r5 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESS 
 
 1910 
 
The M®w Inla\iiinipglhiflire lEdgaide m the 
 
 Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the N. H. Society, Sons of the American Revolution, July 12, 1910. 
 
 By William Elliott. Griffis, I). />., L. 11. D. 
 
 No one of the thirteen colonies ex- 
 ceeded New Hampshire in the num- 
 ber of men, proportionate to her popu- 
 lation, which she put into the field 
 during the Revolutionary War. Out 
 of the total population of 82,000 she 
 sent seventeen regiments into the na- 
 tional service. As the number of men 
 enrolled in 1775 was but 16,710, she 
 virtually called upon all her sons of 
 military age to serve the cause of 
 freedom. 
 
 On reading the king's proclama- 
 tion forbidding the importation of 
 munitions of war into the American 
 colonies — which meant royal co- 
 ercion and war — Sullivan and Lang- 
 don began hostilities December 13, 
 1774, before the men of any other col- 
 ony, by seizing the powder at Fort 
 William and Mary, in Portsmouth 
 Harbor. This was the beginning. 
 At the end of the war there were New 
 Hampshire troops still in the Conti- 
 nental service. Besides this striking 
 numerical superiority and early ac- 
 tivities around Boston, New Hamp- 
 shire was behind no other colony in 
 sending her sons over a wide area of 
 territory. To say nothing of those 
 in the service on sea, in both men-of- 
 war and privateers. New Hampshire 
 men fought in Canada, under Arnold 
 and Montgomery, and it was Gen. 
 John Sullivan who so skilfully con- 
 ducted the retreat. For his signal 
 services in overcoming all difficulties 
 he received appointment as major 
 general. We find soldiers from the 
 Granite State in Virginia and pos- 
 sibly further south, while on the west- 
 em frontier, Bennington, Avhich was 
 
 then in New York, was virtually New 
 Hampshire's victory, for Stark held 
 her commission. All this long and 
 glorious record of New Hampshire is 
 worth recalling. Like gold it does 
 not dim, but a little burnishing in 
 
 William Elliott Griffis. D. D.. L. H. D. 
 
 memory keeps it in full splendor. 
 
 On the other hand, as compensa- 
 tion, New Hampshire was never, dur- 
 ing the war, invaded by the foe. Her 
 soil was untraversed by foreign 
 enemies and her coast was virtually 
 immune from naval aggression, while 
 from her port went forth a succes- 
 sion of victorious men-of-war, under 
 the thirteen-striped flag, the first of 
 
.Gc ?r 
 
 the colonies. Then, with stars added 
 to its blue fieldj they sailed under 
 the stars and stripes of the United 
 States of America. New Hampshire, 
 in its legislative hall at Concord, pos- 
 sesses a portrait in oil of Johannes de 
 Graeff, the Dutch governor of the 
 island of St. Eustatius in the West 
 Indies, who, on November 16, 1776, 
 after reading the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, ordered the first salute fired 
 in honor of the American flag. 
 
 Nevertheless, to my mind, the 
 crowning glory, above the many hon- 
 ors, won by the soldiers of New Hamp- 
 shire was in the great march of 1779 
 through the western wilderness, which 
 virtually destroyed the Iroquois Con- 
 federacy, opening the path of civiliza- 
 tion westward, and, by putting an end 
 to the flank and rear attacks by sav- 
 ages on our settlements along the long 
 frontier, made Yorktown possible. 
 
 This expedition, for which Wash- 
 ington detached one third of the Con- 
 tinental army, had been made neces- 
 sary by the formidable incursions of 
 the red men along the whole frontier, 
 from New Hampshire to Virginia. 
 A special force of five thousand reg- 
 ulars, all picked and veteran, was to 
 leave their bases of supplies, and, 
 passing beyond the confines of civili- 
 zation, was to disappear in the forest, 
 floating, cutting and marching their 
 way through the wilderness to the 
 Genesee Valley. The goal was not the 
 British fort at Niagara, but the capi- 
 tal town of the Seneca Indians, who 
 were the scourge of three states. Such 
 an expedition, with its need of elabo- 
 rate and costly preparation and its 
 vast risks, was decided upon only 
 after full discussion and vote of Con- 
 gress, and by arrangement with 
 Washington. A mutual agreement be- 
 tween Congress and the commander- 
 in-chief was then made, that during 
 that year, 1779, or at least while this 
 army of chastisement was abroad, no 
 important military operations should 
 be carried on by the main army ; for, 
 subtracting the four brigades and the 
 
 artillery and riflemen sent into the 
 wilderness, our great Fabius had not 
 left over ten thousand effective regu- 
 lars, against a British army of over 
 thirty thousand. 
 
 When it comes to the literary 
 proofs and the written records of the 
 witnesses, we are abundantly supplied 
 with a correct knowledge of the great 
 march. Of the extant journals of 
 officers, numbering nearly fifty, New 
 Jersey and New Hampshire furnished 
 seven each. New York six, Pennsyl- 
 vania four and Massachusetts one. 
 That of Col. Adam Hubley of Penn- 
 sylvania, both for text and drawings, 
 and for what a critical scholar wishes 
 most to know, as to topography, In- 
 dian life, the details of the campaign, 
 etc., is perhaps the best of all; but 
 certainly next to Hubley 's for exact 
 information, vividness of presenta- 
 tion, elegant style, literary exactness 
 and general value, I should award the 
 prizes to Lieut.-Col. Henry Dearborn 
 of the Third, and Maj. Jeremiah Fogg 
 of the Second New Hampshire Regi- 
 ments. In general it was the min- 
 isters' sons in the army that were the 
 superior penmen. 
 
