In this issue:

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Recognizing our Past: Hamilton Monuments – Requesting Your Help
We in the Hamilton, Ontario area are asking for your support, whether you are local, or across the country. A video was created by the Landmarks and Monuments Review Committee – Honouring our Indigenous Roots. It focuses on three monuments, one being the Loyalist monument in Prince’s Square.
Please review the video. You will observe that the focus on our Loyalist Monument in the video is mainly on the content of the garden stake plaque rather than the Loyalist Monument itself. The plaque was placed in 2004 to honour the Loyalists and the Six Nations who fought together during some of the War of 1812 battles, most significantly the Battle of Stoney Creek, which is part of Hamilton today. This signage is completely separate from the Loyalist monument and yet most of the short amount of time taken in this video is spent at this memorial site.
The Loyalist monument itself was erected in 1929 by Stanley Mills, a prominent local businessman and a Loyalist descendant.It honours a number of our local Loyalist families.
As you may see in the video honouring individuals is not an Indigenous custom. They take offence at our custom, rather than giving it some respect, as we strive to respect various of their customs.
Please complete the second survey where there are responses for each monument. The response area gives an array of voting choices from adding signage to removal of the monument.
I suggest that we all point out that the War of 1812 garden stake should not be included in a discussion of the Loyalist monument as it is a separate, minor entity. The plaque was meant as a tribute to Loyalists, their descendants and Six Nations members who were both refugees from the U.S. after the Revolutionary War. The Mississauga individual’s complaint about their Nation not being included misses the point that the Mississauga’s were already in this area and thus not included. It is appropriate that they be honoured by a separate plaque or an entirely new 1812 plaque highlighting everyone’s contribution.
It should be pointed out that none of the large plaques that tell the history of the Loyalists are included in this video at all. They are the main part of the monument that was erected in 1929.
The brief video segment given round the discussion of the Loyalist monument is very brief and this is a very poor basis for possible landmark removal.
If you are out of the local area, I suggest you leave out your postal code.
Please act now as this second survey is up only until the end of October.

See the list of ten in-person educational sessions (5:30 – 7:30) that have been scheduled at different locations around Hamilton. The session on Thursday, October 3 at City Hall is a hybrid session which should allow you to participate online.
Thank you in advance for helping to preserve and respect our Heritage

…Loyally, Ruth Nicholson UE, Co-president Hamilton Branch UELAC

Past Articles for Reference:

Some American Dust in British Soil: Part Two of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE

[Editor: Note Happy 18th Anniversary to Stephen whose first article appeared in Loyalist Trails on September 24, 2006, “My Calamitous Situation: The Life of Polly Jarvis Dibblee“.]

