The old Rondout to New York night boat “James W. Baldwin,” that linked Rondout and Kingston with the metropolis to the south longer than any other, had her share of mishaps. 
The ‘‘Baldwin” ran on the river during an era when sloops and schooners still plied the Hudson in great numbers. On one dark and hazy night, while making a landing at Marlborough, the steamer mistook a sloop’s lantern for a light on the dock.  She hit the sloop, named “First Effort,” which sank in 50 feet of water and, which to this day, is still on the bottom of the river. 

Another time in 1904 on a black, rainy night off Esopus, the “Baldwin” collided with an ancient sloop named '‘Contrivance.”  The sloop, carrying a load of brick, was 86-years-old and was sunk.  The captain of the sloop, Calvin Delanoy, was drowned. 
​
On Wednesday, July 4, 1888, the “James W. Baldwin” was involved in an accident that subsequently led to the steamboat's name being changed to “Central Hudson.”  On that holiday evening shortly after 8 p.m. on leaving her dock at Newburgh, a small steam launch carrying eight people crossed the steamboat's bow.  Despite the steamer's frantic efforts to back down, it was too late to get the way off the “Baldwin.”  The launch was hit amid-ships [sic] and immediately sank.  

Quick action by the “Baldwin's" crew saved six of the eight people in the launch.  Of the two persons lost, one unfortunately happened to be Mrs. Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., whose husband would later become Governor of New York State and head of the steamboat company that years later was to acquire ownership of the “James W. Baldwin.” 

Of the accident itself, a coroner's jury later found the launch to be at fault and exonerated the men in the “Baldwin's” pilot house of blame. 

During the latter half of the 19th century, virtually every community of any size along the Hudson River was linked to New York by its own steamboat line.  In 1899, the three independent steamboat companies serving Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston were consolidated into one company, the new company being named the Central Hudson Steamboat Company.  One of the prime movers behind the consolidation and an officer of the new company was Benjamin B. Odell, Jr. of Newburgh, whose wife had been drowned in the “Baldwin” incident 11 years before. 

Since the “James W. Baldwin” was one of the two steamers of the Kingston line acquired in the merger, she came under the Odell ownership.  In 1903, the “Baldwin” underwent a rebuilding which included new boilers and a dining room on the saloon deck forward.  Allegedly as an aftermath of her tragic accident of July 4, 1888, the “James W. Baldwin” at this point was renamed “Central Hudson.”  As a final irony, the Central Hudson Line built a new steamer in 1911 to replace the “James W. Baldwin,” now named “Central Hudson.”  The new steamboat's name was “Benjamin B. Odell.” 

Back in the glory days of the “James W. Baldwin” on the Rondout run, the steamer, particularly on Saturdays, would have brushes with the “Mary Powell.“

Both steamboats were scheduled to arrive at Rondout on summer Saturday evenings at about the same time.  Coming up off Esopus both boats would frequently be neck and neck with throttles wide open.  The Chief Engineer of the “Baldwin“ would pace back and forth across the main deck commanding his firemen, “Don’t you dare let that steam pressure drop one ounce, or you can go ashore at Rondout for good!" 

Up in the pilot house of the “Baldwin,” the pilots would try and jockey for position and get on the west side of the channel so their steamer would be on the inside of the turn going around Esopus Meadows lighthouse.  Sometimes the “Baldwin” would cut the Esopus lighthouse so short her port paddle wheel would stir up the mud.  When they got off Sleightsburgh and if they had a good high tide, I understand they would sometimes cut inside the Rondout lighthouse —which at that time stood on the south side of the creek.  Then, how the water would turn muddy! 

If they beat the “Powell” to Rondout Creek, the “Mary Powell” would have to lay out in the river and wait for the “Baldwin” to go in the creek and get turned around.  At times like that, sometimes the crew of the “Baldwin” would take their sweet time turning and handling lines just to show the people waiting on the dock the “Baldwin” was on time landing, and the “Powell” would be late landing her passengers—sort of 19th century one upsmanship. 
As the first decade of the 20th century drew to a close, the career of the old “James W. Baldwin” also approached its end.  During 1910, the Central Hudson Line contracted for a new steamboat, designed as a replacement for the “Baldwin.” 

