It was built of brick, being a unique example of the use of this material in old Catskill. Benjamin Dubois had a wooden house, probably a roomy log-cabin, near the mouth of the creek; and others of the prominent men of the settlement were similarly housed. Among the names of the older Catskill families are Van Ordens, Van Vechtens, Overbaghs, Abeels, Oothoudts, Schunemans, Wynkoops, Fieros, Webers, Plancks, Newkirks -- a mingling of Dutch and German ap]3ellations still to be found in the Catskill directory. There is a tradition that, on Wanton Island, near Catskill, a fierce battle was once fought between the Mohawks and the river Indians. The former claimed the right to name a sachem for their neighbours, or, in other words, the}^ tried to enforce the right of overlordship, which the others resisted. After a day of hard fighting, according to Indian methods, the Mohegans succeeded in dri\4ng their enemies from the field. The Mohawks then retreated to another island, where they built fires and pretended to encamp. But, having spread their blankets upon poles near the fire, so that

The Catskill Region c^ 489

thev shotild resemble men seated there, they retired to the forest and waited in ambush till the Mohegans a})] reared to complete their \-ictory. The latter, stealing u]) in the dead of night, tomahawk in hand, fell ui)on the unsusi)eeting blankets with great fury. While thus exposed in the glare of the firelight, and no doubt thrown into confusion ])y the ruse that had du|jed them, they fell a read)' ])re}' to the arrows of the crafty Mohawks. In another narrative of this battle (one, it must be confessed, more in keeping with probabilities) , no mention is made of the strategy of the blankets and cam]3-fire. It is stated that the Mohawks, finding the Mohegans' ]:)osition on the island imjjregnable, retired to the mainland, pretending to he beaten, and that the others foolishly followed them, to their own destruction.