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Scholarship Challenge 2022: Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities
To those who have donated, many thanks. However, busy days meant no update this week – sorry; so the details at Scholarship Challenge 2022 are from a week ago.
The scholars we support help add to the collective wealth of information and growing body of interpretation and understanding of the Loyalist-era experience.
Most Master and Doctoral scholarships are renewable for a second and third year respectively.
Benjamin Anderson, a 2021 UELAC Loyalist Scholarship Award Recipient, is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. The scholarship this year is Benjamin’s second.
Initially he would focus on the reintegration of Loyalists in post-war America, but as he delved further into the literature on the American Revolution, he realized Vermont’s and the northern borderland’s conspicuous absence from the story. Upon zoning in on this region, he then discovered the non-existent literature on the Loyalists that lived there. Thus the thesis ‘The Loyalists of Vermont and the Northern Borderland, 1749-1791’ was born. Benjamin’s fondness for Vermont stretches back to 2010, when he visited it as part of a school trip.
Read more… about Benjamin’s background, studies and contributions.

Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities will run until August 22, 2022 with updates each week.
Please join the challenge by donating – the instructions are there to mail a donation, or to donate online via Canada Helps – and watch our success as we meet the challenge goal of $8088.
Christine E. Manzer UE, Scholarship Committee, Chair.Scholarship@uelac.org

2023 UELAC Conference Vancouver BC: Flight Booking Discounts
The 2023 UELAC Conference Committee is pleased to Announce our 2023 Conference Flight Booking Discount Program for “Where the Sea Meets the Sky” being held at Vancouver/Richmond, British Columbia (01 – 04 June 2023).
Sponsored by the four Pacific Region Branches – Chilliwack, Vancouver, Victoria, and Thompson-Okanagan – of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada and Hosted by the Vancouver Branch.
See Conference details

