Edward Wall, a loyalist in Conflict by Peter C. Betz 178 Noonan Road, Fort Johnson, N.Y. 12070 . Tne author WQufd like to acknowledge. tlze res~~tth fLSSistan~e Of . Mt. Gavin K. Watt, PresUient of the Museum of Applied Milit4ry Mr. Peter C. Betz, a History alU/Lt. Col. William Smy, no,ted Butler's :Rtmgers authority, · native of ...bf>tlz of whom provided information not locally available, as well as Amsterdam . e_
The Loyalist Gazette • Page 26 • Fall 1998 Admittedly, even after this thorough make 'pantaloons' or whatever else they left the Mohawk Valley. E vide nce for study there will remain more questions had need of. Today R obert Adem 's tbis assertion comes from the known in than answers. While Wall obviously ledger, his unintended chronicle of daily terrogation by the Tryon Committee of spent the pre-Revolutionary War year s life in colonial JohnstO\vn, resides in the Safety of hi s schoolmaster, George building a position o f trust within the possession of an old local family. Je ptha Crawford of Butlersbury. 6 Johnson Dynasty, any circumspect biog Simms, helpful for once, informs us that The suggestion that Wall may have rapher must also stri ve to explain his ap an early member of this family married a been teaching for B utler in early 1769 is, pearance in those early months of the daughter of Robert Adems, which may of course. conjecture, and fact would be Revolution as the u·usted and very acti ve explain the family 's present possession of preferred. There seems to have been al member of the Tryon County Committee it. 4 most an undeclared conspiracy to o bscure of Safety. Was he, perhaps, a spy for the So it happens that tl1e second confir any really accurate infonnation about Johnson-Butler interests all along, ne ver mation of Edward Wall 's presence some Wall. Whenever any communicant w1ites discovered , yet treated with growing sus where in the vicinity of Johnstown occurs about Edward Wall, it is always in the picion due to his Butler wife, until it be through his conducting a typical, every most general lenn s, and one is reduced to came necessary for him to withdraw or be day commercial transaction at Robert tracing his chronological trail with a discovered? While the possibility is in Adem's store on M arc h 2nd, 1769, on minimum amount of data and a maxi teresting, it is the business of honest biog which date Adcms or one of his assistants mum amo unt of luck to kee p from losing raphers to present facts 'w1muddled' by dutifully recorded what to them was j ust it altogether. We can know for certain unprovable theories. a nother daiJy entry: "To John B utler. .. one only that by early 1769, Edward Wall >vas The earl iest notice of Edward Wall in yard of cambrick for Mr. Wall."5 ft is residing in Tryon County and was p er America comes to u s as it came to Sir therefore very probable, since Wall is be forming some form of professional serv William via a letter from John ing permitted to charge goods for himself ice for Colonel John Butler that would Wetherhead, his factor in Albany, dated under the name o f Colonel B utler, tha t he entiLle him to charge various necessities Novem ber 17th 1768, in which he in is most likely somehow in the Colonel's such as cambric to the Colonel's general forms Johnson that, "The bearer of this employ. If so, how was he employed? account. (letter) M r. Wall has applyd lo me for an One possible expl a.nation arises from the But Robert Adcm's ledger book also Introduction to you - it seems he is very known fact that Colonel Butler provided reveab that by the early fall of 1769, anxious to be employed by you in the ca a school of his own , separate from any Edward Wall was permitted to charge pacity of a school master; As I am an en sponsored by Sir William, at Butlersbury personal necessities under his own name tire stranger to him, you will know hest for th e c hildren of his nearby tenants and and account. The first such listing found what to ~ay to him, as you will very easily perhaps his own younger children as is on September 30th, 1769, in which e n find out his qualifications if he has any."3 well. While no documentation. exists to try he is carefully and respectfully re Any Johnson scholar familia r with the prove his school was in operation as early corded as "Edward Wall, Schoolmaster."7 Johnson Papers is aware of several letters as 1769, it is ccnainly not impossible that Thus we can determine with certainty prior to Wall's arrival written by Johnson it might have bee n, and if it was, the that Edward Wall had begun teaching for to various people expressing his frustra Colonel might well have employed Wall Sir William Johnson at the newly-estab tion over fa iling to obtain schoolmasters, as a teacher, perhaps even at. Johnson's li shed Johnst.own Free School a t least by not only at Johnstown but also al Fort behest, prior to Wall 's service wiLh Sir September of 1769. Finally Sir William Hume r and 'the Mohawk s' William. It is generally believed that the had his free school in operation. Long (Canajoharie). Yet for whatever reason, 'B utlersbury' of the 1760s and early 70s had he been grousing over the lack of Johnson apparently did not offer Wall im was a much more significant entity than fi nding a credible schoolmaster for it in mediate employment at any of these im the lonely-looking pottant locations after meeting him in old house of today. November of ' 68. Rather, it was a We know this because of the content thriving commu of the next known reference to Wall's lo ni ty of Butler's cal presence. This reference appears in a primary tenants most valuable unpublished primary and retainers. It source document, Robe11 Ade m's Mer is a certainty that chant's Store Ledger. Through the many Colonel Butler pages of Lhis intriguing mercantile ledger, was supportjng a again and again appear upon the stage of school and school- pre-revoluti onary Tryon County the master sep arate names of vi rtually all Sir William's close from Johnson's associates: his own Molly (usually listed and had hecn do as Mary Brant), her brother Joseph , Brian ing so for some Lafferty, the Butlers. Gilbert Tice, variom; time before A pri l McDonnals and MacDonalds. the Serv of 1775, when he Butlersbury, built in 1742, home of Col. John Butler, who may have ices, Chews and Frcys .. .. one day purchas and his oldest son been Edward Wall's fi rst employer after he arrived in the Mohawk ing shrouds, lhe nex t maybe cloth to Walter suddenly Va lley late in 1768,. . r ; ~ n .. 1:-·~ ':'c..,·-~,...,;-;· ..,.__ _
------~~-~ The Loyalist Gazette • Page 27 • Fall 1998 his correspondence with the Rev. Samuel The 1Zame of the first mentioned Sclwol occupancy of an unmarried schoolmaster Auchmuty and others. This project was Master is Colin Mclelland. of the last simply bears no logical credibility. To clearly important to him and had caused is Edward Wall. I have already ad support this assertion, we need but con considerable fmstration. Indeed he vanced them ha!f a year '.1· salat)' and t:rast this old local legend with the known would never find it easy to obtain enough propose that they shall soon draw for lodging difficulties of Edward Wall's im teachers for his schools or ministers for the amount on Mt: Symonds, agreeable mediate successor, Schoolmaster John his little churches. As far back as No to the advice of D 1: Auchmuty." 9 Cottgrave, who in November of 177 1 vember of 1767 the Reverend Auchmuty " ... who received a liberal education in wrote to Thomas Flood, Johnson's old wrote Johnson from New York that such a Europe... " Would that for history's sake friend and Construction Overseer, to teacher "ought to have a decent living, Sir Will iam had been a little more spe complain that "lt is impossible for me to enough to encourage him to persevere in cific in revealing the details of Wall's describe the dislike I have to the continu his duty; and he may also be useful in education to Burton, but that brief, almost ing at a tavern for board and lodging." 11 reading of prayers, etc., in the absence of teasing bit of generality is all one may The very next day, Cottgrave again wrote the Minister".8 And Johnson would di i::eover about Wall's formal education Flood on the issue of housing to inform probably not have disagreed as far as the from the Johnson Papers. Once again, him that "My wife seems so pressing offer of a ' decent li ving' went, for both where only one or two additional lines of about coming up that I will be much men knew the task required special peo more specific information about Wall's oblig'd to you if you will inquire of Coll . ple, not only teachers professionally education might so easily have been re Johnson if that he expects Captn. Chew trained (so as lo be acceptable to the gov corded for posterity, only hints and infer up this winter, if not I wou' d willingly erning body of the Society fo r the Propa ences are left us. rent his house near the Bridge.... " 12 gation of the Faith in Foreign Parts There is a confirmation of the salaries Given this primary evidence that School whose charity ultimately paid half their in the .Johnson Papers, a list dated August master Cottgrave was not 'allowed' a wages) but such teachers also had to be 18rh, 1770 of sums to be rendered various house gratis from Jolmson's largess but humanistically motivated to accept as persons, among whom both Colin was paying his own room and hoard and personal and spiritual challenges the McLclland and Edward Wall arc in getting nothing better than a small room hardship, danger, sickness and many cluded.10 Each are to be rendered 17 above a noisy tavcm, it is hardly likely, as orher frustrations or fronti er li fe. Most of pounds/I 0, drawn on one William local tradition has long fancied, that all, surely most paramount of all, John Symondson, said sums most likely repre Edward Wall was accorded the comfort of son's schoolmasters would have to pos senting the balance of thac 'half a year's being sole occupant of the Drumm House sess and sincerely demonstrate a salary' Sir William spoke of in his earlier or any other local residence. And finally, compassionate, patient and respectful at letter to Daniel Burton. we have Sir William Johnson's own titude toward the children of Joh11son 's It is no doubt this December, 1769 words, written on December 18th, 1767 greatest allies and friends, his Mohawks. Burton leller which has caused local to Dr. Auchmuty, to the effect that "any Now, in a matter of just a few months, Johnstownians to correctly identify Wall other person who comes must be greatly Johnson had managed to secure two com as their first schoolmaster, although at distressed thro' the want of any proper petent teachers to nurture and develop ba the same time accepting him historically house or lodging, there being no place in sic free education programs, one at in chis capacity for simplicity's sake with the neighbourhood fit for the purpose and Johnstown and the other at "the out studying him further. 