Chapter I: Front Matter

MEMOIRS

OF

AN AMERICAN LADY.

WITH SKETCHES OF

MANNERS AND SCENERY

IN AMERICA,

AS THEY EXISTED PREVIOUS TO THE REVOLUTION.

BY THE AUTHOR OF
“LETTERS FROM THE MOUNTAINS.”

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NEW-YORK:
PUBLISHED BY GEORGE DEARBORN
38 GOLD-STREET.

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1836.

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NOTICE.

AMONG the scenes of peculiar interest the American traveller is, as it were, under a patriotic obligation to visit while abroad, may be mentioned the birth-place of Columbus near Genoa, Cave Castle, the mansion of the Washington family in the Wolds of Yorkshire, and the abode at Edinburgh of the venerable authoress of “Letters from the Mountains.” In acknowledgment of what we all owe to her, and as a heartfelt tribute of admiration, and affection for her talents, and virtues, the present work being out of print, the opportunity of republishing what so much identifies Mrs. Grant of Laghan with our country, is gladly seized upon by one who since one of those pilgrimages has long enjoyed the benign influence of her society and correspondence. The simple circumstances she relates of herself, and the gentle spirit of the whole work render it unnecessary to deprecate criticism; and the praise of Southey who pronounced the “description of the breaking up of the ice in the Hudson,” as “quite Homeric,” must bespeak for it a favourable perusal. As a picture, taken at the dawning of the Revolution, of the clouds which then passed along to have vanished otherwise forever, and as one in a series of works shedding light upon that momentous period of which the “Pioneers” is its natural successor, its reappearance must be a welcome event in the marshalling of American literature now in progress.

H.

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TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR WILLIAM GRANT, K. N. T.

MASTER OF THE ROLLS.

SIR,

IT is very probable that the friends, by whose solicitations I was induced to arrange in the following pages my early recollections, studied more the amusement I should derive from executing this task, than any pleasure they could expect from its completion.

The principal object of this work is to record the few incidents, and the many virtues which diversified and distinguished the life of a most valued friend. Though no manners could be more simple, no notions more primitive than those which prevailed among her associates, the stamp of originality with which they were marked, and the peculiar circumstances in which they stood, both with regard to my friend, and the infant society to which they belonged, will, I flatter myself, give an interest with reflecting minds, even to this desultory narrative; and the miscellany of description, observation, and detail which it involves.

If truth, both of feeling and narration, which are its only merits, prove a sufficient counterbalance to carelessness, laxity, and incoherence of style, its prominent faults, I may venture to invite you, when you unbend from the useful and honourable labours to which your valuable time is devoted, to trace this feeble delineation of an excellent, though unembellished character; and of the rapid pace with which an infant society has urged on its progress from virtuous simplicity, to the dangerous “knowledge of good and evil:” from tremulous imbecility to self-sufficient independence.

To be faithful, a delineation must necessarily be minute. Yet if this sketch, with all its imperfections, be honoured by your indulgent perusal, such condescension of time and talent must certainly be admired, and may, perhaps, be imitated by others.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

Your faithful, humble servant,

THE AUTHOR.

London, Oct. 1808.

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CONTENTS.

CHAP. Page

Introduction 2

I. Province of New-York—Origin of the 19
settlement at Albany—Singular
possession held by the patron—Account
of his tenants

II. Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk 22
Indians—Building of the Fort at
Albany—John and Philip Schuyler

III. Colonel Schuyler persuades four sachems 27
to accompany him to England—Their
reception and return

IV. Return of Colonel Schuyler and the 30
Sachems to the interior—Literary
acquisitions—Distinguishes and
instructs his favourite niece—Manners
of the settlers

V. State of religion among the 34
settlers—Instruction of children
devolved on females—to whom the charge
of gardening, &c. was also
committed—Sketch of the state of the
society at New-York

