It Happened Here--The Battle of Minisink Ford
Part 1--The Sack of Peenpack and Machaghkamik
Part 1--The Sack of Peenpack and Machaghkamik
Mid summer 1779, Mohawk Joseph Brant was on the warpath again with his "Volunteers". On this raid Brant's irregulars numbered about sixty (mostly Mohawk, Seneca and some Tuscarora) Indians and twenty seven Tories disguised as Indians. As in the previous year Brant's objective was to terrorize rebel farmers on the frontier, disrupt their farming operations which provided food for the rebel armies, and provide food and captured supplies for his own troop and perhaps even his home base at Fort Niagara. Like privateers in a maritime war, given legitimacy through a Letter of Marque*, Brant's Volunteers acted under the official sanction of His Majesty's Government, but operated semi-independently; they received some military supplies but were not paid by the Crown. Many of Brant's Loyalist Volunteers were hardened frontier farmers who had been hounded to sign loyalty oaths to rebel governments by local Committees of Safety, had lost their farms when they refused and perhaps been imprisoned for periods of time and even tarred and feathered before fleeing or being expelled by their local communities. Unwilling or unable to submit to the discipline and constraints of regular army life in a King's Ranger or Loyal American regiment they gravitated to the charismatic Brant to satisfy their need for revenge.
The Minisink Valley (today known as the Upper Delaware Valley, at the intersection of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) was chosen by Brant because of the relative prosperity of the farms there and because attacking there would avoid strong rebel forces that had been operating both north and south of the Mohawk Valley where Brant and other Tory raiders had been so successful the previous year. A rebel army had recently attacked the Onondaga Nation burning many of its villages, and another large force was known to be gathering at Otsego Lake.
Small parties of marauding Indians had been attacking isolated farms early in the year, throughout the frontier, like the Bevier's and Sax's on Fantinekill Creek (May 4, 1779), bringing back intelligence. There had been indications that preparations were being made in the Wyoming/Susquehanna valley for a rebel attack up the Susquehanna River into the heart of the Iroquois homeland. An attack of the Minisink settlements might divert rebel attention/resources to defense of that area.
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| U.S. Route 209, north of Ellenville |
The 2nd N.Y. Continental Regiment had camped along the Neversink River on their way to join the Sullivan Campaign in May, that year.
--Neversink Dr., Port Jervis
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| U.S. Rte. 209, Town of Deerpark |
Flowing into the Minisink (Delaware) River was the Neversink River. Along the upper reaches of the Neversink was the settlement of Peenpack; Along its lower reaches, and to the west was the settlement of Machaghkamik or Minisink.
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| U.S. Rte 6 and 209, Port Jervis |
Down from Fort Niagara Brant and his Volunteers came, through the heart of Iroquoia;
down past Ouaquaga,** Brant's former base that the rebels had burned the previous October when his Volunteers were out attacking the Minisink Valley for the first time; down the Susquehanna; across to the Delaware; down the Delaware to the Mongap River a few miles from Machagkamik/Minisink; along the old Peenpack trail; out into the Neversink valley
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| Rte 209 and Peenpack Trail, Deerpark |
The details of the raid are fragmentary and contradictory from one narrative to the next. One of the better accounts may be from Joseph Brant , himself, in a letter to Lieutenant Colonel Mason Bolton, post commander of Fort Niagara 7/29/1779. "...(I) was a good deal disappointed that I could not get into that place (the settlements) at the time I wished to, a little before day; instead of which I did not arrive 'till noon, when all the cattle was in the Woods (out grazing) so we cou'd get but a few of them. We have burnt all the settlement called Minisink, one Fort excepted, round which we lay before, about an hour, & had one man Killed & one wounded. We destroyed several small stockaded Forts, and took four Scalps & three Prisoners; but did not in the least injure Women or Children. The reason that we could not take more of them, was owing to the many Forts about the Place (fortified houses with stockades around them) into which they were always ready to run like ground Hogs."