1t is more diffi any place that could be procured will be Mohocks" (Canajoharie). And as there is cult, however, to fathom the origin of a held al a dear rate."13 Thus, with the vil no mention in the Johnson Papers or related local notion, the popular assertion lage constantly growing, it is extremely Adem's ledger of any other teacher serv that Edward Wall as schoolmaster was al unlikely rhat, even with the construction ing at Johnstown prior to Wall's employ lowed to live in such a large and corruno o f Johnson's little houses, an entire house ment, we may reliably assign this Fall, dious cottage as the preserved colonial could have been assigned, as local tradi 1769 term as the advent of organit.ed residence now known as the Drumm tion persists, to the village schoolmaster. public education at Johnstown. As fur House. Housing was in very short supply. It is certainly possible, however, that Wall ther testimony, we have Sir Wi lliam's We know that, in the late l 760s, Sir and a number of other Johnson employees own letter to Daniel Burton written De William erected a number (various who were yet bachelors might have been cemher 6th, 1769, in which Johnson sources claim anywhere from seven to quartered together at one o f these resi states, twelve units) of small but adequate little dences, thus honouring the persistence of "[have fixed a worthy honest man houses for his most important artisans this local tradition in a more realistic as a schoolmaster at the Mohawks who and retainers as an inducement to draw manor. tho' there only since March has already them to his new town, and the Drumm Daniel Burton replied to Sir William's 30 Indian children under his tuition house by local tradition has long been December 1769 letter, writing on May who improve very fast and their number identified as being one of these buildings. l lth. 1770 to inform him that, "The Soci will be shortly augmented. I have like But even these residences were scarcely ety have, in pttl'Suance of your recommen wise established a fit person who re enough lo provide adequate housing for dation, appointed Mr. Colin M cLelland ceived a liberal education in Europe at the growing vi llage. With Johnstown ex and Mr. Edward Wall their schoolmas Johnstown near this place, who has at panding daily, the notion that a house ters, the former at the Mohawks and the present near 45 children whites and In large enough to house an entire family latter at Johnstown, and will allow them dians and his school daily increases. should have been turned over for the sole such a salary as you have according to the
The Loyalist Gazette • Page 28 • Fall 1998 · discretionary power given you last year The Fort been pleased to allot them." 14 Stanwix ll has not been possible to detennine experienced whether Edward Wall continued as by Edward Wall in Johnstown's schoolmaster beyond the Fall 1771 was 1769 - Spring 1770 academic Lenn. He no doubt could have taught for another year, cover inferior to ing the Fall-Winter 1770 term, but there the are no accounts extant in the Johnson Pa substantially refortified pers that show him receiving any pay s tructure ment for that period. As will be related faced by further, he was at Fort Stanwix by May of St. Ledger ' 71, and so must have turned the school in 1777 over to John Cottgrave at some earlier and now time. Cotlgrave. who from his own dec open as a stale laration was so unhappily housed some historic \vhcre in the garret of Ti ce's Tavern, ';vas site. an eccentric opportunist with an empire building complex not unlike many pio neers. He was certainly, judging from his inexcusably impolite, overly-assertive let ters to Sir William and others, not a man of Wall's more politic temperament, but his letters prove he had taken over the school at least hy September, I 77L and probably earlier, unless Wall taught a very abbreviated Spring term before re moving to Stanwix to hegin his next ad venture. Even during 1770, Wall's first fu ll year of local residence, hi s star began to rise slowly within the Johnson Dynasty. One is hard-put to explain this: a colonial schoolmaster was usually a colonial schoolmaster and remained one. The only judgements we may take liberty to make about Wall's character as a positive factor in his advancement come from but two lcu.crs written by him, both to Sir intelligence and the abili ty to think criti tier, like all frontiers, was crawling with William. But the coment of these letters cally and to make decisions. In short. he opportunistic dreamers and schemers speak volumes to help us assess Wall's was a potentially useful man ro have ranging all the way from the reasonably general character: they leave us with a re around. Certainly Wall's early and con scrupulous down to those totally bereft of flection of Wall minored as a conscien tinued connection with Sir William's old any human characteristic beyond intense tious, reliable, rather idealistic man, the and trusted associate, Colonel John But greed, all of them seeking to emulate this sort to put concentrated energy and deter ler, whatever that connection was, did or that "great man" and, like the bond minatio n into whatever project he en him no harm, nor could his success in es thief in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsbv, to gaged in. Yet there is also an unspoken tabli shing the Johnstown Free School, an "make a connection" any way possible. naivety in hi s communications. He seems accomplishment long on Sir William's lo The frontier abounded with human the type of person w hose judgement is cal priority list, have earned him any leeches and parasites anxious to attach sometimes ad,·crsely affected by a ten thing less than Sir William's gratitude themselves to tl1c fawning retinue of any dency to believe the best of those around and respect. There is also Lhat singularly important. established person like a John him, so as not to be able to successfully strong tone of sin cerity arising from his Butler or a William Johnson, always in identify potential enemies unLil too late. letters which at least suggests another hope of personal advancement. Yet several practical real>ons exist to reason for men like Col. Jolm Butler and When we think of such men. we do expl ain fahvard \Vail 's advance up the Sir William Johnson to consider bim an not need lo look any farther than Edward Dynasty's slippery ladder. First of all, he asset. If we accept Edward Wall as both Wall's O\vn replacement. the aforemen W The Loyalist Gazelle • Page 29 • Fall 1998 put my name for 2000 acres q{ the from whose collective pO\ver. with Sir Socandago (Sacandaga) that l may set William at their head, all important deci tle some particular families of my own sions in prewar Tryon County flowed. liking thereon - that when done I may At almost the same date. an even establish a store in that quarter and to more significant and telling event oc have an influence at their town meet curred in Wall's rise. On the 6th of Sep ings. " 15 tember, 1770, Edward Wall was raised But as Cottgrave sputtered about his into St. Patrick's Lodge, Order of Free grandiose plan, WaU quietly advanced. masons. along with two other men, Capt. As early as April 27th, 1770, we find his Norman McLeod and one Robert Picken, Wall considerably embellished his signature name included on a list among forty a surveyor very actively employed by on the 'Oath of Allegiance, Abjuration and prominent associates of Sir William des Johnson. Test' in December of 1772. ignated as "those who are to be inserted The signatures of all the prewar in the Patent for the Northern Tract of inductees are recorded in the original St. not Jong after Wall. Though William 80,000 acres in the rear of Kingsborough, Patrick's Lodge Book, which historic Johnson was by now the Baronet and one alias Stuart's Purchase." 