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Lost Stories: Loyalists’ Human Assets
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
When testifying before the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists, James Dunmore sought compensation for the slaves, 12 indentured servants, and tradesmen he had in his employ while he was the governor of Virginia. Given that enslaved Africans were considered to be property in colonial America, it is not strange that Dunmore hoped to be compensated for this wartime “loss”. What is interesting about his appeal to the commission is the fact that he wanted compensation for the 12 people who had entered into indenture contracts with him. And he was not alone.
Indentures were a common form of contract between labourers and employers throughout the British Empire. A person in need of food, shelter, and clothing (and perhaps the acquisition of a trade) bound himself (or herself) to an employer for a set period of years. The indenture provided the employer with inexpensive labour and allowed the indented servant a means to keep body and soul together.
When the American Revolution disrupted colonial society, some indentured servants took advantage of the chaos to run away from their employers. The latter often posted rewards for the return of the fugitive servants. In other situations, when Patriots confiscated the property of Loyalists (including their slaves), they also took their indentured servants. The Loyalists in this scenario considered the loss of the years of indented labour that had been promised to them as a legitimate basis for a claim of compensation.
John Faulkner was a New York cabinet-maker who had fought for the British on Staten Island. During the revolution, he lost mahogany washstands, a workshop, various buildings, wood, and tools. He also no longer had his two apprentices who still had 11 years left to serve in his cabinet making shop. Although he had not lost manpower that he had paid for (as in the case of those who once had enslaved Africans), Faulkner nevertheless felt he deserved compensation for the years of labour his apprentices had agreed to provide.
While Faulkner’s claim for compensation was rejected, the one filed by Margaret Hare was not. Margaret was the widow of John Hare of Johnstown, New York. In her claim for what her husband had lost during the war, she asked for compensation for “an indentured man and woman servant.” Her claim was accepted. The compensation board agreed that the loss of indentured servants was a legitimate casualty of war.
Ebenezer Foster of Woodbridge, New Jersey had been the overseer of the poor in his town before the outbreak of the revolution. On March 25, 1773, he had 3 year-old orphan named Benjamin Thorp bound to him in an indenture. Thorp would only be free of his contractual obligations when he reached the age of 21. When Foster filed a claim for compensation in 1787, he sought restitution for “the indenture of {an} apprenticeship“.
Foster was initially a member of the local rebels’ Committee of Observation, but over time changed his political convictions. He became so “obnoxious” he “was frequently dragged before the Town.” At the end of the war, he and his wife and 3 children settled in New Brunswick. Foster would eventually become a member of the colony’s first House of Assembly. Benjamin Thorp (sometimes Tharp) was 13 years old when the Foster family sought sanctuary in New Brunswick. He had not accompanied the man who had been his master.
Given an indentured servant’s place in society, it is rare that any details of their lives should survive. But in Thorp’s case, more is known of his fare. He married Elizabeth Maxon sometime before 1789. The couple had 7 children: Experience, Hannah, Hezekiah, Bethia, Nancy, Timothy and Susannah. The family moved to what is now Salem, West Virginia where Thorp was a carpenter. Benjamin and Elizabeth had both died by 1811 and so five of their children were indentured to friends and family to raise.
The indenture of children was far too common. The first ship to bring Loyalist refugees to what is now New Brunswick carried a 9 year-old girl named Sukey. This child was part of the household of Fyler and Polly Dibblee, but she was not the youngest Black Loyalist that the Book of Negroes listed as an indented servant. Seven year-old Grace entered into a 10-year indenture with John Turner of Shelburne, Nova Scotia in February of 1783.
When Nathan Sterns appeared before the compensation board during its hearings in Quebec in August of 1786, he claimed the loss of two indentured children. He had lived near Fort Edward, New York, where he enlisted in Major Edward Jessup’s corps. He was captured by rebels while delivering dispatches and was imprisoned from October of 1776 to August of 1777.
When Sterns became free, he complied with the wishes of Major Jessup, his commander, who wanted him to bring up two orphans – presumably the children of a fallen Loyalist soldier. The boy was 7 years old and the girl was 10. Sterns agreed to care for them on the condition that they would be indentured to him.
After he had provided them with a year’s board and lodging, the rebel congress took them from Sterns and had them bound to another person “against their inclination“. As well as claiming the loss of a house and 100 acres on Lake Champlain, Sterns also asked for compensation for the “cost of boarding two orphans“.
Sterns’ 1786 claim for compensation was rejected. He would appear before the commission again at Lachine in 1787, but did not make reference to the two indentured orphan children.
Joseph Hewling of New Jersey’s Chester Township had joined the British in 1776, but was “too old to play any active part“. He eventually settled in Wilmot, Nova Scotia. He appeared before the compensation commissioners, relating that his situation was “uncomfortable because bounty and provisions have ceased and he is unable to work because of age“.
Among Hewling’s claims of losses were a 19 year-old Black slave, and a 17-year-old of mixed racial heritage who owed him 12 years of indenture service. According to the laws of Pennsylvania, Hewling claimed his indented servant was bound to him until he was 30. How did the commissioners put a price on such a loss? Since Hewling’s claim was rejected, the dollar value of 12 years of indented service remains a mystery.
This brief survey of the inclusion of the loss of indentured servants in Loyalists’ claims for compensation demonstrates that American colonists of this era put a monetary value on the indenture contract. The labour of their indented servants was part and parcel of the things they valued along with land, slaves, and personal affects. Loyalist masters felt that providing an indentured servant with food, clothing, and shelter – and training in a trade— over many years had been an expense for them, and that they should receive compensation for the loss of that person’s service.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Quartering British Forces on Long Island
