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Up Dated 18 July 2008
Joseph Jr. was born about 1750 probably in Connecticut and married _____ _______ He died, by hanging, 1 April 1781, in Albany, Albany, New York, as a Spy.
AMONG the minor, but yet not unimportant events of the border war at the north and west of Albany, was the capture, some time in the Winter of 1781-'82, of the celebrated loyalist marauder, Joseph Bettys, whose name has occurred in connexion with that of John Waltermeyer in the preceding chapter, Bettys, or "Joe Bettys" as he was commonly called, was a man of uncommon shrewdness and intelligence. Bold, athletic, and of untiring activity; revengeful and cruel in his disposition ; inflexible in his purposes ; his bosom cold as the marble to the impulses of humanity ; he ranged the border settlements like a chafed tiger snuffing every tainted breeze for blood, until his name had become as terrific to the borderers, as were those of Kidd and Pierre Le Grande upon the ocean in the preceding century. At the commencement of the war, Bettys was an inhabitant of Ballston. He early took the field in the cause of the republic, and a sergeant's warrant *was conferred upon him in Colonel Wynkoop's regiment. But he had a proud, independent spirit, that could ill brook the severity of military discipline ; and for some act of contumacy, he was reduced to the ranks. Still, knowing well his determined character and unflinching courage, and unwilling that his country should* lose his services, the same gentleman* who had obtained his first warrant, procured him another, and a transfer to the fleet under the command of General Arnold on Lake Champlain, in the Summer of 1776.
* The late Colonel Ball, of Ballston.
In the severe naval engagement fought on that lake between Arnold and Sir Guy Carleton, on the 11th of October of that year, Bettys exhibited great bravery, and was of signal service during the battle, which lasted four hours. He fought until every commissioned officer on board his vessel was either killed or wounded. Assuming the command then himself, he continued the fight with such reckless and desperate intrepidity, that General Waterbury, Arnold's second in command, perceiving that his vessel was about to sink, was obliged to order Bettys and the survivors of his crew on board his own vessel. Having thus observed his good conduct, General Waterbury stationed him by his side on the quarter-deck, and gave orders through him, until his own vessel in turn became entirely crippled-the crew mostly killed-the General himself wounded-and only two others, exclusive of Bettys, left in fighting condition-when his colors were struck to the enemy. General Waterbury afterward spoke in the most exalted terms of the high courage of Bettys, adding, that the shrewdness of his management showed that his conduct was not inferior to his courage.
While a prisoner in Canada, the arts of the enemy subverted his principles. He was seduced from the service of his country, and entered that of the enemy with the rank of ensign-proving himself an enemy equally subtle and formidable. From his intimate knowledge of the country and his artful address, he was frequently employed, sometimes as a messenger, at others as a spy, and at others, again, in the double capacity of both. During one of his missions of this nature, he was captured, tried, and condemned to the gallows. But the entreaties of his aged parents, and the solicitations of influential Whigs, induced General Washington, on a promise of reformation, to grant him a pardon. Yet if honor, generosity, and gratitude, had ever been qualities of his soul, they had taken their departure. Losing no time in rejoining the ranks of the enemy, he became alike reckless of character and the dictates of humanity; and instead of suitably requiting the kindness which had successfully interposed to save him from an ignominious death, he became the greatest scourge of his former friends and neighborhood. Ballston, in particular, had long reason to deplore the ill-judged lenity. He returned, and recruited soldiers for the King in the midst of the settlements ; he captured and carried off the most zealous and efficient Whigs, and subjected them to the severest sufferings; and those against whom he bore the strongest hate, lost their dwellings by fire or their lives by murder. No fatigue weakened his resolution-no distance was an obstacle to his purpose-and no danger appalled his courage. No one of the borderers felt secure. Sometimes in the darkness of the night he fell upon them by stealth; and at others, even at mid-day, he was seen prowling about, as if scorning disguise, and unconscious of danger. Indeed, he boldly proclaimed himself a desperado-carrying his life in his hand-equally careless of it as he said he should be of the lives of others were any again to attempt his arrest. His liberty, he declared, would only be yielded with his life; and whoever should attempt to take him, might rest assured that their heart's blood would in the same moment be drunk by the earth. His threats were well understood to be no unmeaning words ; and, what added to the apprehension of the people, was the well-known fact, that he had always at his beck, openly or in concealment, according to the nature of the purpose immediately in hand, a band of refugees partaking of his own desperate character.
