
The One Hundredth regiment, having left Gloucester Point
just at the close of 1862, sailed to Carolina city. North Carolina,
and thence, after a month's stay, to Hilton Head, South Caro-
lina. The last of March it was attached to the army of 16,000
men ordered against Charleston, and was selected to lead the
advance in landing on Folly island, near that city. Having
landed, matters remained comparatively quiet till the arrival of
Gen. Gilmore, in June.
Capt. Payne was the scout of the command. He developed
a peculiar tact in that direction, and was constantly employed,
either alone or with a few men, in making reconnoissances both
by land and sea. The summer was one of the greatest hardship.
Dragging heavy guns into place, building batteries, and similar
work was accomplished on a sandy island, under a burning sun,
amid ten thousand insect annoyances, while malarial fever made
constant havoc in the ranks.
On the lOth of July, our troops, under cover of artillery and
piloted by Capt. Payne, landed in force on Morris island, still
nearer Charleston and partially occupied by the enemy. Had an
assault been immediately made, perhaps the foe's principal de-
fense. Fort Wagner, would have fallen. But the men were much
affected by the heat, and it was determined to defer the attack
till the next morning. During the day the rebels were rein-
forced. At the appointed time the lOOth New York, and six
482 THE ASSAULTS OX FORT WAGNER.
Other regiments selected for the purpose, made the assault. The
ground to be traversed was a level plain, every part of which
was swept by the guns of the fort. The ditch was crossed, and
even the parapet scaled by some of the Unionists, but the charge
ended, as so many others ended on both sides, in the retreat of
the assailants. In a vast majority of cases the column which
attacked an intrenched position, whether composed of Unionists
or Confederates, was obliged to fall back.
I never read the account of such an attack and repulse, with-
out being reminded of the words of an old Union citizen, who
had fled to the little fort at Pilot Knob, Missouri, when Price
made his great raid through that State, in 1864. Some time
after, I heard the old gentleman telling how the rebels attacked
with overwhelming numbers, how they poured in their shot and
shell, how every time they charged it seemed as if they must
succeed, and how, every time, they were driven back in confusion.
" I tell you, boys," said the old man, " a fort is a mighty nice
thing to be inside of" There was a world of military wisdom
in that homely expression.
Despite the reverse of the nth, another assault was ordered
for the night of the i8th of July. Then three brigades advanced
to the attack. General Strong's leading, followed first by Colonel
Putnam's, and then by General Seymour's. The One Hundredth
was in Putnam's command. General Stephenson's brigade acted
in support. At the head of Strong's brigade marched the 54th
Massachusetts, a colored regiment, led by the gallant Colonel
Shaw.
Seldom have the records of battle shown a more desperate
conflict. Along the level sand marched the three brigades, their
way lighted up by the incessant glare of the enemy's cannon,
the balls of which were constantly crashing through the advanc-
ing lines. Soon grape, canister and musketry mowed them down
by the score. The fort was strongly built, heavily armed and
amply manned. Yet the column pressed gallantly forward.
Many crossed the ditch and mounted the wall, and for a short
time held a corner of the fort. But the position they had gained
was commanded by guns from the opposite side. Colonel Shaw
was killed on the crest of the parapet, fiilling among scores of
his dark but devoted followers. General Strongf was wounded.
FRUITLESS v'aLOR. 483
His brigade wavered. Putnam's command came hurrying up,
the One Hundredth led by Colonel Dandy and Major Nash.
Seymour's brigade followed. But it was in vain that they strove
to force their way into the fort. Sergeant Flanders planted the
flag, presented to the One Hundredth by the Buffalo Board of
Trade, on the wall, but was immediately shot down. Corporal
Spooner snatched up and saved the fallen banner. Major Nash
was severely wounded. General Seymour was w^ounded. Colonel
Putnam was killed. Not a brigade commander was left. The
men, disheartened, began to retire, and soon the whole force
was fleeing over the sandy plain, past the many corpses of their
comrades, and the still more numerous wounded. Stephenson's
brigade had been ordered forward, but was halted on learning
of the retreat.
Fifteen hundred and seventeen (out of a column of possibly
six thousand men) was the total loss in that terrible onslaught.
In the One Hundredth, Adjutant Haddock and Lieutenant
Runckle were killed, and Lieut. Cyrus Brown mortally wounded.
Besides Major Nash, Lieutenant John McMann was fearfully
wounded. Captain Rauert seriously, and Captain Granger and
Lieutenant Friday slightly — eight officers killed and wounded,
out of about twenty engaged. No less than eleven sergeants
were wounded.
In regard to this fight. Colonel Dandy, an old soldier of the
regular army, in a letter to the Board of Trade, said : " I cannot
"forbear expressing my admiration of the officers and .soldiers
"of the One Hundredth. Under the most galling fire sustained
"by any troops since the commencement of the war, the regi-
" ment marched unflinchingly in line, right on the works of the
" enemy. I did not see a case of misconduct. All was done
" there that brave men could do, and, if we did not succeed in
"taking the place, it was because, under the circumstances of
"the attack, the condition of the enemy and .strength of the
"place, it was impossible for brave men to take it."
After the assault had failed, a siege was immediately com-
menced. Enormous one-hundred, two-hundred, and three-hun-
dred-pound guns were placed in battery, and directed against
Wagner and Sumter. It was then that the celebrated " Swamp
Angel " battery was constructed, in a marsh where the mud was
484 THE SIEGE OF FORT WAGNER.
sixteen feet deep. The lieutenant of engineers ordered to con-
struct it declared the task utterly impossible. He was directed
to proceed, however, and to call on the depot quartermaster for
everything he needed. The next day he made a requisition in
due form for a hundred men eighteen feet high, to wade through
mud sixteen feet deep, at the same time requesting the surgeon
to be prepared to splice the eighteen-feet men, if taller ones
should be needed. General Gilmore did not appreciate this
facetiousness, the lieutenant was arrested, and another officer
constructed the battery, making a foundation of bags of sand,
brought from the beach at night and flung into the mud.
In toils like these the One Hundredth passed the summer.
Often the inflowing tide filled the trenches and covered ways, so
that the men had to stand guard knee-deep in water, with their
trousers rolled up and their shoes and stockings suspended from
their necks. They were a hardy set, however, and suffered less
from sickness than almost any other regiment in the depart-
ment. Captain Payne continued to patrol the channel in his
boat, at night, often sending up rockets to show the position of
rebel steamers, and, in at least one instance, causing the destruc-
tion of a vessel by our artillery. But at length the daring scout
was captured, and a long imprisonment rewarded his services.
Near the 20th of August Fort Sumter was silenced — though
not captured — by Gilmore's batteries. Meanwhile, with paral-
lels and zigzags, the engineers crept up to the counterscarp of
Fort Wagner. Balls were constantly crashing and shells explod-
ing among the working parties. The One Hundredth had a
hundred and fifty men killed and wounded during the fifty days
of the siege. On the 7th of September a third assault was or-
dered, the One Hundredth New York being again selected as
one of the attacking regiments. But a terrific cannonade of
forty hours warned the rebels of what was coming, and, when
the troops advanced, they were agreeably disappointed to find
that the enemy had abandoned their long-defended stronghold.
During the rest of the year the One Hundredth remained on
Morris island, rebuilding and guarding the batteries, for the
late capture did not give Gilmore either Charleston or Sumter.
The hardships endured were still severe, and some men were
killed and wounded, but neither the hardships nor the dangers
THE FIGHTING BATTERY. 485
were great, compared with the terrible days of the spring and
summer.
Besides those removed by death, many officers resigned dur-
ing the year, and numerous promotions took place from the
ranks. Lieutenant-colonel Otis resigned early in the season.
Captain Payne was recommended to fill his place, but was taken
prisoner before his commission arrived, so that he could not
muster. Lieutenants Dandy, Evert, Newell, Brown, Gardner
and Lynch were promoted to captains. Sergeants George H.
Stowits, James Kavanaugh, James H. French, Frederick band-
rock, William Evans, Carlos H. Richmond, Myron P. Pierson,
Edward Pratt and Benjamin F. Hughson were commissioned as
lieutenants, the two last having been severely wounded at the
storming of Wagner.
In December, a small portion of the privates reenlisted for
another term, but the experience of the past summer had been
a terrible damper on the romance of military life. Col. Dandy,
with a number of officers and men, went to Buffalo on re-
cruiting service, and obtained a considerable accession to the
regiment.
The sturdy battery of Captain Wiedrich had its first severe
conflict, during the year, at Chancellorsville. When Burnside
fell back. Captain W. was obliged to leave two of his pieces — at
one of them all the men but one were shot down ; at the other,
four horses were killed. In all, four men were killed and four-
teen wounded. After many a wearisome march, the battery was
again in the thickest of the fight, at Gettysburg. In fact, it
seemed never to miss a battle. In that glorious triumph of the
Union arms, Wiedrich's battery lost three men killed, and Lieu-
tenants Salm and Stock and seventeen enlisted men were
wounded, making a total of twenty-two killed and wounded, out
of about a hundred and twenty engaged.
In September the battery was sent to Nashville, and thence
to the vicinity of Chattanooga. In November it was present at
the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, but fortu-
nately escaped loss in both conflicts, and during the rest of the
year.
