New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-09

country 10 the west and pronounced IT the most
beautiful land the eye Of man had ever beheld.
1t compensated those early settlers for the
dangers they had TO run from Indians. They lived,
went to church ploughed their fields and slept,
armed and ready TO drive the tomahawk and scalp
ing knife from their doors Massacres that chill
the blood at this day common then,
and there was hardly a family which did not have
some grandmother old sitting by the fire.
side in knit hood which suggested. while it con-
cealed. that the scalp missing 1t was natural
for any one TO ask why they had ever come so far
TO endure such hardships and dangers but they
were not people to turn back. They did not pine
for heshpots and when the Revolution came the
Indians and Tories toned were not enough 10
daunt them
When news OF Concord and Lexington reached
the settlers along the SchOharie all the grain that
could be spared was put in wagons and started
over the rough roads TO Boston. The struggle had
been nothing but a series Of disasters for the
colonies when Great Britain determined to strike
a last blow and end the The she chose
among the patriot homes Of Central New
York. where the savages friendly, and where
the Tories outnumbered the patriots five to one.
New-Yorks Mohawk Valley. the gateway the
West, the key to the continent. was all impor-
tant The story Of St. Leger's defeat Oriskany
by the men Of Tryon County under old Nicholas
Herkimer has often been told. II dashed Bur-
goyne's last hope the ground.
The population OF Tryon County in the Revolu-
ton estimated I0000. while not more than
2500 could have been equal 10 bearing arms. The
Five Nations. who lived around and among the
settlers. had over 1900 savage warriors, while
there were than . go savages trained 10 use
In the region. Among the whites
secret spies and the Tories had everything TO
lose and nothing to gain by independence. OF the
100 able bodied which the county contained
the outbreak OF the war few remained its
close; there We're counted 1900 taxable inhabi-
tants, 800 widows and 200 orphans
The centre of wealth and power in the Mohawk
Valley before the was at the home of Sir
William Johnson. who had a career picturesque
and romantic. His death occurred on June a. l774.
when he was sixty years old. He was suspected of
having found some means to shorten his days. but
this could not be proved. At any rate. his ad-
mlrers believe that had he lived the course of the
war in the Mohawk Valley would have changed
and that he would have been found side by side
with Washington enlisted in the of indie
pendence. II is thought his nature would have re-
voted at the bloody massacres Of settlers at the
hands of red men and Tories which melted
by his son. Sir John. and his nephew, Colonel Guy
johnson. together with Joseph Brant and the in
famous Buffers
No other man in this country under such
great obligations the King. obligations which he
could not we'll avoid England had raised him
from obscurity and loaded him with honors and
wealth. His position therefore embarrassing
so much indeed to lend color TO the rumors
of his suicide
1t is said that he was heard to declare that Eng