Among the first Loyalists to seek refuge in Great Britain were the civilians and civil servants who fled Boston with the British troops in March 1776. They initially sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The poor Loyalists were forced to remain in the port city; the rich Loyalists and those with connections in high places were able to board ships for Britain in the summer.
While we do not know the names of all of those first refugees, the historian Lorenzo Sabine identified and described 33 civil servants and politicians who not only found sanctuary in Great Britain, but who also died there. Here are the stories of three of the more interesting loyal Americans who were ultimately buried in British graveyards.
In addition to having once been a member of New York’s executive council, William Axtell owned property on New York City’s Broadway as well as in the county of Flatbush. He was described as “the first man in wealth and importance there“, and was known to have invited rebel prisoners to dine with him. In 1778, Sir William Howe, the British commander in chief, made Axtell a colonel in a corps of Loyalists on Long Island.
The colours of this regiment were “consecrated” with great ceremony at Melrose Hall, Axtell’s Flatbush mansion, in 1783. His soldiers formed in a circle, and officers and men made a solemn oath to support the new standards; “a splendid dinner and a ball followed; and the ladies presented the officers who bore the colors, with a knot of blue and yellow ribbons.”
It was Axtell’s swan song. By November of that year, his estate was confiscated and the town house on Broadway had its furniture auctioned off by Patriots.
Having no children, he had made a niece his sole heir, but he would have nothing to do with her after she married a major in the Continental Army. Despite being disinherited, Axtell’s niece bought her uncle’s confiscated mansion when it was offered for sale at the end of the revolution.
In the years that followed, Axtell’s Melrose Hall in Flatbush gained a reputation for being haunted. The ghost of an Indigenous woman that Axtell had taken as his mistress was supposed to have accidentally starved to death in a secret room of the mansion. Her abrupt appearance was said to have led to Axtell’s death. It’s a quaint story, but Axtell did not die in North America. He found refuge in England, where he lived until 1795 on a colonel’s half pay. Axtell died at 75 while living at Beaumont Cottage, his home in England’s Surrey County.
When some old cellars under Axtell’s Flatbush mansion were opened in the 19th century, several skeletons were found with iron posts and chains nearby. It was believed that this is where Axtell may have incarcerated and punished some of his many slaves. Others speculated that the remains were those of loyalist officers who were “secreted about the hall” when Axtell lived there.
Daniel Leonard was a Harvard graduate, a member of the general court, an attorney, a mandamus council appointee, and a political writer. As early as 1774, Lenard submitted anonymous articles to newspapers denouncing the rebel agenda. A quarter of a century later, a prominent Patriot admitted that Leonard’s “papers were well written, abounded with wit, discovered good information, and were conducted with a subtlety of art and address wonderfully calculated to keep up the spirits of their party, to depress ours.”
Sabine summed Leonard up in these words: “He was a man of fortune. He had a passion for cards, and was fond of dress. He wore a broad gold lace round the rim of his hat; he had made his cloak glitter with laces still broader; he had set up his chariot and pair, and constantly travelled in it from Taunton to Boston. No other lawyer in all of Massachusetts, of whatever age, reputation, rank, or station, presumed to ride in a coach or a chariot.”
Expressing loyalist sentiments was dangerous to do in Massachusetts. When a mob fired bullets into his home, Leonard took refuge in Boston, and then England. Unlike many Loyalists who failed to be rewarded for their sacrificial commitment to the crown, Savage was made the chief justice of Bermuda, serving from 1782 to 1806. This allowed him to visit Massachusetts in 1799, and again in 1808. He died at London in June 1829, aged eighty-nine. His first wife was Anna White, of Taunton; his second, was Sarah Hammock, who died in 1806, aged sixty-five, on the passage from Bermuda to Providence, Rhode Island.
Thomas Oliver was another Massachusetts Loyalist who found sanctuary in England, never to return to his home. In 1774, he was appointed as the last royal lieutenant governor of the colony. Because he was made president of the Council of Massachusetts by the king rather than by election, “he became an object of popular resentment“.
In early September of 1774, three or four thousand people — a quarter of whom were “in arms”— surrounded Oliver’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Five people met Oliver at his front door and demanded that he resign from his position.
He later wrote, that the five “insisted on my signing a paper they had prepared for that purpose. I found I had been ensnared, and endeavoured to reason them out of such ungrateful behaviour. They gave such answers, that I found it was in vain to reason longer with them; I told them my first considerations were for my honour, the next for my life; that they might put me to death or destroy my property, but I would not submit. They began then to reason in their turn, urging the power of the people, and the danger of opposing them.”
The mob that had surrounded the Loyalist’s home demanded that Oliver sign the paper “with their arms in their hands, swearing they would have my blood if I refused.” In the end, he signed the resignation paper, but added an additional sentence: “My house at Cambridge being surrounded by four thousand people, in compliance with their commands, I sign my name, Thomas Oliver.”
Not everyone was happy with Oliver’s postscript, and he realized that he was no longer safe in Cambridge. He took refuge in Boston, which was then occupied by British forces. He left the city two years later, and by July of 1776 was living in London with his wife Elizabeth. At first they lived on Brompton Street, an area popular with other loyalist refugees. But life in the city was expensive, and so Oliver wrote to a friend that “some cheaper part of England must be the object of my inquiry.”
By February of 1782, he was in Birmingham. In a letter that Oliver wrote to order some snuff, he said, “I am much obliged to you for your care and trouble for an irritating powder for an American Refugee, and doubt not that it be of a more agreeable nature than the so many irritables we have all turned up our noses at for five or six years past.”
Thomas Oliver died at Bristol, England, November 29, 1815, aged 82. People remembered him as “a gentleman of great mildness of temper and politeness of manners“.
This series concludes in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Loyalist History Mini-Conference at Huron University, Friday October 11
UELAC Members are invited to a Loyalist History mini-conference to be held at Huron University in London, Ontario, on Friday October 11, from 1:00-4:00 EST. This will be a hybrid event, so UELAC members are invited to attend in-person or remotely via Zoom. Speakers include Tim Compeau, UELAC Honorary Fellow, and UELAC Scholarship recipients Graham Nickerson (UNB) and Erin Isaac (UWO). The keynote will be delivered by Harvey Amani Whitfield, the Centennial Carnegie Chair in the History of Slavery in Canada from Dalhousie University. More details, and information on specific room locations and online registration, will be provided on Loyalist Trails a little closer to the event. The Huron History Department hopes you will join us for an interesting afternoon exploring new Loyalist research.

