I am heartily ashamed: Volume II: The Revolutionary War's Final Campaign as Waged from Canada in 1782

I am heartily ashamed

VOLUME II:

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR’S FINAL CAMPAIGN

AS WAGED FROM CANADA IN 1782

A west view of Sorel, 1784. This view shows some of the fifty storehouses and barracks built by Haldimand to house a large proportion of the province’s military and naval stores and a substantial garrison.

I am heartily ashamed

VOLUME II :

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR’S FINAL CAMPAIGN

AS WAGED FROM CANADA IN 1782

Gavin K. Watt

with the research assistance of James F. Morrison and William A. Smy

DUNDURN PRESS

TORONTO

Copyright © Gavin K. Watt, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Editor: Shannon Whibbs

Designer: Courtney Horner

Printer: Marquis

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Watt, Gavin K.

                      I am heartily ashamed : the Revolutionary War’s final campaign as waged

from Canada in 1782 / Gavin K. Watt.

Sequel to: A dirty, trifling, piece of business"

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: Volume II

ISBN 978-1-55488-715-6 (v. 2)

                      1. Canada--History--1775-1783. 2. United

States--History--Revolution,

1775-1783--Participation, Canadian. 3. United States--History--Revolution,

1775-1783. 4. Haldimand, Frederick, Sir, 1718-1791. I. Title.

FC420.W383 2010                      971.02’4          C2009-907474-5

1   2   3   4   5      14   13   12   11   10

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed and bound in Canada

www.dundurn.com

Front cover photograph: John W. Moore

Cover designer: Christopher Armstrong

CONTENTS

List of Maps and Plans

Introduction and Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Cast of Important Characters

Raids and Scouts, Late 1781 and First Half of 1782

1.      The Aftermath of the 1781 Campaign

Shameful, Dastardly Conduct

2.      Invasion Fears Aroused

Oh God! It is All Over

3.      To Take Post at Oswego

An Object of Great Importance

4.      Nothing But Cursed Hypocrisy & Deceit

Our Confidence Has Somewhere Been Betrayed

5.      A Major Strike in the Mohawk

A Rare Day Affords Us No Alarm

6.      An End to Active Operations

Scarce a Day Passes Without Experiencing Their Ravages

7.      Stumbling Toward Peace

Hostilities are Effectually Stopped Thro’out This Province

8.      Obsessed with Oswego

We must live like Dogs amongst them

9.      So Ridiculous an Enterprise

Mr. Willett’s romantick and fruitless attempt

Appendix I:

Haldimand’s Army in Canada, 1782

Appendix II:

Haldimand’s Native Allies and His Indian Departments, 1782

Appendix III:

Rebel Casualties at the Destruction of Ellice’s Mill, Little Falls,

July 21, 1782

Notes

Bibliography

Index

LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS

A West View of Sorel, 1784

A Plan of the Entrenchments at Sorel, 1777

Plan of the Town & Fortifications of Montreal

Location of Yorktown

Vermont’s Western Union

The Upper Posts

The Sancoick Confrontation

A Plan of the Forts Ontario and Oswego, 1757

A Sketch of Old Fort Ontario

Montreal Islands

La Prairie, Headquarters of the Hesse-Hanau Jägers

The Republic of Vermont

Plan of the Town of Detroit and Fort Lernoult, ca. 1792

Plan and Works on Isle aux Noix, 1777

Plan of Fort Haldimand, Carleton Island

The Central Mohawk Valley, the Scene of Deserontyon’s

     and Brant’s Raids

Plan of Fort Herkimer, 1756

The Encampment of Von Loos’s Brigade at Pointe Lévis

Route of Willett’s Expedition Against Fort Ontario

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Although this book stands on its own merits, it should be recognized as a sequel to Volume I, A dirty, trifling piece of business, which describes the Canadian campaign of 1781 against the United States’ frontiers. Like the first volume, I am heartily ashamed will appeal to students of the American Revolution in Canada and the northern United States.

