In this issue:

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A big shout-out to Stephen Davidson UE. The following article is the 900th that Stephen has researched and written for publication in Loyalist Trails.
On behalf of the readership, thank you.  I know I have read every article and learned a great deal.  …Doug

Stephen notes:
This summer, it will be 50 years since I first encountered the Book of Negroes within the microfilm collection of the Archives of the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, New Brunswick. I was entering my senior year at Acadia University, and I would soon be writing a thesis as part of my “honours in history” program. I knew that I wanted to do “something” about Black Loyalist history. I actually began writing out the entries of the Book of Negroes from the microfilm during my lunch hour(!), thinking it would be important data for my thesis. In the end, that thesis was my first work of loyalist history and launched my ongoing interest in Black Loyalists in particular.
So with a 50th anniversary and a 900th article about to be produced, I thought I would use a transcript of a Birchtown school student list as the basis of a two-part series to celebrate both landmarks in my loyalist research “career”.

Unpacking a Black Loyalist School Register: Part One of Two
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Black Loyalist historians continue to discover new primary sources that shed light on this important chapter in Canada’s history. Currently, Neal Cody is transcribing documents related to the Black Loyalist school in Birchtown, Nova Scotia that are in the archives of the Associates of Dr. Bray.  Although he is only in the early stages of his work, this historian has kindly shared a list of students that was compiled on June 28, 1790.
A list by itself may not seem to hold a great deal of significant data, but when this roll of students is compared to the Book of Negroes ledger that was created in 1783, the fragmentary lists of the Black Loyalists who sailed for Sierra Leone in 1792, and the early stories of settlement in Freetown, some interesting aspects of Black Canadian history emerge.
The process of “unpacking” the list of Birchtown’s students begins with noting the names of the only two adults on the list. The teacher is identified as Stephen Blucke. The former commander of the Black Brigade during the American Revolution, Blucke became the head of the Black militia for the Shelburne area and was recognized as the leader of the Black Loyalists in both Shelburne and Birchtown. He and his wife Margaret worshiped at Shelburne’s Anglican Christ Church, and had the largest house in Birchtown.
The Bluckes once entertained royalty in their home. While visiting Nova Scotia in 1788, Prince William Henry (the future King William IV) sailed to Birchtown and dined with Stephen and Margaret Blucke. Given that Blucke’s regiment had served with the Queen’s Rangers in protecting New York City, it may be that His Royal Highness first met the Black Loyalist during the prince’s visit to the city in 1781.
The only physical description that we have of Blucke portrays him as wearing a cocked hat, wig, and ruffled shirts, carrying a walking stick, and using snuff. Whether he was so well attired when he stood before his students is not recorded.
Blucke was 33 years old when he became the schoolteacher for Birchtown’s children. Initially, he only had the Bible as a textbook for reading and spelling, and the Methodist Meeting Chapel to serve as his schoolhouse. Sponsored by the Associates of Dr. Bray, an English philanthropic organization, the school opened in 1785 – just two years after Black Loyalists established Birchtown. Given that Blucke was born free to a Black mother and white father in Barbados, he would have had an accent that was different from that of his students – most of whom had parents once enslaved in Virginia.
The other adult included in the list of Birchtown’s students would also have had a noticeable accent.  The Rev. John Hamilton Rowland emigrated from Wales to the American colonies in 1768. Within 6 years’ time, he had settled in St. Brides, Virginia and married the daughter of a local Loyalist.
Rowland kept his own political views hidden until April 1776 when a rebel committee finally summoned him, demanding that he take an oath of allegiance. As soon as Rowland refused to take the oath, Virginia’s patriots declared the clergyman an enemy of the state, deprived him of his living, and ordered him to either leave the country or go to a remote part of the colony. Rowland chose to go to New York, the headquarters for the British forces in the Thirteen Colonies. There, he was made the chaplain of the Second Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers in January 1778.
Thirty months later, Rowland’s regiment received orders to go to Lloyd’s Neck on Long Island. At the end of the war, the loyalist minister’s family joined the evacuation to Port Roseway (Shelburne), the largest loyalist refugee settlement in Nova Scotia. Rowland eventually became the rector of St. Patrick’s Church.
In 1786, Rowland visited Halifax to stand before the board established by Britain to compensate loyalists for their wartime losses. Besides the property that he lost in Virginia, he also had most of his furniture, bedding, clothing, and household goods stolen by Patriots.
Included in his long list of worldly goods was a “Negro girl” that he valued at £40. Rebels kidnapped the young woman during a trip from New York City to Lloyd’s Neck. Four years later, in a strange juxtaposition,  the Rev. Rowland, a former slave owner, was the acting inspector of Birchtown’s school. The loyalist rector met with students who would not have been much younger than the girl he once owned as a slave.
Having identified the adults mentioned in the list of students, the next task in unpacking this primary source is to see what statistics lie within it. On June 28, 1790, the Rev. Rowland met children whose parents had arrived in Nova Scotia seven years earlier, meaning that 31 of the 44 elementary students had been born in Nova Scotia. The 13 older students would have very few –if any– memories of their families’ two-week sea voyage to freedom.
There were 27 girls ranging in age from 5 to 11, and 17 boys ranging in age from 5 to 10.  The lower number of boys may indicate that they left school earlier to help support their families or to work alongside their fathers. The lack of any students above the age of 11 suggests that older children were part of the local workforce.
By 1790, the students had textbooks other than Blucke’s Bible. The Associates of Dr. Bray had provided spelling books, the Anglican psalter, a sewing guide, and something referred to as “First Book” (presumably a basic reader). The total cost for these textbooks for the year came to just over £26. The inspector’s report also noted that the school had spent just over £1 on fuel that was consumed from September 29th to March 25th   By the end of his inspection, Rowland found that the school “appeared well conducted and the children improved.”
This must have been heartening to Stephen Blucke. However, within a year’s time life in Birchtown – and in its school—would forever be changed. In the fall of 1791, word reached the Black Loyalist community that the British government was prepared to send anyone so inclined to Sierra Leone to found a free, Christian colony. So many of the town’s settlers opted to sail for West Africa that Blucke saw his student numbers dwindle to just fourteen, forcing him to close Birchtown’s first school.
Records of the era allow us to discover some of the students who joined the exodus to Sierra Leone, while the fate of other children is lost to history.  Despite discrepancies in the spelling of names and the ages of children, some of Birchtown’s students can have their stories fleshed out beyond merely being names on a school register.  Here is just one example:
Mary Anderson (age 8) may have been the daughter of Isaac Anderson, a man who came to Nova Scotia with his wife Sarah on the Baker & Atlee in April of 1783. Anderson had been born in Angola before becoming enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina. At various times he had been a carpenter, a farmer, and a soldier. The Anderson family migrated to Sierra Leone in 1792. Eight years after arriving in Freetown, Isaac Anderson helped to lead the unsuccessful rebellion of 1800. He was later hanged for treason. If she were still alive at the time of her father’s execution, Mary Anderson would have been 18 years old.
Learn more about the children who attended Birchtown’s school in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Thomas Jefferson Summarizes his Views
by Jude M. Pfister 27 August 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
By an accident of birth Thomas Jefferson (1742-1826) entered Virginia planter society and politics in 1769 when he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. By an application of his fortuitous talents, he became a political philosopher when America most needed one. Jefferson’s A Summary View of the Rights of British America (July 1774, two years before the Declaration of Independence) became the literary formulation upon which the founders went to war. Not the “ink war” that the colonies experienced through a sea of argumentative pamphlets in the decade prior to the Summary View, but actual life and death war.
In 1774, Jefferson seemed an unlikely candidate for drafting a writing upon which to launch a war. Indeed, his Summary View, much like John Dickinson’s Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, never advocated violent revolt. Rather, like Dickinson, Jefferson’s Summary View sought to present the American debate with Britain from the perspective of history.
The Summary View (not a title given to the work by Jefferson) was originally written as a series of talking points for his fellow Virginians attending the First Continental Congress. The leader of the Virginia delegation, Peyton Randolph, took it upon himself with his fellow Virginia delegates to get Jefferson’s notes published under the title Summary View. It was printed as a pamphlet in September 1774 by Clementina Rind in Williamsburg shortly before her death. Jefferson, having been taken ill prior to the start of the congress in Philadelphia, ensured copies of his essay reached Randolph.
As Jefferson recollected, he saw his essay as a work of a free man who had his freedom naturally, not by the gift of a sovereign. Read more…

