To George Washington from Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 15 April 1780

From Colonel Goose Van Schaick

Albany April 15th 1780

Sir

In my last I informed your Excellency of the Depredations committed by the Enemy at Skeensborough, & on the Frontiers of Tryon County on the Mohawk River.1 Since which time I have received accounts, that on the 3rd Instant, Nineteen of the Inhabitants in the upper parts of Tryon, have been made prisoners by the Savages, A Grist Mill & three dwelling Houses burnt,2 & on the seventh, Eleven were taken & three killed at a small Settlement called Harpers-field between Schoharry and the Susquahanna.3

I was led to hope that the season would have been a protection to the Frontier Settlements in this quarter, until we were better able to repel their incursions, but from what has already happened, it appear⟨s⟩ necessary that some parts of the Northern & Western Frontiers in this Department be immediately Guarded, & as their safety at present depends on the exertions of the Militia Detachments have been ordered out but their March is delayed for the want of provisions. The purchasing Commissaries inform me that they have not been enabled to purchase provision during the course of last Winter, for the want of money, & that they are still without, from which cause our Magazines in this quarter are at present reduced to so low a State, that but very small supplies can be drawn from them.4

I also beg leave to inform your Excellency, that the amunition at this place consists at present of half a Ton of powder & Ball in proportion, a Quantity of which in all probability will be judged insufficient should we have frequent occasion to call out the Militia. I am with every sentiment of respect & esteem Your Excellencies most obedient humble servant

G. V. Schaick

LS, DLC:GW.

1. See Van Schaick to GW, 23 March.

2. For details, see Jacob Klock to Van Schaick, 5 April, in Hastings and Holden, Clinton Papers description begins Hugh Hastings and J. A. Holden, eds. Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777–1795, 1801–1804. 10 vols. 1899–1914. Reprint. New York, 1973. description ends , 5:631.

3. A victim stated in an examination completed on 12 April that “on Friday the 7th of April a party of Indians commanded by Joseph Brandt, 19 white Men and Indians, came to Harpers Field … and killed three, and took Captain [Alexander] Harper and Eleven More Prisoners . … Those people taken being gone there to make Sugar. The party that took them was designed for Schohary but happening to fall upon that place, those poor People became a Victim for them” (Hastings and Holden, Clinton Papers description begins Hugh Hastings and J. A. Holden, eds. Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777–1795, 1801–1804. 10 vols. 1899–1914. Reprint. New York, 1973. description ends , 5:632–33).

Harpersfield, in Delaware County, N.Y., had been settled in 1771 on land patented to John Harper in December 1769. The area was largely abandoned during the later 1770s, but settlers returned after the war and officially organized a town in 1788.

4. Van Schaick wrote a similar report to New York governor George Clinton on this date. That letter concludes: “I have made a representation of this to the Commander in chief, & hope from an Ernest desire I have for the protection of the Frontier settlements, that a speedy remedy may be devised, so as to enable us to protect either by militia or otherwise our Frontiers from the Incursions of the Enemy” (Hastings and Holden, Clinton Papers description begins Hugh Hastings and J. A. Holden, eds. Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777–1795, 1801–1804. 10 vols. 1899–1914. Reprint. New York, 1973. description ends , 5:628–29; see also Abraham Ten Broeck to Clinton, 15 April, in Hastings and Holden, Clinton Papers description begins Hugh Hastings and J. A. Holden, eds. Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777–1795, 1801–1804. 10 vols. 1899–1914. Reprint. New York, 1973. description ends , 5:629–31).

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: To George Washington from Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 15 April 1780
Author: Van Schaick, Goose
Recipient: Washington, George
Date: 15 April 1780

Reference

Cite as: “To George Washington from Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 15 April 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-25-02-0281. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 25, 10 March–12 May 1780, ed. William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, pp. 417–418.]

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