" [97]
[Footnote 97: Nat. Intell. July 31, 1840.]
His grandfather was an Englishman, and had served with reputation under
the Duke of Marlborough in some of his famous continental battles, in
the days of Queen Anne, and he cherished the military principle with
great ardor. He spoke fluently the German and Dutch languages, and was
thus able to communicate with the masses of the varied population,
originally from the Upper Rhine and the Scheldt, who formed a large
portion of the inhabitants of the then frontier portions of Albany
County, including the wild and picturesque range of the Helderbergs and
of the new settlements of Schoharie, the latter being in immediate
contact with the Mohawk Iroquois. The influence of the British
government over this tribe, through the administration of Sir William
Johnson, was unbounded. Many of the foreign emigrants and their
descendants were also under this sway, and the whole frontier was
spotted with loyalists under the ever hateful name of Tories. These kept
the enemy minutely informed of all movements of the revolutionists, and
were, at the same time, the most cruel of America's foes, not excepting
the Mohawks.
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