Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/104

80 HISTORY OF f chaptee; v. St. Leger Cowley— Contention between himself and a tory— Dispute settled by his wife— Capture of Cowley and Sawyer on the West Branch— Indian sports— Journey of the captives toward Niagara- Murder of their captors— Pursued by the Indians— Miraculous escape— Narrowly escape starvation in the wilderness— Arrival at a frontier settlement in Pennsylvania — Recruit and return to Schoharie— Procure a company of troops to aid in the removal of their families — First grist-mill on the West Branch — Death of Cow- ley— Indian revenge— Murder of McKee family— Capture of Miss Anne McKee — Compelled to run the gauntlet — Fort Niagara — Re- taliatory expedition to the Indian territory — General Sullivan appointed to command— Detachment under Clinton — March down the Susquehanna — Union of Clinton and Sullivan near Tioga Point — Complete annihilation of Indian settlements — Expedition of Sul- livan an expedition of Discovery — Minisink an ancient Indian set- tlement — Massacre of the inhabitants — Battle of the Delaware — Defeat of the inhabitants — List of the killed — Burial services per- formed in 1820 — Statement of Benjamin Whitaker — General out-' lines of the campaign of 11*J9. Among the early pioneers who settled on the West Branch of the Delaware river, was St. Leger Cowley, a native of Ire- land, who removed from Albany with his family and located himself below the site of the present flourishing village of Bloomville, and not far from the south corner of the town of Kortright. After the commencement of the Revolution the few whigs (as those persons who dared to disown the king were called,) living in the valley of the Delaware, became, as it were, isolated from even what historians have termed the fron- tier of New York. They were few in number, and beyond the reach of any definite tidings of the victories and reverses of* the respective armies. The flying reports which reached their