Col. William L. Stone treated the subject in a thorough manner in The Poetry and History of Wyoming containing Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming, and the History of Wyoming from its discovery to the beginning of the present century.[1385] The book has passed through several editions, and the same historical materials are also used in his Life of Brant.[1386]
The massacre at Cherry Valley has not, like Wyoming, an especial literature of its own. The event is described in the Remembrancer,[1387] and in all the histories, and is fully treated in Campbell's Annals of Tryon County (ch. 5), in Simms's Frontiersmen of New York, and in Stone's Life of Brant (i. ch. 17). Both Campbell and Simms lived in this region, and it was the special field in which Brant was operating. This particular expedition was not under Brant's control. He had apparently concluded the season's work and joined Walter N. Butler's force reluctantly, being jealous of him for having command of the expedition. At Wyoming the soldiers were massacred, but the citizens were spared. At Cherry Valley most of the soldiers escaped, but in the first heat of the attack the citizens were indiscriminately slaughtered. It would have been better for Brant's reputation if he had been present at Wyoming rather than at Cherry Valley,—although so far as his influence is concerned it was evidently exerted to prevent excesses.[1388]
Among the Sparks MSS. (no. xlvii.) in the Harvard College library, there are some extracts from the diary of Benjamin Warren, who was in the fort at Cherry Valley at the time of the attack. He says the attack on the fort was renewed early on the morning of the 12th, but was easily repelled.
The Boston Gazette and Country Journal of Dec. 7, 1778,[1389] contains an account from an officer who was in the fort November 11th, when it was attacked. He says it rained hard that morning. The enemy "passed by two houses, and lodged themselves in a swamp a small distance back of Mr. Wells's house, headquarters; half past eleven A. M. Mr. Hamlin came by and discovered two Indians, who fired upon him and shot him through the arm. He rode to Mr. Wells's, and acquainted the colonel, the lieutenant-colonel, major, and adjutant. The two last (the house at this time being surrounded by Indians) got to the fort through their fire; the colonel was shot near the fort." The fort was subjected to a brisk fire for three hours and a half. On the 12th the enemy collected the cattle, and at sunset left. McKendry's account of the attack on Fort Alden agrees in substance with that of Benjamin Warren.[1390]
The expedition of General Sullivan (1779) against the Indian towns in New York has proved a fertile field for discussion. Its policy has been assailed; its management condemned; its results belittled. There is no want of records of occurrences in the campaign,[1391] but their interpretation has not been settled, and probably never will be. The account of Gordon is especially bitter against Sullivan, and he cuts down the number of villages from forty, as given by Sullivan, to eighteen.[1392]
Thomas C. Amory, in his Military Services of General Sullivan, aims at a vindication of Sullivan by the use of material which was not known to his detractors, and he has diligently pursued this purpose elsewhere.[1393] The character of the charges against Sullivan has been partially indicated in the quotations already given. He has been attacked because he demanded so many troops for the expedition. Whether it would have been wise to venture with a smaller force so far into Indian country, which was within easy supporting distance of the outposts of the enemy, is a matter of opinion, concerning which no new facts have been recently brought to light. We know that Sullivan expected help from the Oneidas which he did not receive, and that he anticipated that the Indians would receive aid from Niagara, in which he was agreeably disappointed. I have already stated that in my judgment he had a right to expect formidable opposition, and the only explanation of his not meeting with greater resistance is to be found in the perplexity in Haldimand's mind occasioned by the boats which Clinton had collected in the Mohawk Valley. On this mental confusion Sullivan could not have counted.[1394] The number of men demanded by Sullivan in the preliminary discussions about the campaign was much larger than the number actually furnished him. It was perhaps not out of place for him to secure, if he could, a force large enough to place his campaign beyond failure, but, taking into consideration the general condition of army matters, the number demanded was entirely disproportionate to the work to be performed. He wanted 2,500 men to march up the Susquehanna, and 4,000 men to invade the towns by way of the Mohawk (F. Moore, Corresp. of Laurens, N. Y., 1861, p. 136). In fact, he had 2,500 men in his own command, and Clinton's force brought the numbers up to 4,000.[1395] He has been accused of making demands for supplies which were unreasonable, both as to quality and as to quantity, and it is evident from Washington's correspondence that he feared Sullivan was not willing to march light enough for such a campaign. While Sullivan was not familiar with Indian campaigns, and perhaps demanded more supplies at the outset than Brodhead, or Clarke, or Williamson would have asked for, the numbers of his command must not be forgotten. Nor must the fact be overlooked that the provisions which were delivered to him proved to have been put up in bad packages, and had spoiled.[1396]
Sullivan has also been found fault with for not protecting from Indian raids the neighborhood in which his army was stationed while waiting for supplies. His action in this respect was deliberate. He was of opinion that the blows struck along the border during this interval of time were intended to divert him from the purposes of the campaign, and that any attempts to check these desultory attacks, by sending out expeditions here and there, would simply be playing into the enemy's hands.[1397] The charge of extravagant living during the march seems absurd. At a time when the army was on half rations and the men were using ingenious devices to take advantage of the growing crops, he could hardly have had much opportunity for riotous living. When the expedition started the corn was green and suitable to roast. As they advanced it became too mature for this, and the soldiers were compelled in other ways to prepare it for food.[1398]
Curious differences of opinion prevailed in the several accounts as to the numbers of the enemy who opposed the army at Newtown. Some of the accounts place them as low as 700, while others put them as high as 1,500.[1399]