In this issue:
- Piecing Together a Loyalist Militia: James Thorne’s Company #46 – Part Three – by Stephen Davidson UE
- Robert M. Calhoon’s “The Loyalist Perception”
- Joseph Plumb Martin: The Religion of a Revolutionary Soldier
- Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Yorktown. – A Soldier‘s Life October 1781
- Advertised on 26: December 1774: “Bride and Christening Cakes”
- Loyalist Quarterly Newsletter Dec 2024, by Paul J. Bunnell UE
- Book Review: Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution
- UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
- Spirits of Christmas Past: Hudson’s Bay Company
- Did you know: Loyalist: A Hamlet in Alberta
- Events Upcoming
- From the Social Media and Beyond
- Last Post: DOW UE, Gordon Malcolm Keith
- Last Post: WISENER, Mary
Twitter: http:// twitter.com/uelac
Facebook: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/2303178326/?ref=share
Piecing Together a Loyalist Militia: James Thorne’s Company #46 – Part Two of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
After they arrived in New Brunswick on the John and Jane, a handful of those who had served in James Thorne’s militia company #46 can have their subsequent whereabouts determined through documents of the era.
According to the Fort Howe’s victualing musters, Henry Lord arrived in Saint John in October of 1783 with a wife and 3 children under ten years of age. Two of their children died before May 1784. Two years later, Lord testified before the loyalist compensation board on behalf of Isaac Titus, a former neighbour from his days in Westchester, New York. Lord’s name appears on a list of Loyalists receiving land in Sunbury County. In 1790, he petitioned the colonial government for land in the Maugerville area. He described himself as one “who suffered during the Rebellion“.
Henry Lord last appears in New Brunswick’s archives when he was referenced in the will of his father-in-law James Newble. As the latter had no natural heir he bequeathed half of his worldly goods to Henry’s wife, Eunice Lord. Eunice was described as the daughter of Margaret, Newble’s late wife, making her his stepdaughter. Eunice’s inheritance hinged on the condition that she “take sufficient care” of Newble in his “advanced age“. As it turned out, Newble only lived for a year after drawing up his will.
Caleb (Kaleb in one document) Wood came to Saint John in 1783 with his wife Mary and an adult female dependent – perhaps his mother or mother-in-law. In the victualing musters for May of 1784, they only note his wife and a child over ten, so perhaps the dependent female was a teenage daughter. Ruth Wood was the youngest of the Wood children; all the others being adults by 1783.
At this point, the records make it difficult to determine if this Caleb is the same Loyalist as a Caleb Wood who came to Saint John from Long Island. The latter had been a merchant on Long Island where he provided supplies for the British troops bringing down the ire of local rebels who imprisoned him for a time. This Caleb was 60 when he became a refugee, so he found it difficult to do the pioneering work that his land grant on Grand Lake required, given his age and background. Given that other Company #46 also settled in this part of Queen’s County, the Caleb in the victualing musters may indeed be the former Long Island merchant.
Archival documents in Ontario show that Caleb’s son-in-law Abraham Powell filed a land petition on December 29, 1798, stating that his “wife {Ruth} is daughter of the late Caleb Wood, a Loyalist who was born and bred up on Long Island & acted as Forage Master in the King’s Forces.” An attached certificate of William Smith stated he was, “personally acquainted with Caleb Wood… Caleb Wood joined the British Standard on Long Island 1776… continued a Loyal subject to the close of the War, at which time he removed to St. John, New Brunswick & there died.”
Caleb Wood died at age 71 on September 20, 1794. His widow Mary died 8 years later in Upper Canada, a new loyalist colony where her son Israel and daughter Ruth had settled.