VI. Description of Albany—Manner of living 37
there—Hermitage, &c.

VII. Gentle treatment of slaves among the 41
Albanians—Consequent attachment of
domestics—Reflections on servitude

VIII. Education and early habits of the 46
Albanians described

IX. Description of the manner in which the 52
Indian traders set out on their first
adventure

X. Marriages, amusements, rural excursions, 62
&c. among the Albanians

XI. Winter amusements of the Albanians, &c. 68

XII. Lay-brothers—Catalina—Detached Indians 73

XIII. Progress of knowledge—Indian manners 79

XIV. Marriage of Miss Schuyler—Description of 87
the Flats

XV. Character of Philip Schuyler—His 92
management of the Indians

XVI. Account of the three brothers 96

XVII. The house and rural economy of the 98
Flats—Birds and insects

XVIII. Description of Colonel Schuyler’s barn, 104
the common, and its various uses

XIX. Military preparations—Disinterested 108
conduct, the surest road to
popularity—Fidelity of the Mohawks

XX. Account of a refractory warrior, and of 112
the spirit which still pervaded the
New-England provinces

XXI. Distinguishing characteristics of the 115
New-York colonists, to what
owing—Huguenots and Palatines, their
character

XXII. A child still-born—Adoption of children 118
common in the province—Madame’s visit
to New-York

XXIII. Colonel Schuyler’s partiality to the 122
military children successively
adopted—Indian character falsely
charged with idleness

XXIV. Progress of civilization in 126
Europe—Northern nations instructed in
the arts of life by those they had
subdued

XXV. Means by which the independence of the 133
Indians was first diminished

XXVI. Peculiar attractions of the Indian mode 137
of life—Account of a settler who
resided some time among them

XXVII. Indians only to be attached by being 142
converted—The abortive expedition of
Mons. Barre—Ironical sketch of an
Indian

XXVIII. Management of the Mohawks by the 147
influence of the christian Indians

XXIX. Madame’s adopted children—Anecdote of 152
sister Susan

XXX. Death of young Philip Schuyler—Account 159
of his family, and of the society at
the Flats

XXXI. Family details 167

XXXII. Resources of Madame—Provincial customs 172

XXXIII. Followers of the army—Inconveniences 177
resulting from such

XXXIV. Arrival of a new regiment—Domine 182
Freylinghausen

XXXV. Plays acted—Displeasure of the Domine 187

XXXVI. Return of Madame—The Domine leaves his 192
people—Fulfilment of his predictions

XXXVII. Death of Colonel Schuyler 197

XXXVIII. Mrs. Schuyler’s arrangements and conduct 201
after the colonel’s death

XXXIX. Mohawk Indians—The superintendent 205

XL. General Abercrombie—Lord Howe 210

XLI. Total defeat at Ticonderoga—General 216
Lee—Humanity of madame

XLII. The family of madame’s sister—The death 219
of the latter

XLIII. Further successes of the British arms—A 223
missionary—Cortlandt Schuyler

XLIV. Burning of the house at the 227
Flats—Madame’s removal—Journey of the
author

XLV. Continuation of the Journey—Arrival at 232
Oswego—Regulations, studies, and
amusements there

XLVI. Benefit of select reading—Hunting 241
excursions

XLVII. Gardening and agriculture—Return of the 244
author to Albany

XLVIII. Madame’s family and society described 24

XLIX. Sir Jeffery Amherst—Mutiny—Indian war 256

L. Pondiac—Sir Robert D. 262

LI. Death of Captain Dalziel—Sudden decease 268
of an Indian chief—Madame—Her
protégées

LII. Madame’s popularity—Exchange of 275
prisoners

LIII. Return of the fifty-fifth regiment to 278
Europe—Privates sent to Pensacola

LIV. A new property—Visionary plans 282

LV. Return to the Flats 292

LVI. Melancholy presages—Turbulence of the 295
people

LVII. Settlers of a new description—Madame’s 301
chaplain

LVIII. Mode of conveying timber in rafts down 309
the river

LIX. The Swamp—A discovery 312

LX. Mrs. Schuyler’s view of continental 318
politics

LXI. Description of the breaking up of the 321
ice on the Hudson river

LXII. Departure from Albany—Origin of the 325
state of Vermont

LXIII. General reflections 331

LXIV. Reflections continued 338

LXV. Sketch of the settlement of Pennsylvania 344

LXVI. Prospects brightening in British 351
America—Desirable country on the
interior lakes, &c.

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