MY TURN By George J. Fluhr

Minisink - sacrifice in blood Pike County Historian George J. Fluhr spoke at the Minisink Battlefield in Minisink Ford, N.Y. at Saturday’s 231st anniversary ceremonies. Some 48 New York and New Jersey militia, almost half the number engaged, died in battle with a Tory force commanded by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, which the militia pursued after Brant raided the Port Jervis area in July of 1779. The following are excerpts from Fluhr’s remarks. At this very moment, 231 years ago Americans were dying on this very field where we are today. Why?... The men who fought here really just wanted to live in peace. But they came here and some of them died here. They were members of the militia and had practiced drilling but probably had not expected to be called out. They had heard about the Declaration of Independence and fighting in parts of the 13 colonies They had seen or heard of friends and neighbors who wanted just to live in peace but who had been killed, and they had seen homes and works of a lifetime destroyed. As they marched, as they fought, and as they died, if they had been asked why, the answer would have been I’m here because it is the right thing to do. (New Jersey Milita) Major Meeker’s challenge, “Let the brave men follow me and cowards can stay behind,” touched just the right nerve in an emotional moment that had been in the making for a long long time. Why did they react to that challenge? How did they come to the decision to march that day? And in a broader sense why were they and so many others willing to throw in their lot with a group of revolutionaries like Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and the others. How did it happen that people who, like us, really only wanted a home, a family, a job, and a chance to relax occasionally, end up on this hill 231 years ago? We want to think about the setting, the world of those participants. But we can’t understand their setting and their world unless we first understand our own world. Before looking at the lives of these men, let’s look at our own setting, our own world our own lives, the world of us, the participants in this afternoon’s ceremony and the freedoms we enjoy... Our freedoms define our world. And there is much more that we don’t think of but have come to expect every day. Now let’s look at the world of our predecessors in this area in 1779... The virgin forest was still here, many trees five foot across; many trees a hundred feet tall... Living around here in those days was like living in Iraq or Afghanistan today. Violent death was not unusual. Life in the upper Delaware Highlands meant not only the hardships of living in a wilderness, but with the ever-present possibility of violent death from raiding parties. There was no freedom from want and there was no freedom from fear. The frontier war was a significant part of the national war. And the Minisink raid and Battle were a significant part of the story of the frontier war. For many years during the French and Indian War, the tribes of the Five Nations had been supporting the British... Within two months of the battle on this field, the Indian villages on the northwestern frontier, the source of many attacks, had been secured by the American forces. The tragedy of Minisink was avenged by many other tragedies, and the war would go on for four more years. After that, settlement in the local area began again, and the Upper Delaware, free of fear, grew to the setting that we enjoy today. During the 231 years since the Minisink Battle, our country saw the development of the greatest civilization that the world has ever known. And we here today, with our freedom from want and freedom from fear, our freedom of religion and speech, and education, and our material gifts of modern heated or cooled homes, our electric and electronic items, our freedom to travel in our fast moving vehicles, are ours not only because of what we have done, but also because of what many others have done. Today we remember “Let the brave follow me.” And we remember the thoughts and fears of those who were on this field in 1779. Today we recognize sadly, that much of the world exists in the pre-Minisink type of setting where the violence of this battlefield still predominates. And we recognize that the present setting and civilization that we enjoy, and which much of the world does not, will survive here, only by our vigilance, dedication, service, and perhaps blood.