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BRANT’S RAID THE BATTLE ALONG ROUTE 97

His real name was Thayendanegea –but he is better known, historically at least, as Joseph Brant.

Joseph was born in the Ohio Country, in March 1743, somewhere along the Cuyahoga River near what is now Cleveland, during the hunting season when the Mohawk traveled to the area from Kanienkeh (“the Land of the Flint”, the Mohawk name for their homeland in what is now upstate New York). He was named Thayendanegea, which in the Mohawk language means “He places two bets together”, which came from the custom of tying the wagered items to each other when two parties placed a bet. As the Mohawk were a matrilineal culture, he was born into his mother’s Wolf Clan but was raised in a culture being split by his native ancestry and new British European in uence.

He was a bright child and chosen to attend a school for native children. This school would become Dartmouth College. Here he studied English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; in addition to the three native languages he mastered. He converted to Christianity, yet his heart and soul were always for the betterment of his own people and the Iroquois nation.

The Iroquois fought with the British at the Battle of Lake George –

where Million Dollar Beach at Americade is today.

After that, the natives, who suffered great losses of life in the victory over the French, did not want to partake in Euroxcentric disputes after this.

When the Revolution broke out his allegiance was to the British and he traveled to England to meet with King George himself to plan native alliances.

Brant was part of Clinton’s army that swept through Jamaica Pass as the British drove Washington’s men out during the infamous and bizarre Battle of Brooklyn, where our revolution against King George was only saved by divine intervention of fog.

Later on, Brant became infamous for his many raids along the Delaware River, in New York State, especially in Sullivan County.

One such attack occurred south of Sullivan, right outside the town of Port Jervis.

Here, the now-feared warrior Brant showed incredible mercy and his true noble character by sparing children during one raid.

Brant had earned a fearsome reputation waging what was essentially a guerilla war of Indians and Loyalists against isolated Patriot settlements.

In New York, British authorities encouraged these attacks by urging Loyalists and their Native American Confederates to raid such settlements. Bounties were paid for American scalps. Brant became so feared that local settlers came to refer to him as “the Monster Brant,” and while his attacks were violent, he was blamed for attacks in which he had no involvement.

In July of 1779, Brant led an attack on the Black Rock School. The teacher, Jeremiah Van Auken, was killed and scalped. According to stories passed down from survivors, Brant himself spared the young girls in the school by painting a mark on their aprons. The mark conveyed to other Native Americans that the girls were to be spared on orders from Brant. The boys, however, were taken prisoner. The attack has been known since that time as Painted Aprons. There is a marker to commemorate this raid, right on Minisink Road, north of Port Jervis.

The most famed battle, and the only Revolutionary Battle that happened along the Upper Delaware River, occurred in January of 1779.

The year before Brant’s rst raid, in October of 1778, occurred at Peenpack, now known as Cuddebackville. The settlers petitioned the government for protection.

General George Washington sent General Casimir Pulaski (of Skyway fame) and troops to defend the area. But in January 1779, Pulaski’s troops were reassigned, leaving the frontier vulnerable to attack.

Six months later, on July 22, 1779, Brant, the Tories, and the Iroquois went on their bloody raid.

Within hours of the attack, a call for the militia went out. Militia units commanded by Lt. Col. Benjamin Tusten of Goshen and Maj. Samuel Meeker of Sussex County, N.J., met up at Port Jervis. They joined Col. John Hathorn’s militia from Warwick at Sparrowbush.

In truth, these were Gentleman Warriors – Brant’s men trained and eager killers.

It would not work out as planned for our side on this day.

With Hathorn in charge, the three militia units, 120 men strong, set out on foot up the Delaware River in pursuit of Brant.

Brant’s progress up the Delaware was slowed by prisoners and the livestock he’d stolen. The militia units, unburdened, covered more than 50 miles in two days. They caught up with Brant as he prepared to cross the river into Lackawaxen.

Hathorn’s forces were preparing to ambush Brant when a militia man accidentally discharged his ri e. The militia lost the advantage of surprise.

A bloody battle ensued and the militia took the brunt of the casualties, with 45-50 men killed on the American side and perhaps seven of Brant’s men. Brant’s raiders escaped across the Delaware. Brant and Hathorn survived the battle.

Pike County historian George Fluhr described it as “the most lethal battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of the number of men killed versus the number of participants.”

Today, along Route 97, which slides along the river with cliffs and forests marking the route and natural ow of the river, you will nd the Minisink Battleeld – right where Roebling built his aqueduct and opposite from where the famed western author Zane Gray called home. Atop the hill, you will nd a 57-acre park, with a pavilion named for Lt. Colonel Benjamin Tusten, M.D. – who was killed in the battle.

The town’s website has called this battle a “skirmish.” Methinks they need to readdress this – this was a slaughter.

Was Brant a hero, or a villain? Hmmm? Much to the dismay of some of my historically-adept friends, and much like John André, I have developed a respect for Brant…

His life was not without passion and adventure. What more can a man want?

One hundred years later the Minisink Battle Monument was erected on the site of the militia’s ‘last stand’ and was dedicated in 1879 on the centennial of the battle. It is built of native bluestone and is capped by a rounded glacial boulder. The Battle of Minisink is commemorated at four sites: here at the battleground, on the village square in Goshen, New York, in the Lackawaxen Cemetery adjoining St. Mark’s Church in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and Fort Decker in Port Jervis, New York. Ceremonies are held annually at the rst three sites on the anniversary of the battle. It is a serious and deadly part of our American history, that all too often riders simply pass by, barely noticing the site.

