“You hereby promise and make oath to God upon his holy word, that, in consequence of a subsidiary treaty made between the most excellent, high and mighty prince and lord, George III, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, of the first part, and his excellency, the prince and lord, Charles, by the grace of God, duke of Brunswick Luneburg, of the second part, you will give [this amount of money here inserted] to his highness, the royal majesty, in service from this day. You farther promise, on all occasions, to obey orders as it becomes and behooves brave and honest soldiers, with the exception of those obligations, whereby you are already bound to the service of his highness the duke, our most gracious Lord – in everything faithful and without deceit. So help you God.”

The substance of the Speech of Lieut. Genl. Burgoyne to the Indians in Congress at the Camp Upon the River Boquet

In order to garner favor with the Indians (and avoid costly conflicts), the British Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763, which limited the expansion of the Colonies west of the Appalachians. They took further steps to quell Indian uprisings against their European oppressors in 1774 when the Ohio Territory was attached to the Province of Quebec.

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At the southernmost tip of the Town of Fort Edward is the Hamlet of Fort Miller. The Hamlet takes its name from the 1709 and 1755 fortifications on the opposite side of the river, which protected a portage north of the mouth of the Batten Kill and what is known as the “Little Carrying Place.” Fort Miller was an important supply link to Forts Edward and George, but at the conclusion of the French and Indian Wars the fortifications fell into disuse. Soon soldiers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers began settling the land and exploiting the regions rich resources.

William Duer was the son of a successful West Indian planter and had originally come to the upper-Hudson to secure lumber for his family’s Caribbean plantations. Encouraged by Philip Schuyler, Duer purchased 1,300 acres from members of the Bayard family and established a settlement in what would become the Hamlet of Fort Miller. Duer realized the potential of the region’s vast resources and quickly constructed saw and grist mills, a warehouse, and a store. In 1773, Duer went to England and returned with a contract to supply the Royal Navy with timber for ship masts.

Duer would serve on the Provincial Congress and was appointed as justice in the newly formed Charlotte County in 1773. At the outbreak of hostilities during the American Revolution, Duer found himself between the Loyalist Col. Phillip Skene (of today’s Whitehall) and Gen. Phillip Schuyler (of Saratoga), who commanded the Continental Army’s Northern Department. Duer found that he had more in common with the colonists, and was appointed the duty of commissary and as a delegate to the Continental Congress.

In July 1777, Lieut. General John Burgoyne had forced St. Leger to retreat from Forts Ticonderoga and Independence under the cover of darkness, and then wasted precious time pursuing the retreating colonists over land, rather than sailing down Lake George. When Burgoyne reaches Fort Edward, he has reached the extent of his supply line, and has cause for concern as he approaches General Horatio Gates at Saratoga. The vanguard of Burgoyne’s army is the first to arrive at the Hamlet, and diarist Julius Wasmus, a Brunswick Surgeon, marvels at Duer’s mansion, which sits above their camp about 300 yards from the Hudson River.

“I looked at the beautiful building … which could be called a small castle, and wondered what such a beautiful building could be doing in this wilderness”

On August 11, 1777, Burgoyne first arrives at Fort Miller. The cause for his arrival is to deliver a revised order to German Lieut. Col. Friedrich Baum, which changes the object of his expedition from Arlington, VT., to Bennington, VT. Burgoyne takes up headquarters in Duer’s mansion, while he awaits the much needed provisions. Lieut. William Digby records his experience:

We moved into a camp at Fort Miller, actually to the left (east) of it onto two heights close together near Duer’s House, in which General Burgoyne had his headquarters. This was the first house built in good taste that we had seen for a long time. It consisted of two stories and was covered with an Italian roof; a pavilion was built on each side of it in which were the kitchen and pantries; by means of a covered gallery, they were connected with the main building. This house was considerable damaged as to its doors and windows and devoid of all its furniture. Its owner is a member of Congress and holds the office of commissary of the enemy army.

Colonel Specht records what he sees of the old fortifications opposite the river:

“The so-called Fort Miller lies on that side of the river and had once consisted of two other buildings: a blockhouse, surrounded by palisades and a magazine. Some time ago, it served as a depot for victuals and war necessities when the Forts Edward and George had to be occupied by English Detachments to preserve these parts against an attack by the Savages. These fort have not been occupied for a long time, this post has gone almost completely to ruin and hardly any traces of its previous palisades can be seen.”

If you look across the Hudson River at the point where Fort Miller Road and N. River Road converge remnants of the fortifications glacis, a low-graded artificial slope of earth, which is the only remains of the old fort.

