CRITICISM OF THE BLOODIED MOHAWK

Fort Plain, Fort Plank, Fort Rensselaer and Canajoharie

Wayne Lenig

Prepared for a Seminar presented at Fulton-Montgomery Community College

November 17, 2001

INTRODUCTION

            The 1950s and 1960s witnessed unprecedented interest in the development of New York's historic sites. In upstate New York, as in most other areas of the United States, the end of World War II ushered in a period of heightened patriotic fervor. Public awareness of the importance and national significance of local historic sites stemmed from the highway marker program of the 1920s and a statewide survey of sites completed under the auspices of the WPA in the 1930s. At the same time, increased availability of automobiles and improvements in the state highway system were fostering travel and growth in the tourism industry. A combination of all three of these factors - patriotism, historical awareness and the expanding tourism sector of the economy - resulted in increased focus upon historical attractions, especially 18`^h-century military sites in the Lake Champlain and Mohawk corridors.

            During this period, the federal government assumed ownership of Saratoga battlefield and began planning for its development. The National Park Service also initiated plans for the reconstruction of Fort Stanwix in downtown Rome, N.Y. The State of New York acquired both Fort Niagara and Fort Ontario, and began considering options for interpreting the ruins of French and English fortifications at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. In the private sector, the restoration of Fort Ticonderoga was completed under the guidance of Stephen Pell, and the reconstruction of Fort William Henry at Lake George was underway by the mid-1950s. Countless other attempts to develop historical tourist attractions ended in failure, including those at 18^th-century military sites such as Fort Ann and Fort Mount Hope. The following article is the direct result of one such project - the proposed reconstruction of Revolutionary War Fort Plain in the middle Mohawk Valley.

            In 1945, local historian and journalist Nelson Greene led an effort to interest the state in procuring the site of Fort Plain. A bill providing an appropriation for that purpose was introduced and passed both houses of the state legislature, but Governor Dewey vetoed it, leaving the future of the project in the hands of interested private citizens. When a portion of the site appeared unexpectedly on the real estate market, Greene convinced local industrialist and entrepreneur George Duffy to purchase it. However Duffy was only interested in preserving the site - not in funding development of a historical tourist attraction [emphasis added]. He did underwrite the cost of a new and presumably permanent marker on the site of the fort. A bronze tablet was attached to a huge glacial boulder that weighed more than a ton. At his death, Duffy left the property for safekeeping to the only viable non-profit agency in the village, the Fort Plain Cemetery Association. [Where is this stone located now?!]

            In the early 1960s, spurred by the commercial success of the reconstruction of Fort William Henry at Lake George, a group of local businessmen and merchants began exploring the feasibility of rebuilding Revolutionary War Fort Plain as a tourist attraction. They formed a commercial corporation, the Fort Plain Restoration, Inc., issued stock and coined the slogan, "let's put the fort back in Fort Plain” [emphasis added]. They were eventually able to purchase the

northernmost portion of the hilltop where the fort reputedly [emphasis added] stood. Ironically, the trustees of Fort Plain Cemetery Association were unwilling to negotiate interest or title to the land that George Duffy had left in their care.

            Robert Lord, former Director of Fort William Henry, was hired to oversee operations of the Fort Plain Restoration, Inc. Lord brought in Stanley Gifford, an experienced excavator who at various times had directed archaeological work at both Fort Ticonderoga and Fort William Henry. Exploratory excavations began at the site of Fort Plain in the spring of 1961. In addition to Revolutionary War period archaeological features, these explorations also uncovered traces of two separate loci of Native American occupation. Because he knew that archaeology at the Native American sites would drain precious time and resources away from the primary goal of finding the Revolutionary War fortifications, Gifford turned to an old friend, Donald Lenig of nearby St. Johnsville, for assistance. Lenig undertook excavation of the Native American features on weekends and evenings, while Lord and Gifford continued to concentrate on their search for Fort Plain.^Z Unfortunately, Stanley Gifford was neither young, nor a man in good health. In a very short time, exposed to damp spring weather, he caught pneumonia and expired. Not long after, Robert Lord resigned from his position to pursue a private business venture. The Fort Plain Restoration turned to Donald Lenig for archaeological and curatorial expertise.

            In July of 1961, under Donald Lenig's guidance, the author began archaeological excavations at the Fort Plain blockhouse for the Fort Plain Restoration, Inc. Subsequently, the author served in a number of different capacities for the Fort Plain Museum - the New York State Regents-chartered educational institution [emphasis added] that assumed ownership of the property after the Fort Plain Restoration's demise in the late 1960s.

            Our efforts to understand the history of Fort Plain began with a complete review of published secondary historical works [emphasis added] [As literally scores of primary records exist, one must ask why they were not consulted?]. Before long, it became clear that there were many discrepancies in this "historical record." These inconsistencies, in turn, raised questions that led to more archaeology and archival research, as well as the study of 18^th century fortification construction technology. The results of this research, accomplished during the 1960s and 1970s, have never been comprehensively presented. From time to time, press releases on various aspects have appeared, and several journalists have written summaries and interpretations of our verbal presentations, but a complete synthesis of this information has never appeared in print. It is long overdue. So, with apologies for the long delay, here is what has been learned over the past forty years about the history of Fort Plain and several related places and fortifications. We shall begin, as we did many years ago, with a review of the published secondary sources. [edit to web 8/1/06]

^I Nelson Greene, Fort Plain Nelliston History, 1580-1947 (Fort Plain, N.Y.: Standard Press, 1947), 88.

² Anonymous, "Archeologists Uncovering Indian Village and Graves In Area of Old Fort Plain," Amsterdam, N.Y. Evening Recorder, May 22, 1961.

HISTORIOGRAPHY

            1813 is the date of the earliest secondary historical reference to Fort Plain. The note appears in the first edition of Spafford's Gazetteer of the State of New York, but it does little more than acknowledge the fort's former existence. Under the entry for the town of Minden, Montgomery County, Spafford writes, "Fort Plain was in this town, and its site still retains the name, where [there] is a small village.^;

            William W. Campbell's work is next. Because his book was the earliest effort to chronicle the Revolutionary border war in the Mohawk Valley, we expected to find a lot of information about Fort Plain. To our dismay, we found that Annals of Tryon County contained only six references to Fort Plain and a single mention of Fort Rensselaer. There is no explanation of when or how Fort Plain was built. The earliest reference to the fort occurs during Campbell's account of the Battle of Klock's Field in October 1780. Campbell notes that in 1781 Colonel Marinus Willett used Fort Plain as his headquarters, then mentions the fort one last time during his treatment of Willett's ill-fated expedition against Oswego, erroneously dated during the winter of 1781-1782.^º Because all of the earliest references to the fort near Canajoharie mention Fort Plank rather than Fort Plain, Campbell concluded that Fort Plank must have been an early name for Fort Plain.⁵ He was the first author to suggest this. Campbell was also apparently puzzled about the identity of "Fort Rensselaer." While he did not attempt to locate that fort, it is apparent that he believed Fort Rensselaer was not the same place as Fort Plank or Fort Plain^.6 [emphasis added].

            A subsequent reference is taken from Thomas F. Gordon's Gazetteer of the State of New York, published in 1836:

"Fort Plain, post village, near the ruins of Fort Plain [emphasis added]. . . . During the revolution the fort here was surprised by Butler (sic), with his band of savages and refugees, and the garrison subjected to the fate of the inhabitants of Wyoming and Cherry Valley".⁷

            An anonymous article in the Fort Plain Journal of December 26, 1837 presents the next reference to Fort Plain. The accompanying woodcut illustrates an octagonal blockhouse on a small knoll in the foreground and a

³ Horatio G. Spafford, Gazetteer of the State of New York (Albany, N.Y.: H.C. Southwick, 1813), 237.

⁴ William W. Campbell, Annals of Tryon County; or, the border warfare of New York, during the revolution (orig.

pub. 1831, 4t^h edition, New York, N.Y.:Dodd, Mead and company, 1924). 170; In point of fact, the Oswego

Expedition was planned and executed from January through early March of 1783.

⁵Ibid., 164.

⁶Ibid., 167.

⁷ Thomas F. Gordon, Gazetteer of the State of New York, (1836), 539.

church with a steeple on another hilltop or knoll in the distance (see Figure I a). Fort Plank and Fort Rensselaer are not mentioned in this article: [This woodcut is clearly one and the same as the one that appears in William Letee Stone’s Life of Brant, Appendix One, which was published in 1838. One must thus ask, “did Mr. Stone anonymously allow this woodcut to be shown so that the scores of living veterans of Fort Plank could be allowed to comment on it before it was published in a written tome? Keep in mind that Stone had hired one Thomas Sammons, a Fort Plank Veteran to disprove William W. Campbell’s work in the Annals of Tryon County.]