After closing off the 1781 campaign, Volume II moves through an incredibly fierce Quebec winter during which Governor Haldimand receives alarming reports of a possible Franco-American invasion and spurs his Secret Service into action to measure the risks.

Early in the new year, the sparring between New York and Vermont reaches a critical stage when New Yorkers at Sancoick in the so-called Western Union throw their support behind Vermont and create an uproar that comes extremely close to open warfare.

The 1782 Canadian campaign opens with a resumption of raids against the rebel frontiers, but, unlike the year before, the defence of the Mohawk region falls into disarray when New York’s Colonel Marinus Willett jousts for command control with Lieutenant-Colonel George Reid, a New Hampshire Continental.

A major strategic initiative by Haldimand is to repossess Oswego, which his troops accomplish with great secrecy and energy. And, to further keep the rebels off balance, he assigns large elements of the Canadian army to strengthen the fortifications at Isle aux Noix.

Because of Ross’s costly expedition of the previous October, the governor contents himself with less ambitious and dangerous ventures, allowing two prominent Mohawk war captains, John Deserontyon and Joseph Brant, to lead large raids into the Mohawk Valley supported by British and Provincial Regulars. The native leaders create great challenges for the rebels by their bold, far ranging assaults.

In mid-summer, the new British ministry suddenly announces a cessation of active operations which is soon followed by news of peace negotiations. As the war draws to a close, far too many issues are left unresolved and the natives and loyalists face a time of great unrest, despair, and upheaval.

Mohawk Valley expert, James F. Morrison, and Butler’s Rangers’ specialist, William A. Smy, contributed extensively to this volume. I owe both a great debt of gratitude.

Ken D. Johnson of Fort Plain was very helpful, especially with details of Oswego. Justin Boggess assisted with the analysis of the German troops. Jeff O’Connor of Schoharie, Neil Goodwin of Vermont, and John A. Houlding, the British Army guru, were also most helpful.

John W. Moore and my son Gavin provided extensive service with artwork and photography. Particularly notable was the professional assistance and guidance so freely offered by graphics designer Chris Armstrong with the enhancement of images and maps and, once again, with the design of the book’s cover.

Gavin K. Watt

Museum of Applied Military History

King City, Ontario, Canada, 2009

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

A CAST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT PERSONS

RAIDS AND SCOUTS, LATE 1781 AND 1782

1

THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1781 CAMPAIGN

Shameful, Dastardly Conduct

The surrender of Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1781 marked the failure of Britain’s strategic effort in the southern provinces and freed the victorious rebels and their French allies to shift their attentions northward for the 1782 campaign. Once again, Canada was seriously threatened by an Allied invasion.

When news of Cornwallis’s defeat was belatedly confirmed in Canada, Governor Frederick Haldimand reacted by making improvements to his province’s defences and tweaking his small army to improve its efficiency. At the same time, he was mindful of his responsibility to assist the main army at New York City by forcing the enemy to keep a body of troops on the northern frontiers.

Conventional wisdom is that, after its stunning victory at Yorktown, the United States enjoyed clear sailing on its path to independence and that the war simply fizzled out like damp priming. The contrary was the case. The rebels were unsure of how the British would react to their defeat, and terror and destruction continued to reign along the northern frontiers. The natives had been unaffected by Yorktown and, as long as the British continued to supply their war parties, the union’s northern and western reaches were vulnerable to attack. As the 1782 campaign unfolded in the Mohawk region, it proved as horrific as ever, while Congress fumbled its attempts to protect those brave inhabitants who clung to their thoroughly ravaged settlements.

Nor would New York’s war of words with Vermont cease. Having become fully aware of the little republic’s treacherous negotiations with the British, the state belaboured Congress with the details. Vermont’s sudden, bold seizure of a large area of New York, which it infuriatingly referred to as its Western Union, deeply rankled the state and, although the military posturing of the fall of 1781 between the two jurisdictions had momentarily quietened, animosity did not.

The news of Yorktown had interrupted Haldimand’s plans for Vermont, but in the new year he reorganized his approach and, in the process, would keep the little republic out of the war.

