Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/81

DELAWARE COUNTY. 57 ■ cated to the general committee of safety, and by them trans- mitted throughout the State, and leading whigs were every- where vehement in their denunciations of Johnston and his adherents, and overflowing in the emulation of the bravery and resolute spirit evinced by leading patriotic Tryon brethren. In August, 1775, a meeting of the citizens of Harpersfield was held at the house of John Harper, and a committee of vigilance was appointed to watch the movements of certain disaffected persons, and to gain what information they could of the stealthy movements of the hostile Indians under Brant, who, report had reached them, was then at Oquago, on the Susquehanna. The exposed situation of Harpersfield, and the ^ well known and patriotic character of the leading inhabitants of that section, rendered their communications to the state council of safety, not unfrequently of the utmost importance. They, through intercourse with friendly Indians, and by scouts, were constantly kept reconnoitering the disaffected set- tlements. Cautiously were the movements of Brant and his host of bloody retainers noted, and when, at last, the storm broke in all its fury, — when the impatience of the savages could no longer be restrained, and they demanded to be led on "to butcher and to burn," — when Schoharie, and all the frontier settlements of New York were about to become the theatre of predatory warfare, this committee communicated the timely warning to their faithful brethren. It may be a matter of interest to learn, and certainly it deserves to become a matter of record, the names of the per- sons who braved every danger, and several of whom sacrificed life, property, and everything dear, upon the altar of liberty. Their names were John Harper, John Harper, Jr., Alexander Harper, Joseph Harper, Isaac Patchin, Freegift Patchin, Andries Biber, Wm. McFarland, St. Leger Cowley, Sawyer, John More, Jas. Stevens, and several others, all of whom took the prescribed oath, and signed the articles of association. I