The One Hundred and Sixteenth remained near New Orleans
till March. Col. Chapin's soldierly qualities were so manifest,
486 THE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH.
that his regiment was transferred to k brigade in which the other
colonels were his juniors, in order to get the benefit of his ser-
vices as acting brigadier. His command was in Gen. Augur's
division. In March that division went up the Mississippi to the
vicinity of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson. Though taking
part in many tedious movements, the One Hundred and Six-
teenth was not in any serious engagement until the 2ist of May.
On that day Gen. Augur, with two brigades, one of which was
Colonel Chapin's, was marching north to seize *' Plain Store,"
which he was ordered to hold till the arrival of the main army,
which had been operating in western Louisiana. The point
named was a mere Southern cross-roads store, with two or three
houses, but of some possible strategical value, being situated at
the intersection of the road running east from Port Hudson with
the main road from Baton Rouge to Bayou Sara.- It was four
miles from Port Hudson, the only great rebel stronghold south
of Vicksburg. The other brigade. Colonel Dudley's, was in ad-
vance, and during the afternoon drove back a force of the enemy,
and then the command prepared to bivouac at Plain Store.
A battery of artillery, supported by a regiment of nine-
months' men, held a position in advance, on the Port Hudson
road, and was soon strongly attacked by the enemy. The com-
mand was turned out, and presently the ii6th New York and
49th Massachusetts were detached from the brigade and sent
forward to act under Gen. Augur's immediate orders. They
had almost reached the battery, when a tremendous outburst of
musketry was heard close before them, and a mob of panic-
stricken nine-months' men broke through the ranks of the
Forty-ninth Massachusetts, also a nine-months" regiment, caus-
ing great confusion. The value of Colonel Chapin's persistent
drill and rigid discipline was at once seen. Major Love, who
was in command, shouted to his men to "stand fast," and every
man obeyed, and with unwavering ranks the One Plundred and
Sixteenth stood till the demoralized crowd had passed to the
rear, and then again moved forward. It was soon met by Gen.
Augur, under whose orders it formed line. It had hardly done
so, however, when a body of the enemy, which had gained its
rear, suddenly opened fire on it. A "fire in the rear" is pro-
verbially demoralizing, but the regiment at once faced about and
BATTLE OF PLAIN STORE. 487
returned the fire with perfect coohiess. I now quote directly
from Captain Clark's volume :
" Some twenty or thirty rounds had been dischary,ed when
General Augur, who was near, enquired of Major Love if his
regiment would stand a charge. The Major replied : ' The One
Hundred and Sixteenth will do anything you order them to.'
' You have my order then, sir,' said the general. Riding down
the front of the regiment, exposed to the fire of his own inex-
perienced men as well as that of the enemy, Major Love informed
the commandant of each company of the general's orders, then
rode back to the center of the line, and taking off his old felt hat
waved us on, leading us about twenty paces in advance. The
yell which now broke from our throats, and echoed through the
woods, had that in it which the enemy must have felt to their
finger tips. They knew what was coming, and stood not upon
the order of their going, but went at once, retreating across an
open field and into another belt of woods, where making another
stand, we were halted and commenced to return their fire. But
a very few rounds of ammunition were discharged, however, when
General Augur, who had followed our movement, ordered us to
charge a second time, which was as successful as the first, utterly
routing the rebels, and ending the battle of Plain Store.' "
Thus, in its first battle the One Hundred and Sixteenth
achieved a brilliant success. Thirteen men were killed and
forty-four wounded in the regiment, during the short time it
was engaged, showing that it was opposed by no inconsider-
able foe. Lieut. Borusky was mortally wounded. After the
battle. General Augur publicly congratulated Colonel Chapin,
declaring that for the victory he was mainly indebted to the
valor of the ii6th New York volunteers. Said the general:
" They have most gallantly driven Miles' Legion, who claim
never to have been driven before."
Two days later Banks arrived, and Port Hudson was invested.
A council of war determined to endeavor to carry the fortifica-
tions by assault. Each brigade was to be preceded by a storm-
ing party of two hundred special volunteers. Fifty was the
number of enlisted men required for this terrible duty from the
ii6th New York; sixty-six volunteered, besides Major Love,
Captains Higgins, Kinney and VVadsworth, and Lieutenants
McGowan, Grey, Ferris, Morgan and Dobbins. Not half of these
officers could be employed, and the little detachment was placed
under the command of Lieutenant Morgan.
488 THE ASSAULT OX PORT HUDSON.
On the 27th of May the assault w^s made. The ground in
front of the fortifications was cut up by numerous ravines, and
for a thousand yards the trees had all been cut down, forming an
almost impenetrable " slashing." About two o'clock in the after-
noon came the order to advance. Col. Chapin led the brigade
storming-party out of the woods, and directed them on their
course, and then turned to lead the brigade itself, which came
not far behind. It was met by a storm of cannon balls and
bullets, and soon became entangled in the slashing. Chapin
urged forward the men with alternate cheers and threats.
Very early in the engagement he was wounded in the knee. He
continued to press on, but in a few moments w^as shot through
the head and instantly killed. The brigade being left without
a commander, and the line being hopelessly broken up by the
slashing, the men sought shelter and returned the enemy's fire.
The field officer (Lieutenant-colonel O'Brian, of the 48th Mass.)
commanding the brigade storming, was killed as near the in-
trenchments as it was possible to get. In a brief space of time
the One Hundred and Sixteenth had a hundred and one men
killed and wounded, besides Colonel Chapin killed, and Lieuts.
Grey, Morgan and Jones wounded, the last mortally. In the
brigades on the right hand and the left, the result was similar.
It was found impossible to work their way through the slashing,
in face of the leaden hail that rained from the rebel breastworks,
and late in the afternoon the army retreated to the shelter of the
forest.
The loss of Col. Chapin w^as deeply deplored, not only by his
own regiment but by the whole army. The universal testimony
of his brother soldiers is that no more devoted or more gallant
officer ever wore the American uniform, and even in professional
skill the young Erie county volunteer was surpassed by very
few. In commemoration of his services, President Lincoln sent
to his sorrowing father a commission appointing Colonel Chapin
a brigadier-general, to date from the day of his death, and Post
Chapin, of the Grand Army of the Republic, keeps his memory
green among his comrades.
After the failure of the assault, a siege was begun, and the usual
slow approaches were made toward the enemy's works. On the
14th of June the One Hundred and Sixteenth, with other regi-
FURTHER SERVICES IN 1 863.
ments, made a feigned attack (in skirmish line) on the enemy's
center, while the forces on the right and left again attempted to
enter the works. In this they were unsuccessful, but their lines
were in some places advanced to within fifty yards of the forti-
fications. The regiment whose course we are following lost one
officer (Lieutenant Linahan) and four men killed, and twenty-
three wounded. Even after all these disasters, when a call was
made for volunteers for another storming party, twenty-four
gallant soldiers of the One Hundred and Sixteenth promptly
responded. With others destined for the same desperate service
they were organized and drilled in a special brigade. Before,
however, they were called on to act, Vicksburg surrendered to
General Grant, and immediately afterwards General Gardner,
the commander of Port Hudson, gave up the now hopeless task
of defense, and yielded to General Banks.
A few days later the regiment went to Donaldsonville and
was engaged in a sharp conflict in defending it from the rebel
forces of General Taylor. Captain Tuttle was instantly slain
while saving a piece of artillery of which the horses had been
killed. The regiment remained on the Mississippi till Septem-
ber, when it was moved into western Louisiana, where during
the rest of the year it did a good deal of marching, but no
serious fighting.
Meanwhile Major Love was commissioned as colonel, and
Captains Higgins and Sizer as lieutenant-colonel and major.
The new colonel, having recovered from his wound, resumed
command. Numerous other promotions had taken place since
the organization of the regiment. Lieutenants Wadsworth,
Gray, Atkins, Seymour, McGowan, Carpenter and Ferris
had been made captains, and Sergeants Orton S. Clark, Jacob
C. Newton, George N. Brown, John H. Rohan, George W. Miller,
Charles Borusky, Charles S. Crary, Charles E. Paine, Philip J.
Weber, Andrew Brunn, William J. Morgan, and George H.
Shepard, were promoted to lieutenants.
When the rebels broke into Pennsylvania, numerous regiments
of militia from that State and New York were hurried for-
ward to aid in stemming the tide of invasion. Among them
were the 67th and 74th, from Erie county. The former, com-
manded by Colonel Chauncey Abbott and Lieutenant-colonel
490 LOCAL POLITICS.
Clough, went to Harrisburg, where it was held, with other
forces, some thirty days, to prevent a possible irruption of the
enemy in that direction. The Seventy-fourth, under Col. Wat-
son A. Fox, was marched as far as Maryland, but did not come
in sight of the foe.
At home, the political warfare raged with red-hot intensity. In
Erie county, the Democrats still held control, and in the fall of
1863 elected James M. Humphrey State senator, Francis C.
Brunck county treasurer, and Jonathan Hascall, of Brant, sur-
rogate. The following assemblymen were chosen at the same
time : Walter W. Stanard and Frederick P. Stevens of Buffalo,
Timothy S. Hopkins of Amherst, and Seth Fenner of Aurora.
This year the law regarding supervisors was again changed,
so that each ward of Buffalo had two, except the Thirteenth,
which was allowed one. This gave the city twenty-five mem-
bers of the board, the country towns having the same number,
and this balance between city and country has ever since been
maintained. The list for 1863 is as follows :
Alden, Herman A. Wende ; Amherst, Charles C. Grove ; Aurora,
Dorr Spooner; Boston, George Brinley; Brant, Nathaniel Smith.
