The authentic account of this important event in our family history, is found in a letter from the Court at Wildwyck (now Kingston), consisting of seven of the principal men, to the Council of the New-Netherlands Colony, resident at Manhattan (New York); from which we extract the leading facts as follows:-
"Right honourable, most respected, wise, prudent, and very discreet Lords:
We, your Honours' faithful subjects, have to report, pursuant to the order of the Right Honourable Heer Director-General, in the form of a Journal, that, in obedience to his Honour's order received on the 30th of May last, we caused the Indian Sachems to be notified on the 5th of June, to be prepared to expect the arrival of the Right Honourable Heer Director-General, to receive the promised presents, and to renew the peace. This notification was communicated to them through Capt. Thomas Chambers, to which they answered: 'If peace were to be renewed with them, the Right Honourable Heer Director-General should, with some unarmed persons, sit with them in the open field, without the gate; as it was their own custom to meet unarmed when renewing peace, or in other negotiations.' But they, unmindful of the preceding statement, surprised and attacked us, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon, on Thursday of the 7th instant. Entering in bands through all the gates, they divided and scattered themselves among all the houses and dwellings, in a friendly manner, having with them a little maize and some few beans to sell to our inhabitants; by which means they kept them within their houses, and thus went from place to place as spies to discover our strength in men. And after they had been about a short quarter of an hour within this place, some people on horseback rushed through the Millgate, from the New Village, crying out, - 'The Indians have destroyed the New Village!' And with these words, the Indians here, in this village, immediately fired a shot and made a general attack on our village from the rear, murdering our people in their houses with their axes and tomahawks, and firing on them with guns and pistols; they seized whatever women and children they could catch, and carried them prisoners outside the gates, plundered our houses, and set the village on fire to windward; it blowing at the time from the south. The remaining Indians commanded all the streets, firing from the corner houses which they occupied, and through the curtains outside, along the highways, so that some of our inhabitants, on the way to their houses to get their arms, were wounded and slain. When the flames were at their height, the wind changed to the west; were it not for which, the fire would have been more destructive. So rapidly and silently did Murder do his work, that those in different parts of the village were not aware of it until those who had been wounded happened to meet each other; in which way the most of the others also had warning. The greater portion of our men were abroad at their field labours, and but few in the village."
At the close of this narrative, there is a particular statement of the killed, wounded, and captive; and among the last are the wife and three children of "Louis du bois." [i.e. - Catharine and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]
We next have what is called "A Journal of the Second Esopus War," kept by Capt Martin Kregier, who arrived at Esopus Creek on the fourth of July following, from Manhattan, with a military detachment sent by the Council. This force was augmented by the resident farmers; and there is no doubt (although for this we depend upon tradition) that Louis Du Bois was one of the party who went to the rescue.
"September 5th. Arrived, about two o'clok in the afternoon, within sight of their fort, which we discovered situated upon a lofty plain. Divided our force in two; Lieutenant Couwenhoven and I led the right wing, and Lieutenant Stilwill and Ensign Niessen, the left wing. Proceeded, in this disposition, along the hill so as not to be seen, and in order to come right under the fort; but as it was somewhat level on the left side of the fort, and the soldiers were seen by a squaw who was piling wood there, and who sent fourth a terrible scream which was heard by the Indians who were standing and working near the fort, we instantly fell upon them. The Indians rushed fourthwith through the fort towards their houses, which stood about a stone's throw from the fort, in order to secure their arms, and thus hastily picked up a few guns and bows and arrows; but we were so hot at their heels that they were forced to leave many of them behind. We kept up a sharp fire upon them, and pursued them so closely that they leaped into the creek which ran in front of the lower part of their maize land. On reaching the opposite side of the Kill, they courageously returned our fire, which we sent back, so that we were obliged to send a party across to dislodge them. In this attack, the Indians lost their chief, named Papequanachen, fourteen other warriors, four women, and three children, whom we saw lying both on this and on the other side of the creek; but, probably, many more were wounded when rushing from the fort to their houses, when we did give them a brave charge. On our side, three were killed, and six wounded; and we have recovered three and twenty Christians, prisoners, out of their hands. We have taken thirteen of them prisoners, both men and women.
