Part 2

I am unable to account for the record which accredits him with thirteen months' and eighteen days' service at German Flats, New York. From April 1, 1776, to May 18, 1777, he was Lieutenant-colonel of Elmore's Connecticut Regiment, which was stationed at Albany and later at Fort Stanwix. I suppose his resignation from the Continental army was accepted about May 18, 1777, but, whatever his loyal service in New York may have been, he again marched in September, 1777, in command of Massachusetts militia under direction of General Lincoln, from Pawlet, Vt., with a separate detachment to harry the British at Ticonderoga and Lake George. On the 18th of September, 1777, early in the day he made sudden and successful attacks on the landing-place near Ticonderoga, Mount Defiance, and that neighborhood, demanding the surrender of the fortress; but this time General Powel, of the British army, made a manly reply. His captures of men and material were very valuable. Some American prisoners were released, and a Continental standard of colors was recaptured and sent to General Lincoln with much delight. All the joy of conquest is expressed in his report from Pawlet, Vt., October 4, 1777, but in his letter of September 20, written at eleven o'clock at night to General Lincoln, he said he was censured by officers and men for not suffering them to make a rash attempt to carry the fortress at Ticonderoga, although on mature consideration he thought it impossible to take possession without too great loss of life. Here as late as 1777 appears the tendency of the militia to be insubordinate. He withdrew from Lake Champlain, and planned the capture of Diamond Island in Lake George, a place where some German troops were guarding a large amount of supplies. He had manned an armed sloop and boats, but was thwarted by the escape of a prisoner and a sudden and violent storm on the lake. The prisoner gave warning to the garrison, and the result of the storm gave time for the preparation of a defence, so that after two hours' hot engagement he withdrew after destroying some of his boats. General Lincoln commended him highly for the success of this expedition. He wrote to General Lincoln September 19, 1777, telling him he had given the men all the plunder to encourage them before the attack, although "going beyond the letter of the law." This action General Lincoln approved.

The question of plunder and the martial law governing it must have been a great source of trouble in this war among Indians and white men in the invasion of Canada and the Tory invasions hereabouts. [See Note 4.] It seems probable that, when Arnold falsely charged Easton and Brown with plundering the baggage of British officers at the Sorel, he could easily cast a shadow because of the uncertainty about the rules of war and the orders given by general officers. Plunder was promised the men by recruiting officers as early in the war as when the plan was laid by Ethan Allen to capture Ticonderoga in April or May, 1775. [See Note 5.]

In the early part of the summer of 1780 rumors were received tending to show that Sir John Johnson might again invade the Mohawk Valley, this time by way of Lake Ontario and Lake Oneida. Therefore, on the twenty-second day of June, 1780, the General Court of Massachusetts, at the earnest request of General Washington, directed that 4,726 men should be raised from the militia by draft, lot or voluntary enlistment, to serve three months in New York territory after they arrived at Claverack on the Hudson. These levies, by reason of apparent danger to the cause in Rhode Island, with the exception of 315 or more men raised in Berkshire County, were sent to General Heath at Tiverton, R.I. Various meagre statements are in print in reference to the men who served under Brown at this time. I find in the Massachusetts Archives the names of officers and privates, in all 381 men, who served in the Mohawk Valley probably after August 5, 1780. [See Note 4.] It may be that some of his men were stationed in different forts or block-houses in other places than Stone Arabia, and that only 217 men of the Berkshire Regiment were in the battle of October 19, 1780. The killed and wounded are all from three of the five companies. [See Note 4.] Some writers say that Colonel Brown had New York men with him, and one statement refers to Captain John Kasselman, of Tryon County Rangers, as being in conference with Brown on the day he fell. [See Note 4.]

Each soldier was equipped at his own expense with a good fire-arm, with a steel or iron ramrod and a spring to retain the same, a worm priming wire and brush, and a bayonet fitted to his gun, a scabbard and belt therefor, and a cutting sword or a tomahawk or hatchet, a pouch containing a cartridge-box that will hold fifteen rounds of cartridges at least, a one-hundred buckshot, a jack-knife and tow for wadding, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaden balls fitted to his gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle sufficient to hold one quart.

