BUTLER’S CANNON

Inscription

BUTLER'S CANNON
AS TOLD BY EARLY TRAPPERS,
A CANNON WAS SUNK HERE IN
THE CLYDE RIVER BY BUTLER'S
RANGERS, SEPTEMBER 1779.
REPORTED BUT NEVER FOUND
NEW YORK FOLKLORE SOCIETY
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2016

During the Revolutionary War Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779, a cannon belonging to Loyalist unit Butler’s Rangers was said to have been sunk intentionally by them during a retreat from Lake Ontario or by Americans at Melvin Brook (Clyde River) west of the Village. There were reports from early trappers, pioneers and boatmen who claimed to see the cannon. Lore suggests that one man reported putting his hand on the muzzle. About 1840, a group of residents set out to locate the cannon, but never found it. This legend can be found in both the “Military History of Wayne County” and “Morrison’s History of Clyde.”