"The Fort was situated on the brow of the hill, about half a mile northwest of the village, so as to command a full view of the valley, and the rise of ground, for several miles in any direction; and hence it doubtless derived its name, because its beautiful location commanded a `plain view of the surrounding country. It was erected by the government, as a fortress, and place of retreat and safety for the inhabitants and families in case of incursions from the Indians, who were then, and, indeed, more or less during the whole revolutionary war, infesting the settlements of this whole region. Its form was an octagon, having port-holes for heavy ordnance and muskets on every side. It contained three stories or apartments. The first story was thirty feet in diameter; the second, forty feet; the third, fifty feet; the last two stories projecting five feet, as represented in the drawing aforesaid. It was constructed throughout of hewn timber about fifteen inches square; and, beside the port-holes aforesaid, the second and third stories had perpendicular port-holes through those parts that projected, so as to afford the regulars and militia, or settlers garrisoned in the fort, annoying facilities of defence for themselves, wives, and children, in case of close assault from the relentless savage. Whenever scouts came in with tidings that a hostile party was approaching, a cannon was fired from the fort as a signal to flee to it for safety."

"In the early part of the war there was built, by the inhabitants probably, at or near the site of the one above described, a fortification, of materials and construction that ill comported with the use and purposes intended. This induced [the] government to erect another, (Fort Plain,) under the superintendence of an experienced French engineer. As a piece of architecture, it was well wrought and neatly finished, and surpassed all the forts in that region. After the termination of the Revolutionary war, Fort Plain was used for some years as a deposite (sic) of military stores, under the direction of Captain B. Hudson. These stores were finally ordered by the United States Government to be removed to Albany. The fort is demolished. Nothing remains of it except a circumvallation (sic) or trench, which, although nearly obliterated by the plough, still indicates to the curious traveler sufficient evidence of a fortification in days by-gone."⁸

            Following Campbell's lead, William L. Stone wrote that he also believed Fort Plank and Fort Plain must have been synonymous terms referring to the same fortification.⁹ He reprinted the entire Fort Plain Journal article as an appendix to his Life of Joseph Brant, adding a new and somewhat modified engraving of the blockhouse (Figure lb). He also inserted a misleading introduction, which erroneously suggests that the author of the Journal article also felt Fort Plank was an early name for Fort Plain.¹⁰

            Stone was the earliest author to make use of information from Marinus Willett's Narrative of Military Actions, first published in 1831. As revealed in this important source, Stone noted that Colonel Willett established

⁸ Fort Plain (N.Y.) Journal, 12/26/1837 as cited in John W. Barber and Henry Howe, eds., Historical Collections of the State of New York (1841), 279-280.

⁹ William L. Stone, Life of Joseph Brant (1838), 2:95.

¹⁰ Ibid., 2:ii-iii.

"Fort Rensselaer" as the Mohawk Valley military headquarters from 1781-1782. Like Campbell, it is clear that Stone believed Fort Rensselaer was an altogether different fortification than Fort Plank/Fort Plain [Simms also believed this as Samuel Ludlow Frey recorded the following in his essays on Fort Rensselaer. “In a copy of "The Annals of Tryon County," where Judge Campbell speaks of it, Mr. Simms has underscored "Fort Rensselaer" and written in the margin "Where was this fort?"]. Unfortunately, neither made any attempt to locate Fort Rensselaer or identify when it was built.

            In Historical Collections of the State of New York, John W. Barber and Henry Howe mention Fort Plank in two separate places. First, during the summer of 1780, it is noted that General Clinton ordered Colonel Gansevoort to proceed to "Fort Plank" and take charge of a convoy of supplies. Second, while discussing the battle of Klock's flats in the fall of 1780, the authors plagiarized directly from William W. Campbell, including the phrase "Fort Plank, (or as it is now called, Fort Plain)."" This was the third publication to assert that Fort Plank and Fort Plain were synonymous.

            In 1845, Jeptha R. Simms became the first of the 19th-century antiquarians to suggest a location for "Fort Rensselaer." According to him, "this fort was erected in 1781, in the Village of Canajoharie, where a stone dwelling owned by Philip Van Alstine was inclosed."¹² (Figure 2) Thirty-seven years later, Simms published a much more detailed and somewhat conflicting account. He notes that his 1845 identification had been based on the testimony of John Roof and Peter C. Fox, two well-respected 19th century militia officers. He continues his discussion, however, by quoting a primary source that clearly stated Fort Plain and Fort Rensselaer were separate names for the same fort. In true 19th century style, rather than impugning the integrity of his distinguished informants, Simms reaches the rather unlikely conclusion that there must have been two separate places known as Fort Rensselaer in the 1780s - the Philip Van Alstyne house on Moyer Street in the Village of Canajoharie, and Fort Plain, four miles west [One might be curious to know upon what primary source or sources, if any, Simms based his “opinion”].¹³

            Simms' earliest treatise was also the first source to suggest that "Col. Stone, with several other writers, [had] fallen into ... error ... supposing Fort Plank [to be] another name for Fort Plain." ¹⁴ Fort Plank, according to Simms, was "a picketed block-house situated in the western part of the present town of Minden, some three miles westward of Fort Plain." ¹⁵ While the footnotes are somewhat ambiguous, it appears that either Joseph or Peter J. Wagner of Fort Plain was the ultimate source of Simms' information in this matter.

            Fort Plain, according to Simms' informants, was "erected as early as 1776." The 1837 Fort Plain Journal engraving of the octagonal blockhouse is reproduced with the caption "Fort Plain." Simms continues, "above is a view of this Fort as it was seen in the revolution, except that it was inclosed by strong palisades." ¹⁶ The implication

¹¹ Barber and Howe, Collections, 276, 283; Campbell, Annals, 165.

¹² Jeptha R. Simms, History of Schoharie County, and the border warfare of New York (1845), 460.

¹³ Jeptha R. Simms, Frontiersmen of New York (1882-1883), 2:455.

¹⁴ Jeptha R. Simms, History of Schoharie County..., 488n.

¹⁵ Ibid., 488.

¹⁶ Ibid., 146-147. 

is that in 1845 Jeptha Simms believed that the octagonal blockhouse was located inside the palisades of the main fort at Fort Plain.

            Benson Lossing visited the site of Fort Plain in 1848 and talked with David Lipe, who owned the property. [By this time David had also acquired the lands of Captain Adam Lipe and others including his father’s portion of the south-easternmost half of Upper Woodland Lot Five of the Rutger Bleeker Patent. That said: Upon which one of the many tracts of land possessed by Mr. Lipe did Mr. Lipe state the fortress was located?]. Mr. Lipe was born in 1774. His father, Johannes Lipe, owned the farm during the Revolutionary War, so as a child David reported that he was quite familiar with the fortifications. With David Lipe's help, Lossing did more to clarify the details surrounding Fort Plain than any of the earlier antiquarians. According to Lossing, some sort of defensive works were erected on the site of Fort Plain at the beginning of the war (c. 1776-1778), but it was only after the intensely destructive attacks on Springfield, German Flats, Cobleskill, and Cherry Valley in 1778 that "the fort proper was erected." Lossing notes that earlier writers had mistakenly applied the name "Fort Plain" exclusively to the large flanking blockhouse, but he contends that the title had definitely been conferred earlier upon the main fortification. "This fort was eligibly situated upon a high plain in the rear of the village, and commanded an extensive sweep of the valley on the right and left." "Its form," he continues, "was an irregular quadrangle, with earth and log bastions, embrasures at each corner, and barracks and a strong blockhouse within." "The plain on which it stood is of peninsular form, and across the neck, or isthmus, a breast-work was thrown up [emphasis added]. The site chosen by the Fort Plain Museum as the “exact site” of “Fort Plain"in no ways resembles Lossing’s description: Thus why do we believe it to be the correct site?] In 1780, the fort's condition was reportedly found weak, so "Colonel Gansevoort" called in a French engineer to strengthen the fortifications. "Ramparts of logs and earth" replaced the palisaded curtain walls and a new three-story octagonal blockhouse was built, with a magazine in its basement. Lossing illustrates an octagonal blockhouse on the floor plan that he drew of the strengthened main fortification (Figure 3). It is not clear, however, whether he meant that only one blockhouse was built, or that there were two blockhouses - an octagonal structure inside the fort, and the second large flanking blockhouse outside the fort. David Lipe was shown the engraving of the octagonal blockhouse from the 1838 Fort Plain Journal. He agreed that the picture was a fair representation, although it was Lipe's recollection that the first floor. of the blockhouse was square - not octagonal. Lossing reports that "in order to protect the magazine" an earthen embankment or redoubt was begun around the blockhouse in 1782, it remained unfinished when the war ended. Low mounds that appeared to be the remnants of those earthworks, "were still quite prominent" in 1848.

