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Piecing Together a Passenger List: The Bridgewater, Part Three of Four
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Of all the loyalist refugees who found sanctuary at the mouth of New Brunswick’s St. John River, only six had been surgeons. One of them was Dr. Joseph Clarke of Stratford, Connecticut, one of the 185 passengers who had sailed away from New York City on the Bridgewater in June of 1783.
Clarke had once done a tour of duty as a surgeon with a provincial regiment during the Seven Years War. He could not have anticipated that there would be yet another war on American soil during his lifetime. In 1776, he fled to the British Army. His wife Isabella and their 10 children were sent to New York, where he later joined them.
In 1777, the doctor went to Long Island to practice medicine within the refugee settlement that was growing up around Fort Franklin, the largest British fortification on Long Island Sound. Clarke offered his services “without any pay or reward during the war“. (Many of those Loyalists would precede Clarke to New Brunswick as members of the Spring Fleet.)
When the Clarke family boarded the Bridgewater, it was comprised of the doctor, his wife, their nine daughters and four servants. The latter would all have been white with the possible exception of one Black. Forty year-old Philip, who escaped from slavery in Virginia in 1780, accompanied the Clarkes and may have remained with them after arriving in New Brunswick.
Because the doctor’s oldest son, Joseph Clarke Jr. was recognized as an adult, he was listed as one of the “households” that was given provisions by the Fort Howe commissary. The victualing muster for the garrison listed his occupation as being “a student”.
The Clarkes settled in Maugerville, originally a New England Planter village on the St. John River. The loyalist doctor later became a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Sunbury. His daughter Jane married Lt. Col. Samuel Smith, commander of the garrison in York, Upper Canada (Toronto, Ontario) on October 21, 1800. What became of the other 8 Clarke daughters is not known.
Jane’s brother, Joseph Jr., remained in New Brunswick, but died at age 65 on June 10, 1828 while visiting friends in New York.  Dr. Joseph Clarke died in 1813, aged seventy-nine; his widow died 5 weeks later at the age of seventy-one.
The Clarke family were not the only Bridgewater passengers who were forced to leave their home in Connecticut. John White, a mariner, traveled with his wife, five children and two servants. (The latter may be the two Black Loyalists who White escorted on the voyage to New Brunswick.) Jack Coley and his three children had escaped from his enslaver in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1777. Recognized as a free man by the British government, he was accompanied by a woman named Dinah, who had purchased her freedom from her owner in Fairfield. These two may have been married and may have continued to remain with the White family after arriving in New Brunswick.
Within a year of finding refuge in the northern colony, the Whites suffered the death of one of their youngest children. The family eventually settled along the Long Reach of the St. John River. John died there at the age of 96 in 1838.
Abraham Bates, a Connecticut merchant, fled to New Brunswick with a wife and four servants (all of whom were white as they were not recorded in the Book of Negroes).  Frederick Bates was also a Connecticut merchant who sailed on the evacuation ship with a white servant. Jacob Bell, a mariner, travelled in the same circumstances as Frederick Bates. His name is only found in one other document of the era outside of Fort Howe’s victualing muster. He was a witness for a will drawn up in New Brunswick’s Charlotte County in 1791.
Another Connecticut bachelor passenger was Samuel Osborn. A carpenter, he sailed on the Bridgewater with two white servants.  When his estate was divided upon his death in 1800, his fellow bondsmen were all merchants in Saint John.
Another carpenter who left New York City on the Bridgewater was John Lee; he sailed with his wife and a young child. Outside of Fort Howe’s victualing muster, this New York craftsman is only mentioned in a memoir that placed his cooper shop on the corner of Saint John’s Main and Bridge Streets. Richard Rogers was also a carpenter who fled rebel persecution with his wife and two children over ten years of age.
Quite a number of the Bridgwater‘s refugees originated in New York. Duncan McPherson was a shoemaker who was accompanied by his wife, two young children and one servant (perhaps an apprentice). Thomas Brangen was also a New York shoemaker (cordwainer) who came to Saint John as a single man.  Alex/Ellis McKenzie was a farmer in the same colony; he travelled with his wife. Elias Secord, who had made his living sawing timber in New Rochelle, and his wife Abigail eventually settled in Long Creek, Queen’s County with their five children. Secord died at the age of 90 on November 19, 1838.
Thomas Carter was a New York sailor who came to New Brunswick as a single man, accompanied by a white servant. He may be the same Carter who, along with 1,000 others, signed a petition on October 16, 1776, urging the end of military rule and the restoration of “civil government” in New York. By the time of his death in 1814, Carter had married a woman named Mary. James and Thomas Carter of Dorchester, New Brunswick may have been his sons.
John Darrah (Darraugh?) was another New York sailor aboard the Bridgewater. He came to New Brunswick with a wife, a young child, and two white servants. People bearing his surname were still found in Saint John County as late as the 1850s.
Before the revolution, George Wheeler had been a farmer in Livingstone Manor, New York.  Rebels imprisoned Wheeler and his wife Polly — as well as a son and daughter — on four different occasions. They were all “put in irons and made to provide for themselves“.
When the family boarded the Bridgewater, they brought seven of their ten children with them.  Four years after their journey to New Brunswick, Nicholas, one of the Wheeler boys, stood before the loyalist compensation board and related his family’s story.
They had gone through many transitions following their year of living on Fort Howe’s provisions. After initially settling in Maugerville, they moved to Oromocto on the St. John River where George died in 1786. Two of the Wheeler sons and one of the daughters returned to the United States. The Wheeler children who are known to have remained in New Brunswick are Reinhard (a loyalist soldier), Elizabeth, Edward, Sarah, Mary, and Catharine. Most of the Wheelers settled in the area around Gagetown.
The last known Bridgewater passenger to have fled rebel persecution in New York is John McPherson, a chandler who travelled with his wife and one servant. (“Chandler” can refer to a grocer, a candle maker, or a dealer in shipping supplies.) McPherson escorted a Black Loyalist teenager named Ann. The 15 year-old had run away from her master in Virginia sometime before the end of 1782. As she had been with the McPhersons for the Bridgewater’s 2-week voyage, she may have decided to enter their employ as a servant.
Still more stories of the Bridgewater’s passengers will be told in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Key US independence document bore arms of British king
9 June 2024 in The Guardian
It is a founding document of the United States and inspired the Declaration of Independence and the purge of British power from the American colonies.
But, ironically, George Mason’s seminal Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 was written on paper watermarked with the arms of the king of Great Britain and Ireland, an expert has discovered.
As one of the most significant documents in American history, the Virginia declaration is held in a secure vault at the Library of Congress (LoC) in Washington DC. Dr Ian Christie-Miller, a former visiting research fellow at London University and a specialist in paper analysis, has discovered a watermark that shows the Hanover crown and the emblem of King George III, under whose rule the American colonies were lost.
He told the Observer: “The value of watermark research has been widely known but ignored for years. The evidence has been sitting there unnoticed until now.” Read more…
Contributed by Shaun Wallace,