Buffalo, ist ward, James Fleeharty and I'homas M. Knight; second
ward, Wm. M. Scott and James S. Lyon ; tliird ward, (ieorge Bymus
and John Zier ; fourth ward, Frank Fischer and Joseph W. Smith ; fifth
ward, James S. Irwin and George Baldus ; sixth ward, Jacob H. Pfohle
and Felix Bieger ; seventh ward, Henry Bitz and George Pfeiffer ; eighth
ward, James McCool and Michael Carroll ; ninth ward, William Ring
and W. B. Peck ; tenth ward, Charles E. Young and Robert Car-
michael; eleventh ward, Thomas R. Stocking and William Richard-
son; twelfth ward, Christopher Laible and Henry Mochel; thirteenth
ward, George Orr. Cheektowaga, Simeon H. Joslyn ; Colden, Nathan
C. Francis ; Concord, S. W. Goddard ; Clarence, David Woodward ;
Collins, Joseph H. Plumb; East Hamburg, Ambrose C. Johnson; Eden,
Azel Austin ; Elma, Christopher Peek ; Evans, Lyman Oatman ; Grand
Island, Levant Ransom ; Hamburg, Allen Dart ; Holland, Philip D.
Riley; Lancaster, John M. Safiford ; Marilla, H. T. Foster; Newstead,
E. P.tioslin ; North Collins, Giles Gifford ; Sardinia, Welcome Andrews ;
Tonawanda, David Kohler ; Wales, Clark Hudson ; West Seneca,
Richard Caldwell.
THE DECIMATED FORTY-NINTH. 491
CHAPTER XLIII.
1864 AND 1865.
The Decimated Forty-ninth. — The Victory of Fort Stevens. — Colonel Bidwell
Promoted. — Opequan Creek and Cedar Creek. — Death of General Bidwell.
— Remarkable Loss of Officers. — Before Petersburg. — Another Commander
Killed. — Home at Last. — The One Hundredth on the James. — Battle after-
Battle. — A Brilliant Exploit. — The Petersburg Trenches. — " In at the Death."
— Capture of Fort Greig. — Mustered Out. — Wiedrich's Battery Goes Down
to the .Sea. — Colonel Abbott's Militia Regiment. — The One Hundred and
Sixteenth in motion. — Up the Red River. — Down the Red River. — Back to
Virginia. — In the Shenandoah Valley. — The Battle of Opequan Creek. —
Fisher's Hill. — Cedar Creek. — Sheridan's Speech. — Complete Victory. — A
High Compliment. — The One Hundred and Sixteenth Comes Home. —
Grand Ovation. — Other Erie County Soldiers. — Eaton's and Wheeler's Bat-
teries.— Companies in the 33d, 78th, 155th and 164th New York Infantry,
2d Mounted Rifles, etc. — The 187th Infantry. — Civil Officers.
Again we revert to that gallant band, the 49th New York.
Up to the spring of 1864, that regiment, though alway.s respond-
ing readily to every call of duty, had chanced to escape severe
loss from bullets. On the 4th of May, still in the Sixth corps,
it moved with the rest of the army toward Richmond. Its
three field-officers were all on duty. Colonel Bidwell being in
command of the brigade, and Lieutenant-colonel Johnson and
Major Ellis with the regiment. Its numbers had been reduced
to three hundred and eighty-four men, but every man was a
hero.
On the 5th of May the army of the Potomac struck the en-
emy in the Wilderness, and in the fierce conflict which ensued,
on that and the succeeding day, the Forty-ninth was in tlfe hot-
test of the fray. In those two terrible days, Captains Plogsted,
Wip-crins and Hickmott, and Lieutenants Valentine and Preston
were killed or mortally wounded, and Lieutenant Wilder
wounded. Five officers killed in a single battle, out of about
twenty present, tells the tale of valor and destruction more forci-
bly than the most elaborate eulogy could do.
Marching forward with its depleted ranks, the Forty-ninth
492 THE VICTORY OF FORT STEVENS.
again met the foe at the battle of Spottsylvania. In this con-
flict Major EUis was wounded by a ramrod flung from some
rebel gun, which pierced his arm and bruised his chest, but was
not then supposed to have done serious injury, though it finally
proved mortal. On that day, too. Captain Terry and Lieuts.
Tyler and Haas were killed, and other officers wounded. Again
continuing their course, and driving back the enemy by succes-
sive flank movements, the army engaged in the terrific conflict
of Cold Harbor. There, at the "death angle" fell Captain
Heacock, and about the same time Lieutenants McVean and
Sayer. Thus, in those four conflicts, occurring within two
weeks, twelve officers, including a major and five captains, had
been killed or mortally wounded, being more than half the
number present with the regiment. Besides these, several others
had been wounded, though the number of deaths among the
officers was large compared with that of the wounded. It must
be admitted that, though the chances of promotion were numer-
ous, yet the encouragement to seek promotion was very poor.
The proportion of deaths was not so great among the men,
but the total list of killed and wounded was fearfully long. In
tiiose two weeks, out of the three hundred and eighty-four men
with which the regiment left Brandy Station, sixty-one had been
killed, and a hundred and fifty-five wounded, and thirty were
reported missing. Of the latter many were undoubtedly killed,
whose fate was unknown, and others were wounded and taken
prisoners. Not less than two hundred and thirty in all were
killed and wounded, or three fifths of the total strength. Many
of the wounded, however, soon returned to duty, and the ranks
received some recruits.
About the first of July the Sixth corps was sent to defend
Washington, then threatened by General Early. Scarcely had
it arri\«ed when it was engaged in a decisive conflict with the
enemy, who attempted to take Fort Stevens, a short distance
from Washington, on the Virginia side. President Lincoln was
present, and saw Colonel Bidwell's brigade charge up a hill and
drive back the foe. The Forty-ninth lost twenty-one killed and
wounded, one of the former being its commander. Lieutenant-
colonel Johnson. The President was so well pleased with the
valor and vigor displayed by Colonel Bidwell that he appointed
BIDWELLS DEATH — LAST SERVICES OF THE 49TII. 493
him brigadier-general immediately afterwards. On the 3d of
August Major Ellis died of the wound received at Spottsylvania,
a splinter from a fractured bone having entered his heart. Cap-
tains Holt and Brazee, the former of Chautauqua county, the
latter of Niagara, were appointed lieutenant-colonel and major.
The Sixth corps having been placed under the command of
Sheridan, pursued the retiring Early, and, after numerous hard
marches, was again in battle at Opequan Creek, where the 49th
lost eight killed and wounded. In September eighty-nine men,
all of the original regiment who had not retinlisted, returned
to Buffalo under Major Brazee, and were discharged. Captain
George H. Selkirk, of Buffalo, was made major in Brazee's place.
About the same time, the regiment, now recruited to 410 men,
was consolidated into a battalion of five companies, still retain-
ing the appellation of " The Forty-ninth."
At the battle of Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, Bidwell's
brigade was, as usual, at the front ; and the Forty-ninth suffered
a loss of thirty-seven, all told. Here, too, the gallant Bidwell
the only colonel of the regiment, while gallantly leading his
brigade, was stricken down in death by the bullet of the foe. A
fuller account of the operations in the valley will be found a few
pages later, in the story of the One Hundred and Sixteenth
regiment.
Thus, in less than six months, every one of the three field
officers of the Forty-ninth who had turned their horses' heads
southward in the beginning of May, had been killed, besides five
of its captains. It is doubtful if another regiment in the service
suffered such a loss of officers in so short a time. Thus, too, of
the three three-years regiments principally raised in Erie county,
every one of the colonels had been killed in action. General
Bidwell was recognized as a worthy peer of Chapin and of
Brown, (one of his superiors styled him the " Man of Iroii,") and
Post Bidwell, of the Grand Army of the Republic, does honor
to itself and him by bearing his name.
In December the battalion returned to the vicinity of Rich-
mond, but was not engaged in any very dangerous service during
the winter.
In April, 1865, however, it was again hotly engaged in the
final operations around Petersburg, and the fatality of the last
494 THE ONE HUNDREDTH ON THE JAMES.
year seemed still to hang over its field-officers ; for Lieutenant-
colonel Holt was mortally wounded, and died on the seventh of
April. Major Selkirk was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and
as the war had now ceased, he escaped the fate of his predeces-
sors. All these later field-officers, appointed after the death of
Major Ellis, had gone to the front as lieutenants, not one of the
original captains being left in the battalion. In fact, I think
that Colonel Selkirk was the only remaining lieutenant, and that
the line officers had all gone out as non-commissioned officers or
privates. Certainly, the list of captains in commission when
the battalion was mustered out — viz. .William J. Kaiser, Thomas
J. Cluny,\Valter D. Wilder, Solomon W. Russell, Jr., and Henry
J. Gifibrd — contained not a name that was on the original roster
of officers. The battalion, again reduced to eighteen officers
and two hundred and seventy-four men, was mustered out late
in June, but it was not till the third of July that the little squad
of veterans, who represented Erie county in its feeble ranks, re-
turned to their homes.
The wearied and decimated One Hundredth remained at
Morris island through the winter of 1863-4. In January, fifty
men reenlisted, and went north on veteran furlough. The terri-
ble experience of the previous summer did not offer many in-
ducements to continue in such service.
