Drums Along the Mohawk

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Drums Along the Mohawk

by Walter D. Edmonds

THE LITERARY WORK

A novel set in the Mohawk Valley in New York State, from 1776 to 1784; published in 1936.

SYNOPSIS

A young married couple struggles through the difficult years of the American Revolution in a New York State frontier settlement.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place

The Novel in Focus

Events in History at the Time the Novel Was Written

For More Information

Born in upstate New York’s Boonville in 1903, Walter D. Edmonds focused on the region’s history and people in most of the novels he wrote. Drums Along the Mohawk centers on the experience of settlers in the Mohawk River Valley during the Revolutionary War. This book first appeared in 1936, when the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression and thousands of Americans were struggling through the same kind of poverty that the novel’s main characters experience. At the same time, events were taking place throughout the world that would eventually expose this later generation of Americans to the horrors of war.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place

Life on the frontier

Drums Along the Mohawk focuses on the inhabitants of German Flats, the westernmost frontier settlement in the Mohawk Valley of New York in the late 1700s. As was the case throughout much of the state of New York during the time, the real-life inhabitants of German Flats and the Mohawk Valley region lived on rural farms that had only recently been carved out of the surrounding wilderness. The area attracted settlers, despite the difficulties of living on the frontier, because the land was plentiful, fertile, and relatively cheap. It offered small farmers the opportunity to develop and maintain a prosperous homestead of their own that they could proudly pass on to their descendants.

Most people first arrived in frontier settlements such as German Flats with a minimum of possessions. They typically began their new lives in simple log cabins; after clearing part of the land of trees and rocks, these early settlers planted wheat, corn, or other crops. The typical farmer was able to produce beyond his family’s immediate needs within a few years and send surplus crops to nearby marketing centers, coastal cities, or overseas markets in Europe and the West Indies. In fact, wheat grew so successfully in the Mohawk Valley that it became the “bread basket” for much of America at the time.

The valley’s rural communities were largely self-sufficient and produced nearly all of their own essentials. In German Flats and other such settlements, farmers grew food, cut lumber, and supplied wool, linen, and leather material for clothing. The women of the settlement spun, wove, and tailored the material into everyday wear. For metal work, flour grinding, and other services, the settlers turned to artisans such as millers or smiths who lived in the area. There were even a few local lawyers and doctors to meet residents’ needs.

While the majority of the Mohawk Valley’s population consisted of small farmers, a few wealthier men also lived there. Some of these men, such as the Johnsons, the Butlers, and Philip Schuyler, are referred to in Drums Along the Mohawk. Before the Revolutionary War, they dominated local politics and controlled the region’s courts. These powerful men possessed large houses and greater quantities of servants, land, and luxuries than most people in the area. In colonial times they enjoyed the general respect of the rest of the region’s population. When the Revolutionary War came, many of these wealthy men left to join the English forces and lost their standing in the society of the region forever.

Settlers and American Indians

Most of the Iroquois nations, which included the Mohawks, Senecas, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras, had lived in western New York long before the arrival of white settlers. In the 1700s, tension mounted between the two cultures as increasing numbers of white colonists moved into the region. The American Indians resented the encroachment of the white settlers on their lands and the threat it presented to their way of life. The settlers saw the Indians as a dangerous obstacle in their quest to secure greater prosperity on the frontier and regarded most of them as wild animals to be killed without fear of punishment from the government; it was quite rare for anyone to be punished for the murder of a Native American. Many whites felt little guilt or remorse as they steadily pushed the frontier of settlement further west, robbing the tribes of the vast expanses of land upon which they had long lived. The lack of an exact, mutually agreed-upon boundary between settlers and American Indian lands aggravated the situation, for it encouraged settlers to claim “disputed” lands and created an atmosphere of hostility between the two cultures that sometimes erupted into violent confrontations.

The Mohawk Valley during the Revolution

Another clash of beliefs became evident in the 1760s and 1770s in the Mohawk Valley and other regions. Prior to the first shots of the Revolution in 1775, disagreements accelerated between supporters of the American cause (Patriots) and supporters of the English government (Tories). Neighbors became suspicious of neighbors, and an increasing number of politically oriented meetings were held, usually at night in taverns, halls, or private homes. Sometimes these meetings became scenes of violence between Tory and Patriot factions. On the night of March 29, 1775, for example, one meeting in Caugh-nawaga was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Guy Johnson and Sir John Johnson, who led a band of about thirty Tories armed with clubs. The Patriot group was ordered to end their meeting and leave. When they refused, a violent brawl broke out and more than a dozen people were hurt. After months of such confrontations, the Patriot faction managed to gain the upper hand in the region. Johnson and most other Mohawk Valley Tories left to join the British forces in Canada.