Cape Henry in the American Revolution
by Christopher Pieczynski 30 July 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
The strategic economic importance of Cape Henry, at the juncture between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, was recognized early on in the American colonies with a recommendation that building a lighthouse at that location would be “of great Advantage to the Trade of this Bay.” It took almost half of a century to finally bring the colonies of Virginia and Maryland into agreement on construction, funding, tariff rates, and overall operation of the lighthouse. When efforts toward construction started in 1773, with £9,600 appropriated for construction between Maryland and Virgnia, the local lighthouse board of directors assigned to oversee construction wasted no time in acquiring materials and preparing the land. Soon, advertisements began appearing announcing that “Notice is hereby given that a number of vessels will be wanted this summer to bring about 6,000 tons of stone from Mr. Brooke’s quarry, on Rappahannock, and land the same on Cape Henry, for the lighthouse.” Other designed improvements included buoys to mark shoal areas along the Chesapeake Bay.
By the end of 1774, in addition to 6,000 tons of Aquia sandstone, the lighthouse directors also accumulated some 2,500 feet of juniper plank, 100 sheets of copper, and 1,200 feet of copper hoops for navigation buoys near shoal areas. They also constructed a house, “Sixty feet long, Twenty feet Wide, and ten feet Pitch” with a separate fifteen by fifteen foot square kitchen (destined to be the future keeper’s house and kitchen), a barn for up to twenty-five horses, and an additional structure to house the workers. As with any construction venture, unanticipated delays impacted progress. Read more…