            Finally, Lossing joins Simms in taking issue with Campbell and Stone concerning the identity of Fort Plank. According to Lossing, "there was a stockade about two miles ... northwest [of Fort Plain], called Fort Plank, or Blank, from the circumstance that it stood upon land owned by Frederick Blank. The later and Fort Plain have been confounded." This echoes what Simms had written, but goes even further by identifying the property where Fort Plank reputedly stood. Perhaps it was David Lipe who first revealed this important piece of information, although we will probably never know for certain, because Lossing left no clear indication of where he learned about the location and identity of Fort Plank.¹⁷

¹⁷ Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, (1851-1852), 1:261-262.

            In 1860, J. H. French published his popular Gazetteer of the State of New York. Under the heading "Minden," we read:

"During the French War, Fort Plain was erected on the summit of the hill, half a mi. N.W. of the village. . . . This fort was built by a French engineer for the Government, and was the finest fortification in the valley. It was octagonal, 3 stories high, each story projecting beyond the one below. In the lower story was a cannon, which was fired in cases of alarm to notify the people of danger. Fort Plank was situated about 2 mi. N.W. of Fort Plain, on the farm now occupied by C. House."¹⁸ [Upon what if any primary source or sources is this based?]

Under "Canajoharie," there is more interesting information:

"A fort was built here at an early period as one of the chain of fortifications to Oswego. It was 100 feet square, 15 ft. high, with bastions at the angles, and was armed with several small cannon. In 1781, the house of Philip Van Alstyne was palisaded, and named Fort Van Rensselaer. It is still standing .¹⁹

            The writer gives no indication of the source for his information, but due to obvious differences with all of the earlier published sources, I am inclined to believe that at least some of the information came from someone other than Campbell, Lossing, Simms or Stone.

            Hamilton Child's gazetteer, covering only Montgomery and Fulton Counties, was published in 1870. The information on Fort Plain and Fort Plank in Child's Gazetteer is plagiarized [emphasis added] In a copy of "The Annals of Tryon County," where Judge Campbell speaks of it, Mr. Simms has underscored "Fort Rensselaer" and written in the margin "Where was this fort?". directly from Lossing and other earlier sources.²⁰ Under "Canajoharie," French's note about a pre revolutionary fort is given verbatim. He continues:

"In 1781 the house of Philip Van Alstyne was palisaded and named Fort Van Rensselaer. It is now called Fort Washington [emphasis mine], and is in the southern part of the village [of Canajoharie], on the east bank of the creek, nearly opposite the dwelling of Mrs. Gertrude Moyer. It was constructed of limestone.”²¹

            Writing for F. H. Beers in 1878, Jeptha R. Simms contributed a great deal of new information gleaned primarily from an 1856 interview with Lawrence Gros, whose father had been a captain in Colonel Willett's regiment. Like David Lipe, although two years younger, Lawrence Gros actually lived as a child at Fort Plain during most of the war [What primary source or sources suggest that either of these gentleman lived within Fort Plain during the war? There is certainly nothing in either military or personnel documents from the War period itself which support this claim], He told Simms that local farmers built the first fort in 1776 [There again what is the basis to support this claim?] . Further that the head carpenter, Jacob Dederick, was allowed to name the fort, and called it "Fort Plain" because of the clear and unobstructed view.

"Fort Plain was a square inclosure in palisades of perhaps one-third of an acre of ground, with its entrance gate upon its south-easterly side toward the road leading up a ravine to it. It had in its diagonally opposite corners two small blockhouses, each so projecting as to command two sides of the inclosure, and both mounting cannon. Only two or three rods from it, on the sidehill, was a

¹⁸ John H. French, Gazetteer of the State of New York (Syracuse, N.Y.: R.P. Smith, 1860), 414.

¹⁹ Ibid., 412.

²⁰ Hamilton Child, compiler, Gazetteer and Business Directory of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, N. Y. for 186970 (1870), 93.

²¹ Ibid., 82.

living spring where the garrison obtained water. ... Who commanded this post at first is not known, and probably it was not garrisoned until the spring of 1777.

Col. Willett was its commander for several seasons, perhaps not consecutively, still he is believed to have been here Constantly in the summers of 1780 [sic] and 1781. He occupied the eastern hut of three or four built on the side of the hill below the pickets, perhaps a rod or two from the spring. This was done because the inclosure was found too small to receive a sufficient number of rude tenements for all the exposed families, which resorted here nights for safety, especially when the enemy were known to be prowling about. The village of Fort Plain took its name from this military post."

            "After the incursions of the enemy under Brant and other savage leaders in1780 (which were more numerous and vindictive on account of the destruction of their towns by Sullivan in 1779), rendering so many families houseless, it became necessary to increase the fort accommodations for them, and there was erected the structure afterwards known as the block-house. It was constructed of heavy square timber, octagonal in form, three stories in height, each story projecting a few feet over its base, with loop-holes for musketry. Within it was constructed an immense oven. It had one or more cannon, to be used as signal guns, or in repelling invaders. It stood upon a small knoll (which at the end of a century the farmer's plow has nearly obliterated), perhaps twenty rods southwest from the palisade inclosure. French's Gazetteer erroneously states that this block-house was erected in the French War, and by a French engineer. Had it been erected twenty years earlier, it would hardly have been done by a Frenchman, as we were at war with France. It was doubtless constructed under the immediate surveillance of Col. Willett, but who designed it is unknown; it is, however, believed to be the first of its kind on our frontiers. Some writer [Lossing] has connected the name of Col. Ganesvoort with the construction of this unique fortification, but why is unknown. He certainly was not on duty here when it was built, and Col. Willett was, and had supervision of all the defences in the neighborhood. Another writer [Lossing again] has said that although there was a sort of defence here before that period, the fort proper was not erected until 1778. Capt. Robert McKean [who died of wounds after the Battle of New Dorlach or Sharon in 1781 was] ... reburied with military honors on the brow of the hill, in front of the blockhouse on its completion. ...A farm road has, within the past twenty years, been cut along the brow of the hill, commencing near the site of this military post."

            "The fortification called Fort Plank was situated on elevated ground nearly four miles south-west [sic] from Fort Plain, and it consisted of a small palisaded inclosure embracing a dwelling, which has for years been known as the late Chauncey House place, and is now owned by Ruben Failing, and occupied by his son Joseph. When fortified it was owned by a family named Plank, on which account it was thus named. This German name is still represented by several respectable families in the town. It is supposed a small block-house made a part of this defence, in which a cannon was mounted, at all times ready to be used as a signal gun. A few soldiers were no doubt on duty here much of the time in the summer season, to protect so far as practicable the farming interest; as was the case at similar defences elsewhere. The significant voice of the Fort Plank cannon many a time brought in quite a number of families, more especially their male members, in a circuit of a few miles. This fort is supposed to have been established in 1777, and well did it answer its purpose.^”22

²² F. W. Beers, compiler, History of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, New York (New York, N.Y.: F.W. Beers, 1878), 128.

            Concerning "Fort Rensselaer," Beers gives the following:

"The most prominent [palisaded home] is still standing on the east side of the creek in Canajoharie. This was of stone, and was during the Revolution known as the Philip Van Alstyne, and fifty years later as the John H. Moyer place. It became known when fortified as Fort Rensselaer."²³

            And on rumors of an earlier fort at Canajoharie: "French's Gazetteer of the State says that a fort one hundred feet square was erected at Canajoharie at an early date as one of the chain of fortifications guarding the route to Oswego. This is an error. The fort referred to was at the upper or Canajoharie castle of the Mohawks, in Danube, Herkimer County. It had an English garrison during the wars with the French, and it was sometimes called Fort Hendrick, after the famous chieftain who dwelt near it."