Burgoyne is staging his army for an attack on the American position at Saratoga on August 14 when he receives a note from Baum and learns that reinforcements are necessary. He sends Breymann Corps to assist Baum, but weather delays him, he arrives too late and is forced to retreat. From here, Burgoyne crosses the Hudson by way of a bridge of boats, near where the Dix Bridge enters Hudson Crossing Park.

Following the Revolutionary War, the landscape around Fort Miller was drastically changed by the construction of the Champlain Canal. Sidecuts were formed in the landscape to circumvent natural obstacles, creating the artificial “Island of Fort Miller.” On the east side of Route 4, remnants of the original canal still exist. On the west side of Route 4, three bridges span the canal. Fort Miller is now an important destination near Lock 6 of the Champlain Canal.

AREA TRANSPORTATION

Champlain Canal Lock 6

War is often a breeding ground for legends, heroes and heroines. Every area has its own folklore and Fort Edward is no different, which has Jane McCrea who was “murdered” on July 27, 1777. Jane’s death is often referred to as a massacre, meaning that more than one person was murdered, but such is not the case.

During that summer, the British Army was engaged in a master plan to split the colonies in two. General Burgoyne was to lead his troops south from Canada while Lord Howe was to come north for New York City and St. Ledger from the west. If this plan worked, the British Armies would unite along the Hudson splitting the colonies in New England from the lower colonies. But, instead of moving north, Howe decided to go south and take Philadelphia. In the meantime, Burgoyne, after success at Fort Ticonderoga, was delayed in northern New York by the growing resistance of the local patriot settlers. According to tradition, this caused some of the Indians the British hired to terrorize the colonists.

In the middle of this enters our heroine, Jane McCrea. Jane was born in Lamington New Jersey, to Mary and James McCrea, sometime between 1751 and 1754. She was of Irish and Scottish decent. Jane’s mother died when she was a small child. Living near the McCrea family in New Jersey was a family named Jones which consisted of the widow Jones and her five sons. As a young girl, Jane became interested in David Jones.

After the death of her father Jane came to live with her older brother, Colonel John McCrea. The Jones family had also moved to Fort Edward and Jane’s interest in David was rekindled. David and Jane were to be married prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, however, David and his older brothers had enlisted in the British Army while Jane’s brother was firmly on the Patriot’s side. Being that John was a staunch patriot and Jones a Tory, there was no chance that Jane’s wedding would be able to take place at her brother’s farm.

In July of 1777 as Burgoyne’s troops advanced toward Fort Edward, Colonel McCrea ordered all women and children in the area flee to Albany before the troops arrived. Jane did not want to lose touch with David who was now a Lt. with the advancing British troops so she went to stay with a friend, Polly Hunter’s grandmother, Mrs. Sarah McNeil. Mrs. McNeil was a cousin of General Fraser who had joined forces with General Burgoyne’s soldiers. While at Mrs. McNeil’s home, Jane received a letter from David telling her that he was sending a band of Indian scouts, headed by Duluth, to bring her safely to him in camp where they would be married.

On the morning of July 27, 1777, dressed in her wedding finery, so some say, Jane headed up the Fort Edward Hill to meet the guiding party. Along the way, a marauding party of Indians under the leadership of an Indian named LeLoup frightened her and she ran quickly back to Mrs. McNeil’s home. Jane, Sarah and a slave at the McNeil home hid in the cellar until they were discovered by LeLoup. Legend says that Jane was dragged from the cellar by her beautiful long hair and placed on horseback. Unfortunately, Mrs. McNeil was unable to mount a horse due to her size and was separated from Jane and forced to walk to the British camp in Kingsbury.

Duluth and LeLoup confronted each other on the Fort Edward hill with Duluth claiming that it was his mission to bring Jane into camp. He planned on a healthy reward. LeLoup wanting the honor and the reward refused to give her up. A fight ensued between the two and during this incident Jane was killed. Eyewitness accounts claim she was on horseback when a shot was heard and she was seen falling from the horse. Presumably, she was struck by a stray musket ball and then scalped by the Indians. At this time, it was the custom of certain Indians to take scalps from the dead. This was probably what happened to Jane although many prints suggest that she was brutally scalped to death. The common belief that Jane was ruthlessly murdered by the Indians comes from a book called The Columbiad written by Joel Barlow in 1807. Barlow also used poetic license to alter the names of Jane and David to Lucinda and Heartly and even made David a patriot soldier. He chose to describe Jane’s death as many paintings suggested ignoring eyewitness accounts.

David found Jane’s body under a tall pine tree which was located near where the railroad overpass is on Broadway today. Shortly after this incident, David left the military and moved to Canada. Legend says he never married or even smiled again and died in the 1790’s of a broken heart.

As with most stories and legends, the many accounts of Jane McCrea’s death differ in many respects, however, the outstanding facts are the same. It is even thought by some that the group of Indians was actually a group of white patriots, dressed as Indians, who were out to cause trouble with the Tories.