Unpacking the First Loyalist News Story from New Brunswick
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
It is very likely the very first “news story” pertaining to the Loyalists of New Brunswick was an item carried by Rivington’s Gazette on September 20, 1783. The Loyalist newspaper that had served New York City for most of the American Revolution, quoted a letter written to John Hill who lived in Brooklyn. The letter was from his brother, Captain Richard Hill who was living in “Carleton, Nova Scotia”.
Carleton was the Loyalist settlement on the western side of the harbor at the mouth of the St. John River. In 1785, it would be incorporated into the city of Saint John. The portion of Nova Scotia that lay north of the Bay of Fundy (and once included the St. John River) became the colony of New Brunswick in 1784. Carleton had only been established with the first arrival of Loyalist refugees in May of 1783, so Hill’s letter was written within months of the founding of the settlement.
And what was that first news story from Loyalist New Brunswick?
Hill reported that the Sally, a sloop belonging to Major John Ward and other Loyalists, had been stolen “from the Bay of Fundy” by John Mason. The crime was especially scandalous because the hijacker Mason was the captain of the sloop and had –presumably—been hired by its owner, Ward.
This was also big news because Ward was the commander of the British troops in New York at the time of the British evacuation. In fact, the last of the transports that left with troops for Parrtown were under Ward’s command. As shelter in Parrtown’s Lower Cove could not be found, he had to camp out under the canvas with his troops through the winter on the spot now known as Old Barrack Square. There in a tent his son was born to his 31 year-old wife Elizabeth in December 1783. (Their son would live to be 92 years of age.)
Ward came to be known in Saint John as “the Father of the City”. He had an interest in shipping that would see him become the first to build a steamship in New Brunswick, so it is not surprising that he would be the owner of a sloop. He may have purchased the Sally before he left his home in New York’s Westchester County in 1776 to join the British Army. He eventually became a major in the Loyal American Regiment.
Fortunately for Ward, John Mason did not get very far in the stolen sloop. Richard Hill reported that a royal navy “sloop of war” named the Boneta recaptured the Loyalist’s vessel and imprisoned Mason in Annapolis Royal across the Bay of Fundy from Carleton.
Hill’s all too brief news story of a vessel hijacked from a Loyalist officer ended with the line “Mason escaped at Annapolis”. Nevertheless, given the fact that the incident had ties to a New York Loyalist, and it involved the betrayal by a trusted ship’s captain, John Hill shared his brother’s news with Rivington’s Gazette. Its editor, James Rivington felt the story had enough news value to merit being printed in his newspaper.
John Hill, who received the news from his brother in Carleton, had been the inspector of the Brooklyn ferry in the superintendent’s department in New York. He had immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1773. Two years later, when he sided with the British, a local mob plundered his house and “destroyed everything”. At the peace, Hill and his 32 year-old wife found sanctuary in Digby, Nova Scotia.
Richard Hill and his wife Jane had immigrated to New York with his brother John. He also served as an inspector of the Brooklyn ferry until he was “persecuted, proscribed, banished and his property confiscated”. Patriot violence against him may have been the cause of a broken hipbone that Hill suffered in May of 1780. The injury forced him to walk with crutches.
Three years later, he wrote to Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander-in-chief in June of 1783, telling him of his plans to go to Nova Scotia with 33 other Loyalists who had chosen him as their captain.
On June 17, a notice in Rivington’s Gazette alerted Loyalists bound for Nova Scotia that 12 transport ships would soon be leaving New York City. Seventeen companies of settlers would be boarding the vessels, including the one led by Richard Hill. “It will therefore be absolutely necessary for the people who are appointed to go to these companies, to be all on board tomorrow evening.”
A week later, Hill and his family boarded the William and Mary that was bound for Annapolis Royal. In addition to providing leadership for a band of Loyalist settlers, Richard Hill also served as an escort for two Black Loyalists, John London and Peter Newbold.
Hill spent the remainder of his life in Digby, across the Bay of Fundy from Saint John. The only known occasion that took him to what is now Saint John would –unbeknownst to him—make him the first news reporter to relay a story from a Loyalist settlement in New Brunswick. Perhaps it was some business matter that caused him to be in Carleton in September of 1783 when the Sally was hijacked. Whatever the reason, it led to the writing of a letter to his brother in far off Brooklyn, New York that soon became the talk of New York City’s reading public.
Remembered for being a justice of the peace, a judge, a customs collector, and an Anglican vestryman, Richard Hill could also have added “Loyalist correspondent for New Brunswick” to his résumé.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Emancipation, Queen Elizabeth II, John Graves Simcoe
As the former President of the Governor Simcoe Branch of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada as well as the Dominion’s Past President, 1982-1984, I do enjoy reading your newsletter….
The years 1983 and 1984 were precious years when our Association celebrated two national Bicentennials, one in The Maritime provinces, 1983; the other in Ontario, 1984, the latter date occurring at a time when the publication, LOYAL SHE REMAINS, that I had edited and assembled with the late Mary Beacock Fryer, in conjunction with the UEL Association, was selected by Premier Bill Davis of the Province of Ontario as the official gift to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when Her Majesty visited Ontario and officially opened the Loyalist Parkway during the Fall of that memorable year, 1984.
When reading the content of your last newsletter, I took time out to reflect on Emancipation Day and as usual wondered aloud why we (and I do not mean just the UELAC) as Canadians have not gone out of our way to tell the story of John Graves Simcoe and how he, as the province’s first political leader along with his colleagues, was the first politician in the entire British Empire to address, head on, the slavery issue.
Back in the early, 1790s, when Chloe Cooley was enslaved as a Black woman living in Queenston, Upper Canada, she was bound up and sold across the Niagara River to a new owner living in the new Republic labelled the United States of America. Her screams and resistance were brought to the attention of John Graves Simcoe, Lt. Gov. Of Upper Canada at the time. It was Peter Martin, a Black Loyalist, who reported the incident to the Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe who immediately moved to abolish slavery in a government session but was met by some opposition in the House of Assembly by some members who owned slaves. But a compromise was reached and on July 9, 1793, legislation was passed that prevented any further introduction of slaves into Upper Canada and also resolved for the gradual abolition of slavery in the province. This is an amazing fact!
To the major point — this is the first legislation ever passed anywhere in the entire British Empire to limit slavery and it set the stage for some 30,000 enslaved African Americans to seek freedom in Canada during the first half of the 19th century by using the massive “structure” known as the Underground Railroad. Such famous Black Canadians as Mary Ann Shadd, Harriet Tubman, Peter Martin (as mentioned earlier) and Josiah Henson of Dresden, Ontario (who was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel, Uncle tom’s Cabin), are but a few examples of those who travelled the Underground Railway to escape slavery and found freedom in Canada.
So, yes, Great Britain abolished slavery in 1834 and the United States followed in 1863, but we Canadians, especially Ontarians, should not forget, in fact, we should go out of our way, to celebrate what Upper Canada’s first leader, John Graves Simcoe, did way back in 1793 some 230 years ago: He tried to pass a comprehensive law outlawing slavery but had to compromise. But through his legislation, the man who fought against General George Washington many times and never lost a battle to the future first President of the United States, nevertheless was able to abolish all future slavery. His legislation should be serenaded, celebrated and acknowledged all across Canada!
Sincerest regards, Charles J. Humber, UE