16 The names on document fortunately survived the anar of the greatest of those "great men" of the this application read like a 'who's who' chy of revolution and is carefully pre British colonies, one of his most impor of Tryon County. Some of them had been served by today's St. Patrick's Lodge tant character traits, and the one which so born in the valley before Sir William first membcrs.18 Being raised into a Masonic successfully helped him retain the alle saw it, while others, like Wall, were rela Lodge was a matter of as much social sig giance of Tryon County's leading men tive newcomers, legitimate Johnson re nificance in those times as it is today. until his dying day, was that he did not, tainers riding forward on the coat tails of The pre-revolutionary lodge roll of St. as he rose in importance, forget or ignore the great Baronet. Among the older Patrick's reads, as did the land grant ap old companions and valley men like signers of this grant were many who had plication just mentioned, very much like Jelles Fonda. They had lain in cold, rain soldiered with the then Colonel Johnson a who-was-who of Johnson's close associ soaked camps together, traded ball for in the old French war. They had pros ates in Tryon County. One whose signa ball with the French at Lake George, pered and matured beside Johnson in the ture resided on the Lodge RoU of St. marched west to capture the great prize of decade after, and all of them had discov Patrick's could truly claim lo have at Fort Niagara and home again, always ered and eventually mastered many subtle tained a high level of confidence and planning ne~1 trading expeditions while lessons required to coexist to advantage standing among those whose opinion conniving in uncounted land purchase with the seemingly-unstoppable Johnson mattered. And Edward Wall, through schemes and other personal adventures Dynasty. They had learned these lessons whatever combination of circumstance along the 'Nay. Jelles' father Douw was long before Edward Wall entered their and ability, had, with less than two years the established merchant-trader at valley and prospered accordingly. Yet it on the Johnstown scene, somehow arrived Caughnawaga (now Fonda) before the is Wall's signature and not that of the at this high social plateau. young William Johnson ever stooped to ambitious, conspiring John Cottgrave, As we seek to understand the mystery scrape a clod of Mohawk Valley soil from which appears on the land grant applica of this social success, two clues we have his boots. No doubt the Fondas, father tion. Wall's name was also offered up by to work with are Wall's extant letters, and son, were among Johnson's earliest Sir William as an alternate for a much each of \.vhich in different ways reinforces acquaintances and commercial associates, smaller hmd grant application dated Sep the already-mentioned theory that he was and they must have served as positive in tember 1, l 770, to be inserted if the grant imbued with a tendency to mix duty and fluences on his development in many proved large enough to require extra good intentions with more than a Jillie ways. And now, while Sir William John names. 17 Although Wall's name was naivety. But before quoting the letters in son, Baronet and Sole Superintendent of later removed from this application be proper context, it is necessary to refocus His Majesty's Indian allies in the North caLtSe the grant when surveyed was found chronologically on Wall's activities. ern Department bent his will and his to be even smaller than anticipated, one As mentioned above. by the spring of waning body strength to the ever more may well ponder on the question of what '71 at the latest. Edward Wall left both complicated and impossible obligations of more significant company in all the val Johnstown and its school house behind Indian Affairs and empire preservation, ley this relatively quiet young man could him: it had all served a purpose, and per he still remained actively involved in all have been privileged to find both himself haps as a result of his careful handling of important and lucrative trading activities and his signature accepted after such a both himself and the school, other oppor through partnerships \Vith old and trusted short time in residence') Such evidence tunities were now extended to him. In an associates such as the Fondas, George ot his rapid personal acceptance by the example of what our modern age might Groghan, William Printup and others. top members of the dynasty fuels then; call 'apprentice training', \Vall now be Down this new mercantile pathway curring mystery The Loyalist Gazette• Page 30 • Fall 1998 with Fonda to gain much first-hand expe "Poor standing at Fort Stanwix, which ex rience among the Mohawks and other Galland cludes me from my share I might other had Iroquois, and by which means he would wise have in carrying them ove1; but been also increase his value to Sir William as com- nevertheless shall have my portion of 20 well as to himself. The establishment of mander what is lO me made by riding. " reliable trade networks and the pursuit or there This last statement probably means he land were the two greatest objecti ves of since would haul the goods himself if he had the age. Nor should it be forgotten that June of to. 1767 Wall closes the request that both William Johnson and .Telles fonda cour with Sir \verc nml\I Wall's fellow Masonic Lodge tesy of William give hi s regards to 'Peter and lhe brothers, pledged by the most serious General children'. hardly the act of a stem ex oaths of the time to advance and protect Gage." schoolmaster prone to frequent uses of him. Yet while the advantages of such .... [shown the birch rod, as Sinun.s of the nineteenth "• here] protection and influence would seem an century would have us believe. But trou asset, Edward Wall could not have antici hlc was brewing for 'The Great Road ', pated the extcnc of the deep-seated, hos grounds of Fort Stanwix, with quill in courtesy of Jolm Ruf. who no doubt de ti le resentment which the advantage of hand to acquaint the then-greatest man in sired to sec Sir William's new trader take his patronage by Sir William would cre colonial America with his progress, in 'the great road ' swiftly out of town. Less ate against him among the rough, sea forming Sir W illiam that than a month later, Wall's persistent ef soned traders of Fort Stanwix, to which " Lt. Calla1ul upon your Honour '.s fmt s not to be cheated out of his 'portion' place Johnson and Fonda upparently as letler assured me that he would do eve of trading activities brought him to con signed him. rything that he could for me or any per siderable trouble as well as hodily harm. Fort Stanwix of 1770 was u semi-law son you would recommend, but there is On the eighth of .Tune, Lt. Galland less, rough and tumble trading post at very little in. the poor old gentleman '.s must have forced himself up from his sick tached to a broken-down fort left over power, as he is quite debilitated and for bed, not only to come to rescue Edward from the old French War, manned by a those few days past entirely confin 'd to Wall, but also to write Sir William an im small, listless garrison commanded by an his bed, which I imagine is the reason mediate and full account of his own con ailing, veteran officer for whom each day he is so much despised by the set who duct, no doubt to protect. his continuance was a physical struggle. True, it had ex live here. in Sir William's favour. The letter is perienced considerable physical repairs Three r~f the Chiefs nf rhe Oneidas quoted in full. during !he months in 1768 while Sir came here shortly after Stephanus had "/ think it my duty to let you know William and all his Indian Deparlmcnt returned from .Johnson Hall, and gave the late fate of Mr. Wall. Mt: Governor assistants laboured mig htily to hammer me a name, Awhawhoana or the Great .John Ruff being jalous of me in regard out the Stanwix Treaty. But it was going Road, they were very ceremonious upon to him must needs banish him of" (off) down hill again swiftly, and the only l e the occasion, and promis'd they would the ground he ordered one of his gal authority in camp was the aged and be friendly and assisting l o nte, for that emisarys to breed a court (quarrel) with semi-infirm commander of the little gar they understood that I had been recom Quine at his oim lwuse and another of rison, Lt. John Galland. When he was mended by your Ho11 0111; and therefore them he employed to nock down Hif1ll having a bad day, there was really no au expected I would be j ust and kind to which when he saw he got upon him thority at all. Poor Gallund had been them, and indeed I intend to be so, and and draged tore and beat him most wt commander there since June of 1767 hope your Honour will be pleased to mercifully he got him by the heir of his courtesy of General Gage. 19 By 1770, he speak favourably had probably come to regard the whole, o{ me to them. discouraging situation not as a favoured The people here posting awarded him hy an old comrade wlzo would natu in anns as it was meant to be, but more as rally be willing the li fe sentence into which it had slowly to discourage degenerated. any persons in For all practical purposes, the real my way, are now 'boss man' of Fort Stanwix was a weath spirited to op ered, antagonistic boss-trader who made pose me in every Fort Stanwix, prior to lhe siege of 1777, thing hy M1: hi s hom t:: base and private patrimony. Phvn and El/ice '.v .John Ruf, with the help of some hard orders .for trans case pals. completely dominated trading portation. ol their activities in and around Stanwix, as Wall own goods and was soon to discover. those of Commo On M ay 16th, 177 l, Edward Wall i:ial dore Grant being John Ruff's trading post was burned down during the siege of Fort down at his desk at the Johnson-Fonda directed to the Stanwix in 1777. He relocated in present-day Canaic:~~:ie the following year. trading compound, somewhere on the wagoners (~f old The Loyalis t Gazette • Page 31 • Fa ll 1998 head as he lay on his back and dragged of an age in which peoples temper gen the powerful Baronet and the dependable, him from Quine '.1· door to his own house erally become cool, I am rnrprised he half-literate Fonda .... always more land to where he got a <:oard and bound him is so warm with the Indians. "23 patent, more troubled Indians to placate fast and then kept him in co11finemem John Ruff should have known better and feed. Certainly ocher letters, now