THE BATTLE OF MINISINK. 107 his arm became weary with carrying his gun so long in one hand, and he thought he would carry it with the other awhile. When he made the exchange the gun fell from his hand, and on investigating the matter, he was surprised to find his arm had been broken by a musket ball; his mind having been so occupied that he had not felt the pain. A man named Cuddeback was among the fugitives, and fled with his companions till he became completely exhausted. He then stepped from the path and hid among some small bushes. After a short time the Indians came along in pursuit and happily passed without seeing him. He was just about rising to his feet in order to get farther in the woods, when he saw an Indian coming. The Indian discovered him when about opposite; but Cuddeback had his rifle ready, and the moment he saw the Indian's eye rest on him, he fired. He then fled with all possible speed, not knowing whether he had hit the Indian. No one pursued him however, and he escaped. Col. Benjamin Tusten, who was killed, was a practising physician of the town of Goshen. His father removed from Southhold, Long Island, in the year 1746, and settled on the patent granted to Mrs. Denn, the first settler on the Wawayanda patent, which was between two and three miles from the village of Goshen, on the banks of the Otterkill. The old gentleman was much respected, and was a judge for some time in the county court. He was afterward appointed colonel of the militia. He owned a large tract of land, and intended young Benjamin for a farmer; he being three years of age at the time of removal. But as he grew older he evinced a great desire to adopt some professional calling. For this purpose he attended several medical schools, 108 HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION. and in 1769 commenced the practice of physic at his father's house. In 1770 he introduced inoculation as a preventive of the small pox; the first of its general trial in Orange county. At the age of twenty-eight he married a Miss Brown, whom he had become acquainted with while studying medicine with Dr. Burnet, at Newark, N. J. When the Revolution commenced he took an active part against the arbitrary measures of England. He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Goshen regiment of militia, under Gen. Allison, in 1777, and the following year Surrogate of Orange county, which office he held when killed at Minisink. (Eager's History.) Daniel Myers, an early settler of the present town of Minisink, and much noted for his hatred of the Indians, was in this battle. When the whites gave way, he thought he would wait till the first rush was over in hopes of a better chance to escape. Accordingly he stepped out of sight behind a large tree. After waiting some time he concluded the Indians had gone away after those who had run, and ventured to look out from his place of concealment. As he did so, an Indian who had remained behind for some purpose, spied him, and dodged behind a tree with a yell. They were within close gunshot of each other, and at once began maneuvering to get the first shot. They were both good marksmen, and they each knew that if the other had a chance to aim at a vital part his life would pay the forfeit. At last Myers bethought him of an expedient. He drew the ramrod from his rifle and hung his hat upon it. He then pushed the hat around the side of the tree very cautiously, as if it were himself trying to get a glimpse of his opponent. The ruse was successful. The Indian fired, with such an accurate aim as to send a bullet plumb THE BATTLE OF MINISINK. 109 Myers let the hat fall; killed him, sprang for through the centre of the hat. and the Indian thinking he had ward with a whoop of triumph to secure his scalp. Myers then stepped in view, and as the Indian paused with astonishment, shot him through the heart. Descendants of this brave old pioneer, or of his relatives, still reside in the towns of Minisink and Greenville. Benjamin Dunning, at the close of the battle, tried to escape by crossing the Delaware with a number of others. The Indians kept up a terrible fire on those in the water, and several were killed. He escaped unhurt till just as he was climbing from the water on the opposite side, when a bullet struck him and he fell dead upon the bank. His uncle, Daniel Dunning, formerly resided near Ridgebury in the town of Wawayanda. Of Major Meeker, who acted so prominent a part in the movements of the troops preceding the battle of Minisink, a humorous incident has been preserved to us by tradition, illustrative of the influence of the price of an article regardless of its quality. Shortly after he became chosen to the rank of Major of the militia, he found it necessary to procure corresponding equipments, and for this purpose visited Newburgh. Chief among the military toggery desired, was a hat-an article, the flaunt of whose proud feather, and the glitter of the shield that fastened its turned up side, had long visited the dreams of the ambitious Major. It had been decided on as one that should only be equaled by the best dressed officer of the brigade; and with this thought uppermost he entered the chief hat store of the place. He was shown one, with the style and fit of which he expressed himself pleased, and was told the price was only five dollars. "But," said the Major, "isn't that rather low? To be sure it is very nice, and no doubt 110 HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION. good, but have you no higher priced ones ?" "Certainly," replied the hatter, and taking the hat he passed into a back room apparently to change it. Here he turned the feather a little more to the other side, brushed it thoroughly and in a few minutes brought out the same one. "That's a beauty," exclaimed the delighted Major; "What is the price of it?" "Ten dollars," was the reply. "I'll take that one," said the Major, and paying the money he walked away much better suited at having paid ten dollars for the military covering of his caput instead of five. There is an old tradition current among the legends of Minisink and Greenville, that Joseph Brandt in order to acquaint himself with the state of affairs in the Minisink neighborhood, paid it a visit in secret, some time before his second invasion, and remained concealed in a swamp in the present town of Greenville, nearly a month. The neighbors suspected a certain man, who had expressed Tory sentiments pretty freely, of carrying victuals to the swamp for some purpose, supposing probably it was some stray Indian secreted there. They set a watch upon the Tory, and one morning caught him just before daylight returning from the swamp, whither he had been to carry the carcass of a sheep he had just slaughtered. A council of the citizens was called, and many plans suggested for his punishment, as he refused to tell whom he had been feeding. It was at last determined to drive him to Goshen on foot. The skin of the sheep he had killed was thoroughly wound about him, a soldier followed with his bayonet fixed to keep him from lagging, a boy brought up the rear with an old bass drum, and in this order he was marched to Goshen to jail, a distance of some sixteen miles; a feat that must have made him look somewhat THE BATTLE OF MINISINK. 111 We sheepish, as it was a broiling hot day in summer. may well be assured too, that the settlers in Greenville felt somewhat sheepish when they found out what an important personage had been concealed beneath their very noses, and allowed to escape with impunity, when a very little energy would have captured him. Brandt by the above means became well informed of the nature and resources of the neighborhood, and thus was enabled to invade the Minisink Region so successfully. The same knowledge enabled him so skilfully to defeat the irregular levies that pursued him, whose hasty action and ill-advised movements he naturally understood from their ignorance of war, and was well prepared to take advantage of. A few days after this battle he fell with the same suddenness upon a settlement in the valley of the Mohawk, and left it a smoking ruin. His success rendered his name a potent spell of fear, far and near. He was generally believed to have been a half-breed-his mother a Mohawk squaw and his father a German-but it has since been thought he was a pure Mohawk Indian. He acquired a good education at Dartmouth College, and was appointed to a Colonel's commission of the Six Nations, under George III. at the commencement of the Revolution. Education did not tame his savage nature, for says Dr. Wilson, "In him the blood of the barbarian extinguished every spark of civilization that might have been kindled in his constitution. He was more cunning than the fox, and fiercer than the tiger." Immediate movements were made by the government to check these depredations upon the frontier settlements. General Sullivan, with three thousand men, ascended the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, near the present village of Waverly, where he was met by Gen. Clinton, who with one thousand, had |