[FN] Letter of Rev. Mr. Fenn, of Harpersfield.
The people of Schoharie had suffered severely from the scouts and scalping parties of the enemy during the Summer; but their bravery in individual contests had amply avenged their wrongs. On one occasion a party of seven Indians made prisoner of a Mr. Sawyer, whom they bound, and marched off into the wilderness. Having proceeded eight or ten miles, they laid themselves down to sleep for the night. But their prisoner had been less effectually secured than they supposed. In the course of the night he succeeded in disengaging his hands, and cautiously taking a hatchet from the girdle of one of the Indians, he despatched six of them in rapid succession, and wounded the seventh, who made his escape. Having thus relieved himself of his keepers, Sawyer returned home in safety, and at his leisure. [FN]
[FN] Campbell's Annals.
Soon after the battle of Monmouth, Lieutenant Colonel William Butler, with one of the Pennsylvania regiments and a detachment of Morgan's riflemen, was ordered to the North, and stationed at Schoharie. Butler was a brave and experienced officer, especially qualified for the service upon which he was appointed. [FN] His arrival in Schoharie had a salutary effect, by discouraging the disaffected, and by the presence of a stronger force than had yet been among them, establishing the confidence and reviving the spirits of the people. Several of his scouting parties also returned with good success. Attached to the rifle corps, under Captain Long, were several bold spirits, who signalized themselves so greatly in the partisan warfare in which they were engaged, that many of their exploits are freshly remembered among the inhabitants of Schoharie to this day. Of this number were David Elerson, and a Virginian named Murphy. The first expedition of Captain Long was directed to the valley of the Charlotte river—one of the upper tributaries of the Susquehanna, flowing from the mountains south of Schoharie. The object was to arrest and bring to the fort a conspicuous Tory living upon that stream, named Service. His house being a point of rendezvous and supply for the Tory and Indian scouts, it was desirable that it should be broken up. While on his way to the place of destination, it was the good fortune of Captain Long to intercept a company of Tories, enlisted for the King's service, in the neighborhood of Catskill, by a Captain Smith, who were then on their way to join Sir John Johnson at Niagara. Smith was killed by the simultaneous shots of Elerson and his Captain—they being a few rods in advance at the moment when the Tory leader emerged at the head of his men from a thicket. His followers fled in every direction. They had intended to lodge that night with Service; but that unfortunate man had guests of quite another character. While unapprised of danger, his house was surrounded by the troops of Long, when in an instant Murphy and Elerson rushed in, and made him a prisoner. Having been informed that he must accompany them to Schoharie, on leaving his house he seized an axe standing by the door, which he poised, and directed for a blow at the head of Murphy. The latter was too quick-sighted to receive it; but as he sprang aside to avoid the descending weapon, Service fell dead from the rifle of Elerson.
[FN] Letter of Washington to General Stark.
After his term of enlistment had expired. Murphy remained in Schoharie, and made war on his own account. He was as remarkable for his fleetness, as for his courage and great precision in firing. He used a double-barreled rifle; and the fact of his frequently firing twice in succession, without stopping to load, and always bringing down his man, rendered him a terror to the Indians. Not knowing the peculiar construction of his rifle, they were impressed with the belief that it was a charmed weapon, and supposed he could continue firing as long and as often as he pleased without loading at all. He fought the savages after their own fashion—was more than their equal in stratagem or with his heels—and the greater the apparent danger he was encountering, the greater was his delight. When he had opportunity, he took pattern of the Indians in scalping those who fell by his unerring aim; and it was said that he killed forty of their warriors with his own hands.
Colonel Gansevoort yet remained in the command of Fort Schuyler, and was continued there during nearly the whole year, although, wearied by inaction, Willett, and others of his officers, made a strong and formal effort to be relieved, that their regiment might have an opportunity to distinguish themselves in the field with the main army. At Fort Schuyler they could have little else to do than observe the motions of the enemy on the lakes and the St. Lawrence, and to watch, and occasionally cut off, a hostile party when venturing too near the garrison. But from the correspondence of the officers, it would appear that the troops of the garrison must have been the severest sufferers from this petty mode of warfare, since the enemy seemed ever to be hovering in the precincts, ready to bring down or carry into captivity such straggling soldiers as ventured beyond musket-shot from the fort. [FN]