Stop. Look. Learn.

There is a Time Capsule, that is set to be open in 2026 – just three years from now… I know we’ll be there.

Sullivan County is full of history, mystery and more. Take the time to stop and read the informative road signs the state and county have taken the time and money to put up. You never know what amazing sights you’ve been riding by all these years. ,

BMW Motorcycles presents Dr. Seymour O’Life’s MYSTERIOUS AMERICA

Unexpected Visitor Along the Sullivan County Shore

The creature began life far away. It had its beginnings in a totally different environment, but has traveled far from its place of birth and was resting on the bottom of the river, it’s cool current rushing over it long dorsal n that ran almost the length of its snake-like body. Then something stepped on it. “Hey, it thought…WTF?”

The young woman had slipped out of the raft, where she and her boyfriend had intentionally beached it, along some of the rocks that were still peaking from the Delaware River – even with the recent heavy rains.

Her bare feet touched the mucky bottom and then she slipped and something slid around her leg, up her thigh. She was fast and grabbed the creature and held it up out of the water. She let out a scream and she tossed it away, and she saw its ribbonesque shape tear away through the water.

Her boyfriend swung quickly around and grasping her now aying hand and dragged her, almost violently, back into the raft.

“What was that,” he yelled?

“I don’t know, it wrapped itself around my leg…I think it was a Goa’uld.”

“There is no such thing,” he replied. She glared at him… her angry eye almost glowing red. Almost. It was not a Goa’uld. Nor was it a snake.

But what this creature was is just a bit of nature’s mysteries – and one that might need a little bit of explaining – especially if you decided to go into the river while visiting Sullivan County, New York.

What the woman had encountered, and actually scared the crap out of, was…. an eel.

American eels, Anguilla rostrata, are a species of sh that are found in various freshwater and estuarine waterways in the Delaware River Basin, from rivers and creeks to lakes and ponds.

These eels are catadromous, which means they are born in the ocean, live as adults in freshwater and return to the ocean to reproduce. All eels reproduce and are born in the same place - the Sargasso Sea, which is a part of the Atlantic Ocean near the West Indies.

The Delaware River is home to an abundant eel population because there are no dams on its mainstem to prevent the eel’s upriver migration, and there was a time that capturing eels in this part of the river was a huge part of the economy.

American eel feed on insects, worms, mollusks, crustaceans and other sh. A favorite food for the American eel is the horseshoe crab. In fact, eels are often harvested using horseshoe crab as bait – this is some of the bait harvest that has contributed to the steep population decline of the horseshoe crabs of the Delaware Bay. The American eel supported an intense commercial shery in the Delaware River until the early 1900s. The eel were caught by specially crafted weirs, designed to trap the adults on their migration toward the sea to spawn. In such contraptions eel were caught in vast numbers. A catch of 50,000 eels weighing more than 44,000 pounds reported in 1912 was deemed to be a low catch year. Today eels are caught mainly by anglers, largely for food or sport. But, Seymour… tell me more about why these remnants of the past are still here and where they come from?

Okay, I will…

After hatching in the Sargasso Sea, American eel larvae travel on ocean currents to the U.S. eastern seaboard. These larvae are called glass eels because of their translucent bodies.

As they travel up estuaries and into rivers, in this case the Delaware, they continue to grow and change color, from translucent to gray (called elvers) to yellow to silver. Maturity can take up to 20 years!

That is a long time in sh years.

Once mature and the weather starts to turn colder, American eels will begin their journey down rivers and into the Atlantic Ocean, back to the Sargasso Sea.

Although eels can be delicious you need to know a bit more about them before sitting down at the dinner table.

First off - Eels’ blood is poisonous, which discourages other creatures from eating them. A very small amount of eel blood is enough to kill a person, so raw eel should never be eat- en. Their blood contains a toxic protein that cramps muscles, including the most important one, the heart.

But there is more…

American eels are mostly nocturnal and live on the bottom of waterways, usually under rocks or in the mud. They can absorb oxygen through their skin, allowing them to be able to leave the water and travel through wet grass or mud. Adult eels are upwards of 5-feet for the girls and 3-feet for the boys.

American eels play an important role in the life cycle of freshwater mussels. Mussel larvae will attach to the eel’s gills; as the eels swim upstream, the mussel larvae are dispersed.

Trust us, eels are slimy to the touch due to a mucous layer in their skin, which is thought to ease friction while swimming and protect from pathogens that could enter through the skin.

American eels are an important predator and also are a vital food source to other animals. They are a good water quality indicator as they are long-lived and usually remain in the same habitat while reaching maturity.

In the upper Delaware River Basin, people still catch eels using old stone and wooden structures called eel weirs, which look like a backwards “V” in the water. One such man, Ray Turner, has a shop (Delaware Delicacies Smoke House) just outside of Sullivan County in Hancock, NY, where you can get some smoked sh and, when available, eel. You can still see them in and around the Barryville region of the county… just a little bit of history you might miss as we ride through this Mysterious America.

O’Life Out! ,