THE BATTLE OF SCHELL’S BUSH

THE SCHELL BROTHERS

Johann Christian (Hannes Christ) Schell, an eighteen-year-old immigrant from Baden, Germany, arrived at the Port of Philadelphia on September 27, 1749, onboard the sailing ship The Isaac. His younger brother, nineteen-year-old Johannes John Schell, followed him to America three years later, arriving at the Port of Philadelphia from Germany in 1752 onboard the sailing ship The Forest.

In 1755, the brothers, being in their early twenties and well-educated, found their way to the Mohawk Valley in colonial New York with the intent to purchase farmland. As descendants of sturdy German Palatines and having a vast knowledge of agricultural practices, they purchased adjoining lots in the German settlement of Schell’s Bush, four miles north of Fort Dayton.

FORT DAYTON

Fort Dayton was constructed in the fall of 1776 on the site where old Fort Herkimer had once stood. The old fort was a blockhouse used during the French and Indian War of 1756. The newly built fort was constructed by the Third New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Army, supervised by Colonel Elias Dayton, who had received the building orders from General Phillip Schuyler. Fort Dayton was part of a chain of forts used for the Patriots’ defense throughout the Mohawk Valley during the American Revolution.

Fort Dayton originally encompassed the immediate area of the Historic Four Corners District on North Main Street in Herkimer, New York, with its boundaries being North Main Street, East German Street, North Washington Street, and Court Street. In the colonial era, this area was known as Stone Ridge. Its original site is marked with a memorial marker placed near the entrance of the “1884 Suiter House Museum” that stands within the Historic Four Corners District, which includes the 1873 Court House, the 1834 Herkimer County Jail, and the 1834 Dutch Reformed Church.

It was here at Fort Dayton that General Nicholas Herkimer formed a brigade of eight hundred Tryon County Militiamen. On August 4, 1777, Herkimer left this fort, commanding the newly formed militia brigade to Fort Stanwix as relief for the British-led siege. They were ambushed at Oriskany, a day’s march from Fort Stanwix, and a battle ensued, which became known as the Battle of Oriskany.

Johann Christian and Johann John Schell were Called to Arms and fought in this battle as Patriot soldiers in Herkimer’s brigade, in the company of Capt. Marx Petrie.

The brothers were commemorated for their service in the Continental Army as they defended their newly claimed home country by having their names etched on a monument at the Oriskany Battlefield.

The Herkimer County Historical Society Museum has a cabinet of curiosities exhibiting artifacts found during archaeological excavations from within the perimeters of old Fort Dayton, which took place in 2002 and 2015. An old well that supplied Fort Dayton with fresh water was also found.

JOHANN CHRISTIAN, A HUSBAND AND FATHER

Johann Christian married Maria Elizabeth Petrie of German Flatts in 1757. Maria Elizabeth was the daughter of Johan Jost Petrie, one of the original founders of Little Falls. Maria Elizabeth’s grandmother, a German Palatine immigrant of 1710, Anna Gurtruyd Von Ringh Petrie, was one of the ninety-two patentees who were gifted land by Governor Burnet in 1725 under the Burnetsfield Patent. Anna Gurtruyd received the best land lot of the patent, Lot 17, known as Stone Ridge, which consisted of eighty-six acres that encompassed the village of Herkimer.

Throughout their marriage, Johann Christian (1731-1782) and Maria Elizabeth (1735-1790) welcomed at least ten children: Johann Christian III (1758-1841), Maria Elizabetha (1760-1858), Augustinus Denis (1763-1882), Fredericus (Frederich) Christian (1764-1817), Anna Maria (1767-1859), Aneve (1768-1832), Marcus (Mark) Christian (1770-1845), Johann Heinrich (Henry) (1770-1859), Maria Catherina (1777-?), and Anna Eve (1780-1867).

TRYON COUNTY

Johann Christian was a leader amongst his peers at the Schell’s Bush settlement and owned one hundred acres in what was known in the mid-1700s as Lot 4 of the Great Glenn’s Purchase of Tryon County.

Tryon County received its name after Governor William Tryon, a Loyalist and the last provincial governor of New York. The county was formed under British rule from land separated from the westernmost part of Albany County in 1772. Albany County was formed in 1683 when the Province of New York, as a British colony, was first separated into twelve counties. The Province of New York came under British rule in 1664 when the colony was taken from the Dutch, who had ruled it since 1617.

Tryon County was soon divided into five districts: Mohawk, Palatine (which included the village of Herkimer), Canajoharie (which included the village of Little Falls, which explains why the little falls was called Canajoharie), German Flatts, and Kingsland. Johnstown was designated as the governing seat for Tryon County. The Tryon County Courthouse was constructed in 1772 at Johnstown under the personal direction of Johnstown’s founder, Sir William Johnson.

