Lieutenant Henry Hare

British Spy

Henry/Heinrich Hare/Harr/Hair was born in Montgomery County, New York about 1742 to 1745. He was a Lieutenant in the Indian Department. He volunteered to spy and gain intelligence for the British behind American lines. Henry was also visiting his wife for her birthday. He was caught and sentenced to be executed.

While Hare was in custody, at the request of Gen. Clinton, Johannes Roof asked the Tory (Henry Hare) if he did not kill Caty Steers at Fort Stanwix in 1777. "For you were seen with your hands in her hair," said Roof. Hare confessed that he had "killed and scalped her." (from The Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle Mohawk Valley). His trial took place in the large field tent of Colonel Peter Gansevoort on the flats near the entrance to Happy Hollow. (Probably at the intersection of Old Fort Plain Road and Happy Hollow Road) Hare was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged by the neck "till he is dead."

His wife begged to spare him, citing that he had several young children.

There was a "List of Prisoners in the Hands of the Congress belonging to the Corps of Rangers Royalists and their families" On this list was the "Family of Henry Hare - Mrs. Hare, Children: Alby, Johon, Faulky, William, Peter, Serent and Caty".

"The influence exerted by the friends of (Henry) Hare to save him would have been successful, had he declared that he visited the valley solely to see his family. He may have thought they dare not hang him; certain it is, that when he was interrogated as to the object of his visit, he unhesitatingly said that he not only came here to see his family, but also came in the capacity of a spy". James Williamson.

Hare was kept in custody near Clinton's headquarters at Roof's Tavern (where the Canajoharie Hotel stood on Church Street in Wagner Square in Canajoharie). Evening Recorder Amsterdam NY Aug 8 1961 page 5.

"At the time the spies were to be executed, Gen. Clinton rode up to Fort Plain and spent an hour or two with Domine Gros; to avoid the importunity of their friends who begged for their lives; and especially was the case with Mrs. Hare". William H. Seeber.

Hare was executed at 9:00 A.M. on June 21, 1779 on Academy Hill in Canajoharie, New York. Joseph Wagner, who saw Hare hung said "he had on a spotted calico shirt, ruffled at the bosom & cuffs. The gallows was made by setting up 2 crotches (sic) with a pole across them. He stood in a wagon & adjusted the rope on his neck, the wagon was drawn from under him and he was soon with his God."

The site (1.4 miles East of the trial site at the intersection of Happy Hollow Road and Old Fort Plain Rd by way of Fort Plain Road and Cliff Street) was later the location of the Academy School and is at the Southeast corner of Otsego and Cliff Streets.

At a distance of 42½ miles from Schenectady, passed (sic) (west of) Fort Plain on the south side and in (the town of) Minden. It derives its name from a blockhouse which was formerly erected here. There is a church near it, and it is marked erroneously in Wright's map, Canajoharie. An occurrence took place, near here, during the war, which excited much sensation among the superstitious. A Tory, from Canada, was apprehended & executed as a spy, in the army commanded by Gen. James Clinton. His friends were gratified with his body for interment; and when the company was assembling in a cellar kitchen, a large black snake darted through the window, ran under the coffin, could not be found. It was felt that the devil was after his spirit. This affair made a great noise, and the superstitious Germans interpreted it as an omen favorable to the Whig cause, considering the black snake as a devil, anxious to receive his victim, and anticipating a delightful sacrifice.

In searching for cemeteries dating from the era of the Revolutionary War that are "passed (sic) Fort Plain", it appears he may have been buried in the Geisenberg Cemetery in Hallsville, NY. This would be about 7 miles from the execution site.

Submitted by Tom Raub

Parents:

• John Hare (1710 - ____)

Spouse:

• Alita Vrooman Hare (1747 - 1854)

Children:

• Johannes Hare (1766 - ____)*

Calculated relationship*

Burial: Unknown

A story for Alida Vrooman Hare Empey Contributed By: Barbara Beers · 5 December 2016 · Her name has been listed as Alida/Alita/Alada/Allada/Aita/Abigail/Abigal/Elatta Vrooman. She married Henry Heer(Hare) 15 April 1765 at the Reformed Dutch Church in Stone Arabia, Tryon (now Montgomery County), New York.