Introducing the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History
by Beth Hanna, CEO of the Ontario Heritage Trust
“I’ll use my freedom well.” From my first encounter with the life story of Josiah Henson, those words have both challenged and inspired me. Henson made this promise to Captain Burnham, who helped him and his family in the last part of their journey to Canada. And he lived up to his promise.
Do you know Josiah’s story? Many Canadians don’t — and they should. We all should. In 1830, he escaped a life of slavery, travelling 1,030 km (640 miles) from Kentucky with his family, seeking freedom in Canada. He devoted his life to establishing the Dawn Settlement in what is now Dresden, Ontario to provide a place where Black refugees from slavery could thrive and build lives based on the opportunities provided by community, education, land and personhood.
The historical site in Dresden, anchored by the home of Josiah Henson, has been known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin since 1948. It has been owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust since 2005. Henson’s story is connected to the 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. When the contents of her novel were attacked by the pro-slavery movement in the United States, she defended its veracity, noting that she had drawn from the life of Josiah Henson as told in his 1849 published memoirs.
Later, in his own 1876 book, Uncle Tom’s Story of his Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson, Henson says: “… I have been called ‘Uncle Tom,’ and I feel proud of the title. If my humble words in any way inspired that gifted lady to write such a plaintive story that the whole community has been touched with pity for her sufferings of the poor slave, I have not lived in vain; for I believe that her book was the beginning of the glorious end. It was a wedge that finally rent asunder that gigantic fabric with a fearful crash.” Later in his life, he toured England and Scotland, promoted as the “real Uncle Tom.” And at the end of that tour, he said: “… my name is not Tom, and never was Tom … My name is Josiah Henson, always was, and always will be …”
Why change the name of Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site? Words have power, and the pro-slavery movement twisted Beecher Stowe’s character and created minstrel shows that belittled Tom, making him out to be subservient, weak, a “sell-out.” That meaning took hold, furthered by theatre, advertising and Hollywood, so that even today the term “Uncle Tom” is used as a derogatory one. And so, for several years, the Trust has been working on renaming the site. Words have power, and we didn’t want the name of the site to cause hurt or to form a barrier to participation, to education. And we extend our apologies for any hurt or harm that we may have caused by keeping the name.
And so, on July 30, 2022 – Emancipation Day – we reclaimed Josiah Henson’s name and celebrated the determination, strength, humanity and resilience of the man. And, with that, we have changed the name from Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site to the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History – and created a bigger vision. Let’s all be inspired by Josiah’s story and use our freedom well.
Read an expanded version of the impact of Josiah Henson here, and explore the importance of renaming this incredible museum.