The new steamer, the “Benjamin B. Odell” made her first trip into Rondout Creek on April 11, 1911, bringing to a close the 50 year service of the “Baldwin,” now named “Central Hudson”, on the Rondout run. 

In May of 1911, the “Central Hudson” was chartered by a company known as the Manhattan Line which had sprung up as an opposition line to the Hudson River Night Line running to Albany and Troy.  The “Central Hudson“ was to run with the steamer “Kennebec,” an old Maine steamboat. 

On her trip down river on May 20, 1911 in heavy fog, the '‘Central Hudson” ran aground below Jones Point, opposite Peekskill.  She was aground some 13 hours before getting off and continuing on to New York.  On the very next trip up river, heavy with freight, the “Central Hudson“ grounded again, making the turn too quick before getting up to Gee’s Point at West Point.  Unfortunately, she ran aground at high water. 

The Cornell tugboats “E. C. Baker” and "G. W. Decker” were sent down from Newburgh to try and pull her off.  By the time they got there, however, the tide was ebbing and the captain of the “Decker” later told me the rods from her spars were getting slack in them, an indication she was hogging.  The way her bow was aground, the tugboat captains thought if they pulled on her, at her age, and if she came off, the “Central Hudson” might sink in the deep water there before they could get her beached. 

The captain of the “Decker“ observed, “If they had had a Central Hudson Line crew on the old “Baldwin” like Amos Cooper and Abram Brooks, the accident would never have happened.  Look at the hundreds of times those two men took her around there in years past without anything happening.”

Finally, Merritt, Chapman and Scott, the marine salvagers, had to be hired to free the “Central Hudson.”  After getting her afloat, it was found she was so badly strained, the old steamer would have to he retired.  She was towed to Newburgh where she lay for nearly six months.  On Nov. 15, 1911, the “Central Hudson,” or as she was better remembered as the “James W. Baldwin” was towed to the old steamboat graveyard at Port Amboy, N.J. and broken up. 

During her long career, the steamboat was commanded by a long line of well known Hudson River captains.  The list included Captains Jacob H. Tremper, Jacob H. Tremper, Jr., Reuben H. Decker, Weston L. Dennis, Arthur Palmer, Zack Rossa and F. L. Simpson.

For decades after she was gone, the old “James W. Baldwin” was remembered by steamboatmen and spoken of kindly—as the old side wheeler that after running between Kingston and New York for 50 years did not want to go off on a new route with a new crew. 

Editor's Note: This series of blog posts recounts the dramatic story of the Esopus Indian Nation’s Revolutionary War exodus. The original inhabitants of Ulster County, the Esopus Indians successfully maintained their sovereignty and traditional way of life in the face of overwhelming odds for over a century. These blog posts are summaries of a much fuller story that will be published in 2027.

Part 4. Destruction: Autumn 1778

Over the latter half of 1778, it became abundantly clear that peace in Ulster County was no longer possible. On September 6th, 1778 – the same day that Esopus Indian war captains Benjamin Shanks and John Runnupe sent their letter of grievance and threat of retaliation to the militia officers in Marbletown – Colonel Johannes Cantine received a letter from Governor Clinton, who informed him that he was “…fully convinced that we are not to have Peace on our Frontier, untill the Straggling Indians & Tories who infest it are exterminated or drove back & their Settlements destroyed. If, therefore, you can destroy the Settlement of [Onaquaga] it will in my Oppinion be a good Piece of Service.”[1] A few days later, a group of two dozen militiamen stumbled upon the Esopus warriors’ encampment on the East Branch of the Delaware near present-day Downsville.