In Canada the Tories helped the British forge an alliance with the Mohawk, Seneca, and Cayuga tribes against the Patriots. These tribes, who resented the advance of the Americans onto Indian lands, sided with the British against the settlers who had been claiming Iroquois territory for years. Not all the Iroquois nations joined the Tory faction, however. Some, like the Oneidas, remained neutral at first and occasionally provided direct help to the American forces.

American Indian tribes became a major force in the Tories’ campaign against the Patriots when the Revolution began. Especially important were Mohawk and Seneca raids against the Mohawk Valley settlers. The British and their allies believed that the area served as the granary for George Washington’s army; by destroying its farms they would deprive the American forces of an important source of food. British forces also noted that the region was vulnerable because relatively few American troops were stationed in the Mohawk Valley, despite its strategic importance as the “bread basket” of the nation. The Revolutionary War in the Mohawk Valley region thus became a mostly defensive struggle of local militia against Tory raids on their homes and settlements.

Along the New York frontier, settlements like German Flats were attacked and destroyed by combined British and Indian forces. Homes, barns, mills, and fields, sometimes full of unharvested crops, were burned. Individuals were shot or their families savagely attacked in their homes. One man described the terrible scene he witnessed after one raid: “Such a shocking sight my eyes never beheld before of savage and brutal barbarity; to see a husband mourning over his dead wife with four children lying by her side, mangled, scalped, and some of their heads, some of their legs and arms cut off (Evans, p. 275).

The years of the Revolution (1775-1783) were a time of extreme terror and loss for people like Gil and Lana Martin of Drums Along the Mohawk. Not only were their farms and possessions destroyed, but they also feared for their lives. Raids often forced badly frightened farmers to desert their homes and fields and seek the shelter and protection of forts. People in Drums Along the Mohawk,

LOCAL MILITIA VS. CONTINENTAL ARMY

Before 1775 no central military organization existed in America. Instead, each state maintained its own army, called the militia. Every community organized all its able-bodied men into companies that were only called up in times of great need. For the most part, militia men lacked strict military training and discipline. This is illustrated by the description of a militia meeting in German Flats in Drums Along the Mohawk. “The line raggedly shouldered their guns, some to the right, some to the left.... No two of them were dressed alike. Some had coats, of homespun or black cloth; some, like Gil, wore hunting shirts” (Drums Along the Mohawk, p. 46). With the beginning of the Revolution, America’s Continental Congress decided that a centralized military command was necessary to coordinate all the states’ efforts and concentrate the Americans’ strength in key areas of the nation. Congress therefore created the Continental Army, with George Washington as its commander in chief. These regular troops were all volunteers. Unlike the militias, however, they received a few months’ training to gain discipline and skill. The Continental troops were therefore usually more effective than militias.

for example, retreat many times over the course of the war to either Fort Dayton or Fort Herkimer. They then live for days or weeks in cramped, unsanitary quarters. Subject to repeated attacks and miserable living conditions, the Mohawk Valley suffered enormously in the war years. The region eventually lost about two-thirds of its population and 700 buildings, while thousands of farms were left uncultivated.

The Novel in Focus

The plot

The bulk of Drums Along the Mohawk takes place between 1776 and 1781, although the book includes an epilogue chapter describing resettlement after the war in 1784. In 1776 Lana Borst marries Gil Martin, and together they leave her parents’ New York homestead to settle thirty miles further west in Deerfield. Because of the approaching Revolution, soon after their arrival Gil must report to a gathering of the local militia called “muster day.”

A month or two later, some of Gil’s neighbors—the Weavers, the Realls, and Clem Coppernot—arrive at the Martin homestead to help Gil clear ten acres of his land for farming. When they are about halfway finished, Blue Back, a friendly Oneida Indian, arrives to warn them that a raiding party of Senecas and Tories is in the valley. The settlers immediately scatter for home to pack up some belongings before driving to the Little Stone Arabia Stockade for protection. Lana, who is pregnant, has a miscarriage as a result of the wild ride to the fort. The enemy destroys all the houses and fields of the Deerfield settlements, forcing Gil and Lana to rent a one-room cabin for the winter. By spring, money is scarce and Gil desperately needs work to support them. He takes a job as the hired man of Mrs. McKlennar, a widow, and he and Lana move into a house on her property. Lana later becomes pregnant again, this time safely bearing the child.