The Doan Gang: Outlaws of the Revolution
Exhibit by the Mercer Museum, Doylestown PA
The Mercer Museum presents an exciting new major exhibition until 31 Dec. 2026, The Doan Gang: Outlaws of the Revolution, that explores the history and intrigue of a group of Revolutionary War-era Loyalists whose legend lives on today. Some called them villains; others hailed them as heroes.
Discover the untold stories of the Doan Gang at the Mercer Museum’s newest immersive exhibition, and journey through a world of espionage, legendary robberies, and mythical lost treasure in the heart of Revolutionary Bucks County. Learn how these local outlaws plotted, schemed, and plundered their way through a divided world in the earliest days of a budding American nation, and why their deep loyalty to British rule in the colonies made them enemies of the Founding Fathers.

Museum and Exhibit details.

Zoom meeting Monday 5 August 2024 6:00 pm – fee $15, Details and register… 
Learn about on-going programs – Details…
Noted by Barbara Jones

PS. Barbara just returned from a visit to the Mercer Museum as she is working on a Doan project herself. She adds:

    The Exhibit is amazing. In addition to incredible content the design and presentation are award-winning, IMHO!
The team at the Mercer Museum were immensely helpful. We were able to work with original documents from the 1770-80s. I’m now combing through the materials we gathered (much of which they had pulled for us in advance), digitized (with the help of iScanner), and unpacking the various ‘myth vs. reality’ elements that will make their way into my project.
I also did the Doan Joyrides of the Bucks County area (Newtown and Plumstead) where most of the robberies and main events occured. The ‘tour guide/driver’ really knows his stuff and is an excellent storyteller. If your readers are ‘Doan-nuts’, I highly recommend investing in the tour(s) to get the lay of the land.  More details.

In the News: Doan Gang Artifact Recovered From Cave
To Be Shown At Mercer Museum
By Jeff Werner 26 July 2024 in Patch
The stone with the inscription confirms a sensational newspaper story from over 160 years ago.
DOYLESTOWN, PA — A stone with the inscription “1775 M” – possibly carved by the famous outlaw Moses Doan – has been recovered from Buckingham Cave, ending a search that millions of television viewers witnessed on a recent episode of the Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown.”
Additionally, a colonial-era bottle, also recovered from the cave, is the first object found that dates to the period of the Doan Gang and suggests that the cave was open when Moses Doan and the Gang were active.
Clint Flack, Bucks County Historical Society’s exhibit specialist, along with property owner Frank Lamitina, rediscovered and excavated Buckingham Cave beginning in 2019. The story received local news coverage and eventually piqued the interest of producers at the Discovery Channel’s hit show, “Expedition Unknown.”  Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: New York – A Soldier’s Life September 1780
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).

