Nearly one-hundred years ago, New York state asked local towns and historians to assist with the celebration of the War of the Revolution’s sesquicentennial by identifying historic sites in their areas. These sites would then be commemorated with markers that would briefly describe the importance of the site to that community.

In April 1927, The Altamont Enterprise reported that Governor Afred Emanuael Smith was seeking input across the state for sites and locations of historical significance during New York state’s development:

The town historians have been asked to furnish a list of at least 10 sites in their townships that are of historic significance in the Colonial, Revolutionary, or State formative period, so these sites can be appropriately provided with markers in accordance with the sesquicentennial celebration bill.

This bill, signed by Gov. Alfred E. Smith, appropriates $150,000, with the provision that at least one-half of the money go for markers and monuments. This movement is statewide, and the bill provides for the 150th. anniversary of the defense of Fort Stanwix, the battles of Oriskany, Bennington and Saratoga, and the defense of the lower Hudson.

In 1934, a series of historical markers, furnished and supported by the Division of Archives and the New York State Education Department, were located at 31 sites of historical importance in the town of Guilderland. These sites were determined through extensive research and documentation by Guilderland Town Historian and Town Justice William A. Brinkman, and by local author Arthur B. Gregg, who was appointed town historian after Mr. Brinkman’s death in 1946. Most of these markers exist today as they were originally prepared and sited. Unfortunately, one of the markers, titled “Old Hellebergh,” has been missing for several years. The text on the original marker was: 

OLD HELLEBERGH 

Land of Bitter Conflict 

Between Patriot and Tory

Known Later as West Guilderland, 

Knowersville, and Altamont 

Although not tied to a specific site or physical building, this marker reflected on the conflicts between neighbors, families, and friends during the conduct of the War of the Revolution. Last year, the village of Altamont arranged for the manufacture of a duplicate “Old Hellebergh” marker by Catskill Castings in Bloomville, New York.

Thanks to the village’s department of public works employees, the newly minted duplicate historical marker has been installed in Orsini Park, near the post office. To support the re-establishment of the “Old Hellebergh” historical marker, and to explain the context of why Mr. Brinkman and Mr. Gregg came to determine the significance of this commemorative marker, the following information has been compiled.

Colonial history

In the latter 1700s, the growth of and a developing sense of autonomy in the 13 colonies in the New World gradually resulted in a resistance to the controls that the British desired to maintain over those colonies. Although most of the colonists had a favorable view of the actions of the British, a few rebels existed among the colonists. These rebels resisted British efforts to use the new colonies as a source of revenue and objected to British control and subjugation. 

The Seven Years War, also referred to as the French and Indian War (1756-1763), drained the coffers of the British Empire. Looking for ways to pay down the war debt, the British instituted the Stamp Act (1765), followed by the Townshend Acts (1767), and later, the Tea Act (1773).

The taxes levied via the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts were largely repealed, but the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India Company to undercut prices that colonial merchants were paying for importing tea directly from Dutch merchants, was the next irritant imposed by the British.

Colonists, roughly disguised as Indians, boarded three ships and dumped 92,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor in December 1773. The colonists were careful not to harm any crew or damage any ships — just to destroy the tea supply that the British hoped to sell at reduced prices. And the British were not pleased. 

The Coercive Acts (1774) closed Boston Harbor until restitution was paid for the destroyed tea, removed the colony’s “home rule” council and replaced it with a British council, and banned town meetings without permission. The Quartering Act was included, allowing the British military to locate in unused or vacant structures in Boston, which raised their visibility and put further stress on relations with the colonists. 

In April 1775, British soldiers on their way to arrest insurrectionists were confronted by colonists in Lexington, and in the battle seven colonists died. The British soldiers were stopped in Concord and forced to retreat to Boston, and the crown and the colonies were officially at war.

Although the southern colonies weren’t initially involved in the disputes in and around Boston, the attacks on and the burning of the ports of Falmouth in Massachusetts and Norfolk in Virginia by the British solidified the resolve for all the colonies to be rid of the British.

Hellebergh

The 1767 Bleeker Map of the Manor of Rensselaerwick shows the area known as “Hellebergh” located in the western portion of today’s Albany County, in and around what is today the village of Altamont.

Many of the early settlers in this area had established homes and farms 10 to 15 years prior to the creation of the map, and most of these settlers can comfortably be termed as Patriots during the War of the Revolution, sometimes termed the War of Independence.