His adventures while engaged in this species of warfare were many and hazardous. Nor did he always confine his operations to the border-settlements, since he at one time entered the precincts of Albany, and made a similar attempt to that of Waltermeyer to abduct General Schuyler from the mansion of the Patroon, where he was then lodged.*
It must not be supposed, however, that all hearts quailed before Joe Bettys. Far from it; and many were the ineffectual attempts made for his arrest before the measures undertaken for that purpose were again crowned with success. But in the course of the Winter now under consideration his wonted vigilance was at fault. A suspicious stranger having been observed in the neighborhood of Ballston, upon snow-shoes, and wellarmed, three men of that town, named Cory, Perkins, and Fulmer, little doubting as to the identity of the man, immediately armed themselves and went in pursuit. He was traced by a circuitous track to the house of a well-known loyalist, which was fortunately approached with so much circumspection as to enable the scouts to reach the door unobserved. Breaking the barrier by a sudden effort; they sprang in upon the black and doubly-dyed traitor, and seized him before he had opportunity of resistance. He was seated at dinner when they entered, his pistols lying upon the table, and his rifle resting upon his arm. He made an attempt to discharge the latter ; but forgetting to remove the deer-skin cover of the lock, did not succeed. Powerful and muscular as he was, the three were an over-match for him, and he was immediately so securely pinioned as to render resistance useless and escape morally impossible.
*This account of Joe Bettys has been written from a Fourth-of-July speech delivered by the late Colonel Ball some ten or twelve years ago. Among the prisoners made by Bettys and Waltermeyer from Ballston, in the Spring of 1781, were the following persons, viz: Samuel Nash, Joseph Chard, Uri Tracy, Ephraim Tracy, Samuel Patchin, Epenetus White, John Fulmer, and two men named Bontas, who were brothers. They were all taken to Canada, and roughly used.
Apparently resigning himself to his fate, Bettys now requested permission to smoke, which was readily granted. While taking the tobacco from his box, and making the usual preparations, he was observed by Gory adroitly to cast something into the fire. It was instantly snatched from thence with a handful of coals, and proved to be a small leaden box, about the eighth of an inch in thickness, and containing a paper in cipher, which the captors could not read ; but it was subsequently ascertained to be a despatch addressed to the British commander in New York. It also contained an order for thirty guineas, provided the despatch should be safely delivered. Bettys pleaded hard for permission to burn the paper, and offered a hundred guineas for the privilege. But they refused his gold, and all his proffered bribes for the means of escape, with the most unyielding firmness. He then exclaimed-" I am a dead man !" It was even so. He was taken to Albany, where he was tried, convicted, and executed as a spy and traitor.
If the conduct of the three captors of Major Andre was patriotic, that of the three captors of Joe Bettys was both patriotic and brave. Andre was a gentleman, and without the means of defence ; Bettys was formidably armed, and known to be a desperado. The capture of Andre was by accident; that of Bettys, by enterprise and design. The taking of the former was without danger; that of the latter a feat of imminent peril. Andre was a more important man, by rank and station, than Bettys; but not more dangerous. Both tempted their captors by gold, and both were foiled.* The captors of Andre were richly rewarded, and the achievement has been emblazoned in history, and commemorated by monumental granite. The captors of Bettys have, until now, never been known to history; and their only visible reward was the rifle and pistols of their terrible captive. With such partial hand are the honors and rewards of this world bestowed!
* Colonel Ball
Children of Joseph BETTYS Jr. and _____ _______:
+ 1 JOSEPH III b: Abt 1782; Ballstown, Saratoga, New York.
md: ; , , New York.
Betsey _______
d: ; Oxford, Oakland, Michigan.
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