The Westmoreland Rangers and “The Suffering Fruntears”
by Robert Guy 29 August 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
Warfare during the American Revolution could be brutal; this brutality took on entirely new dimensions in the frontier, and could be devastating, unrelenting, and all-pervading. Threats came in many forms—isolation, starvation, exposure; labor took countless forms as well, demanding never-ending toil and dogged perseverance. Like many whose charge was to defend America’s back door, the men and women from Pennsylvania’s westernmost county of Old Westmoreland were called to duty well before war broke out in Boston, and remained on duty long after the British surrendered at Yorktown.
In 2022, the Daughters of the American Revolution memorialized a handful of these resilient defenders of the American frontier, placing a monument at the Poke Run Presbyterian Church. Most distinct about this memorial is that it features Mary Erwin Lochry Guthrie, the wife of Archibald Lochry, a captain of the Westmoreland Rangers, and one of the most prominent officers killed at the end of the American Revolution. Poke Run, located east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is just fourteen miles north of Hannastown, which the Erwin’s considered home in the years prior to the War for Independence.
Payment of Pennsylvania’s Supply Tax to support the war effort qualified Mary as worthy of recognition in her own right, but a closer look at the events across the back country places the service of each one of these men and women in a much richer hue. Mary Erwin, from their beginning, was at the heart of the Westmoreland Rangers, and like so many wives and daughters within the frontier communities, supported their infrastructure and defense in every way possible. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: New York – A Soldier’s Life January 1781
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

