Brink had been a prisoner among the Indians after the horrible Esopus massacre in 1663 ; but, with twenty- two fellowcaptives, he managed to escape from the hands of the savages. A few other hardy Dutch frontiersmen took up land between the great Hardenbergh patent and the river. A large holding to the north of Saugerties was known as Fullerton's tract, upon which afterwards the West Camp of the Palatines was established. This at that time was included in the county of Albany, of which the southern boundary was then Esopus Creek. North of Saugerties were fruitful plantations of maize, cultivated by the Indians, from which, at a time when the savages had assumed a hostile attitude, some white men took a quantity of corn. But it may be said that the people of Saugerties generally escaped broils with their redskin neighbours. As early as 1 61 8, a treaty was made between one Eelkins, commander of the trading-post at Albany, and the repre-

Saugerties and its Neighbours 473

sentatives of the Five Nations, b>- which the latter pledged themselves to friendship for the white men, and it is stated that that treaty was never broken. The Indians that harassed Kingston and other settlements, tomahawking the men and carrying away women and children, were of the Esopus and Catskill tribes, who finally allied themselves with the Mohegans against their greatly dreaded enemy, the Mohawks. We read of the subjugation of the Mohegans and their aUies by the Mohawks and the estabHshment of their overlordship or suzerainty, and we can understand how the latter compelled the adversaries of the Dutch to surrender prisoners that they had taken. Near the beginning of the eighteenth century, at the same time that a purchase (elsewhere referred to) was made of Judge Livingston for the Palatines, the Fullerton tract was also secured on the west shore, and what was known as West Camj) was established.