Chris Carosa, Author at Chris Carosa

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Breakfast At Black Rock Then On To Tonawanda

By Chris Carosa on May 28, 2024

Previous: Peter B. Porter’s Home Sweet Home

Black Rock in 1925, drawn by Mildred C. Green from the original sketch made by George Catlin. Source: The Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo, Frank Severeace, ed., Buffalo Historical Society Publications, Volume Six, p.252

The gates of the grand lock at the foot of the harbor opened for the first time on Thursday evening, June 2, 1825. Water from Lake Erie came gushing in. Slowly, but steadily, water flowed into the newly opened portion of the Erie Canal from Black Rock to “Tonnewanta” (present day Tonawanda). By nine o’clock Friday morning, the water filled the nine-mile length to a depth of three and a half feet. The celebratory committee launched the inaugural fleet of five elaborately decorated packet boats.¹

Upon their return to Black Rock at three o’clock, a procession of 150 people led by Marshall of the day J.L. Marshall, Esq. marched to the Steam Boat Hotel. As the news reported of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Breakfast At Black Rock Then On To Tonawanda”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Black Rock, Buffalo, Erie Canal, General Porter, J.L. Marshall, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Levasseur, Peter B. Porter, Seneca Chief, Steam Boat Hotel, Thayer's Hotel, Tonawanda, Tonnewanta, William C. Bouck

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Peter B. Porter’s Home Sweet Home

By Chris Carosa on May 28, 2024

Previous: Regal Reception In Buffalo’s Blossoming Queen City

Residence of General Peter B. Porter, overlooking the Niagara River, near Ferry Street (Black Rock). Built 1816. Many years residence of Hon. Lewis F. Allen, and for a short time of his nephew, Grover Cleveland. Torn down in 1911. Source: Hill, Henry Wayland, Municipality of Buffalo New York A History 1720-1923, Volume I, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1923, p. 100a

Peter Buell Porter woke up early that morning. Yesterday, despite all its pomp and circumstance, was just a prelude to today. For it was on this day, Sunday, June 5^th, 1825, the General would host the General. General Porter would soon entertain General Lafayette for breakfast at his Black Rock house.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Peter Porter had lived in the Greater Western New York Region. During the last fifteen years, he had fought—both literally and figuratively—for his beloved home of Black Rock.

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1773, Peter B. Porter graduated from Yale College before studying law in his hometown with Judge Reeves (who, incidentally, was the brother-in-law of Aaron Burr)². He couldn’t, however, resist the lure of “the far famed ‘Genesee Country’ — of its fertile soil, its genial climate, of its beautiful lakes and rivers.” In 1793, he and a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Peter B. Porter’s Home Sweet Home”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Aaron Burr, Augustus Porter, Battle of Queenston Heights, Black Rock, Buffalo, burning of Buffalo, Canandaigua, Erie Canal, Erie County, General Porter, Genesee Country, John Breckinridge, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Letitia Grayson, Niagara County, Niagara River, Ontario County, Peter B. Porter, War of 1812, William C. Bouck, Yale

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Regal Reception In Buffalo’s Blossoming Queen City

By Chris Carosa on May 21, 2024

Previous: Rebuilt Buffalo

Our County and Its People, Volume I, edited by Truman C. White, The Boston History Company, 1898, p. 282

Thousands crowded the shore near Buffalo’s new harbor. Oliver Forward couldn’t help but gloat. It had been a slugfest. Whether Joseph Ellicott or Peter B. Porter, it seemed like those who could help his struggling village didn’t. But he and his friends succeeded. And now, just as the clock struck noon, the Nation’s Guest – General Lafayette – appeared on Lake Erie’s horizon.

The big show was about to begin.

But the impetus for it almost didn’t. There almost wasn’t a harbor. And without a harbor, there would be no canal. And without a canal, well, Peter Porter would have been the one Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Regal Reception In Buffalo’s Blossoming Queen City”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Black Rock, Buffalo, Buffalo Creek, Buffalo Harbor, Capt. Rathbun, Capt. Vosburgh, Charles Townsend, Col. Storrs, Cyrenius Chapin, Ebenezer Walden, Elijah Risley, Erie Canal, Erie County, Fort Stanwix, George Coit, George Washington La Fayette, H.B. Potter, Holland Company, Holland Land Company, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Le Couteulx, Levasseur, M.M. Dox, Mayville, Niagara County, Niagara River, Oliver Forward, Paul Busti, Peter B. Porter, Red Jacket, Samuel Wilkeson, Superior, W.C. Bouck, William Peacock

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Rebuilt Buffalo

By Chris Carosa on May 21, 2024

Previous: To The Dunkirk Dinghy By The Dawn’s Early Light

Taylor, C.B., A Centennial History of the United States, 1876, p305

Cyrenius Chapin stood where no sane man dare stand. He knew exactly what he was doing. He also knew it was all McClure’s fault.