At the end of the summer, the militia is called up. It sets out westward to confront a force of Tories and Indians who have moved down from Canada to attack the Mohawk Valley. The ensuing battle at Oriskany leaves hundreds of the American militia men dead or injured. Gil returns with a bullet wound in the arm; General Herkimer, the American commander, is injured in the leg and eventually dies from his wounds.

Raiding parties continue to burn and pillage the Mohawk Valley settlements through the summer of 1778. As a result, there is hardly enough food for the Martin household the next winter. The Americans grow increasingly certain that members of the Onondaga tribe have been involved in a number of the destructive raids, although they have claimed a position of neutrality in the war. In the spring of 1779 the militia is led west by Colonel Van Schaick on a mission to strike the Onondaga settlements. The militia men arrive to find that the Indians have already fled, but the troops decide to burn down the Onondaga towns.

That summer Lana has a second child. Winter arrives, and though the Martin family has enough to eat, the cold is remarkably severe. By this time the Martins are living with Mrs. McKlennar, who has aged greatly and keeps mostly to her bed. The destructive raids continue in the Mohawk Valley through the following spring and summer. Instead of going alone into the fields to work on their crops, farmers are forced to work in groups with armed guards.

One day Lana takes her two sons for a walk, leaving Mrs. McKlennar in the house. While Lana is gone, two somewhat drunken Indians enter and set the house on fire. Overwhelmed by her righteous indignation, they agree to carry Mrs. McKlennar’s bed outside. The Indians flee as settlers rush to the scene, but it proves too late to save the house. Gil and two scouts build a cabin for the winter.

When the spring of 1781 arrives, Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett leads a group of American soldiers into the valley with orders to find and destroy the Tory forces in the area, which are now under General Butler’s command. Butler’s army is already experiencing difficulties because its food supplies are running out. When the American troops finally catch up with the Tory forces, they harass the weary army for several miles, kill Butler, and scatter his soldiers into the wilderness. The rout saves the valley from further serious harm for the rest of the war.

Three years later, in 1784, German Flats is safe. Gil and Lana return to their old Deerfield farm to raise their family. After surviving eight long years of hardship and struggle, the Martins are content to be back at home with their children and each other.

The unresponsiveness of the government

Drums Along the Mohawk reflects the harsh conditions that people in areas such as German Flats endured during the Revolutionary War. Tory raids were a constant threat to homes, possessions, and families. Food, money, and employment grew scarce as well, for the region’s meager defenses were insufficient to withstand the onslaught of Tory and Indian enemies. General Herkimer and others wrote letters to the Continental Congress requesting regular army detachments to help protect the frontier settlements, but these requests were generally ignored. Preoccupied with other problems, Congress thought it more important to send America’s troops elsewhere.

Throughout the war, the national and state governments seemed to show a tremendous indifference to the suffering of the Mohawk Valley. Edmonds highlights this government insensitivity and bureaucracy in Drums Along the Mohawk. When the members of the militia go to collect their pay, one of Gil’s neighbors, Mrs. Reall, accompanies them. Her family is desperately in need of money, and she wants to pick up the pay earned by her husband, who had been killed at the battle of Oriskany. Because of a clerical mistake, however, Mr. Reall has not been marked on the paymaster’s list as dead. The paymaster insists that Mr. Reall is officially required to pick up the money himself. Even after one of the other men in the room expresses his willingness to swear as to the time of the man’s death and the fact that Mrs. Reall is his widow, the paymaster refuses to give her the money. She is required to file a claim with the government and wait for eventual results; in the meantime, her family gradually starves.

GONE WITH THE WIND VS. DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK

Published in the same year as Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Edmonds’ novel topped Mitchell’s as the number one bestseller for a week before slipping below it into second place.

Edmonds provides another especially vivid example of the government’s indifference to local problems near the end of Drums Along the Mohawk. In 1780 the settlers of German Flats, who have endured years of terror, destruction, and poverty, suddenly receive huge tax bills for land that has been abandoned, buildings that were burned in the war, and farm animals that have been killed. The shocked settlers realize that the government must have obtained the English king’s old tax list. After so many years of fighting to overthrow British rule, the new American government seems not to treat them much differently. Edmonds uses such incidents to paint an unsympathetic portrait of the government in the novel.

Sources

Events and people that actually existed provide the basic framework for Drums Along the Mohawk. Such key military figures as General Herkimer and Captain Demooth on the American side and Tory commander General Butler on the British side are featured in the novel. Battles such as the one at Oriskany actually took place, as did the repeated raids on settlements in the Mohawk Valley.

