A MASSACRE OF THE REVOLUTION

A SETTLEMENT IN THE WILDERNESS—PATRIOTISM OF THE INHABITANTS—A MURDEROUS ATTACK BY INDIANS AND TORIES—DESTRUCTION OF THE VILLAGE—THE MEN LED AWAY INTO CAPTIVITY.

The centennial anniversaries of the great events of the War of the Revolution follow closely upon one another. The anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth was celebrated in June, that of Wyoming in July, and yesterday the massacre in Cherry Valley was commemorated. The settlement in Cherry Valley, New York, like that in the Wyoming Valley, Penn., was in 1778 a frontier one. Both were surrounded by a wilderness that extended to the borders of Canada, and served as a screen to the attacks upon these settlements of savages and of Tories who had fled over the border. In 1738 the Cherry Valley settlement was founded by Scotch-Irish people. Its growth was slow; in 1778 it only had 300 inhabitants. It was situated only fifty-five miles west of Albany, but still, from the outbreak of the war with Great Britain, its inhabitants feared an attack upon them. Near by was Johnstown, the manorial seat of the famous Sir William Johnson, and the natural headquarters of the Tories. Cause of hostility was given to the Tories of Johnstown as early as 1775. In the Spring of that year, a Tory Grand Jury sitting at Johnstown denounced the proceedings of the Continental Congress. The population of Cherry Valley, which was fiercely patriotic, upon hearing of this action of the Tories, flatly repudiated the action of the Grand Jury as representing  the state of feeling in the region, and expressed its “entire approbation” of the work done by Congress. Still the storm was long in gathering. The six Nations tribe of Indians, which inhabited the wilderness, at first refused to take part in “the quarrel between the white men.” All of the efforts of Sir John Johnson and Sir Guy Johnson, the successors of Sir William Johnson, to induce them to attack the patriots of Cherry Valley was unavailing till 1778. The aid of the Indians in the plot to stamp out the settlement was at last indirectly secured. In 1777 the Six Nations, under the leadership of Brant, were induced to support a detachment of British troops and a regiment of Tories which, commanded by Colonel St. Leger, were to march from Oswego through the Mohawk Valley and John Burgoyne’s ill-fated army at Albany. St. Leger, as well known, was defeated at Oriskany by Herkiner and compelled to retreat. In the battle of Oriskany the the Indians suffered a severe loss. Eager for vengeance, they at once became the implacable foes of the American settlers. Fearing an attack, the residents of Cherry Valley built a small stockade about the house of Col. Samuel Campbell, one of the officers in command at Oriskany.

In the Spring of 1778 Lafayette, who had charge of the frontier settlements visited the place. He thought the stockade insufficient for its defense, and ordered a fort to be constructed. It was made during the Summer, its walls enclosing a church and a graveyard. After its completion all the valuables of the place were stored within it, and the inhabitants there sought refuge at night. The fields were tilled by a portion of the population while the rest stood guard with loaded guns. The Summer was passed in terror of an attack. Brant burned Springfield, a neighboring town, in June; the valley of Wyoming was laid waste in July by Col. John Butler, at the head of a band of Tories, and Brant, in command of some Indians; the valley of the Cobleskill and the Schoharie valley were ravaged in the same month; and Brant, in September, burned German Flats, a large settlement. Late in the Fall an expedition against Cherry Valley was organized by Walter N. Butler, son of the ravager of the Wyoming valley. The expedition consisted of two hundred Tories and five hundred Indians under Brant. This force marched through the southern part of the State till it reached the Susquehanna, and then ascended that stream toward Cherry Valley. In the fort at Cherry Valley at the time there were nearly three hundred soldiers, members of the Eastern regiment. The regiment was commanded by a Col. Ichabod Alden, who upon arriving with his troops a short time before, had ordered the residents of Cherry Valley, with all their belongings, out of the fort. The residents naturally protested against this treatment, but were unable to modify the decision of the officer, notwithstanding they pointed out to him the great danger he was placing them in. He promised, however, that he would inform them of any danger that might threaten the settlement so that they would have ample time to take refuge in the fort. To be able to fulfil this pledge he sent out scouts in various directions. A scouting party which went down the Susquehanna river, upon camping for the night put out no guards, and all when too sleep. Upon awaking the next morning they found themselves surrounded by Indians and were captured.