In addition to Congress’s worries about Canada, the Crown maintained large armies at New York City and Charlestown and, the Royal Navy, despite its failure to save Cornwallis, still dominated the Atlantic seaboard. The British also had large bases in Nova Scotia and Quebec, which were looming presences. To counteract these latter threats, the union had a tiny Continental navy and an underfed, underpaid, and undersupplied Continental Army.

Yet, all of this pertains to the future. To begin this account, it is necessary to step back in time, to immediately before the Yorktown disaster.

Although St. Leger’s expedition on Lake Champlain and Ross’s deep thrust into the Mohawk dominated Canada’s war effort in the northeast at the end of the 1781 campaign season, of course, the province’s other business continued unabated.

Of particular significance to Haldimand’s army, Lieutenant-General Baron Friederich Adolphus Riedesel arrived at Quebec City on September 10. The baron was a soldier of outstanding accomplishments. Although born a Hessian in 1738, the vast majority of his service had been under the Duke of Brunswick. As an ensign, he had spent time in England and become proficient in English and fluent in French. At the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in 1756, his regiment had been recalled to Germany, where he served as an aide to the Duke of Brunswick. His actions during the momentous battle of Minden in 1759 led the duke to recommend the twenty-one-year-old to his landgrave, who in turn promoted him to a captain of Hessian Hussars; however, the young baron was soon recalled to again serve the duke under whom he performed a great many important services. Two years later, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of Brunswick Hussars and given command of a brigade of cavalry. In 1767, his regiment was disbanded and Riedesel was appointed the adjutant general of the Brunswick army, and five years later, the colonel of a regiment of dragoons.

Lieutenant-General Baron Friederich Adolphus Riedesel, 1738–1800. Haldimand’s trusted friend and confidant. After his return to Canada in September 1781, the baron became the department’s de facto second-in-command until his departure in 1783.

When the Duke of Brunswick signed a treaty in 1776 to supply a large contingent of troops to King George III, Riedesel was given command and promoted to major-general. Upon his arrival in Quebec, he was appointed to command Carleton’s contingent of Brunswick and Hessian troops and, in 1777, he served in the same capacity under Burgoyne and earned widespread approbation. Unlike Burgoyne, who was recalled to England after the surrender to defend the loss of his army, the baron had remained with his men and endured four years of captivity before being exchanged to New York City.¹

During Haldimand’s first three years as commander-in-chief of Canada, he had grown very discouraged with the German troops that composed over a third of his army. Except for the Hesse-Hanau Jägers, he judged the other regiments incapable of wilderness campaigning, and he found that even the Hanau Jägers were of marginal use at the frontier posts, as they refused to perform the crucial manual labour expected of British and Provincial troops. Riedesel’s unexpected appearance in September was a blessing and, with substantial relief and high expectations, the governor gave him command of the German contingent. The baron was kept very busy with his new responsibilities and a month passed before he found time to report to Lord George Germain (the British Secretary for the American Colonies) that he had brought to Quebec 970 Brunswick and Hanau troops (like himself, they had been exchanged as part of the Convention Army) and recruits from Anhalt-Zerbst. This body of men landed at the same time as a recruit transport from Hesse-Hanau arrived with men for the Jäger corps and the infantry.

A plan of the entrenchments at Sorel, 1777. From these rather humble beginnings, Haldimand developed Sorel into the third-most important military installation in lower Quebec.

The Riedesels’ house, presently the Maison des Gouverneurs. Purchased by Haldimand for the Riedesel family at Sorel, the governor had several improvements made before their occupation.

In addition to commanding the German troops, Riedesel assumed responsibility for Sorel District. He was headquartered just outside of the town of Sorel, which, after Quebec City and Montreal, had become the third most important centre in the lower province. Haldimand had quickly determined that the baron was a man of keen intellect and dedicated professionalism. He had been instantly charmed upon meeting the general’s wife, Baroness Frederika Riedesel, and her children and had a new spacious house prepared for them, in which the lady kept a special room for his visits. Haldimand sustained a brisk social discourse with Riedesel, as well as a detailed, often confidential, military one, until the latter returned to Europe in 1783. As a fellow foreign-born officer, the baron and family were to become Haldimand’s closest friends to such a degree that the baroness later wrote, I have hardly ever seen a man who was more amiable and friendly to those to whom he had once given friendship; and we flattered ourselves that we were included in that number.

