Moses Van Campen Major Moses Van Campen ( 1757 – 1849 ) was a soldier during the American Revolutionary War . He was a prominent figure in Pennsylvania and parts of New York . His primary involvement in the Revolutionary War was in fighting against hostile Native American tribes . He began work as a soldier in 1775 and retired from military service in 1783 . Van Campen was familiar with Native American methods of warfare . He also participated in the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 . Early life . Van Campen was born in Hunterdon County , New Jersey on January 21 , 1757 . His father was a farmer named Cornelius Van Campen . He was of Dutch descent on his father ' s side and French descent on his mother ' s side . He was the oldest of six sons and four daughters , and was named after Moses Depue , his grandfather . Shortly following Moses Van Campen ' s birth , his family moved to Northampton County , Pennsylvania , near the Delaware Water Gap , where Van Campen spent most of his childhood . Van Campen was educated at home until the age of nine , when he was sent to a nearby school . Here , he learned surveying and navigation , and aspired to become a sailor . After he turned 16 , he often hunted deer and wild turkey in the forests around his home . In 1769 , Van Campen and his father moved to the Wyoming Valley . In 1773 , Van Campen and his family moved to an area near the West Branch Susquehanna River in Northumberland County . Van Campen also purchased a tract of land along Fishing Creek . While living here , according to a book by John Niles Hubbard , he commonly met Native Americans on his hunting expeditions , and commonly hunted with a Seneca person named Tom Shenop . Service in the military . 1775 to 1777 . Van Campen ' s first military experience was in 1775 , although he did not play a significant role during this experience . At this time , he was recruited as part of a company of about 700 men under Colonel Plunket to fight an opposing company of British troops in the Wyoming Valley . Plunket ' s men went upriver for some distance , before beginning to march on December 1 , 1775 , while the boat continued traveling upstream as well . The company reached the Nanticoke falls on December 24 , 1775 . At this point , the river was found to be impassible due to the abundance of ice , so the entire company continued upriver on foot towards Fort Wyoming . However , before reaching the fort , they reached Shawnese Mountain and were fired at , although the attack was not devastating . The company crossed the river , but encountered an opposing force there as well . Since Plunket ' s men were not equipped for a long siege , they retreated down the Susquehanna River at this point . Shortly after the Revolutionary War began , Van Campen began dealing with defending settlements on the frontier . Later , Van Campen was made a sergeant under the command of Thomas Gaskins and John Kelly . The regiment that Van Campen was in first went to Reids Fort near Big Island on the Susquehanna River . While stationed here , Van Campen was sent to a place called Young Woman ' s Town , 30 miles upstream along the Susquehanna River , in pursuit of a group of Native Americans who were camping there . After several days , Van Campen and the others were unable to find them , so they returned to Reids Fort . 1778 . Van Campen was promoted to Lieutenant in 1778 and was subsequently placed under the command of Colonel Samuel Hunter . Near the beginning of April 1778 , Van Campen and 20 other men marched to an area three miles above the mouth of Fishing Creek . Van Campen began building a fort in that area and named it Fort Wheeler . Its purpose of which was to defend local settlers against Native American attacks . In May 1778 , while the fort was under construction , the Native Americans attacked it . The Indians besieged the fort until its supplies of ammunition and gunpowder were low . The siege failed , as more supplies were brought from the nearby Fort Jenkins . However , the fort was attacked again in June 1778 . This time , Van Campen and ten other men fought them , causing the Indians to retreat . Later in the summer of 1778 , Van Campen and five other men were ordered to track down a group of loyalists who were hiding nearby . After traveling for one night , they discovered the Loyalist hideout . The loyalists barricaded themselves in , so Van Campen and his men entered the hideout by force , but the loyalists were quickly subdued . Later in 1778 , Van Campen received orders from Colonel Hunter to lead a company of men from Lancaster County and patrol nearby settlements and search for groups of Indians . The group travelled through the woods for three days without encountering any Indians , until they reached Eve ' s swamp , an area between Green Creek and Little Fishing Creek in the Fishing Creek watershed . The group then continued to Chillisquaque Creek , then over the Muncy Mountains to Muncy Creek . Finding no trace of any Indians , Van Campen then returned to Fort Wheeler . 