In October of 1805, Robert Land, who was then 66 years old, penned his last will and testament, dividing up his considerable holdings in Ontario, Canada among a number of his children and providing a place for his wife Phoebe to reside as long as she might live.

 Land lived until 1818, and Phoebe for another eight years after that, and although nearly half of their lives were spent in Canada, their earlier ties to the Upper Delaware are intertwined with the region’s role in the Revolutionary War and its divisive impact on neighbors and families.

Robert Land, who was the Justice of the Peace in the Cushetunk settlement when the war broke out, became a spy for the British Army.

 Although there is some disagreement about this, it seems Land was born in England in 1739 and came to America as a young man, perhaps with a twin brother, John, eventually making his way to the Delaware River, where he settled near its confluence with Calkins Creek. 

He married an older woman, Phoebe Scott, and they had seven children. He fought for the British Army in the French and Indian War and became a local magistrate, one of the most respected of the Cushetunk citizenry. Because of his role as a government official, it was perhaps natural that as the Revolution approached, he would remain loyal to his King.

He first marched with Joseph Brant and his band of marauding Tories and Iroquois, but because of his knowledge of the frontier region, Land was chosen to act as a spy, running dispatches for the British General Sir Henry Clinton, travelling extensively between Cushetunk and Long Island and the Niagara frontier. On two separate occasions, he was captured by the Patriots and hauled before local Committees of Safety for trial.

One of the trials took place at Minisink, and Land’s former Cushetunk neighbor, Bezaleel Tyler was among the chief witnesses against him. 

Arrested at Ten Mile River and charged with being a spy and with carrying intelligence to the enemy, Land pleaded not guilty. Family genealogy papers record the incident: 

“On 14 March 1779, [Land] was captured by rebel militia, brought before a military court at Minisink, New York, and charged with being a British spy. On 18 March, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. 

His conviction was subsequently overturned by George Washington on the grounds that as a citizen of Pennsylvania, he was not subject to the jurisdiction of a military court. 

Washington ordered him to be turned over to the civil Authorities in Easton, Pa., for a new trial. Released on bail to await the new trial, Robert joined with a party of Tories bound for Niagara, one of whom was Ralph Morden, a Quaker.

 On 12 May 1780, the party was discovered by American militia; Robert was shot and wounded but made his escape back to New York City, where his family was now relocated. The unfortunate Morden was tried and convicted of treason and hanged.”

 Tyler testified that on one occasion he had searched Land’s Cushetunk home for letters sent from General Howe to the commander on the Niagara frontier, and failing to find them he accused Land’s wife, Phoebe of concealing them. Though she denied it, he told her she was as much an enemy as her husband.

Tyler did not mention the incident in his testimony, but the Land home was burned to the ground shortly after his search, though to this day it is not clear by whom. The family was able to escape the conflagration unharmed only because of a warning issued by a friendly Native American who crept into the house in the dark of night and alerted one of the children of the impending danger. The Land’s neighbors, the family of the Tory Bryant Kane, did not fare nearly so well. They were massacred in their home that same night.      

Robert Land eventually ended up in Canada, where he is recorded as one of the earliest settlers of Hamilton, Ontario. He presumed his wife and children had been killed in the fire at their home, and lived in seclusion for 11 years.

 At that point, totally by chance, his family, minus his eldest son John, who had remained in Cushetunk, happened to travel through the region not far from his home. Alerted by some locals to the fact that there was a reclusive resident with the same name as their’s living at the mouth of the lake, they investigated and found that Robert, long presumed by them to have died during the war, was alive and well. The family reunited and lived happily ever after.

The Robert Land story is one of many told at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg, NY, where the Black Dog Publick House is a reproduction of where Land would have held court in the Cushetunk settlement. 

This is the last weekend to visit the Fort for the 2024 season, as Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13 are the final days. Fort Delaware is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last tour at 4 p.m. It is located on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway at 6615 Route 97 in Narrowsburg, NY.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.  His book about Robert Land, “The Cushetunk Spy” will be pubished in 2025.