By Mark Stolzenburg, Schoharie County Historical Society (markstolz1014@gmail.com)

This article has been adapted from the original published in the Schoharie County Historical Review, Vol. 88. No. 2. pp.13-25.

Jacob Zimmer, a well-known Schoharie Revolutionary War Patriot, who settled in the valley of the Fox Creek near present-day Gallupville, NY, in the 1750s, had a purpose behind the petition that he submitted in Albany to the New York State Legislature in March 1781. He was trying to clear the name and save the farm of his younger brother, William, an attainted Loyalist (Tory).  Jacob wasn’t the only local man of some stature who thought William Zimmer was innocent. Fifteen Schoharie Patriots, over half of whom were officers in the Schoharie District Regiment of the Albany County Militia, had already convinced NYS Commissioners of Sequestration not to confiscate William’s farm. 

These accusations of Loyalism go back four years before the petition, to those few days prior to August 13, 1777, when the War of the American Revolution first reached the upper Schoharie Valley of Old Albany County. It was a civil war. The valley from Vromansland, near today’s Middleburgh, south to Breakabeen was controlled by Loyalists Adam Crysler and John McDonell and over one hundred local Tories who had joined them at their camp there. That ground had become enemy territory to the Patriot forces who were gathering in response at Johannes Becker’s stone house, later to be known as the Middle Fort, at present-day Middleburgh. 

In early August 1777, Jacob Zimmer found himself not only on enemy-occupied turf, but their prisoner as well, being held in the Loyalist camp along with his brother, William and others. Jacob’s sworn 1781 petition is a statement giving us a rare picture from that Loyalist camp. It served to persuade the Legislature that his brother was a prisoner, convincing that body to free William from punishment. The petition’s recent discovery at the NYS Archives also gives us some remarkable first-hand observations that offer new insight as to what motivated McDonell and Crysler, as leaders of the Tory occupying force, to act as they did in the days before they were forced to flee northward at the Battle of the Flockey.

The notion that McDonell and Crysler took prisoners because some residents refused to cooperate is clear in Jacob’s statement. Some men and their families simply would not yield to the Loyalists’ allegiance to King George. At least four of those held against their will were, or had been, committeemen. This Tory uprising had become a serious challenge to control of the valley, with possible repercussions that could spread to the rest of Albany County.

Threats of retribution by the Loyalists’ Native American allies were used to wrench weapons from men taken prisoner.  The Tories were short on firearms. If a Patriot thought failure to comply meant he or his family might be turned over to the Indians, that was effective incentive for him to relinquish guns to the Loyalists.

There is evidence from Jacob’s words that the Tory forces spent some time at the farm of Hendrick Mattice, information that was lacking in previously known existing accounts and that potentially explains some of McDonell’s supply and military strategy in moving his forces through the valley. However, it is unclear whether Mattice was fully cooperating with the Loyalists. 

In perhaps the most telling passage that Jacob offered in his statement, we find the Tory men poised to strike the Patriots’ stronghold, but with reluctance to act, and not solely for lack of arms. Some of these novice Loyalist soldiers had weapons yet were refusing to fight. They were losing their nerve. With battle imminent, the harsh reality of civil war was settling in and some were reticent, knowing they would soon be asked to direct the muzzle of a flintlock at yesterday’s friends, neighbors or family who had suddenly become enemies. 

The Tories fell back but briefly made a stand at a swamp known as the Flockey August 13, against a spirited charge from mounted troopers of the Second Continental Light Dragoons and local militia. This historic engagement at the Battle of the Flockey is known to history as the very first cavalry charge by the US Army. It left many of the Loyalists no choice but to abandon the valley, leaving behind their homes and families to regroup in Canada.

This was the second time in three days that Continental troops had been called out in Old Albany County to disperse growing, worrisome Tory threats, the first being nearby at the Battle of Normanskill in today’s Guilderland. 

If you keep your eyes peeled and your calendar open, you can have your own captivating firsthand experience seeing, hearing, and feeling the Dragoons’ horn sounding the charge, the pounding of hooves, and the blaze of muskets as Continental troops defeat the Tories at the Flockey and Normanskill. Reenactors will reignite the Revolutionary War  for the 250th anniversary of these locally pivotal battles in the Summer of 2027. Watch The Old Stone Fort website for details. You don’t want to miss it! (theoldstonefort.org)