From Haldimand’s pre-war experience in Canada, he was entirely aware of Sorel’s critical strategic location and, soon after his arrival in 1778, he had informed Germain that, due to the vulnerability of Isle aux Noix, St. John’s, and Montreal, he intended to move a large proportion of his stores there. In preparation, he improved the fortifications and had fifty barracks and warehouses constructed. Over the next several years, Sorel became headquarters for several British and German regiments and the remnants of Burgoyne’s loyalist corps and, in the fall of 1781, came under Riedesel’s command.²

Undoubtedly, similar instructions and codes were issued to scouts from Lachine, Kanehsatake, Oswegatchie, Carleton Island, and Fort Niagara. No doubt, these cryptic messages caused unrest when discovered by rebel patrols.

On October 19, Riedesel reported to the governor regarding arrangements he had made for the employment of two detachments over the winter. Three officers and twenty-four men from the King’s Rangers and Fraser’s Independent Company had been chosen for the duty. Two of the officers and sixteen men would be posted at the Upper Yamaska Blockhouse on the river of the same name and a third officer and eight men would operate from the Loyal Blockhouse at Dutchman’s Point at Longe Isle on Lake Champlain. An officer and eight men would patrol south from Yamaska to the Bayley-Hazen Road, and another party would cover ground from the Loyal Blockhouse eastward along the Missisquoi River. They were to observe very carefully all Tracks as well as those which go out of the Province as those which come in to it, and when they find any fresh to follow them; they are not always to take the same route, but they must strike some part of Hazen’s Road, and they are to make particular marks at certain distances for which the Officers commanding at each Post have rec’d instructions.³

John Stuart, the Anglican priest who had been the missionary to the Fort Hunter Mohawk castle and its nearby European community, had been one of Haldimand’s most useful spies. When the priest realized he was in imminent danger of exposure, he obtained permission from New York’s governor, George Clinton, to remove his family to Canada and, after enduring an arduous journey, the Stuarts arrived in Montreal on October 13. The priest wrote of his experiences to his superiors at the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, reporting that the rebels had first set up a tavern in his church and dispensed liquor from its reading desk. Next, they converted the building into a stable and, in 1781, into a fort, to protect a Set of as great Villains as ever disgraced Humanity. As Stuart had been forced to come away without the protection of a flag of truce, he had left behind the mission’s books and its silver plate with a trusted friend in Schenectady.

After Burgoyne’s defeat, his Mohawk congregation relocated at Lachine, seven miles from Montreal, and, when Stuart arrived in the city, they enthusiastically greeted him and requested that he reside with them at their new settlement. But, Stuart had a family to support and his personal property had been so thoroughly looted that he was without resources and was therefore compelled to take employment as chaplain of the second battalion, King’s Royal Regiment of New York (2KRR).⁴

The same day that Stuart wrote to the SPG, Montreal district’s commander, Brigadier Ernst de Speth, former commander of Riedesel’s Musketeer regiment, reported a revolt of the rebel prisoners at Coteau-du-Lac where an offshore island prison held the most intransigent captives. He had immediately reinforced the garrison with a detachment of Sir John’s first battalion (1KRR). Complicating this affair was a collection of forty-seven new prisoners that was to be sent to the island from Fort St. John’s in the next few days.⁵

A week later, Royal Yorker major, James Gray, wrote that the report of a revolt had been groundless and described his battalion’s garrison at the post; on the island he had a subaltern and thirty men and, on the mainland, a captain, subaltern, and fifty men.

