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War on the Genesee, 1813 Hamlet Scrantom of Rochester wrote in her diary: On Sunday morning, the 19th, the British troops and Indians crossed the river at the five mile meadows; they proceeded to Fort Niagara, entered, and commenced the horrid massacre of the sick and wounded. . . . Our first accounts stated that all that came in their way were butchered without regard to age or sex, but it is not correct. But the distress of the inhabitants whose lot it was to fall into their hands is indescribable. Daily are passing here in sleighs and wagons, families deprived of their all. Not a cent of money, no provision,. No bedding; children barefoot, etc., all depending on the charity of the people. The enemy continued their ravages from Sunday morning until Monday afternoon. . . . On Thursday morning an express arrived at break of day, that the enemy were landing from their boats at Oak Orchard Creek about forty miles from this and were proceeding this way desolating the country and it was expected another party would be in at the mouth of the Genesee River. All were alarmed. Some thought it best to be on the move; others did not apprehend danger. The militia were called upon to repair to the bridge and the mouth of the river; the whole country in confusion. Captain Stone (who keeps the tavern on the other side of the river) sent in all directions to assemble his company of dragoons (a very fine company), sent his children to Bloomsfield, and made preparations to move his most valuable effects at short notice. The merchants went to packing goods (of which there are four very full stores here), some running balls, others making cartridges. I yoked my oxen, packed up all our bedding and clothing and moved my family up to my log house on a back road about a mile from the bridge on the east side of the river, together with all my provisions and cooking utensils that were of immediate use. Before night our village was crowded with militia coming in all night and next; but the whole of this proved to be a false alarm; the enemy have never been but ten miles this side of Lewiston. Early in the morning of December 22nd (three days after the Ft. Niagara's fall) an express rider dashed up in front of the post office announcing that Ft. Niagara had fallen. The British, and worse, the Native Americans were headed towards Rochester. 11 members of the Local militia moved out at once for Lewiston. They reported the following scene: The citizens about Lewiston and its vicinity below the slope or highland that forms the Falls of Niagara, escaped by the Ridge Road towards Genesee Falls, all going the one road on foot, old and young, men, women, and children flying from their beds, some not more than half dressed, without shoes or stockings, together with men on horseback, wagons, carts, sleighs and sleds overturning and rushing each other, stimulated by the horrid yells of the 900 savages on the pursuit, which lasted eight miles, formed a scene awful and terrific in the extreme. The small military force we had were the first to fly. . . . We have lost our all and the scene is over.
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