by David M. Griffin 21 Nov 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
Substantial numbers of British and Hessian troops needed to be housed in New York City and across Long Island during the years of the British occupation from 1776 to 1783. An American report to General Washington in January 1779 estimated the number of British and allied troops stationed on Long Island at approximately 3,380 exclusive of Delancey’s Brigade and calvary.
Previous to the outbreak of the Revolution the English Parliament enacted the Quartering Act, requiring that American colonial governments provide accommodations, supplies and transportation to British soldiers in the colonies. Soldiers quartered at inns, taverns, churches, barns and farm outbuildings, but the Quartering Act prohibited British soldiers from entering private houses. With the start of the Revolutionary War, more extensive quartering became a necessity for the British army, and the rules of the Act were no longer in effect.
Quartering, also known as billeting, was so named from the “billet” or ticket that the soldiers showed to the master of a private house as their warrant to occupy a part of it. The colonists were in return to be issued payment for the partial use of their houses. Billeting with citizens greatly challenged the notions of privacy within the home. There was daily personal interaction between the local population and military troops. With the amount of soldiers quartered in private homes in the New York region, the war would have touched many people’s lives in a very personal way.
One of the most descriptive explanations of billeting on Long Island is recorded in the writings of historian Henry Onderdonk Jr.: Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Daily activities and commentary at Amboy NJ.
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).
Having set out marching on 28 February 1777, they boarded ship and set sail on 29 March from Dordrecht, crossed the English Channel (first time on ocean waters for most; seasickness), passed Dover, anchored at Portsmouth to add provisions for seven days and finally set sail on 7 April. Passed the Azores, and after almost two months sailing, sighted America on 2 June. At June 6, the author relates relates the march from New York City to Amboy NJ.
At Amboy NJ (page 34) after Howe leaves for Philadephia
16 July 1777. General Howe set sail from Sandy Hook with the fleet on which his army was embarked, and it is presumed he will attempt a landing in Maryland or go to Philadelphia.
Howe had barely gone aboard ship with his army and left Staten Island when enemy patrols appeared, which approached our outposts through the bushes, fired upon them, and again ran away.
At noon today about twenty mounted and two hundred on foot crossed over and attacked a picket commanded by Lieutenant [Ernst Friedrich] von Diemar of the Fifty-fifth Regiment Captain [Friedrich Ernst Carl] von Beust and Lieutenant [Christian Theodor Sigismund] von Molitor of our regiment, who commanded the reserve corps, at once moved out to help and attacked them with fixed bayonets. The enemy could not stand this and retreated swiftly, formed again two hundred yards away, fired heavily from behind the bushes, and did not retreat until Captain von Beust again charged with the bayonet. Our troops suffered only one man wounded in this action.
This continued every day, and some days more than once. From this one can easily understand the difference between such a war and a war in Europe. The rebels will seldom attack a large army because, in general, they only go out widely dispersed and, more often, only seek to cause alarm.
When two corps are separated from one another by only a few miles, the intervening area is never secure. Therefore our troops, if they only have to move wagons or horses, must always send a cover for us of one hundred men, and these are often attacked by the enemy.
At this time food here on Staten Island was expensive and also cheap, according to how it is understood. Cheap because the King of England took three pence from each man but daily delivered one pound of white bread, one-half pound of salted meat, an eighth of rum, some dried vegetables such as rice, peas, oats, or flour, and also some salted butter. In addition, each day a man receives as pay seven English pence, or seven good kreuzer in German money. [Yet food is] expensive because fresh provisions are difficult to obtain and our German stomachs cannot adjust yet to the salted meat. One pound of fresh meat costs eight to ten groschen in German money.
The climate here on Staten Island and in the northern regions of America in general is rather different from ours. In this part of the world the sun rises later and sets earlier, a difference of six or seven hours. Therefore a day in the summer in the months of June and July is not as long as at home, because the sun rises after five o’clock and sets before seven o’clock, so that by eight o’clock it is already pitch black. In the day, the great heat causes suffocation and death. On the other hand, at night it is as cold as if it were fall. Above all, the air, because of the frequent fog from the nearby ocean and the foul fumes on Staten Island, is highly unhealthy. Therefore, sicknesses such as putrid fever, diarrhea, and dysentery, often spread through our regiment, and half the men were ill.
Also this evening we had a storm, which generally are very strong on this island. It was accompanied by a frightful windstorm with heavy rain. The inhabitants here in recent years have put lightning rods on almost all the houses.
26 July. I went on picket duty at Deckers Ferry, which was less than an hour from our camp. It is a very fertile region. There are wild vines as thick as a man’s body and bearing many wild grapes. The grapes are very juicy and as large as some nuts. There is a great amount of Indian corn growing here, and a stalk is as thick as a man’s thumb, is eight to ten feet tall, and bears an ear with three or four hundred kernels.
18 August. First Lieutenant von Witzleben, of Seybothen’s Company, died in the field hospital at New York.
On today’s date a part of Burgoyne’s army in Canada that had Brunswick dragoons and grenadiers, as well as a battalion of musketeers, was totally defeated at Bennington by the American General [John] Stark. The Brunswickers lost two cannon, and most of the dragoons were captured.
(to be continued)