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| Ft, Gumaer at Peenpack fought off Brant --Rte 209 Deerpark |
"they Burnt Major Deckers House and Barn Samuel Davis's House Barn & Mill Jacobus Van Vlecks House . & Barn, Daniel Vanokers Barn. here was Two Indians Killed from a Little Fort round the house--which was Saved, Esquire Cuykindall's house and Barn, Mertinus Deckers Fort, house, Barn and Saw Mills
and Nehmiah Pattersons Saw Mill. Killed & Scalped Jerimiah Vanoker Daniel Cole Ephraim Ferguson &
one Travern. took with them Several Prisoners, most Children with a great Number of Horses Cattle, & Valuable
Plunder. some Cattle were resqued and returned to the owners..."
(described as Vanoker's)
(Jacobus Van Vleck's ?)
Indian Raid Indian Raid
Tavern & Home of Peter Grist Mill on this Stream
Kuykendall, Justice of Built by Salomon Davis
the Peace, 1731-1743 About 1730, was Burned in
Burned by Brant's Raiders . Brant Raid
July 20, 1779 July 20, 1779
(Esquire Cuykindall's) (Samuel Davis' ? )
Indian Raid Indian Raid
House and Barn of Simon Maghaghkamik Church, built
Westfall on this Site 1743 on this site was
Burned by Brant's Mohawks Burned in raid by Joseph
and Tories July 20, 1779 Brant's Mohawks and Tories
--S. Maple Ave, Port Jervis July 20, 1779
--St,Mary's Ch. Cemetery, Rte 6, Port Jervis
Lt. Col.Wisner summarized the losses in a letter to General Sullivan on July 28,1779: "(Brant's attack) killed 4 men, took 15 prisoners, burnt 10 dwelling houses, one church, 12 barns and one grist mill, a large quantity of hay and grain, took a great quantity of horses and cattle, and much other plunder."
In addition to official correspondence, letters, and newspaper reports, stories passed down in families reveal the personal experiences of settlers who endured the raid, though different versions often contradict one another in details. James Swartwout was visiting the Van Etten forge when the Indians appeared. While the Van Etten family escaped, James hid in the large chimney flue above the forge hearth, and the Van Etten's slave, "Pompey" met the raiders. (Although some African Americans had supported the Revolution since it beginnings, at this time, in the North, Indian raiders often assumed Blacks to be non-combatants and with no bounty paid on black scalps, and little value placed on them as hostages for exchange for Loyalist prisoners, Blacks were likely to be ignored.) As some of the Indians set fire to the house and barn, and other raiders looked around the forge for portable plunder, one Indian absent-mindedly or playfully started to pump the forge's bellows. "Pompey" quickly distracted him, saving Swartwout from being asphyxiated or cooked alive! (Other versions of the story have the blacksmith Van Etten hiding in the chimney or the event, itself, taking place in Brant's first raid in 1778.)  |
| Neversink Drive and Painted Apron Terrace |
As the raiders approached, the teacher, Jeremiah Van Auken, was tomahawked as he (version 1) ran to head off the Indians before they could enter the school or (version 2) as he abandoned his charges and attempted to flee. A couple of children were (or were not) tomahawked. Joseph Brant interceded, taking a brush and a pot of paint to place "a mark," a "totem" or a "Masonic symbol" on the aprons and dresses of the girl children, telling his men that the marked children should be left alone, while they attempted to round up the boys as captives. The Indians were largely unsuccessful, as apparently only two (actually boys from the area--not pupils) were taken. The girls saved several of the boys by hiding them under their painted aprons or dresses. As with the incident at the forge, there is confusion as to when this occurred. It would seem more likely the school would be in session in the Fall (ie. October 1778) than in mid-summer when the raid of July 1779 occurred..