Major Moves during Johan’s deployment:

  • March 1777:   Depart Germany
  • 3 June 1777:   Arrive New York, then Amboy NJ
  • November 1777:  To Philadelphia
  • June 1778: to Long Island
  • July 1778: To Newport RI
  • October 1779: to New York

September 1780: At New York (page 88)
Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fourth Year, 1780

IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER [1780]
2 September. I received a letter from my parents in Wunsiedel.
7 September.  I  went  on  work  detail  at  Morrisania,  where  a  new  defensive  position  was being constructed. In the evening a prayer meeting was held in camp.
9 September. I sent four letters to Germany with the packet, two to Wunsiedel and two to Zell.
10 September. A sermon was held in camp. In the evening I went on picket duty at Bitch.
17 September.  It  being  the  seventeenth Sunday after  Trinity,  I  partook  of  confession  and communion, under God’s gracious hand.
19 September. I went on command to the defenses at Morrisania.
22 September. A fireworks display was given  in New York because of a victory  in South Carolina  where  Lord  Cornwallis  had  defeated  General  Gates  and  captured  his  flags  and cannon.
23 September.  Our  regiment  had  to  drill.  I  went  on  field  watch  in  the  camp.  Today  the treason  of  Major  General  Benedict  Arnold  was  discovered,  which  sought  to  betray  the important fortress of West Point — which he commanded — and Washington himself into the hands of the English.
25 September. Our regiment had to drill for the second time. Today Major General Arnold arrived in New York as a deserter from the Americans. He escaped on a privateer.
27 September.  The  British  East  and  West  Indies  trading  fleet  fell  into  the  hands  of  the combined French and Spanish fleet. The loss totaled fifty-four ships, large and small, among which were fifteen East Indiamen, 160 mostly metal cannon; 1,256 sailors, 260 officers, 875 marines, and 164 travelers, and a great amount of expensive merchandise, the value of which was estimated at twenty million pounds sterling.
29 September. During the morning a sermon was conducted. We had to put up with many bugs and mosquitoes here during this month.
(to be continued)

Advertised on 1 August 1774: “Considerations on the Measures Carrying On”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

1 Aug 1774

Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America
“This pamphlet has had a wonderful effect in removing
the prejudices and convincing the people of England.”

Benjamin Edes and John Gill, the printers of the Boston-Gazette, gave an advertisement for their American edition of Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America a prominent place in the August 1, 1774, edition of their newspaper.  It appeared as the first item in the first column on the first page, making it difficult for readers to miss.  The printers wished to call attention to the book, originally published in London, not only because they hoped to generate revenue from its sales but also as a means for colonizers to become even better informed about current events and the political challenges they faced as Parliament passed a series of laws, the Coercive Acts, following the Boston Tea Party.  As the imperial crisis intensified, patriot printers like Edes and Gill published newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, books, and other items that documented the ongoing contest with Parliament, the king, and royal officials in the colonies.
To convince prospective customers of the necessity of purchasing and perusing this pamphlet, Edes and Gill explained that it was the “most masterly performance, written since the framing of the several Acts against BOSTON and AMERICA,” including the Boston Port Act and the Massachusetts Government Act, and “the best calculated to convince the Ministry, the people of England, and all the world, of the absurdity and wickedness of the late acts.” Read more…

Book: Skohere and the Birth of New York’s Western Frontier 1609-1731 – Volume III – 1703 – 1731
By Jeff O’Connor. 396pp, 43 maps, illustrations, and photos
When the Palatines arrived at the Schoharie Valley in 1712, the world they stepped into was a century in the making. This formative period of the valley’s history has never been fully told, nor has the true impact these rebellious German refugees had on pushing New York’s western frontier as far as they did, as fast as they did. Until now.
The three-volume series “Skohere and the Birth of New York’s Western Frontier 1609 – 1731” is a trilogy about the Palatines that’s not really about the Palatines. It’s a biography of the Schoharie Valley and the people and events that helped shape its earliest colonial history.
Volume III completes the series, following the dramatic journey of the Palatines to the Schoharie Valley and, after bitter experiences for many, to the Mohawk Valley and Pennsylvania. Their story, though, is not theirs alone. They impacted lives of those who either helped or stood in the way of reaching their elusive Promised Land. Key to their experiences in the Schoharie Valley was a unique relationship with the Mohawk people who provided land and helped them survive. Along the way, the Palatines redefined Anglo-Haudenosaunee diplomacy and pushed frontiers.
This vivid narrative tracing one of the great immigration stories will challenge and enhance the known history of the Schoharie Valley and the genesis of New York’s western frontier.