One Huck of a Loyalist
Posted by S.W. O’Connell 12 July 2015 in Yankee Doodle Spies Blog
Christian Huck is a name only a writer could conjure up. So who is this guy with a name right out of Hollywood bad boy casting? He was, in fact, a prominent Loyalist during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. But he was much more than that. And I am posting this on the anniversary of the day that made him famous… the day he died.
Huck the Immigrant
Christian Huck was born “somewhere in Germany” on or about the year 1747. Pretty ambiguous beginnings as “Germany” in the 18th Century was not a nation but a region in middle Europe. By the early 1770s, our man had emigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia, where he studied law. His law practice centered around real estate a lucrative and dangerous business in those days. He focused on buying and selling real estate for ready money or short credit, on very low terms, and giving security. With banks of the period very few and money in short supply, some very interesting things could happen in that business. Our iconic George Washington himself speculated in land – but that is a complex tale for another blog. Huck became wealthy. He joined the Anglican church and clearly assimilated well. Huck worked his way into Philadelphia’s upper society, many of whom were loyal to the crown and remained so throughout the war. These are some of the same Philadelphians that Benedict Arnold later got mixed up with.
Huck goes to War
And so our German immigrant Christian Huck (sometimes spelled Houck, or even Hook) was a Loyalist and remained loyal. With the outbreak of war, he along with other prominent Philadelphians suffered for their loyalty. Whig harassment, vandalism, public humiliation, and ostracism were common occurrences. Huck’s mentor, Isaac Hunt, was paraded through town and forced to admit and acknowledge his Tory “misbehavior.” Christian Huck remained in Philadelphia despite these hardships. He continued to work at selling and purchasing real estate. He contributed whenever he could to the Tory cause, associating and helping members who were targeted for their loyalty, and when the British Army occupied Philadelphia in September of 1777, Christian Huck offered his assistance and joined the army. Some would say the wrong army. Because In 1778 the war had grown more shrill in its thirst for retribution. Read more…