 The New Hampshire Continental 
 Brigade, according to the roster made 
 by Hon. Charles P. Greenough of 
 Boston, consisted of the first, second 
 and third New Hampshire regiments 
 (Continentals). 
 
 Enoch Poor was brigadier-general, 
 Jeremiah Fogg aide-de-camp, Elihu 
 Marshall brigade major, and Rev, 
 Israel Evans the chaplain. The 
 colonels in their order were Joseph 
 Cilley of the First, Lieutant-Colonel 
 Reid of the Second, and Lieut.-Col. 
 Henry Dearborn of the Third. In 
 August, 1779, for the purpose of this 
 single expedition, there were trans- 
 ferred to Poor's brigade Alden's 
 Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, under 
 Maj. Daniel Whiting, and the Second 
 New York Regiment, under Philip 
 Van Cortlandt. When orders came 
 detailing the brigade for "the west- 
 ern expedition," they were in camp 
 
 m 
 
at Redding, Conn., where they had 
 wintered. Their first notable work 
 was to be the arduous one of helping 
 to build a road from Easton to Wy- 
 oming over the Pocono Plateau, now 
 traversed by the Lackawanna Rail- 
 road. At Redding, Conn., they be- 
 gan to construct their winter huts, 
 December 4, 1778. These they fin- 
 ished in a short time and tarried in 
 them till the 10th of April, when they 
 went to the highlands on the North 
 River and stayed until May 9, 1779. 
 
 Two or three of the journals gave 
 daily details of the march through 
 New York and New Jersey to Easton. 
 Ensign Daniel Gookin tells us that his 
 regiment started from North Hamp- 
 ton, N. H., May 4, and after moving 
 through the Massachusetts towns past 
 Springfield, his dog Bark left him. 
 Thence his route was through Con- 
 necticut to Salem, N. Y., to Fishkill, 
 where he moved over the North River, 
 lodging at Newburg, at which General 
 Poor arrived to take command. The 
 weather through New Jersey was very 
 wet. Near Easton he was surprised 
 at the fine mills built by the Mora- 
 vians and, in the city, with the solid- 
 ity of the stone dwellings and public 
 buildings. He said he heard a sermon 
 "in Dutch," which of course means 
 German, and noticed the fine music 
 of the organ. In the afternoon he 
 went to church and heard a sermon 
 preached by the chaplain of the New 
 Jersey brigade. Each of the brigades 
 had a spiritual adviser, who in every 
 case was a man of ability and char- 
 acter who is remembered in history. 
 One of these, the Rev. Israel Evans, 
 who is commemorated by a bronze tab- 
 let on the walls of the First Congrega- 
 tional Church in this city, served dur- 
 ing the whole Revolutionary War, 
 first with New York regiments and 
 then as chaplain of General Poor's 
 New Hampshire brigade, acting for 
 a time as aide-de-camp to Sullivan. 
 
 Some of the New Hampshire men 
 made a pleasure ride up the Lehigh 
 River to the bright, clean town of the 
 
 Moravians, Bethlehem, which, during 
 the whole war, remained the chief 
 place of hospitals for the Continental 
 sick and wounded. 
 
 At Easton, where the artillery was 
 parked and the troops assembled, 
 they were obliged to wait until June 
 18. Sullivan was harassed by the de- 
 lays and lack of provisions and sup- 
 plies, and . most of the meat was 
 
 Major-General John Sullivan 
 
 spoiled before it could be used. The 
 excuse given was that the coopers 
 were all away with the Continental 
 army, and the old casks being all 
 requisitioned, only green timber could 
 be used, which, in summer especially, 
 soured the brine and ruined the con- 
 tents. Writers like Bancroft, who 
 have not appreciated the purpose, the 
 difficulties or the value of this ex- 
 pedition, even as at the time people 
 did not understand its large propor- 
 tions and true object, have blamed 
 Sullivan, when the fault was not his. 
 Happily, however, as the optimistic 
 Major Fogg afterwards wrote, these 
 very delays actually furthered the 
 success of the expedition. The time 
 lost in waiting was utilized by unhur- 
 ried nature to ripen the corn, pump- 
 
6 
 
 kins and other vegetable food for 
 what the Continentals called "the 
 Succotash Campaign," though the 
 diet was occasionally varied with deer, 
 turkey and rattlesnake meat. 
 
 Capt. Daniel Livermore of the 
 Third New Hampshire Regiment gives 
 the detail of the march from New- 
 burg to New Windsor in New York, 
 to Bethlehem, to Bloomsgrove Church, 
 Chester to Warwick, to Hardistan 
 and through New Jersey to Sussex 
 state house, to Easton. 
 
 At Easton the troops were several 
 times reviewed by General Sullivan 
 and were exercised in the manoeuvres 
 of forming and displaying columns, 
 crossing defiles, etc. They left Easton 
 with regret, finding it a pleasant 
 town, and on Saturday, June 19, 
 started northward to pass through 
 Wind Gap, this being the only open- 
 ing for many miles in the long chain 
 of the Appalachian Mountains. 
 Thence their march was to be over 
 the desolate Pocono plain, two thou- 
 sand feet high, now traversed by the 
 Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 
 Railway. Far-seeing Washington's 
 purpose was, not only to destroy sav- 
 agery, but to open the pathway of 
 civilization westward, and Sullivan 
 did it. The road which he cut 
 through the wilderness became after- 
 ward the pathway of the pioneers, 
 who cut down the forests, built homes, 
 seeded the new clearings and the old 
 maize lands of the Iroquois, reared 
 the church and schoolhouse and 
 changed the wilderness into a garden. 
 In the view of humanity this expedi- 
 tion was for the rescue of captives 
 and the protection of homes on the 
 border; in the eye of strategy, it was 
 to ruin the enemy's granary, put to 
 an end his flank and rear attacks, and 
 prepare the way for Yorktown. 
 