Another week passed and the post’s commandant, Captain Joseph Anderson, apprised Gray about a fire in the Prison Island’s joiner’s shop and the prisoners’ barracks. He did not say if the prisoners had had a hand in the incident, but to judge from earlier strife, the blaze was likely set as cover for another escape attempt. It seems that Gray had been indulging in another cover-up to protect the reputation of his captain and battalion. Earlier in the year, a similar game had infuriated the district’s previous brigadier, Allan Maclean, RHE.⁶

Captain Georg Pausch of the Hesse-Hanau artillery, who had seen praiseworthy service under Burgoyne in 1777, had returned to Quebec with Riedesel. He wrote to his Crown Prince on October 16 reporting that the Hanau Jägers were on an expedition under St. Leger, which supposedly is to cross Lakes Champlain and Ontario, in the region of Niagara and Detroit. For someone who had earlier been in Canada for well over a year, Pausch had as little understanding of the country’s geography as his fellow Hessian, Lieutenant-Colonel von Kreutzbourg, revealed in his personal journals.

The captain described the material state of his artillery company, noting that, in obedience to the prince’s orders, the men were without firelocks. They had bayonets with sheaths mounted on their cartridge pouch straps, but why they had either item of equipment without the requisite long arms is a matter of conjecture. With some difficulty, he had purchased a small wooden drum similar to that used by the English on which his newly recruited black drummers could practice. He praised the new powder flasks and slings supplied by the prince as being beautifully decorated, but again, of what use were these without muskets? He had unsuccessfully requested hangers from Lieutenant-Colonel Macbean, the British artillery commander. The few he had were without sheaths or scabbards, so he had the latter made locally and employed surplus flask slings for carriages, assuring the prince that they would be kept whole so they might be returned to their original purpose. He had brought new, plain uniforms from New York and had gold lace mounted. Further, he had purchased new stockings and shoes and had short, black woollen gaiters made.⁷

On October 20, Haldimand sent dispatch No. 94 to Lord George Germain to advise that Major-General Alured Clarke had arrived with his family. Clarke had been sent to Canada in response to the governor’s request for a Briton to outrank his German senior officers in whom he had so little confidence, but Riedesel’s surprising arrival had altered the situation. The governor enclosed a copy of a letter, in which the baron wrote of his disappointment at finding himself ranked junior to Clarke, noting that the Briton had been serving as a colonel long after his own appointment to major-general. Haldimand was concerned for Riedesel, as his claim was valid and his military talents unquestioned. To avoid giving offence, he had posted the two generals as distant from one another as possible; Riedesel at Sorel, where he had particular knowledge of the town and the adjacent frontiers, and Clarke at headquarters in Quebec City.⁸

Arent Schuyler DePeyster, 1736– 1832. Born in New York, DePeyster joined the 8th Regiment in 1755. In 1779, he was appointed major-commandant at Michilimackinac and took command at Detroit that October.

As to affairs at Niagara, sometime during the fall, a dissatisfied clerk employed by the trading company of Forsyth and Taylor reported that the government was being robbed of vast sums. The company had been Colonel Guy Johnson’s major supplier for the Six Nations’ Indian Department (6NID), particularly when supplies from Britain ran short. The trading partners were arrested and ordered down to Montreal and Guy was instructed to follow with his account books.

All of Haldimand’s suspicions about the superintendent’s lack of acumen and managerial skill were confirmed during the interminable investigation. In the meantime, the sick and grieving father, John Butler, who was the department’s deputy agent at Niagara and the commander of Butler’s Rangers, once again assumed Johnson’s responsibilities.⁹

On October 20, Brigadier Henry Watson Powell, Niagara District’s commandant, reported news from Major Arent DePeyster, 8th Regiment, the senior military officer at Detroit. Butler’s Ranger captain, Andrew Thompson, had fallen overboard and drowned in Lake Erie en route to Niagara. Not mentioned was the fact that Thompson had quarreled with the vessel’s master and, in a furious attack, was fended off and tumbled overboard to his death. It was an ignominious end to a gallant loyalist officer who had performed such good service in the 1780 October expedition and on detachment in the west in 1781.