            A few more details can be gleaned from Lawrence Gros' obituary in the Mohawk Valley Register for June 21, 1859. Since Gros was actually born November 3, 1776, it always seemed somewhat puzzling that he could be so certain that Fort Plain was built in 1776, the year of his birth,. However, in his obituary we learn that it was "old Peter Lambert," a "soldier" present at the time the fort was built, who told Gros that the fort was built in 1776. It was also Lambert who informed him that "Jacob Derrick" (note the change in this man's name from Dederick to Derrick) picked the name "Fort Plain." The article continues, "whether [Mr. Derrick] was an architect, a citizen or a soldier, is now unknown."²⁵ In short, we learn that the source of Simms' information concerning the building of Fort Plain was actually hearsay [emphasis added], and not nearly as direct as we were originally led to believe.

            In 1882 and 1883, Jeptha R. Simms' two-volume Frontiersman of New York was published. His 1882 description of the fortifications at Fort Plain adds nothing to the account he contributed to Beers' history four years earlier. He appears a bit more decisive in reporting that the Fort was established in 1776, but he notes that it was still unclear to him whether Colonel Dayton or any continental army officer was involved in its construction. Simms was very authoritative about the location of Fort Plain. It "was situated on the next eminence westward of the [Fort Plain] cemetery hill, and directly above a living spring." [Is this “Cemetery” the “Old Burial Ground of the Village of Fort Plain” or is it the one known in 1852 as the Mont-Auban Cemetery which is now the property of the Fort Plain Cemetery Association? One should note that the two cemeteries were in Simms’ days well over a mile apart from one another] A bit later, he writes:

"The land on which the defences at Fort Plain were erected, was owned by Johannes Lipe in the Revolution, and afterward his son David. The ownership is now in Seeber Lipe, a son of David. With his approbation and that of his brother William, who owns part of the ground which the fort proper inclosed, August 30, 1882, Homer N. Lockwood, Esq., and myself, placed small marble monuments on the sites of those structures, designating - the Fort as erected in 1776; and the block-house in 1781. The stones were firmly set by the united

²⁴ Loc. cit.

²⁵ "Lawrence Gros (Obituary)," Mohawk Valley Register, 6/21/1859; also cited in full at www.rootsweb.com/-nymontgo/minden/grosobits.html (2001).

labor of Mr. Seeber Lipe, Mr. Lockwood, Mr. Harvey Wick and the writer; Hon. P. J. Wagner, in his 88th year [this refers to Peter Joseph Wagner who was born in the year 1794], being present in a carriage, he having seen the block-house in his boyhood.²⁶

            Seeber and William Lipe assured Simms that the monuments would be protected for posterity, but the property soon changed hands, and the new owners moved the stones to the edge of the field. I saw the monument intended to mark the site of the blockhouse in the early 1960s. It was near the northeast comer of the Fort Plain Museum's hilltop on the fence line at the edge of the field.

            Fort Plank is treated in considerably more detail in the Frontiersmen of New York:

"Fort Plank - This post established in 1776, was situated two miles and a half westward [emphasis mine] of Fort Plain, and one and a quarter miles in a direct line southerly from the Mohawk. Here, then, dwelt Frederick Plank, a whig, whose house was palisaded in a square inclosure with block-house corners. From its contiguity to the settlements of Dutchtown and Geissenburg, it served as a safe retreat for a score or two of families. Capt. Joseph House, a militia officer who was living with Plank, usually commanded this post in the absence of field-officers. Col. Stone [1838:2:95] copying from Campbell's Annals [1831:164], supposed Fort Plank and Fort Plain were synonymous names for the same fort. More or less troops were kept at this station throughout the war, and it is believed that for the first few years, it was regarded as of greater importance than Fort Plain, while the latter, from 1780, became the headquarters of the commanding officer for several military posts in its vicinity, Fort Plank included. Facts from Lawrence Gros and Abram House, the last named residing, in 1846, on the old Plank farm, now owned by Adam Failing [on Lot Two the Weiser/Waggoner Patent and Lot Three of the Windecker Patent. However there is again no primary sources noted to support Simms’ position in this matter]."²⁷

            Benson Lossing references Fort Plain for a second time in Empire State, where he wrote:

"After the desolation of the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys in 1778, Fort Plain was erected near the mouth of the Otsquago Creek, and became an important fortress. It stood upon a hill at the Village of Fort Plain. It was an irregular quadrangle in form, with earth and log bastions. It finally had a block-house (built in 1780) three stories in height pierced for musketry, the lower story for cannon. It was built of hewn logs. Each story projected about five feet beyond the one below it. The powder magazine was under it."²⁸ [Note well that the mouth of the Otsquago creek is a strong mile south of the site of the Fort Plain Museum].

            There is no mention of an earlier fort, nor any clue indicating what prompted Lossing to omit that reference.

            In 1892, Rev. Washington Frothingham's History of Montgomery Countywas published. While he did not cite any new sources of information, Frothingham repeats everything that Simms wrote concerning Fort Plain and expounds broadly upon the earlier author's data. He also repeats what Simms had written about Fort Plank, correcting the "south-west" direction given in Beers to "northwest.,²⁹

²⁶ Simms, Frontiersmen . . . , 1:571-573.

²⁷ Ibid., 573-574.

²⁸ Benson J. Lossing, Empire State, a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York (1888), 306.

²⁹ Washington Frothingham, editor, History of Montgomery County (Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason & Co., 1892), 220221.

            Concerning Fort Rensselaer, Frothingham wrote:

"Among the fortified dwellings that were utilized as places of defence during the revolution and designated as forts, was the old Van Alstyne house, which stands on the east side of [Canajoharie] Creek and was once defended by a palisade. It was known as `Fort Rensselaer,' but there is nothing to indicate that General Van Rensselaer ever stopped there. The old house later came into the possession of John H. Moyer and is mentioned at length by the historian Simms."³⁰

            The controversy over the location and identity of Fort Rensselaer did not end with Jeptha R. Simms. In the late 19th century, a spirited debate was conducted in the local newspapers. F. H. Roof defended the theory (apparently first advanced by his uncle or father) that "Fort Rensselaer" referred exclusively to the fortified stone home of Phillip Van Alstyne on Moyer Street in Canajoharie village .³¹ Rufus A. Grider and Samuel Ludlow Frey argued alternatively that Fort Rensselaer had nothing to do with the Van Alstyne house, but was, instead, the official government name for the post that the local people called "Fort Plain."³² Frey and Grider pointed out that the term "Fort Rensselaer" was unpopular because the Mohawk Valley German and Scotch-Irish farmers felt strong resentment towards rich Dutch landowners like Robert Van Rensselaer, the fort's official namesake. Many even believed that General Van Rensselaer was secretly a loyalist and had intentionally allowed Sir John Johnson and the British forces to escape when capture seemed inevitable after the Battle of Klock's Field. There were also professional jealousies involved. After the death of General Herkimer, rather than promoting a local Mohawk Valley officer to command the militia, Van Rensselaer (an Albany County militia officer) was appointed Brigadier General and placed in charge of the Tryon County militia. For all of these reasons, very few Mohawk Valley residents were ever willing to acknowledge the official name for Fort Plain. By the 1820s, through disuse, many had apparently forgotten about "Fort Rensselear" altogether.

            Moreover, a great deal of confusion was occasioned by the relocation of the early settlement known as Canajoharie. When used to designate a village, rather than a district, in the mid 18th-century the appellation Canajoharie was understood to refer to the area where the native Mohawks built their village or "castle" called "Canajoharie." During the period of early Euro-American settlement (1728-1755), the Mohawk "castle" of Canajoharie was located on Sand Hill.³³ [emphasis added]. This was the same place where Rev. Lappius and the Indian-trader John Abeel settled and where William Seeber built his store. After 1769, it became the settlement that included the

³⁰ Ibid., 243.

³¹ F. H. Roof, "Old Fort Rensselaer," The Magazine of American History, 3(10):629-630 (October 1879); "Fort Rensselaer Once More," Canajoharie (N.Y.) Courier, April 29, 1890, 2.

³² Rufus A. Grider, "Fort Rensselaer at Canajoharie, and Revolutionary Relics of Interest to Dwellers on the Mohawk," Canajoharie (N.Y.) Courier, February 25, 1890, transcribed in Grider Papers, Montgomery County Department of History and Archives; Samuel L. Frey, "Fort Rensselaer, Canajoharie," Canajoharie (N.Y.) Courier, July 17, 1894, manuscript version in Samuel L. Frey Papers, Manuscripts and Special Collections, New York State Library; "Fort Rensselaer," Mohawk Valley Register, March 6, 1912, manuscript version in Frey Papers, N.Y.S.L. 33 See section on "Fort Canajoharie" below.