The Case of New Ireland—Not Meant to Be
by Richard J. Werther 17 Sept 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
Americans made repeated unsuccessful attempts during the Revolution to capture Canada and incorporate it into the nascent United States. The British, meanwhile, attempted to incorporate additional territory into Canada. This territory, though not yet part of the United States, would eventually become so. As such, this effort also failed. If that weren’t enough, as with American attempts to take Canada, the British would also take one more run at it in the War of 1812, and like the Americans, they would again fail. Talk about parallel history!
The British project was eventually called New Ireland, and it involved the territory between Nova Scotia (New Scotland) and New England (the American Massachusetts and beyond). The land in question was situated in what is now eastern Maine. The biggest military contest for this land was called the Battle of Penobscot, taking place in 1779. This is one place where the parallels break down. Just as the Americans lost battles to obtain Canada, they also lost this one, blundering what at times appeared a winnable battle into a complete loss. Not a single patriot naval vessel engaged in this conflict made it back to Boston. Some were captured by the British, others sunk in the ensuing battle, and the rest were run ashore, abandoned, and set aflame.[1] To add insult to injury, the price tag for the defeat, underwritten by the State of Massachusetts, was around two million pounds, a prodigious sum for the day and one they would later try to recover from Congress (with partial success). And yet, despite Britain’s resounding military victory, the New Ireland project still failed. Read more…

Jeptha Hawley House & Plaque – Bath, Ontario
This single-storey settlers house, built circa 1784 by Capt. Jeptha Hawley UEL, is the oldest in the Bay of Quinte district and one of the oldest continually occupied residential structures in Ontario.
This single-storey house was built circa 1784-85 by Captain Jeptha Hawley, a United Empire Loyalist from Arlington, Vermont. It has provincial and national significance and has been marked with a provincial plaque since 1959 as one of the oldest houses in Ontario. Its late 18th and early 19th century architecture is of as much importance to Canadian history as the structures built by puritans in New England; both tell the struggle of individuals carving a homestead out of the wilderness and laying a foundation for generations to come.
The stone wing of the building was added circa 1787 as quarters for the Rev. John Langhorn, the district’s first resident Anglican clergyman. Read more about this new addition…
Loyalist Commemoratives, Monuments and Plaques
Over the years the contributions of the United Empire Loyalists have been recognized by the Association, governments, community groups and individuals in the form of permanent monuments, memorials, and plaques. See a list of these arranged geographically from east to west – also check out the flags, coins, stamps and plates

Bacheller vs. Wilkinson: The Quest to Understand Benedict Arnold at Saratoga
by Colin J. Wood 19 Sept 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
The common viewpoint on Benedict Arnold’s role in the Battle of Bemis Heights on October 7, 1777 is based almost exclusively on the early nineteenth century testimony of James Wilkinson. That view holds that Arnold, after clashing with Gates over matters involving the Battle of Freeman’s Farm on September 19, was without a command on October 7, but nonetheless boldly rode onto the battlefield and rallied flagging troops, ensuring victory at a key moment. But is Wilkinson a reliable source? He was, after all, a man steeped in controversy; Theodore Roosevelt said of him, “In all our history, there has been no more despicable character.” In 1787, Wilkinson worked as a double agent for the Spanish while being a senior officer in the American Army. Though his ultimate goal of delivering the states of Kentucky and Tennessee to the Spanish Crown failed, Wilkinson evaded capture and died in ignominy. He was relieved of duty and court-martialed during the War of 1812 and wrote a memoir in an attempt to clear his name.
Wilkinson was present at Saratoga and witnessed the events of October 7. Read more…