In the spring the regiment, with a large part of Gilmore's
command, was transferred to the banks of the James river, to
reinforce Gen. Butler. Scarcely had they arrived when they
took part in the fight at Walthal Junction, May 7th, 1864, driv-
ing back the enemy, and destroying a portion of the Richmond
and Petersburg railroad. Captain Richardson and Lieutenant
Adriance were wounded in this conflict. On the 12th the regi-
ment aided to capture Fort Darling, and successfully charged
the enemy beyond it, losing .several men, killed and wounded.
The next day there was more desultory fighting, and Lieutenant
Hoyt was mortally wounded. Lieutenant Pratt was wounded
in the foot, and the historian of the regiment relates that young
P. seemed vexed at nothing, except his being obliged to stop
fighting.
On the morning of the i6th, under cover of a very heavy fog.
Gen. Beauregard made a sudden attack on Gen. Butler's right.
CAPTURING A BATTERY. 495
irainincr a decided advantage. The One Hundredth was sent
forward of the main Hne, alone, and lay down, awaiting orders.
None came. Orderlies were sent to them, but were wounded
and returned. So the One Hundredth remained until an over-
whelming force of the enemy suddenly emerged from the fog,
poured in an annihilating fire upon the feeble regiment, and
drove it back upon the reserves. Lieutenant French was mor-
tally wounded, Lieutenant Babbitt was wounded, and Lieutenant
Pierson captured. Color-sergeant McKay was wounded, and
when Lieutenant Stowits offered to carry the flag, he replied :
" No, I must place it in the hands of the colonel." He did so,
and not till then w'ould the wounded soldier enter an ambulance.
This conflict was known as the battle of Drury's Bluff, and the
loss of the One Hundredth was very heavy. Colonel Plaistead,
commanding the brigade, in his official report, after describing
how the One Hundredth refused to retire without orders, added:
" Throughout the expedition this gallant regiment had the
"advance, and always willing, always ready, was the first and fore-
" most in the fight, and last to leave the field. Upon every occa-
" sion, under its gallant leader, its conduct was most creditable
" to itself and the great State it represents."
On the 2 1st of May the regiment aided in defeating the en-
emy, in the sharp contest of " Ware Bottom Church." For over
two months it remained in that vicinity, on almost incessant
duty ; fatigue and picket service occupying nearly all the time.
Li the early part of August, at " Deep Bottom," the One Hun-
dredth, led by Dandy and Nash, and supported by the 6th Con-
necticut, charged through a ravine under the eye of General
Grant, against a rebel battery, received its fire without wavering,
and captured all its four guns at the point of the bayonet. This
was one of the most brilliant exploits of the war, and reflects the
highest glory on our Erie county heroes. About thirty men
were killed and wounded, one of the latter being Lieut. McMann.
On the i6th of August the regiment, with others, charged the
rebels, lying intrenched as usual, and was repulsed by a terrific
fire. Captain Granger being taken prisoner. The night of the
1 8th the rebels with furious energy, charged the intrenchments of
the One Hundredth and were in turn scattered and driven back.
Both sides learned, by oft-repeated experience, that a fort —
49^ PETERSBURG AND IN AT THE DEATH.
or even a line of rifle-pits— was, as the old Missouri farmer
said, " a mighty nice thing to be inside of." But, as the rebels
were acting on the defensive, they could almost always manage
to be inside the fortifications, a fact which, I think, has hardly
been appreciated by a good many people, who apparently would
like to disparage the achievements of the Union soldiers by
talking about their preponderance of numbers, but who conven-
iently neglect to say anything about the eternal fortifications of
the rebels.
During September the One Hundredth lay in the trenches
before Petersburg, (styled the inferno by those who were there,)
exchanging volleys with the rebels at short range. After taking
part in one of Butler's movements north of the James, it aided
in making a feigned attack on the rebel left, while several corps
attempted to flank their right. The movement failed. Lieut.
Stowits, then acting as brigade-adjutant, was wounded while en-
deavoring to advance the skirmish line.
After that, the regiment remained in its intrenchments during
the rest of the year. Maj. Nash, several other officers, and 174 men
having served over three years, were discharged. The regiment
was then almost a new one. The line officers had nearly all gone
to the front as sergeants, and there were not in the ranks enough
of the men originally enlisted, to serve as non-commissioned
officers. That winter, Sergeants Charles Sheldon, Samuel Ely,
Henry Heimans, Mansfield Cornell, Jonathan E. Head and Albert
York were commissioned as lieutenants ; Lieutenants G. H.
Stowits, Edwin Nichols, Edward Pratt, E. S. Cook, H. W. Conry
and C. K. Baker were made captains ; and Capt. J. H. Dandy
(brother of the colonel) was appointed major.
Like the Forty-ninth, the One Hundredth was " in at the
death " of the slave-drivers' confederacy. On the 27th of March
it left its camp to take part in the final movements. After sev-
eral days of constant marching or fighting, the regiment found
itself on Sunday, the 2d day of April, in front of Fort Greig,
one of the last of the rebel strongholds in rear of Petersburg.
Its division (the first of the Twenty-fourth corps) was ordered
to assault it. The defenders were comparatively few, but amply
protected by the walls of the fort, and desperate to the last
degree. P'or nearly half an hour the conflict was kept up. At
CAPTURE OF FORT GREIG, ETC. 497
the end of that time the colors of the One Hundredth New
York, the first in the whole division, were planted on the para-
pet. Scarcely was this done when the color-bearer was shot
down. Major Dandy,then in command of the regiment, sprang
forward to raise the flag, when he, too, was instantly killed. But
the column surged on, and in a moment more obtained posses-
sion of the fort, finding seven eighths of its defenders lying dead
or wounded on the ground. Certainly, the defenders of Fort
Greig came as near all " dying in the last ditch " as any human
beings ever need to do.
This was the last battle of the One Hundredth. Appomatox
followed on Wednesday, and, after four days more of march,
and maneuver, and conflict, and intense excitement over the
evident wreck of the falling confederacy, the army of Lee sur-
rendered to the army of Grant.
It was not till the 28th of August that the regiment was dis-
charged, the intervening time having been passed in compara-
tively easy duty, mostly at Richmond. Even on the eve of
return there were several promotions, useful only as marks of
respect to the recipients. Captain Granger was appointed lieu-
tenant-colonel. Though only twenty-two years old, and having
gone out as the junior second lieutenant in 1862, he was, when
thus promoted, the ranking captain of the regiment, and was,
I think, the only officer remaining, of those on the original ros-
ter. Captain Stowits was commissioned as major, but resigned
before muster. Lieutenants Connelly, Head, Conry and Ely
became captains, and Frank Casey, Peter Kelly, John S. Man-
ning, John Gordon, Charles H. Waite and Joseph Pratt, were
appointed lieutenants. Two other regiments having been con-
solidated with the One Hundredth, the whole body was mustered
out at Albany, so that the Board of Trade regiment did not
receive the ovation which would otherwise have greeted it.
A few more words for the bold Germans of Wiedrich's battery.
Early in February the gallant captain was promoted to lieuten-
ant-colonel of the 15th New York artillery. Lieutenant Sahm
was promoted to captain, but soon after died, and Captain
Winegar took command. But the organization was still best
known as " Wiedrich's Battery." Sixty of the men reenlisted
as veterans, being more than half of the original members. The
498 wiedrich's battery, etc.
battery went through with Sherman to Atlanta, and thence to
the sea, and participated in nearly every battle on the route.
The nature of artillery service is well shown by a survey of
its casualties. It did not suffer very severe loss at any one
time, but whenever the foe made a stand it was brought to
the front, and generally some of its men were killed or wounded.
At Lost Mountain, June 4th, two men were wounded ; at Ack-
worth station one was killed ; at Kenesaw Mountain one man
was killed and one wounded; at Peach Tree Creek, July 20th,
one was killed and five were wounded, and at the siege of At-
lanta Lieutenant Henchen was killed, and two men were mor-
tally wounded. The battery accompanied Sherman to the sea,
and thence on his triumphal march northward, but was not in
any other serious engagement, and in 1865 was mustered out,
with the rest of the victorious army of the Republic.
At this time a conscription law had been passed, and the
large bounties paid by cities and towns to escape the draft at-
tracted a host of dubious recruits, who needed much watching
and were generally sent to the front under guard. After the
Gettysburg invasion, a law was passed in this State directing
that there should be a militia regiment in each assembly dis-
trict. Dr. George Abbott, of Hamburg, raised a new regiment
for the fifth district. This was sent to Elmira in the summer of
1864, under Colonel Abbott, Lieutenant-colonel C. C. Smith and
Major William C. Church, and kept there near four months,
acting as guard both for the rebel prisoners and for unreliable
recruits. Numerous detachments of Col. A.'s regiment went
through even to Petersburg, with recruits, and it speaks well for
the discipline of the militiamen that not a rebel nor a bounty-
jumper ever escaped from their grasp.
During the early part of 1864, the One Hundred and Six-
teenth New York remained in camp near Franklin. Louisiana.
That camp they so constructed and ornamented that it was con-
sidered one of the great curiosities of the southwestern army.
From this pleasant abiding place the One Hundred and Six-
teenth departed, on the fifteenth of March, for the celebrated
Red river campaign. With some twenty thousand other troops
it marched to Alexandria, where they were joined by fifteen
or twenty thousand more, and the whole force took its way up
THE Ii6tII on the RED RIVER. 499
the Red river. On the 8th of April, the Nineteenth corps, to
which the One Hundred and Sixteenth belonged, reached a
point eight miles above Pleasant Hill. Eight miles ahead of it
was the Thirteenth corps, with a large cavalry force still farther
in advance, while parts of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth corps,
forming the command of Gen. A. J. Smith, were eight miles in
rear of the Nineteenth.