Obadiah Griffin was another militiaman who was given a land grant on New Brunswick’s Grand Lake. Obadiah had been a farmer in New York’s Dutchess County before joining Company #46. He sailed on the John and Jane with his wife Mary and three children under ten. Like so many other loyalists in this militia, the Griffin family was “recommended for charity“. Despite his pacifist Quaker upbringing, Obadiah’s name was on a list of Loyalists who “were ready to take up arms” whenever the British entered Dutchess County. When his list came to the attention of the local rebel committee in the summer of 1777, Griffin was “confined on board the fleet prison” at Esopus.
The Griffin family did not remain at Grand Lake. They received a land grant across the Bay of Fundy in Digby, Nova Scotia as early as 1801. Thirteen years later Obadiah, his wife, and some of their children relocated to Upper Canada. Obadiah Jr. and his family settled in Smithville. It is thought that Obadiah Senior may have returned to his native New York.
The last member of James Thorne’s Company #46 that we will consider is William Gallop who sailed to the mouth of the St. John River as a bachelor “recommended for charity“. He or another Loyalist by the same name later settled in the loyalist town of St. Andrew’s, Charlotte County. Hailing from Massachusetts, this other Gallop was one of four men who sent a “representation” to government agents in support of creating the colony of New Brunswick out of the northwestern portion of Nova Scotia. It seems unlikely that the militiaman Gallop would acquire this kind of prominence and later become a magistrate. Just one of the threads left to be untangled in piecing together the stories of the men who made up Company #46!
Some members of Militia Company #46 remain no more than mere names on a victualing muster with no other documents of the era to flesh out their stories. Josiah Dykeman sailed with a wife and 3 children under 10. Alexander Hackett came without a spouse or children. Joseph Jackson was a bachelor from Long Island; he would have fought alongside two other single men: William Woodworth and Edward McElroy. John Taylor came to New Brunswick with his wife with sufficient resources that they did not need to be recommended for charity. Like other members of the 46th Company, John Taylor shared his name with other Loyalists, making it difficult to know for certain what he did after disembarking from the John and Jane.
The men of the 46th Company had fought together during the revolution, had sailed to sanctuary on the John and Jane, and then established new homes in the loyalist colony of New Brunswick – many opting to settle near their fellow veterans. Though far from complete, this reconstitution of the men who made up James Thorne’s Company provides 21st century descendants and historians with insight into their experiences as Loyalists.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.
Robert M. Calhoon’s “The Loyalist Perception”
Noted by Stephen Davidson UE while volunteering at a local food bank where he discovered (and then found online) in a collection of historical articles first published in 1998.
“While a perceptive kind of comparative history will be needed to bring together the pieces of the Loyalist puzzle, it is also important to explore as analytically as possible the Loyalists’ perception of reality, the structure of their values, and the pattern of their rational and emotional responses within each of the historical contexts from which they operated.“
This article begins:
The nature of loyalism in the American Revolution is an intractable historical problem, in part, because the Loyalists appeared in several distinct social and political settings: pre-Revolutionary colonial society, rebellious American states, the various parts of the British Empire to which they fled, and the post-Revolutionary republic where still more re-emerged as respectable citizens. In each of these contexts the Loyalists revealed different facets of the values, attitudes, and characteristics which accounted for their adherence to the Crown. While it is dangerous to read back into the Loyalists’ Revolutionary experience things they said in retrospect, it is also misleading to assume that the Loyalists revealed everything they had to say about themselves under the intense pressures of specific crises in the pre-Revolutionary controversy or later during the Revolution itself. Read more…
More articles – Stephen notes:
Your keenest readers might want to explore other loyalist-related articles that have appeared in Acadiensis going back to the fall of 1971. (One of Canada’s leading scholarly journals, Acadiensis is devoted to the study of the history of the Atlantic region and remains the essential source for reading and research in this area.) Readers can browse through past editions by visiting the Acadiensis website: <https:// journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis>
Joseph Plumb Martin: The Religion of a Revolutionary Soldier
by Benjamin E. Severson 23 Dec 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
Military history has taken a variety of forms, one of which is the lasting trend of social or “from the bottom-up” history. One aspect of this brand of historiography that historians of the Revolution have not explored in thorough detail is the impact of religion on the daily lives of the war’s participants. Historians have discussed religion in the Revolution for over a century, with intellectual, political, and social histories at the forefront, but the soldiers received little attention. In 1966, Alan Heimert published Religion and the American Mind from the Great Awakening to the Revolution. This revisionist and intellectual history reconsidered the war’s religious implications and brought attention to religion’s investigatory potential. Later, social historians tailored their research questions to peoples’ experiences, mainly the clergy and the social elite.
