I Alarm Among the 1777-1778 CARCELY had the noise of battle died away Sfrom from Oriskany and Fort Schuyler, when fresh invasions from Indians and Tories occurred. Bands of them speedily returned to the Susquehanna Valley, invaded the Delaware settlements from Oghwaga and made depredations in Schoharie. Late in August a committee complained from Schoharie to the Council of Safety, that while they had long foreseen the storm, and made repeated requests for aid, they had "received nothing in return but false epistles, neglect and contempt." The troops promised, had been "sent another way," and they had been "mocked with inconsistent letters, requesting us to defend ourselves, at a time when almost all the neighboring settlements and the greater part of our own inhabitants were actually in arms against us." They had not received one man for assistance, "except a small party of the light-horse, which Colonel Harper procured at the risk of his life, and six Frenchmen, raised at his own expense." When Colonel Harper went out to enlist men for service, he found they had been so intimidated by the Tories that he was unable to enlist any considerable body. At Harpersfield the people had fallen into the hands of a Tory named McDonald, "who swore them not to take up arms against the king." They declared that "one-half of this valuable settlement of Schoharie lies in ruins and desolation, our houses plundered, our cattle destroyed, and our wellaffected inhabitants taken prisoners and sworn not to discover the enemies' plots or proceedings." The committee added that Indians and Tories were lurking in the woods, waiting for another reinforcement, while the harvest, "the best in the memory of man," was << was lying rotting in the fields," and they saw nothing but utter destruction before them.* On September 10th, a militia force of 500 men was promised, but it seems not to have done any service. In October it was known that Oswego had become a rendezvous for Indians, under Brant, and for Tories and regulars under Colonel Butler, and Colonel Guy Carleton. Later reports said their numbers were rapidly increasing. Finally it was asserted that 6,000 men had been assembled there. New attacks were anticipated, and pathetic appeals were again made. Not a patriot now remained in Unadilla. Indians were fortifying the place. Eastward along the Susquehanna, the whole country was deserted, except that Harpersfield had become a recognized settlement of Tories. To Unadilla meanwhile went deserters from the American army, and runaway negroes. By the middle of November, Unadilla had become a haunt of some of the worst elements brought into activity by the Border Wars. The size of the force of white men and Indians at Oswego indicated the energy with which was to be renewed the campaign St. Leger had lost. As St. Leger had been expected to weaken the Ameri*Clinton Papers, vol. ii. |