Charlie Snyder, well-known in Civil War circles for his investigations into events of that era, will chart events leading to the settlement of this area during the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of the Revolutionary War. Snyder will speak on Sunday, May 17, at the Morgan Opera House in Aurora.

“I've been talking about the Civil War for years,” Snyder said. “I got into the Revolutionary War last year for a change.” Maps of the campaign will be provided to the audience to follow during the lecture.

Snyder, mayor of Aurora from 1974 to 1982, is a retired teacher from Wells College, where he taught education. With an M.A. in history and art from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, Snyder's interests led him to the history of this area.

He chose to speak about the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign because it went right through Aurora and is a very famous part of the Revolutionary War, he said.

“I had to do a lot of research,” Snyder said, in preparation for the lecture. “One historian said one thing, and another historian said another thing.”

He said he is trying to come up with interesting side notes about what happened to various people during the event. He finds both generals, John Sullivan and James Clinton, intriguing.

Snyder said soldiers involved in the campaign came mainly from Philadelphia and Albany. They met in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and went up the Tioga River. They went all the way out to Canisius Lake to Little Beard's Town, Genesee Castle south of Rochester.

“What they discovered in the Indian territory shocked them,” he said, but not for the reasons one might think.

“The Iroquois nation was highly civilized,” he said.

The Sullivan-Clinton campaign was brought on by the Wyoming, Pa. and Cherry Valley (Mowhawk Valley) massacres.

“People from Mowhawk told General Washington, ‘You've got to do something about these Indians,'” he said. In 1779, Washington ordered Generals John Sullivan, from Philadelphia, and James Clinton, from Albany, to go after the Indians. In so doing, he used a quarter of all of the Revolutionary forces, making it difficult for others to carry out major campaigns.

In fact, Snyder said, Sullivan and Clinton only had one major battle after they crossed from Pennsylvania into New York. After that, the Indians backed off any direct conflicts.

“They walked and walked and walked,” Snyder said of the soldiers. “It's amazing how much soldiers in the Revolutionary War walked.”

On their way back, the soldiers marched through Aurora, originally Peach Town, one of three towns the Cayugas had settled on the east bank of Cayuga Lake.

“The Iroquois had tremendous orchards from the Mowhawk Valley almost all the way to Buffalo,” Snyder said. “They all planted trees that were brought in from missionaries in Canada.” He noted that the Iroquois were very territorial and defined the area all across New York as their territory; they protected it.

A historical marker in front of the bank in Aurora says a peach orchard of 1,500 trees was destroyed during the April-to-October 1779 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. American revolutionaries were following George Washington's orders to drive out the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois tribes from New York after some of them allied with the British.

“Washington's order to the generals was to strip the land so the Iroquois couldn't live there,” Snyder said.

The Sullivan-Clinton campaign pushed the Cayugas to other Iroquois territories, to Canada and to Oklahoma.

After his talk, Snyder will hold a brief question and answer period with the audience.

Kathleen Barran

253-5311 ext. 238

kathleen.barran@lee.net

What: Charlie Snyder's

lecture on the Sullivan-

Clinton Campaign

When: 2 p.m. Sunday, May 17

Where: Morgan Opera House, Aurora Free Library, second floor, corner of

Cherry Avenue and Main Street, Aurora

Cost: Free; donations appreciated

Info: Call 364-5437