The Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley | Page 9

was no difficult task,
since his camp was a lean-to of fir boughs standing hardly more than
fifty feet from where we were sitting.
After the old man had left us, one of the soldiers asked if we had seen
any Tories with Thayendanega's band, and I told him that, so far as I
had been able to learn, the only white man among them was Peter Sitz,
although we had not been so fortunate as to see him.
"Why did you want to know?" Jacob asked, with mild curiosity, and the
man replied:
"It struck me that if any of the Mohawk Valley Tories were with Brant,
General Herkimer would stand little chance of doing anything to aid
the prisoner."
"Why do you say that the general would hardly be able to do anythin'

of the kind?" I asked. "Surely to one so high in command Brant would
listen, when he might refuse even to speak with one of less rank."
"The thought was not in my mind that Thayendanega himself would be
opposed to our commander; but if you know what was done last year, it
is easy to understand my meaning."
To me the soldier was speaking in riddles, and I asked for an
explanation, whereupon he told us that more than a year ago, when the
Johnsons had collected a large force of men nearabout Johnson Hall,
and among them fully three hundred well-drilled Scotch soldiers,
General Schuyler marched with nearly three thousand militia to within
four miles of the settlement, demanding that Sir John surrender all arms,
ammunition, and warlike stores in his possession, together with the
weapons and military accoutrements then held by the Tories and
Indians under his command. In addition to which, the baronet was
required to give his parole of honor that he would not attempt any act
against the patriot cause.
Sir John was at first furious because such a demand had been made; but,
badly frightened by General Schuyler's display of force, he finally
consented, since he could do nothing better, and the colonists marched
to Johnson Hall, where the surrender was made.
Then it was that General Herkimer was detailed to disarm the Tories in
the valley, and while carrying out such orders quite naturally made
enemies of the majority of them.
Therefore it was, according to the belief of the soldier, that General
Herkimer would have little or no weight with Brant so far as rescuing
Peter Sitz was concerned, if there chanced at the moment to be Tories
near at hand to whisper in his ear.
Just now it seems necessary for me to set down that which happened
after Sir John Johnson's surrender, if so it could be called, to General
Schuyler, and I can best do it by copying that which I have seen in a
printed sheet concerning our troubles in the Mohawk Valley:

"It soon afterward became evident that what Sir John had promised,
when constrained by fear, would not be performed when the cause of
that fear was removed. He violated his parole of honor, and the
Highlanders began to be as bold as ever in their oppressions of the
Whigs. Congress thought it dangerous to allow Johnson his liberty, and
directed Schuyler to seize his person, and to proceed vigorously against
the Highlanders in his vicinity. Colonel Dayton was entrusted with the
command of the expedition for the purpose, and in May (1776) he
proceeded to Johnstown. The baronet had friends among the Loyalists
in Albany, by whom he was timely informed of the intentions of
Congress. Hastily collecting a large number of Scotchmen and other
Tories, he fled to the woods by the way of the Sacandaga, where it is
supposed they were met by Indians sent from Canada to escort them
thither, for a certain time afterward, in one of his speeches,
Thayendanega said: 'We went in a body to the town then in possession
of the enemy, and rescued Sir John Johnson, bringing him fearlessly
through the streets.'
"Amid perils and hardships of every kind the baronet and his
companions traversed the wilderness between the headwaters of the
Hudson and the St. Lawrence, and after nineteen days' wanderings
arrived at Montreal. Sir John was immediately commissioned a colonel
in the British service; he raised two battalions of Loyalists called the
Johnson Greens, and declared himself the bitterest and most implacable
enemy of the Americans."
Now it must be borne in mind that from information which we had
received, there was every reason to believe Brant had come to place
himself and his following under Sir John's command, and that before
many days were passed we might expect the Mohawk Valley would be
overflowed by all the Tories who had previously fled to Canada. Thus
it can be understood that