It Happened Here -- New York's Revolutionary Militias

One of the enduring myths of the American revolution is that the war was primarily fought and won by American militiamen, the "minute men", the citizen-soldiers that responded to the war when it came to their doorsteps or villages and laid down their plows to pick up their muskets, then resumed their place behind their plow horses when the threat was over. While certainly local militias played a significant part in virtually every revolutionary battle it was the regular "line" regiments that did most of the fighting and it was they that Washington and his generals relied upon to successfully pursue the war. On the other hand, militia regiments played all sorts of critical support roles, not the least being the enforcement arm of "committees of safety" that took over from local governments when local governments  lost the authority they had as agents of the crown.

NY Rte. 20, Duanesburg

The 2nd Regiment (Schenectady) of the Albany County Militia is not typical. It fought in both battles at Saratoga, as part of Gen. John Glover's brigade along side of Continental Army regiments from Massachusetts. Wemple led some 119 of his command to investigate the Cobleskill massacre and in 1780 participated in the battle of Klock's field. The next year it would fight at the battle of Johnstown and in one of the last skirmishes of the war, two weeks after Yorktown, engage Tory and Indian raiders, killing their leader Walter Butler.

Co. Rte 156, Altamont

Co.Rte 156, Altamont

The 3d (Rennselaerwyck) Regiment's service is more typical. Called up as part of Col. Ten Broeck's Militia brigade, before the second battle of Saratoga, the 3d helped supply the rapidly growing army that would engulf Burgoyne's army. Ten Broeck division of some 3000 militiamen was held in reserve until the British lines broke and the militias surged forward causing a rout of the British/German forces.

Captain Van Aernam, of the 3d regiment was selected as captain to"direct rangers in apprehending dangerous persons" (ie rounding up Tories for questioning.) The Helderbergs was an area where defections to loyalist recruiters was a concern.

Thatcher Park, Berne

Hunting for Salisbury would have been one of the duties of Captain Van Aernam's militia "rangers" though the historic record is unclear who captured Salisbury or what was his fate.

Co. Rte 50, Ballston

Lt. Col. Asa Waterman served in the 17th Albany Co. Militia and like Col. Wemple, fought in Glover's Brigade, at Saratoga, but most of his service was that he "captured Tories"









In the early years of the war, determining who was a friend of the new revolutionary governments and who was not, was a critical job. Militias often had the task of administering the "Articles of Association" a document outlining the objectives of the Second Continental Congress that served as something of a loyalty oath, and delivering the names of those who refused to the local Committees of Safety who would decide who needed to be watched, and who needed to be apprehended for further questioning.  Arresting, disarming, escorting Tory suspects and prisoners became major functions of militias. In Albany County, alone, in 1776-1777,  one thousand five hundred and twelve accused Tory sympathizers were brought in for questioning. Inevitably, as Americans searched their consciences, some, even those who had risen quite high in the rebel government or military would decide to support the Loyalists.  Col. Hans Yost Herkimer, commander of the 4th Tron County Militia and brother of General Nicholas Herkimer who would lead the patriot militia at Oriskany, defected to the British, escaping to Canada.  Dirk Gardiner, himself a member of the Kinderhook Committee of Safety, and Captain of the 4th Company, 7th (Kinderhook) Regiment of the Albany County Militia was accused of circulating Tory propaganda. His own militia was  ordered to disarm him and escort him to the enemy lines above New York City.  Martin Van Buren, uncle and namesake of the future   8th President of the United States refused to sign the Articles of Association and suffered the same fate of banishment to the British lines, as did the father of Van Buren's wife.

Facilities for holding suspected Tories were largely non existent and often improvised.  Asa Douglas used his attic. Jeptha Root Simms, an early historian of the colonial and revolutionary periods relates how a group of Schoharie militiamen escorting a collection of alleged Tories to Albany as darkness approached used a large, high-roofed Georgian style farm house to secure their prisoners. Forcing them up on the roof at bayonet point, they then removed the ladder!

Co. Rte 5, Canaan

   
                                                                                                                                                              
Operations against Tories could be fairly sizable. The "battle of the Normanskill" was essentially an
operation to prevent a large group of Tories from coming together and joining Burgoyne's army. Part of the 2nd (Schnectady) Albany County Militia, held in reserve from Ten Broeck's Division at Saratoga was joined by 40 Rhode Island Continental troops in a nighttime operation which surrounded a farm where some 100 Tories were assembling. Their leader, David Springer was killed; thirteen Tories who sought to hide out in a barn were captured and the rest scattered.

Co.Rte 146 Guilderland Ctr.

Marker  of the Week -- An Historic Marker for the scene of a  
                                    Fictitious (Literary) Event

NYS 80, Cooperstown

One of the odder markers created in the great 1932 proliferation of State Markers is this one. Along the shore of Otsego Lake this marker points to the location of an island where in James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer  the character Tom Hutter and his two daughters supposedly lived. Several other markers identifying other Cooper scenes were created when this marker was made.  In Tarrytown other markers identified scenes from Washington Irving's works.