which when 1 hard of sent my Corporal as well. The Fort Stanwix historian John long forgotten, pertaining to more impor to demand the prisoner he sent me word Scott, drawing from Pomroy Jones' ear tant matters than the needed 'barls' Wall that 1 was not capable of taking care of lier work, Annals of Oneida County, was to procure for Sir William, must have a murdera and that 1 had no business wrote in J 927 that "John Roof had been travelled back and fo11h between Fonda, with him upon which I ordaed a file of one of three or four settlers at the Carry Johnson, and Wall all that summer. men to go and brake open every door ing Place known to have been there as far Wall 's May 'I 6th letter to Sir William is on. his house and bring the prissioner to back as 1760. He had been an innkeeper endorsed in the Baronet's own hand as me. 1 intend to represent this case to and Indian trader and had assisted in the being "received on the 20th by an ln head quarter where l hope his l'.xcel transportation of bateaux between the two dian"26 and no doubt reliable Indian run lency General Gage will give me streams."24 Ruf (or Ruff, as some sources ners travell ed back and forth rapidly on immadient orders to tourn Ruff and all spell it), already had experienced a long those hot, breathless sununer days. anx his gang off this ground I assure you Sir trading relationship wi th Sir William ious to de.liver the latest communication his insolence is not ro be boren he even Johnson, frequentl y supplying both John between their new brother Awhawhoana towns off the ground any man he does son and his Indjan allies, and he shows at Fort Stanwix and their much more sig not like and brings in whom he likes up regularly in Johnson's account render nificant older brother Warraghiyagey at and gives them the best land belonging ings. his great Hall, where a good meal and to the Kin[? without my liberty. " 21 But Wall'l:> beating at the instigation perhaps a new blanker or some extra gun Our view of the sickly, perturbed of John Ruff ,,,.as apparently not severe powder would be their reward for faithful Galland goaded into action by Ruff's enough lo convi nce him to leave Stanwix. service. deeds, and immediately afterward scrib Jcllcs Fonda, happily announcing that it Jt is at thi s point, however, that bling-out the above-quoted missive to Sir is "Sunday morning 10 o'clock at Fort Edward Wall does the first of several an William co protect hi s own backside, has Stanwix," hut forgetting to include the noying disappearing acts which make ac its humour. Probably Galland had expe letter's date, writes to Sir William some curate chronicling of hi s life so ri enced a long. thankless and debilitating where near the end of September, 177 1, frustrating. Silence envelops Wall rrom career typically endured by the middle announcing the preliminary results of a this late September 1771 le Her of Fonda·s rank professional soldier of the time. trip into the wilderness to scout for good until he reappears in January, 1772 at General Thomas Gage was responsible land. Apparently Edward Wall went with Caughnawaga. for Galland's appointment to Stanwix and him, as Fonda tells Johnson, Tt was on January 10th, 1772 that remained his guardian angel thereafter. "I just now arrive here after being Ebenezer Jessup penned a short letter to Hugh Wallace made this political fact of four days in !he wouds, reconnoitering Sir William from Albany discussing a life qui te clear to Sir William when, on the lmuls and found rhem very land transaction and apologizing fo r be June 15th, 1767. he penned Johnson the good.... Mr. Wall who is not returned .vet ing unable to procure for Sir William any fo llowing letter. has our Jumel and soune as he comes decent barrds of 'cyder'. The letter has "1'he Bearer Lieur. Galland is a here I will send it to you by nothing to do with Edward Wall but for Man Genl. Gage has much at Heart to Express .. .rhe Indians as I send this let the way it is addressed, "to lhe Honour serve, as he was long in the same Corp ter by met me i·vith rhe Baris as you able Sir William Johnson Bart. at John with him & has appointed him to reside wrote for to M ;: Wall... "25 son Hall. to the care of Majr. Fonda at at & take care qf Fort Stamvix. As it There was always much business Caughnawaga."27 The leller was not de 1nay be in your power to do him some afoot between these two longtime friends, livered to Fonda's headquarters at service & advise him how to make something of the Lands & Houses there I beg you'll be so ttoud as to help him. He is a ve1y honest worthy Man, but has been unfortunate. "22 And when, not three months into Galland's residency at Stanwix, he appar entl y managed to provoke a serious quar rel with the local Indians. Gage again wrote a tempering letter to Johnson, pro claiming fro.m the safe distance of New York on September 7th, 1767, that "fl the people who dwell upon the Can)'ing Place of Fort Stanwix, do not behave properly, or give jealousy to the Johnson Hall , in the winter of 1998. It may not look that different than on the long-past Indians by an impudent conduct, they Novemeber day in 1768 when Edward Wall, carrying John Wetherhead's letter from musr be drove away. Lr. Galland is now ______S_ c.~_e_!:_l~c tady to Sir William Johnson, first saw it. The Loyalist Gazette • Page 32 • Fall 1998 Caughnawaga until January 15th. Per Butler in February, 1779 which includes a employment was Edward Wall now en haps it was the temporary victim of a list of those immediate family members gaged in to support himself and his new winter storm: five days was a long time he hopes to have exchanged for prisoners wife, and where was he accomplishing it? for a letter to traverse such a short dis held by Butler's Rangers.31 Those of his These questions are readily answered tance even in those times. The relevance own family he lists, and they are: his thanks to a second extant letter written by of this letter is that it was received at mother, Mrs. Butler; his divorced sister, Wall to Sir William that has survived in Fonda's and fmwarded to Sir William by Ann (or Nancy) Sheehan; Ann's son, the Johnson Papers. Dated November "Sir, your most Obedt. Hum' I Scrvt., Walter Butler Sheehan; his younger 3rd, 1772, the letter is written to Johnson Edwd. Wall."28 brothers Thomas, Andrew and William from Burnetsfield and shows Wall to be This insignificant bit of postal for Butler; Deborah Butler, his unmarried engaged there in trading, putting what he warding is neve1thelcss helpful in once sister and Mrs. Wall - his cousin, had learned at Stanwix and with Fonda at again establishing Wall's whereabouts, Deborah Butler Wall. Caughnawaga to work on his own. But for it is obvious he is no longer at Fort It is obvious from this list, Walter now he was operating from the safety of a Stanwix but has transferred back to Butler's own enumeration of those inti settled village in which the rnde likes of a Fonda's 'main office,' as it were, in mate family members '.Vhom both he and John Ruff did not need to be circum Caughnawaga, just a hill climb south his father spent half the war attempting vented. He informs Johnson of his wish from Butlersbury. Being able to docu to release from captivity, that Deborah his to employ "two men with some dry goods ment this relocation contiibutes some sister and Deborah, the wife of Edward to trade amongst the Indians this Fall and what toward understanding when and Wall , were two separate people, for he Winter, which hope you'll not deny us, as how Wall found the opportunity to court lists them one after the other. there are two New England men, encour and win the hand of Deborah Butler, to Secondly, we have that phonetically aged by Mr. Kirkland, who are trying to whom he was matTied on July 6th, amusing letter written in great haste and monopolize the trade both here and 1772.29 anxiety by Colonel William Harper of above."33 It is possible that Edward Wall and Harpersfield as an express to New York's He then bends to the true purpose of Deborah Butler first met during the pe Governor Clinton in December, 1779, his letter. riod of Wall's earlier association with high on the heels of the successful Butlcr "I learned.from Mr. Cunningham Col. Butler back in '69. As already sug Brant Raid on Cherry Valley, in which that you had wrote him respecting gested, the Colonel may have employed Harper reports, "I was informed by sev building a house on your rights near Wall to instruct the younger Butler chil eral of the prisioners that Ilutler sade he Lhis place, therefore will be glad to dren. Perhaps he even instructed Debbie would keep Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. serve you with what nails will be while at the same time conveniently and Moore and thare childring till Mrs. But wanted and that at l!lb. which I believe subtly establishing his first important so~ ler, Mrs. Wall her nese, and his other is the price in your neighbourhood, and cial-political connection in the valley friends were exchanged for them."32 It is farther I hope you will let me serve you with the senior Butler, as it was certainly obvious that, as the daughter of Mrs. But rvith any orders which you'll have occa not for nothing that he was allowed to ler's husband's brother Walter, Deborah sion to draw on this part of the country charge sundries in the Colonel's name at Butler Wall would indeed. (as Colonel & you may depend on my assiduity in Robert Adem's store. Harper so originally spelled it), have been completing them and on the best terms. Earlier researchers have assumed that Mrs. Butler's 'nese'. I shoud have i1;aited on your Honour in Deborah Butler Wall was the same Thus, through the unintentional testi person but find I cannot without great Deborah who was a daughter