Religion was a cultural staple in eighteenth century America, influencing all areas of society. Military and political leaders intended to create and cultivate religious feelings that inspired loyalty to the nation. Army chaplains held responsibility for communicating those political ideas to the troops through prayer and sermons. Despite the efforts of the political and military elite, soldiers’ individual beliefs were more of a personal motivator for charging forward, or at least staving off desertion, in the face of hardship and less of a barometer for patriotic fervor that chaplains could super-charge before or after combat. The published narrative of private soldier Joseph Plumb Martin gives insight on the extent to which the complex infusion of religion, patriotism, and politics fueled his martial motivations. While this is just one man, he provides a glimpse into the political nature of the common soldier that historians can use as a framework to expand similar inquiries across a broader spectrum. Read more…
Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Yorktown – A Soldier’s Life October 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
- May 1781: to Chesapeake Bay (Yorktown).
Octber, 1781: At Yorktown. (page 104)
Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fifth Year, 1781
IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER [1781]
page 105
13 October. I went on watch in our lines. Today a bomb fell so unfortunately into the camp of the Ansbach Regiment that it killed four men in a tent and fatally wounded two others. Private Sttzel II, of our regiment, while on a command in the defenses, had his left foot shot off by a piece of shrapnel, so that three days later his leg had to be amputated at the thick part of the calf. During the night the enemy did not fire as heavily as on previous nights. Therefore, our side fired all the more heavily. The enemy, as far as we can notice, is working very hard on his batteries, defenses, and communication trenches, and his approaches are advancing very near to our lines. They have also completed a new and very long battery in the middle of their camp, in which they have placed sixteen cannon of 36-, 42-, and 48-pounds.
Tonight two men of the Bayreuth Regiment, namely, Privates Bimerth and [Veit] Hundshammer of the Colonel’s Company, and three men from the Ansbach Regiment deserted from picket duty. Every day, in all the regiments, there are many dead and wounded, and especially among the Light Infantry, which is in the Hornwork, or the middle of our line, as this is heavily engaged by the enemy.
14 October. Today in the city, below the bank at the water’s edge, a cannonball of more than one hundred pounds was found, which had been fired by the enemy. Between seven and eight o’clock at night the enemy attacked the outer redoubts, Numbers 7 and 8, on the left flank, in which were assigned one captain and two lieutenants with one hundred English and Hessian privates. The enemy, under the cover of a thick fog, crept up to the abatis completely unnoticed, and before anyone was aware, they had quickly and silently made a few openings. A great number of French grenadiers, of which part had long storming pikes, made an assault with the greatest determination, sprang into the trenches, tore out the palisades, and after a hard-fought defense, and heavy small-arms fire from the command in the positions, successfully entered the two redoubts without firing a shot. A few of the command fled during the attack and came into the lines. The others were captured, and also some killed and wounded. The enemy also had many dead and wounded. He immediately occupied these two positions, made them secure, and planted the French white flag on which there were three lilies.
During this attack they made such a terrible screaming and loud hurrah shouting that there was nothing otherwise to believe than that all hell had broken loose. Supposedly three thousand men, French and American, took part in this storming operation, mostly volunteers. During this incident, there was an alarm in our entire camp. All troops had to move out and onto the wall. The entire left wing fired their small arms. It was believed they would break in our left wing in order to storm our entire line. However, after taking the two redoubts, they were completely quiet during this night, except that the exchange of fire continued heavy from both sides.