Brown Colours – Carl Linnaeus’ Provincial Tours and Dyeing Experiments
By Viveka Hanse 21 July 2024 in ikfoundation.org
Producing a genuine brown colour with natural dyes was considerably more complex than achieving a yellow hue; various types of moss, lichen and bark were commonly used. Some herbs can also yield brownish colours with varying results, but most frequently tending towards yellow. Even so, the naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) made notes in his travel journals of brown dyes for cloth and yarn during several of his Swedish provincial tours in the 1730s-40s. This essay will look closer into these obstacles and possibilities – from an 18th century perspective and via my own dye experiments over many years – to achieve colourfast and beautiful brown shades. Additional research of dye manuals, Linnaeus’ floras and household books, a piece of sandalwood from East India and other primary sources aim to enlighten further traditions related to dyeing brown colours.
Carl Linnaeus and his contemporaries were eager to investigate the excellent qualities of domestically grown plants for dyeing, which was part of the aim for the best development potential for the country’s mercantile economy. At the time, this was seen to have the potential to improve conditions for the country as well as for its inhabitants. However, this did not exclude the existence of imported alternatives for dyeing. Among a multitude of observations related to textile dyeing, he studied a few plants from which the dyers could obtain brown shades during his final provincial journey in 1749. Read more…

Objects of Revolution (Podast)
Ashli White, end of July 2024, at Ben Franklin’s World
When we think about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, or the Haitian Revolution, we think about the ideals of freedom and equality. These ideals were embedded and discussed in all of these revolutions.
What we don’t always think about when we think about these revolutions are the objects that inspired, came out of, and were circulated as they took place.
Ashli White, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Miami in Florida, joins us to investigate the “revolutionary things” that were created and circulated during the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. Listen in…

Perfumed Gloves, Ear Covers and Revolving Heels
By Sarah Murden 24 September 2019 in All Things Georgian
Those Georgians certainly had entrepreneurial spirit, and  I came across such an example of this some time ago in an article I wrote about the things that every respectable woman should own. In 1794, this gentleman, a Mr Nosworthy,  advertised the wares that he sold in his store on Queen Street, Norwich. At that stage his was simply one of many similar adverts I plucked from the newspapers as he sold the unusual item referred to as perfumed gloves.
It wasn’t until later that I found myself drawn back to him to take a closer look at exactly who he was, and guess what, he was the gift that kept on giving.
James was born around 1762 and married his wife Martha Slack, in 1783. They bought a shop in Norwich where they sold a whole variety of goods with the added bonus of Martha being a ladies hairdresser. Read more… 

Constitutions and the Rule of Law: Ten Voices from America’s Founding Period
by Jett Conner 1 August 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
The idea that no one is above the law is a long-held and repeated precept of American constitutionalism. Its roots go back to the philosophical and historical foundations of western political thought. Holding a prominent place in this history is the thirteenth-century English Magna Carta. Although it does not explicitly use the phrase, the document—a 1297 copy of which is on display in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C.—is often cited for codifying limits to a king’s exercise of powers. As the following ten quotes show, Americans were keenly aware of the principle and the necessity of enshrining it in republican charters. Original spelling and grammar as cited has been retained.

1. John Adams

There is no good government but what is Republican . . . the very definition of a Republic, is an Empire of Laws, and not of men.”

