September 5 he was sent with two hundred men from Fort Rensselaer to Fort Schuyler to guard twelve boats with provisions for the relief of the garrison. September 11 he is reported as one of the officers of Van Rensselaer's force at Fort Rensselaer (part of which—a well preserved stone house—remains at Canajoharie under the care of young citizens of that town, being the place where the Tryon County Committee of patriots met). I cannot tell where he was for the month prior to the 19th of October, when he was in command at Fort Paris, a palisaded enclosure of stone block-houses fit for a garrison of over two hundred men, built in 1776-77 by Captain Christian Getman's Rangers on a most commanding position on the beautiful plateau called Stone Arabia, north of the Mohawk between Garoga Creek and Johnstown, where Sir William Johnson's baronial hall was. The fort was more than a dozen miles from Johnstown, and was named for Isaac Paris, who took part in the terrible affair at Oriskany. Sir John Johnson and his career in Tryon County and elsewhere in New York is well known. To me the whole subject of Indian warfare in all our wars seems to open every possible avenue to the extremest horrors and brutalities of war. Philip Schuyler, one of the noblest men who ever lived in New York State, had from his early youth been friendly to Indians. In fact, before he reached twenty-one years of age, he was given a chief's name among the Oneidas for his services to that tribe. His skill and patience made him all important in making treaties and negotiations with "The Six Nations" and other Indians. The Patriots very early realized that the Indians were to become a stumbling-block to any attempt at treating with Canada or maintaining what is called civilized warfare (can any warfare be civilized?). Schuyler, Hawley, Oliver Wolcott, and other distinguished men of high character attempted in vain to hold the Indians to neutrality. Congress at one time voted that Indians should not be employed in the service excepting where a whole nation, after full consideration, decided to act together. At another time Congress asked Schuyler to employ two thousand Indians for military service. Sir John Johnson's career, his apparent acquiescence in Schuyler's demands, his conduct when taking and when breaking his parole, his apology being that the Patriots had no established authority, and his repeated invasions of this country showed him to be the growth of the treachery which is bred among men who use the sordid and brutal nature of savages for evil purposes.
It is interesting to me that Lieutenant-colonel Mellen led Massachusetts militia to Fort Schuyler to aid Gansevoort, and that, when in August, 1777, Arnold set out to the relief of Gansevoort he led Massachusetts volunteers from Colonel Learned's battalion, and that again in the summer and fall of 1780 Brown led Massachusetts men to defend this neighborhood from the murderous invasion of Sir John Johnson. At Oriskany, Herkimer was hurried into action by his inferior officers in the manner characteristic of the independent and valorous spirit of his time, and Oriskany in 1777 was one of the most brutal conflicts between Tories and Patriots. Sullivan's retaliating expedition of July, 1778, was as bad in its character and effects as anything ever done on behalf of any cause, good or bad. The destruction of many Indian villages by Sullivan and General James Clinton was no doubt thorough, but of little avail, although it was thought wise to retaliate for the horrors of Wyoming.
Early in May, 1780, the information came to this neighborhood that Sir John Johnson was moving from Lake Champlain towards Johnstown with a considerable force, that Brant was marching against the Canajoharie settlements with a body of savages and that the Tories would join them. Johnson landed at Bulwagga Bay, near Crown Point, and, pushing through the forest and down the valley of the Sacandoga, he appeared near Johnstown. On the 21st of May, 1780, his forces divided, and poured into the lower valley of the Mohawk along a line of ten miles. From Tribes Hill upward they plundered, murdered, and destroyed. Every man capable of bearing arms was said to have been killed. Johnson withdrew hastily, as he was pursued by militia. Of course hundreds of people fled to Albany and Schenectady. Governor Clinton hurried at the head of troops from Kingston to Fort George, and, ordering others to meet him at Ticonderoga, he pushed on to Crown Point, but was too late to capture Sir John.