The warriors, who knew of the militia’s approach, ambushed them; the two sides fought in a dense hemlock forest on a nearby mountainside until nightfall, when both sides retreated, leaving four or five dead on each side. The most detailed account of this battle was recorded from militia participants decades after the war ended. They assumed that their professed superior fighting prowess meant that the Esopus warriors had lost even more men but had removed the bodies from view. (This was most certainly not the case).[2] By the end of the month, Governor Clinton had planned an invasion for the other side of the Catskills, with the express aim of sending militiamen and Continental Army soldiers to destroy the villages of the Esopus Indians on the West Branch of the Delaware as well as Joseph Brant’s base at the nearby large mixed town of Onaquaga.[3]

That October, a large Rebel invasion force set out from the Schoharie Valley and headed towards the upper Susquehanna. Under Lieut. Col. William Butler (not to be confused with prominent Loyalist John Butler), this force destroyed the mixed Native towns of Onaquaga and Unadilla as well as the farms of outlying Loyalist settlers.[4] They did so with little opposition, for the warriors and Loyalist volunteers under Joseph Brant were absent, raiding Rebel farms in the Delaware Valley. Fortunately, the inhabitants of Onaquaga and Unadilla knew that the Rebel forces were coming, and most of the non-combattants were able to safely evacuate a few hours beforehand. Tragically, a number of Indian children, hiding in a cornfield, were discovered and were murdered by the Rebels with bayonets.[5] Now, nearly all the farms and settlements in the Western Catskills and upper Susquehanna – Native and European – had been destroyed.
​
The close proximity of the now-destroyed Loyalist Mohican settlements at Unadilla to the Esopus Indian settlements on the West Branch of the Delaware, combined with the destruction on the East Branch, meant that the Esopus Indians were surrounded by destruction on all sides. Those Esopus families who had moved to Onaquaga for safety in the previous year were also now homeless. With the loss of their prime agricultural lands on the East Branch of the Delaware and the loss of Onaquaga as a secure base of operations, they could no longer remain on the Catskill Mountain frontier. The Esopus Indians subsequently moved their women and children further westward for safety to the towns of Otsiningo and Chughnut, where many Esopus Indians already lived (near Binghamton, NY).[6] They had been forced out of what remained of their ancestral territory.
                                                        To Be Continued…

Citations:
[1] Ibid, Vol. III: 250-251.
[2] Munsell & Co., History of Delaware County, N. Y. 135
[3] Ibid., Vol. IV. 114-115.
[4] Montgomery, Thomas Lynch, ed. Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. II. Harrisburg, PA: Harisburg Publishing Company, 1906. 1026-1029
[5] Preston, Samuel. "Journey to Harmony" in Patricia H. Christian, ed., Samuel Preston, 1789-1989. Equinunk, PA: Equinunk Historical Society, 1989. 100-101.
[6] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol IV. Albany, NY: 1900. 412-414

1832-03-17 Evening Post (NY);
[Editor's Note: There were two lighthouses near Stuyvesant: The northern one, which this article deals with, about 1.5 miles north of Stuyvesant Landing on the east side of the river, and a southern one, on the northern tip of the island on the west side of the river, opposite Stuyvesant Landing.]
To the Editor of the Sentinel --
Sir, — I am about to record one of the most afflicting and singular providences I ever witnessed. The Hudson river had been rising for more than 24 hours, when the ice began to give way. It was thought that the light-house standing about one mile above the landing, was in danger of being injured by the large bodies of ice which were floating down the river. About two o’clock to-day, two gentlemen [one named Charles M. Beecher, the other's name unfortunately unknown], with great difficulty, made the light house in a small boat, as it was now standing in and entirely surrounded by water. They advised Mr. Witbeck, the occupant of the house, to leave it, together with his family, immediately. They accordingly made preparations to do so, by removing their furniture into the upper story, and making a comfortable disposition of their cows and other stock. When nearly ready to leave their threatened home, suddenly and with terrible violence the ice came rushing upon the house — they were startled by one awful and tremendous crash, and in less than a minute the whole two story stone edifice was a mingled heap of ruins. The family, consisting of ten persons, with the exception of one, were in the building when it fell. — Four of them disappeared, and were either buried beneath the ruins, or swept off by the impetuous flood. Two daughters of Mr. Witbeck — one aged 15 and the other 13, and two of his grandsons, one 14 and the other 8 months old — were the unfortunate victims of this dire catastrophe. By the timely assistance afforded by the two gentlemen above alluded to, who were near in a boat, six persons out of ten, were saved. The survivors were badly bruised, and on reaching the shore, so chilled and exhausted, that they were unable to walk. They were taken to a house near by, and made as comfortable as circumstances would admit.

