1690 — Feb 8, Massacre, French and Indians attack colonists, Schenectady, NY — 60

—  60  Childs. A History of the U.S. In Chronological Order…1492…to…1885.  1886, p. 17.

—  60  Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America. In Drake 1836, p. 170.

—  60  Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 85.

—  60  Reynolds.  Albany Chronicles: A History of the City… 1906, p. 121.

—>60  Thompson. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil…in Three Parts. 1842, Part II, p. 4.

—  60  Withrow, William Henry. A Popular History of the Dominion of Canada… 1878, p. 157.

 

Narrative Information

 

Childs:  “The French in Canada organized three expeditions, composed of French and Indians, to devastate the English colonies. One party entered the village of Schenectady on the night of the eighth of February, surprised the inhabitants when asleep, and set the town on fire. Sixty men, women, and children were massacred, and twenty-seven carried away prisoners; the rest fled, nearly naked, towards Albany.” (Childs, Emery E.  A History of the United States In Chronological Order From…1492 to the Year 1885. 1886, pp. 17-18.)

 

Drake:  “1690. Feb 2.[1] – Schenectady in New York is taken and destroyed by the French and Indians, who kill 60 people and capture 27.”  (Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836.  In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836, p. 170.)

 

Reynolds:  “The French reach the trail leading to Corlaer (Schenectady) under Sieur Le Moyne de Sainte Helene and Lieut. Daillebout de Mantet, and decide to attack that place first, rather than Al­bany, with about 100 men and as many Indians. At 11 o’clock, it being decided because of the severity of the winter night to wait no longer, detachments approach the various city gates, which through laxity were found unprotected. The village was stockadoed with pine logs ten feet high, with gates at the north and south ends of Church street. It is stated that there were within the wall about eighty houses shielding nearly four hundred souls. A stockade fort at the north end of Church street, where it meets Front street, held a garrison detachment of 24 men of Capt. Jonathan Bull’s Connecticut company, under Lieut. Talmadge, sufficient to make repulse. The signal of attack was given Indian fashion, when detachments were at each gate, and the torch was applied, everyone being killed by the sword as in midnight fear they rushed from their abodes. Only two houses were standing at the end of two hours,— that of Sander Glen, across the Mohawk, because of previous kind­ness shown to the French, and of the widow Bratt, whither the wounded M. de Montigny was carried. Pieter Schuyler (in his letter of the 15th, to Gov. Bradstreet of Massachusetts) states : ” The whole village was instantly in a Blaze. Women with child (were) ripped open, and their Infants cast into the Flames, or dashed against Posts of the Doors. Sixty Persons perished in the Massacre, and twenty-seven were carried into Captivity. The rest fled naked towards Albany thro’ a deep Snow which fell that very Night in a terrible Storm ; and twenty-five of these Fugitives lost their Limbs in the Flight, thro’ the Severity of the Frost.” It is said the invaders lost but one Frenchman and one Indian during the massacre, but twenty-one were lost on the road, Feb. 8.”  (Reynolds.  Albany Chronicles. 1906, p. 121.)

 

Withrow:  “In midwinter, Frontenac organized three expeditions to ravage, with fire and sword, the British colonies. Early in February, two hundred men, half French and half Indians, under the command of Lieutenants Mantel and Sainte Helene, left Montreal. For two-and-twenty days, they traversed the wintry, snow-encumbered woods…till they reached the vicinity of Albany.  Deterred from attacking that place in their exhausted condition, they turned aside to the neighbouring village of Corlaer, now Schenectady, containing some eighty wooden houses….in two hours, sixty men, women, and children were wantonly butchered, their blood crimsoning the snowy ground.  Twenty-eight were taken prisoners, and every house was reduced to ashes.  It was not war; it was midnight murder.  A few half-naked wretches escaped through the blinding snow-storm, to Albany.” (Withrow, W. H.. A Popular History of the Dominion of Canada from the Discovery of America to the Present Time. Boston, MA: B. B. Russell, 1878, p. 157.)

 

Sources

 

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836.  In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=NUwMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Flexner, Doris and Stuart Berg Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem – From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007. New York: Harper Collins, 2008.

 

Reynolds, Cuyler. Albany Chronicles: A History of the City Arranged Chronologically. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, Printers, 1906. Digitized by Google. Accessed 10-22-2017 at:   http://books.google.com/books?id=XNU0AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical, in Three Parts. Burlington, VT: Chauncey Goodrich, 1842. Google preview accessed 2-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8BUzAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Withrow, William Henry. A Popular History of the Dominion of Canada from the Discovery of America to the Present Time. Boston, MA: B. B. Russell, 1878. Google digitized. Accessed 1-30-2013: http://books.google.com/books?id=VBMwAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

[1] Sources cited as well as others not cited are consistent on dating the event Feb 8.