"Reformed Calvinist Church of Canajoharie." [The original Church Book in the Utica Public Library is inscribed the “Reformed German Church of Canajoharie”]. It was also the little village that became known as Fort Plain, and afterward as the "Sand Hill" section of Fort Plain.³⁴

            "Schrembling's" and after the Revolution "Roofs Village" were the unofficial 18th-century names for the little hamlet that was developing at the mouth of Bowman's Kill or Canajoharie Creek. Before 1800, no one would have ever referred to that place as "Canajoharie," but in 1798 the political boundaries changed. Sand Hill was no longer within the Town of Canajoharie, but in the newly created Town of Minden. Roofs Village became the largest and most important commercial center within the new, more constricted township of Canajoharie. After that date it made good sense to call the hamlet "Canajoharie." The "Canajoharie" town post office was established there around 1800, and in 1829 the settlement at the mouth of Bowman's Kill was officially incorporated as the "Village of Canajoharie."

            During the closing decades of the 18th century the earlier settlement on Sand Hill continued to be referred to as Canajoharie. (Figure 4) As time went by, however, it was more frequently called "Fort Plain," the local name for the military post that continued to be utilized until at least 1793. In 1815, when a post office was established on "Sand Hill" in the new Town of Minden it seemed more natural (and less confusing) to call it "Fort Plain P.O." After 1825, the Erie Canal moved the focal point of commercial development about a half-mile south, to the Otsquago Creek crossing, but the Revolutionary War appellation stuck. In 1832, the village was officially incorporated as the Village of Fort Plain .³⁵ The 18th-century location of the Canajoharie settlement was quickly forgotten. Exactly how quickly it was forgotten is illustrated by the entry Dewitt Clinton made in his journal of a trip through the Mohawk Valley during the summer of 1810 [July 7, 1810].

"At a distance of forty-two and a-half miles from Schenectady, passed Fort Plain on the south side and in Minden. It derives its name from a block-house which was formerly erected here. There was a church near it, and it is marked erroneously in Wright's map Canajoharie (sic)"³⁶

            By 1840, when John Roof and Peter C. Fox talked with Jeptha R. Simms, it was only "common sense" to believe that "Fort Rensselaer, Canajoharie" must have been located in the current village of Canajoharie. Everyone had heard the story about the old stone house on Moyer Street that had been used as a Revolutionary War refuge, but no one really remembered what it was called. Surely, it must have been "Fort Rensselaer, Canajoharie."

³⁴ Johan Casper Lappius to William Johnson, 12/29/1763, in DHSNY, 3:214; It has long been assumed that the "Sand Hill" Reformed Church, known officially as the Reformed Calvinist Church of Canajoharie, was built soon after Rev. Lappius asked permission to raise funds for its erection. However, a careful examination of dated maps and documents reveals that the earliest definite reference to the building occurs in 1770. Construction may have actually started about a year earlier. There was a Calvinist congregation at Canajoharie (Sand Hill), meeting in private homes, at least as early as 1763.

³⁵ Wayne Lenig, "18`^s Century White Settlement On Sand Hill Called Canajoharie," Canajoharie, Fort Plain, Saint Johnsville (N.Y.), Courier-Standard-Enterprise, August 9, 1972, 1.

³⁶ William M. Campbell, editor, Dewitt Clinton's Private Canal Journal (Albany, N.Y.: Joel Munsell, 1849), 40.

            In 1915, the New York State Historical Association held a thematic conference on Mohawk Valley history. Rev. William M. Beauchamp spoke about "Indian Raids in the Mohawk Valley." In his paper he noted:

"In May `81, Fort Stanwix, being almost ruined, was burned and evacuated, leaving Forts Herkimer and Dayton on the frontier. Col. Willett was now in command in the valley, and he made his headquarters at Fort Rensselaer, a quaint building still standing in the village of Canajoharie. ,”37

            At the same conference, Nellis M. Crouse contributed an article on "Forts and Blockhouses in the Mohawk Valley."

According to him:

"Several forts [including Fort Plain] were built [in 1777]. ... Fort Plain (the name was afterwards changed to Rensselaer) was a structure covering half an acre of ground. Its life, however, was short, and in 1781 it was replaced by the Fort Plain blockhouse, a curious three story building, octagonal in shape. 738

            Obviously, the controversy over the identity and location of Fort Rensselaer was continuing into the 20th^th century.

            Journalist and artist Nelson Greene grew up in the village of Fort Plain. In the early 1900s he worked for his father at the local newspaper and later inherited the business. Local history held a strong fascination for Greene, and even before World War I he published the first of several important books on Mohawk Valley history.³⁹ He

also contributed many handsome pen-and-ink sketches of historical subjects, including a widely disseminated conjectural view of the fortifications at Fort Plain. (Figure 5)

            In his final and most detailed description of Fort Plain, Greene wrote:

"Fort Plain was built in 1776 under the direction of Col. Elias Dayton. ... The chief carpenter was John Broderick. ... The fort was an irregular quadrangle 250 by 375 feet, with two small blockhouses `kitty cornered from each other - one probably in the southeastern corner and the other in the northwestern corner."⁴⁰

            He goes on to state that the fort was palisaded, and that the interior blockhouse predated the fort. Greene also noted

that the exterior octagonal blockhouse was built in 1780 and 1781, about 400 feet north of the main fort. Unfortunately, he cited no bibliographic references for any of this information. We do not know why he suddenly seemed so certain that Elias Dayton oversaw the erection of Fort Plain, nor do we know why he changed the "boss carpenter's" name from Dederick to Broderick. We are given no indication of where Mr. Greene discovered the exact dimensions of the fort or how he determined that Lossing's four comer bastions with earth and log ramparts were incorrect, while Simms' vertical palisades and kitty-cornered blockhouses were accurate. Even more

³⁷ William M. Beauchamp, "Indian Raids in the Mohawk Valley," New York Historical Association Proceedings, 1915, 204.

³⁸ Nellis M. Crouse, "Forts and Blockhouses in the Mohawk Valley," New York Historical Association Proceedings, 1915, 88.

³⁹ Nelson Greene, Story of Old Fort Plain and the middle Mohawk Valley (Fort Plain, N.Y.: Standard Press, 1915); The Old Mohawk Turnpike Book (Fort Plain, N.Y.: Standard Press, 1925); History of the Mohawk Valley, gateway to the West, 1614-1925 (Chicago, 11: S. J. Clarke, 1925); Fort Plain Nelliston History, 1580-1947 (Fort Plain, N.Y.: Standard Press, 1947).

perplexing and frustrating, he gave no indication of why he believed that the interior blockhouse was built earlier than the fort, presumably during the French and Indian Wars.⁴¹

            The Bloodied Mohawk, published in 2000, is the most recent contribution to the literature on Fort Plain, Fort Plank and Fort Rensselaer. The author, Ken D. Johnson, styles himself, "the Fort Plank historian". He has compiled a very thick volume that purports to give us - if not the final word - at least the moost comprehensive and accurately researched information that has ever been presented on Revolutionary War Fort Plank. [One should note well that NO other work has ever been published on Fort Plank and thus Johnson is well justified in calling it the best ever published on the subject.] Johnson notes that genealogical pursuits sparked his interest in Mohawk Valley history, so it seems logical and appropriate that the bulk of this book is devoted to biographical information abstracted from Revolutionary War pension applications and land records. This is the strength of the volume, and it will undoubtedly make an important contribution as an aid for genealogical research. Unfortunately, the author ventures far beyond genealogy.

