Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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18, THE SENIOR ANNUAL. in a great General Herkimer and the Mohawk Valley Dutchmen. part, to After the battle many of the wounded were borne from the field upon rude lit- ters, among whom was the brave General He home, which is still standing, about two Herkimer. was taken to his own miles east of Little Falls, on the south the Mohawk On the the wound bank of river. battlefield Dr. William Petrie, but he himself, be- was dressed by ing wounded, could not accompany the General. He was now attended by an- other physician and nine days after the battle leg . French surgeon. his by a the was amputated It was done in most unskillful manner, being cut off square and not enough flesh left for it to heel up properly. Colonel Willett called upon him soon after the operation and found him sit- ting up in bed, contentedly smoking his Hemorrhage ensued and the Gen- He presence pipe. eral realized that his end was near. asked for his Bible and in the of his family, he read the thirty-eighth His the book slipped from his fingers, and sink- psalm. voice grew weaker, upon his pillow, General Herkimer, a Christian August 16, 1777. ing back Hero, died On October fourth following, the Con- tinental Congress voted the erection of a monument to his memory of the value of five hundred dollars. This amount was afterward increased by Congress, the New York Legislature and by private subscriptions to more than ten thousand dollars. To-day, on Oriskany Battle- field, stands a beautiful monument in the form of an obelisk, which was erected in 1884, Awarded the prize of a ten-dollar gold piece offered annually by the Daughters of the American Revolution for the best essay. Salem Witchcraft. BY CELIA GRAVES. es E occurences of February 1692, mark the beginning of the saddest period in our country’s history. occurrences, known as the Salem Witch- craft, made a blot on the otherwise fair These lives of our colonial forefathers. Although the witchcraft delusion lasted less than a year, nineteen supposed witches were hung and one man was pressed to death, because he refused to plead either “guilty” or “‘not guilty”. It is barely possible for us in the enlightened twentieth century to realize the horrors of this witchcraft. read the accounts of it we are inclined to shudder and think of it as a fearful story rather than as the truth. Let us look at the conditions of people’s minds and of the country at that time and we may be able to judge more leniently the in- stigators of witchcraft in the colonies. England, France and Germany were hanging and burning witches in the Seventeenth century and they were equally superstitious in other respects. Bishop Jewell of England, while preach- ing before Queen Elizabeth, urged that all witches and sorcerers be punished, saying that through their demoniacal acts AS we ‘“‘your grace’s subjects pine away even unto death, their color fadeth; their flesh rotteth”. As the Pilgrims left England about this time, it is not sur- prising to find them very superstitious. The conditions in eastern Massachu- setts might easily foster superstitious fears in that colony. Instead of the improvements and protections of our day these people were surrounded by a primi- tive forest overrun with the dreaded Indians. ‘The most learned scholars of the time believed that these Indians were

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. 1%: been sitting, and cried, which he had “Tf you will have it so, the blood be up- on your heads!” Waving his sword in the air, he gave the sharp command in which all the eight hundred “Vorwarts!” The troops were soon pressing forward the a voice could hear, all unconscious of ambuscade two miles away. General Herkimer’s forces entered the east side of the ravine, crossing on the log road. As they were pressing up the western slope, a rifle shot rang out and Colonel Cox fell this was a signal for action, from his horse. As if rifle shot and war whoop now rang out from behind every tree and bush. At the first shot, down General Herkimer spurred the hill, and rallying his men, succeeded in drawing his horse them up the slope. Colonel Visscher Caugh- nawaga the eastern hill when the firing began, now fled, followed by many of the Indi ans. At this moment when General Herki- mer had got his troops into a semblance the were on and company, who of order, he received a bullet in his leg, which at the same time killed his horse. He was placed upon his saddle under a nearby beech tree, and having lighted his pipe, continued to order the battle with the utmost firmness and composure until the enemy retreated. The struggle continued with great fury for three-quarters of an hour. ‘The enemy discontinued the fire and charged with the bayonet. Never did brave men stand a charge with more dauntless cour- age and the enemy made no impression. At this moment a severe storm burst upon the fighters, causing them to seek shelter. I can see the brave old patriot leader seated calmly underneath the beech tree while the storm rages fearfully around him. His buff-faced, blue coat is ordered and blood-stained. On his face dis- is a look of pain, but his eager eyes scan the His now obeyed and every movement of enemy. orders are implicitly with the utmost confidence. In the early part of the engagement, Indian the now when a rifle was discharged, an would rush forward and tomahawk marksman. General Herkimer formed his men farther up the plateau the south and ordered two men fire, toward to stand behind each tree, one to while the other loaded. On one of the most untimely hot days, the battle was renewed with increasing fury. About 3 p. m., Willett made his sortie from the fort. Hearing Colonel the guns, the British wished to close the engagement, and Colone! Butler executed a stratagem which nearly accomplished that object. a detachment of Royal Greens, that they They approached from the direction of Fort Stanwix directly toward Captain Gardi- 3ut his sharp eye detected the He so changed the dress of closely resembled the Americans. nier. disguise and many of them were slain, while the rest fled in The Indians, weary and discouraged, after six hours of hard fighting, now raised the retreating cry of “Oonah!”, ““Oonah!” and fled in every direction, leaving the Tryon County militia and confusion. volunteers masters of the field. Sad, but yet victorious, was the re- turn down the valley of those who sur- vived the ever to be remembered Battle of Oriskany—one of the bloodiest, hard- est fought and most decisive battles of the American Revolution. Burgoyne expected Colonel St. Leger to join him with his forces at Albany. Had this happened, the British would have had control of the Hudson, and New England would have been separated from the other colonies. But now Colonel St. Leger could never join Burgoyne and the whole British army was captured at Saratoga. This honor and glory is due,

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Tuk SENIOR ANNUAL. 19. worshippers of Satan and workers of his There is nothing more startling than the arts. to a superstitious person mysterious sounds of a wilderness, unless it be the awe-inspiring stillness of the forest. Is it that these with witchcraft taught them same strange colonists, in their creed, when brought face to face they could not that Satan Since they with things explain, should come believe had among them? witchcraft, they found excuse for execut- ing witches in the Scripture injunction, ‘Tho shalt not suffer a witch to live”. At the time of the delusion the Rev- erend Samuel Parris was pastor of a church in Salem village, now Danvers. His nine year old daughter Elizabeth, with her cousin, Abigail Williams, and other the habit of passing the winter evenings by studying palmistry and Influenced by these studies, the children make believed in several playmates, was. in other magic. began to gestures and utter loud, As these actions continued, the parents became anxious and sent for a physician. At that time little was known of nervous and that the physician announced that the girls had been bewitched. The colony was now thrown into a general excitement. ‘The girls were much pleased by the attention paid them and they performed before the villagers who flocked to see them. The three children did not at first accuse anyone, but as they began to hear suggestions to the effect that some- one was bewitching them, they finally persuaded themselves that this was the truth. Then they were asked who had bewitched them, they cried out ‘‘Good”, “Osburn”, “‘Tituba”. We can hardly believe that no one thought that these girls might be playing a part. As their accusations grew more dreadful they added fainting, raving and sobbing to their accomplishments. At first, they strange incoherent cries. diseases hysterics, so said that they were merely pinched by later they told of visions in saw murders committed by witches; which they the accused. Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and Tituba were arrested soon after their accusations. The first two were unfortunates of the village, while the latter was a super- stitious Indian woman whom Mr. Parris had brought from the West Indies. By reading the examination one can readily see the innocence of Sarah Osburn and Mrs. have had a firm belief in the guilt of the Good, but the judges seemed to prisoners. It is possible that there was more justice in Tituba’s arrest, for she had filled the minds of the children with Her testimony was much enlivened by herimagination. We can almost here her telling of flying and creeping things, the black dog, and the yellow bird. She endeavored to free her- self from suspicion by throwing blame superstitious ideas. on others. Let us see what it was thought that these witches could do. A witch was believed to have sworn allegiance to the devil. As soon as she had completed this compact, she set about tormenting others. It was thought that she had imps in the form of spiders, which she could send where she could not go. If neither herself nor her imps couid go, she had only to make a rag puppet and treat this as she wished to treat the person represented. The girls would complain that pins were pricking their flesh and they even pro- duced these pins in court as proof of the witches’ design upon them. The story of the Coreys is very path- etic. Martha Corey a Christian woman, pure and devout in her manner of living, and she did not believe in the power of witches. Giles Corey, her husband, was deeply interested in the subject and he attended all the meetings of the witch persecutors. Husband and cats, dogs and was