Henry Hare came home for reasons which included visiting his wife Alida for her 32nd birthday on 17 June 1779. In June 1779 while her husband Henry was spying for the British, he also "brought home for his wife several articles of clothing, such as British calicoes, dress-shawls, Indian moccasins etc, and on the very day he set out to return to Canada, she was so imprudent as to put them on and go visiting". The Frontiersman of New York, Jeptha R Simms, Albany, New York, 1883, VOL II, pp 241-244.

Her husband was caught and accused of spying for the British. She pleaded for his life to no avail. She showed her loyalist standing at the court martial of Butlers Ranger Sergeant William Newberry on 20 June 1779. Butlers Ranger Sergeant William Newberry (who was captured and tried with her husband Henry Hare) appeared before that court.

Question 12 posed to William Newberry was "Who were the persons that gave you the Intiligence (sic) of our movements?" Newberry answered "Thomas Plato, Wilham Rombauch and Henry Hairs wife - said Hairs wife went backwards and forwards every day to gain Intiligence for us ."

Question 14 posed to William Newberry "…The Prisoner being Requested to make his defence says…" (answr.) "He also say his Intentions in coming down this present time was only to see his Family + should have given himself up to the mercy of his Country if he had thought he could obtain a Pardon, but Henry Hare + wife + Thomas Plato told him there was no mercy shewn any of those who had joined the Enemy + was from these arguments afraid to deliver himself up…"

Reference and credit: Captain Andrew Porter's Journal, ed. Jay H Jakovic, Dutch Settlers Society of Albany Yearbook, Vol 44, 1972-1974, Albany, New York, pp 6, 7, 9, and 10.

Petition of Abigal Hare, widow of the late Lieut Henry Hare of Indian Department. Humbly shewth, that your petitioner, is a poor widow, with six small children, without any means to support them, the want of every necessary of life and the continual insults of the rebels obliged her to leave the province of New York and come off to this. Your petitioners said husband being ordered on a Scout, last summer, was taken by the rebels: who charged with being a spy. Tried him for the same. An unjust trial condemned him, in consequence of which, he was executed, whereby your petitioner is rendered miserable, poor, and needy. Her situation emboldens her to crave your excellency support and protection humbly praying, your excellency will take the same into consideration, and allow such a yearly supply or aid, as your justice may see fit, in order to assist her and her distressed children. Montreal 10 May 1780. You are hereby authorized and directed to pay to Mrs Abigal Hare, widow of the late Henry Hare, a Lieutenant in the Indian Department, in consideration of her misfortune and distress, above related, the sum of 20 pounds sterling, as a yearly pension to be continued to her during her life, for the maintenance of her and her children. Given under my hand at Quebec this 25th day of May 1780. Fred Haldimand to Colonel Johnson Superintendent of Indian Affairs. After her husband's execution, she married First Sergeant Adam Empey.

Henry Hare (his given name was variously Henry, Heinrich, Hendrick, Henrich, and occasionally Harry, with his surname variously as Hare, Harr, Hair, or Heer) was born in Montgomery County, New York circa 1742 to 1745. He and his family had a home in the Town of Florida near Fort Hunter, New York.

Henry Hare was one of the people in the town of Florida who refused to sign the association (to align himself with Patriots). That shows his loyalist leanings on July 4th 1775. Frontiersmen of New York Vol 1 Simms 1882 pp 503, 504.

