This period includes early Little Falls settlements and the impact of the Revolutionary War on local residents. For more information on the Little Falls Historical Society Museum collection, please contact us at the museum.
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NOTE: Blue icons identify events that can be referenced at the Little Falls Historical Society Museum.
A letter from a British official, John Bradstreet, to the Petries: “I am directed by his Excellency General Amherst to acquaint you both of his being informed of your obstructing his Majesty’s Service at the Little Falls. If you do immediately desist from such insolent behavior, he will treat you both with the severity your Crimes deserve.”
The Bradstreet letter was important because, outside the Water Powers, these and adjoining lots east were valuable as they controlled the carrying place around the Falls of the river, and the leases of lands for taverns, stores, and the license of passing the lands went with the title.
With the Seven Years War, Britain acquires territory from France’s Great Lakes region.
The British parliament passed the Stamp Act to raise money from the colonists to recover the costs of soldiers stationed in North America.
British soldiers fired into a group of colonial protesters killing five in what is known as the Boston Massacre.
Businessmen, disguised as Indians, throw 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbor to be known as the Boston Tea Party.
Alexander Ellice had purchased land from Warrener Deygerth and Jost Herkimer Jr., lots 12 and 13 of the Burnetsfield Patent at the little falls in 1773, and on September 17, 1774 contracted with Ebenezer Cox to build a mill and millhouse at that place.
April 19 During the “shot heard around the world”, hastily assembled minutemen, repulsed the British at Lexington and Concord.
June 16 Battle of Bunker Hill was a hard fought battle between colonials and the British. While the British forces claimed victory, over 1,000 British soldiers had been wounded or killed with many officers having lost their lives in the conflict. This battle became the bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary War.
On the fourth of July, the Second Continental Congress proclaimed the Declaration of Independence.
United States Declaration of Independence 1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy
With the Revolutionary War about to visit the New York frontier, General Nicholas Herkimer and 380 Tryon County Militia left his home near Little Falls to meet with Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Loyalist Indian, at Unadilla on the Susquehanna River. His mission was to get a pledge of neutrality from Brant, which he did not get. Brant and his Indian allies ravaged the Mohawk Valley during the war.
Finding that Barry St, Ledger had massed troops and loyalists at Oswego in preparation to invade the Mohawk Valley, General Nichols Herkimer issued a proclamation calling for all men from sixteen to sixty to arm themselves and prepare to march to Fort Stanwix in defense of the valley. Men over sixty were to defend the homes.
At his home just east of Little Falls, General Nicholas Herkimer died of his wounds suffered at the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777. He had led the Tryon County militia to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix (Schuyler) when his forces were ambushed by British troops, Royalists, and Indians in a battle deemed by many as the “bloodiest battle” of the Revolutionary War.
The Rheimensnyders Bush mill and settlement, located east of the yellow church, on the Salisbury Road, just north of Little Falls was burned by a party of sixty British and Indians, and many inhabitants were carried off to Canada.
A war party of Indians, accompanied by the loyalist MacDonald, struck the Shell settlement northwest of Little Falls. John Christian Shell defended his blockhouse, but two young boys were captured and taken to Canada.
Not too far from the Shell blockhouse, Lt. Solomon Woodworth and his scouting party were ambushed by Indians. Woodworth and 21 other brave patriots were killed in a matter of minutes.
British general Lord Cornwallis surrenders to American and French forces at Yorktown, Virginia.
Around this time, a band of nearly 300 Royalists and Iroquois Indians, attacked and destroyed the Petrie grist mill at Little Falls killing several occupants and forcing others into captivity in Canada. The event occurred one year after the revolutionary War had “unofficially” ended.
George Washington toured the upper Hudson Valley, the Saratoga and Lake George areas, and the Mohawk Valley to thank the citizens for their steadfast support and efforts during the Revolutionary War. At the little falls, he allegedly spoke about the need to build a canal to facilitate the movement of men and materials around the rapids. A decade later, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company canal was built.
King George lll declares the thirteen colonies “free and independent” as delegates sign the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War.
The first house and store in Little Falls, was the home of Mr. John Porteous, commonly known as the “Yellow House” situated on lots 12 and 13 of the Burnetsfield Patent. It also became the first hotel in Little Falls. Past its doors on Sixth Street, near Furnace Creek, went the stages on their way to and from Albany and Utica, and at its table the hungry traveler’s appetite was satisfied.
c. 1790
Probably the first bridge to be built across the Mohawk River was a footbridge at Little Falls in this year, at the location of the current South Ann Street Bridge.
March 15, 1790
County Commissioners issued John Porteous a license “to retail Strong Liquors” presumably at his home/ store/ tavern at the little falls.
Little Falls Historical Society Museum
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