            In short, Johnson has revived the Campbell-Stone hypothesis that Fort Plank was built at the onset of the Revolutionary War and subsequently (1779-80) renamed Fort Plain. His second premise is more original. According to the author's analysis, this fort was not located in Dutchtown where everyone else says Fort Plank stood [does this include Stone, Campbell, and the Revolutionary Pensioners with Thomas Sammons amongst them?], nor was it located on the Johannes Lipe farm, where all other researchers [again, does this include Stone, Campbell, and the Revolutionary Pensioners with Thomas Sammons amongst them?] have placed Revolutionary War Fort Plain [later the reader will learn that Johannes Lipe’s Revolutionary War Homestead bordered the property on which Johnson believes Fort Plank to have stood]. No, Ken D. Johnson's Fort Plank/Fort Plain was situated between those two sites on Sand Hill - immediately to the north of the Reformed Calvinist Church of Canajoharie. After visiting this site, Johnson was confident that he had found the exact spot depicted in William L. Stone's fanciful woodcut of the Fort Plain blockhouse (Fig lb). To strengthen his theory, the author cites an 1836 deed that mentions a "gun house" on or somewhere near Sand Hill. While his logic is not entirely clear, Mr. Johnson thinks that this reference is somehow tied to Fort Plain's use as a military supply depot in the late 18th century. He believes that this deed corroborates the authenticity of his postulated Sand Hill location for Fort Plank/Fort Plain.⁴²

            All of this conflicting information seemed mildly interesting, but nothing could have prepared me for the author's third revelation. Fort Rensselaer, according to Johnson, was not identical to - but a "sister fort" of Fort Plank/Fort Plain. Although it was a separate fort, it wasn't located on Moyer Street in Canajoharie as so many earlier authors had proclaimed. Fort Rensselaer (to the best of Ken Johnson's reckoning) was situated a mile or two south and east of Sand Hill, on the "lowlands" south of Otsquago Creek. He notes that a diamond-shaped icon on a 1772 map of the Bleecker Patent probably marks the real location of Fort Rensselaer [obviously, Mr. Lenig is unaware of the maps showing a small darkened diamond on the western border of Expense Lot A of the Rutger Bleeker Patent and the eastern edge of Upper Woodland Lot 5 of the Rutger Bleeker Patent which was referred to by Johnson as the site of Fort Plank or it is now known Fort Plain].⁴³

⁴⁰ Greene, Fort Plain Nelliston History, 39.

⁴¹ Loc. cit

⁴² Ken D. Johnson, The Bloodied Mohawk ( Rockport, Me: Picton Press, 2000), 214.

⁴³ Ibid., 216-218.

            Subsequent examination of early maps of the Bleecker patent by this author reveals that the diamondshaped icon referred to by Mr. Johnson was actually a "60 acre" lot located high above the Otsquago, near the northeastern point of Prospect Hill. (Figure 6) [This appears to be a intention misquote of Johnson’s text. He would again refer one to maps of Expense Lot A if he were allowed to to respond]. There was no room for a 60-acre parcel at an equivalent position along the south bank of the Otsquago Creek flats, even allowing for the change in the creek course made in the 1820s to accommodate the Erie Canal [a plethora of Colonial Maps and an 1803 Survey of the Mohawk River produced by Benjamin Wright (found in the Oneida Historical Society of Utica, New York) prove beyond the wildest doubt that no such change was made in the Otsquago Creek’s course by the Erie Canal].

            The Bleecker manuscripts mention that this diamond-shaped lot was called "Pruin Vlachte" in Dutch, or Plum Plain in English.⁴⁴ Given the "Prospect Hill" location, we believe this reference relates indirectly to the Native American village site of Canajoharie, circa 1715-1728 - the village referred to elsewhere as the "Castle of Tarraghioris."⁴⁵ "Pruin Vlachte" could describe an orchard associated with that village. The Iroquois apparently had a predilection for fruit. Several journals written by Revolutionary War participants in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign against the Iroquois^, mention well tended orchards near their villages, and apple trees have been found growing near many of their abandoned 18^th and early 19^th-century village sites, from the Mohawk Valley to the Genesee. Because Rutger Bleecker purchased this land at about the time the Mohawks moved away from the site, any features associated with the village would have been conspicuous and likely to warrant annotation on a map. While this can only be regarded as a theory, for all of these reasons we believe it is very likely that "Pruin Vlachte" was originally associated with the Canajoharie Mohawk village or "castle".

            In The Bloodied Mohawk, Ken D. Johnson forwards a very different hypothesis. He believes"Fort Rensselaer was located here because he has seen other maps that depict fortifications as diamond-shaped icons. All of the maps that we have examined call "Pruin Vlachte" a 60-acre diamond-shaped lot, nothing more and nothing less. There is no clue that might lead anyone to believe that it was a "60 acre" fortification, nor anything to suggest that this lot had anything to do with Fort Rensselaer. More germane, the map that Johnson refers to predates any historical reference to Fort Rensselaer by eight years. A note on another document in the Bleecker papers makes the notion even more implausible, for it states that the diamond-shaped lot was actually "laid out for Rutger Bleecker in the year 1730 [and] sold to Hans Smith." ⁴⁶ This date is at least seventeen years before there is any hint of a colonial fortification in the region and fifty years before the first reference to Fort Rensselaer. It seems that Mr. Johnson is a victim of his own wishful thinking. He wants the diamond-shaped lot to be Fort Rensselaer, because he believes Fort Plank/Fort Plain stood on Sand Hill, and he has found several references that placed Fort Rensselaer south and/or east of Fort Plank. If he could document that Fort Rensselaer was located south of the Otsquago Creek, it would provide him with additional support for his hypothesis concerning the location of Fort Plain/Fort Plank.

⁴⁴ Maps and Surveys of Otsquaga and Bleecker Patents, MSC 10816 (11), Manuscripts and Special Collections, New York State Library. [Finally a primary source!]

⁴⁵ Greene, History of the Mohawk Valley, 1:148.

⁴⁶ Maps and Surveys of Otsquaga and Bleecker Patents, MSC 10816 (11), op. cit.

Unfortunately for Johnson's hypothesis, documentation provides no indication that Fort Rensselaer was ever located there [and to which Mr. Johnson replied: AMEN!].

            As we have seen, by the late 20th century, the history of Fort Plank, Fort Plain and Fort Rensselaer had become hopelessly confused. The acknowledged published authorities did not agree about the identity, locations, dates, or even the physical appearance of those forts. There were no known contemporary plans or sketches - only conjectural views of Fort Plain and the octagonal blockhouse rendered many years after they were demolished by artists who had never actually seen the fortifications. One could virtually believe whatever they wanted and find an author to support their position. How could we ever arrive at the historical "truths"? What did these Mohawk Valley Revolutionary War forts actually look like? When were they really built? Who built them?

ARCHAEOLOGY

            In 1961 the Fort Plain Restoration, Inc. purchased what had once been the David Lipe farmstead, including the northernmost three-quarters of the hilltop where Revolutionary War Fort Plain reportedly stood. During March and April and of 1961, Stanley Gifford directed an archaeological reconnaissance of that property. With the help of mechanized equipment, he and Robert Lord stripped more than 10,000 square feet of plow-torn topsoil from the hilltop [What self respecting archeologist would allow an earthmover anywhere near a known archeological of importance?]. After removing the disturbed topsoil, Lord and Gifford would walk over the stripped area examining the subsoil for artifacts and soil anomalies that might signal a previous disturbance.

            Their first step was to open a trench along the brow of the hill, where Gifford hoped he might discover traces of the east curtain wall of the fort. Gifford and Lord began excavating at the property boundary nearest to the southeastern comer of the hilltop, in an area that had once been used as a soil borrow pit. Here they discovered several fragments of cut limestone as well as 18^th century ceramics and glass. The area was badly disturbed, not only by the borrow pit, but by a farm roadbed that cut through the crest of the hill at this point. Nevertheless, Gifford theorized that the limestone might have been associated with a corner bastion or blockhouse of the main fort. In the hope that the east wall of the fort ran northward along the brow of the hill from this point, the trench was extended in that direction.

            Nothing further was noted until the trench reached a distance of about 125 feet north of the beginning point. Here they discovered a massive subterranean limestone feature measuring between six and seven feet in diameter at the undisturbed subsoil level. Digging quickly with shovels, the two men trenched around the outside of the limestone structure to a depth of about four feet without discovering the lower limit. Because they were unable to find the bottom, Lord theorized that the structure might be a well. Immediately west of this limestone feature they found a shallow layer of ash and red burned soil measuring roughly 20' by 20'. The only artifact noted from

this layer was a European-manufactured, fine-toothed bone comb. Based upon these data, Gifford and Lord initially believed that they had located both the southeast and northeast bastions and established the limits of the east curtain wall of the main fort. Fortuitously, the entire wall seemed to be on Fort Plain Restoration property.