 Let us pause here and take the 
 point of view of a war correspondent 
 on the ground, in the early summer of 
 1779. 
 
 The main army, making rendezvous 
 at Easton, consisted of the Pennsyl- 
 
 vania, New Jersey and New Hamp- 
 shire brigades. Proctor's regiment of 
 artillery, with nine guns, two being 
 heavy howitzers throwing shell, one 
 hundred and fifty fifers and drum- 
 mers, three hundred and fifty rifle- 
 men, with pioneers and axemen, 
 teamsters, surveyors and various as- 
 sistants, numbering in all thirty-five 
 hundred. The expedition is to have 
 a total strength of probably six thou- 
 sand men, of whom nearly five thou- 
 sand are combatants. Seven hundred 
 boats in all will be employed, and 
 from Wyoming, one thousand, two 
 hundred pack horses. 
 
 The wisdom of Washington is strik- 
 ingly displayed at especially four 
 points: First, in utilizing the water- 
 ways as far as possible ; second, in 
 insisting that the artillery, even the 
 heavy guns, shall be taken along and 
 carried as far as they may be floated 
 on boats, leaving the lighter pieces to 
 be drawn by horses and men to the 
 goal of the expedition — the great 
 Seneca town on the Genesee ; third, in 
 having every rod of the way measured 
 by surveyors, for the great com- 
 mander expects success and has an eye 
 to the future; and lastly, in the se- 
 lection of the personnel, on whom 
 everything depended. Except the 
 splendid body of New Jersey veterans, 
 the men were drawn from the three 
 states with the longest of exposed 
 frontiers, — New Hampshire, New 
 York and Pennsylvania. Endless 
 jeering was made and fun poked at 
 the idea of taking artillery into the 
 wilderness; but Washington knew the 
 Indian as few of his soldiers did, and 
 he was convinced of the demoralizing 
 effect of cannon upon the savage. 
 Subsequent events fully justified his 
 wisdom. 
 
 As to the commanding general, 
 what we say on New Hampshire soil 
 concerning him, to whom this great 
 work and responsibility for five thou- 
 sand men to be taken into the roadless 
 forest country of a subtle enemy, we 
 should say in every state of the Union 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
or beyond sea. No better man could 
 have been chosen. Sullivan was to be 
 pitted against able foes, white and 
 red. The Iroquois and Butler's rang- 
 ers from Canada were versed in all 
 the lore of woodcraft. The march was 
 to be for three hundred miles, much 
 of the way through the twilight of 
 dense woods. There were no bases of 
 supplies, no hope of a retrieval in 
 case of defeat, no hospitals, no cities, 
 towns or villages at hand. Every 
 pound of flour and ounce of meat 
 had to be carried on the backs of 
 horses, while no provender could be 
 carried for these patient brutes. They 
 must subsist as best they could. Even 
 the military evolutions must be per- 
 formed, as it were, in the twilight of 
 the all-encompassing foliage. Wash- 
 ington chose the right man for the 
 work when he selected Sullivan, the 
 New Hampshire leader. 
 
 Apart from being inured to the 
 hardships of the frontier, New Hamp- 
 shire men knew how to handle the 
 axe. Accustomed to hard work in the 
 open, and good marchers, no obstacles 
 of swamp, morass, hill, defile or rocky 
 steep could daunt them. Van Cort- 
 landt's and Spencer's New York regi- 
 ments had been detailed to open a 
 road through the forests of Pocono 
 Plateau, and on the 7th of May 
 Colonel Cilley's First New Hamp- 
 shire regiment, was sent to assist in 
 the arduous work of laying corduroy 
 in the swamps. By June 14 they 
 emerged from the shades of the forest. 
 The sight of the lovely Wyoming Val- 
 ley must have seemed like a garden 
 of the Lord — a Promised Land beck- 
 oning them to victory. 
 
 Four days later the main army, 
 with the artillery and wagon trains, 
 started from Easton, soon leaving be- 
 hind the magazine of supplies, ever 
 since called "Sullivan's Stores," and 
 the last human habitation — a log 
 cabin sixteen miles from Wind Gap, 
 the gateway out of civilization. Over 
 stony ground and quaking bog-cover- 
 ing of logs laid on mire and marshes, 
 
 and through the gloomy swamp called 
 "The Shades of Death," yet with oc- 
 casional glorious mountain views of 
 inspiring scenery, the terrible march 
 of sixty-five miles was finished on 
 June 23 at Wyoming. 
 
 We pass over disappointments, de- 
 lays, and all things vexatious — only 
 noting the cruelty of arm-chair crit- 
 
 Gen. Enoch Poor 
 
 ics and disparagers ignorant of the 
 situation — and note that Sullivan, 
 unappalled at the poor equipment and 
 commissariat and the absence of 
 promised reinforcements, gave the or- 
 der to advance at 1 p. m. July 31, on 
 the firing of a signal gun. With ban- 
 ners flying, drums beating, fifes 
 screaming and Colonel Proctor's 
 regimental band playing a lively air 
 — probably the "White Cockade," or 
 possibly "Yankee Doodle" — the whole 
 army and fleet moved simultaneously 
 forward, the entire force on land and 
 water stretching out in two lines 
 nearly a league. 
 
