In last November's issue our Editor presented a fascinating account of Major Duncan Campbell of the Black Watch Regiment, who fought and was killed in the Battle of Carrillon, at Ticonderoga, in July 1758.
We were hearing more than just the history of 240 years ago. This past July a Memorial Cairn was dedicated at Ft. Ticonderoga, memorializing those of "The 42nd Regiment of Foot" - as the Black Watch was then known, as well as by the more familiar term, "The Highlanders". But - additionally - our Editor left us with an intriguing note that the remains of Maj. Campbell had in 1920 been reinterred - and in the very same grave site as that of the storied Jane McCrea, long known as "The Bride of Ft. Edward".
Jane had also met a violent death in that same region - less than 20 years after the Scottish Major. "WHY Jane McCrea? and WHAT is her story?" the Editor queried. Now you will hear "the rest of the story".
Jane McCrea was the second daughter, and possibly the youngest of seven children of Rev. James McCrea and his wife, Mary Graham, of Lamington, NJ. Following Mary's death in 1753, Rev. James had married Catherine Rosbrough, and they had five additional children. This large family is clearly one of the first and most prominent McCrea families to settle in America, coming from Scotland by way of Ulster. These McCreas were quite distinct from Clan MacRae of Kintail and throughout the Highlands, although many have claimed connections nevertheless.
It is believed that Rev. James' Father was William, probably having come from Lifford, in County Donegal. Some of us are currently engaged in a study to learn more about his parents and siblings, for there has been some uncertainty about these details. But, that is a different story for later attention.
All of his twelve children were apparently born and raised during the time of Rev. James' pastorate at Lamington, in Somerset County, during most of which time they lived on a rather large estate near the Church, in that beautiful Jersey countryside.
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Living on the adjoining property were the McDowells. The Father, Ephraim McDowell, had built a small log school house at the edge of his property, in which his and neighboring children - including the McCreas - would be educated. This was known as "The Burnt Mills School".
One school chum became very special to young Jane - a lad named David Jones, who is said to have "carried her school books". They became inseparable, and were to continue their friendship over several family moves through the coming years. The teacher of that little school was Rev. John Hanna, and Jane's older sister, Mary, became so endeared to Rev. John that she later became his wife.
As the older brothers grew to manhood, they were drawn northward to New York where they began their families and careers. Five of Jane's brothers located there, mostly in the Hudson Valley near Saratoga. And, it seems that sometime following her Father's death in 1769, Jane left Lamington to join them, making her home with her oldest brother, John, in Albany where he was practicing law, and then moving with them to a country home at Northumberland in 1773, when John chose the life of farming.
As the Colonies became embroiled in the Revolutionary War, all of these brothers joined the Patriot cause - John, William, James, Samuel, and Stephen - the last as a surgeon. But - with this large family - it was Jane's fate to have brothers fighting on both sides of the War. Half-brothers Robert and Creighton fought as Loyalists with the Crown, although another of Catherine's sons - Philip - chose the Patriot side.
Such circumstances were not too unusual for the times, as many families found themselves divided. And there were residents of the colonies whose sentiments flowed with either one side or another, and sometimes back and forth - and, in fact, sometimes with only the desire to be left alone to their own private pursuits.
Contrary to some erroneous accounts, only one sibling was killed in the War - Jane's half-brother, Philip, who was accidentally shot by one of his own fellow-soldiers.
The oldest, John, was named Colonel in charge of a local militia unit. Living in his home, and with so many of her brothers fighting for the Colonies, it might be expected that Jane's loyalties would be with them. And - it might have been so, except for one central truth. Her beloved David Jones had been commissioned Lieutenant, serving in support of the Crown, and was even now - in the Summer of 1777 - approaching that community with the British forces under General Johnny Burgoyne!
David's widowed Mother had joined the flow of Somerset County residents, moving with her six sons to the Hudson Valley, near where Col. John was living. David had been a frequent guest in
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John's home, where he and Jane had been able to renew their childhood love. But then - the War, and the two families were torn apart by their loyalties. Jane's heart was with her beloved, so that even while still living with Col. John, she and David exchanged correspondence, and began to plan their wedding day.