Long after the Stone Arabia fight, claims were presented to the General Court of Massachusetts for felt hats, coats, vests, linen overalls, shirts, shoes, blankets, canteens, and handkerchiefs, and of course for muskets,--all lost on the 19th of October, 1780.

Brown's major was Oliver Root, his adjutant James Easton, Jr., son of his old colonel. Dr. Oliver Brewster was surgeon, and Elias Willard quartermaster. He assumed command July 14, 1780, at Claverack, and marched probably August 5 to some of the Mohawk settlements or forts. His mission was to protect various neighborhoods from sudden raids.

September 5 he was sent with two hundred men from Fort Rensselaer to Fort Schuyler to guard twelve boats with provisions for the relief of the garrison. September 11 he is reported as one of the officers of Van Rensselaer's force at Fort Rensselaer (part of which--a well preserved stone house--remains at Canajoharie under the care of young citizens of that town, being the place where the Tryon County Committee of patriots met). I cannot tell where he was for the month prior to the 19th of October, when he was in command at Fort Paris, a palisaded enclosure of stone block-houses fit for a garrison of over two hundred men, built in 1776-77 by Captain Christian Getman's Rangers on a most commanding position on the beautiful plateau called Stone Arabia, north of the Mohawk between Garoga Creek and Johnstown, where Sir William Johnson's baronial hall was. The fort was more than a dozen miles from Johnstown, and was named for Isaac Paris, who took part in the terrible affair at Oriskany. Sir John Johnson and his career in Tryon County and elsewhere in New York is well known. To me the whole subject of Indian warfare in all our wars seems to open every possible avenue to the extremest horrors and brutalities of war. Philip Schuyler, one of the noblest men who ever lived in New York State, had from his early youth been friendly to Indians. In fact, before he reached twenty-one years of age, he was given a chief's name among the Oneidas for his services to that tribe. His skill and patience made him all important in making treaties and negotiations with "_The Six Nations_" and other Indians. The Patriots very early realized that the Indians were to become a stumbling-block to any attempt at treating with Canada or maintaining what is called civilized warfare (can any warfare be civilized?). Schuyler, Hawley, Oliver Wolcott, and other distinguished men of high character attempted in vain to hold the Indians to neutrality. Congress at one time voted that Indians should not be employed in the service excepting where a whole nation, after full consideration, decided to act together. At another time Congress asked Schuyler to employ two thousand Indians for military service. Sir John Johnson's career, his apparent acquiescence in Schuyler's demands, his conduct when taking and when breaking his parole, his apology being that the Patriots had no established authority, and his repeated invasions of this country showed him to be the growth of the treachery which is bred among men who use the sordid and brutal nature of savages for evil purposes.

It is interesting to me that Lieutenant-colonel Mellen led Massachusetts militia to Fort Schuyler to aid Gansevoort, and that, when in August, 1777, Arnold set out to the relief of Gansevoort he led Massachusetts volunteers from Colonel Learned's battalion, and that again in the summer and fall of 1780 Brown led Massachusetts men to defend this neighborhood from the murderous invasion of Sir John Johnson. At Oriskany, Herkimer was hurried into action by his inferior officers in the manner characteristic of the independent and valorous spirit of his time, and Oriskany in 1777 was one of the most brutal conflicts between Tories and Patriots. Sullivan's retaliating expedition of July, 1778, was as bad in its character and effects as anything ever done on behalf of any cause, good or bad. The destruction of many Indian villages by Sullivan and General James Clinton was no doubt thorough, but of little avail, although it was thought wise to retaliate for the horrors of Wyoming.

