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The map on this page is designed to show the locations of all those killed and captured
in the Harpersfield, NY raid by Joseph Brant, 5 torys of the Northern Indian Department,
and 14 of Indian warriors.

Friday, April 7th through April 10th, 1780.

Notes:

To get a general idea of what the area looked like at the time of the raid it is helpful to read the descriptions of numerous Tory former residence of Harpersfield. These descriptions were provided to the Canadian government in 1792 in order to seek monetary compensation for their losses. The descriptions of the land and improvements as well as lifestock gives us a good picture of just how much of the rolling hills had been cleared of the countless Hemlocks that covered the mountains and valleys. Several of these descriptions follow:

Claim of Archibald Thompson
The two men were partners together on John Harper's Land in Tryon Co. Never had a Lease or Deed, were to have had if the disturbance had not come on. They had Cleared a little before the disturbances, thinks about 12 acres in the whole before they left, had built a Log House, had 2 horses, 5 horned Cattle, and furniture. Says they joined Cpat. Macdonnel first in 1777, joined the Indians under Brant in '78.

Claim of James Parker
says he came from Scotland with Archibald Thompson. Settled as Partner in Tryon Co. Served in the Indian Department, They took up 100 acres, had not pd. anything, had not any Deed or Lease. They were to have paid £20. They Cleared 12 acres before they went away, most of it before ye Rebellion broke out. They had 2 horses & a Colt, 4 Cows & some young Cattle, the rebels got them all.

Claim of Jacob Stanburner, late of Tryon Co.
Had four sons who joined the British in '77. Had 500 acres in Harpersfield, Tryon Co. Bought in '72 Gave £50 for 300 acres & £30 for the other 200 acres. Cleared 25 acres. Had all the stock mentioned in his Schedule All seized in '77.

Claim of Alexr. McIntosh, late of Tryon Co.
Is a native of Scotland. Came to America in '73. Was settled at Harpersfield, Tryon Co. Joined the British in '78. Had 150 acres at Harpersfield; Tenant Land, on a Lease of 8 years without Rent & then for ever, paying 1 Six pe. pr. acre. He had 12 acres clear. Had house & barn. Had 9 Cows & 4 Calves, 1 mare, furniture, utensils.

Claim of John McKay, late of Harpersfield, Tryon County
He is a native of Scotland and came to America in 1773 & settled on Mr. Cartwright's Lands in Harpersfield, where he lived in 1775. Says he never joined the rebels. He did not join the British Army until 1780, before that he had been three times imprisoned. Says that he was obliged to fly for furnishing Provisions to the Army under Sir John Johnson. He had a large family to support. After he came in he ws a soldier in Sire John Johnson's Regt. Property - 150 acfres. No 81 in Harpersfield on Lease from Mr. Cartwright paying after the 1st 8 years 6d. Str. pr. acre. He had cleared 16 acres - it cost him £5 pr. acre clearing with House, Barn & Stable. He had a Horse & Cow & some grain, all taken by the rebels.

On average we can determine that only three to five acres per year were able to be cleared of the endless pine covered hills. What you can visualize at the time of the raid is snow covered evergreens, small plots of cleared acerage containing log cabins and barns, many of which had been burned in previous raids. On the lots being occupied by Tory sympathizers, you can see a very few animals, most of which would have been in or near the barns. Endless evergreen trees broken only by scattered sugarbushes.

Next, is the description of where each of the men were killed or captured. The Lot numbers can be seen on the map above. It is interesting to note how close the men were to each other. Joseph Brant had used the cover of the trees to hide his advance and spread his force, still concealed, to be near each of the locations where the men were working. Some were gathering sap, others were boiling and at least one man was asleep after watching the boiling through the night. The area covered by the raid was approximately 3000 acres or about 2 miles north to south and east to west. Although one would suspect sound would travel over those distances readily, we must remember the trees would mute that sound quickly and the raid was conducted simultaneously.