Willard Buttrick Powder Horn
On the morning of April 19, 1775, Colonial militiamen like 28-year-old Willard Buttrick turned out “armed as according to law.” Many of these militia and minute men were equipped with several items needed to load and fire their muskets. One such item for Willard Buttrick was was a horn used to hold loose gunpowder. Although ammunition storage was required for service in the Massachusetts Militia, powder horns were an intimately personal item for their carrier. Sometimes they took the form of undecorated cow horns with a plug in either end. Other examples of colonial powder horns exhibit intricate artwork often called scrimshaw. Horns depicting previous military campaigns, and meaningful phrases appear across New England during the American War for Independence. Although beautifully ornate, these horns played a serious role in battle. If a militia soldier did not have pre-made paper cartridges, they would pour gunpowder out of the horn into the barrel of the musket, followed by a musket ball. This slower method of loading could result in life or death for a soldier, especially when speed was key on the battlefield. Read more…

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

March 1781: At New York (page 93)

Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fifth Year, 1781

IN THE MONTH OF MARCH [1781]
2 March. The United Provinces of Holland declared war against England.
9 March. I was the orderly for the Voit Regiment. This afternoon Private Riedel, of Quesnoy’s Company, escaped from his sergeant major, who was taking him to the captain.
15 March. The above-mentioned Riedel had to run a gauntlet of three hundred men twenty-four times in two days, for theft in the city and for leaving the company. [As of 15 March 1781, the Ansbach-Bayreuth regiments had 1,018 men fit for duty of an effective strength of 1,048 men.]
16 March. During the morning I worked unloading wood from a ship. During the evening I went on picket duty at Bunker Hill as lance corporal.
17 March. A bloody battle occurred at Guilford Courthouse in the province of North Carolina between Lord Cornwallis and General Greene, in which each side had more than one thousand men killed. [The battle occurred on 15 March 1781.]
Also, a sea battle took place today off Chesapeake Bay between Admiral [Marriott] Arbuthnot and Rear Admiral Graff and the French Comte de Bella. Initially Arbuthnot was victorious. Later, however, a great confusion developed in his fleet when, due to a lack of recognition, two of his own ships fired upon one another for more than half an hour and completely destroyed one another, and he had to retire with heavy losses. Two warships fell into French hands.
18 March. The latest newspapers report that the Hollanders have armed themselves with a sea strength of forty ships of the line and about thirty frigates, and more than fifty sloops, galleys, and privateers, in order to act against England.
22 March. For the first time, our companies drilled.
25 March. We held church parade in the city.
26 March. I went on the old-hay watch. [The 24-hour guard force for the hay magazine was one subaltern, one sergeant, one drummer, and thirty-one rank and file. ]
28 March. I went on the main guard as lance corporal. [The main guard consisted of one captain, one subaltern, two sergeants, two drummers, and seventy-one rank and file. ]
(to be continued)

Book Review: Samuel Adams and the Vagabond Henry Tufts: Virtue Meets Vice in the Revolutionary Era
Author: Nathaniel Parry (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2024)
Review by Kelly Mielke 16 Sept 20224 in Journal of the American Revolutionary
Nathaniel Parry highlights the criminal undertones of society during the Revolution and early national period. The book focuses on the societal space inhabited by a previously overlooked minority and provides a glimpse into the lives of people who existed on the lower rungs of the social ladder who lived according to the principles of self-preservation. Parry explores this territory through the lives of two men, his ancestor Henry Tufts and Founding Father Samuel Adams. Tufts and Adams existed at very different levels of society, but their paths eventually crossed due to one of Tufts’ accused crimes.
Tufts’ autobiography provides a uniquely in-depth first-person account of the criminal lifestyle in the eighteenth century that is reflective of the rise in criminal activity as the fabric of society changed into a more mobile one…
The incident that drives the narrative occurred when Tufts faced conviction in Ipswich, Massachusetts, for stealing six silver spoons. Tufts appealed directly to Governor Adams to avoid his scheduled hanging…
Overall, this book is an enjoyable read that explores an aspect of society during the Revolutionary period that is often overlooked. Read the review…