of John mony of two prominent contemporary prejudice to my business here ... ! have Butler himself. There are, however. two paiticipants in the great conflict, we can the pleasure to inform your Honour extant primary sources documents, either not only establish proof of Edward Wall's that this place thus far answers my ex of which would suffice to declare this as maITiage into the second most significant pectations ... "34 sumption an enor, plus there is the math family in the pre-revolutionary Mohawk There is in this last known letter to ematical fact that Deborah, daughter of Valley, but we can also offer conclusive Johnson an air of confidence and content Col. John Butler and Catalyntje Bradt primary source evidence to define ment. We may with some accuracy pic Butler, was baptized May 12th, 1764 and Deborah Butler Wall's genealogical place ture Mr. and Mrs. Edward Wall now \vould therefore have been not much within the greater Butler family uniL living with peace of mind and a growing older than eight or nine years by 1772.30 Walter Butler clearly considered Edward business in a relatively safe and settled lt is ITILlCh more likely that Deborah But Wall's wife Deborah a relative as wmthy location, still on the frontier but not so re ler Wall was the Deborah Butler horn of exchange as his closer family members mote from civilization that they could some years earlier to John's older brother and said so each and every time he wrote not, with the eventuality of hiring an as Walter. The two primmy source docu on the suhjecl of an exchange. sistant or two, occasionally escape back ments which clearly demon~lrnte that But the >var had not yet begun in the down the valley to visit their friends and Deborah Butler, daughter of Walter, and summer of 1772 when Edward and her family. And of course when such Deborah Butler, daughter of Colonel Deborah made their vows, and the story happy occasions eventually arose, they John, we re two different people are as fol of Edward Wall must confine itself to the would pay that respectful call of courtesy lows. correct chronology of events. upon Sir William Johnson before a11 other Firstly, we need only refer to that im We must presently address attention things. Wall's letter hints at his new portant wartime letter written by Walter to two related questions: wh<\f &aj11,fµl ~ ., Joung contentment in therC?le of:a>young . . -- ,. ;~· '· -'. ; :· :i -. ~. . The Loyal 1st Gazette • Page 33 • Fall 1998 ; •• -.! merchant-trader, free to develop his own commercial business and, as this letter to Sir William suggests, he has also become more astute and aggressive in his busi ness solicitations. And there, but for the gathering storm of revolutionary ferment, might both Edward and Deborah Wall have lived out their quiet and progres sively successful lives. Part 1\vo: The Conflict Tn an early effort to dampen growing The prewar trading establishment of Jells Finda where Wall worked during 1772, lay along political dissent throughout the valley. the the King's Highway (now New York Route 5) and stodd behind and west of !he John Fonda Johnson Dynasty in early December, 1781 Tavern pictured here. The road from Butlersbury, down a steep wind111g hill, meets 1772 circulated to freeholders of Tryon Route 5 directly in front of this building. county for their signatures a lengthy document entitled, "Oath of Allegiance, surveyor and political activist who would Docksteaclers, Youngs, Bellingers and 3 Abjuration and Test". " Its signers swore later be sent back to Tryon County by the Dillcnbachs were represented, all either their allegiance. among other things Albany Committee to help organize the quiet dissenters or vocal true believers, agreeing to "bear faith and true alle Tryon County Committee of Safety, oblig ironically lumped together on this hypo giance to his Majesty King George". Of ingly signed, as did Col. Frederick critical document as families and neigh the 68 signers, many \Vere names des Visschcr, who would become commander bours for the very last time before the tined to return to the stage of revolution of Tryon 's Third Regiment of Militia, los great conflict openly erupted. Some of ary conl1icl on one side or the other over ing his scalp and almost his life one these men were no doubt dedicated Loyal the course of the bloody years to come. foggy l\fay morning in l 780 to members ists who believed they knew exactly what Dygerts, Merkells and Petri signatures of Sir John's spring raiding army. they \Vere doing and why they were doing appear, as do those of the Fondas, Preys, There is an old local legend to the ef it. Others were quiet skeptics, already Eisenlords and Klocks, the Nelleses, fect that, when General Washington watching the deteriorating situation in Waggoners and even Nicholas Herkimer. toured the Mohaw"k Valley al the conclu Massachusetts and whispering early, fur Some of the signers were sincere and sion of the war, he was given a formal tive anti-government sentiments in would remain loyal to the king, forfeiting dinner by local Whig leaders in the stone smoky Palatine kitchens and in the dark their lives and land for him, while others, house of Peter Won11outh, which sat corners and private rooms of taverns late no doubt already discontented, idealistic, across the river from Fort Plain at night. still not sure who Lo trust or con or merely covetous of their Loyalist (Rensselaer): that he specifically re fide in, gradually gaining belief in the neighbours' better land, but at the same quested Col. Visscher to be seated on his growing notion that nothing further was time wise enough to realize their time to right side in honour of his injuries and to be gained by supporting a foreign mon force the issue was not yet come, bowed that his host, Wormouth, be seated at his archy. Such discontented men may, as to pressure from the dynasty and signed left, in recognition of the loss of early as '71 or '72, have already begun anyway, perhaps muttering under their Wormouth's only son, Lt. Matthew, killed holding their clandestine little gatherings breath the already popular phrase about in an ambush v.1hile riding dispatches within the bowels of certain local taverns suffering no taxation without representa from Fort Plain to Cherry Valley. The old whose owners were known to be secrelly tion, and reminding those who had for tale is without documentation, yet it per~ in favour of their cause, and while the gotten that, as long before as May of '69, sists, having been published in various rum was passed around and did its work, the Virginia House of Burgesses had pro older local histories, and Rufus Grider, a perhaps they debated >vhcthcr or not Sir claimed that the sole right Lo levy taxes late nineteenth century valley artist made William, their great and good old friend, on their citizens lay in their own legisla a water colour of the old building based was, in his new burst of empire building, ture. Even John Brown, a recent emigre on the rnemmics or elderly locals. Very along with his newly-imp011ed Catholic from Massachusetts, making bis brief, likely the story is true, for the dinner at Highlanders and his ever-increasing gang halfl1carted, prewar attempt at a law prac Wormouth's did take place and it is not of T1ish sycophants, now moving farther tice al Caughnawaga and destined to die out of character ror Washington to have and farther away from them and their on his 36th birthday, October 19th, 1780. requested such politic seating arrange commonality of earlier days. And what while defending Stone Ambia against the ments. about those 700 odd, uncommunicative small hut effective travelling army of Sir Of course all the leading Johnson Catholic Highlanders and their priest, Fa John Johnson, was caught up in the fer backers. men such as Gilbert Tice, John ther McKcnna, all of whom Sir William vour of the thing and signed it John and Guy Johnson, John Butler and Daniel \Vas settling right in their midst, offering Frey. named an executor of Sir \Villiam's Claus, Peter Ten Broek, Joseph Chew, Pe these 'foreigners' generous inducements will and later the first postwar Sheriff of ter Conyne and Brian Lafferty signed. to settle in Lhe very Tryon counly, their the new Montgomery County, dipped his The so-called 'common men', freeholders Tryon County, which they had fought for pen and signed. Christopher P. Yates. the such as the Veedcrs, Hamens, beside Colonel William .Johnson and died The Loyalist Gazette • Page 34 • Fall 1 998 to protect and preserve for themselves in cral of the most prominent Loyalist 'au power and lo begin dragging hypocritical the old French War? thority figures· such as Colonel John But oaths of loyalty to the new order from the Still others who signed the Oath must ler and bis son, Walter, Joseph Brant and mouths of reluctant, frightened Loyalists. not have known just what to think, and Guy Johnson. Guy had made his exit At least until Chris Yates bangs his gavel may well have prayed that all the con publicly during June, declaring for an In and gains control, consternation and un flicts and hostilities in Massachusetts dian council supposedly to the west at certainty must have reigned. and one would simply fade away and not vex them Thompson's (Magin's) and decamping wonders if the harried Seeber, his slaves further. mnidst a retinue of supply-laden bateaux, or indentured servants dashing around I can find no record of Edward Wall's while the Butlers, father and eldest son, distributing various courage-inducing in activities from his signing of this docu left under unknown circumstances some toxicants among the multitude of anxious ment in December of '72 until the first time after May 17th, and it is not impos freeholders, diet not eventually run short remaining minutes