A word of explanation as to the following account of events. There are few stories of early American history which have been studied by so many, with so little consensus as to exactly what happened. It is not the purpose of this writer to add anything to what has been written, or to offer any evaluation of the various particulars being here stated. "It seems that..", or "dependable sources claim..." might preface almost every statement. While we have read rather extensively in a variety of sources, and communicated with responsible historians of that area, we shall not attempt to name them in this brief account. Nor shall we be specific with local place names and reference points, which would require a far greater familiarity with the community.
On July 6, 1777, Gen. Burgoyne's army had captured Ft. Ticonderoga, and within two weeks had reached southward to the area of Ft. Edward, where the Colonial forces were encamped - just across the Hudson and slightly north from where Jane was living in the home of Col. John. "It seems that" - David and Jane had agreed upon a plan by which they might meet and be wed, even in such critical times.
Jane was to be at the home of her older friend, Mrs. McNeill, on Sunday morning, July 27th. Some Indians, in service to the British forces, were to escort the two women to the British camp - through that dangerous territory - so that Jane could meet and marry her beloved, with the encouragement of the commanders and their wives who were with them.
But it all went dreadfully wrong! Several bands of Indians were active in the area, and only the day before the family of John Allen had been massacred at the village of Argyle, just to the east. Most families faithful to the Patriot cause were fleeing south, or were in hiding.
The most frequently told version - and perhaps the most dependable - is that one group took the women from the McNeill home and started on their way - Jane on horseback, and Mrs. McNeill following on foot. They were met by another group and the two Indian bands became involved in a disagreement as to who should deliver the young bride- to-be to the British encampment. One group was led by Duluth. In the fierce dispute that followed, the opposing chief, named LeLoup, attacked Jane - first shooting her in the chest, and then striking her with his weapon, taking her scalp as she lay dying.
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Nearby a small squadron of 12 Colonials were also attacked, with half of them being killed and scalped, including their leader, Lt. Van Vechten. The bodies of both Jane and Van Vechten were dumped in a nearby ravine. The Indians arrived at the British camp, with Mrs. McNeill, and there displayed the scalps of their victims. Horrified, David Jones heard the woman's account of events, and recognized the long hair of his beautiful fiancee.
That evening, Col. John learned of the tragedy of his sister's murder, and it is believed that he took charge of a small group who, the next morning, recovered her body - as well as Van Vechten's. On a small barge, they floated downstream about three miles where the bodies were properly - though hastily - buried at the side of a bridge over a small stream that flowed into the Hudson.
The outrageous murder of Jane McCrea so enflamed the American colonists that enlistments rose, morale reached a high pitch, and hostility toward Burgoyne and the other British leaders contributed greatly to their ultimate defeat. And this, in spite of Burgoyne's own dismay over the incident and his effort to punish those responsible. Even in London, loud protests were heard and decisions made that alliance with Indians was no longer to be tolerated even though it had initially been ordered from London.
Now, finally, about that grave site! Following Maj. Campbell's death in 1758, his remains were carried south from Ticonderoga, to be buried in the old cemetery in Ft. Edward, in the lot of the Gilchrist family.
For nearly 50 years Jane's remains lay undisturbed in their original burial spot three miles south, which had been made sacred as the resting place of those two victims of that violent July day, 1777. Then in about 1823, give or take a year, they were removed to that same old cemetery where Maj. Campbell had been buried, on the east side of what is now State Street, in Ft. Edward - beside the remains of her friend, Mrs. McNeill.
In 1852 her bones were exhumed and reinterred in the newer Union Cemetery, on top of Ft. Edward Hill north of town. The lot was up front in the cemetery, near the road. Jane's niece, Sarah Hanna Payne - the daughter of her sister Mary - was largely responsible for this move, and she had a stone erected in memory of Jane. Peculiarly, her niece gave her age as 17, and that error has persisted down through the years. She was closer to 24 at the time of her death, although her exact birth date has not been determined.
To prevent further destruction by vandals who were chipping away at that grave stone, a high iron fence was placed around the site in about 1895, paid for by subscriptions of school children and others.