The enemy suddenly attacked the cavalry in force, captured
their artillery and supply-train, and then overwhelmed the Thir-
teenth corps, and sent them back in utter rout. The Nineteenth
corps was formed in line of battle, and the men of the One
Hundred and Sixteenth New York, with their comrades, awaited
the onslaught of the victors. The latter came on with exultant
yells, but the Erie county men held their fire till their foes were
within a few paces, and then delivered it with such telling effect
that the rebels instantly fled, and did not return that day. In
this conflict, sometimes called the battle of Sabine Cross Roads,
the regiment had two killed and nineteen wounded.
It would seem that the position thus maintained might have
been held, but Gen. Banks thought otherwise, and the corps re-
treated, at midnight, to Pleasant Hill. Then the whole army
awaited the attack of the foe. They came, attacked, and were
driven back, with heavy loss. The One Hundred and Sixteenth
being sheltered by a rude fortification of rails, on their front, lost
only two men killed and ten wounded. But even this victory
was only valued by General Banks as giving him another oppor-
tunity to escape. At midnight, the whole army was again
moved to the rear, and halted but a short time till it reached
Alexandria. While there, the One Hundred and Sixteenth and
a few other regiments built the celebrated dam, by which our
fleet of gunboats, imprisoned above the Red river rapids, was
enabled to float down and escape the foe. The army then re-
turned to the Mississippi.
In the forepart of July, the Nineteenth corps went back by
sea to northern Virginia, arriving at Washington the same day
that Bid well's brigade won the victory of Fort Stevens. After
numerous fruitless marches, the whole army in northern Vir-
ginia was placed under a young commander, till then but little
known. General Philip H. Sheridan. His command was soon in
500 IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
the Shenandoah Valley, where Sheridan and Early moved back-
ward and forward, each apparently satisfied if he could hold the
other in check, and prevent his aiding one of the main armies.
This continued till the 19th of September, when the battle of Ope-
quan Creek was fought. After a stubborn fight between the
Sixth and Nineteenth corps (the 49th New York was in the
former, the i i6th in the latter,) and the rebels, with no great,
advantage on either side, the Eighth corps and Custer's cavalry,
which had been held in reserve, charged and utterly routed the
foe. Nine men killed and forty wounded was the cost of this
victory to the One Hundred and Sixteenth.
The army pressed forward rapidly after the beaten enemy,
overtook him at Fisher's Hill, and inflicted the most com-
plete defeat, capturing two thousand prisoners and twenty-one
pieces of artillery. Sheridan chased Early up the valley as
much farther as it was thought best to go, and then returned
toward his base of supplies. Early, with some reinforcements,
immediately gathered up his command as best he could, and
followed. At Cedar Creek he managed to surprise the Eighth
corps, utterly routing them and capturing twenty-four pieces of
artillery. Sheridan had gone forward, and was many miles down
the valley. Gen. Wright ordered the army to retreat. The reb-
els followed in exultant and somewhat disorganized pursuit.
When four miles were thus passed, thundering cheers told
of the arrival of Sheridan. After his famous ride from " twenty
miles away " the fiery little general was in the field, turning the
retreating lines toward the enemy. The men were formed in
battle order, and then allowed to make coffee. While the One
Hundred and Sixteenth was at this welcome task, another out-
burst of cheers was heard, rapidly approaching nearer. In a
few moments " Little Phil," on his celebrated coal-black steed,
rode along the line of the regiment.
" Boys," he cried, " this should never have happened if I liad
" been here. But we are going to our old camp to sleep to-night.
" for we're going to get the tightest twist on them you ever saw.
" I tell you we'll lick them out of their boots before night, if you'll
"only fight." The wildest cheers rent the air, the " boys " flung
their caps on high, and swore that if " Little Phil '" would only
lead them no enemy on earth should stop them.
BREAKING THE ENEMY'S LINE. 5OI
But Sheridan could be cautious as well as venturesome, and
it was not till the men were well rested and fed, and he had
thoroughly scanned the ground, that, at three o'clock, the line
advanced. While thus moving forward with the rest of the
line, the brigade to which the One Hundred and Sixteenth be-
longed was received with a severe fire from a stone wall, across
an open field. It was a bad place for a charge, but the brigade
commander, Colonel Davis, ordered and led one, and Colonel
Love, as usual, rode in front of the One Hundred and Sixteenth.
The men went forward with a cheer, and drove the rebels from
the wall at the point of the bayonet. Colonel L. having his horse
killed under him.
After following the enemy some distance, the brigade found it-
self alone. But Sheridan came up immediately afterwards, arid at
once sent an order to Gen. Emory, commanding the Nineteenth
corps, to hurry up reinforcements, saying, " The first brigade
has burst through the enemy's line ; send them reinforcements
at once." It was done, and soon, while Custer's cavalry charged
successfully on the right, the first division moved forward, charged
and scattered a strong opposing force, uncovered the enemy's
flank, and caused his immediate retreat.
An exciting chase followed, in which thousands of prisoners
were captured, besides battle flags, artillery, and small arms in-
numerable. The men of the One Hundred and Sixteenth were
the first to plant their flag on the works at Cedar Creek. So
swift had been their charges that they had suffered less than they
might have done in less audacious fighting. The regiment had
seven men killed and forty-four wounded.
This was the last battle of the One Hundred and Sixteenth
New York. During the winter it remained in the valley, guard-
ing railroads, etc. It is worth noticing that, when Gen. Emory
received orders to issue some patent "gun-cappers," for trial, to
"the best regiment in the Nineteenth corps," he selected the
One Hundred and Sixteenth New York, and his opinion was
endorsed by General Sheridan. The "gun-cappers " were found
worthless, but the honor was none the less emphatic. In the
spring the regiment was sent to Washington, where it remained
till June, when it returned home.
Though the regiment had suffered severe losses, it was not as
502 THE RETURN.
much changed as many others. There was still a large propor-
tion of its first men in the ranks, and a few of the original ros-
ter of officers. Colonel Love had been brevetted a brigadier-
general for gallant conduct at Cedar Creek, but returned in
command of the regiment. John M. Sizer was lieutenant-col-
onel, and George W. Carpenter major. John C. Nial was adju-
tant, George W. Miller quartermaster, C. B. Hutchins surgeon,
M. E. Shaw assistant surgeon, and H. J. Gordon chaplain. Few
companies had more than two officers. The list comprised Capt.
G. H. Shepard and ist Lieut. J. G. Dayton, of "A;" Captain
J. G. VVoehnert and Lieuts. W. F. Feldman and Samuel Leon-
ard, of "B;" Captain VV. J. Morgan and 2d Lieutenant John
Hoppes, of " C ; " Captain E. W. Seymour, of " D ; " ist Lieut.
H. A. C. Swartz, of "E;" Captain C. S. Crary and ist Lieut.
Wm. Holden, of "G;" Captain O. S. Clark and ist Lieutenant
W. W. Grace, of "F";" Captain J. H. Rohan and ist Lieutenant
C. D. Ballard, of "H;" Captain Win. Tibbits and ist Lieut.
C. H. Curry, of " I," and Captain W. T. Ferris and ist Lieut.
J. H. Dingman, of " K."
The regiment arrived in Buffalo on the 13th of June. There
had been some mistakes made with regard to the reception of
detachments of returning volunteers, but that given to the One
Hundred and Sixteenth vi^as of the warmest description. The
whole city turned out to welcome them, banners waved by the
hundred, and cheers rent the air at every step, as in holiday
attire, and with the perfect drill on which they prided themselves,
the veteran regiment marched through the principal streets of
the city. Two weeks later the men were finally paid oft", and
the last regiment of Erie-county, three-years' volunteers became
citizens once more.
1 have now given a brief, imperfect sketch of the services of
the regiments raised in this county, and serving for two or more
years. I must again express my regret that I cannot give due
credit to many others of our soldiers, who served in scattered
detachments with equal valor and fidelity.
In the fall of 1862, battery No. 27, New York artillery, went
to the front from Erie county, under Captain J. B. Eaton and
Lieutenants W. A. Bird, Jr., and C. A. Clark, and served through-
out the war. The next year battery No. 33 went out under
OTHER ERIE COUNTY SOLDIERS. 503
Captain A. M. Wheeler and Lieutenant J. D. Woods, also serv-
ing to the end.
In the fall of 1862, several companies were raised in this
county for a new regiment, which were finally divided among
other organizations. Two companies went into the 155th New
York; one under Captain John Byrne, and Lieutenants James
VVorthington and Hugh Mooney, the other under Captain James
McConvey, and Lieutenants John McNally and John Ternan.
The 155th served in the army of the Potomac to the end, Capt.
Byrne fighting his way up to the colonelcy. Two other compa-
nies went into the 164th New York, one under Captain Chris-
topher Graham and Lieutenants Walters and Kelley, the other
under Captain T. W. Kelly and Lieutenants Sizer and Stapleton.
That regiment was brigaded with the 155th, and shared all its
toils and its combats. Two or three companies from Erie county
also went in the beginning of the war into the 33d infantry,
serving three years. Captains Gail and Hamilton were Erie
county officers of that regiment. One company, raised princi-
pally in Amherst and Clarence, joined the 78th regiment, under
Captain W. H. Randall and Lieutenants Levi Metz and John
Blocher.