January 1781: At New York (page 91)

Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fifth Year, 1781
IN THE MONTH OF JANUARY [1781]
1781-1 January.  A  six-thousand-man  corps  of  English  sailed  to New  Virginia  under  the command  of  General  [William]  Phillips  and  General  Arnold.  At  Portsmouth  they  went  on land and destroyed everything.
2 January. In the night a large American flatboat, on which were four 6-pound cannon and forty  men,  passed  Sandy  Hook  and  ventured  into  New  York  Harbor.  The  purpose  of  these bold measures was to kidnap the commander-in-chief, General Clinton, from his quarters, as his home lay all by itself on the shore of the North River. They already had slipped very close to the quarters, having gone unnoticed through all the ships that were there, under an English flag that they had raised. However, the Scottish sentinel then standing near Clinton’s quarters discovered them, sounded the alarm, and fortunately, they were taken captive.
From  this  time  on  the  new  uniforms  were  worn  and  we  went  on  watch  in  the  city  with combed and powdered hair.
6 January. Sir Henry Clinton left New York with a corps of two thousand men, consisting of English Grenadiers and Light Infantry, and Hessian Grenadiers, to pick up a large party of rebels on Staten Island. These had said, through a flag of truce, that they no longer desired to fight for their states, but voluntarily wished to join the English if they could only be picked up.  They  were  near  Amboy,  eight  hundred  men  strong,  and  had  six  cannon  with  them  in  a secure defensive position. This expedition, however, returned without accomplishing its task, because the rebels opened fire as soon as they saw the troops sent by Clinton. Commencing today, on the orders of General Clinton, all watches in the city are to be relieved every hour, and  patrols  made  every  half  hour  during  the  day  as  well  as  at  night.  The  reserve  of  all regiments has to remain dressed and conduct patrols throughout the night, because an enemy attack is anticipated.
9 January.  Punishment  was  conducted  by  our  regiment.  Two  privates,  [Konrad]  Dressel and [Johann Alexander] Bunzmann, both of Eyb’s Company, had to run the gauntlet because they had taken a tub of butter from a storehouse.
10 January.  The  Pennsylvania  Line  quit  the  [American]  army  because  they  had  received poor rations  for a long time and  had never been paid. Their resistance was overcome  by  the prudent intercession of General Washington, and the troops again returned to the army.
12 January.  Grenadier  [Adam]  Neumann,  of  Molitor’s  Company,  died  in  the  regimental hospital at New York.
13 January. The rebel  frigate Washington, twenty-four guns and a crew of 184 men, was brought  in  after  having  been  captured.  It  had  been  taken  in  Chesapeake  Bay.  General Washington’s portrait had been painted on it.
16 January.  The  two  brothers  [Wilhelm  and  Johann  Wilhelm]  Braun  of  the  Ansbach Regiment,  who  had  deserted  to  the  rebels  and  taken  duty  on  a  ship,  returned  and  have voluntarily surrendered themselves  in response  to the  general  pardon  issued  by  General  von Knyphausen. Each received a gift of  one  guinea  from  General  Clinton,  and  they  were  again enrolled in their companies. They said that artillery servant [Kilian] H‡fner, who had deserted from  us  during  the  last  campaign  near  Philipse’s  Point,  had  taken  service  with  the  French Dragoons.
17 January.  The  English  commissary  mustered  our  regiment.  News  of  General  Arnold came to the effect that he had arrived fortunately in New Virginia with forty ships and that he had settled at Williamsburg. Once again, sixteen hundred men of the Pennsylvania troops are reportedly in rebellion. In England all merchants and gentlemen have the permission of King and  Parliament  to  act  against  Spain,  and  in  America  all  conquered  and  captured  booty  is guaranteed  to  them.  They  may  attack  the  rich  province  of  New  Mexico,  which  belongs  to Spain, where there is very much gold. Many have already  volunteered to sail with this  fleet, and already thirty privateers have been fitted out by the London merchants at their own costs.
(to be continued)

Book and Program: The Battle of Ridgefield…
A New Book by Keith Marshall Jones III
    THE BATTLE OF RIDGEFIELD, Benedict Arnold, the Patriot Militia and the Surprising 1777 Battle that Galvanized Revolutionary Connecticut, “shows the action was a more complex and significant Revolutionary moment than previously realized,” according to Dr. Woodward. The book integrates findings from a new generation of historians, with the Ridgefield Historical Society’s National Park Service 2022 Ridgefield Battlefield Protection Program Phase I Study and a digital trove of never-before-published archival primary source material, to reveal that:

  • Royal Governor of New York William Tryon had good reason to expect that Southwestern Connecticut loyalists might rise-up if he marched an army inland to destroy Danbury’s Continental supply depot.
  • General George Washington was warned twice in advance of Tryon’s potential incursion and would not, or could not, act.
  • The bloody, day-long running Ridgefield battle involved more Redcoats than at Lexington and Concord, or in Washington’s startling victories at Trenton and Princeton. Combined casualties and missing – up to 120 men – were higher than previously thought.
  • American militia Major General David Wooster’s son Thomas – contrary to several prominent historians – was not killed alongside his father at Ridgefield; he was not even there!
  • Only about half the Fairfield County militia turned out, but, together with nine unsung New York militia companies, it was enough to quash Tryon’s loyalist vision and chase his British army from Connecticut.
  • Though a clear British victory, Ridgefield’s consequences – the ascendance of Benedict Arnold, freeing up local militia units to participate at Saratoga, and tightened screw on Connecticut loyalists – created conditions that helped assure Britain would lose the war.