Read nine more…

Bay of Quinte Branch: New Additions to the Loyal Americans Hall of Honour
The Legacy of Loyal Americans: Hall of Honour was created in 2003 by the Bay of Quinte Branch. It has the following purpose: to identify and celebrate those descendants of the United Empire Loyalists who have made significant achievements, either locally, nationally or internationally.
The two most recent honoured inductees are

  • KERR, George Fraser, VC, MC, MM, UE, (1896-1929) World War 1 Military Hero
  • ORSER, Brian Ernest, OC, UE (1961-) World Famous Figure Skating Champion

At Loyal Americans Hall of Honour, read about their accomplishments which earned them this honour. and discover their Loyalist ancestors.

UELAC Honours and Recognition
The United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada has relied on the support of a vast community of members, historians and other organizations to secure its vision:
To enrich the lives of Canadians through fostering public awareness of our national history, and, in particular, of the United Empire Loyalists and their contributions to Canada, while also celebrating their memory and perpetuating their heritage as an integral part of the Canadian identity.
So much has been achieved by volunteers during the past hundreds years, not in the pursuit of recognition but for the greater gain of our organization. In return, from time to time, UELAC has sought to express its appreciation to those who have served above and beyond to secure the Loyalist epoch in our country’s history. The purpose of this section will be to acknowledge the varied forms of gratitude expressed over the years.
Explore the various ways that contributors have been recognized and who has been so honoured at UELAC Honours and Recognition.

Bourlamaque: Quebec’s living national historic site
By Olivier Ballou 19 July 2024 in Canadian Geographic
The not-so-simple history of a former mining town in the Abitibi gold belt
As a teenager in Val-d’Or, Que., in the 1990s, I was poking around the woods when I discovered an overgrown tennis court. I felt like an explorer happening upon an Incan ruin. Long abandoned to the elements, the court sat behind a European-style mansion that had once belonged to the boss of the first mining company in the prolific Abitibi gold belt that stretches northeast from Wawa, Ont., to Chibougamau, Que. I had seen enough. I visualized the lifestyle of the former residents of this house compared with that of the mineworkers from the neighbouring village of Bourlamaque. It looked to me like a classic example of the story of old Quebec: the anglo boss enjoying summers on his estate bankrolled by the French-Canadian proles in their tiny, squalid log homes.
But as that teenager grew up, and wisdom taught me that things are rarely black and white, I learned that Bourlamaque’s story wasn’t so simple. Read more…

Events Upcoming

Abegweit Branch: Loyalist Freemasonry in Charlottetown Thurs 8 Aug 5:30

A free public lecture by Dr. Bonnie Huskins, Adjunct Professor and Loyalist Studies Coordinator at University of New Brunswick.
Title: “Reflections of Loyalist Freemasonry, St. John’s Lodge No. 26, Charlottetown, PEI”
At the Rotary Auditorium, Charlottetown Library. More details and registration…

American Revolution Institute. Revolutionary War in the South Thurs 8 Aug.6:30

Author’s Talk—This Fierce People: The Untold Story of America’s Revolutionary War in the South.
Following the Franco-American alliance of 1778, the outstretched British forces in North America embarked on a southern campaign to muster Loyalist support and attempt to finally subdue the American rebellion. This new strategy shifted the central theater of operations to the southern states. With a divided population and challenging physical landscapes, the fighting that occurred in the South resulted in some of the fiercest battles of the war.
Alan Pell Crawford is a historian, journalist and the author of several acclaimed books. A former U.S. Senate speechwriter, congressional press secretary and magazine editor, he has reviewed books on U.S. history, politics and culture for the Wall Street Journal since 1993.
More and registration…

Black Loyalist Heritage Centre: Academic Conference of Knowledge Sat. 10 August

The schedule is set for the Black Loyalist Academic Conference of Knowledge on August 10 at the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre. If you are interested in the latest research and public history concerning the Black Loyalists and/or looking to connect with fellow travelers at ground zero of the Black Loyalist diaspora; Beautiful Birchtown, this is an event for you. Please review the event schedule
Please if you intend to participate, register to help manage logistics. Stay tuned for further updates.
Register here.