1779 . In 1779 , Van Campen was a participant in the Sullivan Expedition , a military campaign against Loyalists and Iroquois . He was appointed to the role of quartermaster and charged with gathering provisions for the Sullivan Expedition . He started gathering the provisions between two and three months before the beginning of the expedition . On July 31 , 1779 , Van Campen , under the command of John Morrison , began moving up the Susquehanna River with 120 ships and 2000 horses carrying supplies for the Sullivan Expedition . They stopped at Tioga on August 11 to wait for their army . Annoyed at persistent ambush es by the local Indians , General Sullivan ordered Van Campen to head a company ambush the Indians . The orders to approach the Indians and then move out onto a nearby plain . They had a sentinel keep watch and planned to ambush the next group of Indians who went past . After some time , Van Campen ' s sentinel signaled that there were 15 Indians nearby , although it turned was a false alarm . General Sullivan then ordered Van Campen to spy on the Indians and determine how many there were , so he headed in the direction of a nearby Indian camp . He and his companion crossed the Chemung River and ascended a mountain , where they could see the campfire s of the Indians . They continued down the mountain to the campfires . Van Campen then approached the campfires and estimated that there were 700 Indians there . The afternoon after he returned from this expedition , he was selected by General Sullivan to lead the advance guard in the army ' s upcoming battle . Van Campen and 26 other men then went as far as a place known as the Narrows , near Chemung , New York . Upon arriving at the location of the Indian village , the army found that it was deserted , and burned it down . They then proceeded to a ridge called Hogback Hill . The Indians attacked Van Campen ' s advance guard as it arrived at the top of the hill , causing 16 casualties . The advance guard pursued the Indians and killed several of them . On August 29 , 1779 , the battle between General Sullivan ' s army and the Indians began . Later in the Sullivan Expedition , Van Campen and a group of other soldiers went to an Indian settlement at the headwaters of Baldwin ' s Creek . They burned down all of the approximately twenty houses in the settlement and returned to the army . On August 31 , the army continued heading in the direction of Catherine ' s town , destroying Indian homes and croplands in their path . On their route , the army traveled into areas that were previously unexplored by people of European descent . The army continued up the eastern side of Seneca Lake , destroying several more Indian communities before turning towards the Six Nations community Genesee . 1780 and 1781 . In 1780 , Van Campen was captured by Indians of the Seneca tribe during a raid , who planned to take him to Niagara . However , at night , he and two other men who were taken prisoner killed nine of the ten Indians guarding them ( the tenth escaped ) . Van Campen and the others then went to the Wyoming area . Van Campen then returned to Fort Jenkins . Later in 1780 , he was ordered to destroy a nearby group of Senecas . He went to Northumberland with a number of other soldiers , then crossed the Susquehanna River and returned past Mahoning Creek to Roaring Creek . He and the soldiers disguised themselves as Indians and encountered a Loyalist hunter by the name of Wilkinson . Van Campen and the others convinced Wilkinson to take them to the Indian settlement . From there , Van Campen convinced the Indians to come with them , and the Indians were captured by a Captain Robinson . The Indians were then taken to Northumberland , where Colonel Hunter commanded that they leave the area for the duration of the war . In the first few months of 1781 , Van Campen did active service as a lieutenant . His work during this time was consisted mostly of scouting around settlements and searching for small groups of Indians . His typical route on such missions was to travel down the Susquehanna River , then up the West Branch Susquehanna River to the headwaters of Chillisquaque Creek , Little Fishing Creek , and Muncy Creek . Van Campen was chosen for such scouting missions because of his skill as a marksman and his familiarity with the area . Later in 1781 , Van Campen went to Wilkes - Barre with a guard of six men . Along the route , he and his men passed through an uninhabited area , which included an island known as Rocky Island on the Susquehanna River . On Rocky Island , Van Campen discovered signs that Indians had been there not long before . As they passed this area , four Indians arrived to kill Van Campen , but they opted not to attack when they realized that he was going with six others . Van Campen also was based at Fort McClure for part of 1781 . During this time , he was involved in protecting locals from Indian attacks . While stationed at fort McClure , he was selected by Colonel Hunter to command a group of five soldiers who were to travel to Sinnemahoning Creek in disguise and spy on a group of 300 Indians who were based there . This expedition was known as the ' Grove party ' . On the Sinnemahoning Creek , Van Campen