NEW BOOK!
Skohere and the Birth of New York’s Western Frontier 1609 – 1731 Volume III 1703-1731
When the Palatines arrived at the Schoharie Valley in 1712, the world they stepped into was a century in the making. This formative period of the valley’s history has never been fully told, nor has the true impact these rebellious German refugees had on pushing New York’s western frontier as far as they did, as fast as they did. Until now.
The three-volume series “Skohere and the Birth of New York’s Western Frontier 1609 – 1731” is a trilogy about the Palatines that’s not really about the Palatines. It’s a biography of the Schoharie Valley and the people and events that helped shape its earliest colonial history.
Volume III completes the series, following the dramatic journey of the Palatines to the Schoharie Valley and, after bitter experiences for many, to the Mohawk Valley and Pennsylvania. Their story, though, is not theirs alone. They impacted lives of those who either helped or stood in the way of reaching their elusive Promised Land. Key to their experiences in the Schoharie Valley was a unique relationship with the Mohawk people who provided land and helped them survive. Along the way, the Palatines redefined Anglo-Haudenosaunee diplomacy and pushed frontiers.
This vivid narrative tracing one of the great immigration stories will challenge and enhance the known history of the Schoharie Valley and the genesis of New York’s western frontier.
An excerpt from CHAPTER II: MARLBOROUGH’S BLENHEIM CAMPAIGN
The year is 1704 and the War for the Spanish Sucession is well underway…
***As Marlborough descended south along the Rhine, the army marched through the Lower Palatinate. There, the duke was feted by the Elector Palatine. Marlborough was entranced by the beautiful and bountiful country he marched through. While staying at the Elector’s house on June 2, Marlborough wrote his wife that “I am now in a house of the elector palatine, that has a prospect over the finest country that is possible to be seen. I see out of my chamber window the Rhine and the Neckar, and his two principal towns of Manheim and Heidelberg.”
Marlborough’s wife at the time was the Queen’s most intimate confidante. So close was their relationship that the Duchess, Sarah Churchill, became First Lady of the Bedchamber. It was the equivalent of being the highest ranking female personal advisor to the Queen. It was a relationship that rumors, gossip, numerous letters, and critics – both modern and contemporary – suggest the hallmarks of a romantic affair that may or may not have crossed the platonic threshold. Whether through the intensely strong bond of friendship or something more, the Duchess Churchill did have an unusual influence over the Queen in many matters. This does not fully explain Anne’s unwavering support for Marlborough, though. She was simply savvy enough to realize he was her best option in the field, as well as on the political and diplomatic fronts.
We can easily see that if Sarah’s husband wrote in glowing terms of the Palatinate, it might spark conversation that could have seeded the Queen’s interest and appreciation for the region and its people. Historically, we know she took an unusually keen, benevolent, interest in the Palatine refugees who fled to England several years later. Could this feeling have first been seeded from Marlborough, through his wife?
In the Duke’s army was another interested observer, Lt. Colonel Robert Hunter of The Royal Dragoons of Ireland. Formerly Ross’ Regiment of Dragoons, the unit was renamed by the Queen upon Ross’ own request. Colonel Ross had been appointed Brigadier General of Dragoons, which made Lt. Colonel Hunter acting commanding officer of the regiment. Hunter was then a rising star in the army. He had found a helpful patron in the Duke of Marlborough, who first commissioned him a brevet Lt. Colonel and then took him under his wing as an aide-de-camp; probably as his personal secretary.
Hunter’s military achievements alone were probably not the only reason for his rise. The highest classes of European society put a premium on men who added intellectual pursuits to their gentlemanly resume. Robert Hunter’s path was from the lowest rung of landed gentry, which could usually only rise from poverty through the military or clergy. Climbing the ladder in the army was Hunter’s way up, but his literary abilities may well have given him something of an advantage over others. If a man is to be judged by the company he keeps, then Hunter was a man of great distinction. His military family included Marlborough and the heroic George Hamilton, the Earl of Orkney. He gained a literary circle of friends by frequenting the trendy coffee houses, which were all the rage as meeting places in turn of the 18th century London. This circle included historically important essayists, poets, authors, philosophers, and playwrights like Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, and Jonathan Swift of later Gulliver’s Travels fame.
We can only wonder at the conversations Hunter may have had with Marlborough and fellow officers during their time in the delightful Palatinate. Considering Marlborough’s high opinion of the region, it is very doubtful that he, Hunter, or any of the other English officers, would have spoken of its people with anything but the highest regard. What a shock it must have been for Robert Hunter to see so many thousands of them just six years later, broken by the ravages of war and seeking refuge in England as “the Poor Palatines”.
On the march through the Lower Palatinate and beyond, Marlborough’s ranks swelled as different parts of the allied army, which had been scattered to the northward as part of his deceptions, finally caught up with his advanced Dragoon division. One of the many units that joined the army was the Württemberg Blue Dragoons, which appears to have been attached to the “Danish horse” division of the Germanic army that came from the Upper Rhine, Austria, and Denmark.
When last we discussed this Blue Dragoon regiment (Vol. II), Johann Conrad Weiser was still serving as a Corporal and living in Affstätt where his son and namesake was born in 1696. Tradition informs that he ended his service with the Blue Dragoons in 1700, but the reason is unclear. Weiser was a baker in civilian life and prominent enough in the community to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as magistrates in Gros Aspach. He was a vigorous 39-year-old man with valuable military experience when he quit and moved his family back to their home in Gros Aspach.
There can be little doubt that overtures were made to former soldiers like Weiser to reenlist when the principalities faced the prospect of defending themselves against French-allied invaders. It does not appear, though, that Weiser did anything but be a father, professional baker, and government official the remainder of his time in Gros Aspach. We may never know how close Johann came to donning a uniform again when war came to his doorstep. We are now left to contemplate just how narrowly historians lost the opportunity to say that Weiser and his future nemesis, Robert Hunter, once fought side by side as allies.***
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