of the Tryon County sible but that they might have stopped to of those strong, home-made vmieties of Committee of Safety were recorded two refresh themselves and change horses at rum. flip and dark beer, standard stimu and a half years later. Probably he and the Bumetsfield home of their in-law lants of those times, ~md one of the few Debbie continued living quietly in Wall, if indeed they travelled in that di pleasures tl1at would remain generally Burnetsfield while he expanded his busi rection. available amidst all the loss and tragedy ness and slowly developed a reputation as The first flurry of these large Commit of the dark years to come. a man whose opinions were worth consid tee of Safety meetings of-the-whole that For Edward Wall, it must have been a ering. we presently have records of occurred month of trial and confusion. The Battle Then suddenly it was May of 1775, near the end of May, 1775. On May of Lexington took place on Ap1il 19th with Sir William dead almost a year and 24th, two clays after the gathering of the and the news, travelling like lightning in his son, Sir John, already losing neces dated Kingsland/German Flatts Census all directions, no doubt spread across the sary support around the county by dis List, the first known meeting of the valley general in various inflammatory playing a growing tendency for keeping ''United Committees of Palatine, versions within several clays of the event. Lo the company of himself, his few close Conajohary. King'sland and Genmmf1atts It would perhaps pray on Wall's mind friends and relations, his well-armed Districts" met at the hopefully-commodi that, some time during the previous week, Catholic Highlanders, his menacing ous house of William Seeber, somewhere his own powerful kin had abruptly and Mohawks, as well as drifting away from in the Canajoharie District.37 with no warning escaped the valley, in the company of many of his father's most Edward Wall was the first person tent, it was generally believed, on reap influential old friends, all of whom were, listed as an official delegate from Gennan pearing swiftly out of the morning mist admittedly, at least a generation older Flatts, his companion representatives be \Vith a vengeful army to put down the in than himself. ing Duncan McDougal, Jacob Weaver smTection, much as they had already Lists were now being made openly. and the brothers William, Marcus and done once in miniature when successfully There is, attached to the extant collection John Petry. Those thirty rebel •delegates' breaking up the symbolic raising of a Lih~ of early Tryon County Committee docu gathered together at Seeber's must have erty Pole at Cauglmawaga back in '74. ments, various census collections of the been a very mixed cro\vd: experienced These \Vere those same. dramatic weeks inhabitants and freeholders of each dis veterans of the old French war, all landed of rumour and confusion which Guy trict. For valid geographic reasons, the gentry such as Nicholas Herkimer, men Johnson and even Mr. Cuyler, then Loy list of the Kingsland and German Flatts possessed with at least some notion of the alist Mayor of Albany, used to advantage Districts, which included Burnetsfield, seriousness of their actions, mixed to to head west out of the valley, until they were combined. The list is dated May gether with young, untried political ideal could regroup at Oswego and seek coun 22nd, 1775 and Edward Wall's name ap ists like Chris Yates. all afire \Nith cil \Vith their Indian allies from a safe pears in his usual, confident hand near youthful, revolutionary zeal and swept up distance. the beginning.36 in the romance of the business. No doubt But in spite of his marital association But there were more important activi each person in attendance thought he with the Butlers and his previously close ties brewing than the collecting or lists. knew at least something of what should connection with the Jolmsons, at the May Many records of the meetings of the be done. Perhaps the only certainty these 24th Committee of Safety Meeting, Tryon County Co1mnillec of Safety still thirty Whigs really shared completely Edward \Vall was much more than a pas exist, yet it is not known exactly when the was the unexpressed, uncomfortable re sive observer. The minutes inform us committee, guided by Chris Yates, alization that, if they should for some rea that ''Mr. Wall laid before the body the Ebenezer Cox. NiehoJas Herkimer and son fail in the scary, uncertain business of proceedings of the Germanflatts and others. actually began functioning as an attempting to assume revolutionary gov King'sJand Districts unitedly, together effective, united, county-wide political or ernmental power, there \Vas unlikely to be with speech delivered to the Oneida Indi ganization. Probably the grand any alternative open to them other than ans with their reply."38 An even more momentums stimulating its formal or the gallows. telling indication of Wall's prominent ganization and propelling it into power And there in the darkening, candlelit role as a committee man was the follow were the concurrent military evt~nts un room, Christopher P Yates, Isaac Paris ing itern. folding in Massachusetts dwing the ep and orhers urge them all forward with "Resolved unanimously, that four ochal months of April and May, coupled news of what other, more progressive members of this body be sent down to with the removal from the valley of sev- committees have alreai;Ir'tdQTI,\;tp a,~smne coniniune with 't~e(C:¢rh1nittees (){ ll'._·<· .<;,_ ::_ ·-.·_·.:,_ ·. :'' ; ·. The Loyalist Gazette •·Page 35 • Fall 1998 • , / :: j Albany and Schenectady upon the 'District Representatives' must have present situation of America in general spent the majmity of their waking hours and this county ill particular, to obtain conducting au manner or hurried meet all the intelligence possible, and to buy ings v.:ith the other committee members such a quantity of powder and flints from their districts, holding other infor and lead as they judge necessary, for mational meetings for the general popu the payment of which this body will in lace residing within their districts, denmify them, which powder is to be answering or sending dispatches, listen sold under the inspection of this body ing to complaints. suspicions, or denun and by such persons as this Committee ciations of neighbour against neighbour, shall appoint out of this brethren. Or tracing or squashing mmours and more dered therefore that Daniel McDougall than likely, attempting to ascertain, for Palatine, David Cox for through personal observation and the of Canajohary, Edward Hft'ill and Duncan ten-prejudiced testimony of others, just McDougall jbr the Districts of the whose names were to be recorded as be Germanjlatts and Kings 'land united, be ing a true friend or a real enemy of the sen/ down accordingly. .. ,,39 cause. Debbie and whatever assistants Sir William Johnson This contingent of Tryon County they employed must have been hard put Whigs wasted no time undertaking this ley 'rebels' as John Frey, Isaac Paris, to run the business in his absence. order, for the Minutes of the Albany Colonel Cox, Dr. William Petry, Colonel But this was not the whole of it. The Committee inform us that on the very Peter Waggoner (whose house still stands June 2nd United Committee Meeting saw next day. just west of the Palatine Church), Jacob the introduction and approval of a power "Edward Wall. Daniel McDougall. Klock, Nicholas Herkimer, Chris Yates ful ultimatum written in the guise of a re David Cox and Duncan McDougall a and many more. It is also very important spectful letter of inquiry, probably drafted committee appointed from the joint to remember that some of these very men by Chlis Yates, Herkimer and others of Committee of Canajoharry German were Edward Wall's Masonic Lodge the inner circle, which was to be sent im Flatts and Kingsland Districts to com brothers, men who, though respectful and mediately to Guy Johnson. This was the nrnne with the Committee.1· of Albany obedient followers of Sir William during oft-quoted, lengthy epistle protesting the and Schenectady requested to be admit his lifetime, had otherwise always been searching of travellers on the highway, ted and be present at the debates of lhis capable leaders and successful acquisitors demanding to know his immediate inten Board, and debates arising, the ques in their own right. Most of them were as tions, 1isting various general gtievanccs, tion being put tvhether, or no they tute men who would have been hard to and attempting to make it clear that gov should be admitted. .. resolved in the a.f fool, and besides, one did not easily or ernmental authority within Tryon County .f!rmative. "40 comfortably betray the interests of fellow now belonged to the Committee. Of most Unless one considers it possible that Masons, then or now. Moreover, if any of immediate concern were the questions of he could have been acting in the very these impoltant leaders fell any doubt of how Guy, as Superintendent of Indian Af dangerous capacity of spy for the Loyalist Wall's sincerity as a Whig due to his fairs, intended to handle his Mohawks elements, which, together with Sir John, well-known familial connection with the and whether or not he might be per remained reasonably strong but quiet for Butlers or his good relations with the late suaded to forsake the Loyalist cause and the time being, Edward Wall appears at Sir Wilham Johnson, there is no indica peaceably accept the authority of the this time to give every outward sign of tion of such doubt from the Minutes. On Committee. Would he, as many feared, being a confirmed Whig and indeed. as the contrary, we have already seen that he call out the Indians to defend Sir John, already