During this storming the following strategem was employed. In the middle of our lines, loud German commands were heard. „The entire column or brigade, forward march! Halt! Cannons to the front!” And that, two or three times. Also, a few rifle balls flew over the wall and into the middle of our line. By this means they created a false alarm and we believed that they would attack us in the middle.
During this night, 14 October, two men of the Bayreuth Regiment, Privates Schpf and
Voit of the Major’s Company, deserted from a picket. On the whole, since this siege began,
many of our troops, the English and the Hessians, have deserted to the enemy.
15 October. I went on watch in our defenses as lance corporal.
The bombardment continued on both sides throughout the day; at night, however, the enemy was very quiet and fired only a few bombs at us. But our side continued firing throughout the entire night.
(to be continued)
Advertised on 26 December 1774: “Bride and Christening Cakes”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
December 26
Despite the distresses that Boston experienced in the fall and winter of 1774 because of the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Quartering Act, Thomas Selby, a “Pastry and Kitchen Cook, from London,” advertised that he “carries on his Business as usual” and declared to his “Friends and Customers” that he “hopes for the Continuance of their Favours, as he is determined to spare neither Pain nor Expence to merit them.” Apparently, he did not intend to discriminate when it came to prospective customers since he also confided that the “Gentlemen of the Army and Navy who will be pleased to favour him with their Custom, may depend on having their Orders well executed.” Selby chose to look beyond politics, figuring that a customer was a customer during hard times. Notably, he advertised in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, known for its more sympathetic stance toward the government than other newspapers published by Patriot printers. He also advised “Country Shopkeepers” that he would make a “good Allowance” for those who submitted orders for “Candied Almonds and Sugar-Plumbs of all sorts.” In other words, he gave discounts for purchasing in volume to retailers outside the city.
Selby filled many kinds of orders at his “Pastry and Jelly Shop.” He prepared and sold “Pastry and Confectionary, cheaper than can be made in private Families,” making it smart and economical to engage his services. He offered the eighteenth-century version of take-out food, advertising “Dinners drest” at his shop, and catered functions for his clients, highlighting “Entertainments prepared.” Read more…
Loyalist Quarterly Newsletter Dec 2024, by Paul J. Bunnell UE
Published since 2004, the December 2024 issue is now available. Fourteen pages, it features:
- Editor’s Comments
- Support Loyalist Trails
- Westford, Massachusetts . Loyalists
- Origin of the Loyalist Flag
- Earthquake Scares for Loyalists During 1783 Evacuation
- A New Brunswick Slave Ghost
- Sierra Leone Loyalist History
- Revolutionary War Poem
- Happy New Years Loyalists
Vol. 21 Part 4 December 2024 Quarterly Issue “In Publication since 2004”
Editor: Paul J. Bunnell, UE, Author, Koasek Abenaki Chief; BunnellLoyalist@aol.com; 978-337-9085, 49 Pleasant St., #106, Alstead, NH 03602
The Only U.S. Newsletter Devoted to The study of The American Loyalists
Subscription Rate: $22 U.S. $24 Can. — (March, June, September, December issues)
Book Review: Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution
Author: Christopher R. Pearl (University of Virginia Press, 2024)
Review by Kelsey DeFord 26 Dec 2024 at Journal of the American Revolution
Christopher Pearl’s Declarations of Independence seeks to highlight diverse experiences, motivations, and differing views on independence. Historians have examined these topics before from an ideological and theoretical point of view, including asking questions of “whose revolution was it?” and “what did the revolution mean” to the various groups within what would become the United States. Pearl examines the Susquehanna nations and their conflict with “Fair Play” squatters in Pennsylvania, arguing that these groups had different ideas of what the revolution meant. While squatters defined individual liberty by claiming ownership of native lands, natives understood liberty as the right to defend their culture and sovereignty (pages 8-10). Other themes within Pearl’s work are government ineffectiveness or complacency and racialized violence.