Edmonds did a great deal of research into the history of revolutionary New York for the story. He consulted scholarly sources as well as old journals and letters that were left behind by people

who actually lived through the events that he was describing. He also drew on personal experience, since he grew up just north of the Mohawk River Valley. His descriptions of scenery and weather are to some extent based on his own knowledge and impressions of the area.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Was Written

The Great Depression

Drums Along the Mohawk was published in 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in American history. The first visible sign of the Depression was the 1929 stock market crash, in which investors lost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, over 9,000 American banks either went bankrupt or closed to avoid bankruptcy in the next few years. The bank failures caused Americans to lose over $2.5 billion. By 1932, about a quarter of the work force was unemployed, while others with jobs suffered large pay cuts or reduced hours. Swelling numbers of people sought help from public relief agencies, which were overwhelmed by the tremendous demand for their services and collapsed in many cities.

In 1932 President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a series of economic reforms called the New Deal. One of his first acts to help impoverished Americans was to create a temporary Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which distributed a limited number of cash grants to help state relief agencies. Another temporary program, the Civil Works Administration, was established to employ millions of people in short-term projects such as the construction of roads or parks. In 1935 Congress passed the Social Security Act, which provided the elderly with federal assistance and established a pension system that would provide workers with an income after retirement. Such programs continued to be established throughout the 1930s, and while these measures provided some relief, serious financial hardship was still felt by millions of Americans through the end of the decade. Many felt dissatisfied with the government’s efforts and charged that it was indifferent to their problems.

Walter Edmonds’ unflattering portrayal of Congress and the government in Drums Along the Mohawk thus reflected the opinions of the author and many other Americans about the government during the 1930s. The author drew a direct parallel in the novel between the early frontier settlers in the Revolution and the struggling, impoverished Americans in the Depression. Families in both periods were threatened by unemployment, loss of land and property, and sometimes homelessness and starvation. Citizens of both eras appealed to the state and national governments for relief, but both times the government response was not effective enough to substantially change the terrible conditions faced by multitudes of people. As Edmonds states in his introduction to Drums Along the Mohawk,

To those who may feel that here is a great to do about a bygone life, I have one last word to say. It does not seem to me a bygone life at all. The parallel is too close to our own.… Those people of the valley … suffered the paralysis of abject dependence on a central government totally unfitted to comprehend a local problem.
(Edmonds, p. ix)

Threats of war

While Edmonds wrote about the Revolutionary War in Drums Along the Mohawk, events unfolded around the world that eventually led to World War II. The financial crisis of the 1930s had not been limited to the United States; countries around the world experienced severe shortages and financial hardships. One of the consequences of these economic conditions was the growth of fierce and intolerant nationalism in certain areas of the

A CHANGE IN THE NOVEL’S TITLE

Edmonds originally called his novel A Starving Wilderness. but then decided that it “was not exactly an inviting title for the Depression” (Wyld, p. 79). The title Drums Along the Mohawk refers to the setting of the novel in the Mohawk Valley and the way its settlers first heard about the Revolutionary War—through the sounding of drums by the American army.

world. People became desperate to eliminate their own economic problems, even at the expense of other ethnic groups, who were often blamed for a variety of social and economic ills. In a number of countries, military-minded factions gained power and began to expand their territories. The Japanese moved into China, the Italians into Ethiopia, and the Germans into the Rhineland. In 1936, the year Drums Along the Mohawk was published, the German dictator Adolph Hitler moved his army into the Rhineland, taking over an area that France had controlled since World War I; two years later, he also took control of Austria.

Reviews

Historical novels were very popular in the 1930s. Most followed the same pattern: they were long, involved many characters, featured plenty of action and realistic details about the period, and often ended happily. Drums Along the Mohawk has all these qualities, but it also featured writing that set it above many other historical novels of the period.

Drums Along the Mohawk was immediately popular. A bestseller in 1936 and 1937, the book was made into a film by Twentieth Century Fox in 1939. The novel has been called “one of the best examples of the regional chronicles ever written in America (Wyld, p. 76). A few 1930s critics disapproved of its raw descriptions of frontier and Indian brutality and its characters’ use of unpolished, down-to-earth dialogue. These features, however, suited the author’s intent—to capture life as it was for ordinary farmers and settlers of New York State who had been swept into the Revolutionary War. Edmonds himself sensed that his work had achieved this: “I have just finished writing a novel about the Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War and I feel as if I had caught a big fish” (Edmonds in Wyld, p. 75).