HMS Flora 1780: the Carronade’s arrival
In the Dawlish Chronicles
1780: the carronade, a murderous close-range weapon that would change the odds in many subsequent naval battles, made its spectacular debut when HMS Flora met French frigate Nymphe.
In sea battles from the 1780s to the end of the Napoleonic Wars a decisive factor was often the use of the carronade. Few of these guns were carried on any one ship, and they were not counted in a ship’s rated number of guns so that, in practice, the actual number of weapons carried might be significantly higher than the rating by which a ship was classed, such as a “74” or a “50”.
The word “carronade” was an early, perhaps earliest, example of a trade-name becoming the accepted term for an entire class of products, in this case a short smoothbore cast iron cannon. It took its name from the original manufacturer, the Carron Company, which had an ironworks in Falkirk, in Scotland. The short barrel indicated that it was a short-range weapon, powerful against ships but even more so against personnel in close actions. A carronade weighed a quarter as much and used a quarter to a third of the gunpowder-charge for a long gun firing the same size of roundshot. The lower recoil forces meant that slider mountings, rather trucks, could be employed. The light weight of the carronade made it especially attractive for mounting at higher levels – and important factor when an enemy’s deck should be cleared by grapeshot before boarding. They could also provide a very powerful punch for a small vessel such as a gunboat or sloop. Though the basic concept remained unchanged, carronades were manufactured for a huge range, from 6 to 42-pounders, and 68-pounder weapons not unknown. Read more…

Advertised on 21 September 1774: “The Lancaster Almanack for 1775”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

September 21

“THE LANCASTER ALMANACK, for the year 1775.”

It was a sign of the changing seasons. As the summer of 1774 came to a close, the first advertisements for almanacs for 1775 began to appear in newspapers, part of an annual ritual. Each year printers deployed advertisements in weekly periodicals to hawk their annual periodicals. Francis Bailey, a printer in Lancaster, was among the first to do so in 1774, placing notices in the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal on September 21. Readers still had more than three months to acquire their almanacs before the new year, yet each year many printers saw opportunities to increase sales and beat their competitors by making the useful and entertaining pamphlets available in the late summer and early fall. That also allowed plenty of time for shopkeepers to purchase in volume, often receiving a discount, to stock and sell to their own customers. Read more…

The Women behind 18th century condom making
By Sarah Murden 16 Sept 2024 in All Things Georgian
As requested by one of my readers, today we’re going to take a look at 18th century condoms, especially the most famous or infamous sellers of such necessities.
Condoms have been used for centuries and were made from a variety of materials. They were not primarily used for contraception, but for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, the main one being syphilis, which is believed to have affected around a fifth of the London population. In the 18th century they were often made from lamb or goat guts, soaked for a few hours before use to rehydrate them before use, then tied with a ribbon, usually pink. They apparently came in several sizes, so not a case of ‘one size fits all’!
In the 18th century those clever Georgians knew all about recycling, and certainly made an interesting choice of products to recycle – yes, they recycled condoms – ‘wash, dry, soak and reuse’ as we can be see hanging just to the side of the artist, Zoffany in this self-portrait. Read more…

Discover the Witness Blanket
Inspired by a woven blanket, the Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art. It contains hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada.
Here, you can explore the items and stories carried by the Witness Blanket. They are accompanied by the voices of Survivors who talk about the experience of being forced into residential schools. Their generous and insightful stories convey the reality of anti-Indigenous racism, colonialism and genocide. They reveal the ongoing harms caused by Canada’s residential school system.
Every object donated to the Witness Blanket tells a story. One by one, they tell us about specific experiences in many times and places. Together, they tell us about the sweeping history of the residential schools that operated from coast to coast to coast for over a hundred years.
Watch video or read transcript…

