As the campaign season had been judged over, Peter’s relative, former committeeman Isaac Vrooman, had returned to the Valley to make preparations for bringing his family back from the Hellebergh for the winter. Peter himself had spent the summer and early fall in a hut in the Upper Fort and, just a few days before, had come home to organize his winter quarters.
Mohawk ball-headed club or casse-tête and “Seth of Scoharee’s” hieroglyph. A very effective hand-to-hand combat weapon. Note the large mass of the ball, which could readily crack a skull or break a limb. At least two of Seth’s sons, Henry and Joseph, were British partisans. Seth’s Henry was a particularly active, bold, and vicious warrior.
Isaac rose before dawn to work on some horseshoes in a little blacksmithing shop near the house and took a shovel of coals to start a fire. At first light, he left the shop to call for Peter’s help. Suddenly, two shots were fired, one by Crysler, the other by a native standing at his side. On hearing the gunfire, Peter burst from the house and sprinted for the fort, which lay some four hundred yards off. He had a solid lead before several warriors set off in pursuit.
The colonel’s wife, Engeltie, rushed upstairs when she heard firing. Peering out a window, she witnessed Isaac bellowing in agony while the Schoharie warrior, Seth’s Henry, tore off his scalp. The deed done, Henry gave Isaac a crack with his war club, slashed his throat and, using the bloody knife, cut a notch into the club’s handle beside many others. In one of his bizarre and macabre acts of bravado for which he was so well known, he laid the club on Isaac’s corpse as a sign to his enemies of his prowess.
When the Indians entered the house to plunder, Engeltie bravely descended the stairs and spoke to them in their dialect. Women were often spared from death and this occasion was no exception, particularly as the lady was recognized for her many kindnesses before the war. Coolly, she shook Henry’s hand, which was slathered in Isaac’s blood. With such a sign of friendship and show of sheer sang-froid, her children were spared from abduction.
With one child on her back and another in her arms, Engeltie was about to leave for the fort when a ten-year-old black boy clutched her petticoat and pled to be taken with her, but she knew that the natives’ generosity and patience would not extend that far and told him to go with them. The shots fired at Peter had increased her anxiety, so she was relieved to find him safe and sound in the fort.
After setting Vrooman’s house and outbuildings alight, the raiders marched past the Upper Fort, torched another house, and drove off fifty head of cattle and some horses. In the meantime, forty mixed rifle and musketmen of Captain Jacob Hager’s militia company were assembled at the Upper Fort. The men were led by Hager and guided by a Virginia rifleman, Timothy Murphy, who had gained much notoriety with his claim to have sniped the British general, Simon Fraser, in 1777 with his double-barreled rifle. The pursuit travelled the eastern shore of the Schoharie Kill and, despite Murphy’s fabled skill, he led them into an ambush opposite Bouck’s Island. The militia returned fire, but one of their men fell mortally wounded and the natives’ musketry grew too hot to be borne. As they turned to retreat, the wounded man pled not to be left and Murphy rallied a few men to carry him off.
Upon returning to the Upper Fort, no one in the company was able to estimate Crysler’s strength, so Vrooman decided to reinforce Hager with Captain Aaron Hale’s Levies’ company. Hale took overall command and, after collecting three days’ provisions, the two companies set off. Because of their local knowledge, Hager and his men were in the van. When darkness fell, the pursuers camped in a pine grove and, although it was bitterly cold, no fires were lit. About three hours before daybreak, Hale assigned two youngsters to guard a depot of provisions and a keg of rum, and resumed the pursuit. The lads later admitted to securing most of the liquor in their bellies.
The early morning was dark and cloudy and the rebels advanced cautiously. As daylight broke, they came to a fork in the road; one track led to Harpersfield, the other to Lake Utsayantha. Hale called a halt. Fires were lit for breakfast while scouts were sent down both tracks to determine the enemy’s route. When it was confirmed that the raiders had gone toward the lake, Hale held an orders group to discuss options. He was in favour of taking the Harpersfield route to get ahead of the raiders and cut them off; however, other officers were afraid of losing them and opted for a direct pursuit down the lake fork. The latter opinion prevailed and, when the meal was finished, the detachment marched on.
The rebels had gone but a short distance when they were spotted by Crysler’s piquets, one of whom ran to tell the lieutenant. After abandoning some of their plunder, the raiders marched swiftly along the road searching for a good ambush site.
The pursuers were about a mile from the pine grove when they found two of Hager’s horses hobbled together. Hale was at the column’s head with Murphy, who stepped up and deftly cut the animals’ bonds. Continuing on, they heard a whoop and assumed that some of the Indians were searching for the missing horses, but, more likely, the shout warned of the rebels’ approach. The pursuit pushed on rapidly and came across seven large fires still burning and several abandoned horses loaded with plunder and a number of beeves. When they arrived at the lake, they kept to the track as it paralleled the shore and approached a ridge that extended almost down to the lake. Suddenly, the Indians opened fire from the high ground.
In the vanguard, Hager signalled Hale to flank right and catch the raiders in a vice against the shore, but the Levies’ officer judged the opposition too strong and retreated. Seeing the rebels were in confusion, the Indians burst from cover, whereupon the vanguard sprang away from their tree cover and took off down the road. A Levy who had fallen behind was cut down, as was a militiaman, and Hager’s brother Joseph was hit in the head, but kept running. The natives immediately scalped the two fallen men.
After running five hundred yards, Hager’s men caught up with Hale’s company and the two captains exchanged hot words. As the natives had seen they were outnumbered, they decided not to run down the retreating troops. While the two companies were resting, Colonel Vrooman arrived with a forty-man reinforcement. When the chase resumed, it was discovered that raiders had escaped, although the rest of the cattle were recovered.
Crysler reported that 150 men had pursued him, but that number seems high. Everyone exaggerated their opposition; for example, one rebel rifleman reported Crysler’s band was two hundred strong. With so much plunder lost, there was little to show for such an arduous and dangerous venture, other than two successful ambushes, three dead rebels, a young captive, and some scalps. Probably that was enough.
A few days later, a stranger’s corpse was found propped against a tree about a mile from Bouck’s Island. He had been shot through the body and his firelock and gear lay near. He was reckoned as one of Crysler’s men, although the lieutenant reported no losses. Perhaps the fellow was one of those much-hated, secretive local Tories who came and went from war parties.14
At his Quebec City headquarters, General Haldimand had entirely lost patience with the recruiting efforts of the small loyalist units. The following document, entitled “Proposals for forming the several Corps of Loyalists,” summarized the situation:
As Lieutenant-Colonel [Robert] Rogers Corps of Rangers is raising by the Authority of General Sir Henry Clinton, and the Men belonging to it in this Province are subject to be called from it upon the shortest notice, it woud be improper to incorporate them with any Corps belonging to the Province. It will therefore remain distinct, and be formed into three Companies under the Command of Major [James] Rogers, who will have one of the Companies, two Captains, three Lieutenants, & three Ensigns to be appointed to these Companies…. All other Officers belonging or attached to that Corps to be sent to New York or Halifax by the first Opportunity in order to join their Corps.
Haldimand’s initial displeasure over the uninvited arrival of Robert Rogers