Early in May, 1780, the information came to this neighborhood that Sir John Johnson was moving from Lake Champlain towards Johnstown with a considerable force, that Brant was marching against the Canajoharie settlements with a body of savages and that the Tories would join them. Johnson landed at Bulwagga Bay, near Crown Point, and, pushing through the forest and down the valley of the Sacandoga, he appeared near Johnstown. On the 21st of May, 1780, his forces divided, and poured into the lower valley of the Mohawk along a line of ten miles. From Tribes Hill upward they plundered, murdered, and destroyed. Every man capable of bearing arms was said to have been killed. Johnson withdrew hastily, as he was pursued by militia. Of course hundreds of people fled to Albany and Schenectady. Governor Clinton hurried at the head of troops from Kingston to Fort George, and, ordering others to meet him at Ticonderoga, he pushed on to Crown Point, but was too late to capture Sir John.

Brant delayed his attack until late in July, 1780, and then made a feigned attack on Fort Schuyler. General Van Rensselaer, then at Stone Arabia, hastened to the relief of Fort Schuyler, and Brant in early August fell upon the Canajoharie settlements and destroyed them mercilessly. Troops were sent from Albany to protect the settlements, but they were not sufficient.

September 7 an extra session of the New York legislature sat at Poughkeepsie, and authorized Governor Clinton to order out such number of militia as he thought necessary. Brigadier-General James Clinton was assigned command at Albany and authorized to call for assistance from the brigades of Generals Ten-Broeck and Van Rensselaer. As I have already said, Colonel Brown on the 18th of October was in command at Fort Paris, subject to orders of General Robert Van Rensselaer. Fort Paris was two or three miles north of the Mohawk. In September and early October Sir John Johnson led his forces by way of the Oswego River, Oneida Lake, and across country to the Susquehanna Valley. He ravaged the Schoharie Valley, laid siege to Middle Fort unsuccessfully, then, turning north, raided all the country from Fort Hunter. He let loose his forces for the general purpose of devastation. He again did his work thoroughly,--brutally, as was customary in Indian warfare at that time. Major Jelles Fonda, one of the victims of this ruthless destruction, who had been a confidential officer under Sir William Johnson, was absent, being a State senator. Sir John's forces burned his homestead, "The Nose," at Palatine, and destroyed, it is said, $60,000 worth of his property. On the night of October 18 Sir John encamped with his forces nearly opposite or rather above the Nose, and on the 19th he crossed the river to the north at Keder's Rifts, near Spraker's Basin. A detachment of 150 men proceeded at once against Fort Paris, but, after marching two miles, the main body joined them.

October 18 General Van Rensselaer found Caughnawaga in flames. He was in camp on a hill near Stanton Place in Florida, perhaps twenty miles from Fort Paris, when he heard that that fort was to be attacked the next morning. 'Tis said he sent a messenger with a letter to Colonel Brown and another to Colonel Dubois at Fort Plain, telling Brown to march out of the fort at nine o'clock the next morning and hold the enemy in check, while Dubois and he with his force were to co-operate. Furthermore, it is said, Brown's officers and men advised him to disobey the order, as that was not the time to leave the fort. However, he marched forth at the head of his detachment, but, being deceived by the false advice of persons pretending to be patriots, he was led to turn aside from the road upon which he marched out into a somewhat narrow clearing in the forest near a small work called Fort Keyser, and was killed nearly two miles from Fort Paris, being attacked on every side in what amounted to an ambuscade.

Captain John Ziele, of the Second Regiment of Tryon County militia, Colonel Klock's Regiment, had charge of Fort Keyser that day; and after Brown's defeat George Spraker, John Wafel, Joseph and Conrad Spraker, William Wafel, and Warner (?) Dygert, with two or three other young men, were ready to defend the place from attack, but the enemy fled, whereupon William Wafel, Joseph and Conrad Spraker, and W. Dygert proceeded to where Brown lay and carried his body to Fort Keyser. His scalp was entirely removed, and he was stripped of all his clothing excepting a ruffled shirt. After hard fighting, thirty men or more being killed, some of his men got back to Fort Paris and defended themselves successfully, thus saving the refugees therein from harm. Major Root was in command, and acted skilfully and bravely. Mr. Grider describes the battle as a running or moving fight extending from the eastward to the south-west at least across six farms, and you all know how valuable the evidence is showing that the large boulder with its inscription was the stone behind which six men found refuge and shelter until surrounded and killed.