Pearl sets the stage with an anecdote that the “Fair Play” republic of squatters, whose historical marker in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania allegedly marks the site of the Tiadaghton Elm, where some met to draft their own declaration of independence to break away from Great Britain. The elm tree no longer exists, and historians question whether the event ever occurred. Pearl uses the anecdote to remind readers that the “grand visions of equality [and] individualism” perpetuated by this popular memory obscures the complexities of the story.
Chapter one explains the colonial spoils system, which granted land due to political patronage and elitism. This system disadvantaged both Native Americans and squatters. Most squatters in Pennsylvania were German or Scots-Irish fighting against not only the patronage system, but also xenophobic and nativist attitudes. Read more…
UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:
- To Brian McConnell UE for additional information about:
- Capt. Jacob Getcheus was from Philadephia where he was a mariner, first with the rebels but then with the Loyalists. He resettled in Digby NS in 1783, then Halifax NS by 1787. He married twice, to Mary ?, and Elizabeth Ferguson.
- To Sumner Hunnewell UE for additional information about:
- Benjamin Parker from Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey served in De Lancey’s 2nd Brigade, He and wife Rachel Thropp took passage on ship Camel with son Thomas (1775-1868 who married Anne Nancy Mears in 1801.
- Benjamin Parker from Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey served in De Lancey’s 2nd Brigade, He and wife Rachel Thropp took passage on ship Camel with son Thomas (1775-1868 who married Anne Nancy Mears in 1801.
If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to loyalist.trails@uelac.org All help is appreciated. …doug
Spirits of Christmas Past: Hudson’s Bay Company
Tales and Treasures from the rich legacy of the Hudson’s Bay Company
Written by Amelia Fay — Posted October 25, 2024
When faced with the challenge of what to buy someone for the holidays, many people look to curated gift boxes that cater to their recipients’ tastes — and this idea isn’t new. In the early 1900s, the Hudson’s Bay Company produced Christmas hampers with liquor and smoking supplies for refined gentlemen.
The HBC Museum Collection includes a number of these wooden boxes that are now empty, their contents having been thoroughly enjoyed. Two sizes were advertised in the 1910 fall-and-winter catalogue. A smaller hamper sold for five dollars and contained one bottle each of rye, Scotch, brandy, sherry, and port along with a box of twenty-five fancy cigars. The larger hamper sold for ten dollars and included the same items plus a bottle of Irish whisky, some Jamaican rum, six bottles of lager, and more cigars.
In today’s prices it would cost upwards of $380 for the small hamper and $580 for the large version. Either option definitely would have been a festive-season purchase for someone very special.
Did you know: Loyalist: A Hamlet in Alberta
Loyalist is a hamlet located in Special Area No. 4 in Alberta, Canada. It is located half way between the villages of Veteran and Consort. Following the Coronation of George V and Mary in 1911, many places along the Canadian National Railway were given patriotic and royal-themed names, including Coronation, Veteran, Consort, Throne, and Loyalist.
The district which included Loyalist, then known as Improvement District 333, was opened for homesteading in 1908. The CN Railway arrived in the area in 1912. At its peak (1912–1939), Loyalist had a post office, a general store, a butcher shop, a grocery store, three restaurants, a lumber yard, five grain elevators, a pool hall, a school, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, a community hall, a train station, a bank, and a meat market. Source: Wikipedia. Noted by Kevin Wisener UE, President, Abegweit Branch UELAC.