Loyalists and descendants who participated in the War of 1812: George Leonard and Son Richard
George Leonard was a Loyalist from Massachusetts who helped to found the Loyal Associated Refugees of Newport Rhode Island, a group of privateers that terrorized the New England coast for 10 months in 1779. He eventually settled in New Brunswick where he became a justice of the peace. He had homes in both Saint John and Sussex Vale.
George’s son Richard settled in Upper Canada by 1814. Read more about Richard.
Submitted by Stephen Davidson UE

Read about other Loyalists and the sons and daughters of Loyalists who participated in the War of 1812.

A New Hampshire Man Gives Thanks: Samuel Lane (1718-1806)
Posted by SilkDamask 24 Nov 2016
Deacon Samuel Lane (1718-1806) was a tanner and a cordwainer (or shoemaker); he was 75 when he wrote the following in his daybook. His house, barn and millpond survive in Stratham, NH.
On Public Thanksgiving Day Morning November 21, 1793, Lane wrote:

As I was Musing on my Bed being awake as Usual before Day-light: recollecting the Many Mercies and good things I enjoy for which I ought to be thankfull this day; some of which I have Noted. Read more…

Convict Labor [in America] during the Colonial Period
Contributor: Emily Jones Salmon to Encyclopedia Virginia
Between 1615 and 1699, English courts sent approximately 2,300 convicts to the American colonies. In the 1700s, prior to the end of the practice in 1776, another 52,200 or more arrived
SUMMARY
In 1615, English courts began to send convicts to the colonies as a way of alleviating England’s large criminal population. This practice was unpopular in the colonies and by 1697 colonial ports refused to accept convict ships. In response, Parliament passed the Transportation Act of 1718 to create a more systematic way to export convicts. Instead of relying on merchants to make arrangements on their own to ship felons to the colonies, the British government subsidized the shipment of convicts through a network of merchants, giving a contract for the service to one individual at a time. Between 1700 and 1775, approximately 52,200 convicts sailed for the colonies, more than 20,000 of them to Virginia. Most of these convicts landed and were settled along the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Although many were unskilled and thus put to work in agriculture, particularly tobacco production, others with skills were sold to tradesmen, shipbuilders, and iron manufacturers, and for other similar occupations. Convict laborers could be purchased for a lower price than indentured white or enslaved African laborers, and because they already existed outside society’s rules, they could be more easily exploited. Nevertheless, Virginia tried repeatedly to pass laws to prevent England from sending convicts, though those laws were overturned by the Crown. At the beginning of the American Revolution (1775–1783), colonial ports virtually ceased accepting convict ships. By 1776, when the last boatload of convicts arrived on the James River, many of the convicts had served their seven- to fourteen-year terms and returned to Great Britain, while a few who had become honest citizens moved to distant parts of the colony with the hope of blending in. Read more…

Transportation to Australia of convict, Sarah Murden
By Sarah Murden 19 Nov 2023 in all Things Georgian
[Note: After the beginning of the American Revolution, convicts could not longer be transported to America so Australia became the destination.]
Today’s article is about my namesake – Sarah Murden (also written as Murdin), who was born on 16 February 1803, at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, to parents John, a shoemaker, and his wife Ann née Beebby. Sarah’s younger brother, John followed in his father’s footsteps and he became a shoe maker; a traditional role in Northamptonshire, famed for its shoe industry. Sarah’s life, however, took a very different path and not in a positive way.
There is no evidence of Sarah having married in her twenties, as most of her peers probably did, nor of her occupation. However, given that the main employers in Wellingborough at that time were shoe/boot makers, it’s highly likely that Sarah would have worked for such an employer, perhaps working alongside other members of her family. Read more…

Advertised on 23 November 1773: “Wedding Cakes”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“Confectionary: Wedding Cakes”
Frederick Kreitner made and sold sweet treats at his “CONFECTIONARY” in Charleston in the early 1770s. In an advertisement in the November 23, 1773, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, he expressed “his most grateful Thanks to the Gentlemen and Ladies, who have favoured him with their Custom” and solicited the patronage of new and returning customers. The confectioner listed several of the items he made and sold, including macaroons, “Tea-Cakes of all Kinds, Sugar-Plumbs, [and] preserved Pine-Apples, Oranges, Strawberries, Ginger, Lemons, and Almonds.” Kreitner also advertised that he sold “Wedding-Cakes.” Read more… [interesting evolution of cakes, bridal cakes and wedding cakes]