JAR: Top Ten Weather Interventions
by Don N. Hagist 2 August 2022
“In war, as in medicine, natural causes not under our control, do much.” Gen. Horatio Gates wrote this about the terrain that so heavily influenced his victory at Saratoga in 1777. Another natural cause that heavily influenced events of the American Revolution was weather.
Here are ten instances where unexpectedly uncooperative weather had a major effect on how a battle or a plan played out, where things might’ve gone very differently if the weather itself had been different. We didn’t include predictable weather like the heat of summer or the onset of winter, only those instances where the weather did not cooperate with otherwise well-laid plans.
Quebec, December 1775
Bad weather can help an attacking force achieve surprise. When the attackers are fatigued, however, and the attack is timed because of expiring enlistments, poor weather might favor the defenders instead. When it is well known that an attack is likely, the chances for success are even further diminished. When an American army attempted to storm the city of Quebec on the night of December 31, 1775, a snowstorm hindered more than helped. Read more…

JAR: The Battle of Crosswicks: Prelude to Monmouth
by Colin Zimmerman 4 August 2022
Sir Henry Clinton inherited an unmitigated strategic disaster when he assumed command of the Crown Forces in North America during the spring of 1778. Previous campaigns had taught the newly-minted command-in-chief that if there was to be a complete victory for the British, it needed to be in a thoroughly decisive action on the battlefield against George Washington’s army. The battles for Long Island and Brandywine demonstrated that spectacular tactical victories on the battlefield meant nothing if the enemy were allowed to escape and fight another day. Moreover, what was supposed to have been a cooperative campaign with three major British armies in the summer of 1777 had ended in what was an embarrassing lack of communication, a surrender of an entire field army, and the expansion of what was an Anglo-American rebellion into an international affair. This change in tempo left Great Britain unprepared for both defending the vast reaches of its empire and conducting a growing war in North America. The government in London valued its possessions in India, Canada, and the Caribbean much more than the thirteen rebelling colonies. With limited resources, it became prudent to redeploy a large portion of the available force in North America to other places of higher value. This was certainly a crippling blow to an army that was already under strength, leaving it with limited abilities to conduct offensive action. Clinton would not have the manpower to effectively reconquer the colonies.
There was a loophole, however. Clinton’s army was then in Philadelphia and would need to move to its base to New York before portions were sent to other places. Read more…

Ebenezer Hazard’s diary: Journey through war-torn New Jersey Aug. 1777
In November 1776, Ebenezer Hazard (1745-1817), postmaster of New York traveled across New Jersey in advance of Washington’s retreating army en route to his native Philadelphia. In August 1777 he left the Pennsylvania capital on a ten-day trip through central Jersey, presumably in conjunction with his current position as surveyor of the post office. The diary of his journey graphically depicts the kinds of physical destruction brought to communities and the countryside by massive troop movements and warfare. The devastation of war not only had a direct impact on the welfare of individual people, but also had a profound effect on public morale. As the War for Independence dragged on, it became increasingly a matter of endurance in which Jerseymen tested their ability to withstand the ravages of war. Read more… (Immediately brings forth images from Ukraine)

The Royal Geographical Pastime: A Game from 1770
By Holly Brewer, U of Maryland, College Park
For several years now I have had students in my U.S. history classes play The Royal Geographical Pastime: Exhibiting a Complete Tour Round The World. In which are delineated the North East and North West Passages into the South Sea, and other modern Discoveries. Thomas Jeffreys, “geographer to the King,” who created and published it in London in 1770 at a moment when the British empire was very powerful, intended to teach aristocratic young men about the empire’s reach and scope, how to travel, and why each colony mattered. My students learn some of the same things from it—though from a different perspective—including what the world looked like then; the products produced by different colonies and nations around the world; and major historical events—from earthquakes to rebellions—-during the eighteenth century (which are chronicled in the game). In addition, it also teaches how people traveled, as it tracks actual sailing routes around the world, and perhaps most importantly, it shows the power and arrogance of the elite within the British empire. When I am teaching in person, I have made reproductions of it, complete with eight-sided dice and tiny people as tokens. More recently, I put it online (with help from others!), and students can find it and play virtually. Read more…