            Following this line of thinking, their next logical step was to open a trench along the southern property boundary, nearly perpendicular to the postulated east curtain wall. If their assumptions were correct, the strategy would guarantee that the trench intercepted the west curtain wall as well as any evidence of other structures that might have been built inside the fort. The trench was dug for over 300 feet, but no archaeological evidence of the west curtain wall or any interior buildings was found. In a second attempt to verify their theory, a triangular-shaped area of 2,500 square feet was stripped of topsoil. If Lord and Gifford's analysis had been correct, this area would have been located somewhere in the middle of the postulated fort - an area likely to produce some evidence of structures. This time there was at least some evidence of 18`<sup>h</sup> century occupation. There was a large square post mold, some scattered pieces of limestone, a few hand-forged nails and fragments of pig and bovine bones that had been cut with a meat saw. However, there was not enough evidence to suggest these scattered finds represented the remains of buildings inside the fort. Matters were further complicated by discovery of a Native American refuse pit, hearths and several small round post molds dating to the 14<sup>th</sup>or 15 `^h century.

            While their initial discoveries might have been related to a corner of the main fort, it now appeared that the east curtain wall probably ran southward from that point, rather than north as originally postulated. In reality nearly the entire fort site seemed to be located upon Fort Plain Cemetery Association property.

In light of this discovery, the large limestone structure, ash and burned area that Gifford and Lord uncovered could not have been the remains of the northeast comer of the fort. Instead, it appeared they were associated with a freestanding structure that stood near the edge of the east slope, about one hundred feet north of the main fort. While no written documents have been found to help us identify this structure, there are a few archaeological clues. Directly down the east slope from the limestone structure road-grading activity uncovered a large kitchen midden, comprised almost entirely of cut domesticated mammal bones. The discarded bones in direct proximity to the large area of ash and burned soil led us to hypothesize that the subterranean limestone feature represents footings for a very large fireplace or hearth. The fireplace was probably located inside a cookhouse or kitchen that served the entire garrison at Fort Plain. Further archaeology is needed to verify this hypothesis.

            Unable to document substantial evidence of the main fort on Fort Plain Restoration property, Lord shifted the focus of his archaeological search to the exterior blockhouse. Even if Fort Plain proper was located on adjacent property, it seemed almost a certainty that the blockhouse site was on the land owned by the Fort Plain Restoration. The search began by trenching perpendicular to the crest of the hill near the northeast comer of the hilltop. Unexpectedly, more Native American features were encountered. Donald Lenig was summoned to investigate, while topsoil removal operations moved about fifty feet further north. At this juncture, 75 feet west of the brow of

the hill, Lord located a thirty-foot square subsoil anomaly. A test hole was dug along the western extremity of this feature. A little more than three feet deep, rotted wood was encountered. Lord believed that he had found the basement of the exterior blockhouse.

            Beginning in late June of 1961, under the auspices of the Fort Plain Restoration, Inc. and later for the Fort Plain Museum, Thomas Bollen and the author conducted intensive archaeological excavations at this site. With the help of several enthusiastic volunteers, including Mr. and Mrs. Bradford Dean, the project continued throughout three summers, ending in August of 1963. The final year the field crew was augmented by the addition of Craig Ritter.

            Simms, Greene, and even the anonymous newspaper article from 1837 made it very clear that the blockhouse was supposed to be octagonal. We were able to quickly relocate the discolored soil anomaly that Robert Lord discovered, but we were somewhat perplexed to verify that it was indeed thirty feet square - not octagonal. We did recall, however, that David Lipe had informed Benson Lossing he believed the first floor of the blockhouse was square. The location of this archaeological feature definitely matched Simms' description, but there was still some concern that the cellar hole might be from something other than the blockhouse. Nothing short of complete excavation would answer our questions.

A fifty by seventy-foot area was staked-off and further subdivided into ten-foot square excavation units. The excavation-grid was aligned parallel with the edges of the cellar hole to facilitate record keeping. (Figures 7 & 8) All of the soil within the basement area was carefully removed by hand and screened through quarter-inch hardware cloth. (Figure 9) After sifting the first few shovels of fill, and discovering several "grape" or canister shot, we were greatly relieved. Clearly, this was an 18th-century military structure, not a domestic house site. In time, it became obvious that the building must have been carefully emptied, dismantled and the materials salvaged before the site was leveled. There was no evidence that the building had collapsed and rotted in place. In fact, there was very little evidence of the original building materials. One ten-foot long wooden plank was left on the floor of the basement to rot. (Figure 10) There were also a few small pieces of limestone; useless fragments left behind after virtually all of the foundation stone had been salvaged. (Figure 11) In the middle of the north wall, there was an eight by five-foot area of concentrated brick fragments, brick dust, mortar, cinders and ash. This, we theorized, was probably the location of the large oven reported by Lawrence Gros. A few pieces of broken window-glass, several types of hand-forged nails and two broken hinges complete the inventory of building materials recovered. Domestic trash was also extremely scarce, although 75 pieces of refuse bone, 14 sherds of broken redware bowls, 10 sherds of tin-glazed earthenware (delft), I sherd of slip-decorated yellow ware, 6 clay pipe fragments, a fragmentary stemmed glass goblet, and a green glass bottle fragment were recovered. The most significant finds included hundreds of iron "grape" and canister-shot, three, six and nine-pound cannon balls, cannon carriage hardware, discarded artillery implements, lead musket-shot, bayonets, gun parts and "USA" uniform buttons which left little doubt that we had

found the Fort Plain blockhouse. (Figures 12-15) Many of these finds have been detailed in an article published in Northeast Historical Archaeology.⁴⁷ [As there was no “United States of America” until after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789: Why would the moniker “USA” be imprinted on the buttons of the uniforms which were being raised by and paid for by “independent states”?].

            The presence of a filled-in ditch or dry-moat of unknown dimensions was confirmed on the northwestern side of the blockhouse. A test hole into the ditch-fill produced two more iron "grape"-shot. Seven large square post-molds were identified and mapped.. They averaged 1'10"x2', and were sunk two to three feet into the ground. They were evenly spaced - one about every ten feet - equidistant between the ditch and the blockhouse. Clearly, they were upright supports for a wooden retaining wall on the inside of the earthen redoubt mentioned by Benson Lossing. They may have also supported a stage or firing platform. (Figure 7). [Judging from the heavy concentration of artifacts found, one must assume that the fortress was abandoned with removing its stores. One should also note that iron cannon balls, iron grape shot, bayonets, field pieces, and “USA” were heavily relied upon by U.S. well into the late Nineteenth Century]. [edited to here]

            Archival research completed between 1966 and 1969 provided new details concerning how and why the Fort Plain blockhouse was built, who designed it, and when it was actually completed. Once again, there were a number of surprises.

            From a series of letters in the George Washington Papers at the U.S. Library of Congress, we discovered that in early 1781, a disastrous flood and fire forced the abandonment of Fort Schuyler (known during the French and Indian War as Fort Stanwix). The Continental Army troops were withdrawn to Fort Herkimer where General Washington sent a French military engineer to design and superintend a replacement fortification. Major Jean de Villefranche arrived at Fort Herkimer on June 25, 1781. On Frank's Hill, high above the old fort, he began staking out new works. The redoubt that Villefranche designed would have required more than two hundred and fifty troops to mount an adequate defense. The plans were carefully mapped to scale, and the hilltop was cleared of brush. A copy of the undated original drawing was found in the manuscript collection at the Herkimer County Historical Society (Figure 16). Within a few weeks, however, it became clear that sufficient manpower to build and garrison such a large fortification would not be forthcoming.48

            At this same time, Colonel Marinus Willett was appointed by Governor Clinton to command all of the New York State troops and militia on the western Mohawk frontier. With General Washington's blessing, Willett ordered Major Villefranche to repair the old French and Indian War post that surrounded Johan Jost Herkimer's house. Additionally, he recommended that new blockhouses be built in the most advantageous locations at the German Flats, near Fort Herkimer on the south side and Fort Dayton on the north side of the river. When

⁴⁷ Wayne Lenig, "Some Artillery Implements and Carraige Hardware from Fort Plain, N.Y.," Northeast Historical Archaeologist (1972), 3:

⁴⁸ Colonel Marinus Willett to General George Washington, 07/06/178 1, Willett Papers, New-York Historical Society; Willett, William M. A Narrative of the Military Actions of Colonel Marinus Willett, Taken Chiefly from his own Manuscript, (New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1831),73-79.