The Foods of Love? Food Gifts, Courtship and Emotions in Long Eighteenth-Century England
By Sally Holloway 20 Nov 2023 by Cambridge University Press:
Abstract
This article rediscovers the importance of food gifts in navigating the process of courtship in England during the long eighteenth century. Studies of courtship and gift-exchange to date have demonstrated how courting couples exchanged a wide range of gifts to produce and intensify feelings of love and advance their relationships toward the altar, from garters and gloves to ribbons, rings, portrait miniatures and locks of hair. Yet the edible gift has remained conspicuously absent from this picture. The article reinserts edible tokens into the historiography of love and marriage, revealing how they operated as an indispensable and unique part of the ‘gift mode’ during courtship. It demonstrates how courting couples exchanged a wide range of foodstuffs from cakes and sweetmeats to game, fowl, fish, exotic fruits and home-grown produce. In doing so, the article advances the burgeoning field of emotions and material culture by demonstrating how organic or perishable items could function as powerful emotional objects, able to nourish the human body, provide a source of sensual and gustatory pleasure and elicit feelings of joy, delight, love and desire. In turn, these gifts show courtship made everyday, transacted between couples and their families, and situated in gardens and squares, shops, theatres and around a family’s tea table. Read article…

Delay in 2023 UELAC Fall Loyalist Gazette Publication
Introduction: This report aims to clarify the reasons behind the delay of the 2023 UELAC Fall Loyalist Gazette. The Editorial Team sincerely apologizes and appreciates your understanding and patience.
Background: The UELAC Loyalist Gazette showcases articles, stories, and research related to the theme of Loyalists and their significance. This Fall 2023 issue has experienced a delay due to several factors.
Article Overabundance: The main reason for the delay is the overwhelming number of article submissions about Maritime Loyalists – the central theme of this issue.
Article Selection Process: the Editorial Team has been challenged to select the most suitable ones. We try to ensure a well-balanced and engaging publication.
New Publication Date: The Fall issue will be released later than expected. We are working diligently to finalize the article selection, complete the edits and prepare for publication. The team aims to have the publication available to readers before Christmas.
Conclusion: We assure you that the Fall Loyalist Gazette will not disappoint. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to providing a high-quality publication as soon as possible.
Bill Russell UE, UELAC VP, Loyalist Gazette and Communications Committee Chair on behalf of the Loyalist Gazette Editorial Team

In the News

Revolutionary War history under a driveway in N.J. to be unearthed
By Richard Cowen 9 Nov 2023 at NJ.com
Somerset and Middlesex counties have chipped in to literally uncover a piece of history from the American Revolution.
A stone arch bridge where British and Hessian troops clashed with Americans in 1777 lies buried beneath asphalt in the driveway of the Handle with Care Express trucking company off South Main Street in Bound Brook.
Somerset and Middlesex counties will split the cost and plan to uncover the bridge and turn it into a park.
The 80-foot stone arch bridge, which dates to 1731 is believed to be intact. Commonly known as the Old Stone Arch Bridge, the span is on the National Register of Historic Places and believed to be the oldest structure of its kind in New Jersey.
On April 13, 1777 about 4,000 British and Hessian troops marched from New Brunswick to Bound Brook, where they were met by a garrison of 500 Americans protecting the village on the banks of the Raritan River. Read more…
Referenced by Todd Braisted, suggested by Ken MacCallum

Upcoming Events

David Center for the American Revolution “Could the Empire Have Been Saved?” Panel, Fri 1 Dec 6:00 ET

Opening Keynote for conference “Empire and its Discontent, 1763-1773” hosted by the David Center for the American Revolution and the Massachusetts Historical Society
The approach of the 250th anniversary of American independence has led scholars to reexamine the British Empire and the events of the imperial crisis that are generally understood to have led to the American Revolution. The panelists of the keynote session “Could the Empire Have Been Saved?” engage this issue by discussing the problems in the empire revealed by resistance to imperial authority in British America between 1763 and 1773. What kind of empire was it? What was the character of British policy in the colonies? Was the American Revolution really inevitable? And might better decisions have avoided it? In engaging these questions, the panelists aim to reveal the broader implications of new thinking about the British empire and the coming of the American Revolution.
This keynote is part of the conference on “Empire and its Discontent”. Panel includes:

  • Serena Zabin, Carleton College
  • Patrick Griffin, Notre Dame
  • Christopher Brown, Columbia University
  • Moderator: Brendan McConville, Boston University

Click here to access the livestream
For more information on this livestream hosted by GBH, please click here.
For more information on this conference, please see our website.
Questions? Email ccloutier@masshist.org.