Washington wrote to the Continental Congress: "It is thought, and perhaps not without foundation, that this invasion [of the Mohawk Valley] was made by Sir John Johnson upon the supposition that Arnold's treachery was successful."

If Johnson acted upon that supposition, Arnold was in some measure the cause of Brown's death, but, however that may be, _John Brown died honorably after living honorably at Stone Arabia the 19th of October, 1780,--it is said between nine o'clock and ten o'clock in the morning_.

I said that poets had not presented him to popular imagination, but his devoted classmate at Yale, David Humphreys, aide-de-camp to General Washington in 1780, wrote verses to his memory. Among his words are these:--

"And scarce Columbia's arms the fight sustains, While her best blood gushed from a thousand veins. Then thine, O Brown, that purpled wide the ground, Pursued the knife through many a ghastly wound. Ah! hapless friend, permit the tender tear To flow e'en now, for none flowed on thy bier, Where cold and mangled, under northern skies, To famished wolves a prey, thy body lies, Which erst so fair and tall in youthful grace, Strength in thy nerves and beauty in thy face, Stood like a tower till, struck by the swift ball, Then what availed to ward th' untimely fall, The force of limbs, the mind so well informed, The taste refined, the breast with friendship warmed (That friendship which our earliest years began), When the dark bands from thee expiring tore Thy long hair, mingled with the spouting gore."

We do not know whether the news of Arnold's flight from West Point September 25 reached Brown's ears. Perhaps, if it did, he would have appreciated the patriotic and lofty self-control of Washington when the next day he wrote to Rochambeau: "General Arnold, who has sullied his former glory by the blackest treason, has escaped to the enemy." "This is an event that occasions me equal regret and mortification, but traitors are the growth of every country in a revolution of the present nature. It is more to be wondered at that the catalogue is so small than that there have been found a few."

Arnold's flight to the enemy was his flight from what all men, excepting Brown and a few others [see Note 6], supposed was his soul's desire; _i.e._, to serve the people of America to the death. For twenty-one years after 1780 he lived, pursuing a checkered career. John Fiske said he often looked at the sword given him for his valor at Saratoga, and bemoaned the results of his treason. However that may be, his name is remembered with harshness and disgust, the result of an untruthful life.

NOTE 1.

"in a state of nature." See "The Struggle for American Independence," Fisher, vol. i, p. 27 _et seq._ Burlamaqui's "Principles of _Natural Law_."

NOTE 2.

See "New York in the Revolution," vol. i, p. 61. "_The Line, Additional Corps, Green Mountain Boys, Major Brown's Detachment in General Arnold's Regiment_." 244 men.

_I take great pleasure in this record. Some writers have intimated that Brown was insubordinate at Quebec_ because Montgomery referred to one of his friends as going beyond proper bounds in objecting to Arnold. If so, why does Arnold permit Brown to remain in command? Some men went home after the defeat of December 31, 1775, others fled. Fisher says Arnold had only seven hundred men, of which the Brown detachment is a large part,--no doubt induced to stay _because they trusted him_.

NOTE 3.

Smith's History of Pittsfield, 1734-1800, p. 271:--

_To the Honorable Horatio Gates, Esq., Major-General in the Army of the United States of America, commanding at Albany_.

