The first time the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the public was in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, making the residents of that city the first outside of the government to learn of Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece. In the days that followed, readings took place in many other cities around the colonies, with wild celebrations – including at least one incident in which King George was hanged in effigy – typically following the completion of the recitation.

It has not been recorded when or how the Delaware Company settlers in the Upper Delaware may have learned of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, nor is it known if there was a celebration as a result, but if any such revelry did take place, it was likely a subdued one.

That’s because a hefty percentage of the settlers at Cushetunk were Tories, choosing to remain loyal to King and country. And they vehemently opposed not just independence, but all of those in favor of it, whether neighbor, friend, or even family.

The hostility between the two sides in the Upper Delaware quickly reached the boiling point, and most of the settlers supporting independence fled to more populated areas in search of safety for their families while many of the Tories, who believed they would be safe because of the allegiance of the Native Americans in the region to the British, remained in their homes.

Those Loyalists endured frequent visits from a group of “scouts” from the Mamakating Valley under the command of a former Cushetunk resident, who hunted down Tories and executed them, often without providing so much as an opportunity to explain themselves.

“The patriots of Mamakating appointed a Committee of Safety, composed, according to tradition, of Gerardus Van Inwegen, Benjamin Depuy, Thomas Kyte, and one of the Swartouts – all good and true Whigs of Peenpack,” writes James Eldridge Quinlan in his 1873 “History of Sullivan County.” 

“The committee organized a company of scouts, under the command of Captain Bezaleel Tyler, a refugee from Cochecton, and the scouts occasionally made a visit to this remote neighborhood to ‘regulate’ suspicious characters and make reprisals.”

Quinlan writes that there are just two documented incidents of the scouts actually killing Tories, but that is almost certainly an underestimation. One such incident involved a man named Handy, described by Quinlan as “a half-wit,” who had lived in Cushetunk prior to the war, but had left for Mamakating after an ill-fated love affair. There, he stole a horse and returned to the Upper Delaware, hiding among a group of Native Americans.

Tyler and his men came upon Handy on one of their excursions, and executed him on the spot, burying him where he fell, with all in attendance agreeing this was a fair sentence for a horse thief, especially one disloyal to their cause.

The decision to execute a second Tory, a man calling himself Payne, but whom Quinlan notes was actually named Cooley, was not so unanimous, and led to dissension among Tyler’s scouts, some of whom felt the act was carried out too hastily. The swift and often arbitrary dispensation of the death sentence by Tyler and his men evoked fear in the hearts of Tories and Native Americans in the region, who took to calling Tyler Captain Mush, a derogatory nickname indicating he was thought to be of questionable intelligence.         

The rift among the erstwhile neighbors in the Cushetunk settlement was real, and so severe that when the Battle of Minisink took place on July 22, 1779, there were Cushetunk settlers fighting on both sides. So, when people today ominously opine that our nation has never been so divided, they might need to be reminded of what went on during the War for Independence, when, contrary to what some believe today, our citizenry was not of one mind.

Still, the political rift today is also real and severe, and like the rift in the late 18th century, often divides neighbors and even families. That fact serves to make the next three weekends at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg particularly timely.

At 12 noon on the Fourth of July, the Bold Gold Media Speaker Series presents actor Oliver King delivering Frederick Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” in the event tent behind the Fort. The program is free and open to the public. The Fort will close at noon on the Fourth so that staff – and the newly formed Fort Delaware Fife & Drum Corps – can march in the Narrowsburg Fourth of July parade, which begins at 3pm.

On Saturday, July 5, at 4pm, former Congressman Chris Gibson will be at Fort Delaware to discuss and sign his latest book, “The Spirit of Philadelphia.” The program, also sponsored by Bold Gold Media, is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, July 12, it is Patriots & Loyalists Day, with the Declaration of Independence read aloud at the Fort at 1pm, followed by a Loyalist rebuttal and a spirited “debate” among the settlers. The Delaware Company will also be presenting its two annual awards that afternoon, as well as unveiling its newly renovated Black Dog Publick House. The first 50 paid visitors to the Fort that day will receive a free Fort Delaware pilsner glass.

Beginning at 11am  on Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20, Fort Delaware will be under siege by Queen Esther’s Refugees on the Warpath, and on Saturday, the Fort will close at 3pm for the annual commemoration of the Battle of Minisink at the Battleground Park in Barryville, which begins at 4pm. Sullivan County Legislator Terry Blosser Bernardo, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, will deliver the keynote address.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.