Goose Van Schaick

Van Schaick was born in Albany on September 5, 1736. He was the first child born to Sybrant Van Schaick, who served as Mayor of Albany, New York from 1756 to 1761, and Alida (née Rosebloom) Van Schaick.

His paternal grandparents were Albany trader and landholder Gosen Van Schaick and Catharina (née Staats) Van Schaick.{{cite web|last1=Bielinski|first1=Stefan|title=Sybrant G. Van Schaick|url=https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov//albany/bios/vs/sgvschaick.html|website=exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov|publisher=New York State Museum|accessdate=5 January 2018}} Goose's cousin Catherine (née Van Schaick) Gansevoort and her husband Peter Gansevoort, the Sheriff of Albany County, were the grandparents of author Herman Melville.{{cite book|last1=Bush|first1=Clesson S.|title=Episodes from a Hudson River Town: New Baltimore, New York|date=2011|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438440330|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifGEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA48|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}

In 1758, he was a captain in the New York Provincial Forces and participated in the Battle of Fort Frontenac and the Battle of Fort Niagara during the French and Indian War. From 1760 to 1762, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Second New York Regiment and subsequently the First New York Regiment.{{cite web|title=Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 1st New York Regiment|url=https://www.nycincinnati.org/Biographies.htm|website=www.nycincinnati.org|publisher=The New York State Society of the Cincinnati|accessdate=5 January 2018}}

On June 28, 1775 he was commissioned as colonel of the 2nd New York Regiment of the Continental Army. On March 8, 1776 he was made colonel of the 1st New York Regiment. On July 6, 1777, he was wounded at the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga. He served under Gen. William Alexander at the Battle of Monmouth.{{cite book|last1=Gansevoort Jr|first1=Peter|title=Hero of Fort Schuyler: Selected Revolutionary War Correspondence of Brigadier General Peter Gansevoort, Jr.|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786479481|page=117|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnSuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}

In April 1779, Van Schaick, at the head of a 558-strong force of American troops, set out from Fort Stanwix on an expedition against the British-allied Onondaga people, who had been attacking American settlements and military personnel.{{cite book|last1=Mann|first1=Barbara Alice|title=George Washington's War on Native America|date=2008|publisher=University of Nevada Press|isbn=9780803216358|page=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWqW4be2kw8C&pg=PA192|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}} Van Schaick's troops attacked and captured the settlement of Onondaga together with large quantities of provisions, stores and cattle; they also took 34 people prisoner. Without losing a single man, they killed 12 Native Americans.{{cite web|title=The Van Schaick Expedition - April 1779 - Fort Stanwix National Monument|url=https://www.nps.gov/fost/historyculture/the-van-schaick-expedition-april-1779.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210050618/http://www.nps.gov/fost/historyculture/the-van-schaick-expedition-april-1779.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2008|website=www.nps.gov|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}

Despite Van Schaick's superior James Clinton ordering him to prevent his soldiers from assaulting any Onondaga women (noting that "Bad as the savages are, they never violate the chastity of any women"), the Americans committed numerous atrocities during the expedition. American soldiers "killed babies and raped women", and an Onondaga chief recounted to the British in 1782 how the Americans "put to death all the Women and Children, excepting some of the Young Women, whom they carried away for the use of their Soldiers & were afterwards put to death in a more shameful manner".{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyJLDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Indian+World+of+George+Washington | isbn=978-0-19-065216-6 | title=The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation | date=2018 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}

Afterwards, George Washington praised Van Schaick's conduct during the expedition which he claimed had brought "the highest honor" to him and his men.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyJLDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Indian+World+of+George+Washington | isbn=978-0-19-065216-6 | title=The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation | date=2018 | publisher=Oxford University Press }} On May 10, 1779, an act of the Continental Congress stated that "Resolved, that the thanks of Congress be presented to Colonel Van Schaick and the officers and soldiers under his command, for their activity and good conduct in the late expedition against the Onondagas". At the time, the expedition was considered to be more effectual than the subsequent Sullivan Expedition.{{cite web|title=From George Washington to Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 9 May 1779|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-20-02-0356|website=founders.archives.gov|publisher=Founders Online|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}

He was appointed brevet brigadier general on October 10, 1783,{{cite web|title=George Washington to Goose van Schaick, April 5, 1777|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw3b.003/?sp=18|website=loc.gov|publisher=The Library of Congress|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}} and he served until November 1783.Hitman, Francis B., Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution. New, enlarged, and revised edition., Washington, D.C.: Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914{{cite web|title=Goose Van Schaick (1736—1789)|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803115211166|website=oxfordreference.com|publisher=Oxford Reference|accessdate=5 January 2018}}

On November 15, 1770, Van Schaick was married to Maria Ten Broeck (1750–1829), the eldest of ten daughters born to John Tobias Ten Broeck.{{cite web|last1=Bielinski|first1=Stefan|title=Maria Ten Broeck Van Schaick|url=https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov//albany/bios/t/matbroeck73.html|website=exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov|publisher=New York State Museum|accessdate=5 January 2018}} By 1787, they were the parents of seven children, including:{{cite book|last1=Albany County (N.Y.)|title=Early Records of the City and County of Albany: Deeds. 1678-1704|date=1916|publisher=University of the state of New York|page=379|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkHQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA379|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}

• Alida Van Schaick (b. 1771)
• John Van Schaick (b. 1774)
• Sybrant Van Schaick (b. 1776)
• Tobias Van Schaick (b. 1779), who married Jane Staats (1783–1823), daughter of merchant Henry Staats in 1811.{{cite book|last1=Howell|first1=George Rogers|last2=Tenney|first2=Jonathan|title=Bi-centennial History of Albany|date=1886|publisher=W. W. Munsell & Company|page=400|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UdbEIAEit8C&pg=PA400|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=en}}
• Myndert Van Schaick (1782–1865), who was a New York State Senator.
• Elizabeth Van Schaick (1786–1786), who died young.
• Abraham Van Schaick (b. 1787).

He died at his home on July 4, 1789, of cancer of his facial wound received in the battle of Fort Ticonderoga of 1758. The site of his burial is unclear. It appears he was buried in the family cemetery on Court St. in Albany until 1808, when he was reinterred in the Reformed Dutch Burial Grounds.The Annals of Albany by Joel Munsell, 1855, p. 186 Graves from the Dutch Cemetery were later reinterred in the Church Section of the Albany Rural Cemetery.The State St. Burial Grounds, Albany, NY, The Troy Irish Genealogy Society

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• [https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/vs/gvs.html Colonel Van Schaick Biography] at the New York State Museum

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Category:1736 births

Category:1789 deaths

Category:British military personnel of the French and Indian War

Category:Continental Army officers from New York (state)

Category:Military personnel from Albany, New York