Marie Danielle Annette Williams - The Revolutionary War in the Adirondacks: Raids in the Wilderness

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2020 by Marie Danielle Annette Williams

All rights reserved

Cover: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

First published 2020

E-Book edition 2020

ISBN 978.1.4396.7023.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932105

Print Edition 978.1.4671.4261.8

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Nanny, for always encouraging me to pursue my love of writing and for being the biggest supporter of my love for history.

CONTENTS

The New York frontier raids in the American Revolution. F.W. Halsey, New York State Archives.

PREFACE

New York played a pivotal role in the American Revolution, one that is often overlooked by the battles and events fought in other would-be states. Over the course of the war, no state would suffer greater losses in both property and population than New York; nearly one-third of all of the major battles and skirmishes of the Revolution took place in New Yorks borderlands. New York was home to three major military campaigns, and both sides realized the importance of controlling key positions such as New York Harbor, the Hudson Valley and Lake Champlain. However, it was the people above all else who played a role in the Revolution and worked to make it succeed or fail. New Yorks contribution to the American Revolution should be understood far beyond the importance of just New York City and Saratoga but at the same time should not exclude those areas from the narrative; it should be understood as a multifaceted contribution by Tories and Patriots alikefrom different sexes, races and social classesand viewed as a joint effort of Upstate New York and Downstate New York working together despite the war affecting both areas differently. The American Revolution touched the lives of everyone in the thirteen colonies, and this multifaceted look highlights the fact that the Revolution was a true social revolution as well as a political revolution. This book will examine little-known events of the Revolution in New York that transpired in areas that are often overlooked in terms of the war.

Much of New York State at the time of the American Revolution was frontier wilderness lands sparsely populated by a people who held diverse opinions about the war. Although war truly would not play out in New York north of New York City until mid-1777 with the Saratoga Campaign (although there were smaller events that transpired in 1775), there were other events that would play a role in bringing out beliefs and actions among the people. These events were the raids in the wilderness areas of Upstate and Western New York. The raids would be carried out by the forces of Sir Guy Carleton, his nephew Sir Christopher Carleton, Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant and his cohorts and Edward and Ebenezer Jessup. During the time of the raids, no town was safe. The raids in the wilderness that would begin in the Upstate New York regions with the Carletons and their forces from Canada would spread to other parts of the state as well. The raids in the frontier wilderness areas of Upstate and Western New York are not common topics for discussion or literary narratives and thus are often overlooked as events of the Revolution. For the people who inhabited those areas, however, those raids shaped their perspectives on the war and would shape the war, as people were forced to choose sides, whether they wanted to do so or not.

Many people believe that history happened in other places, but the goal of this book is to highlight the importance of these frontier wilderness raids because they show that even small towns tucked away in the mountains and forests played roles just as monumental as the bustling metropolitan areas or the sites of major battles. As an educator, I have had to answer the question of why studying about the past is important when nothing important seemed to have happened in the area where my students lived. Many of them were surprised to learn that the town they lived in, where they went to school, where they went with their parents to grocery shop and where they went to hang out at the mall was attacked twice during the American Revolution. I know of only one other historian who chose to focus his research on the British wilderness raids, Canadian historian Gavin K. Watts, who has written numerous accounts of the British raids on New York. Although his work is extremely well researched and can be understood by both those who have and have not studied history, his work lacks the understanding of the raids that those who grew up in the affected areas have. That is where this book comes in. I have spent my entire life, up to this point, in Upstate New York, living my daily life in the Hudson Valley and the Southern Adirondack Mountain regions; the areas history and stories are what I grew up learning about and are what inspired me to pursue a career in the fields of history and education and are what continue to inspire me years later. This book is the culmination of two years of research about this specific topic.

THERE ARE PERSONAL REASONS for my wanting to write about the British raids on New Yorks frontier wilderness regions. An ancestor of mine, Robert Dobson, was a lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment of Foot at the time of the American Revolution. The Twentieth Regiment of Foot saw a handful of engagements during the war for American independence. In April 1776, the regiment was sent from England to Quebec and assisted in the citys relief in May of that year. After the relief of Quebec, the Twentieth Regiment of Foot served under General John Burgoyne during the 1777 Campaign, even fighting and surrendering at the conclusion of the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. The Twentieth Regiment of Foot was captured and imprisoned with Burgoyne at Saratoga and remained as such until returning to England in 1781. Robert Dobson made his way to Jamaica, where he passed away. Having an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution for the British inspired me, in part, to delve into the actions of the British in New York, particularly after the 1777 Campaign had come to an end.

THE ACT OF RESEARCHING local history is not always an easy task, and the researching, writing, photographing and editing processes were no small feats; however, they were very rewarding, as they showed me that history is my calling. Through the entire process of creating this book, I learned new information about the area I call home and am proud that I get to share this new information with all those who choose to read this book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are so many people who I would like to thank for their encouragements, words of wisdom, assistance and more on this writing journey. I want to thank my family for their love and support and for instilling in me a love of the past and of my home state. I would like to thank my husbands family for their love and support in everything I set out to do. I would like to say a huge thank you to Jeffrey R. Williams for his constant and unconditional love and support in everything I doand for staying up with me on the nights when I wrote, for making me grilled cheese sandwiches at 1:00 a.m. and for his encouragement to keep writing on the days when I felt like I wanted to give up. There are also so many educators Id like to thank for encouraging me throughout my journey to become an educator and historianthe history teachers in the Hadley-Luzerne Central School District; the history, political science and adolescent education professors at the College of Saint Rose; and the history professors at Southern New Hampshire University. I would also like to thank everyone at The History Press and Arcadia Publishing for their help putting this book together at all of its different stages.