NOTE: Wednesday, September 18 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm  The Ridgefield Historical Society is pleased to present Keith Marshall Jones III’s new book, THE BATTLE OF RIDGEFIELD: Benedict Arnold, the Patriot Militia, and the Surprising 1777 Battle that Galvanized Revolutionary Connecticut, which Connecticut State Historian Emeritus Dr. Walter Woodward calls “the definitive account of the Battle of Ridgefield for many years to come.”
Mr. Jones will share insights on the Battle of Ridgefield in a program on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Church North Hall, 351 Main Street. Admission to the presentation is free, but a ticket is required for entry. Book sales benefit the Ridgefield Historical Society.  Read more…

Ken MacCallum notes
Mr. Jones now claims that a larger portion of the Westchester County Militia was present in Ridgefield than he claimed in his earlier 2002 book – probably on the basis of a misindexed muster roll I found two years ago with 80 men form South Salem  (adjoining R7udgefield and just over the New York state line) who were present.  I am still looking for evidence that my 5x-greatgrandfarher Jacob Van Wart was there, as about 10 men from his company in the 3rd Regiment of Westchester County Militia were present.

Advertised on 30 August 1774: “the present Taste in London”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

30 Aug 1774

“He has had the Opportunity of seeing the present Taste in London, as it is now executed.”

William Lawrence, a “CARVER & GILDER,” offered his services to “the Ladies and Gentlemen” of Charleston in an advertisement in the August 30, 1774, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal.  He had a “Variety of LOOKING GLASS PLATE” that he could fit to “Pier, Gerandole, and Dressing Frames.”  Though those items may sound unfamiliar today, eighteenth-century consumers recognized each of those kinds of mirrors and understood their purposes.  As the Oxford English Dictionary explains, a pier glass was a “large mirror, originally one fitted in the space between two windows, or over a chimney piece.”  The frame often matched the design of the windows.  These large mirrors reflected light to better illuminate rooms.  That was also the purpose of girandoles fitted with mirrors.  Those branched supports held candles, the mirrors multiplying the light.  Finally, dressing glasses sat on dressing tables or were hung above them, allowing users to view themselves as they prepared their hair and jewelry.
Although practical, each of these items had the potential to be elegant, testifying to the good taste of the men and women who displayed them in their homes.  Read more…

Book: The Two Hendricks: Unraveling a Mohawk Mystery
By Eric Hinderaker, Professor of History at the University of Utah. Harvard University Press, 368 pages
In September 1755, the most famous Indian in the world―a Mohawk leader known in English as King Hendrick―died in the Battle of Lake George. He was fighting the French in defense of British claims to North America, and his death marked the end of an era in Anglo-Iroquois relations. He was not the first Mohawk of that name to attract international attention. Half a century earlier, another Hendrick worked with powerful leaders in the frontier town of Albany. He cemented his transatlantic fame when he traveled to London as one of the “four Indian kings.”
Until recently the two Hendricks were thought to be the same person. Eric Hinderaker sets the record straight, reconstructing the lives of these two men in a compelling narrative that reveals the complexities of the Anglo-Iroquois alliance, a cornerstone of Britain’s imperial vision. The two Hendricks became famous because, as Mohawks, they were members of the Iroquois confederacy and colonial leaders believed the Iroquois held the balance of power in the Northeast. As warriors, the two Hendricks aided Britain against the French; as Christians, they adopted the trappings of civility; as sachems, they stressed cooperation rather than bloody confrontation with New York and Great Britain.
Yet the alliance was never more than a mixed blessing for the two Hendricks and the Iroquois. Hinderaker offers a poignant personal story that restores the lost individuality of the two Hendricks while illuminating the tumultuous imperial struggle for North America.
“Hinderaker does marvelous detective work unwinding the two Hendricks from each other and weaving their stories back together again, but he goes beyond merely setting the record straight. He provides a deeply researched and sympathetic history of the Mohawks when they loomed large in American history. This book promises to stand as an enduring work of scholarship.”―Timothy J. Shannon, author of Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier
“Hinderaker does readers a great service by showing how profoundly native peoples shaped North American development in the colonial era. In this extraordinary double biography, he brings the two Hendricks to life, rendering Native American historical agency tangible and vivid. Combining first-rate scholarship and graceful prose, this is a splendid book.”―Fred Anderson, author of Crucible of War
“This beautifully written book brings to life the long-forgotten careers of two men whose lives epitomize the opportunities and dangers―and the strengths and limits―of Native Americans struggles in a world of contending global empires. Along the way, Hinderaker provides wonderful insights into both the nature of imperialism in the eighteenth century and the construction of historical memory down to the present day.”―Daniel K. Richter, author of Facing East from Indian Country and Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts
“Hinderaker’s finely tuned detective skills unravel a historical mystery, but that is only one of the many contributions of this excellent book, which uses the Mohawk story to provide stunning insights about early America. His mastery of the documentary record and eloquent narrative make this a must read for anyone interested in Native American and colonial American history.”―Peter C. Mancall, author of Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson
“In this dazzling work, Hinderaker recovers two Mohawk chiefs who became transatlantic celebrities in a time of imperial intrigue and violence. He vividly reveals the interplay of empire building, image making, and memory shaping as natives and colonists jockeyed for an edge. Ultimately, the American victors trapped the Indians within legends, but Hinderaker has now restored their rich humanity.”―Alan Taylor, author of Divided Ground
“Hinderaker utilizes creative and in-depth research to construct a biography of two Mohawk leaders whose actions were dictated not by British interests but by those of the Mohawks and other members of the Iroquois Confederacy during an era when the Iroquois were the linchpin between New France and Great Britain…Highly recommended as both a historical work and an outstanding example for historiographers in writing ethnohistory.”―John Burch, Library Journal.

