112

HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.

marched from the Mohawk by the way of Cherry Valley. Uniting their forces they proceeded against the Senecas, whose principal stations were on the banks of the Genesee. The Indians hearing of the projected expedition, took possession of an elevated piece of ground near Newton, on the Tioga river, and fortified it with judgment. Here the combined forces of Sullivan and Clinton attacked them in August, the month after the Minisink battle. For two hours they stood a fierce cannonading, but at length their trenches were forced and they fled precipitately. The victorious army penetrated into the very heart of their country, and laid it desolate. Their villages, with their detached habitations, their immense crops of growing corn and grain, fruit trees, and gardens, were indiscriminately destroyed. So heavy did the hand of retribution fall upon them, that though they occasionally made feeble irruptions into small settlements along the Mohawk, they never after were able to muster force enough to advance so far east as Minisink.

For forty-three years the bones of the victims of the Minisink battle were bleached and whitened by the sun, wind and rain, among the dark ravines and on the bleak hillside where they fell. They were not forgotten, for the fearful scenes attending the death struggle, and the cause in which they bravely fought and died, had stamped its impress indelibly upon the memory of their fellow citizens. The first attempt to recover their remains was made by the widows of the killed, of whom there were thirty-three in the Presbyterian congregation of Goshen. They undertook to proceed to the battle field on horseback, but had not gone far before they were forced to give up the task. The man they hired to guide them to the place, was paid liberally and promised to go

on and secure the remains. But he proved faithless to his trust, and was never heard from afterward. In 1820 Dr. David R. Arnell published a sketch of Col. Tusten who was killed at the battle. It awoke a new interest in the matter, and finally led to the appointment of a committee to gather up the bones. The committee passed the night at the house of Mr. Samuel Watkins, of Half-way Brook, a descendant of Samuel Watkins of Revolutionary fame; having traveled about forty miles the first day. The next day they proceeded to the battle field. This is in the town of Lumberland, Sullivan county, opposite the mouth of the Lackawaxen. It commenced on the banks of the Delaware and ended about three-fourths of a mile from the river. Some of the bones were found several miles distant, in the woods, the whole vicinity being a dense wilderness. Some have thought that Indian bones were picked up with the others; but the rule of the Indians was to carry off their slain; and on this occasion, says Eager, the survivors saw the Indians after the battle engaged in this very duty. On the 22d of July, 1822, the bones were buried in Goshen-Col. Hathorn, then eighty years of age, laying the corner-stone of the monument. Dr. Jas.

R. Wilson delivered the address, and it was estimated that at least 15,000 people witnessed the ceremonies. The monument bore the names of forty-four of the killed, and the date and purposes of its erection. In 1861 the old monument having become much defaced, Dr. Merit H. Cash, of Wawayanda, bequeathed four thousand dollars to the county for the purpose of procuring a new one. His views were carried out, and on the 22d of July, 1862, the eighty-third anniversary of the battle, the new monument was dedicated amid imposing ceremonies, and in presence of full as large an assemblage as

had attended that of the former. John C. Dimmick, Esq., delivered the address on the occasion.

The monument stands in the yard of the Presbyterian church at Goshen. It is of marble, each corner bearing the figure of an eagle with distended wings. On the east side is inscribed the name of the donor and date of its erection; on the north a representation of the battle scene; and on the west the names of forty-four of the killed. The whole is surmounted by a marble column bearing on the top a figure of Hope pointing upward, an appropriate memorial of the disastrous battle that cost the lives of so many of the staunch citizens of old Orange.

CHAPTER X.

TOWN OF MINISINK.

In 1788, after the close of the Revolutionary war, the Legislature of the State of New York began to study more closely the wants of the people than they had done when war alone usurped their attention. A general organization act was passed, dividing the State into fourteen counties, which were subdivided into townships. Orange county was one of those formed by the general provisions of this act, but its boundaries remained the same as they had been since its first organization in 1683. It included the present county of Rockland, and extended from the Jersey line along the west side of the Hudson river to Murderer's creek, and from the mouth of Murderer's creek west along the line of Ulster county to the Delaware river.

By the provisions of this act the county was divided into the following towns, which may be said to date their first regular establishment with this year:

Cornwall,

Montgomery,

New Windsor,

Minisink,

Goshen,

Newburgh,

Wallkill,

Warwick.

Minisink, Montgomery, Newburgh and Wallkill originally included portions of the county of Ulster.

Minisink was then of considerable extent, comprising

the area now covered by the towns of Wawayanda, Greenville, Minisink, and portions of Mount Hope and Deerpark. In 1790 it had a population of 2,215. It now covers less than one-third the area, yet in 1865 had a population of 1,209. It is bounded on the south by the State of New Jersey, east by the town of Warwick and partly by Wawayanda, north by Wawayanda, and west by Deerpark and part of New Jersey. The Wallkill river and Rutger's creek form a large portion of the southern and eastern boundary line.

The principal villages are Westtown and Unionville. Westtown in the south-eastern, and Unionville in the southern part, near the New Jersey State line.

Unionville is said to derive its name from the dispute between New York and New Jersey in 1740, related in the fourth chapter of this work. The village at the time of the settlement of the difference, consisted of two or three houses. It stood on the disputed territory, and when the final boundary line was run between the two States, it was so near the line that it took the name of Unionville, in commemoration of the uniting of the States in renewed friendly relations. At present it contains a hotel, two churches, and four or five stores.

Westtown is supposed to be the oldest in date of settlement, and at the time it was founded was the only village in the western part of the town. From this circumstance it probably derived its name. hotel, two stores, two churches, and an academy.

It contains a

Rutger's creek is the most considerable stream in the town. It flows through it in a north-easterly direction, furnishing the water power for a grist mill, &c., at the village of Waterloo Mills, in the north-western corner of the town. About three miles north of Westtown it unites with the outlet of Binnewater pond, where it