 Yet it was not all plain pushing, 
 poling, sailing or marching. The 
 boats must move upward against the 
 current; and, between the difficulty 
 of breasting the Susquehanna Rap- 
 ids, surmounting the rifts and avoid- 
 ing the shallows, and of getting on 
 
8 
 
 with packhorses not over-skilfuUy 
 loaded and given to stumbling, fall- 
 ing and losing their packs, the dignity 
 of the array could not be maintained 
 by either boats or animals, up to the 
 same standard exhibited by disci- 
 plined and intelligent human beings. 
 Indeed, along the whole route there 
 were many things to tickle the risibil- 
 ities of the general and officers, and 
 sometimes a sense of humor prevailed 
 over the theories of discipline. Pass- 
 ing the fort, they received a salute of 
 thirteen guns, which was answered by 
 an equal number of "honor shots" 
 from the fleet. Naturally the march- 
 ing men made more progress than the 
 boats, for the latter were manned by 
 crews not trained to their business. 
 The down-rushing waters opposed the 
 advancing scows, the channel was 
 unknown, the current was swift and 
 the shallows and risks were many. 
 Above the boatmen, on the right and 
 left, in the many gaps made by the 
 great river, rose the cliffs, two or three 
 hundred feet high. In many places 
 the army had to climb the heights, 
 following the great "Warrior Path." 
 Over many a steep place tremendous 
 difficulty was found in getting the 
 heavily laden horses and the cattle 
 forward. But day by day the men 
 learned by experience in their new 
 duties, though Cilley's regiment, on 
 one occasion when on duty as rear 
 guard, was all night long and until 
 two hours after sunrise picking up 
 the stragglers. The windings in the 
 river made the distance for the boats 
 greater than for the men. Besides, 
 there were various streams to be 
 forded and all along were indications 
 of lurking savages. Sullivan, taking 
 no risk, and determined above all, 
 whatever else would happen, not to be 
 "Braddocked," doubled his flanking 
 guards when he came to Wyalusing 
 and elaborated a rough system of sig- 
 nals, so that information could be 
 communicated to all parts of the 
 army. 
 Now began the casualties. A boat- 
 
 man fell overboard and was drowned. 
 A New Jersey sergeant died suddenly, 
 after marching all day. A cattle 
 guardsman, temporarily left behind 
 on account of sickness, was found 
 dead. Each of these men was given 
 an honorable burial. Despite the 
 heavy rain, while the army rested, a 
 New York sergeant with three men 
 and a Stockbridge Indian were sent 
 ahead as scouts and ordered to go as 
 far as Tioga Point. Today along 
 the line of the Lehigh Valley Kail- 
 way, over and past places since made 
 historic, the army pushed its way, 
 passing Standing Stone, and moving 
 over the precipitous ledge of rock, 
 where, for more than four hundred 
 feet, the path lies along the crest, 
 two hundred feet above the level of 
 the river. It is no wonder that on 
 that hot day of August 9 some of the 
 men gave out and had to be carried 
 in the boats, while three of the cattle 
 fell off and were killed. Among the 
 rifts and shallows the boatmen were 
 wearied almost to death, so that the 
 fleet fell behind the army. On the 
 other side of the river the first appli- 
 cations of Washington's torch — 
 that flame-kindler which gave his 
 name ever afterwards among the Iro- 
 quois, of the Town Destroyer, was 
 made when Captain Gifford burned 
 the Indian town of twenty-eight new 
 long houses. 
 
 At the ford of Sugar Creek vthe 
 wary Sullivan, fearing a possible at- 
 tack, reinforced Gifford with Cilley's 
 and Van Cortlandt's regiments. Noth- 
 ing happened, however, and at the 
 present village of Milan, a mile below 
 the junction of the Chemung and 
 Susquehanna rivers, the whole army 
 forded the river, slinging their guns, 
 powderhorns and cartridges over their 
 shoulders. Holding each other by the 
 hand, or linking arms, the men 
 stepped in and waist-deep crossed 
 through the swift current. After a 
 mile's march they reached Tioga 
 Point, where the whole army, includ- 
 ing the right wing from Schenectady 
 
and the left from Pittsburg, were ex- 
 pected to join forces and then attempt 
 the wilderness by striking northward 
 through the lake country and west- 
 ward to the Genesee. 
 
 Before these New Yorkers came, 
 and on the same night of his arrival 
 at Tioga, August 11, Sullivan, having 
 sent out a scouting party, received 
 word that the enemy were near. This 
 determined him at once upon a night 
 attack at 8 p. m. on the 12th. Taking 
 most of the New Hampshire men and 
 Hand's light troops, he plunged 
 through the forest, over rocky ledges, 
 tangled thickets, miry swamps and 
 deadly defiles. 
 
 When near the Indian town which 
 had been reported Sullivan sent Hand 
 with his Pennsylvanians to strike the 
 rear, while Poor and his New Hamp- 
 shire men of Cilley's First Regiment 
 moved upon the front. Just before 
 sunrise the two bodies of troops met, 
 but the birds had flown. Having re- 
 ceived word from their runners, the 
 red men had utterly abandoned the 
 place, so that nothing but the houses 
 and hastily quitted debris were seen. 
 The Pennsylvanians, eager to avenge 
 Wyoming, pressed on with more zeal 
 than caution and some of the New 
 Hampshire men followed with them. 
 While pursuing the Indians they came 
 into a defile and ambuscade. From 
 high ground they were fired upon and 
 five men were killed and eight 
 wounded, two being from Cilley's 
 regiment. With a cheer, our men 
 rushed up the hill and sent the In- 
 dians flying in a moment ; but crossing 
 the river, the savages again stealthily 
 crept near, fired a volley and wounded 
 four or five New Hampshire men. 
 Sullivan's orders recalled the soldiers, 
 and wisely, too, from further pursuit. 
 Sixty of the hundred or more acres of 
 corn were cut down and the rest left 
 standing for the future use of the 
 army, on their return march in Sep- 
 tember. The troops, wearied with 
 fatigue and the great heat, returned 
 to camp, reaching Tioga on the 13th. 
 