The American Revolution Institute: “The American Cause…is the Cause of Liberty” Mon 6 Jan 7:00
Various topics highlighting the marquis de Lafayette and the American Revolution in South Carolina. Lafayette’s farewell tour in 1824 and 1825; exciting stories of several of the Revolution’s southern heroines, including Grace and Rachel Martin, daring sisters-in-law from Ninety-Six, South Carolina; the saga of Revolutionary War veteran Andrew Wallace and his claimed service in every major campaign from 1776 to the war’s end—from Canada to South Carolina. More and registration…
Gov. Simcoe Branch: “My 8th-Great-Grandfather” by Carl Stymiest UE Wed 8 Jan 7:30
Carl will delve into the intriguing life of his ancestor, Anthony van Salee, known as “The Turk.” Van Salee was an early settler of New Amsterdam (modern-day Manhattan) and is believed to be the first Muslim in New York. His story is a cornerstone of Stymiest’s broader family narrative, detailed in the 2001 publication, Down by the Old Mill Stream: A Stymiest Chronicle.
The presentation highlights van Salee’s complex legacy as a prominent yet controversial figure in the fledgling Dutch colony.
Carl is currently President, UELAC
Read more and register…
From the Social Media and Beyond
- While on vacation in Sydney, Australia, I visited beautiful Hyde Park where I saw the Monument to Captain James Cook. Before visiting Australia in 1770 after enlisting in British Navy he served in the Seven Years War and mapped the St. Lawrence River which assisted in the capture of Quebec. Here is my short video about the monument.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Sydney.
Brian McConnell UE, Past President, NS Branch, UELAC - Townsends, and “anything food”
- Hot Drinks To Bring In The New Year! (26 Min)
- This week in History
- 16 Dec 1769 NYC Sons of Liberty member & merchant Alexander McDougall published a broadside that got him imprisoned for libel. He would later become a Major General during the Revolutionary War and Secretary of the Navy. image
- 18 Dec 1774, Lord North chaired a meeting of his cabinet in London. Attorney General Edward Thurlow and Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn declared the Suffolk Resolves, which the Continental Congress had endorsed, as “treasonous.“
- 21 Dec 1774, the ship “Dunmore” sailed from the James River in Virginia with 2,681 bushels of wheat and 521 bushels of corn for Bostonians needing charity after the Port Bill. The cargo would have to be unloaded in Salem.
- 23 Dec 1774, a letter in the New-Hampshire Gazette warned that “the Canadians and Indians…were to be call’d forth to enforce the late Acts of Parliament.” New England Patriots soon tried to ally with both those groups against the Crown.
- 24 Dec 1774 “The four New England Colonies, together with Virginia and Maryland, are completely armed and disciplined, the Province of Pennsylvania will follow their example…” —A Philadelphia gentleman to a British MP
- 27 Dec 1774, gentlemen in New Haven formed the Second Company of Governor’s Guard, an elite militia unit. Apothecary Benedict Arnold spearheaded the effort, and among the first to sign up were Aaron Burr, Ethan & Ira Allen, and James Hillhouse.
- 22 Dec 1775 London King George III signs the Prohibitory Act, allowing confiscation of American ships & imprisonment of American sailors. image
- 22 Dec 1775 Congress commissions first naval officers: Commander of the Fleet Esek Hopkins; Captains Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicolas Biddle, and John Hopkins. Their vessels, Alfred, Columbus, Andrew Doria & Cabot – the fleet’s first ships. image
- 22 Dec 1775 Some 1,400 militia under Cols Richard Richardson, Thomas Polk, Alex Martin &Wm Thompson gathered in SC to quell the local Tories. They annihilated a detachment of Loyalists at the Great Cane break on the Reedy River. image
- 23 Dec 1775 London King George III issues a royal proclamation closing the colonies to all foreign commerce & trade effective March 1776. image
- 27 Dec 1775 Philadelphia. A letter is printed in the Pennsylvania Journal by An American Guesser (nom de plume of Ben Franklin) describing a painted rattlesnake on a Marine’s drum with the motto “Don’t Tread On Me.” image
- 28 Dec 1775 Phila. PA. Committee of Secret Correspondence members John Jay & Benjamin Franklin meet secretly with French agent Archard de Bonvouloir, who tells them of France’s sympathy & willingness to ignore covert support for the US rebellion in France. image
- About December 20, 1776. Hessian Colonel Carl von Donop in command of the garrison at Bordentown, New Jersey, wanted Colonel Johann Rall to fortify the small town of Trenton where Rall was garrisoned with 1,400 Hessians. Rall replied, “Let them come…We will go at them at them with the bayonet.” Rall and Donop did not get along, and Donop didn’t offer to send any of his men to support Rall.
