Deerpark Diary Town of Deerpark Museum 1863 Schoolhouse Town of Deerpark Historian Office, 25 Grange Road, PO Box 621, Huguenot, NY 12746 Phone—845-856-2702/www.1863schoolhouse.org March 2013 Vol. 10 No. 1 Features • History of Deerpark Forts • Early Firearms • Deerpark Supervisors History Project • Brant Bus Tour borhood was in Orange County. lived in the old stone fort when Update for 2013 Although the Lenape Indi- Captain Joseph Brant and his ans were peaceful, there were dis- Tory raiders attacked the valley • 2013 Deerpark agreements leading to Indian at- in 1779. The original fort was tacks upon the settlers, especially burned and the present building Museum Programs during the French and Indian War was built in 1793. (1754-1763). Therefore the set- Fort Van Auken, Nev- Forts in the Deerpark tlers built “forts” for protection. ersink Drive, Deerpark, was lo- In the early days of Euro- These “forts” were little more cated along the Neversink River. pean settlement the Lenni Lenape than settlers’ homes fortified with It’s the only fort to withstand Jo- Indians and settlers lived com- high picket fences surrounding seph Brant and his Tory raiders. patible lives. In the early 1750s them. Shots were exchanged, but no one the New York Governor decreed There were five forts in in the fort was hurt. After about that a state militia be created and the Lower Neighborhood. an hour the Indians gave up and that forts were to be built. When Cole’s Fort , East Main moved on to burn more homes the Lenape saw the settlers going Street, Port Jervis, was the north- and farms. through their military drills, they ernmost of a chain of forts erected Decker Fort, Neversink became concerned. In 1755, the along the Delaware River by the Drive, Deerpark, (not to be con- Indians moved north and west. New Jersey authorities during the fused with Fort Decker in Port At that time Deerpark French and Indian War. It was Jervis), was the stockaded home and Port Jervis were known named for William Cole, whose of Major Decker. On July 20, as the Upper Neighborhood, residence was there. 1779, Brant and his Tories wanted (Town Hall, Huguenot north to Fort Decker, West Main to capture the Major because the Westbrookville), and the Lower Street, Port Jervis, was built in British had a bounty on his scalp. Neighborhood, (Town Hall, Hu- 1760 as a trading post by a family Fort Westfall, Route 209, guenot south to Port Jervis). The named Hayne. Captain Westfall Huguenot, was one of the earli- Upper Neighborhood was in Ul- married a daughter of the Hayne est forts built in the area. It was ster County. The Lower Neigh- family and it was said that they the home of Uriah Westfall and had eleven men of the New Jer- sey Frontier Guard stationed there. In 1758, during the French and Indian War, Indians surprised this fort, killing seven men. Peter Westfall, age 3 was kidnapped by the Indians. There were three forts in the Upper Neighborhood. Fort Gumaer, on the Flats, Godeffroy, was built in 1753 to protect inhabitants of the sur- rounding country from Indian invasions. During the Revolution- Fort DeWitt, Prospect Hill The ancient Chinese alchemists ary War, Fort Gumaer was garri- Road, Cuddebackville, was built were trying to find a potion for soned to protect the inhabitants. by Captain Jacob Rusten DeWitt immortality and they ended up After Joseph Brant burned the around 1770 as his stockaded making gunpowder. When they Upper Neighborhood on October home. It was garrisoned during found out that it exploded they 13, 1778, one hundred and five the Revolutionary War and with- used it for fireworks. In time they settlers spent the winter of 1778- stood Brant’s attack. During the began to use gunpowder before a 79 at the fort. winter of 1778-79 sixty-five set- battle to try to scare people off be- Fort Depuy, Guymard tlers lived at the fort. The building fore they fought them. Turnpike, Godeffroy, was aban- is still standing and it is generally doned during the Revolutionary accepted as being the birthplace War for lack of militia to defend of DeWitt Clinton, former Gover- it. On October 13th, it was sacked nor of New York. and burned. In 1783, Benjamin Depuy began to restore his “fort”, reputedly using stones taken from § the old Fort Gumaer. In 1803, the History of Firearms Depuy “fort” was purchased by Researched by Daniel Ramirez Peter E. Gumaer and remained Bringing the reader back in the Gumaer family until 1878. to a time when firearms were first Chinese Fire Lance Locally it is now known as the introduced is a long journey lead- The Chinese finally real- “Gumaer Stone House”. ing us back to 9th