Col. John Butler Branch “This is Anne, Older and Wiser” by Maja Bannerman Sat 2 Dec noon Luncheon and Speaker

“What is it like to look back on a life?” asks Anne. Anne Shirley Blythe, now in her 60s, delves into her journals and letters to reminisce and reflect on her past—the very difficult moments and those of great joy.
Created, complied and performed by Maja Bannerman with accompanying music by Rusty McCarthy, this 50 minute performance includes many of the beloved moments from Anne of Green Gables and the subsequent novels in the series by L.M. Montgomery.
Maja Bannerman is a Niagara based performing artist.
Meetings take place at Betty’s Restaurant in Chippawa at 11:45 am. To attend RSVP to colonel.john.butler.branch@gmail.com

Gov. Simcoe Branch “Monarchy in Movies” + Christmas Anecdotes by Garry Toffoli Wed 6 Dec 7:30

Garry will discuss how people relate to movies and how movies influence people’s views of history and the world, particularly regarding monarchy. He will include his personal anecdote about the late Elwy Yost, host of Saturday Night At the Movies.
For a Christmas touch, Garry will talk briefly about some personal Christmas anecdotes, mostly humorous. And lots of Christmas goodies and a book sale for those attending in person
Read more about Garry and the meeting.
Register for zoom. If attending in person, contact Anne Neuman anneneuman@hotmail.com 905-888-1278

American Revolution Institute: “God Save Benedict Arnold” Thurs 7 Dec 6:30

Author’s Talk – God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man
For more than two centuries, all most Americans have ever known about Benedict Arnold is that he committed treason—yet he was more than a turncoat. He was a superb leader, a brilliant tactician, a supremely courageous soldier and one of the most successful military officers of the early years of the Revolutionary War. His capture of Fort Ticonderoga, his Maine mountain expedition to attack Quebec… Although his new book doesn’t exonerate Arnold for his treason, historian Jack Kelly forces us to reexamine our understanding of Arnold. Details and Registration.

Kawartha Branch Christmas Luncheon Sunday, 10 December, 2:00 p.m. ET

Members and friends at Kelsey’s Original Roadhouse, 1211 Lansdowne Street West, Peterborough for a 2:00 p.m. ET Christmas luncheon on Sunday, 10 December.
Order from the menu. A Christmas prize draw.
Space is limited, 25 – 30 in a private room.
RSVP to Grietje and Bob McBride, maplegrm@gmail.com or uelbob@nexicom.net or 705-295-4556 as soon as possibl

Christmas Songfest at St.Albans’s Centre Sun 10 Dec 2:00

Come and sing along with musicians John and Christopher Hall and Doug Handford
Free admission but Non-perishable food items or cash donations for Morningstar Mission welcomed. Refreshments Provided
St. Alban’s Centre, 10419 Loyalist Parkway (Hwy. 33), Adolphustown

