War on the Middleline

In 1768 the sixty-year struggle to open the lands of the Kayaderosseras Patent north of Albany for settlement was finally resolved. The long conflict with France was over, and disputes over ownership rights with the local Mohawk Indians had been settled. This is the story of the families that left their homesteads in Connecticut and moved to Middleline Road in Ball's Town, in the Patent. There they began their new life on the frontier, soon to be interrupted by the American Revolution. As Yankees, most of these pioneers supported the rebel cause. In 1780 the war came to them, as a contingent of 200 British soldiers, Loyalists, and Mohawk Indians descended on Ball's Town, pillaging and burning their newly-built cabins. In the wake of the raid twenty-five men were carried off to Canada, where many remained imprisoned until the end of the War two years later. "War on the Middleline" is the story of these families, their heritage, and the hardships they endured during the founding of our nation.