Sunday, September 12, 2010

Sunday, 6:30 PM, Glenwood and Lakeview Cemeteries, Groveland Ambuscade











So our final stops for the evening before it got dark were the other two Groveland cemeteries where other folks who lived the same time as our Dunns, but stayed here, are buried. In the Lakeview Cemetery, all in one area, are the graves of Albert Acker and his wife, and Reffard Harrison and his wife.

Not far from this cemetery is the site of the Groveland Amuscade. I learned more about it. Turns out that the US was pretty upset with the Indians and Torries after the massacres at Wyoming Valley, PA and Little Valley, NY. The massacres certainly impacted the Dunns, as at least 3 and maybe 4 of the sons of William and Esther Dunn were killed in the Wyoming Valley Massacre. Anyway, people pressured the government to do something. So Washington sent 5,o00 troops to retailliate in what is known as the 1779 Sullivan's Campaign. In the end, they destroyed 42 Indian villages and all the crops and surrounding areas. One branch of the campaign started at the Wyoming Valley and moved right up through this area. At one point, Sullivan sent a group of scouts out to see where the indians and Tories were. The found them and move past their line. In their attempt to cross back through the enemy line to get back to their own troops, they ran right into their main forces. So it was like a group of 14 scouts against 1,000 indians and Tories or something along those lines. Anyway, most of the scouts were killed, a few escaped, their leader was taken by the Inidans and questioned and tortured to death. Immediately after Sullivan got the report, they sped to the area and completely wiped out all Little Beard's village which was near present day Geneseo.
As Carl put it, it really didn't pay for the Indians to get involved in the white man's wars. Either way, they always lost.
Many of the men on the Sullivan Campaign saw what great farm land this was. Supposedly the indians had ears of corn 22 inches long. Many of them forfeited their military pay and took bounty land in the area instead. Supposedly Albert Acker was on the Sullivan Campaign.

1 comment:

  1. I Love the fence! It is in my list of things to possibly paint!

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