It Happened Here -- Days of Decision: 

Schoharie, summer 1777

Rte 30, South of the 30A Intersection, Scoharie

 In 1711 Governor Robert Hunter bought land from the Schoharie  Indians on which to settle Palatine immigrants who had been brought to the Hudson valley in a failed experiment to produce tar for the Royal Navy. Some soon left for the Mohawk valley, and others to Pennsylvania, but the majority stayed on, clustered in little villages (german-- "Dorf"s) up and down the valley.









 The first Dutch
settlers came to the Schoharie Valley from Schenectady in 1714 when Adam Vroman obtained a patent from the English authorities.

Rte 30, south of Middleburgh

For nearly two generations they farmed and lived 
in a state of semi-isolation,  several days journey from Albany and its politics. One of their main contacts with the outside world was with Sir William Johnson and his family and associates who bought their agricultural surpluses and traded with them, and the Schoharie Indians.

As war approached, in 1775. a Schoharie Commitee of Safety was created, mainly to keep an eye on the local Indians and insure their neutrality, and to prevent Tory recruiters from operating in the valley.

Main village of the Schoharies Rte. 30, south of Middleburgh

  A militia regiment was organized in 1776. It had trouble attracting recruits and remained undersized with only three companies. Several prominent valley leaders felt obliged to accept officer positions in the newly formed regiment but felt deeply ambivalent.  Perhaps most valley residents would have preferred to believe the rising tide of troubles was mainly a dispute between the Yankees along the coast and the Crown, but events in 1776--the British invasion of New York City, the Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence, and the Johnson Family's abrupt departure for Canada--left valley residents feeling events were spinning out of control.

By the following summer the situation had worsened.  A British army was making its way down the Lake Champlain corridor.  It had already taken Fort Ticonderoga and appeared unstoppable. A second army was approaching from the west.  In the valley, at the southern end of Vrooman's Land, a prominent farmer, Adam Chrysler, had announced his support for the Crown and was actively recruiting men for Tory regiments. He was joined by John MacDonald (also spelled McDonnell), a former associate of the Johnsons, who had built a farm along the Charlotte river, south of the Schoharie Valley.  Mac Donald had fled with Johnson when he escaped in the spring of '76 but he appealed to the rebel authorities to be allowed to return home in March 1777.  However, once home, he appeared to be more interested in recruiting Loyalists than in farming. (He was, in fact, a Captain in a Loyalist regiment attached to Burgoyne's army.) Between them they recruited some seventy Tories and Indians.

Finally, beginning on August 4th  matters began to come to a head. General Phillip Schuyler directed Albany County Militia General Ten Broek to mobilize the  county militias to send them north to Stillwater to oppose the Burgoyne invasion. Over the next few days Col. Peter Vroman assembled his men and their equipment at Captain George Mann's Tavern in Fox Dorf,  at the head of the road to Albany, at the northern end of the valley.

Rte 443, Schoharie

Vroman wanted a personal commitment from his men that they were willing to fight, so he arranged for his three company captains to each give an inspirational talk. Afterwards the vast majority of them were expected to confirm their support. But then the unthinkable happened.  Captain Mann, of the first company, who had led previously led expeditions to round up Tory organizers, made an impassioned speech supporting King George and his government and concluding with the challenge, "whoever is in favor of King George, follow me!"

Several militiamen left with Mann while the rest milled around in uncertainty and stunned confusion. Colonel Vroman, hoping to prevent a total disaster sent two runners to Albany to summon reinforcements but they were apprehended by other groups of Loyalists on the road from Beaverkill (Berne) coming to support Captain Mann.

Col. John Harper of Harpersfield, commander of the 5th Regiment, Tryon County Militia was in the Valley either to witness the send-off of the Schoharie Militia or to oversee his company of rangers shadowing the activities of Tories at the southern end of the valley or providing support for militiamen garrisoned in Weysertown (Middleburg). Observing the confusion and the growing Tory strength at Fox Dorf  Harper seized on the same plan that Vroman had attempted. Spurring his horse he surged past Tory pickets and galloped up the road toward Duanesburg and Schenectady.  Two Indians were dispatched to bring him down but he fended them off with his sword and pistols.

The following day both newly minted Tories, and confused and disheartened militiamen at Fox Dorf were startled by the staccato call of a cavalry bugle as Harper and twenty eight troopers from the
 2nd Continental Light Horse came thundering into the tiny hamlet.  On charging muscular mounts, with crisp uniforms, polished plumed helmets and gleaming sabres the cavalrymen stunned both Tories and militiamen alike.  Confirmed Tories were quickly rounded up*; many recent converts had a change of heart; and the more steadfast Patriots found new resolve to drive their enemies from the valley.  En masse they marched south through the valley to Weysertown where the Becker stone house served as the Valley's  new southern defensive post. (Within a few weeks it would have a palisade around it and sprout swivel guns.) With darkness falling, and nowhere to contain their Tory prisoners, some creative mind conceived of the idea of forcing them up onto the rooftop, of the large stone structure, then removing the ladder for the night!


The following day, Col. Harper and the 2nd Continental Light Horse, with members of the 15th (Schoharie) Albany County Militia trotting behind, went looking for the enemy. They found them near Adam Chrysler's place on "die Flache" (German--"the Flats") when the Tories fired from ambush. Though three troopers fell; including their lieutenant, the cavalry charged, scattering the Tories.  The number of Tory dead and wounded was unrecorded but about half a dozen were transported to prison back in Albany. The Battle of "Flockey," as it came to be known, was the United States Army's first cavalry charge.

Adam Chrysler, John Mac Donald and many Tories fled the Schoharie Valley but they would return time and time again. (Adam Chrysler would stage one of the last attacks of the war
on July 26, 1782.) But now, at last, the battle lines had been drawn.

*George Mann escaped in the confusion and went into hiding. Friends encouraged him to give himself up and he was imprisoned in Albany for the duration of the war. They also got his trial postponed until the war was over and because he appeared sorry for his actions he was released without further penalty. The tavern was judged to be the property of his father, so it was not confiscated.


Marker of the Week-- ...and another one bites the dust!

 

This weekend I returned to Schoharie to get a clearer picture
of the Gerlach Dorf sign only to find it was the apparent victim of another automobile accident. Hopefully money will be found for a replacement!