I am informed that it is not expected Mrs. Witbeck will recover, and that the recovery of the other members of the family is considered very doubtful. This family is now left in a destitute condition to share the lot of the suffering and of the poor.
Yours, JOHN ALLEY.
 
From the (Coxsackie) Greene Co Advertiser of Wednesday.
Damage by the Ice.—The freshet in the river broke the ice at this place yesterday. In the morning footmen passed over; at 1 o’clock the ice began to move and in three hours it had nearly all disappeared.  At Coeymans they have sustained heavy loss. The store house on the dock of N. Stepens is nearly destroyed, together with a considerable quantity of grain; about one half of the store is carried away, and a schooner was driven into and nearly through the part left standing, where she remains.  Another store house, with a quantity of hay in bundles, was swept off, and two or three vessels sunk.

We have sustained no damage at this place, except that part of the new pier, which is to connect this with the Lower Landing, is carried away.

1832-03-21 Independence Newspaper (Poughkeepsie)
"MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE -- On Tuesday last, about 12 o'clock, M., the ice in the Hudson River at Stuyvesant Landing, began to give way. The river had at that time risen to an unusual height, the water being twelve feet above low-water mark, covering the docks to the depth of four feet, and making an entrance into most of the storehouses on the wharfs. Serious and well-grounded apprehensions were entertained that every building along the margin of the river would be swept away, but happily those fears were not realized, the buildings having sustained only a trifling damage. The ice continued to move about, and apparently in one solid mass several miles in extent. During this interval, a most distressing scene was witnessed at the site of the upper lighthouse, situated a mile and a half above the Landing. This was a stone building, 20 feet by 34, and two stories high, with a mole surrounding it 4 feet in height. The water had risen to the top of the mole before the ice began to move, which rendered the situation of the inmates truly alarming. Soon the immense field of ice above was seen to swing from its moorings, and coming down with irresistible force[,] struck the lighthouse, which in a moment was a heap of ruins.
​
There were at the time ten individuals in the building, four of whom, melancholy to relate, were buried under its crumbling walls. Mr. Volkert Whitbeck, the keeper of the lighthouse, his wife, their daughter, Mrs. Van Hoesen, and three other individuals escaped from the falling edifice, barely in time to save their lives. Those who perished were: two daughters of Mr. Whitbeck, aged 15 and 13 years, and a son of Mrs. Van Hoesen, aged 12, and her infant child. All must inevitably have found a premature death, but for the intrepid exertions of Mr. Charles M. Beecher, to whose praiseworthy efforts the rescue of the survivors is mainly attributed. Mr. Beecher put off in a small boat from the shore to relieve Mr. Whitbeck and his family from their perilous situation, but owing to some delay in arranging the furniture &ct., they were not prepared to leave the building until it began to fall -- and then too late for some of the unfortunate inmates. --- Kinderhook Sentinel." 

1832-03-21 Poughkeepsie-Journal
The Kinderhook Sentinel gives the following account of the destruction of the Light-House there:
"The Light House was a stone building, 20 by 34, and two stories high, with a mole surrounding it, four feet in height. The water had risen to the top of the mole before the ice began to move, which rendered the situation of the inmates truly alarming. Soon the immense field of ice above was seen to swing from its moorings and come down with irresistible force, struck the Light House, which in a moment was made a heap of ruins. There were at the time ten Individuals in the building, four of whom. melancholy to relate, were buried under the crumbling walls. Mr. Volkert Witbeck, the keeper of the Light House, his wife, the daughter Mrs. Van Hoesen, and three other individuals, escaped from the falling edifice, barely in time to save their lives. Those who perished, were two daughters of Mr. Witbeck, aged 15 and  13 years, and a son of Mrs. Van Hoesen, aged 14, and her infant child. All must inevitably have found a premature death, but for the intrepid exertions of Mr. Charles M. Beecher, to whose praiseworthy efforts the rescue of the survivors is mainly attributed. Mr. Beecher put off in a small boat from the shore to relieve Mr. Witbeck and his family from their perilous situation, but owing to some delay in arranging the furniture, &c., they were not prepared to leave the building until it began to fall — and then too late for some of the unfortunate intimates [inmates].