Chests, Trunks and Bags during Naturalist Journeys
Fieldwork – The Linnaean WAY
By Viveka Hansen 27 August 2024 at ikfoundation.org
Setting out on a journey that would take several years required the methodical packing of personal belongings, both for daily life and for any eventuality that one was liable to encounter in various climates. The essential requirement for storage was a solid and watertight chest. These were mainly made of wood with a lid that could be locked to secure the valuable contents against dampness, direct sunlight, insects and theft. The practical aspects related to all sorts of luggage on lengthy travels varied depending on one’s economic means and mode of transport. Everything from the fundamental needs to a dandyish or a more comfortable lifestyle during travels may be seen and deciphered from journals, correspondence and other documents. This essay will look closer into this necessity from a global 18th century perspective via a wide selection of sources – starting with a uniquely well-preserved chest
The outside of a travel chest was sometimes completely covered with leather – often named as a trunk, but not consistently, giving some design uncertainty. Trunks could also be leather only, as yet a barrier against water. Iron, brass or other metallic fittings on the edges and corners were vital to protect the chest or trunk as they protected the contents during rough handling. Such models were often made wider at the bottom than at the top, which made them suitable for standing on the deck of a rolling ship without tipping over. Furthermore, the lid was flat so that it could be used for sitting or lying on. Read more…

Martin Van Butchell and his crowded marriage
By Sarah Murden 28 April 2021 in All Things Georgian
It is likely that Martin born in 1736 and was the son of John Butchell of Flanders origin, who was believed to have been tapestry maker to King George II. Quite how accurate any of that is remains unknown as to date, as I have found nothing to confirm it.
Martin it appears had no wish to join his father’s trade and inadvertently, due to a broken tooth, decided to become a dentist and studied under the celebrated Dr Hunter after whom The Hunterian Museum is named. It would seem that Martin had a natural talent for this kind of work and acquired many clients due to his skill.

Real or Artificial Teeth from one to an entire set, with superlative gold pivots or springs, also gums, sockets and palate formed, fitted, finished and fixed without drawing stumps, or causing pain.

He then began to expand his skills and proved that he was proficient in making trusses for people suffering from hernia’s, so much so that his skills were actively sought ought and his fame stretched as far as Holland, with an eminent Dutch physician travelling to London to be treated by him. In return, the physician taught Martin how to cure fistulas. Read more…

Religion and Race in Early America – Podcast
With Kathryn Gin Lum Late Augusdt 2024, Ben Franklin’s World
During our investigation of race and religion in early America, Kathryn reveals information about the religious landscape in Europe between the fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries; The ways Europeans and later Americans used Christian religions as justifications for colonizing the Americas and the peoples who lived there; And, details about how Europeans and later Americans used religion and ideas about the concept of the “heathen” to define and form categories of race and their national identities.
Kathryn us a Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. She’s the author of numerous articles and books. Listen in…

Beacons Through Time: Lighthouses safeguard our shores — and our history
Written by Nancy Payne, 19 July 2024 at Canada’s History
The lighthouses of centuries past probably never needed to be quite so beautiful. How fortunate it is that so many were built with elegance as well as practicality in mind. And how much more mundane our maritime landscapes would be without them. Where their modern equivalents are soulless beacons atop workaday steel skeletons, historical lighthouses evoke delight. These loveliest of landmarks often have a story to tell. Here are just a few.

