Rebellion in the Catskills By Dorothy Kubik

We never know when we may be in their turn, hated him as an arrogant bully. caught up in a vortex of circumstances and Their final encounter occurred when he and the events large than our own small world. One landlord‘s agent showed up at Moses Earle‘s day may swallow up the rest of our lives. This pasture in Andes where the sheriff and the was the fate of small quiet farming communi- ―Indians‖ were discussing the sale of Earle‘s ties in eastern Delaware County in 1845. The livestock for rent. Ignoring the ―Indians‘‖ or- steady, reassuring ritual cycle of plowing, ders to keep out, Steele readied to jump the planting, mowing, and harvesting took a back pasture bars. Someone shouted, ―Shoot the seat to Anti-Rent protest. horses.‖ The ―Indians‖ fired and Steele fell, The Anti-Rent conflict began in 1839 mortally wounded. It was August 7, 1845. in the Helderbergs in Albany County. Tenant The ―Indians‖ fled. In the turmoil that farmers rebelled against oppressive leases un- followed, over 200 men were arrested, under der which they labored as little more than serfs suspicion for the murder of Steele. of wealthy landlords, without opportunity to In 1994, while researching that tumul- ever own the land. They had also begun to tuous period in Delaware County history, I re- question the legality of the landlords‘ titles to alized that few primary sources had survived. the land. The outbreak was triggered by the Then, local historian Shirley Houck directed demand of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV for me to the transcripts of the Testimony before back rents which his father had not collected the Grand Jury convened after Steele‘s death. during economic hard times. It was as close as anyone could come to inter- In protest, the farmers refused to pay viewing the Anti-Renters themselves. Over- the rents. When a sheriff‘s sale of a farmer‘s whelmed by fear of hanging for the murder of property, mainly livestock, was held to collect Steele, most of the Anti-Renters who testified the rent, armed protesters appeared in calico abandoned their oath of secrecy and fidelity to dresses and grotesque masks, calling them- each other, and revealed the inner workings of selves ―Indians‖ in the spirit of the patriots of the Delaware County Anti-Rent Association. the Boston Tea Party. In their own words they revealed that The conflict soon spread to Rensselaer, the Association was organized in the spring of Columbia, and Schoharie Counties, then to 1844 at the Andes Presbyterian Church; had a Delaware County, especially Andes, Bovina, tightly-knit network of officers, committee- Middletown, and Rox- men, and committees to bury, where the protest coordinate their activities; was most intense. and met often, either in Activities of the small ―town‖ groups or Delaware County Anti- with the whole organiza- Renters, organized in tion. Of meeting-places 1844, infuriated Un- they had no lack: dersheriff Osman N. churches, taverns, private Steele, who had resolved homes, barns, even out- to root them out person- doors on a hill. ally. The Anti-Renters, Not all Anti-Renters were ―Indians.‖ Some sympathized with the protest his son said he was ―going fishing.‖ but were not involved in any activities. Others In order to avoid revealing themselves joined the organization and sometimes served to an unfriendly person, the Anti-Renters de- in leadership positions. The most active mem- vised ―countersigns,‖ as they called them, by bers—the ―Indians‖—wore disguises and ap- which they could identify their colleagues or peared at sheriff‘s sales armed, ―to intimidate supporters. William Scudder said, ―We had a foreign bidders & so they would not come.‖ countersign, the word was ‗liberty‘ - we also They were also prepared to shoot any animal had a motion by which we recognized each on which a successful bid was made. other - we put our hands to our face.‖ They belonged to tribes, as local groups When going out in disguise, they used were called, and were led by a chief and sev- great care to preserve secrecy even among eral subordinate chiefs. Sometimes they re- themselves. Often they would meet at a certain ferred to themselves as ―Natives‖ or ―Rocky agreed-upon place on the way to a gathering or Mountain boys.‖ When they rode out in their sale, and each man would go off by himself masks and calico dresses, the ―Indians‖ also and dress. wore new identities: Black Hawk, Big Lion, The Bovina ―Indians‖ who met on Pompey, Thunderbolt, Red Wing, Jumbo. John McFarland‘s hill to plan for the trip to Earle‘s S. Davis, a leader in Bovina admitted, ―It was sale ―came to the resolution not to see each said my name was Rainbow.‖ other dress in disguise - They were to dress A special committee recruited new after, they got there.‖ members. Barbour Stafford, a twenty-year-old Women were allowed membership, so farmhand, related how, in the summer of 1844, it was rumored, if the men did not trust them to at Peleg Hilton‘s hotel in Andes, ―Robert Scott keep quiet without the oath of secrecy. came to me… and wanted me to join…after I Whether or not this was true, the women, to all signed the pledge H. Scott asked me if I did not appearances, stood by their men. They made want to become a rockey mountain boy I asked calico dresses and masks, and cooked and him if there was any danger in it He told me baked for the ―Indians‖ whenever their no it was nothing but fun and almost every boy ―excursions‖ required food. James Blish testi- was joining it - ….He then administer the oath fied that 7 or 8 dresses [were] made at my to me by the uplifted hand by the ever living house - my wife - others - helped make the God.