In the Indian Department Rolls of 1776-1777, Henry Hare was listed as a Lieutenant to be paid £234 at the rate of 8 shillings for 585 days of service from 19 May 1776 to 24 Dec 1777. In the Indian Department Rolls of 1777-1778, Henry Hare was listed as a Lieutenant to be paid £121.12 at the rate of 8 shillings per day for 304 days of service from 25 Dec 1777 to 24 Oct 1778. In the Indian Department Rolls of 1778-1779, Henry Hare was listed as an "employee" (not a "Lieutenant") (maybe due to his duties as a spy) paid £72.16 at the rate of 8 shillings per day for 182 days of service from 25 Oct 1778 to 24 Apr 1779. https://sites.google.com/site/niagarasettlers/soldiers-h

Mr Henry Hare’s family was among those held prisoner by the Americans on an undated list compiled during the American Revolution circa 1778. The family consisted of 1 woman, 4 boys and 3 girls. (Prisoners held by the Americans). Mrs Jane, Ally, John, Faulky, William, Peter, Barent & Caty Hare Children in Mr Henry Hare’s family, named in “A List of Persons in the hands of the Congress belonging to the Corps of Rangers, Royalists & their Families”, named in “A List of Persons in the hands of the Congress belonging to the Corps of Rangers, Royalists & their Families” https://sites.google.com/site/niagarasettlers/soldiers-h

"On May 2 (1777) the arrival (at Fort Niagara) was announced of Frederick and John Dochstader with Lieut. Henry Hare, who had been confined for seven months at Hartford in Connecticut, but had escaped. Hare in company with an Indian had been given three large packets of letters for Sir John Johnson and Gray on March 18, but being hotly pursued the Indian had destroyed the letters." (This indicates that Henry Hare would have been a prisoner in Hartford for seven months preceding March 18, 1777). The King's Royal Regiment of New York Cruikshank and Watt page 14.

Being a United Empire Loyalist (UEL), Henry was a Lieutenant in the Indian Department. He volunteered to spy and gain intelligence for the British by venturing behind the American lines. Henry was also visiting his wife Alida for her birthday on June 17th, 1779.

Francis Putman (*1), one of the Snooks party, then but 15 or 16 yrs old, stepped from behind an apple tree, presented his musket to his (Hare's) breast, and ordered him to stand. At a given signal, the rest of the party came up and he was secured. (*1) Peter Francis Putman was 14 years old, born Aug 13 1764 in Montgomery County NY. Original research of Tom Raub.

While Hare was in custody, at the request of Gen. Clinton, Johannes Roof (*2) asked the Tory (Henry Hare) if he did not kill Caty Steers (sic) at Fort Stanwix in 1777. "For you were seen with your hands in her hair," said Roof. Hare confessed that he had "killed and scalped her." The Story of Old Fort Plain and the Middle Mohawk Valley and (*3) and (*4) below. His trial took place on Sunday, June 20th 1779 in the large field tent of Colonel Peter Gansevoort on the flats near the entrance to Happy Hollow. (Near the current intersection of the Old Fort Plain Road and Happy Hollow Road at N 42.91 W 74.5988). Henry was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged by the neck "till he is dead."

(*2) Johannes Reuff/Rueff/Roof was born in 1730 in Germany and died Nov 5 1798 in Canajoharie, New York. Original research of Tom Raub. (*3) "The daughter of Mr Steers was the one who was shot and scalped while ouside of the fort (Stanwix) blackberrying a few days before the siege commenced" History of Oneida County New York with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Durant, 1878, page 365. Original research of Tom Raub.

(*4) "On the 3d of July, about noon, Colonel Willett chronicles in his narrative that he was startled from his siesta by the report of musketry; hastening to the parapet he saw a little girl running with a basket in her hand, while blood was trickling down her bosom. It appeared that the girl, with two others, had been picking berries not forty rods (660 feet) from the fort (Fort Stanwix) about where now stands the freight house of the N.Y.C.R.R. and were fired upon and two of the number killed. The girl who escaped was but slightly wounded. One of the girls killed was Katy Steers, twenty years old, daughter of one of the settlers." Our Country and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Oneida County New York, Wager 1896, page 29. Original research of Tom Raub.