Witness Blanket: Bringing Voices of Residential School Survivors to the Classroom
Posted 22 May 2024, Hosted by Canada’s History
“One of the most powerful parts of encountering the Witness Blanket in person is to see an object and to connect to that object in some way.”
Graham Lowes is the manager of education and program development at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. He will present on the Witness Blanketlink opens in new window — a large-scale work of art. It contains hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings, and both traditional and cultural structures from across Canada. Witnessblanket.ca invites visitors to explore objects from the blanket and hear directly from residential school survivors about their experiences.
This presentation introduces participants to WitnessBlanket.ca and discusses how to incorporate a trauma-informed approach in bringing voices of residential school survivors to the classroom. Additionally, educators will learn how to walk alongside their students in taking the next steps on their pathway of reconciliation. Watch video (13 min)

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

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

  • To Kevin Wisener for information about:
    • William Wallace appears as a member of the Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers in March 1776, then in the 22nd Regiment of Foot. The 22nd Regt was sent to Boston, Ma in 1775, just before the War. They removed to Halifax, N.S. for a period until they participated in the New York and New Jersey campaign in the winter of 1776-1777. Received a 100 acre land grant at Lot 56, Kings County, Prince Edward Island.

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

Events Upcoming

Sir Guy Carleton Branch (Ottawa): Tour of Beechwood Cemetery Sun. 22 Sept @1:00-2:30 ET

Hosted by the Sir Guy Carleton Branch, UELAC and Beechwood Cemetery, the guided tour will visit selected gravesites of Loyalists interred at Beechwood Cemetery.
We will meet at the Gazebo [next to the main building​] at 12:45. The sites visited will be within easy walking distance.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there! Sir Guy Carleton events.
Beechwood Cemetery 280 Beechwood Avenue, Vanier, Ontario: Map

Kingston Branch: “The Early Buildings of Kingston” Sat 28 Sept @1:00

Kingston and District Branch, UELAC will meet on Saturday, September 28 at 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street (doors open at noon); or if you prefer on Zoom (open at 12:30 p.m.). Jennifer McKendry will speak on “The Early Buildings of Kingston, 1783-1830”. Jennifer is an Architectural Historian and author of numerous articles and books. For the meeting Zoom link, visit the website www.uelac.org/ Kingston-Branch. All with an interest in Canadian history are welcome!

Governor Simcoe Branch: “A Loyalist Roblin Descendant Makes Legal History” Wed 2 Oct 7:30 ET

Lawyer and journalist Drew von Hasselbach brings us the story of Jehiel Roblin (1833-1870), a humble customs inspector who, in 1861, vouched for his friend’s bona fides on a marriage licence application. “Vouching” meant Jehiel promised to pay the Crown 200 pounds if it later turned out his friend’s marriage wasn’t legally proper. More details and registration…

Colonel John Butler (Niagara) Branch, “Loyalist Refugees” Lunch meeting Sat 5 Oct @11:45

Hanae Weber. Loyalist Refugees Before and After the American Revolution.
“‘…the Families who are, or call themselves Loyalists, continually coming in, in large Parties, naked and starving with Hunger & who must be received:’ Loyalist Refugee Experiences During and After the American Revolution.” This presentation will examine the catalysts which drove over 100,000 people from the United States, the impact of Loyalism on Black and Indigenous people, and the lasting repercussions of this 18th century refugee crisis. Hanae Weber is the Lead Civilian Interpreter and Clothing Program Co-ordinator at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York.
At Betty’s Restaurant, 8921 Sodom Road, Niagara Falls at 11:45 am. Cost of the lunch is $30 (members), $35 (non-members) in cash at the meeting. Please RSVP to 283corvette@gmail.com

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Happy to find this old postcard showing Christ Church in Shelburne built by Loyalists where first service held in December 1789. Stamped on back as mailed in 1906. Brian McConnell UE @brianm564
  • Townsends, and “anything food”