Powell reported that Lieutenant Richard Wilkinson, 6NID, was desirous of succeeding Thompson and, with the greatest pleasure, forwarded his pretensions knowing him to be an active, good Officer that Colonel Butler is desirous to have in his Corps. The brigadier was unaware that Wilkinson had displeased the governor when he earlier quit the Royal Yorkers on what — in Haldimand’s view — was the slim pretense of family affairs.

The report ended with the advice that Butler had sent Captain Caldwell and twenty-five men to Detroit to relieve Thompson’s company. This was all that could be spared, as the commitment to Ross’s expedition was so great.¹⁰

In a similar fashion, ordinary military business had continued at the rebels’ northern posts. Just days before Ross struck, Lieutenant-Colonel Marinus Willett, the officer responsible for the defence of the Mohawk region, reported to his political master, Governor George Clinton, that he had received advice about the pay, subsistence, and clothing for his regiment of Levies and a handful of three-years’ men, but there was no word about how they would be mustered. He noted that regulations required that every brigade have a Commissary of Muster, but, as his regiment was not brigaded, he had no one to turn to and earnestly requested the appointment of a major of Levies. The governor complied by appointing a major to muster and inspect the Levies in the valley and arranged for a New Hampshire captain at Saratoga to muster those Levies stationed there.

On October 23, the governor attended the state legislature at Poughkeepsie to remind the assembly that the terms of their regiments of Levies were about to expire and that a new arrangement would be required for the upcoming year. He suggested revising the law for raising three-years’ men on land bounties, as the officers of the current Levies believed that, if further time was allowed and a small additional bounty granted, a number of recruits might be obtained from amongst their men.¹¹

Only a few weeks remained of open navigation when Haldimand made the facile observation in a letter to Germain dated October 22 that Quebec was no longer in danger of invasion for the present campaign. He also agreed with the secretary’s observations that, while offensive operations in the south occupied the Allies’ attention and, as long as Vermont could be prevented from taking an active part, no serious attempt would be made against Quebec, which made his earlier concerns about an attack even less understandable. As to the offensives he was expected to mount, he wrote:

I have always Sent Detachments upon the Frontiers of the Rebel Provinces to alarm the Country and destroy Supplies — These Continued Excursions have so desolated the Settlements and driven in the Inhabitants, that it now becomes necessary for Parties to penetrate so far into the Country, to have any Effect, as to endanger their Safety, every Peasant being now a soldier, and prepared to assemble on the Shortest notice which was Experienced upon Sir John Johnson’s last Excursion to the Mohawk River, from whence his Retreat became difficult & hazardous, & if vigorously opposed would have been very fatal.

The governor then addressed the subject of Colonel Guy Johnson, which had occasioned to me more uneasiness than I have words to Express. He had concluded from the tone of Germain’s correspondence that the secretary and the King believed his removal of Johnson was the result of a personal vendetta:

I should be the most unhappy man living, could I suppose His Majesty, or Your Lordship thought my Conduct in that Affair actuated by an unhandsome motive, or any other than that alone which intirely occupies my thoughts & directs my actions, the Good of the Kings Service & the Welfare and happiness of his Subjects entrusted to my Direction — Your Lordship may Depend I shall on all future occasions most punctually Observe His Majestys Commands Conveyed to me in Your Lordship’s Letter, and I firmly Rely on His Majesty’s Justice so strongly Expressed by Your Lordship that he will never Condemn any man unheard, or act upon any Information he may Receive relative to the Province in which I Command, without giving me an Opportunity of Submitting my Sentiments to the Royal Consideration.

As to the great difficulties of controlling Indian Department expenses, he intended to reduce them more to Method and render them less obscure.

The next day, the governor wrote a secret dispatch to Germain to advise that he had just received the secretary’s information of May 4, to wit — that the French Court intended to dissuade Congress from any attempt on Canada until all the king’s troops were driven from the thirteen colonies. Germain had recommended that Haldimand co-operate with Sir Henry Clinton by sending a large force to Vermont to encourage their declaration for his majesty and he was able to report that this measure was already in train.

In a second dispatch, he duplicated his private letter of July 8 and added up-to-date information about his Vermont negotiations, including an explanation of the rationale behind the proclamation he had sent with St. Leger:

Guy Johnson habitually put the wrong foot forward in his dealings with Governor Haldimand, which ultimately led to his removal as the senior Indian superintendent.