See Katy Steers Find A Grave Memorial# 161194667 and (female) Sumner Find A Grave Memorial# 161199854

His wife begged to spare him, citing that he had several young children. There was a "List of Prisoners in the Hands of the Congress belonging to the Corps of Rangers Royalists and their families" On this list was the "Family of Henry Hare - Mrs. Hare, Children: Alby, Johon, Faulky, William, Peter, Serent and Caty". The Continental Congress Papers, reel 183.

"The influence exerted by the friends of (Henry) Hare to save him would have been successful, had he declared that he visited the valley solely to see his family. He may have thought they dare not hang him; certain it is, that when he was interrogated as to the object of his visit, he unhesitatingly said that he not only came here to see his family, but also came in the capacity of a spy". The Frontiersman of New York, Jeptha R. Simms, Albany, N.Y., 1883, VOL. II, pp 241-244.

Hare was kept in custody near Clinton's headquarters at Roof's Tavern, operated by Johannes Roof (who had questioned Henry Hare about Caty Steers). It stood where the Canajoharie Hotel later stood on Church Street in Wagner Square. Evening Recorder Amsterdam NY Aug 8 1961 page 5.

Execution: "At the time the spies were to be executed, Gen. Clinton rode up to Fort Plain and spent an hour or two with Domine Gros; to avoid the importunity of their friends who begged for their lives; and especially was the case with Mrs. Hare". William H. Seeber.

Extract from the Journal of William McKendry "Jun 21st (1779). This day a man was hanged at the Mohawk River taken up for a spy that was viewing the stores as they passed up the river. He informed General Clinton (sic) (not present, see paragraph above) that he was a Lieutenant in Butler's service, which is now with the Indians." Massachusetts Historical Society. Journal of William McKendry (May 1886) vol 2, page 459.

Hare was executed at 9:00 A.M. on Monday, June 21st 1779 on Academy Hill, Canajoharie, New York. Joseph Wagner, who saw Hare hung said "he had on a spotted calico shirt, ruffled at the bosom & cuffs. The gallows was made by setting up 2 crotches (sic) with a pole across them. He stood in a wagon and adjusted the rope on his neck, the wagon was drawn from under him and he was soon with his God."

The execution site "on Academy Hill" (1.4 miles East of the trial site, by way of Fort Plain Road and Cliff Street) was later the location of the Academy School and is at the Southeast corner of Otsego Street and Cliff Street. (At N 42.9048 W 74.57362).

“Hare, Lieutenant __. Of New York. Entered the service of the Crown, and was engaged in the bloody border affrays with Brant and the Johnsons. In 1779 he was seized by the Whigs (Patriots), tried by a court-martial, convicted, and hanged. General Schuyler said, “ In executing Hare, we have rid the state of the greatest villain in it.” General Clinton remarked that his death gave entire satisfaction to all the inhabitants in the region where his infamous deeds were committed.” Loyalists of the American Revolution, Sabine, page 517.

Burial: At a distance of 42 ½ miles from Schenectady, passed (sic) (west of) Fort Plain on the south side and in (the town of) Minden. It derives its name from a blockhouse which was formerly erected here. There is a church near it, and it is marked erroneously in Wright's map, Canajoharie. An occurrence took place, near here, during the war, which excited much sensation among the superstitious. A Tory, from Canada, was apprehended & executed as a spy, in the army commanded by Gen. James Clinton. His friends were gratified with his body for interment; and when the company was assembling in a cellar kitchen, a large black snake darted through the window, ran under the coffin, could not be found. It was felt that the devil was after his spirit. This affair made a great noise, and the superstitious Germans interpreted it as an omen favorable to the Whig cause, considering the black snake as a devil, anxious to receive his victim, and anticipating a delightful sacrifice.

In searching for cemeteries dating from the era of the Revolutionary War that are "passed (sic) Fort Plain", it appears he may have been buried in the Geisenberg Cemetery in Hallsville, NY. This would be about 7 miles from the execution site. Another possible burial site (not "passed (sic) Fort Plain") could be in the Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery in Stone Arabia, New York (where Henry had been married).

Submitted by Tom Raub