Grand River Branch: “The Fugitive Slave Chapel” Fanshaw Sun 11 Aug 1:30

Speaker Heather Rennalls will be speaking in the Fugitive Slave Chapel; the public may be present as well.
Heather is a local historian with a passion for the rich history of Oxford County. She is regular speaker and advocate to raise awareness of Black history in Oxford County. She is well known for her exhibit, ‘Almost Forgotten: Black History in Oxford County’.
Fanshawe Pioneer Village, located inside Fanshawe Conservation Area, enter at 1424 Clarke Road. (Veterans Memorial Parkway & Clarke Road, London, Ontario.) Entrance to Pioneer village is $10.00 for seniors, $12.00 for adults.
Lunch if interested at 11:30 at Jame’s Place for brunch, 1055 Clarke Road, 10 minutes form the Pioneer Village.

America’s History LLC Bus Trip –  Forts, Raids, Battles and Mayhem: The Schoharie Valley, 1776 to 1780 – September 7, 2024, day bus trip

Many contributing factors made living on the western edge of Albany County, near the frontier, a very dangerous place during the war. Events here are indelibly linked to the people and events of the Mohawk Valley, as well as New York State and beyond. What happened in the Schoharie Valley region was part of a particularly brutal civil war that erupted on New York’s frontier.
Many of the opposing participants knew each other, as German, Dutch, and Mohawk friends, neighbors, and family members who chose sides and suffered often tragic consequences.
Along with a discussion of the violent history of the war in this region, there will be a rich narrative about the people who it impacted, their backgrounds, and what they had built and lost. This included the resident Mohawk community known as Wilden der Hoeck that was forever impacted. Read more and registration…

