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veyed his batteaux from Canajoharie to the head of Otsego lake, one of the sources of the Susquehanna. Finding the stream of water, in that river, too low to float his boats, he erected a dam across the mouth of the lake, which soon rose to the altitude of the dam. Having got his batteaux ready, he opened a passage through the dam for the water to flow. This raised the river so high, that he was enabled to embark all his troops: to float them down to Tioga, and to join general Sullivan in good season. The Indians collected their strength at Newtown; took possession of proper ground and fortified it with judgment, and on the 29th August, 1779, an attack was made on them; their works were forced, and their consternation was so great, that they abandoned all further resistance; for, as the Americans advanced into their settlements, they retreated before them without throwing any obstructions in their way. The army passed between the Cayuga and Seneca lakes, by Geneva and Canandaigua, and as far west as the Genessee river, destroying large settlements aid villages, and fields of corn; orchards of fruit trees, and gardens abounding with esculent vegetables. The progress of the Indians in agriculture, struck the Americans with astonishment. Many of their ears of corn measured 22 inches in length. They had horses, cows, and hogs, in abundance. They manufactured salt and sugar, and raised the best of apples and peaches, and their dwellings were large and commodious. The desolation of their settlements, the destruction of their provisions, and the conflagration of their houses, drove them to the British fortress of Niagara for subsistence, where, living on salt provisions, to which they were unaccustomed, they died in great numbers, and the effect of this expedition, was to diminish their population; to damp their ardour; to check their arrogance; to restrain their cruelty, and

to inflict an irrecoverable blow on their resour ces of extensive aggression.

For a considerable portion of the war, general Clinton was stationed at Albany, where he commanded, in the northern department of the union, a place of high responsibility and requiring uncommon vigilance and continual exertion. An incident occurred, when on this command, which strongly illustrates his character. A regiment, which had been ordered to march, mutinied under arms, and peremptorily refused obedience. The general, on being apprised of this, immediately repaired with his pistols to the ground: he went up to the head of the regiment and ordered it to march: a silence ensued and the order was not complied with. He then presented a pistol to the breast of a sergeant, who was the ringleader, and commanded him to proceed on pain of death; and so on in succession along the line, and his command was, in every instance, obeyed, and the regiment restored to entire and complete subordination and submission.

General Clinton was at the siege of Yorktown and the capture of Cornwallis, where he distinguished himself by his usual intrepidity.

His last appearance, in arms, was on the evacuation of the city of New York, by the British. He then bid the commander in chief a final and affectionate adieu, and retired to his ample estates, where he enjoyed that repose which was required by a long period of fatigue and privation.

He was, however, frequently called from his retirement by the unsolicited voice of his fellow-citizens, to perform civic duties. He was appointed a commissioner to adjust the boundary line between Pennsylvania and New York, which important measure was amicably and successfully accomplished. He was also selected by the legislature for an interesting mission to settle controversies

about lands in the west, which also terminated favourably. He represented his native county in the assembly and in the convention that adopted the present constitution of the United States, and he was elected, without opposition, a senator from the middle district; all which trusts he executed with perfect integrity, with solid intelligence, and with the full approbation of his constituents.

The temper of general Clinton was mild and affectionate, but when raised by unprovoked or unmerited injury, he exhibited extraordinary and appalling energy. In battle he was as cool and as collected as if sitting by his fireside. Nature intended him for a gallant and efficient soldier, when she endowed him with the faculty of entire self-possession in the midst of the greatest dangers.

He died on the 22d of December, 1812, and was interred in the family burial place in Orange county, and his monumental stone bears the following inscription:

"Underneath are interred the remains of James Clinton, Esquire.

"He was born the 9th of August, 1736; and died the 22d of December, 1812.

"His life was principally devoted to the military service of his country, and he had filled with fidelity and honour, several distinguished civil offices.

"He was an officer in the revolutionary war, and the war preceding; and, at the close of the former, was a major general in the army of the United States. He was a good man and a sincere patriot, performing, in the most exemplary manner, all the duties of life: and he died, as he lived, without fear, and without reproach."

CLINTON, GEORGE, formerly governor of the state of New York, and vice-president of the United States, was born on the 26th July, 1739, in the county of Ulster, in the colony of New York. He was the youngest son of colonel Charles Clin

ton, an emigrant from Ireland, and a gentleman of distinguished worth and high consideration.

He was educated, principally, under the eye of his father, and received the instruction of a learned minister of the presbyterian church, who had graduated in the university of Aberdeen: and, after reading law, in the office of William Smith, afterwards chief justice of Canada, he settled himself in that profession in the county of his nativity, where he rose to eminence.

In 1768, he took his seat as one of the members of the colonial assembly, for the county of Ulster, and he continued an active member of that body until it was merged in the revolution. His energy of character, discriminating intellect, and undaunted courage, placed him among the chiefs of the whig party; and he was always considered possessed of a superior mind and master spirit, on which his country might rely, as an asylum in the most gloomy periods of her fortunes.

On the 22d of April, 1775, he was chosen by the provincial convention of New York, one of the delegates to the continental congress, and took his seat in that illustrious body on the 15th of May. On the 4th of July, 1776, he was present at the glorious declaration of independence, and assented, with his usual energy and decision, to that measure; but having been appointed a brigadier general in the militia, and also in the army, the exigencies of his country, at that trying hour, rendered it necessary for him to take the field in person, and he therefore retired from congress immediately after his vote was given, and before the instrument was transcribed for the signature of the members; for which reason his name does not appear among the signers.

A constitution having been adopted for the state of New York, on the 20th April, 1777, he was chosen at the first election under it, both governor and

lieutenant governor, and he was continued in the former office for eighteen years, by triennial elections; when, owing to ill health, and a respect for the republican principle of rotation in office, he declined a re-election.

During the revolutionary war, he cordially cooperated with the immortal Washington, and without his aid, the army would have been disbanded, and the northern separated from the southern states, by the intervention of British troops. He was always at his post in the times that tried men's. souls: at one period repelling the advances of the enemy from Canada, and at another, meeting them in battle when approaching from the south. His gallant defence of fort Montgomery, with a handful of men, against a powerful force commanded by sir Henry Clinton, was equally honourable to his intrepidity and his skill.

The following are the particulars of his gallant conduct at the storming of forts Montgomery and Clinton, in October, 1777:

"When the British reinforcements, under gene ral Robertson, amounting to nearly 2000 men, arrived from Europe, sir Henry Clinton used the greatest exertion, and availed himself of every favourable circumstance, to put these troops into immediate operation. Many were sent to suitable vessels, and united in the expedition, which consisted of about 4000 men, against the forts in the highlands. Having made the necessary arrangements, he moved up the North River, and landed on the 4th of October at Tarry-town, purposely to impress general Putnam, under whose command a thousand continental troops had been left, with a belief, that his post at Peek's-kill was the object of attack. At eight o'clock at night, the general communicated the intelligence to governor Clinton, of the arrival of the British, and at the same time expressed his opinion respecting their destina

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