At least 74 soldiers and settlers died in the Cherry Valley Massacre. Colonel William Stacy was not one of them. This is the story of what happened in Cherry Valley on November 11, 1778 and how William Stacy survived.
William Stacy’s life was filled with so many extraordinary experiences that there’s a book about him and he has his own Wikipedia page. I prefer to read about him one adventure at a time, though, so that’s how I’m going to write about him also!
By 1778, the British had allied with parts of the Six Nations peoples, and the Revolutionary War was being partly waged on the frontier in New York and Pennsylvania (Wikipedia). During the summer and early fall of 1778, Joseph Brant (a Mohawk leader) (Joseph Brant), banded with other indigenous people as well as Loyalists and some of British Captain John Butler’s troops, and began attacking frontier settlements in Pennsylvania and New York. The Wyoming Valley Massacre in Pennsylvania and an attack on German Flatts in New York, were two of the most notorious of these raids. In reprisal, the 4th Pennsylvania Continentals razed the Six Nation town of Unadilla and other Native American settlements (including Oquaga – Joseph Brant’s village) (Lemonds). In the meantime, two companies of Captain Walter Butler’s Rangers, allied with 300 Seneca, and 50 British regulars, linked up with Joseph Brant’s force of British-allied indigenous people to avenge the attacks on Unadilla. The stage was set for the events at Cherry Valley.
Even before the events of the spring and summer of 1778, the settlers in Cherry Valley, New York had been feeling very vulnerable. Located about 50 miles west of Albany, Cherry Valley was the distant frontier at that time, and the settlement was caught in the middle of what was increasingly a war zone. Pleas from frightened settlers led General Lafayette to order a stockade built, and a garrison sent to protect Cherry Valley (Lemonds). William Stacy had served in the colonial army since 1775 (more on Stacy’s war experiences in another entry), and by January of 1777 he was 44 years old, a Lieutenant Colonel with three years of tough fighting under his belt, and had joined Colonel Alden’s 7th Massachusetts Regiment as the second in command. By early August, 1778, Colonel Alden, Stacy, and 250 Massachusetts Line regimental troops were installed in the fort at Cherry Valley (Lemonds).
Colonel Alden fatally underestimated the danger from British and allied troops, feeling confident that his regiment could easily fend off an attack. Alden, William Stacy, and other officers quartered with the Wells family, about a quarter mile from the fort (this was not a good choice or a safe location). On November 6, 1778, Alden received a report that an attack against the fort by Brant and Butler was eminent. Frightened settlers asked to move into the fort for protection. Alden said there wasn’t enough room and was unconcerned because he believed his scouts would give him plenty of warning of an impending attack…time enough for everyone to take shelter in the fort. He and his officers remained in the Wells house, and most of Cherry Valley’s settlers stayed in their own homes (Lemonds).
Alden’s scouts were watching the two main trails in to Cherry Valley. Butler and Brant’s troops captured the scouts and were able to learn the locations of the officers and how the fort was guarded. They also approached the valley by way of an old, unused trail that was not guarded by Alden’s troops, and quietly positioned themselves for a surprise attack. The raid began accidentally at 10:30 am on the morning of November 11th, 1778. A snow and sleet storm was raging, and one of Alden’s officers was prematurely attacked by two Native Americans as he rode back to Well’s house. He was able to escape and gave the alarm, but it was way too late (Lemonds).
Officers quartered in the Well’s house were completely surprised and quickly overwhelmed by the attack. Along with other officers, Colonel Stacy ran out the front door of the Wells house and tried to outrace a group of Seneca across a field toward a stand of trees between the Wells house and the fort. Joseph Brant ran after Stacy, overtook him, and told him to give up or he would die. Stacy “nodded and dropped the unused flintlock pistol he was holding.” (Lemonds).
Among the officers quartered at the Wells house, others were not so lucky. Gideon Day (William Stacy’s brother-in-law), was killed in the massacre. Rufus Stacy (William’s cousin and his brother-in-law) ran for the fort and made it. Benjamin Stacy (the 16 year old son of William Stacy who was serving as his adjutant) ran for the fort through a “hail of bullets” and made it to safety. Other officers were cut down on the front porch of the house or as they tried to reach the fort (Wikipedia).
Colonel Alden ran for the fort but didn’t make it…when he turned to fire his gun, some reports said it didn’t go off because it was wet. Other reports said he was hit before he could fire. Either way, Alden, steps away from the safety of the fort, was killed by a tomahawk between the eyes, possibly thrown by Joseph Brant (Lemonds, Wikipedia).