demonstrated, was trusted to the was not only one of four representatives Daniel Claus and himself, urging them to very point of being selected as one of the appointed to officially confer behind take the tomahawk to those in revolt'/ Or receivers and gum·dians of the commit- closed doors \Vith leaders of the would he perhaps actually accept the new tee's most precious commodity, the pow Schenectady and Albany Committees, but order and deal with it for the sake of his der supply. Yel could he, all this time, was also well-enough trusted to bear re own future in the valley? through unspoken loyalties to his wife sponsibility for the munitions supply, the Once read and approved, the letter and her family, have been playing the very life blood of the local revolutionary had to be delivered, and a Subcommittee spy? The suggestion is mere conjecture, organization. Nor did Wall ever inform wa~ immediately appointed to the task. and seems very unlikely: he simply does the Committee, as he had once informed "It is ordered that Edward Wldl, Pe not appear to possess the duplicity of per Sir William Johnson back in his letter of ter vfogoner, Nicholas Herkhime1; sonality required of a successful double November of '72, that he could not wait Adam Fonda and Frederick Fox be a agent. And we must remember that those upon them without prejudice to his mvn Committee to wait upon Guy Johnson who trusted Wall and admitted him into business. Indeed the extent of his in Esq. to deliver the same lettei; and re their complete confidence, packed to volvement in the early activities of the quest his an.swe1; and ask him, when to gether there beside him in those late Tryon Committee of Safety strongly sug wait on him fur his answe1; and request spnng meetings at Seeber's, Van gests he had placed his O\Vn business and his approbation to appoint a Sub-Com Alstync's and other places, were such personal interests on the back burner. He mittee to at/end him at the Congress prosperous and influential Mohawk Val- and most of the other men appointed ·with the Indians. " 41 The Loyalist Gazette • Page 36 • Fall 1 998 Later on at this meeting, an appro Committee members using their new au Whatever the logic behind o ur theo priation of twelve pounds to reimburse thority to take private, injurious venge Iies, the truth may simply revert back to the four members who attended the recent ance on Tory neighbours or perhaps bore the image projected by Wall himself in confab with the Albany Committee was on growing murmurs of personal mistrust his few known communications: he is a passed and the money apparently distrib arising from his known Butler connec centred, purposeful person, a bit boring uted. tion, or on hypocritical ill-treatment of perhaps, but dependable, at relative ease The little group which constituted this Sir Guy, we can only guess at the letter's when engaged in well-defined (for him at Subcommittee wasted no time delivering full content and the reasons behind the least) courses of action, while around the letter to Guy Johnson. The valley re writing of it are lost to us and will remain him, not a few of his Whig neighbours, mained in a continual state of hyperactive so. The abstrnct of this lost letter seems for years secretly envying the Johnsons ferment: nunours of the Butler's impend vaguely to suggest wan was offended by and their allies, suddenly arise with the ing return with some kind of mythical some untoward, hypocritical actions help of the Committee influence to exer army, of Guy Johnson clandestinely incit taken by one or more of his fell ow com cise their 'freedom' to accuse old neigh ing the Mohawks to mayhem and massa mi ttee men, 'throwing their weight bours of various Loyalist activities, at cre, these rumours and others continued around' as we would say today, perhaps least in a few instances for the probable to fly hither and yon, with the Committee spun-ing the idealistic Wall to develop purpose of acquiring their goods and meeting every other day or so in a con suspicions as to the trne motives of his chaltels. tinual state of crisis. On Sunday, June Whig associates. He is still listed as be Probably Wall left the meeting whi le 4th, "Mr. Nicholas Berkheimer reported ing in attendance at the meeting of June it was still in progress, returning home co that Mr. Wall and him had waited upon 11th, but the minutes o f that meeting are Debbie and hi s store at Burnetsfield, leav Col. Johnson with the letter of yesterday, silent on what if anything he had to say. ing his Whig idealism in the dust kicked who answered, that he would be ready to Perhaps sometime between the 8th and up by hi s horse. And what then? Noth deliver hi s answer on Monday next."42 the 11th, he and Chris Yates found Lime ing more about him is recorded until an That day the committee also took a step to fill a few glasses of rum and talk other Committee of Safety meeting when, that launched them a further distance things over. Perhaps Yates thought he two years later, on August 25th, I 777, a down the road toward permanent di saf had Wall all calmed down and everything battered and disorganized committee. fection from King George, voting to "em smoothed away. But if so, he was wrong. some of its leading decision-makers like body themselves into Compani es and On June 17th, Lhe Minutes inform us General Herkimer and Colonel Cox and appoint proper officers ... with the greatest tersely that "Mr. Edward Wall, a member Isaac Paiis either killed or captured at cxpeditio n .. "43 It was time, they decided, of the Germanfl atts Committee, begged to Oriskany, now fought to reorganize and to form and command their own milit ia be excused from serving any longer in regain control. One of the first resolu ranks and to make ready to put their mus that office and for sufficient reason it was tions passed was that the wives and fami kets where until now only their mouths ordered that he shall be discharged."45 lies of certain prorn.inent Tories "be had been. Only such an action, Herkimer For what '.~ ufficient reason'? \Vould, immediately confined in Johnstown at and the other war veterans among them for history's sake, that the Secretary of Toice's lTice's] House, and kept under must have argued, would calm the popu the Committee could have been a little guard, ti II further orders from this lace, and besides, it was also the most ef more specific! Yet it is also possible that Board."46 And among those rounded up ficient. way to throw cold waler on Sir this very refusal to be more specific may were Mrs. Butler, her children, Mrs. John's militia colonelcy and to discover in itself offer some clue to explain this Nancy (Burler) Sheehan and son, and who was and was not a true Whig. mystery, if only we could fathom that clue Mrs. Edward Wall. The next known Committee meeting and understand or interpret it for what it Given the continual anti-loyalist took place several days later on June is. Certainly the situation is unique: in watchfulness and paranoia on the part of 11th, but between the last meeting of June all che extent minutes of all the many the leaders of the Committee of Safety, 4th and the eighth of .June, another seg Committee meetings, there is no other the fact that Deborah Butler Wall and the mem of rhe mystery or Edward Wall be such vague explanation offered or found, other Loyalist women were taken up dur gan Lo unfold. no other committee man politely and qui ing that particular moment of post There is in the Johnson Papers an ab etly discharged from his ongoing obliga Oriskany political trauma is less stract o f a pertinent letter, lost, <1s were tion to the comm ittee. Read if you will surprising than is the fact that none of many others. in the disastrous New York through all those fascinafjng old Com these women and children had been taken Stat.e Library fire of I 9 11. The abstract mittee of Safety Meeting Minutes. You up much earlier, such as when, in early teasingly describes the contents of this will find again and again examples where June of 1776, Lady Johnson and family missing letter written by "Edward Wall, people are brought up on ch:irges before were removed from Johnson Hall. From German Flats, June 8, to Cluistopher P. the Committee. You will read that they the very day their husbands had gathered Yates, declaring he can no longer act on are fined, punished, or banished, but al their muskets and essentials to slip away the Commiucc unless its resolutions are ways it is for a stated offence. Nowhere and join the Loyalist forces, these women to be respected hy all the members of the in all the Minutes ca n you find the state had no doubt undergone constant disre association."