The Town of
Marshall was originally part of Tryon County, but morphed into Montgomery
County, then to Herkimer County, to Oneida County in 1798; and then to the Town
of Paris from 1792-1827 to the Town of Kirkland in 1827. We finally came into
our own in 1829 as the Town of Marshall, named in honor of Supreme Court
Justice John Marshall (1801-1835). All
this is to explain the Moyer Road and how it came to be part of the Town of
Marshall history.
The Moyer
(or Military) Road, which ran westerly from German Flatts (Frankfort), through Sauquoit, to Bogusville Hill Road and beyond
undoubtedly originated as an Indian trail, but was also used by settlers who
believed soldiers, led by a General Moyer, traveled this trail, hence the name.
However, no
such general can be found to have existed.
More likely, the name came from a
Dutchman named Moyer who ran a tavern on the trail. It is further theorized
that on April 19, 1799, a Col. Goosen Van Schiack and a detachment of 55 men
used this trail to raid the Onondaga Indians. Also, to add insult to injury,
early settlers claimed that Gen. John Sullivan led his troops over this road to
massacre Indians to the west. He is supposed to have reconstructed sections
with logs found nearby, as he advanced and camped just east of the Oriskany
Creek near Bogusville, while his men attempted to erect a bridge over what they
termed the Oriskany River. This cannot be verified, but if Samuel Kirkland was
their chaplain and the Brothertown Indians their guide, as is alleged, this
would be interesting indeed!
On the part
of the trail travelling west from Post Street, called Concanon Road, later changed
to Maxwell Road, is the site of an ancient Indian campground. In her notes,
former historian Dorothy McConnell comments that her ancestors collected what
they thought were arrowheads from the area, until they were examined by a Dr.
Grayson of Hamilton College, who explained that they were actually spear points
thousands of years old and used before the invention of the bow and arrow.
The trail
ran down a steep ravine by Turkey Creek, named because the wild turkeys found
in this area by settlers and Indians. The bottom of the ravine was also known
as Moyers Hole, and was a resting place where travelers watered their horses,
probably in Turkey Creek.
Further down
the trail was what was known to early settlers as Whitney Corners - later
Lumbard Road - past the abandoned Peck Road, which led to Hanover, a bustling
place until around 1837, when the Chenango Canal opened.
The trail went
on past the intersection of Grant Hill Road and Austin Road, then down past
Gridley Paige Road and over Oriskany Creek. At that point an Iroquois Indian settlement
was established, and it was here that Col. Heinrick Staring was brought after
being captured by Indians during the Revolutionary War. It is said he escaped
in the dead of night as his captors slept, ran into the woods and swam
downstream in Oriskany Creek, and eventually made his way to Fort Stanwix.
The trail
continued to Bogusville Hill Road, so named because of the manufacture and
distribution of counterfeit coins by a man named Hurd who was ostensibly
fabricating silver spoons. On Bogusville Hill Road is an inaccessible
Brothertown Indian cemetery, which is believed to be the burial place of Samson
Occom, leader of the
Brothertowns. The Moyer, or Military, Road continued up Bogusvillle Hill to
Knoxboro and Munnsville, and on to Oneida Castle. The Brothertown Indians, who
didn't completely settle until after the Revolutionary War, seldom traveled the
trail eastward, but used it to travel to Stockbridge.
Little is
left of that trail of antiquity today other than geographical landmarks, but
one can imagine what the Moyer orMilitary Road must have been like all those
years ago, and can appreciate how it was a boon to travelers in those times.
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