The Esopus Indian Nation’s Revolutionary War Experience

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.

Map: Sauthier, Claude Joseph (1776) "A map of the Province of New-York" Library of Congress Geography and Map Division G3800 1776 .S3 Medal: 1766 Peace Medal, American Numismatic Society Raymond.1925.929; Fuld,Tayman.HWU12; Stahl.Scully.28

Part 3. In Their Old Barbarous Manner: 1778

​By May of 1778, multiple reports had filtered into Ulster County that the Esopus Indians had transferred their families and non-combattants from the East Branch of the Delaware River to two settlements on the more distant West Branch. Simultaneously, the greater part of their warriors remained encamped on the East Branch near Downsville. Wandering companies of Rebel rangers or militiamen posed a serious threat to both the remaining Catskill Mountain frontier settlers – who were largely Loyalists – and to the Esopus Indians themselves. In fact, a Loyalist officer in Cochecton as much as stated that the presence of these ranging companies, who regularly plundered suspected Loyalist farms, would be the ultimate reason for the Esopus Indians wholeheartedly switching to the British side.[1]

On July 8th, 1778, the Esopus Indians had had enough of maintaining neutrality with the Rebels in Ulster County. Their warriors had been among the victors at the previous year’s Battle of Oriskany to the north, and they were tired of the threats and abuses inflicted on the frontier by Rebel militiamen. In preparation for a potential invasion of their ancestral country, the Esopus Indian war captains –  by order of the Six Nations council at Onondaga – sent a letter meant for the Loyalist inhabitants of Hurley, Marbletown and Kingston, warning them to get out before they were accidentally mistaken for Rebels in the upcoming expedition.[2] Two days later, it was reported that 20 Esopus Indian warriors and 20 Loyalists were planning to raid the area of Rochester and the upper Rondout Valley, and had already taken the livestock and a number of prisoners from Lackawack near the headwaters of the Rondout.[3] Simultaneously, a Munsee and Loyalist warparty raided Minisink on the Delaware River to the southwest. And a report surfaced that John Butler, commander of the loyalist corp Butler’s Rangers, had sent Esopus Indian war captain Ben Shanks to collect Loyalist volunteers from the Western Catskills.[4] Combined with the bloody Battle of Wyoming to the west in Pennsylvania on July 3rd, frontier settlers in Ulster County had reason to be nervous, regardless of whose side they were on.

In August, New York’s Governor Clinton sent a letter to Colonel John Cantine of Marbletown, informing him that it would be best to send out militia companies to remove or destroy all grain and other provisions on the East Branch of the Delaware River in order to weaken frontier Loyalist forces.[5] At least two ranging expeditions made their way over the mountains, one out of Schoharie. On September 4th, Clinton reported success, noting that the rangers had taken great numbers of “…Sheeps, Hogs, and Cattle also a Quantity of Dears Leather; Destroyed all ye grain on the [East Branch of the Delaware] River for tweenty miles, Exceept Indian Corn (tho they where but thirteen In Number)” and planned “to Destroy that as Soon as possible.”[6] The parties of militiamen returned to Marbletown and, high on their success, wanted to expand operations to destroy the town of Onaquaga on the nearby Susquehanna River near Windsor, NY. Onaquaga had become Joseph Brant’s base of operations in early 1778, and functioned as the place of authority for all Loyalists – white, black and Indian – on the frontiers of Ulster County.[7]

Evidently, the militiamen who had burned twenty miles of grain and taken so many livestock on the East Branch of the Delaware had also committed various foul deeds against the neutral and Loyalist inhabitants. In retaliation for the destruction of their homes and for these crimes, around 20 Esopus warriors and Loyalists raided the Rondout Valley as far as Kerhonkson. On their return towards the Catskills, they were pursued by a similar number of militiamen led by Lieutenant John Graham. When in the vicinity of what is now Grahamsville, the Esopus Indian raiding party encountered the pursuing militiamen and, after some fierce fighting, forced them to retreat. Lt. Graham and two of his men were killed and scalped.[8]

On the following day (September 6th), the Esopus Indians’ two war captains – Benjamin Shanks and John Runnupe – sent a remarkable letter to the militia officers in Marbletown to inform them “of the Conduct of the Rangers in theire two Excursions on the Papaconck [i.e. East Branch] River… Your Old Friends the Esopus Indians had allwase ment to Screen Your part of the Country as much as possible in the Present Unhapy Contest as they had no Particular spite at you… your Rangers has Stript severall familys & not Left them one Cow; they have Stript the Women and Children of all their Blanketts & Bed Cloaths & a Great many of their other cloathes; their knocking Women down [likely committing rape] & many more acts Unbecoming men… their Burning every bitt of Grain they could find on the River for fear of the Indian have some Little off, they say may be the means of many of your [own] Barns being Destroyed… They Desire me to Inform you that if your Rangers Come out any more to hurt the Women & Children they will Revenge it Dredfuly on your Women & Children & will spare none tho they never ment to hurt them. In regard of Prisioners that are or may be taken they desire to Inform you that if you hang or put to Death any one of them, that they will burn every Prisioner they Gett in their Old Barbarous manner.”[9]
                                                               To Be Continued…
 
Citations:         
[1] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. III. Albany: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co. 1900.  368-369.
[2] “Letter from the Indians of Papagonk to Ulster County Settlers” WHS 68.8 Call number 68.8, No. 47. The Scheide Library Collections, Princeton University.
[3] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. II:  544-545
[4] Monroe, John D. Chapters in the History of Delaware County, New York. Delhi, NY:
Delaware County Historical Association, 1949. 50.
[5] Brink, Benjamin. Olde Ulster, Vol.3. Kingston, NY: 1907. 20.
[6] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. III: 728-730.
[7] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. III: 728-730.
[8] Ibid., Vol. IV: 16-19.
[9] Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. II. Albany: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co. 1900. 644-645.

Author

Author Justin Wexler is an ethnoecologist who has spent the last 25 years conducting archival and ethnographic research to better understand the history, culture, and land management practices of the Native Peoples of the Hudson and Delaware Valleys. He has a BA in History and Anthropology from Marlboro College and an MA in Teaching History from Bard College. He and his wife Anna Plattner run Wild Hudson Valley, a forest farm and educational organization focused on Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain history, ecology, wild foods, and land stewardship practices

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