In the fall of 1864, the 187th regiment was raised princi-
pally in Erie county, and largely from the 65th militia. It
enlisted for two years, but, on account of the close of the
war, served only about nine months. Not being quite full,
it mustered no colonel ; serving under Lieutenant-colonel My-
ers and Major Conrad Sieber. At the battle of Hatcher's Run
it lost sixty killed and wounded, and was in several minor
afi"airs. Two companies also entered the 2d mounted rifles,
under Captains Wells and Stevenson, in the beginning of 1864.
Individuals, too, from Erie county were in the 24th New York
Cavalry and many other organizations. The story of their
services is preserved on no historic page, and many of them
sleep in unknown graves, but, from those records which are
known, it may well be presumed that the sons of Erie county
wherever found, were the peers of any of their comrades in the
army of the nation.
In the fall of 1864 the Democrats, for the fourth time, carried
the county, electing James M. Humphrey member of Congress,
504 CIVIL OFFICERS,
Stephen Lockwood county judije, Oliver J. Eggert slicrifif, and
L. P. Dayton county clerk. The following assemblymen were
also chosen : Walter W. Stanard and Harmon S. Cutting of
Buffalo, John G. Langner of West Seneca, and Edwin W. God-
frey of Collins. The next year the Republicans were at last
successful, electing David S. Bennett State senator, and Lyman
K. Bass district-attorney. The assemblymen then chosen were
William Williams and J. L. C. Jewett of Buffalo, John G. Lang-
ner of West Seneca, and Levi Potter of East Hamburg. The
list of supervisors for the two years is as follows :
Alden, 1864, Herman A. Wende ; 1865, William Slade. Amherst,
1864 and '65, Benjamin Miller. Aurora, 1864 and '65, Dorr Spooner.
Boston, 1864 and '65, A. D. Gary. Brant, 1864 and '65, Nathaniel
Smith.
Buffalo, first ward, 1864, T. INI. Knight and Dennis McNamara;
1865, James Fleeharty and Joseph Murphy. Second ward, 1864, J.
S. Lyon and Hugh Webster; 1865, Hugh Webster and Walter (x. See-
ley. Third ward, 1864 and '65, John Zier and Matthew O'Brien.
Fourth ward, 1864, Harmon H. Griffin and Jacob Gittere ; 1865, M.
Leo Ritt and Levi Curtiss. Fifth ward, 1864 and '65, James S. Irwin
and George Baldus. Sixth ward, 1864 and '65, J. Stengel and Jacob
Himmens. Seventh ward, 1864, Henry Benz and George J. Buchheit ;
1865, John Gisel and Louis Fritz. Eighth ward, 1864, Price A. ALitte-
son and John Hopkins; 1865, George Diebold and Cyrus Harmon.
Ninth ward, 1864, Wm. Ring and W. B. Peck; 1865, C. A. Van Slyke
and A. J. Buckland. Tenth ward, 1864 and '65, C. E. Young and
Robert Carmichael. Eleventh ward, 1864 and '65, T. R. Stocking and
Wm. Richardson. Twelfth ward, 1864, Christopher Laible and Henry
Mochel ; 1865, Wm. Post and Robert Ambrose. Thirteenth ward,
t864 and '65, Geo. Orr.
Cheektowaga, 1864 and '65, L Selden VAy. Clarence, 1864, David
Woodward; 1865, L. G. Wiltse. Colden, 1864 and '65, Richard E.
Bowen. Collins, 1864 and '65, Joseph H. Plumb. Concord, 1864 and
'65, Philetus Allen. East Hamburg, 1864 and '65, Levi Potter. Eden,
1864 and '65, Nelson Welch. Elma, 1864 and '65, L M. Bullis.
Evans, 1864, John H. Andrews ; 1865, Lyman Oatman. Grand Island,
1864 and '65, John Nice. Hamburg, 1864 and '65, Allen Dart. Hol-
land, 1864, Philip D. Riley; 1865, John O. Rilev. Lancaster, 1864,
John T. Wheelock; 1865, F. H. James. Marilla,' 1864, H. T. Foster;
1865, Samuel S. Adams. Newstead, 1864 and '65, E. P. Goslin.
North Collins, 1864, Wilson Rogers ; 1865, D. Allen. Sardinia, 1864
and "65, \Velcome Andrews. Tonawanda, 1864 and '65, Benjamin H.
Long. Wales, 1864, Clark Hudson ; 1865, Alonzo Havens. West
Seneca, 1864, Richard Caldwell; 1865, Charles J. James.
CLOSING UP. 505
CHAPTER XLIV.
SINCE THE MVAn.
Closing up. — The Officials of Ten Years. — Tiie Political See-.saw. — Mayors and
Judges. — A Long List of Supervisors. — Great Increase of Germans. — The
German Young Men's Association. — The Liedertafel, Orpheus, Saengerbund
and Turnverein. — German Newspapers. — English Newspapers. — Sundry So-
cieties.— The County and City Hall. — Science on the Hunting Grounds.
Those who wemt excitins^ readint^ will probably, in their pe-
rusal of this work, stop with the close of the war. The remain-
ing years furnish little that is usually considered as within the
scope of history, but a "Centennial History" must come down
to 1876.
Yet the political changes of the last ten years furnish quite a
study to those who take an interest in partisan warfare. In the
fall of 1866, the Democrats having regained sway, Jas. M. Hum-
phrey was reelected to Congress, and C. R. Durkee was chosen
county treasurer. After the census of 1865, Erie county was
assigned five members of assembly ; those elected in 1866 were
C. W. Hinson, Wm. Williams and R. L. Burrows of Buffalo, Al-
phcus Prince of Newstead, and J. H. Plumb of Collins. In
1867, G. J. Bamler, Richard Flach and L. P. Dayton were
elected from Buffalo, Alpheus Prince from Newstead, and James
Rider from Sardinia. At the same time, Asher P. Nichols was
chosen State senator, Charles Darcy sheriff", Horatio Seymoui
surrogate, and John H. Andrus, of Evans, county clerk.
In 1868 Erie county went over with a rush to the Republican
side, the Grant electoral ticket having a majority of about two
thousand. D. S. Bennett was elected congressman, and R. L.
Burrows county judge, and Mr. Bass was reelected district-attor-
ney. The assemblymen were G. J. Bamler, P. H. Bender and
J. A. Chase of Buffalo, C. B. Rich ; and A. C. Calkins of Ham-
burg. In 1869 the Republicans still held possession, Loran
L. Lewis being elected State senator, and VVm. B. Sirret county
treasurer. The assemblymen chosen that year were G. J. Bam-
33
5o6 RAPID CHANGES.
Icr, James Franklin and A. H. Blossom of Buffalo, H. B. Ran-
som of Grand Island, and Lyman Oatman of Evans.
In 1870 the Democrats rallied and captured aH the prizes ; Wm-
Williams being elected to Congress, Grover Cleveland being
chosen sheriff, and J. H. Fisher county clerk. The assembly-
men elect were George Chambers, J. Howell and F. A. Alber-
ger of Buffalo, H. B. Ransom of Grand Island, and John M.
Wiley of Colden. In these years the proverbial " rooster" flew
back and forth from one party to the other with exemplary dili-
gence. In 1 87 1 the Republicans took their turn, reelecting Mr.
Lewis to the senate, and making B. H. Williams district-attorney
and Zebulon Ferris surrogate. Nelson K. Hopkins, of Buffalo,'
was elected State comptroller. The successful candidates
for the assembly were George Chambers, George Baltz and F. A.
Albcrger of Buffalo, John Nice of Grand Island, and J. M.
Wiley of Colden.
The year of the Grant and Greeley campaign, the bird of
triumph seemed to have come to the Republican side to stay ;
all the candidates on that side being chosen by majorities of
from five to six thousand. Lyman K. Bass was elected mem-
ber of Congress, and Albert Haight county judge ; Mr. Sirret
being reelected county treasurer. The Republicans even elected
all of the members of assembly, something that has never been
done, before or since, by any party, since the county was divided
into assembly districts. This legislative phalanx was composed
of John O'Brian, George Baltz and F. A. Alberger of Buffalo,
John Nice of Grand Island, and Robert B. Foote of Hamburg.
Yet the very next year there was a divided vote, John Ganson,
Democrat, being chosen State senator, while J. B. Weber and
G. L. Remington, both Republicans, were elected sheriff and
county clerk. The majorities were small on both sides. Mr.
Hopkins was reelected comptroller. Messrs. Alberger, Nice and
Foote were reelected to the assembly, their new colleagues being
Patrick Hanrahan and Joseph W. Smith.
With one more turn of the wheel, the Democrats had a ma-
jority, electing A. P. Laning senator (in place of Mr. Ganson,
deceased) and D. N. Lockwood district-attorney. In the State,
Wm. Dorshcimer, of Buffalo.was elected lieutenant-governor. Mr.
Bass, however, was again elected to Congress. The assemblymen
MAYORS AND JUDGES. $07
then chosen were Patrick Hanrahan, W. W. Lawson and E. Galla-
gher of Buffalo, H. B. Ransom of Grand Island, and W. A. John-
son of Collins. But. if the Democrats thought themselves firmly
fixed in control of the county, they were destined to be quickly
disappointed, for in 1875 the Republicans obtained a majority of
over three thousand five hundred, electing S. S. Rogers State
senator, and again reelecting Mr. Sirret county treasurer. It is
evident that the political game need not fail of interest in this
county for lack of uncertainty. The assemblymen then chosen
(and now in office) were Daniel Cruice, W. W. Lawson and Ed-
ward Gallagher of Buffalo, C. F. Tabor of Lancaster, and Ber-
trand Chaffee of Concord.