The very Strong assurances of Sincerity Made, by the agents of Vermont in this Business in Behalf of the Governor, part of the Council, and the obvious difficulties they represent in the Way of a Sudden Revolution Where the Prejudice of a People is So Violent, demand some Credit and Attention, and in a great Measure have removed my Suspicions of the Sincerity of Allen’s Party…. The Prejudice of a great Majority of the Populace, and the Prevailing Influence of Congress are too powerful to admit of a Sudden Change by negotiation. The Leading Men who profess themselves in the King’s Interest advised as a last Resource, My Issuing a Proclamation Confirming to Vermont the late assumed Territory, and Other Privileges … thinking that from a Late Refusal of these by Congress, the Populace May be inclined to accept of Terms from Government.

The Crisis is arrived when Some Serious Measures must be taken with Vermont, their Strength & Influence is growing Rapidly, and the Congress are upon the Point of according to their Demands — In So Critical a Juncture I most Sensibly Feel the Want of Particular Instructions, fearing on one Side to Let an opportunity escape, which May never be recalled, and on the Other, taking upon My Self a Decision of Such Importance as is proposed in my Proclamation…. How far Incroachments by Vermont on New York and New Hampshire May Affect Future Politicks, I know not — at present, I conceive them indiscriminately engaged in Rebellion, and if a Reunion of the Most Valuable of them with the Mother Country Cannot be effected by any other means than by Sacrifising the Interest of one to another, I consider it My Duty to Make the Attempt … But if nothing Decisive should happen this Season, and that Vermont remains in her present State, I See no other means to gain her, than by the Same Measure in the Spring when, favored by the Season and the Supply of Provisions I have now got, it May be undertaken with more Vigour.

From his description of Vermonters, it becomes clear that Haldimand’s attempt to bring them into the British fold was as much from a desire to remove a potent enemy, as it was to discomfit the United States. He continued:

[They have a] Knowledge of the Country and the facility with Which Bodies, now used to Arms & to Danger can on the Shortest Notice present themselves — In Such a State are at present the Inhabitants of Vermont & its neighbourhood, the Former Much Superior, the Latter very little Inferior to the Continental Troops. — Too Much Cannot be Said upon the advantages that would Result from a Reunion of Vermont and the Evil Consequences Which Must attend Her uniting With the Other States against us. [I]n this Conviction, I have Spared no pains to bring about the former.

In yet another dispatch, he revisited the subject of the Indian Department:

I have been Reflecting upon Means to controle the Expense … and cannot devise any other than by appointing Some Person of Rank, Influence, Knowledge, Activity and Perfect Honor to Superintend the Northern Confederacy, and Make an Annual Visit to the Several Posts, to Examine into the Transactions of them, and Make Such Reformations from time to Time as he Shall find necessary, first having laid down a Regular System calculated for the local Circumstances of Each. Such a Salary to be annexed to this Employment as would be adequate to the Laborious Duties of it, and every Consideration from Contracts, or Connections with Supplying Presents, to be positively prohibited, these to rest entirely to the Crown, but Subject to Inspection With Regard to the Qualities, Shipping &c of the Goods, by Such persons as the Superintendent shall appoint. Sir John Johnson being the only Person here, or any where Else within my knowledge, Whose Qualities in every Respect Come within the above Description, I would humbly Propose for Your Lordship’s Consideration, the Expediency of this measure. Knowing that Sir John Johnson from other Views, formerly declined this Office, it was necessary for me, before I could Mention it to Your Lordship, to ask him if it would be agreeable to him to accept of it, provided Such a Measure Should take Place, which I have Just done and Find that in Consideration of the ruinous State of his Private Affairs, the great uncertainty of their being Repaired, and having a growing Family, it would not be unacceptable to him, and if he does undertake it, I have that Confidence in his Virtuous Zeal for the King’s Service that I have not a doubt he would be indefatigable in forming a Reformation of infinite moment to the State. Sir John Johnson would be better Received, and assisted than any other Person by Colonel Johnson & Mr. Claus from his Family Connection With them. I have long Wished to give him the Rank of Brigadier General, but my aversion from Multiplying appointments and Expense has hitherto prevented it. This would be a favorable opportunity for me to promote him to that Rank, and it would have this good Effect, by being Joined to the appointment, it would give him the entire Command of the Lieutenant Governor & Superintendents who, in the latter Capacity, appear too apt to considere Themselves independently with Regard to the Expense they incur. The Appointment of a Brigadier General While it existed, Might in Some Measure diminish the Salary of the other — Should this Plan take Place, an interior arrangement must be naturally Considered of as every Circumstance relating to the Department should Come thro’ the Superintendent. All Bills before they appear for acceptance Should be Certified by Him, as from the Separate directions. He would give, He would be enabled to judge of the Propriety, and to cheque Expenses Which appeared unnecessary — It is not in nature that a Person residing at the distance I do from these Posts, Can have any Personal Knowledge of the Variety of Contingencies, Which put together, amount to amazing Sums — when, after writing Volumes upon the Subject of Economy, I am told Such and Such Expences are Absolutely Necessary to the Service, I must Submit, or Stand by the Consequences — These Centering in one Person, whose Duty It becomes Personnally, to investigate every Circumstance, and be responsable for the Propriety of the Charges, Cannot fail to controle, and keep within Bound, the Expences.