Humbly sheweth, that, in the month of February last, Brig.-Gen. Arnold transmitted to the honorable Continental Congress, an unjustifiable, false, wicked, and malicious accusation against me, and my character as an officer in their service, at the time when I was under his immediate command; that, had there been the least ground for such an accusation, the author thereof had it in his power--indeed, it was his duty--to have me brought to a fair trial by a general court-martial in the country where the pretended crime is said to have originated; that I was left to the necessity of applying to Congress, not only for the charge against me, but for an order for a court of inquiry on my own conduct in respect thereto; that, in consequence of my application, I obtained a positive order of Congress to the then general commanding the Northern Department for a court of inquiry, before whom I might justify my injured character; that the said order was transmitted to your Honor at Ticonderoga, in the month of August last; and, notwithstanding the most ardent solicitations on my part, the order of Congress has not yet been complied with; that, upon my renewing my application to your Honor for a court of inquiry, you were pleased to refer me to the Board of War.

Thus I have been led an expensive dance, from generals to Congress, and from Congress to generals; and I am now referred to a Board of War, who, I venture to say, have never yet taken cognisance of any such matter; nor do I think it, with great submission to your Honor, any part of their duty. I must therefore conclude, that this information, from the mode of its origin, as well as from the repeated evasions of a fair hearing, is now rested upon the author's own shoulders.

I therefore beg that your Honor will please to order Brig.-Gen. Arnold in arrest for the following crimes, which I am ready to verify, viz.:--

1. For endeavoring to asperse your petitioner's personal character in the most infamous manner.

2. For unwarrantably degrading and reducing the rank conferred on your petitioner by his (Gen. Arnold's) superior officers, and subjecting your petitioner to serve in an inferior rank to that to which he had been appointed.

3. For ungentlemanlike conduct in his letter to Gen. Wooster, of the 25th of January last, charging your petitioner with a falsehood, and in a private manner, which is justly chargeable on himself.

4. For suffering the small-pox to spread in the camp before Quebec, and promoting inoculation there in the Continental army.

5. For depriving a part of the army under his command of their usual allowance of provisions, ordered by Congress.

6. For interfering with and countermanding the order of his superior officer.

7. For plundering the inhabitants of Montreal, in direct violation of a solemn capitulation, or agreement, entered into with them by our late brave and worthy Gen. Montgomery, to the eternal disgrace of the Continental arms.

8. For giving unjustifiable, unwarrantable, cruel and bloody orders, directing whole villages to be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof put to death by fire & sword, without any distinction to friend or foe, age or sex.

9. For entering into an unwarrantable, unjustifiable & partial agreement with Capt. Foster for the exchange of prisoners taken at the Cedars, without the knowledge, advice, or consent of any officer then there present with him on the spot.

10. For ordering inoculation of the Continental Army at Sorel, without the knowledge of, and contrary to the intentions of the general commanding that Northern Department; by which fatal consequences ensued.

11. For great misconduct in his command of the Continental fleet on Lake Champlain, which occasioned the loss thereof.

12. For great misconduct during his command from the camp at Cambridge, in the year 1775, until he was superseded by Gen. Montgomery, at Point Aux-Tremble, near Quebec.

13. For disobedience of the orders of his superior officers, while acting by a commission from the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay; and for a disobedience of the orders of a committee of the same Congress, sent from that State to inspect his conduct, and also for insulting, abusing, and imprisoning the said committee; as also for a _treasonable attempt_ to make his escape with the navigation men, at or near Ticonderoga, to the enemy at St. Johns, which oblidged the then commanding officer at Ticonderoga and its dependencies to issue a positive order to the officers commanding our batteries at Crown Point, to stop or sink the vessels attempting to pass that post, and by force of arms to make a prisoner of the said Gen. Arnold (then a colonel), which was accordingly done.

JOHN BROWN, _Lieutenant-Colonel_.

ALBANY, 1st Dec., 1776.

PITTSFIELD 9th June 1779

Sir

I send you the enclosed hope you will present it to Congress the first opportunity not doubting their Disposition to do equal Justice to Persons of every Denomination in these united States, and that in justice in my instance must be owing rather to misinformation than anything else, altho in the present Case it is scarcely supposable.