The names Severson, Van Aernam, Groot, Crounse, and Van Auken are mentioned often as belonging to men who served with distinction in the Colonial army. In addition to the Patriots in the Hellebergh area, there co-existed at the same time a contingent of Tories, whose allegiance remained with the British. The Tories were friends, neighbors, brothers — as much as a part of the communities as their Patriot neighbors.

Albany County formed the Albany Committee of Correspondence, or Committee of Safety, Protection, and Correspondence. And, fortunately, Albany County is the only New York state county that successfully preserved most of the minutes of this committee’s activities. These minutes were collected and preserved in a volume prepared for publication by The Division of Archives and History, James Sullivan, Director and State Historian, in 1923. 

In addition, the “Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York 1777-1795,” published in 1902 by the state of New York, provide valuable information regarding the conflicts between the colonists (Patriots) and the loyalists (Tories) during the War of the Revolution.

Both the extensive minutes of the Albany Committee of Correspondence and the “Public Papers of George Clinton” were used by Arthur B. Gregg in his collection of essays titled “Old Hellebergh,” published by The Altamont Enterprise in 1936. These essays had previously appeared in The Enterprise newspaper.

The Albany Committee of Correspondence and the “Public Papers of George Clinton,” as well as other documents of that era, contain considerable information regarding the conduct of the war, and included within the thousands of pages of documents are many references to the local activities of the “disaffected,” also known as Loyalists or Tories, and their attempts to undermine the efforts of the Patriots, who wished to no longer be ruled by the British. 

“Hellebergh,” as portrayed on the 1767 Bleeker map, was contained within the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, including what is now the village of Altamont. It would have extended to what is now the village of Voorheesville, up Route 156 toward Knox, west toward Bozenkill Creek, and east toward what is now Guilderland.

The immigrant residents of the area by the mid-1700s were largely middle-European, experienced in many crafts and trades. They secured leases for their land from the Dutch patroon Killian Van Rensselaer and his successors.

Once settled here under the oversight of the patroon, they became farmers, eking out an existence that kept them alive and provided sufficient “profit” from their land to pay for their leases. As politics moved toward a separation from the British, and the commencement of war in 1775, allegiances had to be chosen.

Revolution

Those tasked with the coordination and conduct of the war needed to be certain which of these residents were for separation from Britain, and who were wanting to remain as “status quo.” In his book “Old Hellebergh,” Arthur B. Gregg described what it was like as the war began:

Here it was hard to know one’s friend or the side he supported. Their desire was not to be on the winning side. They did not think the colonists had a chance. Even some of their ministers confirmed this idea. As the war progressed and everything looked dark for the Continental Army, they were quite sure they had picked the winning side. Then as the tide turned, we find many names of those listed and even arrested as Tories “climbing on the bandwagon” and joining the patriot militia. Human nature has ever been thus. It is easy for us today to point the finger of scorn at these people of yesterday, when perhaps had we lived then we too might have taken the same course.

It was difficult to determine where loyalties would fall, whether it would be on the side of the colonists who wished to be rid of British rule, or with the Loyalists, who were fine with the status quo. As Gregg has stated, those who sided with the British did not believe the colonists would have a chance against British power and authority. Tracking the activities of the Loyalists or Tories, as well as the actual conduct of the war, fell to the local New York state counties, and their Committees of Correspondence.

As the War proceeded in the Hellebergh area, the Albany County Committee of Correspondence met nearly daily to track the progress, or lack thereof, of the war. Control and oversight of the Tories was often referenced as this account from May 2, 1777 shows:

This Committee having received information that a number of disaffected Persons skulk in and about the HeIIebergh and by various indirect and insidious ways and Means induce many of the wellmeaning tho’ misguided Inhabitants to enter into Combinations against the Liberties and Independency of the United States. To prevent practices so detrimental to the safety of the State and to support in those parts the Friends to the Country in the enjoyment of their Liberty and property.

