LETTER from BUZZ HESSE

Early History Here

Involved ‘Savagery’

Editor’s Note: Proceed with caution here. Some of the descriptions are pretty rough.

To the Editor:

I would like to address the controversy surrounding the “Sullivan Expedition of 1779” plaque erected in 1912 in Neahwa Park by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Oneonta Chapter.

Common Council member Luke Murphy, who is seeking a review of the plaque, has referred to some of the language and ideas on the marker as racist. Key words in one article were “savagery” and “racist.”

Historically, as well as in prehistoric times, savagery has been a part of human existence.

Let me retell a historical event that took place during the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition.

On Sept 13, 1797, a small contingency from the Sullivan forces led by Lieutenant Boyd and with eight others were captured by the Seneca Iroquois led by the Seneca Chief Little Beard and Capt. Walter Butler of Butler’s Rangers, all allies of the British Crown.

Following their capture, they were all killed excepting Lieutenant Boyd, who was reserved for the following:

Boyd was “tied to a sapling”; tomahawks “were hurled at his head”; then “his nails were pulled out, his nose was cut off, an eye was plucked out and (he was) stabbed in various places.”

Then “a small incision was made in his abdomen,” “the end of his intestine taken out and fastened to the tree. Then he was driven round the tree until his intestine had all been drawn from his body.” Boyd was then terminated by striking his head from his body. (From “The American Border Wars,” by William Leet Stone, 1843, pages 32-34).

Other examples of savagery against the colonies found in historical records include the Wyoming Massacre where colonial settlers – 360 men, women and children were murdered and scalped; and the Cherry Valley Massacre, where colonial settlers, 43 men, women and children were murdered and scalped.

All these events were perpetuated by some of the Iroquois and Butler’s Rangers against the Colonists. It is important to recognize that these Colonists had been granted a legal right to be in the geographical area where they were establishing settlements.

In 1768, the Fort Stanwix Treaty was drawn between the Colonies and the Iroquois Confederacy (consisting of 3,000 Iroquois) in concert with Great Britain’s King George III. The Treaty ceded land to the Colonies eastward from a line drawn from Fort Stanwix (present day Rome) southeast down the Unadilla River to where it empties into the Susquehanna, then across the Susquehanna to the Delaware River at Koo Koose (present day Deposit,) and thence to Port Jervis and south-westward.

Therefore, the lands that included Wyoming and Cherry Valley had legally belonged to the Colonists for 10 years at the time of the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition.

So where does all of this leave us?

The plaque in Neahwa Park is historically accurate. It would be incorrect to change the wordage, as it represents historic facts.

Joseph Brant, the Mohawk and Seneca Iroquois, Butler’s Rangers and certain Tories were breaking the Treaty of 1768 when they committed their savage crimes against the Colonists. The language on the plaque does not target the Native Americans because of their race, but rather because of their behavior.

Therefore, the accusation of racism is not applicable.

To put a stop to these acts of aggression, Washington established the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition. Historically, these acts of savagery were committed not by the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, but by the Iroquois and Butler’s Rangers.

It is important to note that in the Upper Susquehanna River area there were only three historic Iroquois villages during the 18th century, namely Unadilla, Gunnygunter and Oquaga (this village has several different spellings).

These villages were vacated before they were burned by Col. William Butler’s forces in 1778 a year before the Clinton Expedition came down the Susquehanna. Clinton did no burning of these villages as the burning had been done beforehand.

The historical facts as stated on the plaque in Neahwa Park should not be altered to satisfy some present-day “politically correct” whim.

We all need to accept historical facts and learn from them; there is much value in understanding history.

BUZZE HESSE
Otego