In another dispatch, the governor addressed the topic of his problematical Provincials, duplicating an earlier report that had gone missing. He mentioned the new footing on which the king had placed the Provincial Corps appeared to have removed a Jealousy and Langour which promised but little Success in New Levies. He had given a beating order to Sir John for a second battalion, which was currently in great forwardness. He had likewise directed Messrs Jessup and Peters to Compleat their Battalions … with all possible Dispatch, and Recruiting Parties have been Some time in the Colonies for that Purpose; however, he worried that:

[M]ore Should be expected from those Gentlemen than they can perform, [as] that they are by no means possessed of the Influence and Abilities represented by their Friends at Home…. Many of the Officers proposed for their Corps (by whom assistance alone they Can expect to raise them) have Expressed a disinclination of Serving under them, and they wished to be allowed to raise independent Companies. This I have discouraged, in order to Support Messrs Jessup and Peters who certainly are not without Some Merit.

The small corps had Suffered Much by the Death of Major McAlpin, an Old and Valuable Officer, Who had been Settled Some Years in the Neighbourhood of Albany, and being generally beloved, had great Influence with the People. He had hopes that the new recruiting parties would favor the Escape of a great Number of Loyal Subjects said to be in those Parts in waiting for opportunity and by that means compleat Sir John Johnson’s and the two other Battalions.

On a related topic, he advised that farming at the upper posts was in a forward state and families of loyalists were established for that purpose. New settlements had been carefully selected in the Niagara region for the Six Nations’ Indians; however, these People are So averse from Labour that Little Progress can be expected …While the King’s Stores remain open to their demands. (By this, he revealed a typical white prejudice against native men, as native women, in their own fashion, worked as hard and as productively as any white farmer. It was a societal division of labour that was ill-understood or accepted by Europeans.) The governor closed by commenting that rations were being issued to both natives and loyalists according to age; children under twelve received a half ration, as did the natives when they were not on campaign.¹²

Shifting the scene to the Mohawk region — while St. Leger’s Provincials were setting fires along Lake George and Willett was pursuing Ross’s troops through the woods north of Fort Dayton, four Tryon militiamen went to New Dorlach to harvest peas and pen in some hogs. The day was cold and raw with rain and snow falling alternately. They searched the nearby woods for the swine without realizing that a war party was hidden nearby in a barn. After looking for some time, the four were thoroughly wet and cold and retired to the house to get warm. After propping their guns against a wall, they gathered around the fireplace to enjoy a fire. The Indians crept into the house and had the men surrounded before one fellow recognized the danger and lunged for his firelock. He was easily thwarted. A chair was