‖ dresses.‖ At Earle‘s sale, the ―Indians‖ gath- The text of the oath varied in the ac- ered in the woods near a spring where they counts given by the Anti-Renters, but essen- found a plentiful supply of food, from rolls and tially, the members swore to support the Anti- butter to meat and potatoes. Rent cause and not reveal the secrets of the As- Payment of dues of two cents an acre sociation. This reinforced the seriousness of helped support the activities of the Association. their purpose, bound them together with pow- When the Anti-Rent movement began in 1839, erful ties, and secured their protection. this assessment was intended to help pay for Although the oath as probably their litigation to challenge the landlords‘ titles. The strongest defense, the Anti-Renters, especially Delaware County Anti-Renters also initially the ―Indians,‖ devised other safeguards as well. had the same intention. When discussing their activities, they used cer- Whether or not they pursued this plan, tain code expressions, for example, ―going they found plenty of immediate uses for the fishing.‖ Jotham W. Schudder, father of War- money. If the ―Indians‖ shot a farmer‘s ani- ren Scudder, when questioned about his son‘s mals at a sale, the Association would reim- activities the day Steele was shot, replied that burse him for them. Zadoc Northrup, speaking of Earle‘s sale, said it was decided to ―Let the [sic] with an Anti rent flag over us.‖ sheriff sell and then shoot the property down.‖ Nelson K. Dart, who admitted creating References to the ―entertainment‖ of flags, testified: ―Wickham, Preston & Scudder the ―Indians‖ occur often. One Anti-Renter came this spring with a piece of cloth to paint stated that ―when the Indians were called out, another flag – they wanted me to put a picture their refreshments were paid for out of the of the possee & the indians. I painted one side funds of the Society.‖ Early in June 1844, as they requested. I told them if they would James Blish served dinner for 250-300 permit me to put on the other what I was a ―Indians‖ who met at his house. He added: mind to I would finish it and I put on ‗Victory ―The Association paid me.‖ by the ballot.‘‖ Money seems to have been generously In the end, two men were sentenced to expended to supply the ―Indians‖ with dis- hang for the murder of Steele, though no proof guises and weapons. Under orders from the was found to link them to the fatal shots, four committee, James Blish, the treasurer, spent to life in Clinton State prison, and others to $30-$40 for calico and $5-$6 for sheepskin. terms from ten to two years. After an outcry For these purchases and a pair of pistols, he from the public, Governor Silas Wright com- estimated that he spent $100. Daniel Squires muted the death sentences to life in prison. In also admitted to spending $25 for calico, which 1847, Governor John Young pardoned the pris- his wife and daughters turned into dresses for oners, and they returned home in triumph, the ―Indians.‖ Daniel Northrup added that, though the wounds from the whole ordeal besides disguises and weapons, the ―Indians‖ would remain with the communities involved were ―to be paid for services if there were for generations. funds enough in the treasury.‖ Whether this The real winner was the Anti-Rent was ever done is not known. cause. The Anti-Renters gained political sup- The ―Indians‖ had a motley collection port and power, and achieved several victories of weapons: fowling pieces, muskets, rifles, at the State Constitutional Convention in 1847. pistols, and sword. At Earle‘s sale, Warren In Delaware County, the Anti-Rent party be- Schudder, chief of the ―Indians,‖ had a sword came the dominant political party. Though the and a pistol. ―It was a crooked sword, silver old leases remained, the power of the landlords plaited I saw Scudder present his sword at had been broken. Wright [agent for the landlord, who accompa- Sadly, little remains to tell more fully nied Steele] and Scudder then drew a pistol.‖ the story of the Anti-Renters in Delaware The most interesting account of weap- County. In the confusion and fear following ons came from Harry Andrus of Kortright who the death of Steele, many valuable sources said he made 25 tomahawks for the Kortright- probably went the way of the books of James Stamford Anti-Rent Society. ―Col. Butts told Blish, treasurer of the Association. ―Some of me to present the bill for the tomahawks,‖ he my family burnt them up,‖ he said. ―I knew said, and the ―auditing committee ordered it to they were going to burn them up. I did not ob- be paid-‖ ject to it.‖ One ―sign of the times‖ was the Anti- The testimony before the Grand Jury, Rent flag. Dr. Stephen Forman related that ―at however, does provide pieces of the puzzle and the day of the Sale there was an Anti rent flag some insight into who these people were and raised on the pole.‖ The flag must have been how hard they struggled for the right to own part of the sprit of many gatherings, too. property freely. Jotham Scudder said, ―On the 4th of July I went to an Anti rent meeting in my own waggon