The fort was a perfect square, with one row of palisades set all around, bing about fifteen feet above and three feet under ground. They had already completed two angles of stout palisades, all of them almost as thick as a man's body, having two rows of portholes, one above the other; and they were busy at the third angle. These angles were constructed so solid and so strong as not to be excelled by Christians. The fort was not as large as the one we had already burned. The Christian prisoners informed us that they were removed every night into the woods, each night into a different place, through fear of the Dutch, and brought back in the morning. But on the day before we attacked them, a Mohawk visited them, who slept with them during the night. When they would convey the Christian captives again into the woods, the Mohawk said to the Esopus Indians, - 'What! Do you carry the Christian prisoners every night into the woods?' To which they answered, "Yes." Whereupon the Mohawk said, "Let them remain at liberty here; for you live so far in the woods that the Dutch will not come hither, for they cannot come so far without being discovered before they reach you." Wherefore they kept the prisoners by them that night. The Mohawk departed in the morning for the Manessings, and left a new blanket and two pieces of cloth, which fell to us also as booty; and we came just that day, and fell on them so that a portion of them is entirely annihilated."
In the same journal, under date of October 10, we have the following entry:-
"A detachment was out in the field with the ploughmen; they returned about noon, as it began to rain hard. Louis the Waloon [Louis Du Bois] went to-day to fetch his oxen, which had gone back of Juriaen Westphaelen's land. As he was about to drive home the oxen, three Indians, who lay in the bush and intended to sieze him, leaped forth. When one of these shot at him with an arrow, but only slightly wounded him, Louis, having a piece of palisade in his hand, struck the Indian on the breast with it, so that he staggered back, and Louis escaped through the kill (creek)."
Leaving the record, we must say something of a well-preserved tradition, of which the first printed account appeared in the Christian Intelligencer, of New York, in 1846; but which, instead of being a part of this transaction, probably related to another Indian foray, of less account and of later date. At all events, we give it for what it is worth. The following is stated concerning the rescuing party:-
"They immediately slung their knapsacks, shouldered their rifles, and, calling their dogs, pursued their perilous journey - a small, but desparate and determined band. The place having been particularly described as a little south-east of the Shawangunk kill, they foud it with little difficulty. Coming near the spot towards evening, Dubois, being in advance alone, to guard against an ambuscade, discovered an Indian, partly concealed behind a tree, within a few feet of him. He was in the act of putting his arrow on his bow-string; but, trembling with surprise or fear, he missed the notch of the arrow in applying it to the string, which Dubois observing, he sprang on him and despatched him with his sword, without giving any alarm. After this a consultation was heldas to what course it was best to pursue. They agreed to wait till the dusk of the evening, that they might not be discovered at a distance, and then to rush upon them with a loud shout, as though a large force were coming to attack them - rightly judging that the Indians would flee and leave their prisoners behind. The savages were engaged in preparations for the slaughter of one of their prisoners, and that, none other than the wife of Dubois. She had been placed on a pile of wood, on which she was to be burned to death. For her consolation, she had engaged in singing psalms, which having excited the attention of the Indians, they urged her by signs to resume her singing. She did so, and fortunately continued till the arrival of her friends. In good time her deliverers came. The alarm of their approach was given by the cry of 'White man's dogs - white man's dogs;' for, while they were listening to the singing of their wives, the dogs had gone on and entered the encampment. They raised a shout. The Indians fled, and, strange as it may seem, the prisoners also fled with them; but Dubois, being in advance and discovering his wife running after the Indians, he called her by name, which soon brought her to her friends. Having recovered the prisoners, they returned in safety by the way which they went.
The recovered captives informed their husbands that they were soon to be sacrificed to savage fury, and that thay had prolonged their lives by singing for their captors, and were just then singing the beautiful psalm of the 'Babylonish Captives,' when they heard the welcome sound of their deliverers' voices."