The mayors of Buffalo since 1856 have been as follows:
Elected in 1857, T. T. Lockwood ; in 1859, Franklin A. Al-
berger; 1861 and '63, Wm. G. Fargo ; 1865, C. J. Wells ; 1867,
Wm. F. Rogers; 1869 and '71, Alexander Brush; 1873, L. P.
Dayton; 1875, Philip Becker. The Superior Court of Buffalo
had remained intact, consisting of Judges Verplanck, Masten,
and Clinton, from 1856 to 1871. In the spring of the latter
year, Judge Masten died, and in the succeeding autumn, ex-
County Judge Sheldon was elected the full term, which, by an
amendment to the constitution, was extended to fourteen years.
In 1873 Judge Verplanck died, and James M. Smith was elected.,
The terms of Supreme Court judges had been fixed at the same
period, while county judges and surrogates were to hold six years.
All judicial officers chosen since the adoption of the amendment
hold for full terms from the time of their election. The judges
of the Supreme Court, resident in Erie county, are Charles Dan-
iels, elected to fill the term of Judge Hoyt, deceased, in 1863,
and reelected in 1869, and John L. Talcott, elected in 1869 to fill
an unexpired term, and reelected in 1873.
The following is a list of the supervisors for the last ten years:
Alden, 1866, Bradley Goodyear; 1867, E. R. Hall; 1868, E. R.
Ewell; 1869, '70, '71, '72, '73 and '74, Spencer Stone; 1875, Bernhard
Wende; 1876, L. W. Cornwell. Amherst, 1866 and '67, Benj. Miller;
1868, '69 and '70, Leonard Dodge ; 187 i and '72, M. Snyder ; 1873, D.
Wherle ; 1874, '75 and '76, J. Schoelles. Aurora, 1866, D. C. Corbin ;
1867 and '68, P. A.. Haynes ; 1869 and '70, H. Z. Person ; 1871, '72 and
'73, Christopher Peek ; 1874 and '75, J. P. Bardett; 1876, Lyman Corn-
well. Boston, 1866, A. D. Cary; 1867 and '71, Enos Blanchard ; 1868
and '69, T. S. Cary; 1870, Dexter Folsom ; 1872, J. H. Fuller; 1873, A.
5o8 SUPERVISORS DURING TEN YEARS.
W. Lockwood; 1874, '75 and '76, A. K.Woodward. Brant, 1866, '67,
■70, '71, '72, '73, '75 and '76, Wm. W. Hammond; 1874. H.P. Moffat;
1868 and '69, D. H. Odell.
Buffalo, first ward, 1866, Austin Hanrahan and Geo. Campbell ; 1S67,
A. Hanrahan and Maurice Courtney ; 1868, A. Hanrahan and Ma-
thias Ryan ; 1869, A. Hanrahan and John Pier; 1870, J. Pier and Ed-
ward Mullihan ; 187 i, J. Pier and John Manning ; 1872, Alex. Love and
G. G. Smith ; 1873, G. G. Smith and Jas. Hanrahan ; 1874, Jas. Mc-
Carthy and Thos. Quinn ; 1875 and '76, John Norris and Jas. Mana-
har. Second ward, 1866, Hugh Webster and W. G. Seeley ; 1867, H.
W^ebster and Z. Bonney ; 1868, Z. Bonney and P. J. Ferris; 1869, H
Webster and Z. Bonney ; 1870 and '71, H. Webster and Albert Haight;
1872, A. Haight and Daniel Post ; 1873, '74 and '75, E. R. Saxton and
A. L. Lothridge; 1876, E. R. Saxton and J. M. Comstock. Third
ward, 1866, Geo. Gehring and J. Baumgarten ; 1867, Milton Wilder
and Bernard Knor ; 1868, M. Wilder and N. Seibert ; 1869, J. A.
Seymour and W. A. Carney; 1870, John Mahoney and J. V. Hayes;
187 1, J. V. Hayes and Anselm Haefner ; 1872, J. V. Hayes and G. M.
Ruhlman ; 1873, Frederick Arend and G. H. Kennedy; 1874, J. G.
Streich and Wm. Dolan ; 1875, W. W. Buffum and J. G. Streich ; 1876,
W. W. Buffum and E. W. Evans. Fourth ward, 1866, Thos. Farnham
and Geo. M. Kolb ; 1867, P. J. Ripont and L. P. Mauer ; 1868, A.
C. Hudson and F. J. Stephan; 1869, W. S. Ovens and F. C. Fischer;
1870, G. C. Grimard and Ludwig Wilhelm ; 1871, L. Wilhelm and F.
J. Stephan; 1872, W. W. Lawson and Louis Hesman ; 1873, W. W.
Lawson and Chas. Person ; 1874 and '75, Vj. Bertrand, Jr., and C. Wag-
ner; 1876, E. Bertrand, Jr., and C. F. Mensch. Fifth ward, 1866, J. S.
Irwin and Geo. Baldus ; 1867, Henry Fort and John Huels; 1868, C.
G. Irish and Chas. Sauer ; 1869, Wm. Seymour and Wm. Critchley ;
1870 and '7 r, Wm. Seymour and Caspar J. Drescher ; 1872, Wm. Hein-
rich and Conrad Sieber ; 1873, C. Sieber and P. F. Lawson; 1874 and
'75, Wm. Seymour and Louis Fritz; 1876, L. Fritz and P. F. Lawson.
Sixth ward, i866 and '68, J. Stengel and J. Himmens; 1867, J. Sten-
gel and J. P. Walter; 1869 and '70, Leopold Mullenhoff and Caspar
Meyer; 187 1, Adam Wick and A. Lenhart ; 1872 and '73, William
vScheier and Ernst Billeb; 1874 and '75, Sebastian Elser and Henry
Miller; 1876, S. Elser and Michael Loebig. Seventh ward, 1866,
John Gisel and Louis Fritz ; 1867, J. Gisel and Jacob Bangasser; 1868,
J. Bangasser and Henry Hitchler; 1869, Conrad Baer and Henry
Schermer; 1870 and '71, C. Baer and Conrad Branner; 1872, Alfred
Lyth and Henry Schermer; 1873 and '74, A. Lyth and G. Baer; 1875,
G. Baer and M. L. Luke; 1876, G. Baer and Peter Branner. Eighth
ward, 1866, Michael Carroll and Samuel M. Baker; 1867, Geo. ^^'eb-
er and Michael Keenan ; 1868, M. Keenan and (jco. Gates; 1869,
Wm. Fitzgerald and Henry McQuade ; 1870, S. McQuade and Daniel
Cruice; 1871, B. R. Cole and Robert Wheelan ; 1872, Fred. Rig-
ger and Thomas Canfield ; 1873, John Manning and Henry Brinkman ;
1874, Edw. Lyon and J. K. Wolf; 1875, Timothy Sweeney and John
Pfeil ; 1876, Timothy Lyons and Jas. E. Nunan. Ninth ward, 1866,
Geo. Colt and Elias Green; 1867, A. J. Buckland and D. G. Jackson;
THE LIST CONTINUED. 509
1868, A. J. Buckland and T. W. Toye ; 1869, T. W. Toye and E.
Green; 1870, E. Green and D. \V. Burt; 1871, E. Green and Silas
Kingsley ; 1S72, D. W. Burt and T. W. Toye ; 1873, T. W. Toye and
E. Green; 1874 and '75, E. D. Berry and W. R. Crumb; 1876, E. D.
Berry and Fred. Busch. Tenth ward, 1866, C. E. Young and f. L. Fair-
child ; 1867, J. L. Fairchild and P. B. Williams ; 1868, S. C. Adams and
A.J. Davis; 1869, '70 and '72, C. E. Young and Philip Miller; i87i,C.E.
Young and S. M. Robinson; 1873, J. A. Gittere and L. P. Beyer; 1874,
L. P. Beyer and C. E. Young; 1875 and '76, L. P. Beyer and A. B. Tan-
ner. Eleventh ward, 1866, Wm. Richardson and P. A. Balcom ; 1867,
P. A. Balcom and James Sheldon ; 1868 and '69, P. A. Balcom and Dick-
inson Gazley ; 1870, P. A. Balcom and H. O. Cowing ; 1871, A. McLeish
and Leonard Hinkley ; 1872, A. McLeish and Thomas Thompson ; 1873,
'74 and '75, Thomas Prowett and Christopher Smith ; 1876, T. Prowett
and D. Gazley. Twelfth ward, 1866, Robt. Ambrose and J. A. Chase;
1867, G. J. Woelfley and Samuel Eley ; 1868, G. J. Woelfley and H.
Mochel ; 1869, E. R. Jewett and F. Haehn ; 1870, Frank Forness and
Jacob Smith; 1871, J. Smith and J. Cantillon ; 1872, J. Cantillon and
Washington Russell; 1873, James Delaney and John Abel; 1874, J.
Delaney and W. Russell; 1875, Leonard' Eley and J. S. Estel ; 1876,
L. Eley and Peter Glor. Thirteenth ward, 1866, T. M. Gibbon ; 1867,
George Orr ; 1868, Frank Puetz ; 1869 and '70, Wm. Graham ; 187 1,
Wm. Shannon; 1872 and '73, J. J. Coates ; 1874, '75 and '76, Edward
Corriston.