 The seven corpses put on horses were 
 brought to Tioga Point and buried, 
 with solemn ceremonies, in one grave, 
 Proctor's band playing the dirge, 
 Roslin Castle, and the chaplain. Rev. 
 Dr. William Rogers of the Pennsyl- 
 vania brigade, officiating with a few 
 appropriate words. The fourteen 
 wounded were found rough accommo- 
 dation in the log hospital. 
 
 Chaplain and Aide 
 
 Somewhat over a hundred years 
 later, in digging for the foundations 
 of the Tioga Historical Society build- 
 ing, wherein may be found a large 
 collection of Sullivan data and relics 
 from the Newtown battlefield, these 
 bones, known from the records and 
 recognized by their Continental but- 
 tons, were thrown out and honorably 
 reinterred. Several of the men, who 
 then or later died at this place were 
 
10 
 
 n 
 
 sons of New Hampshire and should be 
 commemorated. 
 
 Meanwhile Sullivan was getting 
 anxious about his right wing, consist- 
 ing of the New York Brigade (which 
 included the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth 
 New York regiments) ; Alden's Sixth 
 Massachusetts, Butler's Fourth Penn- 
 sylvania, Parr's riflemen and Lamb's 
 artillery (two guns) ; in all about 
 one thousand, eight hundred men and 
 two hundred and fifty boats, under 
 General Clinton, to whom he had sent 
 orders to march and join him. Fear- 
 ing that he might have been checked 
 by Brant's movements, Sullivan de- 
 termined to send a supporting column 
 to meet him. 
 
 It is undeniable that Sullivan fa- 
 vored the New Hampshire brigade, 
 made up of men from his own state, 
 but in a manner not to be found fault 
 with. The favor which he showed 
 them meant always hard work, with 
 fatigue and danger. Having given 
 Cilley's men an opportunity to show 
 their mettle in pioneer road-making 
 and in the first aggressive movement, 
 he now selected about five hundred 
 New Hampshire soldiers and joining 
 these with an equal number from the 
 Pennsylvania Brigade, on the 16th of 
 August sent Poor and Hand with 
 picked men northeastwardly to meet 
 Clinton. Happily they had not to go 
 very far. Clinton had started on 
 August 9 and Poor's advance mes- 
 sengers reached him on the 18th. The 
 distance of the two corps apart was 
 only nine miles, and General Poor 
 heard with agreeable surprise Clin- 
 ton's evening gun, which answered 
 with a blast from the little coehorn 
 mortar. The next morning, at a 
 place, now on the Erie Railway, which 
 took its name from the event, the two 
 columns made Union. The united 
 body, Clinton's brigade leading and 
 the flotilla of boats (250) and 
 Poor's reinforcements following, they 
 reached Owego, and on Sunday, Au- 
 gust 22, the whole force, on land and 
 water, made a brilliant display, with 
 
 flags flying and artillery booming wel- 
 come, the main army saluting with 
 ringing cheers. On the way down 
 Clinton's men had devastated the In- 
 dian villages and cornfields. 
 
 Let us now glance at the activities 
 of the left wing, whose place of gath- 
 ering was four hundred miles from 
 that of the right at Schenectady. This 
 left wing, under Colonel Brodhead, 
 had started from Pittsburg on the 
 11th of August with six hundred and 
 fifty men, with one month's provisions 
 loaded on boats and packhorses, de- 
 stroying, as they advanced, many In- 
 dian towns. 
 
 Sullivan received news by two run- 
 ners, who reached him at Tioga Point, 
 but Brodhead 's men, getting as far 
 as Hornellsville, were obliged to re- 
 turn for want of provisions, though 
 not until they had wasted much of the 
 Seneca country and decidedly weak- 
 ened the enemy by drawing off five 
 hundred warriors — at least one 
 fourth of the whole fighting strength 
 of the Indian Confederacy. In rags 
 and barefoot and their pay nine 
 months in arrears, and no money and 
 no paymasters at Fort Pitt, these 
 brave fellows continued patriotic and 
 in service. 
 
 In camp, at Tioga Point, tents were 
 cut up to make bags for the flour and 
 these loaded on the horses and every- 
 thing made ready. The whole anny 
 started on the 26th day of August up 
 the Chemung Valley — men, boats, 
 horses and cattle. 
 
 Sullivan had, from the first, de- 
 termined not to be "Braddocked. " 
 Starting from Tioga Point up the 
 Chemung River, amid mountains on 
 every side and which sometimes came 
 clear to the water's edge, where it 
 seemed impossible to take an army 
 and especially to move heavy guns, 
 two days were consumed on the 
 marches and fordings. He knew that 
 from every hilltop savage scouts and 
 Butler's rangers were watching his 
 movements. With unsleeping vigi- 
 lance he kept his riflemen ahead and 
 
11 
 
 on the flanks. His alertness was well 
 rewarded. On Sunday morning, Au- 
 gust 29, Parr's riflemen, being in the 
 advance, seeing signs of Indians, a 
 scout was ordered to climb the highest 
 tree he could find and report. A party 
 of Indians had appeared ahead of 
 them and, after firing their guns, had 
 run off, expecting that these "Bos- 
 
 he discerned a long line of green run- 
 ning up the hill and most suspiciously 
 regular. He was confirmed in his idea 
 that here was art and not nature, 
 when he noticed lines of young trees 
 in the open space (where he knew had 
 been an Indian village, named New- 
 town) that were set with a regularity 
 unknown to nature. 
 
 to T>1S i5it£M0ir/ Of ' 
 
 tUSaSSMOMiiiat£:a 
 
 I78S' 
 
 
 Bronze Tablet on the w^all of the First Congregational Church. Concord, in Memory of Rev. Israel Evans. 
 Presented by Hon. Henry K. Porter. Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 tonians" would follow the example of 
 most militia men, w^ho, in pursuit, so 
 often got into ambuscades. Parr's 
 riflemen, of Morgan's regiment, how- 
 ever, were trained Indian fighters and 
 used to stratagem. Instead of pur- 
 suit they waited for the report of the 
 watcher in the tree-top, who, after 
 long scrutiny discerned Indians in 
 their war paint beyond Baldwin's 
 Creek. Peering longer and further. 
 