In 1784, Tryon County, no longer a Loyalist county after the Revolutionary War had come to a end, was renamed Mongomery County after the Revolutionary War hero General Richard Montgomery, an Irish-born Patriot. The courthouse then became known as the Montgomery County Courthouse. In 1791, Montgomery County was divided, forming the smaller counties of Montgomery County and Herkimer County.

As a side note, the governing seat for Montgomery County was moved to Fonda in 1837. In 1838, Montgomery County was split yet again to form Fulton County, named after Robert Fulton, who built the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807. In 1839, the newly formed Fulton County returned the governing county seat back to Johnstown with the purchase of the courthouse. The courthouse then became known as the Fulton County Courthouse, which is the oldest courthouse in New York State. It has been in continuous use for two hundred and fifty-two years since its construction, and the belfry still houses the original 1722 bell.

The governing seat for Herkimer County is located within the Historic Four Corners at the 1873 Herkimer County Courthouse. The first Herkimer County Courthouse was built in 1791 of wood and burned to the ground in January of 1834. It was immediately rebuilt with Judge Arpahaxed Loomis, a native of Little Falls, serving as the first judge of Herkimer County. The citizens of Little Falls had tried to move the county seat to Little Falls during this time but to no avail. In 1873, a new brick courthouse was built, which still stands proudly in place today.

Johann Christian built a large farm and a well-constructed blockhouse on his acreage in the settlement of Schell’s Bush, which was located on the north side of Shells Bush Road, halfway between Little Falls and Herkimer. Present-day Shells Bush Road lies in Herkimer County, which was named in 1791 after Revolutionary War hero General Nicholas Herkimer.

Schell, a well-read and informed man, sensed the possibility of a raid when he built the blockhouse with the intention of defending his family against Loyalists warring parties. For over seven years during the American Revolution, the Loyalists rangers, with their Indigenous Mohawk Indian allies, raided and burned without warning throughout the Mohawk Valley. They destroyed crops, barns, and gristmills as the Mohawk Valley was considered to be the “Bread Basket” of the Continental Army for their abundance of grain, which was grown mainly by German Palatines. Without food, the Patriots wouldn’t be able to carry on with thier revolution against Great Britain. The Loyalists also used muskets, tomahawks, and scalping knives against those who favored independence from British rule.

SCHELL’S BLOCKHOUSE

The two-story square blockhouse was built of fallen logs. The first story had just one entry opening, protected by a heavy door containing loopholes through which the Schells could fire upon the Loyalists raiders. The second story projected out over the first floor by a few feet, and it also contained loopholes on all sides for the Schells to fire their rifles perpendicularly upon their assailants. Schell and his family were well prepared for a siege with an ample supply of arms, ammunition, food, and water.

A Loyalists raiding party descended upon the settlement of Schell’s Bush at 2 p.m. on August 6, 1781, which became known in history as the Battle of Schell’s Bush.

Johann Christian, along with his older sons, were at the Schell Homestead working in a wheat field close to their barn when they were surprised by the Tory raiders. Johann Christian’s two youngest sons, ten-year-old twins Marcus and Johann Heinrich were gathering corn from a field near the wood’s edge. Not being able to reach his young sons, Schell and his older sons ran to the blockhouse for safety.

Johann John Schell and his sons were also working in their fields, cutting peas that fateful afternoon. Johann John and his family fled, along with many of the other inhabitants of the settlement, to Fort Dayton for protection.

EMPIE AND CASSELMAN

Two of the raiding Loyalists were William Empie (Empey) and Captain Cephrenus (Severinus) Wilhelm Casselman (Kasselman). Empie and Casselman were two noted traitors from Stone Arabia, Tryon County (known today as Montgomery County), who were imprisoned in the early part of the American Revolution in a Federal prison in East Granby, Connecticut, the New-Gate Prison. The New-Gate Prison was the first Federal prison of the Revolution. The prison was attached to a copper mine known as Simsbury Mines, which used prison labor to extract the copper ore.

Legend has it that Empie and Casselman, incarcerated with Loyalist Captain Daley and a fellow Tory, were all charged with treason and escaped to Canada on the eve of their execution. The four Loyalists made their escape by using yarn unraveled from a sock, which they dipped in acid to cut the iron rods of their cells. They left behind a miniature makeshift gallows with four dead mice, each hanging by a noose.

Casselman, one of Butler’s Rangers of Sir John Johnson’s King’s Royal Regiment, was part of the raiding party that attacked Rheimensnyder’s Bush in April 1780. Walter D. Edmunds most likely portrayed Casselman as the Loyalist villain Seffrenes Casselman in his book Drums Along the Mohawk.

