History
On the morning of May 15th, 1814, British warships under Commander Sir James Yeo anchored in the bay off of the Hamlet of Pultneyville. The fleet had been cruising up and down the lake, raiding various locations. Only a year prior, they had burned Sodus Point to the ground.
With the rumor of the Biritish moving along the coast, approximately 150 American troops under General Swift had been patroling the shore, backing up Major Rogers' battalion. To mitigate their loss, the townspeople moved most of the their goods into a government warehouse, and left moldy food in its place.
Reports say that at that time, the British fired with the intent to scatter the militia into the woods. Americans, Russell Whipple, Samuel Ledyard and Andrew Cornwall met the British landing party; truce flag in hand. The British came ashore and demanded surrender of the public stores under penalty of destruction of the hamlet. General Swift refused to sign any such agreement and the British returned to the fleet.
Swift eventually capitulated with an agreement that the British would take only those supplies in the storehouse and not intrude on personal property. The British, however, violated the agreement and began ransacking private propery, including the Wupple tavern and Andrew Cornwall's home. Eventually, the militia and/or townsmen started firing, with a shot grazing a commanding officer. The British returned to their boats and to the fleet, at which point heavy cannonading commenced.
There is no record of any person in Pultneyville being injured, but for years, cannon balls were found up to a mile away from the center of the town.
Then, the British just sailed away.
Passport:
Please leave the punch inside the cache. It is for the Passport and not avaiable as swag to trade.
Information about the passport will be released soon at www.WayneCounty200.com
Thank you to Wayne County Park Department for allowing placement of this cache.