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Good morning from Fort Anne National Historic Site in Annapolis Royal,  Nova Scotia  Brian McConnell UE
  • Townsends, and “anything food”
    • Salt Pork Stew – Campfire Survival Food (9 min)
      The Voyageurs were travel hardened men. They were the Long-Haul Truckers of their time period, transporting goods over of an area of 1,000 miles by boat and canoe. This fries pea and salt pork stew is a food that fueled their travels for nearly 150 years.
  • We think about cheesecake as a modern dish garnished with chocolate or fruit, but it is a dish that appears in several 18th-century cookbooks. This one, from Martha Washington’s “Booke of Cookery,” calls for currants, rosewater, clove, mace and nutmeg.
  • This week in History 
    • 27 July 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing “an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men.”  image
    • 29 Jul 1775 Philadelphia, PA Continental Congress established a redemption plan for its printed currency, mandating colonies assume responsibility for their share of payments. Also established Chaplain & Judge Advocate Departments of the Continental Army. image
    • 31 July 1775, Congress approved a resolution rebuking Prime Minister Lord North’s “conciliatory resolution” of February 20 in the House of Commons, proposing that any colony providing support for the British pay no taxes or duties except those necessary to regulate commerce image
    • 31 July 1775 Mass. Militia under Maj Benjamin Tupper attacked Nantasket Point a 2nd time. They kill 7 British marines, wound 5, and take 33 PWs. The rebels lost 2 KIA & 1 WIA.  image
    • 28 Jul 1776 Horn’s Hook, NY. Col Paul Dudley Sargent with the 16th Continental Regt & Col Israel Hutchinson with his 27th Continental Regt, both from MA, arrive just as British ships sail up. image
    • 2 Aug 1776 Phila, PA, 2nd Continental Congress reps began signing the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence. 55 members sign. The President of the 2nd Continental Congress, John Hancock, was the only signer who signed it on July 4th.  image
    • 27 Jul 1777 Ft Edward, NY. Despite British promises, Loyalists would be protected from their Iroquois allies. Legend holds that Jane McCrea (fiancée’ to a Loyalist) was taken during a raid on nearby farms, killed & scalped. This helped rally militias.  image
    • 27 Jul 1777 Philadelphia, PA   Marquis de Lafayette arrived in the American capital. He would be commissioned as a Major General of the Continental Army just a few days later.  image
    • 31 July 1777, 19-year-old French aristocrat Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, accepted a commission as a major-general in the Continental Army without pay. Lafayette was the scion of one of the oldest French noble families image
    • 2 Aug 1777 Lt Col Barry St Leger’s force of Loyalists and Iroquois besiege Fort Stanwix in NY’s Mohawk Valley. American commander Peter Gansevoort rejects St Leger’s demand to surrender, noting a lack of artillery. His 500 men of 3rd NY Regt hunker down. image
    • 27 Jul 1778 Battle of Ushant. British fleet vs French fleet. 30 British ships & 29 French ships met 100 hundred miles west of the NW tip of France. Result indecisive but British suffer 407 KIA & 789 WIA vs French 126 KIA & 413 WIA.  image
    • 29 Jul 1778, French Vice-Admiral Count d’Estaing establishes contact with the Continental Army, waiting for his help to retake RI. D’Estaing arrived off Point Judith and immediately met with Generals Greene and Lafayette to develop their plan of attack. image
    • 26 Jul 1779 Nautilus Island, Penobscot, MA (today’s ME) Capt John Welsh leads 150 Continental & Mass. Marines in a landing and assault on British positions, seizing 4 guns. Col Paul Revere then positions a battery of heavy artillery on the site. image
    • 28 Jul 1779 The tomahawk clears out the Wyoming Valley, PA, when 300 Seneca under Chief Hiokatoo & 100 British soldiers capture Ft Freeland’s 80 defenders (many women & children) after fierce resistance. Senecas seize combatants & disperse a relief party. image  
    • 30 July 1778 Congress resolved “it is the duty of all persons in the service of the US to report fraud, misconduct or misdemeanors committed by officers or persons in the service ….” In response to misconduct by commander of the  Navy, Ezek Hopkins. image
    • 28 Jul 1779 The Penobscot Expedition landed amphibious assault in the morning, under cover of naval fire. 200 Militia & 200 Marines charged up the bluff – stopping short of the British fort. The American casualties: 104 (just over 1/4 of the troops). image
    • 30 July 1780 A 600-man militia force under Col Isaac Shelby, Elijah Clarke & Charles McDowell convinces Col Patrick Moore & his Loyalist garrison at Thickety Fort, SC to capitulate without a battle. They capture 93 Loyalists.  image
    • 1-2 Aug 1780 Settlements in New York’s Mohawk Valley were raided by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant. who killed 16 settlers and burnt homes & other buildings, killing or driving off over 300 cattle. He avoided military forts but wreaked havoc on the populace. image
    • 1 Aug 1781 Yorktown, VA British Gen Charles Earl Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, on the York River. The British general was planning to use this port as his base for resupply by the mighty British Navy, as he continued his Virginia campaign. image
    • 29 Jul 1782 British Captain Charles Asgill’s death sentence is commuted. He’s released when his mother petitions the French, who appeal to Gen Washington. Asgill’s execution was to be a reprisal for Loyalists killing an American prisoner  image
  • Clothing and Related:

  • Miscellaneous
    • Poor person’s gold: straw. Trade sample books for lace and borders made with horsehair and gold straw. Gorgeous! Makers unknown, 19th c. Museum for Saxon Folk Arts, Dresden.
    • Oil sketch of English maid, model, dancer and actress Emma, Lady Hamilton, as Miranda from the Tempest, by George Romney, between circa 1785 and circa 1786
    • Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück used female forced labor for textile and clothing manufacturing, including sock-knitting for the Wehrmacht. Some women knitted mistakes into the heels, making them uncomfortable or painful to wear. Such a great example of textile as resistance.
    • Early printers would make miniature books as a practical challenge to showcase their skills. Apprentices also trained by creating mini books, based on the theory that it would improve their precision and care when printing full-sized volumes.

 

Published by the UELAC
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