[FN] As an example of these individual murders, the following passage is copied from a MS. letter from Major Robert Cochran to Colonel Gansevoort, dated Sept. 8, 1778. During the occasional absences of Colonel Gansevoort, Major Cochran was in command of the post:—"This morning, Benjamin Acker, of Captain De Witt's company, who was out in the meadow, was killed and scalped by a party of Indians, who were seen and fired at by the sentinel near Brodack's house. I heard the firing in my room, and ran to the officer of the guard to know what was the matter. I was informed that a party of Indians had fired upon one of our men who had gone to catch a horse, and that he had either been killed or taken prisoner. I ordered Captain Bleecker to go out immediately, with the guard just parading, to see if he could find him dead or alive. They found Acker lying dead. He was scalped, and a weapon about two feet and a half long, like this,"—[here Major Cochran gave a drawing of the instrument—a war club, with a blade like the spear of a lance inserted in the side, near the upper end of it,]—"lying near him. This lance-head had been stuck several times in his body. It is supposed to have been left behind on purpose, as there were several marks on it, denoting the number of persons killed and scalps taken by the means of it."—[Captain Bleecker mentioned in the foregoing extract, is the venerable Leonard Bleecker, yet living at Sing Sing. He was a very active and efficient officer at Fort Schuyler for a long time.]
Early in July, Lieutenant McClellan, an active and efficient officer, was sent with a small party to destroy the buildings and public works at Oswego, which it was ascertained were not at that moment in the occupation of the enemy. The object of the expedition was accomplished and the buildings where burnt to the ground, together with a quantity of ammunition, provisions, and other public stores. It seems unaccountable that this post should have been left thus wholly unprotected; the only occupants found by the American party being a woman and her children, and a lad fourteen years old. The woman and her family, together with her furniture and a suitable supply of provisions, were placed in an out-building, and left without farther molestation. The boy was brought off as a prisoner, and furnished some important information touching the movements of the enemy between their island rendezvous in the St. Lawrence, and Niagara. [FN]
[FN] MS. draft of a letter from Colonel Gansevoort to General Stark, July 10, 1778.
But Colonel Gansevoort had some serious troubles to encounter within the garrison, and some painful duties to execute. Notwithstanding the high character which the forces constituting the garrison had acquired, and the sound patriotism of his officers, the spirit of disaffection appeared among them in the Spring, and the early part of the Summer, to an alarming extent. Distant as was the post of Fort Schuyler from New-York, Sir Henry Clinton had succeeded in the introduction of an emissary within the fort, in the character of a recruit. His name was Samuel Geake. He was an American soldier, and had been corrupted while a prisoner in New-York, whence he was sent forth, in company with Major Hammell, also an American prisoner, whose virtue yielded to the all-subduing power of gold. [FN-1] Geake accompanied Hammell to Poughkeepsie, where, in furtherance of his iniquitous designs, he enlisted in Captain Abraham Swartwout's company, [FN-2] and was transferred to Fort Schuyler, to join Colonel Gansevoort's regiment; into which place, for specific objects, he was instructed to insinuate himself by an aide-de-camp of Sir Henry Clinton. After Hammell's arrest, Colonel Varick wrote to Gansevoort, putting him on his guard as to the character of Geake. A sergeant named Kartele was employed by Colonel Gansevoort to ingratiate himself in Geake's confidence, and, if possible, ascertain his true character, and penetrate his designs. The commission was successfully executed by the sergeant, and the whole circumstances of Hammell's employment by the enemy, and his own, were elicited. Geake was thereupon arrested, but not until he had made great progress in his designs, and was on the eve of desertion, for the purpose of joining the British army in Philadelphia. He was tried by a court-martial made a full confession, and, with his confederates, was sentenced to death. [FN-3] The sentence was not carried into execution against Geake, not only because the constitution of the court was irregular, but because of the desire of the Commander-in-chief to spare him as a witness against Hammell, as will presently appear. The following documents will complete this section of the proceedings at Fort Schuyler:—
[FN-1] Hammell was Brigade-major to General James Clinton, and had been taken by Sir Henry Clinton at the storming of Fort Montgomery. According to Geake's confession, Hammell was employed in the commissary of prisoners' department, by the British officers in New-York, before he was sent out upon his mission of treason. General James Clinton, by the way, was not taken at Fort Montgomery, as stated in the text account of that affair. Though wounded, he escaped; although his-brother, the Governor, supposed him to be a prisoner, when he wrote his official account to the Committee of Safety.
[FN-2] Captain Swartwout was with Gansevoort at the siege of Fort Schuyler, and gave his cloth cloak to form the blue stripes of the flag spoken of in the account of the siege, as being made up for the occasion.
[FN-3] These facts have been gathered from the proceedings of the court-martial, preserved among General Gansevoort's papers. The president of the court was Captain Greece, who had been shot, tomahawked, and scalped, the year before. According to Geake's confession, Hammell was promised a Colonelcy of a new Irish regiment to be raised from deserters from the American army, and such others as they could enlist. Geake was to receive a commission as lieutenant. His mission to Fort Schuyler was to acquire accurate knowledge of its strength and the extent of its supplies—to induce as many of the garrison to desert as possible—and to spike the cannon on their departure.