Resolved That Coll Peter B Vrooman of the Regiment of the District of Schoharry be ordered and he is hereby ordered to draft 50 Men under the Command of proper Officers to march immediately to the House of Jacob Van Aernam. And also That 100 Men of the Militia of this County already drafted be ordered on the said service

Resolved farther that Coll Roseboom and Capt John Price & the Committee of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck or a Subcommittee thereof and one or more of the Committee of Schoharry be a Committee of this Board, and that they repair to the Hellebergh and they are hereby impowered to take the direction of the said Militia and by their assistance to approach all and every such person or persons as they have sufficient Cause by proof to suspect Inimical to the Liberties of this State & fortwith to Convey them to the Goal [jail] of this County, and that they march and Station the said Troops at such places as they may Judge necessary to obstruct and defeat the proceedings of such Traitors

That the said Committee for the said purpose are empowered to call forth such farther drafts of the Militia of this County as they shall judge necessary

That the said Committee farther have power at their discretion to commit or release any person or persons taken up as aforesaid, as they may from Circumstances Judge ought to be severally Treated or Indulged.

It wasn’t just rumors and innuendos that caused problems. Violence in the form of burning homesteads and crops, and the slaughter of livestock and even residents became a concern to those managing the war. The “Public Papers of George Clinton” contain this copy of a letter:

To Coll Peter Vroman at Schohary

Helbergh, the 19th July 1780.

Sir, Yesterday twelve o'Clock we wrote to you by Express acquainting you that we had just then Recived Information that a large party of Tories from Helbergh, Nisketha and Beaver Dam was assembled together in order to go to Niagara and join Buttler and Brant, and that they wer to meet last night at Capt. Palls at the Beavor Dam; as soon as the Express was sent off to you we Emediatly set out with a party from Schinectady to try to come up with them; we marched all Night and at Day breek got to Capt. Pall's house, Serounded the house and Barn and found three of the party in the Barn with arms, amunition, Provision and Every thing Compleat for their jurney; we took them all pressoners and have them now in Custodey. The pressoners confess their Intention of going to the Enemy, and say that they wer to be joined by fifty men of their party this morning on a hill just by Palls House, but suppose that the noise we made at the house had alarmed them, so we could see nothing of them; we are also Informed that they are to go by the way of Pachtetachken and again must Request, that you will use all Dilligence to apprehand and way lay them for we belive they are now on their Gurney; we also send this by Express. 

We are. Sir, our Humbl. Serv’ts

Myndert M. Wemple, Major.   Hugh Mitchell, Commessioner.

Throughout the conduct of the war, entries like those described above appear in the “Minutes of the Committee of Correspondence,” and in Arthur Gregg’s book. Gregg describes an incident, detailed in the minutes, that a party of robbers had been at the home of Jacob Cooper. [Note: Jacob Cooper’s house is thought to have been at or near Picard’s Grove, on Picard Road, between Altamont and Voorheesville.] a

While they were attempting to break into the house, Cooper shot and killed one of them. The incident resulted in the Commissioners of the Committee adjourning to Jacob Cooper’s house, as quoted by Gregg:

And resolved that this Board do immediately proceed to the Hellebergh in Order that the above Business [the robbery and the shooting] may be more expeditiously carried into execution. Adjourned.  And further: Met at the House of Jacob Cooper at the Hellebergs, the 21st June 1779.

The importance of such a “visitation” outside of Albany cannot be underestimated. In his text, Gregg states:

Can you not visualize the serious atmosphere that shrouded the whole district, as men and women and children spoke in awed and subdued tones, afraid almost to breathe while the Board was in session “right in Jacob Cooper’s House.” 

Again, the minutes of the various committees and Governor Clinton’s papers contain many references to the activities of Patriots versus Tories in the Hellebergh area. In his work with Mr. Brinkman, and in his later studies and discoveries that eventually led to his compiling his book, Mr. Gregg recognized the significance of the Patriot versus Tory conflicts during, and even after, the war.

Marking history

When the list of suggested markers for the town of Guilderland was completed, it included a marker with the “Old Hellebergh” text noted above. The marker was installed at the corner of Main Street and Maple Avenues, according to the booklet published by The Altamont Enterprise in 1994, authored by the late Alice Begley, Guilderland town historian. Ms. Begley stated in the booklet:

The blue and gold marker honoring the men from Altamont who served their country has disappeared from the corner of Main Street and Maple Avenue. The names, however, are permanently etched in the Guilderland landscape.

As the marker replicates one of the original markers approved for installation in 1934, we sincerely thank Mayor Kerry Dineen, the Altamont Village Board of Trustees, the Department of Public Works staff, and Catskill Castings of Bloomville, New York for their support and assistance in returning this historic marker to Orsini Park.

Editor’s note: When Keith Lee was working on this book, “Images of America — Altamont,” he realized that the original Old Hellebergh marker was missing and started working on a way to get the marker replaced.