Villefranche completed those assignments, he should report to Fort Plain, or Fort Rensselaer, where Willett intended to concentrate his main forces.⁴⁹

            At Fort Plain, Willett requested Major Villefranche to strengthen and enlarge the existing fortifications as well as design a new outlying redoubt with a blockhouse and a large magazine for ammunition. This outwork was to have been capable of housing about 200 soldiers. Construction began immediately, but only the first two stories of the blockhouse were built by the end of October, and no work had been completed on the redoubt. In a letter to General Washington, Villefranche summarized the work that he completed in the Mohawk Valley during the summer and fall of 1781. He noted specifically that he was enclosing a copy of the plans for the new blockhouse at Fort Plain. Unfortunately, in the course of 200 years the plans became separated from the letter and have not yet been relocated [emphasis added].⁵⁰

            The works were still unfinished in the spring of 1782. In May, Colonel Willett reminded Governor Clinton to ask General Washington to order funds to complete the blockhouse.⁵¹Two weeks later, General Washington wrote to Colonel Benjamin Tupper, whose 10th Massachusetts regiment was then stationed in the Mohawk Valley. Washington stated that it was out of his "ability to furnish any money for the completion of the blockhouse at Fort Plain."⁵² On June 10, Colonel Willett wrote a detailed letter to Governor Clinton, specifying the exact materials that were needed to complete the job. Unfortunately, the original document burned in the state capitol fire in the early 20th century.⁵³ At about the same time Lt. Colonel George Reid's second New Hampshire regiment replaced Colonel Tupper's regiment on the western New York frontier. Colonel Reid immediately wrote to General Washington, again stressing the importance of completing the defenses at Fort Plain. General Washington responded in early July, "I ... have given direction to the Quartermaster to furnish all the materials in his power to put Fort Plain in a state of defense as well as reparation of its magazine."⁵⁴ On the same date, Washington wrote to the assistant deputy Quartermaster at Albany as follows: "Col. Reid has informed me of the ill condition of Fort Plain and the magazine at that place. As it is of the greatest importance that they should be repaired, I must request you to

⁴⁹ Major Jean de Villefranche to General George Washington, 07/06/1781, Washington Papers Microfilm, U.S. Library of Congress; Pension Application of Richard Casler, W6637, U.S. National Archives. 50 Major Jean de Villefranche to General George Washington, 02/24/1782, Washington Papers Microfilm, U.S.

Library of Congress.

⁵¹ Lt. Colonel Marinus Willett to Governor George Clinton, 5/11/1782, Governor Clinton Manuscripts, vol. 15, no. 4512, New York State Archives.

⁵² General George Washington to Colonel Benjamin Tupper, 5/29/1782, Washington Papers Microfilm, U.S. Library of Congress.

⁵³ Calender entry for Lt. Colonel Marinus Willett to Governor George Clinton, 6/10/1782, Governor Clinton Manuscripts, New York State Archives.

⁵⁴ General George Washington to Colonel George Reid, 7/2/1782, Washington Papers Microfilm, reel

make every possible exertion to supply the necessary material."⁵⁵Action was soon taken, for the [October 22^nd] 1782 Quartermaster's accounts show a debit of £268 "for . . . supervision of building and transporting of logs and stone for Fort Rensselaer.⁰⁶ On October 16, 1782, Colonel Willett dated a letter from "Fort McKean," the nickname reportedly given to the blockhouse.⁵⁷ This is the earliest indication that has been found that suggests construction of the blockhouse was probably complete.

            The evidence presented in this series of 18^th-century documents shows that Major Jean de Villefranche, a French military engineer serving with the Continental Army, designed the Fort Plain blockhouse. Construction began - not in 1780 as has been maintained in all of the secondary historical reference works - but in the late summer and fall of 1781. The blockhouse was not completed until the fall of 1782, and, as Benson Lossing noted, the redoubt may not have been finished when the Revolutionary War ended in the late summer of 1783.

            In 1971, after years of searching, the first known contemporary rendering of the Fort Plain blockhouse was located. It is labeled, "Sketch of a Block House built at Fort Palin (sic) on the Mohawk River, designed by Colo. Villefranche [does this actually refer to Fort Plain or does it refer to “Fort Plaintine”. Or, since the French word for “block” is Palin, does it refer to Fort Block or to a a “Palin House” at a fort? We shall never know, but it is quite clear that calling this a plan for “Fort Plain” is a far stretch of the imagination]. It is built of logs - near two feet diameter. It covers a large redoubt which is to the south west and commands extensively." The document was found among the miscellaneous Revolutionary War manuscripts at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Figure 17) We know from the abovementioned sources that several New England regiments were stationed at Fort Plain in 1782 and 1783, while the blockhouse was being completed. It is possible that this unsigned sketch was done by an American soldier from one of the New England regiments stationed at Fort Plain, although the handwriting is very similar to the previously mentioned map of fortifications near Fort Herkimer, suggesting that both may have been executed by Major Villefranche. (Figure 16)

            Once again, we are confronted with primary-source evidence that seems at odds with nearly everything that has been written about this blockhouse. The depiction is of a three-storied square building, with a cupola and an oversized thirty-foot square basement that apparently functioned as a prison or jail. Not only is the overall shape of the building at odds with traditional accounts, but the basement illustrated in this sketch is radically different than any contemporaneous military structures that I have ever encountered. The cellar walls, presumably limestone, extend three to four feet above grade, high enough to accommodate at least two large barred windows. The basement is four or five feet larger than the first floor of the blockhouse, leaving the impression that the jail cells

⁵⁵ General George Washington to Assistant Deputy Quarter Master Nicholas Quackenbush, 7/2/1782, original letter owned in 1890 by the Mohawk Valley Historical Association (now the Fort Rensselaer Club), cited in Grider, "Fort Rensselaer," op. cit.

⁵⁶ Nicholas Quackenbush, Account of Debts Contracted in the Quarter Master General's Department by Nicholas Quackenbush, Assistant Quartermaster in the Northern Department During the Year 1782, Timothy Pickering Papers, 1745-1829, Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, Newburgh, N.Y.

⁵⁷ Lt. Colonel Marinus Willett to General Lord Stirling, 10/16/1782, Emmet Collection, New York Public Library.

were probably situated in the perimeter of the basement, between the outside cellar wall and the inside supporting walls for the first floor of the blockhouse. The design is unique, but it fits perfectly with the archaeological evidence.

            In 1964 Paul Huey conducted excavations for the Fort Plain Museum in the triangular-shaped area that Lord and Gifford had stripped of topsoil in 1961. In addition to finding evidence of early 15^th-century Mohawk occupation, subsequent archaeological work provided evidence that suggests this area was just outside the north curtain of the main fortification. Huey and later excavators found an 18^th-century gun flint, chimney slag and the charred outlines of what may have been a portion of wooden crownworks or abatis, although the area was badly disturbed by prior bulldozing.⁵⁸ (Figure 18)

            In 1966 the author with help from David Stama spent two weeks testing an area adjacent to the spring, over the side hill below the northeast corner of the main fortification. The archaeological record at this location revealed several activities. First, the cultural materials recovered represent an accumulation of garbage that was discarded over the side hill during the period that the hilltop was intensively occupied. There is 18^th-century domestic refuse and some 17th century material, which derived from an earlier Native American occupation on the same hilltop. Second, there are places where deep deposits of relatively artifact-free overburden have been located. It is theorized that this stratum represents earthen fortifications that were bulldozed over the side of the hill in the late 18^th or early 19th century in order to level the hilltop for plowing.

            As previously mentioned, the Fort Plain Cemetery Association has owned nearly the entire main fort site since the mid-1950s. In 1975, the board of trustees had a new road constructed from the current village cemetery to the fort site. They had run out of space for burials and were preparing to develop the fort site for new cemetery lots. After a series of negotiations, the cemetery trustees granted permission for limited archaeological testing to be completed before any further development would take place. The Fort Plain Museum and Fulton-Montgomery Community College jointly sponsored the archaeological project, and the New York State Bicentennial Commission generously granted financial assistance. As an adjunct professor of anthropology at Fulton-Montgomery Community College, the author directed those excavations [this said, what are the “qualifications” which entitled Mr. Lening to serve as a “Professor of Anthropology?].

            In June of 1975 work was begun. The workforce was composed of students in my Archaeological Field Techniques course at Fulton-Montgomery Community College, and a group of volunteers from the community. A grant from the New York State Bicentennial Commission provided funds for supplies, power equipment and a field assistant. Ms. Sandra Hutchinson, a Beloit College anthropology graduate who had recently completed fieldwork in France with Frangois Bordes was engaged as field assistant.

⁵⁸ Paul R. Huey, Summary of Archaeological Excavations at Fort Plain, New York, 1964, manuscript report on file at t