    • Poverty In Early America – This is such an important topic to research. We learn so much about people and society as a whole when we research how the poor were treated at the founding of our nation. (15 min)
  • This week in History
    • 16 Sept 1620, the Mayflower began its voyage to the “New World.” It was funded by merchants hoping to prosper from #America’s resources. Onboard were #Pilgrims, tradesmen, indentured servants, and crew. All hoped for opportunity, many to freely practice their religion. image
    • 18 Sept 1774 Quote of the Day: “The Congress will support Boston and the Massachusetts or Perish with them. But they earnestly wish that Blood may be spared if possible, and all Ruptures with the Troops avoided.” —John Adams
    • 15 Sep 1775 Charleston, SC American militia take Ft Johnson before British troops can dismantle it & raise 1st patriotic flag over its ramparts. Forced to regroup, Royal Gov William Campbell flees to the safety of HMS Tamar, anchored in the harbor. image
    • 15 Sep 1775. William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, ordered 10,000 stands of arms, ammunition, and 6 cannons be sent to the Royal Gov of NC, Josiah Martin. to supply the Loyalists in NC, especially the recently settled Highland Scots image
    • 16 Sep 1775 Ile aux Noix, Quebec Gen Richard Montgomery replaces the sickly Gen Phillip Schuyler as commander of the Canada expedition. Reinforced by Seth Warner – he decides to move on the British garrison at St John’s with 2,000 men. image
    • 18 Sep 1775 Ft Chambly, Quebec Maj John Brown’s 135-strong detachment ambushes a British supply train, suffering 2 wounded & inflicting 8 dead. image
    • 18 Sep 1775 British Adm Samuel Graves directs all merchant vessels inspected for carrying flint as ballast – hoping to prevent its use in American muskets. image
    • 19 Sep 1775 Gen Richard Montgomery sends a force to the Richelieu R. to prevent HMS Royal Savage from sailing into Lake Champlain and begins to besiege Saint Johns, Quebec. image
    • 19 Sep 1775 Peyton Randolph, former (and first) president of Continental Congress, dies at the age of 54. The Virginia lawyer and political leader worked tirelessly for the American cause, fighting debilitating illness, which ultimately caused his death. image
    • 16 Sep 1776 Gen Washington’s Continental Army turned & held its ground on Haarlem Heights, checking the British advance & restoring American morale. Americans suffer 56 casualties, British 170. First battlefield (marginal) victory for the new USA. image
    • 17 Sep 1776 Continental Congress considers John Adams’s “Plan of Treaties” to expedite a possible alliance or other cooperation with France. Secret diplomacy would eventually result in secret cooperation. image
    • 15 Sep 1776 NY, NY Some 4K redcoats land at East River’s Kip’s Bay. The American defenders offer very little resistance to the barrage of ships guns and waves of regulars, & Gen Washington is almost captured trying to rally them. They retreat to Harlem image
    • 18 Sep 1776 Continental Congress authorizes 88 battalions of infantry from 13 states based on population and asks for long-term enlistments to last the #RevWar image
    • 20 Sep 1776 Congress modifies Articles of War to address problems of discipline, administration, and organization within the Continental Army. image
    • 20-21 Sep 1776 NYC swept by fire when suspected arsonists light incendiaries that destroy over 300 buildings along the North River. About 1/3 the city including the notorious red-light district call “The Holy Ground.” Both sides cast blame. image
    • 20 Sep 1776 NYC A great fire erupts along the North River on the night of 20-21 September. The mysterious fire destroyed almost 25% of the city’s buildings. The British blamed rebels for the arson, but the origin is still a mystery. image
    • 21 Sep 1776 Captain Nathan Hale, a former schoolmaster from CT, is captured by the British while spying behind enemy lines. His “due process” would move swiftly through the British military justice system. image
    • 14 Sep 1777 After successful forays against British shipping, American Capt. Lambert Wickes sails for America from France upon the ship Reprisal. But Reprisal foundered off the banks of Newfoundland in Oct with all but the cook drowning. image
    • 18 Sep 1777 Members of Congress fled west toward York, PA, where they would remain until June, 1778. The tower bell (Liberty Bell) was relocated from Philadelphia to Allentown, PA for protection. image
    • 19 Sep 1777 Ushant, France. Capt John Bazely’s 10-gun cutter, HMS Alert captures the 16-gun brig Lexington under Capt Henry Johnson when it runs short on munitions. Americans lost 18 killed & wounded & 77 captured. image
    • 19 September 1777 Freeman’s Farm, New York. British General John Burgoyne sought success in taking control of Freeman’s Farm in a hard-fought battle but a determined American defense inflicted significant casualties the British could not afford. Colonel Daniel Morgan’s riflemen poured a terrific fire into the British lead column, arrayed in the open fields—killing many officers. The wavering British were reinforced by more British regulars and German troops who came forcefully at the American defenders. But the patriot forces held their ground, and hours of heavy fighting ensued. At dusk, the Continentals fell back to their mainline of defense after suffering 90 killed and 240 wounded. But the exchange of casualties went against Burgoyne’s army, who could ill afford the 440 killed and 700 wounded inflicted by the Americans. image
    • 20 Sep 1777 Freeman’s Farm, NY. British Commander Gen John Burgoyne is talked out of renewing his attack on Gen Horatio Gates’s forces by Gen Simon Fraser, whose men were severely mauled & exhausted. Gates uses the respite to bolster his defenses. image
    • 17 Sep 1778, German Flats, NY Mohawk Indian chief & British Loyalist leader Joseph Brant leads a force of 150 Iroquois braves & 300 Loyalists under Capt William Caldwell in a surprise attack on the town, now Herkimer.NY, which was left undefended. image
    • 14 Sep 1779 L’Orient, France. American Capt John Paul Jones sails out to sea on his flagship, Bonhomme Richard accompanied by four French vessels. His squadron’s cruise would trouble the Royal Navy & make history. image
    • 16 September 1779 Savannah, Georgia. A combined allied army of French under Comte d’Estaing and Americans under Benjamin Lincoln began a siege of the British-controlled city. The Allied forces numbered over 5,000 soldiers. They faced off against some 3,000 under the command of Defending Savannah, which was a force of more than 3,000 men under the command of British General Augustine Prevost. The British had captured the port as part of their Southern Strategy. When d’Estaing’s demand that Prevost surrender was refused, the Franco-American force laid siege to the town, which would continue for another month. The siege would bring weeks of frustration as the British strengthened their defenses, and d’Estaing was on a timeline dictated by the approach of the storm season. Feuding between the allied leaders did not help. image
    • 15 Sep 1781 Williamsburg, VA The Allies assembled 17K men with American divisions under Marquis de Lafayette, Gen Lincoln & Gen von Steuben, plus 8 French infantry regiments, cavalry, engineers & artillery. British forces at Yorktown = less than ½ that
    • 19 Sep 1782 London. Anxious to get out of the dead-end war before France & Spain cause more damage, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Sherburne (William Petty) authorizes his agents in Paris to negotiate with the US as one sovereign entity. image
    • 17 Sep 1787 Philadelphia, PA Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution. The product of four months of secret debate, it replaced the Articles of Confederation and proposed an entirely new form of government. image
    • 19 Sept 1796: George Washington’s Farewell Address is published in the American Daily Advertiser. He said he wouldn’t seek a 3rd term. Warned against rise of political parties as a threat to national unity. Hamilton wrote a large part of the address. image
  • Clothing and Related:

    • The identity of the stay maker is currently unknown, but the owner of the stays @WoodmanMuseum have been identified by #KensingtonHistoricalSociety. It is likely that Sarah Green (1746-1804) wore the indigo- dyed, twilled linen stays, c. 1770s-90s
    • Yesterday I had a happy morning with my dear friend @AMatthewsdavid
      at Untold Lives exhibition, Kensington Palace, stories of people working in the royal household. This rare apron belonged to Ann Thielcke, a wardrobe woman to Queen Charlotte in the #1780s
  • Miscellaneous
    • ‘Vast scrollin’ me hearties, and hark at the tale of one of the saltiest sea-dogs in early Virginia history, the renowned and highly successful pira…uh, Privateer – Captain Christopher Newport, leader of the expedition to Jamestown in 1607!
      Hired by the Virginia Company in 1606, he led the founding fleet, nearly hanged John Smith, served on the colony’s council, made 3 more voyages to Virginia, then resigned in 1612 and took up the post of Principal Master of the Royal Navy to which he’d been appointed in 1606.
      Sailing for the East India Company he went to Java in 1613 and India in 1615. Preparing for his 3rd East Indies trip in 1616, he wrote his will, and brought his son Christopher on as his master’s mate. Arriving in Bantam, Java in August 1617, he died soon afterwards.

 

Published by the UELAC
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