Greg Ketcham wrote:
>the stockade Lafayette ordered constructed in 1778 to protect the Oneidas.
>... I would appreciate any pointers to documentation on the
>Oneida stockade. I have seen secondary references to it's construction;
>would appreciate pointers to primary references.
I've been in touch with Michael J. Stenzel, the DMNA Webmaster, about some
of the forts in the Oneida Region and he is very receptive to any
improvements and additions to the web pages. He will be fixing the
error-filled report of the so-called "Fort Canaseraga" and I am in the
process of submitting the data on Fort Van Dyke, which was built at Oneida
Castle at the recommendation of Lafayette in 1778.
Just a few notes about Fort Van Dyke:
It was contemplated in 1777, ordered in 1778, not started until 1779,
completed February 1779. It's location is shown on the 1813 Randall Map of
Oneida Castle, Surveyor General's Collection Map #131 and when I
investigated the site in 1990 I found it to be overly intact indicating it
had been entirely rebuilt at some recent point. How accurate the
reconstruction is I do not know. What I saw was approximately 60 feet
square and is pin-wheel shaped like Fort Williams which had been built at
the Oneida Carry in 1758.
Dan W.
*****
Letter from Jonathan Copp to Colonel Van Dyck
Dated at Fort Van Dyck, January 27, 1779
Willis T. Hansen Collection, NYS Library, AU 7002-18
"Dear Colonel Fort Van Dyck January 27th 1779
"Mr. Dean was with me this Morning with the Request from the Indians that
I would apply to you for some Provisions. They urge that on Account of
laboring for the Fort they are prevented from hunting. Mr. Dean is of
Opinion that it would be expedient to serve them with a Barrel of Beef to
sweeten their Broth with, as they term it; they likewise are desirous of a
little hot water, but the Want of this may be dispensed with. -- The Fort
will be encircled with Pickets Tomorrow. We only want Plank to finish.
There are two Swivels which the Indians wish to have mounted, if you think
proper they shall be sent to Fort Schuyler in Order to have the Iron Work
finished which is necessary to mount them. The Indians arrived from Cauga,
bringing no material Intelligence -- they report that all the Men are gone
to Niagara, excepting a few who are not able to go. As they belong to this
tribe, their Business was to return the Belt brought hither by Wm Johnston.
"I am dr Colonel
"Your obedient
"Jno Copp
"Col: Van Dyck."
Addressed to: Colonel Van Dyck
Commanding
Fort Schuyler
*****
A few additional notes for digestion (sources follow):
1778
"Marquis Le Feiatt has sent an Engineer to the Onida Castle ..." The
"Indians are Determined to join the Marquis, as soon as a Small Picquet
Fort is Completed which he (the engineer) is now at work upon at Onida to
secure the families of those & other Indians who stay behind ..." (Clinton
1900 III:118 #1242)
March 1778
At council with Schuyler and LaFayette at Johnstown the Oneidas and
Tuscaroras privately "represented the fear of attack from the other tribes
and requested that a fort be built at the main Oneida village of
Kanowalohale and that a body of troops be quartered among them. Schuyler
acquainted LaFayette with their requests, and the latter, soon after the
close of council, ordered the erection of a small picket fort for the
Oneidas." (Graymont 1972:163-164)
May 1, 1778
Letter from Col. Jacob Clock to George Clinton, dated at Palatine 5/1/1778:
"... Some Considerable Time ago I was ordered by the Marquis de Lafayette,
who then commanded the Northern Department, to draft eighty Men to be sent
to Oneida for a month to build a Fort to protect the Indians of the Vilage
..." (Clinton 1900 III:251 #1345)
January 31, 1779
James Clinton has ordered a fort to be built at the Oneida Castle. (Clinton
1900 IV:529 #2063)
Fort Van Dyck at Oneida Castle is completed in February (1779) and is
garrisoned by the First New York Regiment. 33 men remain in the fort until
April. (Egly 1981:119) (February 26) Capt. Copp is in command of Fort Van
Dyck, a small stockade in the Oneida or Onondaga country. (Durant 1878:139)
New York Line, First Regiment; William Carr, private, inlisted March 19,
1777 for three years, (in March 1779) on command at Fort Van Dyck; John
Eckler, private, inlisted December 23, 1776 for three years, (in March
1779) on command at Fort Van Dyck. (NYHS 1916:352-353)
On June 18, 1780 four Oneida chiefs met with Col. Van Dyck, commander at
Fort Stanwix to express their concerns of safety for their families. This
"appeal came too late to save the Oneidas." One June 24 a number of
Rangers and Indians arrived at Old Oneida (present Sherrill, NY) to
threaten and persuade the Oneidas to join their brethren at Niagara. The
following day a Seneca war party arrived and after a council the Oneidas
"unanimously agreed to come off." (Graymont 1972:234-235)
December 1780
From the diary of John Barr, ensign of the 4th Reg. of the Continental
line: (December 1780) "Saturday 9th ...We went to Oneida Castle after
corn"; "Monday 11th Capt. Gray returned...fetched some Corn & Potatoes and
two Swivels which he found at the Oneida Castle & reports that there is one
Thousand Bushels of corn there Yet." (Lauber 1932:844)
Sources
Clinton, George, 1900, _Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of
New York_. Vol. III. J.B.Lyon. Albany, NY
Durant, Samuel W., 1878, _History of Oneida County New York_. Everts &
Fariss. Philadelphia, PA
Egly, T.W. Jr., 1981, _History of the First New York Regiment 1775-1783_.
Peter E. Randall
Graymont, Barbara, 1972, _The Iroquois in the American Revolution_.
Syracuse University Press. Syracuse, NY
Lauber, Almon W. (ed.), 1932, _Orderly Books of the Fourth New York and
Second New York Regiments_. University of the State of New York. Albany, NY
New York Historical Society, 1916, _Collections of the New-York Historical
Society for the Year 1915: Muster and Pay Rolls of the War of the
Revolution 1775-1783_. Vol. II. Printed for the Society. New York, NY
Stone, William L., 1838, _Life of Joseph Brant_. 2 Vol. Munsell. Albany, NY
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