 Major Parr reporting to General 
 Sullivan, the general commanding at 
 once made his plans. Keeping back 
 the cattle and horses under a guard, 
 he ordered the riflemen to lie hidden 
 along the banks of the creek to keep 
 the enemy busy and be useful when- 
 ever an arm, head or leg showed itself. 
 On the little rising ground, where to- 
 day stands the Methodist meeting 
 house at Lohman, Proctor's artillery 
 
12 
 
 was handsomely set in battery. Back 
 of the riflemen, under cover of the 
 cannon in the tall grass, Sullivan or- 
 dered the Pennsylvania light troops 
 to lie down. He sent Maxwell's New 
 Jersey Brigade out to the left, near 
 the river, and in the defile, to be ready 
 to act at the right moment. To Poor's 
 New Hampshire Brigade he assigned 
 the task of a flank attack on the right. 
 The men were to go up along Bald- 
 win's Creek about a mile and a half, 
 climb the hill, reach the crest and then 
 charge into the rear of the entrench- 
 ments. Clinton's New Yorkers were 
 to follow and act as supports. 
 
 Now in an un surveyed wilderness 
 no commander can expect his subordi- 
 nates to fulfill his expectation in point 
 of time, especially when the general 
 supposes the utterly unknown ground 
 is to be ordinarily level, instead of 
 being a morass. After marching over 
 a mile, floundering through bog and 
 mire, wading through Baldwin's 
 Creek, it took some minutes for the 
 regiments to re-form. Then began 
 the climbing of that hill, which, if 
 one attempts the task on a sultry day 
 in late August he can appreciate what 
 the New Hampshire men had to do — 
 especially when it was, in 1779, over- 
 grown with scrub oak and tall trees. 
 
 Down below, Sullivan, not hearing 
 the expected musketry fire on his 
 right, so long waited for, three o'clock 
 having come, and all the other troops 
 in position, ordered Proctor to open 
 with all his guns. Out flew the round 
 shot from the five-inch howitzers and 
 six-pounders, knocking out and rip- 
 ping up the logs in the line of forti- 
 fication and maldng great gaps visible. 
 Then followed the grape from the 
 smaller guns, while the howitzers and 
 coehom threw shell. The bombs, fall- 
 ing over and behind the Indians, were 
 more terrible in their moral effect 
 than if exploded among them. Soon 
 it became impossible longer for Brant 
 to hold his tribesm.en, especially as 
 the riflemen and light troops had be- 
 gun to utilize the breaches in the forti- 
 
 fications to pour in a deadly hail of 
 bullets. 
 
 By this time, at the extreme right, 
 the Indian watchers on the hilltops 
 caught the gleam of bayonets and 
 realizing the nearness of Poor's First 
 New Hampshire Kegiment, sent word 
 to Brant, who rather welcomed the 
 news. Leading off the main body of 
 his savages from being targets for 
 artillery into more congenial activi- 
 ties, this able chief prepared to en- 
 velop and destroy the Second New 
 Hampshire Kegiment, under Colonel 
 Reid. In the movement Poor, with 
 the First Regiment, was far away on 
 the right, while Dearborn, on the ex- 
 treme left, had hardly formed his 
 men, so that Reid's Second Regiment 
 was isolated and soon was enveloped 
 by a semi-circle of red men yelling 
 until hell seemed let loose, and firing 
 as if they expected a quick harvest of 
 scalps. 
 
 Happily Sullivan had ordered to 
 go with each regiment a company^ of 
 fifty of Parr's riflemen. It is my be- 
 lief, though I may be wrong, that the 
 New Hampshire men actually went 
 into battle without their guns loaded. 
 Some days before a messenger from 
 Washington had reached the camp, 
 bringing the news that Gen. Anthony 
 Wayne, with his Pennsylvanians 
 (after killing all the dogs in the whole 
 region so that they could not bark) 
 had actually taken Stony Point, with- 
 out firing a shot, by the cold steel 
 alone. 
 
 Now it would never do for men 
 from the Granite State to believe, or 
 have it even supposed, that Pennsyl- 
 vanians — at that time Germans, 
 Dutch, Irish and Scotch being in the 
 majority — could ever beat New 
 Hampshire men. Certainly the sol- 
 diers of Poor's brigade expected to re- 
 peat and excel Stony Point. They 
 fixed bayonets before they climbed the 
 hill. It was on record that not one 
 of them at first fired a shot; but the 
 riflemen, who had no bayonets, never 
 let their guns be unloaded for a mo- 
 
13 
 
 ment. They occupied the enemy with 
 a smart fire until Reid's men could 
 load ; but for several minutes it looked 
 pretty black, while a dozen or more of 
 the Continentals lay dead or wounded 
 on the ground. As matter of fact, 
 most of the Americans killed or 
 wounded in this decisive battle were 
 New Hampshire men of Reid's regi- 
 ment. 
 
