Revolutionary 250th - Remembering a Forgotten Hero

SCHOHARIE – Standing tall outside of the Old Stone Fort is the David Williams monument. The total height of the monument is twenty-three feet nine inches to mark the date of Major John Andrés capture—the 23rd of September- by Williams, Isaac Van Wart, and John Paulding, three New York State militiamen. The monument’s marble shaft is thirteen feet tall, symbolizing the original thirteen colonies.

André was carrying intelligence he received from Benedict Arnold to British lines in the Bronx when the three militiamen stopped him in Tarrytown. They searched André and found documents supplied by Arnold in his socks. André offered them a large bribe for his release, which they refused. Instead, they turned André over to Colonel John Jameson, commander of the American lines, in North Castle.

Williams moved to Livingstonville from South Salem in Westchester County in 1805 and remained in Schoharie County until his death in 1831.

During Columbus Weekend in 2024, the Jefferson Historical Society hosted Sean Grady and Gary Petagine, two teachers from the lower Hudson Valley who form the nucleus of Drama from the Past, a company that performs historical dramatizations. In between staging plays about the Arnold -André conspiracy and the trial of André, they visited the Willams grave and monument. They noted that Paulding’s and Van Wart’s graves and monuments in Westchester County had historic markers and asked why Williams did not have one.  

I really did not know the reason or had an answer. It had been there for 148 years. The cornerstone of the monument was laid on September 23, 1876 – the 96th anniversary of Andre’s capture during the Centennial of the American Revolution. Williams’ remains were reinterred by the monument at that time. Newspapers reported that the largest crowd ever assembled in Schoharie - some 10,000 people -witnessed the dedication of the Williams monument.

Shortly afterwards at one of our monthly Revolutionary Schohary 250 meetings at the Lasell House, Chris Osinski told me about the William G. Pomeroy Foundation New York State Historic Marker Grant Program. I thought that it would be perfect for Williams.

I approached Mary Johnson, the Museum Director at the Old Stone Fort, to get a green light. The application was fairly easy to complete. I have been researching, writing about, and portraying Williams for the last five years and provided the Pomeroy Foundation with primary source references about the heroic capture of André by Paulding, Van Wart, and Williams from such well-known names as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and Colonel Jameson, as well as a resolution from Congress honoring the trio by awarding them the Fidelity Medallion and lifetime pensions.

I encountered an unexpected temporary roadblock in the process when the historian reviewing the application at the Pomeroy Foundation did a newspaper search for Williams’ obituary and discovered that he had been interred at Livingstonville in 1831 and asked for clarification. I explained that his remains were moved twice in 1876, first to Rensselaerville and then to Schoharie. Unfortunately, she could not find that documented in any newspaper, so the application was put on hold.

The Mark Sullivan files at the Old Stone Fort contained some transcripts from the Schoharie Republican newspaper describing the transfer of Williams remains to his current resting place. The Pomeroy Foundation would not accept these transcripts as primary source documentation, but the transcripts made it easier to track down the articles. The Schoharie Republican is not on microfilm for 1876, but I emailed the transcripts to the New York State Library, and they were able to find a hard copy of the July 20 article which described the transfer of Williams remains. This took several weeks. In the interim Dan Beams, the curator at the Old Stone Fort, found a pamphlet published in 1876 about the festivities that occurred when the cornerstone was laid. There was a paragraph in it describing the reinternment of the old patriot. I emailed scans of the July 20 Schoharie Republican article and the pamphlet to my contact at the Pomeroy Foundation and we were home free. The application was now bullet-proof, and they awarded the historical society a grant for $2050 for a historic marker that will read:

DAVID WILLIAMS

1754-1831. REVOLUTIONARY WAR

VETERAN. CAPTURED MAJOR

JOHN ANDRÉ ON SEPT. 23, 1780,

WITH JOHN PAULDING & ISAAC

VAN WART. INTERRED HERE.

WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2026

The marker has been ordered from Sewah Studios in Ohio and hopefully a marker dedication ceremony will be held in the future.