century China. ized that if you explode gunpow- der near people they might die so they started using it in war. This lead to the development of the fire lance. The first recorded use of a firearm was the hand cannon used in the Chinese Yuan Dynasty in 1364. Chinese Hand Cannon The technology developed One theory of how gun- during the Industrial Revolution powder came to Europe is that it provided the means to produce made its way along the Silk Road many different types of firearms. through the Middle East. How- ever, Genghis Khan stated that § the invading Mongols introduced Deerpark Supervisor gunpowder to the Islamic world. The first mention of fire- History Project arms in Russia was during the The Town of Deerpark is 1382 defense of Moscow from planning a timeline of the Super- Tokhtamysh’s Golden horde. The visors who have served the town. earliest surviving firearm in Eu- To begin the project, the Histo- rope, dating back to 1396, was 16th Century Musketeer rian’s Office would like to copy found in Estonia. Up to this time pan design. To expose or protect pictures of the Supervisors. Since the small cannon-like firearm was the powder, the lid had to be photography became popular in fired by holding a burning wick to moved manually. the 1880s-1890s, perhaps some a “touch hole” in the barrel ignit- The flintlock, developed of our readers have old pictures ing the powder inside. The shoot- in 1630 solved a longstanding which include the Town Supervi- er used one hand for firing and a problem. A flintlock mechanism sors. The following is a list of Su- prop or the help of another person was designed to push back the lid pervisors who may have had their to steady the device. In the late and spark a flint at the same time. pictures taken. Their terms of of- 14th century smaller and portable This system was in place for two fice are in parentheses: hand-held cannons were devel- centuries. Luke Rosencrance (1880-88) oped. By the late 15th century the Samuel Colt developed Francis Marvin (1889) Ottoman Empire used firearms as the first mass-produced, multi- Charles F. Van Inwegen part of its regular infantry. shot, revolving firearms in 1835. (1890-1891) In the 1400s. the first de- Various revolving designs had William H. Nearpass (1892-1895 vice, or “lock” for mechanically been around for centuries, but & 1898-1907) firing a gun, known as the match- precision parts couldn’t be made Thomas J. Quick (1896-1897) lock, was developed. Powder is with available technologies. Colt Frank Patterson (1908-1909 held in a “flash pan” and ignited applied Industrial Age machining &1912-1915 & 1918- by a wick in a movable clamp. tools to the idea. 1921 & 1934-1935) Both hands remain on the gun, Prior to this time each fir- Abram H. Hoag (1910-1911) vastly improving its aim. The ing piece was hand-made, usu- Herbert Senger (1916-1917) conquistadors brought firearms ally by the local blacksmith. The Benjamin C. Swartwout to the Americas at the end of the blacksmith also had to make (1922-1923) 15th century. whatever repairs were necessary. Daniel L. Patterson Jr. In 1509, the wheellock William Tietsoort, a blacksmith, (1924-1933) mechanism, in which a spinning was the first European settler in Herbert Happ (1936-1943) wheel against a metal plate show- the Neversink Valley. The Le- Maynard C. Hammond ered sparks into the “pan” holding napes gave him land in exchange was the longest serving Supervi- “priming” powder, was invented. for his skills as a blacksmith. The sor (1944-1967). Pictures from However, these were very expen- Lenni Lenape Indians in the Nev- his terms in office to the present sive to produce so the matchlock ersink Valley owned guns, as well are available. If anyone has pic- continued to be the firearm of as other metal tools. Tietsoort tures of the above Supervisors, it choice. In 1540 rifling appeared was asked to move here so that he would be greatly appreciated if in firearms. Sometime in the late could repair their tools and weap- you would contact Norma Schadt, 1500s a lid was added to the flash ons as well as make new ones. Town Historian. The phone number is 845-754- and the pictures will be returned The tour ended with a co- 8070 or mail Historian Office, PO immediately. Thank you. lonial-period cooking demonstra- Box 621, Huguenot, NY 12746 . Included in this Supervi- tion at Fort Decker in West End The pictures can be scanned and sor’s Timeline Project will be hosted by the Minisink Valley printed for the Timeline. This information of events that took Historical Society. Frank Salvati process only takes a few minutes place during the term of office.