Brant delayed his attack until late in July, 1780, and then made a feigned attack on Fort Schuyler. General Van Rensselaer, then at Stone Arabia, hastened to the relief of Fort Schuyler, and Brant in early August fell upon the Canajoharie settlements and destroyed them mercilessly. Troops were sent from Albany to protect the settlements, but they were not sufficient.
September 7 an extra session of the New York legislature sat at Poughkeepsie, and authorized Governor Clinton to order out such number of militia as he thought necessary. Brigadier-General James Clinton was assigned command at Albany and authorized to call for assistance from the brigades of Generals Ten-Broeck and Van Rensselaer. As I have already said, Colonel Brown on the 18th of October was in command at Fort Paris, subject to orders of General Robert Van Rensselaer. Fort Paris was two or three miles north of the Mohawk. In September and early October Sir John Johnson led his forces by way of the Oswego River, Oneida Lake, and across country to the Susquehanna Valley. He ravaged the Schoharie Valley, laid siege to Middle Fort unsuccessfully, then, turning north, raided all the country from Fort Hunter. He let loose his forces for the general purpose of devastation. He again did his work thoroughly,—brutally, as was customary in Indian warfare at that time. Major Jelles Fonda, one of the victims of this ruthless destruction, who had been a confidential officer under Sir William Johnson, was absent, being a State senator. Sir John's forces burned his homestead, "The Nose," at Palatine, and destroyed, it is said, $60,000 worth of his property. On the night of October 18 Sir John encamped with his forces nearly opposite or rather above the Nose, and on the 19th he crossed the river to the north at Keder's Rifts, near Spraker's Basin. A detachment of 150 men proceeded at once against Fort Paris, but, after marching two miles, the main body joined them.
October 18 General Van Rensselaer found Caughnawaga in flames. He was in camp on a hill near Stanton Place in Florida, perhaps twenty miles from Fort Paris, when he heard that that fort was to be attacked the next morning. 'Tis said he sent a messenger with a letter to Colonel Brown and another to Colonel Dubois at Fort Plain, telling Brown to march out of the fort at nine o'clock the next morning and hold the enemy in check, while Dubois and he with his force were to co-operate. Furthermore, it is said, Brown's officers and men advised him to disobey the order, as that was not the time to leave the fort. However, he marched forth at the head of his detachment, but, being deceived by the false advice of persons pretending to be patriots, he was led to turn aside from the road upon which he marched out into a somewhat narrow clearing in the forest near a small work called Fort Keyser, and was killed nearly two miles from Fort Paris, being attacked on every side in what amounted to an ambuscade.
Captain John Ziele, of the Second Regiment of Tryon County militia, Colonel Klock's Regiment, had charge of Fort Keyser that day; and after Brown's defeat George Spraker, John Wafel, Joseph and Conrad Spraker, William Wafel, and Warner (?) Dygert, with two or three other young men, were ready to defend the place from attack, but the enemy fled, whereupon William Wafel, Joseph and Conrad Spraker, and W. Dygert proceeded to where Brown lay and carried his body to Fort Keyser. His scalp was entirely removed, and he was stripped of all his clothing excepting a ruffled shirt. After hard fighting, thirty men or more being killed, some of his men got back to Fort Paris and defended themselves successfully, thus saving the refugees therein from harm. Major Root was in command, and acted skilfully and bravely. Mr. Grider describes the battle as a running or moving fight extending from the eastward to the south-west at least across six farms, and you all know how valuable the evidence is showing that the large boulder with its inscription was the stone behind which six men found refuge and shelter until surrounded and killed.
Washington wrote to the Continental Congress: "It is thought, and perhaps not without foundation, that this invasion [of the Mohawk Valley] was made by Sir John Johnson upon the supposition that Arnold's treachery was successful."
If Johnson acted upon that supposition, Arnold was in some measure the cause of Brown's death, but, however that may be, John Brown died honorably after living honorably at Stone Arabia the 19th of October, 1780,—it is said between nine o'clock and ten o'clock in the morning.
I said that poets had not presented him to popular imagination, but his devoted classmate at Yale, David Humphreys, aide-de-camp to General Washington in 1780, wrote verses to his memory. Among his words are these:—