Farmers living in the surrounding area were greatly angered and aroused by Jane’s death. Many of them joined the patriot army and greatly aided in the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. The significance of her death extended its influence even to the British House of Commons, where Edmund Burke used it as an argument against continuing the war in America

The body of Jane McCrea had rested in three burial places. The first one was on the Old Military Road, (a.k.a. Burgoyne’s Trail) now State Route 4, only two miles south of the Old Fort House Museum campus. The second place was at the State Street Burying Ground where she was interred in the plot of Sarah McNeil in 1822. Jane’s third and final resting place is in the Fort Edward and Sandy Hill Union Cemetery located on Upper Broadway between the two villages. Here, along with Sarah McNeil and French and Indian War legend Duncan Campbell, she has a safe resting place.

On July 27, 1777 a beautiful young woman died here in Fort Edward and her death played an important role in the shaping of the destiny of our nation. Wars are never won by guns alone, but by one side’s self righteousness and dedication to a sacred cause and by portraying the enemy as shameful and dishonorable. This is the role Jane McCrea’s death played in the hearts and minds of patriots in 1777.

RELATED SITES OR EXPERIENCES

Old Fort House Museum

Roger’s Island Visitor’s Center

Maria McEachron was 18 years old and recently married at the time of her sister’s horrible murder by Burgoyne’s Indians. The story was recorded by Dr. Asa Fitch, a local historian who documented local stories sixty years after the war. Here is what Maria McEachron later said:

“My father, Yerry Killmore, told my brother Adam to go and help Allen get in his wheat, but Adam felt lazy and wouldn’t go, and Father used afterwards to say he could forgive Adam for all his disobedience, he was so glad he disobeyed him at this time. So he sent his Negro Tom, who was a young man grown, in Adam’s place, and the wench Sarah, who was about twelve years old, and my sister Catherine also went along. They went on foot early on Saturday morning and were to return home at night.

They wrought together in the harvest field, Mistress Allen binding the sheaves, the black girl carrying them together, Allen and Tom reaping, and Catherine at the house taking care of the babe and getting their dinner — she having gone for this purpose, the Mistress Allen might help in the wheatfield. To make more sure of killing all, it was supposed the Indians lurking in the woods waiting till they should be all in the house at dinner, for twas then that the attack was made.

Catherine and the Negroes not coming home at night, on Sunday morning Father sent the boy Abram, Tom’s brother, on horseback. Catherine was lame in one foot at this time and he sent the horse for her to ride home on — not knowing but what her foot might have got worse from walking and thus preventing her coming home the night before.

[After coming upon the scene of the massacre] Abram jumped on the horse and rode homewards, three miles to McKallors — choking and crying, he could scarcely for a time make out to them the tale. He durst not ride any further. They thought at first he was afraid of the Indians in the woods and had lied to them about the family’s being murdered as an excuse for his fears, and to get them to send somebody home with him.

Allen was found on the path to the barn and near to the barn. A piece behind him was Catherine; behind her and half way from the house to the barn was Mistress Allen with her babe in her arms and placed at her breast — where it must have been put by the Indians, for to scalp it they must have had it out of its mother’s arms. The two children and the Negro girl had tried to hide themselves in the bed, for they were found there, the bedclothes gashed and bloody from the tomahawks. Blood was tracked all around the floor. Bullet holes were perforated through the door, and there was one bullet through the cupboard door in the northeast corner of the house.

I was living with my husband, Peter McEachron, at the head of the lake [Cassayuna]. On that Saturday he was over at Salem helping them put up pickets around the Presbyterian Church, and came home at night. The next day, Sunday, we heard of the murder and fearing our house would be sought out and we be murdered, we forsook it and in our two boats went onto the island in the lake wehre we stayed all night, not venturing to kindle a fire lest it should reveal our hiding place to the Indians.

Next day some of our neighbors passing saw our house deserted. Alarmed, they called our names walking along the lake shore. Hearing and seeing who they were, we answered and came ashore. Cheered up by them, we concluded it was better to stay at home and defend our house if attacked, than forsake it and thus invite its being destroyed.”

Excerpt from Their Own Voices: Oral Accounts of Early Settlers in Washington County, New York  (July 22, 2011) by Jeanne Winston Adler. Used with permission.

Baron Riedesel remained in and around Hubbardton and reported to General Burgoyne that he had a better plan for facilitating the movement of the troops

General Riedesel to General Burgoyne, Skenesborough July 22, 1777:

“Sir: Your Excellency will remember that in the spring, on your arrival at Three Rivers, yon gave me permission always to express my opinion to you freely, whenever an opportunity for doing well to the regiments offered itself. The position in which the army is at present induces me to take this freedom, with the firm confidence that the kindness of heart, and the friendship of your Excellency will pardon it.