Ben Franklin’s World: The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
Andrew Porwancher, the Wick Cary Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma and the Ernest May Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, joins us to investigate the Jewish world and upbringing of Alexander Hamilton.
Using details from his book, The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, Andrew reveals details about Hamilton’s childhood in the Caribbean and how he came to be educated at a Jewish school; Hamilton’s work as a clerk for an internationally-focused mercantile firm; And information about the many ways Hamilton worked to enact internationally-focused economic policies for the new United States and to include Jews in American civil and political society. Listen in…

“The Greatest Eloquence”: James Cathcart and the Power of Words in Eighteenth-Century Barbary
By Julie R. Voss at Comon Place
The story of “what happened” to James Leander Cathcart is remarkable enough. In 1785, when he was seventeen, the merchant ship on which he sailed was captured by Algerian corsairs, and the crew were held in captivity for eleven years before the U.S. was able to negotiate their release. During that time, Cathcart managed to work his way up to the most important, influential, and lucrative position a captive could hold, in which position he was able to assist in securing the captives’ freedom. Two years later, he returned to Barbary (as North Africa was called) as the U.S. Consul to Tripoli, thereby turning his captivity into a career.
Cathcart kept a diary during his ordeal and, many years later, adapted the diary into a narrative entitled The Captives: Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers. This narrative is also remarkable. In addition to relaying the details of Cathcart’s experience and his transformation from young captive to influential leader, the narrative demonstrates the power of words to change and even to create reality, not only through the story it tells but also through the public personality it forms. For the James Cathcart evoked in its pages is at odds with other historical evidence, demonstrating Cathcart’s ability with and belief in the power of words. Read more…

The Annotated and Illustrated Journals of Major Robert Rogers
by Major Robert Rogers (Author), Timothy J. Todish (Author, Editor), Gary Zaboly (Illustrator)
Paperback – March 14, 2002
This book, reprinted form the rare 1769 Dublin edition, allows Major Rogers to tell portions of his life in his own words. To supplement his account, numerous annotations have added by Timothy Todish to give a broader picture of the events described. Gary Zaboly’s original illustrations, along with page-length captions, add an invaluable dimension to this edition. A special contribution is his chapter on the uniforms worn by Robert’s Rangers.
Available at numerous sources, both Amazon Canada and USA (good reviews in both places).
Note that this was written in 1769, well before the American Revolution.

Regency Era Poisons: What They Were
By Geri Walton 9 December 2016
Regency Era poisons were important to Regency people and because of their great interest in them, a lengthy article was published in 1828. It provided all sorts of information about poisons that included class III poisons designated as “Sedative, or Narcotic Poisons.” These Regency Era poisons could be ingested or applied to the body and were reported to cause “drowsiness, stupor, paralysis or apoplexy, convulsions, and death when the dose [was] sufficiently large.”
Among this list of Regency Era poisons designated as “Sedative, or Narcotic Poisons” were nine items from the vegetable kingdom — camphor, hemlock, henbane, laurel water, opium, prussic acid, stramonium, strong scented lettuce, and tobacco — and one mineral sedative and narcotic poison known as carbonic acid gas. To understand these Regency Era poisons and counter their deadly consequences, a list was provided for Regency people. Read it almost verbatim…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • Jo Ann Tuskin on behalf of Ronald Brooks has contributed information about
    • Benjamin Willson from Wantage, Sussex Co., New Jersey married Sarah Crowell, b. 1750, New Jersey and settled in Bertie Township, Niagara, Ontario
  • Thanks to Vancouver Branch (Linda Nygard & Linda Drake) for data about:
    • John Kelly born in New Jersey or North Carolina, served in the 4th New Jersey Rangers and settled in Kingsclear, York County, New Brunswick. Married to Mary Cain b.1772
    • Joshua Currey from Morrisania (The Bronx, New York), served in the 49 Loyal American Regiment, married Eunice Travis at Cortlandtown, New York and settled in Gagetown, New Brunswick
    • Alexander Nicholson born in 1753 in Bower, Caithness, Scotland, immigrated to one of the thirteen colonies, served in Rogers Corp Loyal Rangers (possibly a Sergeant), settled at Fredericksburg, Upper Canada 1783-1789, m. Sarah Hough, b. 1767 (Vermont, USA). Fourteen children are listed.