Nonetheless, there he was. He measured his pace as he approached the British line. Despite the noise and excitement about him, he could hear his feet crunch through the snow. Or maybe he imagined his cold ears picking up the sound.

Certainly, he could feel his feet crush the white blanket as he made his way up Schimmelpenninck Avenue (it didn’t get the name Niagara Street until July 12, 1826¹). The excitement of the night and now early morning kept his blood flowing to his extremities. His medical training taught him that would help prevent the onset of frostbite.

Cyrenius fully understood the consequences of his actions. With the cannon behind him Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Rebuilt Buffalo”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged British, Buffalo, Buffalo Creek, burning of Buffalo, D.C., Dr. Chapin, Ebenezer Walden, Eli Hart, Erie County, erie county fair, first school, Fort Erie, Fort Niagara, General McClure, General Tousard, George McClure, Holland Land Company, Holland Land Purchase, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Louis Stephen Le Couteulx, Newark, Niagara County, Niagara County Agricultural Society, Niagara River, Niagara Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Oliver Forward, Pearl Street, Schimmelpenninck Avenue, Sir George Prevost, Sir Gordon Drummond, Swan Street, Timothy Dwight, War of 1812, Washington, Zena W. Barker

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: To The Dunkirk Dinghy By The Dawn’s Early Light

By Chris Carosa on May 14, 2024

Previous: Dunkirk, The Last Frontier

Walter Smith, from The Centennial History of Chautauqua County Vol I, p.355

Walter Smith was there, no doubt in front of the crowd of people riding along with Lafayette. Unlike the fawning civilians eager to not let go of the Nation’s Guest, Smith wore the uniform of a Colonel, confidently in command of the militia regiment that received Lafayette. He even had an elegant sword draped from his belt.¹

Major General Elijah Risley, Jr., father of nine-year-old Hiram (and future grandfather of Olive) strode with his military staff alongside Smith. With little notice, Smith was tabbed as marshal of the day.² Both were businessmen, not full-time soldiers. Today, or rather this night turning into early morning, they faithfully presented all the martial pomp and circumstance proper in honoring the last surviving general of the American Revolution.

But there may have been more on the mind of Walter Smith. He wasn’t just a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: To The Dunkirk Dinghy By The Dawn’s Early Light”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abell, Buffalo, Central Avenue, Chautauqua County, Dunkirk, Dunkirk Bay, Elijah Risley, Fredonia, Hiram Risley, Jr., Lafayette, Levasseur, Railroad, Superior, Walter Smith, Westfield

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Dunkirk, The Last Frontier

By Chris Carosa on May 14, 2024

Previous: Fast Fredonia Frenzy

It was three o’clock in the morning when Lafayette and his travel partners left Fredonia. They weren’t alone. A horde of enthusiastic citizens accompanied the nation’s guest to the Superior, the famous Great Lakes steamer that had been waiting offshore in the Dunkirk harbor from the previous day.

The late (or early) hour had no impact on the escort. They gladly trudged through the dew and mud. It would be something they would remember for the rest of their lives. There they were. Side by side with the Revolutionary War hero, the friend of George Washington, an icon they could only dream of meeting.

After all, who were they, these pioneers of Western New York? Sure, a few were surviving Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Dunkirk, The Last Frontier”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Barcelona, Brigham Road, Buffalo and Erie Road, Canadaway creek, Central Avenue, Chautauqua County, Chautauqua Creek, Dunkirk, Erie, Erie Canal, Fredonia, French, Heman Ely, John Brigham, Lafayette, Lewis Morgan, Mary Ann Drake, Niagara Frontier, Presque Isle, Temple Street

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Fast Fredonia Frenzy

By Chris Carosa on May 7, 2024

Previous: Gaslighting The General

The trot to Fredonia was anything but quick. The Buffalo and Erie Road turned out to be less “finished” than Joseph Ellicott had hoped. André-Nicolas Levasseur, one of Lafayette’s traveling party who would eventually publish an extensive journal of the General’s American Farewell Tour, went out of his way to point out the poor condition of the Main road between “Portland” (a.k.a. “Westfield”) and Fredonia.