·11 Whatever the whole body ment that some luckless Loyalist is or spect and harassment from former neigh of this Jetter might have revealed to help dered sent away co the dreaded bours and fri ends. And now both the explain the reasons for Wall's growing Connecticut mine-prisons simply "for Committee of Safety leadership and discontent, wherher it bore on vatious sufficient reason". Herkimer 's Tryon County Militia had The Loyalist Gazette • Page 37 • Fall 1998 been greatly demoralized by the hoITen him to become more active in the King's going away f and] on ~vhat condition, or dou s losses incurred in the Oriskany ra interest. As a frontier trader, there were where. and said tell me. perhaps l will vine. No participant or contemporary things he might do for the King's cause r;o with you, or give you a good advice, considered this battle a victory for the other than immediately leaving for you know I always were for your best, American cause: that idea sprung from Canada. He might have begun actively then said Richard said, they do not the minds of 19th century apologist supplying information on Whig activities trust ym1, and mvned they were /0 go to American historians. No doubt the only to Sir John or Colonel Butler, perhaps the enemy...... the Deponent asked ·where 'victory' in the minds of the surviving through Molly Brant's nearby Indian nm they were lo meet. to •vhich he was farmer-soldiers of Tryon County was that ners. Supplies for loyal Indian scouting answer!edf; at Oswego, we are to meet they had managed to fight their oppo parties or emergency bundles, put up twenty thousand men; the Deponent nents to a respectable draw and retain the quickly for men heading north in the then asked where they •vere ro attack, to field: ir successfully executing the prede dead of night to join the Loyalist regi which Richard replyed, we are tu uttock termined military objective, in this case ments then forming, might have been on this river. some of the British forces relieving St. Leger's siege of Fort provided quickly and quietly from his at Tye and the rest up the north l'ivm; Stanwix, defines victory, then the results trader's storehouse. These and other pro then the Deponent asked him hmv he of Herkimer's forced march to Stanwix Loyalist activities could have been under could be so. saying my son must go to had been both a political and a military taken surreptitiously by any trader in Fort Scuyle1; and if you come ! must go disaster. That some immediate action Wall's situation, at least for a time, but it likewise, as soon as 1ve see each other was instigated, such as this gathering-up is also clear from studying the minutes we will fire, then I may kill you or you of the families of prominent Loyalists, to that almost everyone was suspiciously me. to which said Richard replied he show the general populace and the still watching someone else for signs of disaf could 1101 help it, the Lord had put it so numerous Loyalist sympathizers that the fection, and he would have been unable to into his mind.: and the Deponent said to Committee of Safety was still in control, escape suspicion and accusations in the him he should stay, but he would not; is not at all surprising. This line of Jong run. Certainly Edwmd Wall, a~ an the deponent than asked him the said thinking of course included the less than ex-committee member \Vith Loyalist rela Ricluml who were to give them notice noble intent of taking random revenge tions, would hardly be allowed to func and be their pilate, to which said Rich against whomever revenge could be tion unobserved. Eventually, when ard replyed an Indian, v.:ho brought achieved. With the exception of Walter conditions became untenable or exposure powder and lead to the people at B utlcr, taken at Shoemaker's Tavern a eminent, Wall, like many other men v.:ho Dorlag (New Dorlach) all last winter, short time after the battle, the Loyalist had quietly committed themselves to the and who had brought Philip Fry (Frey) women, all without resources, counsel or King, but who had continued to remain at through the wood1-. which Indian they 47 defence, were suddenly the only conven home waiting for the right opportLmity to expected every minute... " . ient prey av The Loyalist Gazette • Page 38 • Fall 1998 mere speck on the far hillside. She would Johnson that Wall was t..ransfelTed to Cap captivity but also issue her a pass to go to have been bravely resigned to her own tain Richard Duncan's Company on June join her husband at Unadilla.50 situation through the knowledge that, L5th , 1777. He was promoted to lieuten From this brave act it may be inferred whatever unknown hardships they would ant on the 23rd of September but resigned that Edward Wall, as a member of the In both endure before meeting again, at least on October 13th. Bur there is yet another dian Department, was serving the King's he would now keep faith with his King. unexplained movement in Wall's odyssey, cause in some capacity at Unadilla in Au Probably both Edward and Debbie be for a note attached to this record indicates gust o r '78. One is drawn to remember a lieved, af. did many valley Loyalists, even tliat he was "apparently transferred to the letter written June 5th of that same year as late as July of 1777, that it would all Indian Department" 49. There is, as usual, by Colonel Jacob Klock of the Tryon he settled that summer; that stalwart, ex no indication of when he was transferred, County Militia to Governor Clinton on perienced soldiers like John Butler and to where, or under whom he was to serve. the subject of Unadilla, advisi.ng that a young firebrands like Joseph Brant, suffi It was, however, a logical transfer. for military force be sent there and telling the ciently backed up by a British army or doubtless his experience with Indians as a Governor that, "unless a body of troops is two, would come riding back down the trader at Stanwix, as a merchant in marched directly to Unadilla in order to valley in triumph to put down the insur Bumctsfield and as Awhawhoana, ' the drive the enemy from hence and destroy recti on and restore order in the King's great road' , a man with hi s own Indian the place, the enemy will constantly make name. Word may already have arrived name, known by the King's Indian allies su ch depredations upon the settle through the Loyalist undergro und that to have been a respected associate of their ments."5 1 The Ame1ican Colonel Colonel Butler intended eventually to fi late Sir William, all gave Wall useful ex William Butler would eventually be sent nance a corps of his own to be known as perience with both conunissary duties and there to effect this purpose. but not until Butler 's Rangers, that he was presently the ways of the Indians. But beyond the early October. gathering a company of Indian Depart knowledge that Edward Wall had become On the British side, it was the sum ment Rangers, that Sir John Johnson a member of the Indian Department by mer of the destruction of Wyoming, of would soon organize a regiment. and that the end of 1776, his whereabouts and ac Andrustown and German Flats, and every able-bodied Tryon County loyalist tivities during the explosive year of 1777 Chen-y Valley was in the offing. Unadilla who could escape the valley and survi vc and early 1778 are entirely unknown. comes into the picture over and over as the trip to Canada would be welcomed Our main reference to Wall's 1778 ac the vari ous Indian and Loyalist contin into the ranks of one or another official tivities, mysterious and inconclusive as gents, executing their planned move corps. Outfitting hi s new regiment would usual, would not have existed at all but ments in pursuit of their military evelllually cost Colonel Butler most of for the character and courage of Debbie objectives, march back and forth across what he had amassed in his lifetime, but Butler Wall, and it may also shed some the map of New York's soulhern ti er. of course it would be worth all the effort indirect light on Edward's activity in the One may only conjecture what Edward and expense; he and his oldest son Walter Indian Department, at least dming part of Wall's specific duties were while at would no doubt be paid back and hon the year 1778. For on August 3 l st, 1778, Unadilla, but as he was now a member o f oured by a grateful king. How could it be Deborah Wall , then in protective custody the Indian Department. and with his otherwise? With the enemy defeated, in Albany along with the other Butler background expelience in trading and they would all return to their homes and women and children, made bold to appear prior Indian associations, he may well. greet their liberated families in triumph, in person before the Commissioners for have been involved in supplying and and senior men li ke Butler, already one of Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. reprovisioning the Indians and their Loy the high judges of Tryon County, would We may surmise how she must have stood alist allies as their fast-moving raiding establish special courts to punish the there, for certainly the commissioners did armies swiftly and effectively tore up the rebels with the King 's justice and set not offer comfortable chairs to the wives back country settlements all that summer things right again. He could not ever of Loyalists, facing that all-powerful and into the fall. It is to be hoped that have imagined that in the end, he would committee of frowning Whigs. She diligent Canadian researchers who pos accomplish nothing but the exhaustion of would have been hot and uncomfortable sess access to lndian Department primary hi s body, his cred it, and the death of hi s in the late August heat, but, true to her source material may eventually uncover most favoured son. Sir John Johnson, not purpose, she would al so have been factual information regarding Wall's In to be outdone, was also calling on his unfazed by the obvious hostility directed dian Department activity. vast, inherited credit to secretl y muster a toward her, knowing these men would sec But Deborah Butler Wall, brave as she corps called the King's Royal Regiment her ficst as a mere woman, secondly as must have been to face the hostile com of New York. the abandoned relict of a Loyalist and mittee, had yet to wait many months be Edward Wall, however, did not wait thirdly, perhaps worst of all. as a posses fore rushing into the tender embrace of until the sp1ing of 1777. Rather, he was sor of the hated Butler bloodline that her husband Edward. The Albany Com commissioned on February 23rd. 1777, in linked her inexorably in their eyes to eve mittee's reply to her request for release Sir John's King 's Royal Regiment of New rything they secretly feared and openly and safe passage into Indian country was York, as an ensign in Major James Gray's detested. She would look into their faces both irnmecliale an