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

In the News:

Simcoe abolished slavery in Canada, yet passes largely unrecognized
By Neil Thomlinson, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto Star
Much is correctly made of the federal government designating, in 2021, Aug. 1 as Emancipation Day. But, although the article appeared on a civic holiday known as “Simcoe Day” in Toronto, there is no mention of John Graves Simcoe or his role in ending slavery. Read more… (Ed and Jocelyn Badovinac)

Rediscover Saint John with the Loyalist Burial Ground Project
Atlantic Repertory Company launched the Loyalist Burial Ground Project this week. Directed by Melissa MacGougan. Featuring Quinn Adams, Sophie Wilcott, Tallas Munro and Caroline Bell. A historical and theatrical walking tour tourists and visitors will love. Read more…

Alton ON bicentennial celebrations upcoming
By Zachary Roman 4 Augst 2022, Caledon Citizen
The Village of Alton ON will be celebrating its bicentennial this September with celebration taking place on Saturday, Sept. 17 and will begin in the morning. Heritage Caledon has three different heritage walking tours.
Alton is located on the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the Traditional Territory of the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat. Plans for settling Alton began in 1816, when Martin Middaugh Jr., a United Empire Loyalist, received 200 acres of land there from the crown. A settlement grew on the banks of Shaw’s Creek and Alton became an industrial centre. However, the Village was not yet named Alton. Read more…

Upcoming Events:

Old Holy Trinity Church, Middleton, NS – Open House – Sunday, August 14, 2022

Come visit the oldest structurally unaltered church in Canada built by Loyalists in 1789 and listen to a historical presentation, participate in Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Quiz, and take in a tour of the historic cemetery which includes graves of Loyalist General Timothy Ruggles and Reverend John Wiswall.
Time: 2 – 4 p.m. Old Holy Trinity Church: https://oldholytrinitychurch.ca/wp/
Questions to Brian McConnell, Chair, Old Holy Trinity Charitable Trust, brianm564@gmail.com

Kingston ON Fall Fair Sept 15-18: AND MY HEART SOARS ~ O SIEM!