 It may be safely said that Dearborn 
 and the Third New Hampshire Regi- 
 ment saved the day. Too far away 
 from his commander. Poor, who was 
 probably a mile distant, to get orders, 
 Dearborn was yet near enough to 
 Reid's regiment to see what the 
 trouble was and to take in the situ- 
 ation. So, of his own initiative, he 
 ordered his entire regiment "about 
 face." Then, charging upon the In- 
 dians, he struck them in the rear. By 
 that time Reid's men, covered by the 
 riflemen, had loaded and seeing the 
 help coming to them fired and then 
 charged with the bayonet on the great 
 body of Indians, first starting them on 
 the run and then driving from tree 
 to tree and cover to cover any of them 
 who tried to make a stand. 
 
 Meanwhile, down below, Butler's 
 Rangers, seeing inevitable destruction 
 before them, began to retreat, some 
 dashing across the river to save them- 
 selves. The moment Sullivan saw 
 signs of wavering he ordered the 
 Pennsylvania Light Troops to charge 
 across Baldwin's Creek and over the 
 entrenchments. Inside and beyond 
 the lines there ensued a running fight 
 with such brave Rangers or Indians 
 who tried even for a moment to fire 
 before their flight. As Maxwell's, 
 Hand's, Poor's and Clinton's bri- 
 gades, soon in sight of each other, 
 realized their victory the whole host 
 gave three ringing cheers. Although 
 only twelve corp.ses and two prisoners 
 were found on the battlefield — for 
 the wounded had been quickly con- 
 veyed away in canoes up the river — 
 the signs of the dreadful work done 
 by the shot and the shell of the artil- 
 
 lery, to say nothing of the rifles and 
 musketry, were abundantly manifest 
 on the reddened grass, the torn and 
 splintered trees, and the blood-bespat- 
 tered packs and baggage. It is my 
 own opinion that at least one hun- 
 dred of that mixed host fighting for 
 King George — Iroquois, Canadian 
 Rangers, British Regulars, Tories and 
 a few negroes, were put Jiors du com- 
 bat. 
 
 The losses on our side were three 
 killed on the field, Corporal Hunter 
 and two privates, and thirty-three 
 wounded, all but four of these lat- 
 ter being from Reid's Second New 
 Hampshire Regiment. Among these 
 were Maj. Benjamin Titcomb of 
 Dover, N. H. ; and Elijah Clayes, cap- 
 tain of the second company, both of 
 the Second New Hampshire Regi- 
 ment; Sergeant Lane and Sergeant 
 Oliver Thurston; beside Nathaniel 
 Macaulay of Litchfield, N. H., who 
 died after an amputation, that night; 
 while Abner Dearborn, a lad of eight- 
 een and nephew of Colonel Dearborn, 
 breathed his last a few days after in 
 the rude hospital at Tioga Point. 
 Sergeant Demeret, Josiah Mitchell 
 and Sylvester Wilkins died before 
 September 19, thus making a total of 
 eight men, all from New Hampshire, 
 who gave their lives in one of the 
 most significant, important and deci- 
 sive battles of the whole war. Those 
 who died upon the field were buried 
 in different places, each one near the 
 spot where he fell. To conceal the 
 fresh broken earth of the graves and 
 prevent desecration of the remains, 
 fires were built over them. From Ti- 
 oga Point such of the wounded as 
 could endure the journey were sent 
 by boat in care of Doctor Eamball, 
 down the river to Wyoming, which 
 place they reached September 2. 
 
 One may reasonably ask why, with 
 apparently so much firing by such 
 large numbers, the casualties were so 
 few, yet it must be remembered that 
 on our side, both the riflemen and the 
 Pennsylvania Brigade, invisible to the 
 
14 
 
 a 
 
 enemy, were well protected by the 
 banks of Baldwin's Creek on their 
 front, and the enemy had no artil- 
 lery; while in the real battle, on the 
 upper heights to the right, our men 
 had to charge up a steep incline, the 
 savages probably firing over their 
 heads. Down below the artillery did 
 the main execution, both in taking 
 life and by hastening demoralization, 
 which in war is almost as important 
 in effects as is carnage ; indeed, it 
 is often more. There was relatively 
 also not a great use of musketry, for 
 the only full regiments that actually 
 faced a visible foe in force were the 
 Second and Third New Hampshire. 
 Then again, in the running fight 
 through the woods, anything like a 
 general slaughter was impossible. 
 
 On the British side, by their own 
 statements, it was said: "Colonel 
 Butler and all his people were sur- 
 rounded and very near taken prison- 
 ers. The colonel lost four rangers 
 killed, two taken prisoners and seven 
 wounded," besides losing his commis- 
 sion, private baggage and money. 
 The Indian record was found at the 
 place called Catherine's Town, four 
 days afterwards, where a tree, 
 marked 1779, and signed with Brant's 
 name, had a rude picture of twelve 
 men, each with an arrow pierced 
 through his body, signifying the num- 
 ber of his men killed in the action of 
 the 29th. No wounded were found on 
 the battlefield. As we all know, it 
 was Indian custom to withdraw in- 
 stantly the wounded and often the 
 dead. This was done usually by at- 
 taching a "tumpline" to limb or 
 trunk and drawing off the body; so 
 that the curious sight of seeing an 
 apparent corpse, or utterly disabled 
 man, moving over the leaves and out 
 of sight was often witnessed by the 
 backwoods fighters in colonial and 
 Revolutionary days. Each savage, be- 
 fore setting out on a raid, took an 
 oath that he would perform this of- 
 fice for his fellow tribesman. It is 
 known that several canoesful of 
 wounded were carried up the river. 
 
 As late as 1903, Col. Ernest Cruik- 
 shank, in his ''Story of Butler's 
 Rangers," admits a loss of five white 
 men killed or missing and three 
 wounded and an Indian loss of five 
 killed and nine wounded. 
 