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

    Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • To Kevin Wisener for information about:
    • Pvt. Thomas Reynolds from North Carolina served in several forces including  Lt Col John Moore’s North Carolina Militia at Camden, South Carolina (1780-81). He was a passenger on the Argo transport from St. Augustine to Chedabucto Bay, Nova Scotia in 1784. He received a land grant in Manchester Township and a town lot in Guysboroug, both in Sydney County, Nova Scotia and subsequently moved to Charlottetown PEI.

If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to  loyalist.trails@uelac.org All help is appreciated. …doug

Events Upcoming

Author’s Talk—Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History Tues 3 Sept 6:30

American Revolutionary Institute: Americans agree that their nation’s origins lie in the Revolution, but they have never agreed on what the Revolution meant. For nearly 250 years, politicians, political parties, social movements, and a diverse array of ordinary Americans have constantly reimagined the Revolution to fit the times and suit their own agendas. The meaning of the Revolution has never been fixed, how remembering the nation’s founding has sometimes done more to divide Americans than to unite them. More and registration…

Gov. Simcoe Branch: “Richard Lippincott UEL and the Denisons” Wed 4 Sept 7:30

    Presentation by James Arnett.
The Lippincott and Borden families were 4th generation descendants of English families who had immigrated to New England during the Great Puritan Migration of the 17th century. By the time of the outbreak of the American Revolution, they were Quakers living in New Jersey.
Despite his Quaker upbringing, Richard Lippincott – a farmer in Monmouth county – became a Loyalist serving under arms. As such, he became involved in action which became famous – or infamous – and led to the intervention of General George Washington himself.
The Denison family were well known UE in Toronto during the 19th century – how so?
The meeting is both in-person and on zoom. More details and registration… 

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…

American Revolution Institute: A Portrait of Andrew Wallace, the “Rescuer of Lafayette” at Brandywine Fri 13 Sept 12:30

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a portrait of Revolutionary War veteran Andrew Wallace, painted by John Neagle in 1831, and examines the validity of Wallace’s claims to have aided Lafayette on the battlefield after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. Registration…

London Branch: Plaquing Veterans’ Gravesites Sunday 15 Sept. 2:30

    The London & Western Ontario Branch UELAC will be plaquing the Old St. Thomas Church, as a ‘Loyalist Burial Site’ honouring two UELs, who along with six others resting in the churchyard, were combatants during the War of 1812-15. Each of the eight veteran combatants will have their gravesite honoured with a Govt of Canada War 1812-15 Combatant plaque, cut from Canadian Shield granite.
Trumpeters, a piper and uniformed War 1812 Re-enactors firing volleys will be honouring these combatants during the Act of Remembrance. Also in attendance will be representation from four current Canadian Forces Reserves Units which perpetuate the honours and legacy of the War of 1812 Royal Navy, Lincoln, Middlesex, and Norfolk Militia Regiments during this very moving commemoration. This service has been scheduled during the 200th anniversary of the Old St. Thomas Church. Many dignitaries are planning to attend.
See more (invitation flyer, photo of the Old St. Thomas Churchyard, map.)

America’s History: Bus Tour: Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Fri 20 Sept.

In the Footsteps of Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and John Brown: The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga – Friday September 20, 2024
Led by: Jim Rowe and Bruce Venter
Departure: Fort Ticonderoga parking lot
Tour Registration: $150.00
Registration and details…

Glengarry ON History: Lancaster Twp bus tour, Four dates Sept & Oct. Tickets now available

The Glengarry Pioneer Museum, Glengarry County Archives, and the Glengarry, Nor’Westers & Loyalist Museum have partnered for the third installment of the hugely successful historic “Glengarry Rambles” bus tour! LANCASTER TOWNSHIP.
Led by Allan J. MacDonald, County Archivist, registered attendees will get to explore what was once known as the Lake Township and will discover the location of  Elbow Bend and Church Hill. Highlights include one of Ontario’s eleven bicentennial farms; Glengarry’s poultry capital; the North Lancaster Races; the home of a Rhodes Scholar.
Four tour dates September 28, 29, October 5, 6, from North Lancaster, departing at 1:00pm.
Details and Tickets now on sale from Glengarry Pioneer Museum

