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History of Orange County
Towns of Goshen, Hamptonburgh and Chester
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BATTLE OF MINISINK AND INTERMENT OF THE BONES.

     The tale of this Indian massacre, in consequence of the number and worth of our immediate relatives, friends and neighbors, who were slain on that occasion, is fresh in the memory of every reader; and the whole transaction, from the descent of Brandt, that Indian thunderbolt, into the county from the valley of the Mamakating, till he left with his warriors after the battle, are so accurately and eloquently described by D. Wilson in his address, on the occasion of burying the bones of the slain, that we are led to adopt it in preference to any thing that we could write.
      The following circumstance caused the interment of the bones: In 1820 Dr. D. R. Arnell, President of the Orange County Medical Society, at its annual meeting in July, read a biographical sketch of Dr. Tusten, who fell in the battle of Minisink, which was published and awakened an interest in the public mind, and led to the collection and interment of the bones in question.  A committee was appointed to gather them up, after they had been bleached by the sunshine and storms of more than forty years, ungratefully neglected by their friends and countrymen.
     The special committee of arrangements published the following notice to give the citizens an opportunity to be present and partake of the transactions of the day.  The debt was due to patriotism, and they wished all to be present to witness and honor the payment.
Funeral Procession.-The special committee of arrangements request and invite the clergy of the different denominations, all the military officers, the civil and judicial officers, surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution, survivors of the Minisink battle, all uniform companies and the different Masonic lodges, the medical society, gentlemen of the bar and the principals, teachers and students of the different academies in the county of Orange, and particularly the surviving relatives of those who were slain in the Minisink battle, to attend in Goshen on the 22d proximo.  Just and proper places will be assigned them in the funeral procession of that day.
Thomas Waters, Gabriel N. Phillips, J. W. Carpenter, David R. Arnell, Henry G. Wisner, Committee.
             Goshen, June 26, 1822.

     The committee availed themselves of every means to ascertain the number and names of the dead, appealed in public notices to the friends of the slain to communicate their names, and suggested that much care be taken in the accuracy of spelling them. Doubtless the names of all were procured.  We have not, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, ever heard a suggestion to the contrary. The whole duty of the living seems to have been performed with accuracy and devout gratitude to all the dead.
     The gentlemen to whom the duty of collecting the bones was entrusted, executed their trust with zeal and fidelity.--They took every means to gather the whole.  The first day they travelled about 40 miles, half the distance through a perfect wilderness of woods and mountains.  They passed the night with Mr. Samuel Watkins, of half way brook, a former resident of the county, at Hamptonburgh, and son of Samuel Watkins, Esq. of the Revolution.  His residence was about six miles from the battle ground, to which they succeeded on the ensuing morning.  The locality was so impracticable that some of the party left their horses, preferring to clamber over the rough ground, and up and down the mountains on foot, to the danger of riding.  The vicinity of the scene of action was a perfect wilderness, without a trace of improvement of any kind.  The battle was commenced on the banks of the Delaware, opposite to the mouth of the Lackawack, and ended about three quarters of a mile from the river.  The committee were astonished at the course taken by our little army, when they took a full view of the whole ground, for some of the descents and elevations were frightful over which they passed.  The majority of the bones were found on the spot where the battle was fought, though some were found at the distance of several miles.  These, were those who had been wounded, wandered away and finally died of their wounds or of hunger.  The wild beasts may have removed some to a distance from the scene of action.--The bones of one man were found who after being wounded crept into a crevice between two rocks and died there.  The number of bones collected was about 300; though others had been found by hunters and others passing through that district of country, which were brought in, in part, and deposited with the committee.  It was supposed that about one half of the bones of all the slain were found and deposited under the monument. At the time some supposed that Indian bones might have been gathered up and mingled with those of the white men, but the known rule of the Indian when successful in battle, to carry off all the slain, precludes the above supposition, and on this occasion the survivors saw the Indians after the battle engaged in this very duty.  But whether so or not, the thought ought not to mar or disturb the moral and patriot grandeur of the deed, but we ought rather to be consoled by the reflection that death renders all equal and despoils all enmities; and there let the ashes of friend and foe sleep together the sleep of death.
     We witnessed this solemn and interesting pageant, as it was transacted amidst the assembled inhabitants of the county. At no previous time in its history were so many people
collected together, 15,000 persons it was thought witnessed the ceremonies.  The military of the county, and especially the corps of cadets from West Point, under their gallant commander, Maj. Worth, who had kindly consented to be present and direct the movements of the military, looked remarkably well; they performed their evolutions with the accuracy of trained soldiers.  The procession formed on the occasion, moved with the solemn dignity inspired by the patriot event they came to celebrate.  The address of the Rev. James R. Wilson was touching, forcible and eloquent, and his manner as he spoke of the dried bones of our ancestors slain in Indian battle, was admirably calculated to light up anew the fires of the Revolution in the breast of the aged and time-worn patriot, and animate the youth of the land to imitate their deeds of valor in the just defence of their country.
     The corner stone of the monument, destined to hold the ashes of the heroic dead, was put in place by Gen. Hathorn, preceded by a short address, which for point, neatness and modesty, we never heard excelled on any occasion.  Deep sorrow for the calamity, which swept down his countrymen to an untimely and cruel grave, seemed to pervade and overwhelm his mind, and the good old patriot found it not in his heart, to fight the battle over.  All who now read the address, will be most forcibly impressed with the truth of our remarks, and admire the kindness, humanity and good will of the speaker.  Gen. Hathorn at the time, was nearly 80 years of age, and now while we write, sleeps the sleep of death in an honored grave.  The defeat he sustained in the battle of Minisink, the slaughter of his friends and neighbors, and the pall of gloom and heart-felt sorrow which were thrown over the country by the melancholy catastrophy, never sank the General in public estimation; for he did all that a brave man could to prevent defeat, while the pursuit and battle were in opposition to his views as an intelligent soldier, knowing the craft and mode of warfare, of his Indian foes.