INCIDENT OF AN EXPEDITION UNDER GEN. JOHN SULLIVAN.
BY G. FRANK RADWAY, UTICA, N. Y.
Otsego Lake, in central New York, possesses not only the charm of romance due to the pen of Fenimore Cooper, but also an historical interest. In the year 1779 an expedition was sent against the hostile Indians around Lake Cayuga. A brigade under the command of Gen. James Clinton, the brother of George Clinton and father of DeWitt Clinton (each of whom held the office of governor of New York at one time), went up the Mohawk and then cut across through the forest, to the head of the Otsego, finally encamping at the foot of the lake.
The Susquehanna at its source is a very narrow stream and did not permit the floating of the 220 boats brought along by the troops. An ingenious plan was devised to overcome this difficulty. The small gorge through which the river flows as it leaves the lake was dammed, thereby collecting the waters. When a sufficient amount had been collected, the troops embarked, the dam was knocked out, and the boats were carried by the flood to a point near Tioga, where the brigade joined the forces under General Sullivan. It is said that the Indians along the banks, beholding the overflow of the river in summer, without any apparent reason, thought that it was an interposition of the Great Spirit, and fled in terror. The site of the dam has been suitably marked by the Otsego Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.