A RAID AT SCHELL’S BUSH

The marauding war party, led by one of Sir John Johnson’s Scottish raiders, Donald McDonald, consisted of sixty or more Indigenous Mohawk Indians and King’s Men, who immediately besieged Schell’s blockhouse. They were held off by gunfire as Maria Elizabeth and her daughters loaded the muskets while Johann Christian and his sons fired with deadly aim. After some time, several attempts were made to set the blockhouse on fire, but to no avail.

McDonald then tried to force the door open with a crowbar when Johann Christian fired a shot, wounding McDonald in the leg. None of the raiders were near enough to rescue McDonald, with Schell, wasting no time, unbarred the door and dragged the wounded McDonald into the fortress, taking him prisoner. Johann Christian removed McDonald’s musket and ammunition, which was put to good use by the Schells as they continued to defend themselves.

Schell family lore also has Johann Christian removing a silvered tomahawk from McDonald’s possession. The tomahawk was said to have thirty scalp notches along its wooden handle.

With their leader, McDonald, captured, the raiders temporarily ceased the attack. Johann Christian then began to sing one of his favorite hymns, “A Firm Fortress Is Our Lord.”

Upon regrouping, the Loyalists then attacked the fortress with a vengeance, with one of Christian’s sons receiving a superficial wound. Five of the Indigenous Indians thrust their muskets into the loopholes to fire upon the Schells. With quick thinking, Maria Elizabeth took an axe and, with well-aimed blows, rendered the muskets useless. During this altercation, Johann Christian and his sons steadily fired at the raiders, causing them to retreat away from the walls of the blockhouse.

As dusk neared, Johann Christian had strategized a plan, which he began to implement. He cried out a false statement to his wife that relief was approaching and moments later shouted with all of his might, “Captain Getman, you had better bring your men up the left side.” With hope and a prayer said in earnest by Johann Christian, the Loyalists believed a relief contingent was arriving from Fort Dayton. The raiding party was soon to withdraw and fled into the woods, taking Johann Christian’s young sons, Marcus and Heinrich, as captives.

Johann Christian attended to the wounded McDonald as best he could, giving him bread and water before leaving him in the fortress as he retreated with his family to Fort Dayton. Members of the raiding party visited McDonald after the Schell family had left the fortress and found that McDonald’s wound was too great for traveling. They left McDonald at the Shell’s blockhouse at the mercy of the Patriots, with the message that the welfare of Johann Christian’s young sons depended on the treatment of their leader. The wounded McDonald was moved to Fort Dayton the following morning as a prisoner, where he underwent surgery to have his leg amputated, and his death came just a few hours later.

The Loyalists’ loss during the raid was quite severe, with eleven raiders killed and six wounded. After eight years, the twins returned to Schell’s Bush, stating that nine more Loyalists had lost their lives from the assault as they made their way to Upper Canada. The boys were held captive there for the first three years, making lifelong friends with the Indigenous Mohawk Indians as they learned their language. The boys were then sold to a British Officer, Captain Lewis, who oversaw their care, sending Marcus to apprentice with a tailor and taking Henrich as his companion on his expeditions. After five years in Captain Lewis’s care, the boys stated their desire to go home and were released.

SCHELL’S BUSH UNDER SIEGE AGAIN

A year had passed since the raid on Schell’s blockhouse when, in 1782, a party of Joseph Brant’s Indigenous Mohawk Indians had lain-in-wait- on their stomachs, concealed within the standing wheat, as they observed Johann Christian Schell and two of his sons, Augustinus Denis and Fredericus (Frederich) Christian thrashing wheat.

The Schell’s were fired upon in a sudden attack as they worked in the wheat field. Johann Christian was grieviously wounded when he called out to his sons not to let the enemy scalp him. The brave sons remained with their father as they waited for relief from Fort Dayton. Augustinus Denis was also severely wounded and died nine days later. Fredericus Christian was wounded in the thigh and, aided by crutches, limped for the remainder of his life. Aneve, Johann Christian’s fourteen-year-old daughter, was scalped, and the Schell Homestead was burned to the ground.

Johann Christian was moved to Fort Dayton, where he succumbed to his bullet wound three days later on the 6th of July, at the age of fifty-one years, thus passed the life of a brave, devout Christian Revolutionary War hero. Johann Christian Schell is buried in the 1834 Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery at the Historic Four Corners District in Herkimer, New York.

A memorial marker erected in 1908 by the Astenrogen Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, was placed at the site of the old Schell Homestead on the north side of Shells Bush Road, halfway between Little Falls and Herkimer, which commemorates the Battle of Shell’s Bush and the bravery of Johann Christian Schell, his wife Maria Elizabeth, and their children.

*From The Cooney Archive’s: This Day In History by Louis W. Baum JR, Digitizing of historical photos by Gail & Mike Potter, Article written by Darlene Smith