“On leaving Portland,” wrote Levasseur, “yielding to the fatigue of the preceding days, we were sleeping in the carriage notwithstanding the violent jolting occasioned by the trunks of the trees forming the road over which we were rapidly passing.”¹

Ellicott had rather strict guidelines for those he hired to clear roads, especially when it Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Fast Fredonia Frenzy”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abell Tavern, Andre-Nicolas Levasseur, Buffalo and Erie Road, Capt. Brown, Capt. Whitcomb, David Brown, David J. Matteson, Doctor Crosby, Dunkirk, Fredonia, John M. Edson, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Main Road, Mosley Abell, Obed Edson, Olive Risley Seward, Portland, Sinclairville, Westfield

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Gaslighting The General

By Chris Carosa on May 7, 2024

Previous: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First

The first week of June in 1925 saw unusually warm temperatures across the northeast.¹ Nearby Jamestown had record-breaking highs in the low 90s.² You can imagine the temperature on Main Street in Fredonia at 2:45 in the afternoon on Thursday, June 4. Still, the crowds came. So many, in fact, that the village had to redirect traffic away from the primary road running through its downtown.³

The ceremony was spear-headed and organized by the Benjamin Prescott chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Citizens marched down the flag-decorated streets and assembled to see the unveiling of a new marker dedicated to memorializing two major events in this small rural community.⁴ One hundred years to the day earlier, General Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Gaslighting The General”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged A.J. Gardiner, Abell Tavern, Andre-Nicolas Levasseur, Arthur R. Maytum, Benjamin Prescott, Buffalo Bills, Canadaway creek, Clarence Cato, Claude R. Dye, DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, Duck Soup, Edith Gardiner, first natural gas well, Fredonia, Fredonia Normal School, Freedonia, Groucho Marx, Harriet Ross, Howard G. Burdge, Lafayette, Mrs. Charles White Nash, natural gas, Walter A. Henricks, William A. Hart, William L. Hart

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First

By Chris Carosa on April 30, 2024

Previous: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road

Was Lafayette supposed to depart Erie by land or by sea? As late as May 31, 1825, organizers in Erie, Pennsylvania tried to arrange steamboat accommodations for the General. The ship was to convey the Nation’s Guest from Erie directly to Buffalo.¹

Confusion reigned over Lafayette’s exact itinerary. You see, he had promised to attend the dedication ceremonies for the Bunker Hill Monument on the anniversary date of that battle. That meant he had to be in Boston by June 17^th. Initial reports said he would not visit Western New York until after laying the cornerstone on the Bunker Hill Monument.² The newspaper corrected this misinformation the following week, just a day before Lafayette would cross the state line into Chautauqua County.³

What firmed Lafayette’s travel plans? Olive Risley Seward’s grandfather commanded the militia for the Lafayette reception in Fredonia. In addition, her then eleven-year-old father and nine-year-old mother also attended—and remembered—Lafayette’s 1825 visit to Fredonia. Based on the stories from her family, she wrote the following in 1904: “An Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Buffalo, Buffalo and Erie Road, Bunker Hill Monument, Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, Dunkirk, E.L. Tinker, E.P. Upham, Ellery, Erie, Fenn Demming, Fredonia, Henry Abell, John Dexter, Jonathan Cass, Joseph Farnsworth, Joshua R. Babcock, L. Averill, Lafayette, Main Road, Olive Risley Seward, Oliver Lee, Portland, Ripley, Samuel Shattuck, Silas Spencer, State Line, T.A. Osborne, Thomas B. Campbell, U.S. Route 20, Walter Smith, Westfield, William Peacock

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road

By Chris Carosa on April 30, 2024

Previous: Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825

At the turn of the 19^th century, a dense forest covered the southwest corner of New York State—what is now Chautauqua County. A rough trail that followed the Lake Erie shore represented the only visible evidence of human occupation. Except for what appeared to be remnants of a chimney right on the lake.¹ The trail was brutal. Settlers journeying to Connecticut’s lands in the future state of Ohio preferred to take the water route over Lake Erie from Black Rock, just off Buffalo Creek.²

That chimney might well have been the ruins of what Sir William Johnson described as a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Allegheny River, Barcelona, Black Rock, Buffalo, Buffalo and Erie Road, Buffalo Creek, Chautauqua County, Chautauqua Creek, Chautauqua Lake, Connecticut, Connecticut Fire Lands, Connecticut Land Company, Connecticut Reserve, Cross Roads, David Ellicott, Edward McHenry, Edward Paine, Ellicott Road, Erie, Erie Road, France, French and Indian War, Genesee County, George Washington, Holland Land Company, Holland Land Purchase, Iroquois Confederacy, James De Lancey, James McMahan, Joseph Badger, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Main Road, Marquis Duquesne, Mayville, New Connecticut, New England, New France, Niagara County, Ohio River, Old French Road, Ontario County, Paine's Road, Pittsburgh, Portage Escarpment, Portage Road, Portland, Presqu'isle, Route 18, Route 20, Route 5, Samuel Shattuck, Seneca, settlers, Sir William Johnson, Stephen Coffen, Western Reserve, Westfield