A lieutenant of the Regiment von Lossberg wrote that, “It never struck Colonel Rall that the rebels might attack us, and therefore, he had made no preparations against an attack.” Another wrote that his men had been “under arms three successive nights, and then off duty for one night. We have not slept one night in peace since we came to this place.” image - 24 Dec 1776 Merrick House, Newtown, PA To save the rapidly faltering Cause, Gen. Washington holds a council of war where he proposes a bold strike at Hessian garrisons in NJ. Unanimous agreement is reached, and “Victory or Death” becomes the password. image
- 24 Dec 1776 Gen Washington had every boat collected & hidden behind Taylor Island on the Delaware for a planned crossing. A varied collection of large ferry vessels, small craft from nearby businesses & many Durham boats built to haul cargo. image
- 25 December 1776 General George Washington crosses the Delaware River at night. Leading a hungry, ragged & significantly reduced army through a storm, freezing temperatures, and a river filled with deadly ice, he launches a surprise dawn attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey.
26 December 1776 Trenton, New Jersey. Sometime before 0800, the tired, cold, but very pumped Continental Army of around 2,400 steals up on the outskirts of the town and surrounds it on three sides. They quickly dispersed a surprised Hessian patrol, and soon, artillery and musket fire slammed into the city, startling the garrison. As shivering drummers beat assembly, the brigade of some 1,400 crack German troops under the highly experienced Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall tried to form in ranks. The accurate fire from the Americans drives the Hessian regiments into an orchard at the edge of the town. After a short firefight and the mortal wounding of Rall, the mortified professionals angrily ground arms and standards. 22 Hessian KIA, 92 WIA, 918 PW, six guns. Rall KIA. Patriots: 5 WIA. By 0930, General Washington’s surprise victory startled the British and inspired the Americans—saving the glorious cause. image 1 image 2 image 3 - 27 Dec 1776 Gen John Cadwalader moves his PA Associators & other militia across the Delaware River & advances on a now deserted Burlington. NJ. He informs Gen. Washington the British pulled back their garrisons following the American victory at Trenton. image
- 27 Dec 1776 Congress extends Gen Washington’s plenary powers for waging war & authorizes raising 22 Continental battalions. image
- 25 Dec 1778 Maj Mansfield Bearmore’s Loyalist troops launch an attack on Young’s House, NY, capturing the owner and several Americans but losing one of their own to friendly fire. image
- 23 Dec 1777 Gen Washington invites select members of Congress to Valley Forge to discuss leadership issues, specifically the so-called Conway cabal of officers seeking his replacement by Gen Horatio Gates. image
- 25 Dec 1778 Tybee Island, GA. Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell learns Savannah is poorly defended & decides to attack before he is reinforced by Gen Prevost & before Savannah is reinforced by American Gen Benjamin Lincoln. image
- 23 Dec 1779 Portsmouth England Adm George Rodney sails to relieve the British garrison at Gibraltar with 22 ships of the line, frigates & 300 transports. image
- 26 Dec 1779 NYC. Gen Henry Clinton’s 8.7K men depart in Adm Marriott Arbuthnot’s 90 transports & 10 warships. as part of the new British “Southern Strategy.” image
- 26 Dec 1780 Cheraw, SC. Gen Nathanael Greene’s army established a camp, hoping to recruit the locals and strike British Gen Charles Cornwallis’s army should he move into NC. image
- 21 Dec 1781 Great Britain declares war on the Dutch Republic for joining the First League of Armed Neutrality and informally supporting the Americans with money & armaments. They also accused them of giving refuge to John Paul Jones & his squadron. image
- Clothing and Related:
- Dress Circa 1775-1780, silk. Originally of a brighter shade of pink, this striped silk gown exudes a lively playfulness characteristic of the fashion of its time. In the 1770s, silks woven with plain stripes and small motifs began to replace the elaborate large-scale patterns of earlier decades. These textile designs express a taste for ‘simplicity’ that defines the years leading up to the French Revolution.
