The “Allen Family Massacre” refers to the killing of an American Loyalist family and African-American slaves, by Native Americans associated with the British army of Lieutenant General John Burgoyne during the American Revolutionary War, in August 1777, in northern New York State. It has been reported that the same Native American group also killed a young Loyalist woman, Jane McCrea, a day or two later. These incidents, along with others, caused fear among Loyalist families in the area and led to increased Patriot recruiting which helped to fill the ranks of Patriot militias. Subsequently, the British invasion of the Champlain-Hudson Valley that Burgoyne hoped would quickly end the American Revolution, was stopped at the nearby Battles of Saratoga in September and October 1777.
The incident took place in the Town of Argyle, Washington County, New York, on Friday, July 25, 1777 or Saturday, July 26, 1777, at the farm of John Allen and his wife, Eva Kilmer Allen. Allen had recently cleared his land, owned by his father-in-law, to grow wheat, and had erected a small log cabin and a barn. Allen's father-in-law, George (called "Jurry" or "Yerry") Kilmer, of Palatine German heritage, owned the grist mill in the settlement of Argyle, approximately 3.5 miles to the north-northwest.
On the day of the murders, a group of Native American warriors, who had been promised plunder, scalps and prisoners by the British Army (camped nearby in the vicinity of Fort Anne), attacked Allen and his family. Those attacked were John Allen (about 31); his wife Eva Kilmer Allen (about 28); their children Eva (4 years old), Elizabeth (age 2) and the baby George (or Johnny; less than 1 year old); Eva's 15-year old sister, Catherine who had come that morning to help take care of the children; and three African-American slaves of George Kilmer, "Tom" ("a young man grown"), "Sarah" ("about 12 years old") and a third man (whose name has not been recorded and who may not have actually been at the Allen's based on conflicting testimony by local residents). All were killed. On Sunday, an African-American slave boy, "Abram" brother of "Tom," sent to the farm by George Kilmer to see why no one had heard from the Allens, or his daughter Catherine, found the bodies and raised the alarm with the local farmers in the area. Eva Allen's younger sister, Maria Kilmer McEachron, testified late in her life that Tom, Sarah and Catherine Kilmer had gone to the Allen Farm on Saturday morning (July 26, 1777) the day the murders occurred (other accounts put the date as Friday, July 25).
The next day, the same group of Native Americans killed Jane McCrea near the village of Fort Edward, approximately 7.5 miles to the northwest. These murders, and others, caused a general panic among the local citizenry, many of whom were Loyalists. Many of the Loyalist families of Argyle left their homes and fled to the protection of Burgoyne's army at Fort Edward. Other families hid out in the surrounding countryside.
References
Ketchum, Richard M (1997). Saratoga, Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0-8050-6123-9. OCLC 41397623
MacNaughton, James, Jr. (1999), The Argyle Patent and its Early Settlers: The Sleeper Company, Hopkinsville, KY, 491 p.
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (1942). “The Massacre of the Allen Family," as told in “Notes for a History of Washington County, New York,” collected by Dr. Asa Fitch, M.D. (1809-1879): The New York Genealogical and Biological Record, Vol. 73, No. 2, April 1942, p. 83-95.
Reid, Arthur (1859). Reminiscences of the Revolution, Le Loup’s Bloody Trail from Salem to Fort Edward: Roberts, Book and Job Printer, Utica, NY, 1859, p. 1-31. https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofr00reid
Youker, Darren (2002). “Marker to Commemorate Massacre,” newspaper article, The Glens Falls Post-Star, July 26, 2002. http://poststar.com/news/local/marker-to-commemorate-massacre/article_fbcf84e8-51e3-5590-9b19-a76be026a9c8.html