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Carleton Street in Digby is named after Sir Guy Carleton,  Commander-in-Chief of  British forces from 1782 to the conclusion of the American Revolution. He  oversaw evacuation of Loyalists in 1783 from New York to Digby, Nova Scotia.
    Shelburne and Guysborough, two other towns in Nova Scotia settled by Loyalists, also have Carleton Streets.
  • On another research project I discovered this interesting Loyalist connection that leads back to Ireland. by Brian McConnell UE.
    By Deed dated 8 Sept. 1859 Gilbert T.  Ray conveyed lands to the Trustees of the Methodist church in Digby.   He was son of Robert Ray and wife  Rachel who arrived from New York with other Loyalists in 1784.   Before the start of the American Revolution Robert Ray had moved from Co. Donegal, Ireland to New York where he established a mercantile business.
    He died in Digby about 1813,  his wife Rachel died while visiting New York in 1839 and son Gilbert who moved to New Brunswick was buried in Fernhill Cemetery at Saint John where can be seen this impressive gravestone.
    His inscription reads:
    GILBERT T. RAY
    Died
    Oct. 23rd
    Aged 64 years
    He was a good man and full of the holy ghost
    Acts XI Ch 24 Vs
    According to his obituary he moved to Saint John from Digby in 1819 and for a long time was Superintendent of the Methodist Sabbath School in the Saint John North circuit.
  • Townsends, and “anything food”
    • A Pudding For Fasting Day  (10 min)
    • Peaches don’t look aggressive with their fuzzy exteriors. However, after Spanish colonists introduced them to Florida in the mid-1500s, the fruit spread rapidly northward.
      By the time the English sailed over in 1607, they were so profuse they were assumed to be native. By 1700, English explorer and naturalist John Lawson wrote, “We are forced to take a great deal of Care to weed them out, otherwise they make our Land a Wilderness of Peach-Trees.”
      Today, we enjoy them off the tree, in a pie, over ice cream and so on. You can find multiple recipes in Mary Randolph’s 1824 “The Virginia Housewife; Or, Methodical Cook.”
  • This week in History 
    • 29 Aug 1756, Prussia’s Frederick the Great attacks Saxony setting off the Seven Years War in Europe. The conflict, which is already being fought by France and Britain in North America, sees fighting spread to European colonies in Africa, India and the Far East — a world war. image
    • 26 Aug 1765 Boston, MA The home of Lt Gov Thomas Hutchinson is torched by a mob protesting the Stamp Act, and the Sons of Liberty ransack the Vice-Admiralty Court, burning its tax records. image
    • 27 Aug 1769 New York City Merchants follow the example of their Boston counterparts & adopt a policy of non-importation of British goods as a protest against the Townshend Duties. They  determine to maintain non-importation until the duties are repealed. image
    • 24 Aug 1774, Salem held a town meeting to choose delegates to a county convention despite Gov. Thomas Gage forbidding such a meeting, detaining the town’s committee of correspondence, and even summoning troops: image
    • 30 Aug 1774, SUFFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS: Chief Justice Peter Oliver convenes the superior court, but every man called to either the grand or petit jury refuses to be sworn, on the grounds that Oliver has been impeached by the House of Representatives and not acquitted. image
    • 26 Aug 1775 Boston, MA Gen John Sullivan orders 1,200 men to build fortifications on Ploughed Hill in order to fire down on the harbor. 2 floating British batteries bombard the position before one is sunk by rebel guns. image
    • 28 Aug 1775 Ft Ticonderoga, NY Expedition to liberate Canada begins with Gen Richard Montgomery assembling 1,200 men and sails to Ile aux Noix on Lake Champlain.  Few Canadians rallied to the Patriot side. Poor supplies & a late start doomed the campaign. image
    • 28 Aug 1775 First USS Enterprise, a captured British sloop, embarks on an expedition into Canada; fails at Quebec City. image
    • 30 Aug 1775 Gen Phillip Schuyler approves Gen Richard Montgomery’s plan to invade Canada & moves north to join him with 500 reinforcements.  image
    • 30 Aug 1775 Stonington, CT. In response to the local militia repelling a Royal Navy foraging party, the HMS Rose bombards the town, killing 2 residents.  image
    • 24 Aug 1776, American Gen Charles Lee informs Congress Georgia was more valuable than suspected with natural resources & proximity to the West Indies, it must be out of enemy hands. Lee recommended the Continental Army send it additional reinforcements. image
    • 25 Aug 1776 political philosopher David Hume dies in Edinburgh, Scotland, Although Hume died when #AmRev was barely underway, his essay “Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth” influenced the ideas of the drafters of the federal Constitution in 1787. image
    • 26 Aug 1776, Washington ordered the dispersal of documents among the Hessians designed for the foreign (Hessian) troops to induce them to desert the British army. He hoped the numerous Germans fighting for the cause could also help get them to come over.  image
    • 26 Aug 1776 Long Island, NY Gen Washington moves over to LI to take command & reinforce Brooklyn Heights. But British Gen Wm. Howe learns from a Loyalist informant of a gap in the American defenses & orders a night march up King’s Hwy & the Jamaica Pass.  image
    • 27 August 1776 Gravesend, Long Island. From their camps along the beaches and fields of southwestern Long Island, British Major General Howe’s 30,000-man force of British regulars and Germans is coiled like a massive serpent, ready to strike at the feeble defenses thrown up by General George Washington’s 9,000 Continentals and militia. While the Royal Navy cut off Washington’s escape back to New York, Howe planned a pincer movement aimed at destroying the Americans and ending the war.