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Colourful stained glass window to Jonathan Letteney (1845 – 1936) & wife Monetta (1849 – 1929 ) erected by their daughters Edith & Monetta in Grace United Church, Digby, N.S. Letteney was great grandson of William H. Letteney, a United Empire Loyalist from New York. This is the entire window which portrays biblical story of good shepherd. Brian McConnell, UE @brianm564
  • Townsends – or Food
  • This week in History
    • 24 Nov 1758, Young Colonel George Washington led his troops from the Virginia Regiment on an advance that occupied the smoking ruins of the abandoned French Fort Duquesne at the convergence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.
    • 23 Nov 1765 Court of Frederick County MD is first to officially defy the Parliament Stamp Act, declaring it “null and void.” In the streets, the residents hung the Stamp Agent in effigy, held a funeral for the Stamp Act, and buried it.
    • 21 Nov 1766, the first permanent theater building in the United States, the Southwark in Philadelphia, opened with a production of “The Gamester’.
    • 20 Nov 1767 The Townshend Acts go into effect. Laws were created to bring in revenue & gain more control over the Colonies. Include the Revenue Act of 1767, Indemnity Act, Commissioners of Customs Act, Vice Admiralty Court Act, & New York Restraining Act.
    • November 19, 1773, the Clarkes, alarmed by the attack on their home, and the other merchants chosen to sell East India Company tea in Boston moved onto Castle Island, under the control of the British army, or out to homes in the country.
    • 18 Nov 1775 Fort Ninety-Six, SC. Col. Patrick Cunningham’s 1,800 Loyalists invested the 600 rebels under Col. Andrew Williamson. A desultory exchange of shots occurs over the next few days.
    • 19 Nov 1775 Quebec, CA Col Benedict Arnold withdraws from city to Point aux Trembles to avoid attack by Lt Col Allen Maclean. But Maclean uses time to prepare his defenses around the city.
    • 19 Nov 1775 Sorel, Quebec, CA British flotilla delayed by weather while American Col John Brown’s small detachment bombards British into submission, capturing Gen Prescott, 145 men and several ships and supplies. Gov Guy Carleton narrowly escapes capture.
    • 21 Nov 1775 Paul Revere delivers a letter from Congress to Oswald Eve, asking for help building a gunpowder mill in MA. Eve owned the only gunpowder mill in the colonies. The letter seeks details about how to set up another mill.
    • 19 Nov 1776 Congress pleads for the states to send more soldiers to serve in Continental Army, reminding them “how indispensable it is to the common safety … as the time of service for which the present Army was enlisted, is so near expiring.”
    • 19 – 20 Nov 1776 Gen Charles Cornwallis with 5K men crosses the North R on flatboats landing at Closter, NJ. Gen Nathanael Greene abandons Ft Lee . British take the fort along with 150 prisoners, 50 guns, 300 tents and 1000 barrels of powder.
    • 21 Nov 1776 Gen Washington leads his dwindling army southwest as he abandons the NY area for the safety of the Delaware R. & PA. Gen Charles Lee & William Heath still command American troops north of NYC.
    • 18 Nov 1777 Philadelphia, PA. John Clark, one of Gen Washington’s agents, writes to him of a new asset he recruited in the city who has contact with many British officers solicit Hard or Old money (British pounds, not US dollars) to ply the redcoats with.
    • 20 Nov 1777 After delaying the British for 2 mos, American forces under Col Christopher Greene abandoned Ft Mercer on Delaware R in NJ. Cmdr. John Hazlewood also burns 3 USS warships: Andrew Doria, Hornet & Wasp. State ships were also torched.
    • 24 Nov 1777 White Marsh, PA Gen Washington shut down the underground bars around the camp. “… The Deputy Quarter Master General is required forthwith to make diligent inquiry, and examination, for discovering such houses, and suppressing them…”
    • 24 Nov 1778 Midway Church, GA. General Augustine Prevost’s 700 professional soldiers skirmish with mounted Georgia militia and advance on Midway Church where they clash with a line of NC militia under Col John White.
    • 23 Nov 1780 LI, NY Maj Benjamin Tallmadge leads 80 men with unloaded muskets fixed in an attack on Loyalist outpost Ft St George, taking 54 prisoners, killing 7, and burning 300 tons of hay meant for British horses.
    • 18 Nov 1781 Wilmington, NC. British forces commanded by Maj James Craig abandon the city, taking all Loyalists wishing to evacuate with them.
    • 20 Nov 1783 –Gen Steuben informs Washington of New Windsor Cantonment status as he prepares to break up the camp but keep the hospital open until 1 December for those “invalided” as the Continental Army is dissolved.
    • On October 3, 1789, George Washington issued his Thanksgiving proclamation, designating for “the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving” to be held on “Thursday the 26th day of November,” 1789, marking the first national celebration of a holiday that has become commonplace in today’s households.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • No collection of #EighteenthCenturyTreasures would be complete without a pair of stays. These date from c.1785–88 & are made from brown cotton lined with linen. The boning is whalebone. They would mould the body into a fashionable cone shape.
    • I decorated my mama’s room with many significant things, including this 150-year-old crazy quilt made by her great-grandmother. Not only is it an item she has seen since childhood, but it is a meaningful part of our family history. Past generations of mamas are here with us.
    • Have just come across this great sampler. Stitched by Sarah Ann Quartermain in 1825, depicting the Foundling Hospital in 1763

 

 

Published by the UELAC
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