tide. The eastern and north-western
parts are rocky and precipitous, and unfit for cultivation. There was
a stone fort in the village on the site of B.C. Hornbeck's house. On
Aug. 12, 1781, a large party of tories and Indians under one Caldwell,
appeared in the town with a design of falling upon Napanock, but being
informed that the place was defended by cannon they came to Wawarsing
before the inhabitants were up in the morning. Two men and a young
woman discovered the enemy before they reached the fort, and the young
woman succeeded in closing the door just in time to prevent it from
being burst open by the savages. Finding further attack to be
dangerous they dispersed and burned and plundered the out settlements,
and next day withdrew laden with spoils. Several lives were lost on
both sides and much property destroyed.--The Indians--or Narratives of
Massacres and Depredations on the frontiers of Wawarsink and Vicinity,
p. 21.

[10] FANTINE KILL, a settlement, on a stream of that name, about a
mile from the present village of Ellenville, in the town of Wawarsing,
Ulster County. The attack was made at day-break by a party of thirty
or forty Indians under Brant, who came by the way of the Indian trail
to Grahamsville, and from thence through the woods to the settlement.
Widow Isaac Bevier and two sons were killed, also the entire family of
Michael Socks, consisting of the father, mother, two sons who were
young men, two children, and one or two others. They attacked the
house of Jesse Bevier, but the inmates being good marksmen and having
plenty of ammunition succeeded in defending themselves until Col. Van
Cortlandt came to their relief.

"As I was about marching from my encampment, having called in my
guard, I discovered smokes rising from the village about six miles
south, and a lad sent from its vicinity informed me that the Indians
were there burning and destroying. It was occasioned by two of my men
deserting in the mountains, when I received the order to return; for
they went to Brant and informed him that I was ordered away, and he
expected that I was gone. * * * On my approach Brant ran off. He had
about one hundred and fifty Indians, and as I approached him, he being
on a hill, and seeing me leaning against a pine tree waiting for the
closing up of my men, ordered a rifle Indian to kill me, but he
overshot me, the ball passing three inches over my head."--Col. Van
Cortlandt's manuscript statement, 1825.