This fall, The Kingston Fair will introduce a new, special event featuring Chief Don Maracle of Tyendinaga, David R. Maracle who is an International Multi-Instrumentalist, a well-known author in the person of Jean Rae Baxter, and others. It is a three day look at the cultures and practices of the peoples who through time walked the land forming the Memorial Centre Grounds. It will explore via presentation, song, dance, story, and display the ways of the original inhabitants ~ the Indigenous Peoples ~ followed by the French and the United Empire Loyalists with a nod to tales of modern day market goers.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Carved in the 1620s in what is now Belgium, these beautiful angel statues were originally headed to a Catholic church in Quebec in 1746. However, the French ship was raided by British privateer Thomas Gruchy, and the angels were donated to his home church of Old North in Boston.
  • This week in History
    • 1 Aug 1759, Prussian & British armies defeated the French at the Battle of Minden. Among the casualties was the Marquis de la Fayette, who left a baby son. Eighteen years later, that boy spent his first full day as a Continental Army general.
    • 2 Aug 1754 Born #OnThisDay Pierre Charles L’Enfant, French-born American architect who laid out Washington DC. He also served in American Revolution War and as military engineer in Continental Army with Major General Lafayette. Read more…
    • 3 Aug 1775, the British army canceled Lt. Col. Charles Lee’s half-pay pension for supporting the “unnatural rebellion” in America. Lee had already resigned in a letter dated June 22, becoming a lieutenant general in the Continental Army.
    • 30 Jul 1776 Washington offers exchange of any British officer for return of Col. Ethan Allen, captured at Montreal.
    • 2 Aug 1776 Actual signing of the Declaration of Independence, the language for which was adopted on 4 Jul 1776.
    • 4 Aug 1776 King George congratulates himself on securing a German corps “much Cheaper than if raised at home.”
    • 6 Aug 1777, a force of Loyalists and Mohawks met a Continental Army force with Oneida scouts at the Battle of Oriskany. The Americans lost more men, but the Crown failed to take Fort Stanwix
    • 31 Jul 1777 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette volunteers to lead rebel troops as Major General – without pay.
    • 1 Aug 1777 Burgoyne reaches the Hudson after spending a month crossing 23 miles of wilderness from Lake Champlain.
    • 5 Aug 1779 Bitter fight between Loyalist & Patriot forces for Bronx results in destruction & capture of Loyalists.
    • 3 Aug 1780 Benedict Arnold appointed commander of West Point; already collaborating with British.
    • 4 Aug 1792 Died #OnThisDay, General John Burgoyne (aka Gentleman Johnny), British army officer, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons. He was an accomplished playwright, but his plays never reached the fame of his military career.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Plant dyes – all the colours achievable from leaf, flower and root within around a five mile radius. The red hot poker root was a gift from a friend on Skye but that’s only several miles across the water…
    • 18th Century fan featuring two women listening to a flute player, Opaque Watercolour On Vellum, reverse has a central floral spray and leafy border. Pierced ivory sticks with central medallion, plain guards.
    • 18th Century dress, Robe à la française with quilted petticoat, c.1770
    • 18th Century dress, Robe à la Française. This is a very rare example of the use of velvet in 18th-century women’s dress, the chiné process has been combined with velvet – a difficult technique produced only in a few places in France. c.1770’s
    • 18th Century gown of glazed cotton, block printed in an Indian-inspired pattern of exotic flowers. Made in the early 1780s with a pointed bodice meeting at centre. In the late 1780s, the gown was altered to approximate the style of a robe à la turque.
    • 1775 Robe à la française – here are some more delicious details of the silk plain weave (faille) with supplementary weft-float patterning, moiré finish, and silk passementerie with silk fly fringe.
    • 18th Century men’s matching 3 piece Court suit, wool weave with floral embroidery, c.1780
    • 18th Century men’s matching 3 piece suit, made from linen with silk embroidery a perfect summer outfit. American, c.1780
  • Townsends:
  • Miscellaneous
    • The Jockey Club of 1750-1773 – The Jockey Club was established as a high society social club, somewhat like a gentleman’s club but for horse owners. It is claimed to have been founded in 1750. Read more…
    • My new fashion and collecting history of tartan has landed! Based on the Highland dress collection @NtlMuseumsScot, it explores the world of Highland style in the long 18th century through a range of surviving costume and accessories. Take a gander
    • Mudlarking: I woke Winston up to compare the size of his head to the skull of this c.18th/19th century cat. Once we were past that drama, I managed to conclude that they had much smaller heads than cats today, smaller than Winnie’s head anyway.
    • Love this little graffito horse, carved into one of the building-stones of the drill-hall in the Roman fort at Birdoswald (Hadrians Wall). It was probably put there by a soldier stationed at the fort – although we have no idea exactly why!

 

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