The British and Native American troops (mostly Seneca warriors under Little Beard), burned all of he settlement buildings that were not within the fort, plundered the settlement, and massacred many of the residents. They were not able to take the fort itself that day, or the next. The soldiers inside were well defended, and had a canon to protect themselves. The only soldiers and settlers that died were outside of the protection of the fort. There were no British or Native American casualties (Wikipedia).
By late afternoon, the attackers moved two miles south to camp. They were holding up to 70 prisoners, including several officers, and Colonel William Stacy (Greymont). All of the men were stripped of their clothing. Women and children were left with whatever they had been wearing at the time of the attack. There was snow on the ground. (Lemonds).
The next morning the prisoners were forcibly marched through the snow storm (the men still naked). By the evening of November 12th, Captain Butler was frustrated at the slow progress. He released most of the women and children and returned the men’s clothing. The British and Native troops split up. William Stacy was taken to a Seneca settlement about 200 miles from Cherry Valley (Lemonds).
The following stories in the William Stacy saga may be apocryphal, true, or most likely, based on some partial truth and later embellished!
- The Seneca decided to burn Colonel Stacy at the stake. Or to torture him. Or to execute him. Colonel Stacy saw Joseph Brant in the crowd and somehow knew that Joseph Brant was a Mason (Joseph Brant was educated at the precurser of Dartmouth College – again, read his story). Stacy used his hand to make a secret Mason sign. Or Stacy spoke to Brant. Or Brant recognized him somehow. Brant intervened to save Colonel Stacy from death on the stake or torture (Lemonds, Wikipedia).
- Colonel Stacy was adopted by a Seneca family, and remained a prisoner. When General Sullivan attacked this area with Colonial troops in 1779, the Seneca retreated to Fort Niagara. They took Colonel Stacy with them and handed him over to the British. Stacy became a prisoner of the British (Lemonds, Wikipedia).
- While he was a prisoner at Fort Niagara, Molly Brant (sister of Joseph Brant), grew to dislike William Stacy so much that she tried to have him returned to the Six Nations to be executed. She did this by using a traditional method…she told Colonel Butler that she dreamed that she had Colonel Stacy’s head and that she and others were kicking it around the fort. Captain Butler appeased her by giving her a specially painted keg of rum. She dreamed again that she had Stacy’s head with his hat on it. She received another keg of rum. Finally, Captain Butler told her that Stacy would remain in British custody (Lemonds).
- William Stacy remained a prisoner at Fort Niagara for four years. He is mentioned in correspondence about exchanges of prisoners, including a letter from George Washington in September of 1780:
“We have in Canada a Lt. Colonel Stacy, a prisoner, belonging to the Massachusetts line, who was taken at Cherry Valley, the 11th of November 1778. He is to be added to your list of Lt. Colonels and exchanged whenever it comes to his turn having regard to the time of his captivity.” (Lemonds)
- Stacy was finally released at the end of the war and returned to his home in New Salem, Massachusetts. General Washington gave him a gold snuff box as a mark of his esteem and in thanks for his service (Lemonds).
There’s a lot more to this story than there is room for here – Joseph Brant’s story, the split between the Six Nation’s peoples (some supported the British, some the Patriots), how the events of the summer and fall of 1778 led to General Sullivan’s attack in 1779 that destroyed over 40 Iroquois settlements in western and central New York and drove the people into exile. It’s all worth reading about and history we should know.
Even if some of the stories about what happened to William Stacy have become embellished over time, it’s true that he was at the Cherry Valley massacre, survived and was taken prisoner by the British for four years. He lived to return to his family in Massachusetts but he did not retire to live a peaceful, quiet life in New Salem, Massachusetts. More on that later!
Sources:
1777 Brion de La Tour Map of New York and New England (American Revolutionary War)
Brant, Joseph; Wikipedia
Cherry Valley Massacre; Wikipedia
German Flatts Attack; military-wiki
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Graymont, Barbara; The Iroquois in the American Revolution; 1972; Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Lemonds, Leo L; Col. William Stacy – Revolutionary War Hero; 1993; Hastings, NE: Cornhusker Press
Stuart, Gilbert; Joseph Brant; 1786; oil on canvas
Swinnerton, H.V.; Map of Cherry Valley; 1877; Lyman Draper Manuscripts; State Historical Society of Wisconsin