 It is not necessary to detail further 
 the story of this expedition. Indeed, 
 for dramatic purposes, to set the 
 event most effectively in historical 
 perspective after one hundred and 
 thirty-one years, we might profitably 
 stop at this point. Here was one 
 of the most decisive battles fought 
 during the whole Revolutionary 
 War, for neither numbers nor area 
 are necessary to effect enduring 
 results. The truth is that the tribes of 
 the Long House had gathered for a 
 supreme effort and that the result was 
 a virtual destruction of the Iroquois 
 Confederacy. Furthermore, it ended 
 the flank attacks on the Continental 
 army and destroyed the dearly cher- 
 ished hope of the British government 
 to create in central New York a gran- 
 ary for the feeding of its armies. To 
 a great extent it weakened even the 
 petty raids of the scalping parties, for 
 the country was so absolutely devas- 
 tated, that the Indians could not oc- 
 cupy the land either that season or, 
 profitably, for several years. In the 
 coming winter, too cold even for hunt- 
 ing, the discouraged horde huddled 
 around Fort Niagara and were kept 
 from starvation by salted provisions, 
 imported mostly from Ireland. The 
 Indians died like sheep in a blizzard. 
 It is true that the very next year 
 Brant led a large body of warriors as 
 far as Tioga Point, but we never hear 
 of their accomplishing anything im- 
 portant, while the injury done in the 
 Mohawk Valley was very largely the 
 work of Butler's Rangers, white men 
 from Canada reinforced by British 
 troops. This battle at Newtown on 
 August 29, 1779. paralyzed the In- 
 dian Confederacy, so that it never was 
 again what it had been since the ad- 
 vent of white men upon the continent, 
 viz., a powerful factor in interna- 
 tional politics and war. 
 
15 
 
 In a word, Sullivan carried out his 
 orders given by Washington. He 
 achieved the devastation of the Iro- 
 quois country. Striking northward, 
 along Seneca Lake, to where Geneva 
 now stands, he pushed forward to his 
 goal — the great Seneca town in the 
 Genesee Valley. Leaving the weak and 
 lame at Honeoye, with a garrison and 
 two field pieces, he made a forced 
 march with two thousand, five hun- 
 dred men, and at the outlet of Con- 
 esus Lake found Brant and Butler 
 with reinforcements from Canada. 
 These were all nicely hidden on 
 the bluffs in ravines and at points of 
 vantage, expecting this time, to a cer- 
 tainty, to "Braddock" Sullivan. The 
 episode of Boyd's scouting party dis- 
 turbed the nice calculations of Indian 
 and Tory, for, fearing, as at New- 
 town, the flanking tactics of the New 
 Hampshire men, the enemy broke his 
 formations and fled. This was on the 
 12th of September. 
 
 The next day was given to destroy- 
 ing the great town of one hundred 
 and twenty-eight houses, with the 
 cornfields, which stood about where 
 Cuylerville is today. The produce of 
 two hundred acres of corn in ear and 
 the gardens was leveled or cut down, 
 piled in the houses and given to the 
 flames. Several days were occupied 
 in this work. Then the word, given 
 September 15 at 2 p. m., was the joy- 
 ful one of return. At Geneva, Sep- 
 tember 20, Sullivan sent Colonel 
 Gansevoort home by the way of the 
 Mohawk Valley. Col. William Butler, 
 with the Fourth Pennsylvania, was or- 
 dered to move down the east side and 
 Colonel Dearborn, with the Third 
 New Hampshire, down the west side 
 of Cayuga Lake. All were kept busy 
 for many days in the common work 
 of the main army, in desolating with 
 sword and fire the Indian villages, 
 forty of which in all, during the cam- 
 
 paign, were given to the flames. It 
 was this devastation, peremptorily 
 ordered by Washington, that gave 
 him in Iroquois tradition the perma- 
 nent name of "Town Destroyer." In 
 this work Dearborn's troops occupied 
 from September 21st to the 26th. 
 Among places passed through and 
 later the site of towns was Ithaca. 
 Of the Indian villages burned, the 
 most famous was Coreorganel, near 
 the future University City. Thence 
 across the country to Camp Reid, 
 near the later site of Elmira and 
 ' ' four miles from where we fought the 
 enemy the 29th of August," as Dear- 
 born records, he joined the main body. 
 The army had "a day of rejoicing" 
 the day before, "in consequence of 
 news from Spain, ' ' — that is, recogni- 
 tion of the United States as an inde- 
 pendent nation. 
 
 The return march, the destruction 
 of Fort Sullivan at Tioga Point, the 
 boat voyage down the Susquehanna, 
 the traversing of Pocono Plateau and 
 the arrival at Easton on the 15th of 
 October followed in due course. On 
 the 17th a solemn service of thanks- 
 giving, with "A Discourse Delivered 
 . to the Officers and Soldiers 
 of the Western Army ... by 
 Chaplain Israel Evans to General 
 Poor's Brigade" (and later printed 
 in pamphlet form by Thomas Brad- 
 ford in Philadelphia) officially con- 
 cluded "the Expedition against the 
 Five Nations of Hostile Indians," in 
 which the men of New Hampshire 
 made a vital factor. 
 
 In view of the historic facts, is it 
 not the binding duty of the people of 
 New Hampshire to rear on the New- 
 town battlefield some durable token 
 of their appreciation of the services 
 of their brave Continentals, who bore 
 themselves so nobly in one of the most 
 decisive battles of the American Revo- 
 lution ? 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 800 121 7 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 800 121 7 
 
 
\ 
 
 % 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 800 121 7 
 
 pHS^