and the others discovered a group if Indians , but there were far fewer than the claimed 300 . When the group of Indians slept , Van Campen and the others went up to kill them , but they awoke . Six of the Indians were killed in the skirmish , but the rest escaped . He and his company then returned to Northumberland , where Van Campen remained until near the end of the autumn of 1781 . In late autumn , 1781 , Van Campen was chosen to travel with his company down to Lancaster . He and his company went by boat as far down the Susquehanna River as Middletown before leaving the river and marching to Reading . Here , he and his company were joined by portions of the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment , 5th Pennsylvania Regiment , and one company of the Congress Regiment . These soldiers had been assigned to guard a group of Hessian soldiers that had been taken prisoner by General Burgoyne . Van Campen remained in the vicinity of Reading until the spring of 1782 . 1782 . Van Campen and his companies returned from Reading at the end of March 1782 . Van Campen passed through Northumberland before heading towards Muncy . Here , he was directed to rebuilt a fort that was once located there until it was destroyed by Indians in 1779 . In April 1782 , shortly after the rebuilding of the fort commenced , Van Campen and a number of others went with a man named Mr . Culbertson to Bald Eagle Creek , where Clubertson ' s brother was killed by Indians . After selecting twenty men to go with him and Culbertson , Van Campen and the others travelled upriver to an island known as Big Island . The group set out overland to Culbertson ' s farm , where they spent the night . At this point , approximately 85 Indians of a Seneca tribe who were sailing downriver discovered Van Campen ' s group and set out to pursue them . When the Indians did catch up to Van Campen ' s group , the group fought them . Three of Van Campen ' s men escaped , a total of nine were killed , and several more were wounded . The remaining soldiers were then taken up the Susquehanna River valley to Pine Creek and from there through the Pigeon Woods to the Genesee River and Niagara . They were then taken to an Indian village in New York and beyond to near Buffalo Creek . Van Campen and the other prisoners were then taken to Fort Niagara and given to the British army . The British soldiers then took him to Montreal . He was then sent down the Hudson River to New York in December 1782 . He was paroled and eventually returned to Northumberland via New Jersey . 1783 . Near the beginning of the spring of 1783 , Van Campen travelled to the Wilkes - Barre Fort to take command of it and the company of soldiers inside it . The purpose of this was to protect nearby settlers from Indian attacks . Van Campen commanded the fort until November 1783 , when he retired from military service due to illness . Personal life and later life . His father and younger brother died in 1780 , during an Indian attack , which Van Campen himself survived . After the Revolutionary War was over , Van Campen lived in Angelica , New York . He was friends with Captain Horatio Jones , met Van Campen when Van Campen was captured in 1782 . Van Campen was a freemason since at least 1808 . He also enjoyed wrestling . After retiring from the army , Van Campen married Margaret McClure , a daughter of James McClure , and owned a farm and estate for several years . He later purchased a tract of land near Briar Creek and remained there for five years . He moved to a little - settled area of New York in 1795 , near the community of Almond . He then moved to the community of Angelica in 1805 . In New York , he was employed as a surveyor and surveyed approximately 150 , 000 acres of land over the course of several years . He also aided in the creation of a number of important roads in the area . In 1807 , Van Campen was appointed to be one of the judges of the first court in Allegany County , New York . In the same year , he was appointed treasurer of Allegany County , a position he held until 1822 . He also was a freeholder in 1808 , 1809 , and 1811 . He , along with two other people , was chosen to build the Allegany County Courthouse and Allegany County Jail . Van Campen was a Justice of the Peace from 1812 to 1814 . He was chosen to be the Commissioner of Loans for Allegany County in 1808 , and he held this position until 1831 , when he moved to Dansville . Van Campen was Allegany County ' s county treasurer from 1814 to 1826 and a constable in 1815 . He was also an election inspector in 1824 , an Assessor in 1824 and 1826 , and Deputy County Clerk of Allegany County in 1828 . Van Campen helped build the Presbyterian Church of Angelica , New York , was ordained in 1812 , and served at the church from 1812 to 1831 . Van Campen became paralysed due to illness in 1845 , but recovered in 1847 . He died in Angelica , New York on October 15 , 1849 . He was 92 years and 9 months old . Legacy . In 1933 , the Hotel Moses Van Campen opened in Benton , Pennsylvania . There was once a Moses Van Campen chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution .