http://www.rootsweb.com/~nysarato/Sylvester/chap33a.html VIII. - BURIAL-PLACES. Like most other towns along the river, the places of early burial are numerous, and many of them simply on private grounds, subject, unfortunately, to all the changes of ownership, likely at times to fall into the hands of men with no sensibility or feeling on the subject, perhaps sooner or later to be lost to view. The nameless and unnumbered dead of the battle-fields rest everywhere without order or system over several square miles, extending from George Ensign's to Henry Newland's, and from Ebenezer Leggett's to Bemus Heights tavern. No monuments mark their myriad burial-places, and no memorial-stones tell either name or deeds or date. Whigs and royalists, Englishmen and Americans mingled, "in one red burial blent." No thunder of cannon disturbs their deep repose, no bugle-blast wakens them from their long sleep. The ages shall come and go, wars shall desolate other lands, battles shall redden other fields, but the heroes of Bemus Heights long ago fought their last fight. They were buried upon the field of their valor, and their fame has passed into the keeping of the world's imperishable records. The following is a list, perhaps imperfect, of burial-places in town: The new and beautiful cemetery above Stillwater village; the burial-ground over the canal; one near the Methodist chapel; the ancient yard at the Yellow meeting-house; the burial-place at the old Baptist church; the Ketcham family ground, at the corners of that name; the one near Ezra Munger's; the Ensign burial-lot, on one of the finest bluffs of the river hills, overlooking the valley for many miles; the Ruebottom and Vandenburg family lot, on the farm of Mr. Hill; and the one at Bemus Heights, the most fearfully neglected of all. - PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST X. - PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST. In this respect the town equals any other in the county. Within its limits culminated the great events of the Burgoyne campaign. Here were fought the battles that compelled the surrender at Schuylerville. Strategic points in the march of armies, and their various positions and encampments, are found in abundance through all this valley. The sites of skirmishes, of single midnight attacks, of heroic defenses, are everywhere to be found in the county from "Half-Moon Point" to Baker's Falls, and from the Hudson on the east to the hills that border the west. But in Stillwater there are battle-fields that have challenged the attention of the world; battle-fields where men perished in masses; where the autumnal sun of 1777 shone on hills and plains red with the fearful slaughter of a hotly-contested struggle. A noted writer has counted the battle of Oct. 7 as one of the "fifteen decisive battles of the world." Sweeping down through the sixty centuries of human history, and concentrating its decisive epochs into fifteen, Oct. 7, 1777, is named as one. Unrolling the map of the globe, and looking for the sites of these fifteen memorable contests, Stillwater gathers to itself the glory of one. The time may come in distant ages when the minor events of history shall be lost; when the connecting links shall disappear in the dim past; when the details of campaigns shall grow briefer and still briefer under the effacing hand of receding years; but even then, when the battle history of the world shall be reduced to a few brief points, then STILLWATER, will remain on the record, its glorious deeds secure from the destroying touch of time. Just above the present bridge at Stillwater village was the ancient ferry. Its history no doubt reaches back to the middle of the last century, if not even to the date 1732, which is upon the house of Alfred Gray, on the east side of the river. Over this ferry the first settlers passed from the earlier settled portions of Rensselaer county, and from the New England States to their homes west of the Hudson. And here the army of Burgoyne is said to have crossed on rafts, after the surrender, and from this point took up their line of march through the eastern States for Boston. About a mile northwest of Stillwater Village, on a wooded hill, are remains of intrenchments. The origin of these is not certain. Local tradition assigns them to the French and Indian war of 1756, or to some still earlier period. They may, however, be the works commenced by General Gates, in 1777, on the return of the army from Van Schaick's island, and before it was decided to fortify Bemus Heights. In the village of Stillwater, the Dirck Swart house was deemed worthy of being engraved for Lossing's "Field-Book of the Revolution." It was erected before the Revolutionary war, and no doubt appears now as it did in the olden time, except that it has been kept painted, and perhaps been newly sided. When the northern army in the campaign of 1777 was on the retreat southward, it encamped for a time on the hill where now the Presbyterian and Catholic churches are situated. Just below, on the southeast, General Schuyler had his headquarters at the house of Dirck Swart. It was here that Lieutenant Stockwell and Colonel Willett, escaping from Fort Stanwix and getting through the wilderness, found General Schuyler and asked for help. In this same house was held the council of war, at which Schuyler favored sending reinforcements and his officers opposed. It was here that he overheard an officer remark, "He means to weaken the army," and unconsciously bit his pipe in several pieces in the height of his indignation. It was this council that he abruptly ended by personally assuming the responsibility and accepting Arnold's offer to head a relief-party. It might be noticed that the second term of the circuit court for the new county of Saratoga was held at the Presbyterian church in Stillwater, June 4, 1792. Tracing the river northward, we enter upon the grand historic points of the battle-grounds of Sept. 19 and Oct. 7, 1777. The tavern of John Bemus, whose name was applied to the near uplands west and north, stood on the river-road, as it now runs near the canal, not on the site of the present hotel of Elias Hewitt, but farther north, on a rounded knoll, in the corner between the river-road and the one leading westerly, and just south of the present Dunscomb place. Here may still be seen the old well of the tavern, two or three fruit-trees ancient enough in appearance to have been growing when General Gates was here, and a venerable lilac-bush by the roadside. From near the spot occupied by the house a breastwork extended to the river, reaching the bank just north of the west end of the old float-bridge, marked at the present time by a single buttonwood-tree, formed of two widely-diverging trunks, There was a battery placed here, the remains of which are still to be seen. Here, too, in the vicinity of this same old tavern site, must we commence looking for the line of intrenchments, "three-quarters of a mile in length," thrown up by the army of General Gates on the brow of the river-hill. This line had three batteries; one at each extremity, the other near the centre. The one at the southern end was on the ground occupied by the present school-house or a little southeast of it. The shooting practiced in that old battery was not exactly the same as the present school-ma'ams inculcate when "teaching young ideas how to shoot." To find the site of the second battery, cross the ravine just north of the Dunscomb House, and on the summit of this hill, nearly opposite the canal-bridge, let the best military man in the party choose the ground, for the broad summit has so often been plowed in the hundred years now closing that any attempt at precise location will be difficult, and have quite an element of uncertainty about it. But that this was the summit crowned by the central battery is certain, from the maps of all the authors who have written of the great struggle. Traveling farther north along the line, the position of the battery at the northern extremity will be found on a projecting spur of the hills near the corner of an orchard, and a little northeast of the grave-stones which mark the burial-place of the Vandenburg and Reubottom families. This is on the farm of Mr. Hill, who lives just east, at the foot of the range across the canal. That that was the site of the battery is proved not only by the maps, but by the statement of Mr. Hill that he himself plowed down the intrenchments at that point. This place, too, is described by some writers as the "northeastern angle" of the first intrenchments, at which the east and west line was begun after the battle of the 19th. From this point may be obtained a splendid view of the "alluvial fiats" lying between the hills and the river, narrowed down to a few rods in width at Bemus Heights, where General Gates had fortified the southern extremity, and also narrowed in the same way at Wilbur's basin, where General Burgoyne soon after held the northern pass. The line of the hills is nearly straight, and the river makes a grand curve. It is plain, even to unmilitary eyes, how superior this place is to that at Stillwater village for the purpose of resisting the march of an invading army down the valley. The plain common sense of the Stillwater farmers in the camp, united with the trained engineering skill of Kosciusko, made no mistake when, together, they decided to fortify this pass. The hills near Stillwater village were too distant from the river and from the main road along its banks. Besides the one line from the hills to the river at Bemus' tavern, with its battery by the float-bridge, there was an independent work - not connected to the line of the hills - on the south side of what is sometimes called Mill creek, though just why it has this name old residents find it difficult to explain. The work consisted of a battery at the bank of the river, and a line of intrenchments extending a few rods northwesterly nearly parallel to the creek. Whatever there was of this creek being in late years diverted to the canal, it is only the dry bed of the little stream that is to be seen east of the canal during the summer. The mouth of this creek may easily be found, however, on the farm of Mr. Hill, - before spoken of, - by going to the river on a line bearing a little northeast from his house. South of the creek are very clearly seen the remains of the embankment. These batteries and intrenchments thus described constituted the principal American works at or before the first battle. Traveling now through the northern neck of the alluvial flats (Wilbur's basin), and looking for the historical positions of the British army, we commence northward, just within the town of Saratoga. The "Sword house," supposed to be so called because occupied by a man of that name, may be in some dispute among writers, but local tradition, universal and precise in this case, together with much written historical authority, sustains the following description. The "Sword house" was situated on the present farm of Tunis Flamburg, a little northwest of Robert Searles' residence, across the canal, and just southwest of the farm-bridge. It was a large, gambrel-roofed house, with a wide, old-fashioned hall, through which a yoke of cattle might be driven. Benjamin Searles, father of Robert, took the building down in after-years, and the timber was put into the family residence on the river-road, where Mr. Searles now lives. That house was burned in 1861. -----Original Message----- From: SLWillig [mailto:valcour@earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2002 10:58 AM To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [A-REV] Old cemeteries long gone Hi, everyone... Below please find a piece transcribed from *The History of Saratoga County, New York* by Nathaniel Sylvester, 1893. This paragraph mentions the disappearance of an old burying ground at Bemus Heights, where a great battle took place within the Battle of Saratoga in the fall of 1777. It is interesting that the author, whose work was published in 1893, was lamenting the disappearance of the old burying ground. It had become a hog pasture. 'Tis a theme that is echoed today, more than two centuries later... Susan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ezra BUELL was here before the Revolution. His name is frequent in the early records and early history. He was in the battles of Bemus Heights, and was the old guide who went over the battleground with visitors for many years. He was the first crier of the county court. He was a bachelor. His home was with the BACON family. He was buried at Bemus Heights, in the old burial ground. Upon the fallen stone lying upon the grave may be read, "Major Ezra BUELL. Died October 23, 1838, aged ninety. He was a noted Whig in the time of the Revolution, guide to the army." Charles ENSIGN, of the present hotel in Stillwater, well remembers being sent from his father's tavern up the river, when a little boy, to bring Major BUELL to assist visitors in studying up the battleground. The graveyard where the old major sleeps deserves a better destiny than to be turned into a hog pasture, as it now is. The patriotism that would crown these summits with a monument to the memory of the great conflict, may well devote a portion of its strength to marking the late resting place of the individuals who fought and won in this decisive battle." Transcribed by S.L. Willig, 2002 ==== AMERICAN-REVOLUTION Mailing List ==== ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237