Cheektowaga, 1866, '67, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73, and '75, E. Selden
Ely; 1874, Joseph Duringer; 1876, Pennock Winspear. Clarence,
1866, '67, '68, '69, '70, '71, and '72, Jacob Eschelman ; 1873, L. G.
Wiltse ; 1874, J. O. Magoffin; 1875 -""id '76, John Krauss. Colden,
1866, '67, '68, '69, '71 and '72, G. W. Nichols ; '1870, Stephen Church-
ill ; 1873, Chas. Day ; 1874 and '75, D. T. Francis ; 1876, R. E. Bowen.
Collins, 1866 and '67, J. H. Plumb; 1868, '69 and '70, S. T. White ;
1871 and '73, S. A. Sisson ; 1872, Z. A. Bartlett ; 1874 and '75, J. H.
White; 1876, W. A. Johnson. Concord, 1866, '68 and '73, C.C. Severance;
1867 and '69, A. M. Stanbro ; 1870 and '71, Bertrand Chaffee; 1872,
Frank Chase; 1874 and '75, Erasmus Briggs ; 1876, Henry Blackmar.
East Hamburg, 1866, Benjamin Baker ; 1867, Christopher Hambleton;
1868 and '70, Allen Potter ; 1869, N. B. Sprague ; 1871, '72, '73, '74
and '76, F. M. Thorne; 1875, ^- Freeman. Eden, 1866, '67 and '72, N.
Welch; 1868, D. Schweichert ; 1869, C. S. Rathbun ; 1870 and '71, F.
Keller ; 1873, L. D. Wood ; 1874, '75 and '76, J. H. Lord. Elma, 1866,
P. B. Lathrop; 1867, '68, '71, '72 and '73, A. Marvel; 1869 and '70, H.
Harris; 1874, '75 and '76, W. Winspear. Evans, 1866, '67, '69, '70 and
'75, E. Z. Southwick ; 1868, J. Southwick ; 187 i, '72, '73, '74 and '76, D.
C. Oatman. Grand Island," 1866, J. Nice ; 1867, '68, '69 and '74, H. B.
Ransom ; 1870, Levant Ransom; 187 i and '72, J. H. W. Staley ; 1873,
Sutlief Staley ; 1875, C. Spohr; 1876, contested. Hamburg, 1866,
'67, '72 and '73, George Pierce; t868, '69, '70, '71 and '72, Robert
C. Titus; 1874, '75 and '76, H. W. White. Holland, 1866, '67, '68,
'69, '70, '71 and '73, J. O. Riley; 1872, Perry Dickerman ; 1874 and
'75, C. A. Orr; 1876, Homer Morey. Lancaster, 1866, F. H. James;
5IO THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1867, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73, '74, '75 and '76, N. B. Gatchell. Ma-
rilla, 1S66, H. T. Foster; 1867, '68 and '69, Benjamin Fones ; 1870,
Whitford Harrington; 1871 and '72, Henry Harrington; 1873, R. H.
Miller; 1874, '75 and '76, R. D. Smith. Newsreadj^ 1866, '67, '68, '69,
'70, '71 and '72, Marcus Lusk ; 1873 and '76, W. T. McGoffin ; 1874,
D. B. Howe; 1875, H. H. Newton. North Collins, 1866, Thos. Rus-
sell; 1867 and '68, Daniel Allen; 1869, '70 and '71, E. W. Godfrey;
1872, '73 and '74, M. Hunter; 1875, C. C. Kirby ; 1876, James Mat-
thews. Sardinia, 1866 and '67, Geo. Bigelow; 1868 and '69, Welcome
Andrews; 1870, G. C. Martin; 1871 and '72, Roderick Simons; 1873
and '74, Geo. Andrews; 1875 and '76, Addison VVheelock. Tona-
wanda, 1866, '67, '72 and '73, Fred. Knothe ; 1868 and '69, S. G.
Johnson; 1870, B. H. Long; 1871, C. Schwinger ; 1874, Wm. Kibler;
1875, J- H. De Graff; 1876, Philip WendelL Wales, 1866, '67, '68
and '69, Alonzo Havens; 1870, Turner Fuller; 1871, Edward Leigh;
1872, '73, '74, '75 and '76, C. N. Brayton. West Seneca, 1866, C. J.
James ; 1867, '68, '69 and '70, A. P. Pierce ; 1871, '72 and '73, Nelson
Reed; 1874, '75 and '76, Victor Irr.
Whoever even glances over the foregoing list, and over the
similar ones for the last thirty years, cannot but notice the
steady growth of German names. To-day the people of that
nationality, including the children of the original emigrants,
constitute more than a third of the people of the county. In
the city of Buffalo they are estimated at sixty thousand ; be-
sides which they form nearly the whole population of West
Seneca and Checktowaga, and a large part of that of Tona-
wanda, Amherst, Lancaster, Aldcn, Elma, Manila, Hamburg,
Eden, Boston and North Collins — to say nothing of numerous
individual residents of other towns, or of the descendants of the
"Pennsylvania" Germans, who are numerous in Amherst, Clar-
ence and Newstead. Many of those thus classed, however, were
born in America, speak the English language, and differ but lit-
tle from their American neighbors. The Germans, generally, are
about equally divided between Catholics and Protestants.
In Buffalo, numerous institutions peculiar to themselves are
supported entirely by the Germans. The earliest of these soci-
eties, and in a certain sense the parent of the others, is the
German Young Men's Association, organized in 184 1. It is es-
pecially devoted to literary culture, which it subserves by a well-
selected library of over five thousand volumes, in German, by
lectures during the winter season, and other similar means.
The German musical societies are, of course, numerous, the Lie-
dertafcl, the Orpheus society, and the Saengerbund being the
NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 5 I I
principal. The latter devotes itself particularly to operas, of
which it has produced a large number, in a highly creditable
manner. It has fifty or sixty active members, and several hun-
dred passive, or contributing members, besides honorary ones.
The Liedertafel and Orpheus have the same general object of
musical culture, but I did not receive the memoranda I expected
in regard to them. The BulTalo Turnverein, a gymnastic society
numbering hundreds of members, is also a peculiar German in-
stitution, and, with its affiliated societies throughout the country,
exercises a strong influence in German circles.
No less than four German daily newspapers are published in
Buffalo. Besides the " Demokrat," the establishment of which
has been noted, the " Volksfreund " (People's Friend) was estab-
lished in 1868, and the Freie Presse (Free Press) still earlier. It
must be that these are pretty well supported, for a year or two
ago still another was added to the list in the " Republikaner "
(Republican). There are also three German weeklies, the Au-
rora, the Tribune and the Herald. It is evident that there is a
very large body of reading Germans.
In addition to the English papers before mentioned, the Buf-
falo Catholic Sentinel, now called the Catholic Union, began its
existence in 1853; Buffalo supports two Sunday papers, the
News and the Leader ; the Niagara River Pilot was established
at Tonawanda in the }'ear 1853, by S. O. Hayward, who now
publishes the Lake Shore Enterprise in that village ; the Erie
County Advertiser was founded at Aurora, in 1872; and the
Hamburg Independent at Hamburg, in 1875. The Tonawanda
Herald and the Gowanda Gazette are published just outside the
limits of the county. The only English literary periodical in the
county is The Globe, a magazine of three years standing, devot-
ed to the cause of culture and taste.
The immense number of societies of various kinds — Masons,
Odd-fellows, Good Templars, Druids, Harugari, etc., etc. — to be
found in the county, and especially in the city, forbids any at-
tempt at a detailed account of them. The same reason prevents
a description of the two hundred churches within our limits.
Before closing, I would remedy an omission in the list of Erie
county congressmen by stating that in 1844 and 1846 Wm. A,
Moseley and N. K. Hall were elected to that office.
512 SCIENCE ON THE HUNTING-GROUND.
The census of 1875 shows a population in the county of
Erie, of 199,570, of whom 134,573 reside in the city of Buffalo.
That city which, even forty years ago, was altogether subordi-
nate to the county at large, now contains two thirds of the pop-
ulation, and exercises an even greater influence.
Seven years ago a law was passed providing for the formation
of a great Buffalo Park, and one of four hundred and fifty acres
has been purchased. It is only partially improved, but bids fair
to be one of the most beautiful resorts in the country. In archi-
tecture, as I have said, Buffalo has never been prominent. A
building has, however, been erected within the past few years, and
is just completed and occupied, which is rightly regarded as an or-
nament to the city. This is the County and City Hall, which
takes the place of the "city buildings," the "old court-house" built
in 1 8 16, and the new one erected in 1850.
Among its numerous rooms the most spacious and elegant
is the council chamber, which from the third stor^ looks out up-
on Lake Erie. And there, just as the last types of this history
are falling into place, occurs a meeting, marking in the strongest
manner the progress of three fourths of a century. Where, with-
in the memory of living men, the Indian chased the wolf, where
the still-surviving William Peacock first marked in the forest
the streets of the future city, come the profoundest minds of the
country, and even of foreign lands, to discuss the weightiest of
terrestrial questions, and perchance to advance theories which,
when the city they meet in was founded, would have incurred
only anathemas or derision. The American Association for the
Advancement of Science occupies the Iroquois hunting-ground
of seventy-five years ago.
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