Great and rapid successes have at once placed the army in such a position that we will often be forced to be, either with the whole or part of the army, far away from the rivers and our bateaux. The equipment of the army is of such a nature that our bateaux arc very necessary, if we would not find ourselves short of everything. This makes trouble. One-half of a regiment runs around to procure the necessaries for the soldier. The men are weary from toil, and the battalion grows so weak that they look more like slim companies than heavy masses of men. The movements of the army can only be carried out slowly and by piece-meal, lacking, as it does, the means to transport that which is most necessary.

I, therefore, give it as my opinion that there are only two ways for us to do. We must with the army always remain near a river, and not leave it until means offer themselves for transporting the bateaux to another river- the time for their transportation not being more than eight clays. This proceeding, however, in my opinion, is attended with the following disadvantages:

1st. The army are able to move but very slowly; and the advantages which offer themselves upon the sudden retreat of the enemy cannot be availed of in time. Consequently, the consternation which might perhaps be produced among the rebels by the presence of the royal army would not be increased.

2d. The inhabitants of the country, who are at present extremely frightened, will voluntarily submit, and the army in a short time be provided with everything, provided we now and then appear with detachments. The latter, however, must not be allowed to go too great a distance from the main body. The enemy has small parties everywhere, and these keep the people in subjection. Therefore, confiscate all the teams, and make a desert of the whole country. Thus your excellency will be able to gain a much wider field for the operations of your army than at present.

3d. The country, which our army has just left, has taken fresh courage; a new militia has been organized; small detachments once more, roam through these districts; and each partisan cart operate against our communications. This latter circumstance may in future be even more detrimental to us than at present.

To avoid all these evils, our army must be brought into a condition in which it can move with much more celerity than it has been accustomed to. That is, the requisite number of horses must be procured to carry the necessary baggage of the officers, the tents, ammunition, artillery and provisions. It is, in my opinion, very disadvantageous to transport the baggage and tents on Canadian carts. They spoil the good roads, and can get along only with the utmost difficulty on good roads. The column is, therefore, lengthened too much, and the men are very often without tents, the carts not being able to keep up. But a pack horse goes everywhere. It can walk on the flanks of the regiment, and thus always provide the army “with necessaries. Pack horses, therefore, would in my humble opinion, do away entirely with the carts. I would, also, keep no more teams than were absolutely necessary for the transportation of the provisions of the artillery.

When the regiments have a sufficient number of pack horses collected, and when the transportation of the artillery is safely provided for, then your excellency can send out detachments at pleasure; keep a check upon the main body of the enemy; and thus keep the inhabitants in subjection- yea, even break up their militia, and procure the necessary support for the army. You can, also, extend or contract the army as you see fit, and thus freely operate independently of the bateaux and a. thousand other contingencies.

I believe that the army may easily be placed in this independent position in three or four weeks at the furthest.

The country between here and the Connecticut and even fifteen miles beyond that river is destitute of troops and full of the best horses. In fact, there is not an inhabitant who does not possess three or four horses.

If your excellency will detach to the Connecticut, the regiment of dragoons, the corps of Peters and of Yessop, and an officer and thirty of each regiment, under the command of a good stall officer, I am convinced that this corps would procure the necessary number of horses for the army. The regiment of dragoons would thus be mounted, and do all that your excellency would expect from it.

Your excellency might determine upon a proportionate tax of about five to six guineas for each horse. A commissary might go with this corps and give a receipt for each horse to the owner, who, upon producing it, could be paid by the general cashier. The officers who received horses might then have the money for them, gradually deducted from their pay, while the horses for the dragoons would be paid for by the king. This detachment, also, could, at the same time, gather up all the ox teams to be used in transporting the provisions. This plan, if carried out, would pit the army in the most flourishing condition, and your excellency would no longer have any difficulty in carrying out each movement, either in detail or otherwise according to your own plan.

Your Excellency might, perhaps, think it mean to take all the horses from the inhabitants, but it must be considered: 1st. That the chief work here is done by oxen, and that horses are only made use of either for carrying grain to the mill, or for riding. 2d. the horses could be bought at a price much above their value. 3d. If there was a want of horses, they would not be able to convey the news to the enemy so rapidly or so often. 4th. their little bloodletting would, at least, be a just punishment for their treason and bad conduct toward their king. I am convinced that this course can be justified before God, the king and parliament, it being to the material advantage of the army and his majesty.

Having thus communicated my ideas candidly and confidentially to the friendship of your excellency, I rely on your forbearance and pardon for my freedom.

I have the honor etc.,

Riedesel.”