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Back to Maj. Campbell - his remains were in 1871 moved to the same union Cemetery as Jane's, and were again "in the Gilchrist lot". But, in 1920 his bones were again exhumed and laid in their present resting place - right next to those of Jane, inside the high iron fence, as though the spot had been saved just for him. His original headstone was brought to mark his place.
Actually, we are told, some tourists unfamiliar with the history, assume that Maj. Campbell must have been "Jane's fiance", since they are lying there side by side.
And "WHY Jane McCrea"?, our Editor asked. We have been told - it was apparently because both were prominent figures of history, and the spot - near the cemetery entrance, and near the road - was convenient to the view of the eager tourists, who still come by the thousands!
We have been among them - and hope to return another day. And THAT is "the rest of the story"!
John T. McCrea
P. O. Box 55-8136
Miami, FL 33255
E-Mail:
Mrs. McNeill was obviously a reasonable witness to these events, and gave her immediate account of what had transpired. She continued to speak out, frequently, to all who would listen telling what she knew. It is alleged, however, that over time these versions began to vary from the original and she became a questionable source in later years - having changed the story as she remembered it, through a number of versions.
Mrs. McNeill's maiden name had been Sarah Fraser, daughter of Alexander Fraser of Balenabe. She was born in Invernesshire in 1722 - the home of Clan Fraser, so close in history to the early Macraes of the same area. She was a cousin, of a sort, to Gen. Fraser, one of Burgoyne's generals, who was in that same British camp. At age 17 she had been married to one Archibald Campbell, thought to be a direct descendant of Maj. Duncan's line. Upon his death, she married James McNeill but was widowed then the second time.
Another eye-witness to the violence of that Sunday morning was Samuel Standish, a direct descendant of Miles Standish of the Mayflower and Plymouth. As a Patriot he was also wounded and captured that day, but was later able to give a first hand account.
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The bereaved David Jones, following the War, relocated to Canada and settled in the area of Brockville, on the St. Lawrence River where he died in his "old age", and was buried in the cemetery of The Blue Church, near Prescott.
Meanwhile, Col. John McCrea had also moved north to the St. Lawrence - remaining on the New York side near the small town of Lisbon, where he died May 18, 1811. It is interesting to speculate on whether David Jones and John McCrea were ever able to reconcile their political differences and renew their former friendship living as they were, just across the River from one another.
Jane's brother Stephen, a physician, practiced medicine for a time in nearby Stillwater. There was in that town another Samuel McCrea, born the same year as Jane's brother Samuel - 1749. It is little wonder that the two have been confused for generations, including in such special matters as DAR membership applicants' histories. This Samuel and his bride, Janet Simpson, were married in 1776. No clear evidence has been found to tell us of the possible family connections, or friendship, of these two McCrea families.
It is reported that the Stillwater family "suffered great losses during the campaigns of Gen. Burgoyne - [where he fought battles on Freeman's Farm both Sept. 19 and again Oct. 7, following the events at Ft. Edward] - in which it is believed that their home was destroyed and their farm crops and animals lost". They had ten children, all born in Stillwater. Then in 1793 the entire family moved to "Upper Canada" as United Empire Loyalists, settling in Merrickville, just north of Brockville near David Jones.
For years following, the dramatic events surrounding the murder of Jane were remembered in paintings, poems, historical articles, and works of prose. One work of special interest is the 1784 French language novelette, Miss McCrea, by Michel Rene Hilliard- d'Auberteuil. It is said to be "the first book-length prose narrative to deal wholly with a national American incident and with America as the entire scene of action". Taking great liberties with historic fact, it is fiction based on the true story.
Rev. Alexander Macrae, in his History of Clan Macrae, records that Rev. James and his wife Mary had had an earlier "Jane", who "died young". No support is found for this claim, but it had apparently been a traditional belief of that family in later years.
The chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for that historical area, is the Jane McCrea Chapter. They have erected an attractive stone marker near the spot where Jane was killed. In June 1999 the Chapter will observe its 100th Anniversary at Glens Falls, NY.
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