The construction of this type of gown was also called ‘Robe à l’Anglaise’ (English gown), set apart from the sack back gown or ‘Robe à la Française’ (French gown) by the fitted back of its bodice and its centre front fastening. This example would have been fastened with pins, a common practice in the 18th Century. Read more… - Cozy & warm – 5 samples:
1. A family quilt made in PA by unknown family member/s; early 19th c.
2. French pieced quilt with gorgeous indigo, purchased via Villa Rosemaine;
3. modern toile from Colonial Williamsburg;
4. recent fun throw @NaturalLife
5. last, 20+ year-old patchwork pattern machine made quilt
- Dress Circa 1775-1780, silk. Originally of a brighter shade of pink, this striped silk gown exudes a lively playfulness characteristic of the fashion of its time. In the 1770s, silks woven with plain stripes and small motifs began to replace the elaborate large-scale patterns of earlier decades. These textile designs express a taste for ‘simplicity’ that defines the years leading up to the French Revolution.
- Miscellaneous
- A handy 18thc kit for Christmas overindulgence – Paregoric elixir (opium) as a painkiller, Dr Gregory’s Stomach powder for heartburn and Bicarbonate of Soda for flatulence
Last Post: DOW UE, Gordon Malcolm Keith
G. M. Keith Dow of Long Reach, husband of the late Heather Ann Dow (née Chittic at Kings Way Care Centre after a lengthy illness. Born in Saint John on July 1, 1937, he was the son of the late Major Gordon Y. Dow and Eleanore (Holder) Dow. Keith was a respected teacher and school principal, who retired in 1993 after completing a 35-year career in the public schools of New Brunswick.
A four-time graduate of the University of New Brunswick, (History and Political Science, Education and Educational Administration), Keith had an avid interest in political and constitutional issues. He twice presented briefs to Select Committees of the Legislative Assembly.
Active in church and community affairs, he served as President of the Saint Andrews Society of Saint John, The New Brunswick Branch – United Empire Loyalist Association, and Peninsula Heritage Inc. He was also a life member of the Saint George’s Society and the N.B. Lodge, No.22 F & A.M.
More details…
Keith served on the Executive of the New Brunswick Branch, including a period as President.
Noted by William Holder UE, a first cousin, also a member of New Brunswick Branch.
Last Post: WISENER, Mary
Mary Kathleen (O’Connell) Wisener of Charlottetown PEI passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at the QE Hospital on December 26, 2024 at the age of 84 years old, after a brief illness. She was the daughter of the late William and Kathleen (Doyle) O’Connell and was born in Frenchfort. She was a graduate of Notre Dame Academy, and received a teacher’s diploma from Prince of Wales College and taught in a one room school in Pleasant Grove, and in Indian River.
In 1961, Mary met her husband, Paul, at a dance in York and were married for 62 years. They lived in Watervale where they were the owners of Wisener’s Mills and Mary was an integral part of all aspects of the business, especially administration. Mary and Paul had five children one of whom is Kevin Wisener UE, President, Abegweit Branch, UELAC.
More details at Belvedere Funeral Home
Mary was a wonderful supporter of Abegweit PEI UELAC Branch and we shall miss her joining us at our annual public events. Jayne Leake UE, Abegweit Branch
Published by the UELAC
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