At nightfall on Nov. 10, 1778, Butler and Brant encamped with their combined force on a thickly-wooded hill about a mile southwest of the village. During the night snow fell, and when morning dawned it covered the fields to the depth of several inches. In the early morning also sleet began to fall, the air was heavy, and the clouds hung gloomily overhead. At daybreak the attack was made. Several of the officers of the regiment camped in the fort were lodging in dwellings in the village. The enemy had been informed of this fact, and accordingly, upon entering the village, attempted first to surround these houses. Fortunately for the officers, one inhabitant of the place was abroad when the attack was just beginning. He was entering the place on horseback when he was fired upon by the Indians and wounded. He put his horse at its utmost speed toward the fort and escaped. On his way to the fort he informed Col. Alden, who was one of the officers lodging outside of the fort, of his danger. Alden was incredulous of the truth of the report, and merely gave orders to call in the guard. A moment afterward he was fearfully undeceived, for the Indians came running swiftly into the place. Alden fled toward the fort pursued closely by a Seneca Indian. In his flight he turned and attempted several times to shoot his pursuer, but the weapon, a pistol, would not go off, the powder being damp. When near the fort, whose gates stood wide open, the savage hurled his tomahawk at Alden. The weapon struck the fleeing man on the head and instantly killed him. Before the soldiers could rescue the body of their commander the savage had scalped Alden and borne away the scalp in triumph. The house from which Alden had fled was meanwhile attacked. Mr. Wells, its owner, while kneeling in prayer, was slain by a Tory. Mr. Wells’s wife, mother, three children, his brother and sister, and three servants were then killed. A daughter of Mr. Wells escaped from the house, but was pursued by an Indian, who upon capturing her threw down a bloody knife he had in his hand and grasped his tomahawk. Being acquainted with the Indian language the girl begged for her life. A Tory who had been employed as a servant in the family interceded for her, telling the Indian that she was his sister. The savage, however, did not heed the intercession, for, pushing the Tory aside, he brained the girl. Only one of the family escaped death, a young boy who happened to be attending school at Schenectady. An aged clergyman named Dunlop had the cruel fate of beholding the murder of his wife and children. His own life was spared, but within a year he died of grief over these bereavements. A Mr. Mitchell, returning to his home after a short absence, found the bodies of his wife and four children. The house was also on fire. Putting out the fire, he examined his children, to see if he could discover any life in any one of them. One of them, a girl, appearing to be still alive, he carried her to the door, and was watching her struggles toward consciousness, when he suddenly saw Indians and Tories approaching. Mitchell hid himself behind a log fence, and from that position saw Newbury, a Tory, bury a hatchet in the skull of the wounded girl. A year afterward Newbury was arrested as a spy in the Mohawk Valley, and upon the testimony of Mitchell, was convicted and hung. Similar scenes might have been witnessed at the same moment in other homes of the village. Altogether forty-eight persons were killed; sixteen of whom were continental soldiers, and the remainder chiefly women and children. A large number of prisoners were taken, and the village was burned, and the cattle captured.

After the work of destruction was ended several attacks were made on the fort, but all of them were repulsed. The settlement was in the possession of Brant and Butler an entire day. At nightfall the enemy collected all their plunder and prisoners and matching two miles from the settlement encamped for the night. The prisoners were in a miserable plight, having been drenched by a rain that succeeded the snow storm. They naturally did not sleep during the night. The march was resumed during the succeeding day. An aged woman, who could not keep up in the march, was killed by the Indians. But the morning following this march the captives heard with joy that it had been determined to release the women and children, with the exception of those of two families who were specially obnoxious to the Tories. Many mothers were separated from their children by this otherwise kindly act, and did not see them again till near the end of the war, when the captives were exchanged for Tory prisoners. Upon the morning following the massacre, the dead were buried in a trench dug within the fort. When the released prisoners had returned and consulted with their friends who had escaped capture it was universally agreed to abandon the place. Nearly all departed for and lived till the end of the war in the Mohawk Valley. The succeeding Summer the fort was also abandoned, the old church was burned by some Tories, and the settlement of Cherry Valley no longer existed. When the War of the Revolution broke out, Tryon County, in which Cherry Valley was situated, had 2,500 men among its inhabitants; at the end of the war there were 1,200 taxable inhabitants, 300 widows and 2,000 orphans.

Source: New York Tribune, New York, New York, Friday, August 16 1878, page 5. See https://hoboes.com/cherry for more about the Cherry Valley Massacre.