      The American main defense works along the heights of Brooklyn, but one-third of the defenders deployed forward into hasty works along the passes through the wooded ridgeline that ran along the American front. Howe would launch two columns of Hessians and regulars to pin the forward defenders while leading a large column on a flank attack.
      In the dark hours, just after midnight, the great serpent uncoiled as the Germans (mainly Hessians) and British regulars moved against the Americans guarding the passes. At the same time, Howe, along with generals Charles Cornwallis and Henry Clinton, led the balance of the force up the King’s Highway and worked their way through an undefended pass near Howard’s tavern.
      As the Americans took on the enemy in their front, Howe’s main body attacked the American rear. Surprised and outnumbered, American units fled to the main defense line. Several regiments of the Maryland and Delaware Line, led by General “Lord” Stirling, fought desperate rearguard actions but were overwhelmed. After this successful attack, Howe spent the next 48 hours before the American defense works as he prepared his artillery and regiments for a decisive attack. However,  a massive summer thunderstorm storm upset his plans.  The British warships blocking the American retreat scattered and sailed downriver. After a tense council of war on 29 August, Washington made a critical decision— he would load his men on rowboats under cover of night and abandon Long Island to the invaders. During the night, the tired and demoralized army crossed the East River to the Island of New York (Manhattan), where he would prepare another defense.  The successful night move frustrated Howe, his generals, and his army but helped refresh American morale.
      The Battle of Long Island, sometimes called the Battle of Brooklyn, was the first battle fought by the United States as a nation. It cost the Americans 300 dead, 650 wounded, and 1,100 captured. British and German losses were much less—63 dead, 314 wounded. Two American generals, John Sulivan and Lord Stirling, were taken captive, although later exchanged. image
    • 28 Aug 1776 Backed-up to East R. Washington orders more men to LI, including Col John Glover’s Regt from Marblehead, MA. He also had Gen Heath round up all boats & barges available. Small skirmishes were taking place in the outer defenses. Rain begins.  image
    • 29 Aug 1776 Gen Washington’s army retreats from Long Island in night fog. Fires burn to convince the British the rebels remained. Col the Marblehead men ferry the men & equipt. through the night. Some 9000 men escape under the noses of Gen Howe’s pickets.  image
    • 29 Aug 1776 Captain Abraham Whipple, commanding the 24-gun frigate Columbus, seized British merchant vessels off the coast of New England.  image
    • 24 Aug 1777 Gen Benedict Arnold writes to Gen Horatio Gates,: The garrison held off a superior force against all odds. British retreated from Ft Stanwix in great haste and abandoned their baggage. He dispatched Tuscarora and Oneida scouts after them.  image
    • 26 Aug 1777 General Charles Cornwallis’s troops marched toward Philadelphia as part of Howe’s push to capture the American Capital. image
    • 28 Aug 1777 To make up for the departure of Gen Dan Morgan’s riflemen, Gen Washington established the Light Infantry battalion – initially 100 hand-picked men from 6 brigades. The unit is assigned to Gen William Maxwell’s brigade. image
    • 25 Aug 1779 British Adm Marriot Arbuthnot pulls into New York harbor and relieves Adm John Byron as commander of the British fleet. Arbuthnot also brought transports carrying some 3K reinforcements for Gen Henry Clinton’s army. image
    • 29 Aug 1779, Battle of Chemung or Newtown (today Elmira, NY), at the southwestern border with PA, continental forces under Gen John Sullivan & Gen James Clinton defeat a combined force of Loyalists & Indians led by Capt Walter Butler & Chief Joseph Brant.  image
    • 30 Aug 1780 Gen Benedict Arnold agreed by letter to British Maj John Andre, to hand over his command of West Point on the Hudson River in NY. He agreed to Gen Henry Clinton’s offer: 20K pounds & rank of Brig Gen if he would hand over plans to West Point. image
    • 27 Aug 1781 Adm Samuel Hood arrives at Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay with 14 ships of the line, but finding no French fleet, he sails north to NYC to join Adm Thomas Graves and his main fleet.  image
    • 29 Aug 1782 HMS Royal George, a ship of the line anchored off Spithead, England, sinks. Over 900 were on board, including 300 women & 60 children. It was preparing to take a relief force with reinforcements for Gibraltar, under siege by French and Spanish. image
    • 24 August 1804 – Peggy Shippen (b. 1760) dies in London. The femme fatale from Philadelphia was at the center of an espionage triangle, connecting former beau and British spymaster Maj Andre with her husband, disgruntled American Gen Benedict Arnold.  image
  • Clothing and Related:

    • Alongside the silks, here are a few linens I’ve dyed this summer. From left, indigo leaf x2 (lighter in real life), meadowsweet x2, reed flower and willow leaf.
    • This summer I’ve been dyeing many metres of silk. These I’ll use plentifully in bag batches over the winter months – my intention is to hoard less than last winter. Combinations here have the common theme of home grown fresh indigo leaf.
    • make buttons the old fashioned way – including the Macclesfield button, (AKA the death’s head) and the Dorset button.
    • Mourning sampler c. 1815 for Hannah Smith and her grandson William Smith Humphreys, aged 11 months.
    • Woman’s leather boot for outdoor wear, European, 1780-95. Via The Met.
    • Fancy weavers, many of them recent emigrants from Ireland, Scotland, England, and Germany, introduced complex weave structures and loom technology to America early in the nineteenth century.

 

Published by the UELAC
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