Both sides put a premium on capturing prominent enemy leaders. Major Johannes Decker, head of the Orange county militia was of special interest to Joseph Brant's raiders. On the morning of July 20th, Major Decker was returning from a funeral when the raiders attacked and burned his house. Having missed him, initially, they set an ambush for him when he returned. Realizing his peril, Decker galloped through the ambushers amid a hail of musket fire. He was wounded in his side and bleeding, but managed to escape. When his horse became entangled in the branches of a fallen tree the Colonel ran into the woods on foot. According to one source he managed to escape by hiding in a hole. According to another, he made his way to an abandoned wolf's den he had discovered while hunting. One version dramatically describes how he held his breath as an Indian peered into the cave's darkness, so close he could see glint of his eyes, while Decker clutched his jackknife, ready to slash his pursuer's throat if he was discovered. Decker escaped discovery.
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| 127 West Main St, Port Jervis |
The raiders torched the Maghagkamik
Church before turning west and burning the stockaded house of Martinus Decker, the sole structure from the period of the raid that survives today. (Fourteen years after the attack, the house was rebuilt from its burned out stone shell.)
The depth of mutual animosity between Tory volunteer and patriot homesteader was intense, as evidenced by some of the stories that were passed down. Supposedly, during the burning of one of the Decker homes (wether Martinus' or Major Johannes' is unclear) an Indian approached the cradle of an infant of a family sheltering there, with the intention of killing it. But, when he reached for the baby it smiled at him and the warrior was unable to kill it. A Tory, disguised as an Indian, who the settlers recognized as "Daniel Cole" or "Cornelius Cole" rebuked the Indian, "Is your heart too tender for your work?" and taking the child by the heels, swung its head into a doorpost, killing it. The fact that the child or its family remains unidentified in the story along with Brant's assertion that they "did not in the least injure women or children" throw some doubt on the story's authenticity but the fact it was created and attached to the name of a particular Tory, shows the intensity of hatred between rebel families and their former Tory neighbors.
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| 205 East Main, Port Jervis The Cole family were early settlers in the area. Cole's Fort in addition to being a place of refuge in the French and Indian War was a center for defense of the upper Delaware in the Revolution. Pulaski"s Cavalry Legion and support infantry were quartered here in 1778 until they were transferred to the war in South Carolina and the 2nd New York Regiment was headquartered here until it was sent to Easton in the early summer of 1779. Colonel Hathorn reported another "Daniel Cole" "killed and scalped" in the raid; Samuel Cole was Captain of the 3d Regiment, Orange Co. Militia at the Battle. |
Their work completed, Brant's Volunteers retreated with their plunder and prisoners, driving their captured horses and cattle before them, up along the Delaware. They moved quickly for they expected Rebel forces would be in hot pursuit. Next Time: Part 2--The Battle in a "Howling Wilderness."
Marker of the Week-- Actually, That would be Uncle George!
Though most of the above is true enough, the last line is not. (Note the attempt at correction.) While Dewitt Clinton was one of New York's most famous governors, having promoted and overseen the building of the Erie Canal, he was the sixth, not the first New York State governor.(1817-23, 1825-28). Uncle George was the first. (1777-1785, 1801-05) and served as Vice President (1805-12). But then, New York suffers from no shortage of famous Clintons. During the Revolution, George also serving as Brigadier General of the New York Militia, would be joined by his brother James Clinton, serving as Brigadier General in the Continental Army to defend the Hudson Highlands (at forts Montgomery and Clinton) against a British attack headed by Sir Henry (no relation) Clinton. Even today there are a couple of famous Clintons living in Chappaqua, New York.
*"Letters of Marque" were issued by governments authorizing individuals to outfit ships to prey on vessels sailing under the flag of a declared enemy. From the 16th to the early 19th century privateering was an accepted practice. Essentially operating as private contractors, privateers generally didn't receive any support or provisioning by the governments that authorized them, but they were encouraged to make war (mainly) on an enemy's commercial shipping and could keep any ships and cargoes they managed to capture.
**See 8/7/2016 It Happened Here--The Lost Towns of the Revolution
***This report was lost until 1973 and presumed destroyed in the New York State Library fire of 1911. It was discovered in the Draper Manuscripts of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin by Vernon Leslie.