Lot 13:
Alexander Harper was returning from the Middle Fort where he had been reporting the latest intelligence on tory activity. According to several secondary sources listed below, he had just entered the Harpersfield Patent on the usual route. This put him on a path coming in past Lot 13 of the Patent. This lot had been purchased from John Harper, Jr. in 1776 by Samuel Claxton (spelled by Gould - Cloughston). He had been a Tory sympathizer and had helped Joseph Brant throughout the war. A deep snow had fallen the previous night and Alexander was on snowshoes. Note the bend in the road on the map above, about where the "L" of Lot 13 is located. According to one story, he had walked a straight past the Claxton house and near trees in front of the house, bent down to tighten the straps on his snowshoes. It was then that Joseph Brant and two of his warriors surprised Alexander and he was captured without resistance. Alexander had received a promotion to Captain of Rangers in the beat wherein he resides (meaning Harpersfield). His ranging responsibility was to continually gather intelligence on the activity of Tory sympathizers across the Harpersfield Patent and the Kortright Patent to the west. He also was responsible for reporting enemy movement coming toward the Schoharie Valley from the west. There were several ways the enemy could approach. These included using the West Branch of the Delaware, the Charlotte Valley up to Summit and then down into the Schoharie Valley.

On the day after his capture he wrote a letter to his wife. Click here to see a copy of the letter forwarded to Governor George Clinton in Albany.

Lot 57:
William Stephens was killed by Brant's warriors on this lot. William was a soldier in the First Regiment of the New York Continental line. He was in an advanced detachment sent to the Middle Fort by his commander Colonel Goose Van Schaik. The Colonel had assigned 200 men for duty at the Middle Fort in anticipation of trouble in 1780. As of this writing, I have not found the age of William Stephens at the time of his death.

Lot 37:
2nd Major Thomas Hendry was killed by Brant's warriors on this lot.

Lot 41:
Lieutenant James Hendry was killed by Brant's warriors on this lot. He arose to find an indian brandishing a tomahawk coming through the door. He caught the man by his clothing and drove his head into the fireplace which was ablaze with a hot fire. A second warrior followed along immediately after and drove a tomahawk into James Hendry's head.

Lot 84:
William Lamb, Sr., age 40, was working closely with his son at the time of the raid. He was captured immediately and his son took off running north toward the path to the Middle Fort. His father saw an Indian with tomahawk in hand running after the child and called out for him to stop. William Junior did and was also captured.

Lot 59:
William Lamb, Jr. was captured as soon as he stopped at his fathers becken call. He had made it as far as Lot 59 when the Indian persuing him took him captive. William Lamb, Jr. was only eleven years old when captured.

Lot 214:
Five men were working in the northwest corner of this lot. They likely were gathering sap in a sugarbush when captured. There names were:
Ezra Thorp, age 23
Freegift Patchin, age 22
Isaac Patchin, age 17
Walter Elliot, age unknown. Five days after the raid, Joseph Brant would send Elliot back to the Middle Fort to carry a letter in Mohawk to the commanding officer. The letter warned of mistreatment of British prisoners and the consequences. The translated letter can be seen here. Also being carried back was the letter Alexander Harper wrote to his wife on the day after the raid. He asks that Elizabeth harbor no bad thoughts about Walter Elliot. Based on an incidence in 1777 in which Walter Elliot was used as bail to release a Tory sympathizer from goal (jail) in Albany, he may have been somewhat of a fence sitter with both a desire to placate both sides. Returning as he did from captivity would have given Elizabeth immediate thoughts of anger seeing a person lacking clear convictions and the strength of character escaping certain privation at the expense of her husband and the others.
William Trumbull, age unknown.

On Monday, April 10th, Joseph Brant moved the captured six miles down to a point near present day Hobart. Specifically, the Brown's were working near the mouth of Town brook where it empties into the West Branch of the Delaware. Here David Brown had established a homestead along with his father. They had moved out from Stamford, Connecticut in 1769 and purchased 358 acres of Lot 2a in the Great Hardenburgh Patent south of the river. He had married and his wife had born at least 8 children for him. David had elected to remain neutral, a very dangerous position. How dangerous was discovered on that Monday when he and three of his eldest sons were captured by Brant.

The Brown's, along with the eight sugaring party captives were set out to making canoes for the travel down river. They worked for 2 days on the canoes and on Wednesday, April 12th they were down just below present day Delhi. At the mouth of Peak's brook where it meets the West Branch of the Delaware, David Brown makes a move that is perceived threating enough that a warrior tomahawked and scalped him. His bones were found many years afterwards.