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Too Fantastic to Believe
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
A loyalist who found sanctuary in London, Samuel Curwen kept in touch with fellow refugees and with friends in the new United States with a regular correspondence. In August of 1780, Curwen learned of something so fantastic that he reached out to other Loyalists to see if the report was true or just wildly exaggerated “fake news”.
In an August 16th letter to William Browne, a fellow townsman from Salem, Massachusetts, Curwen wrote that he had been told “the story of a dark day having occurred in New England, on the 19th of May, such as was never before known; in order to maintain the common intercourse of life, candles were lighted and kept burning. For my own part, though I am no believer in omens, I cannot but take this to be a most extraordinary and terrifying event. Darkness, in {dream interpretation}, denotes distress, anguish, trouble, loss, sickness, death, and the whole train of evils, physical and moral. Perhaps the fearful among our country folks may find in themselves a disposition to be reconciled to the thoughts of a reconnection with this country, which seems more likely to force terms on them than since this foolish, needless, baneful quarrel commenced.”
Based in Cambridge, Wales, Browne wrote back to Curwen six days later. “When you have collected an authentic and satisfactory account of the phenomenon you mention to have happened at Boston {the dark day}, I wish you would communicate it, with its circumstances, consequences, and impressions, unless it should first appear in some public print.”
On the same day, Jonathan Sewall wrote to Curwen from Bristol, England. A Harvard graduate and former attorney general of Massachusetts, Sewall’s keen mind wanted to solve this strange meteorological mystery. “The story I firmly believe to be true, but like many Jewish stories in the Old Testament, I take it not in a literal, but in a metaphorical or allegorical sense. Take it as an allegory, and it is easily to be credited; but as this kind of writing is now become rather obsolete, it is necessary to premise, that under the present tyranny in America, no man there dares write upon political subjects in plain English; if he writes at all, it must be in dark enigmas, and in this scriptural style.”
In other words, Sewall was convinced that the dark day was a coded communication rather than an actual event. He elaborated his theory further.
Interpret it thus: The writer wished to let his friend here know what effect the news of the reduction of Charleston had upon the minds of the Boston rebels, … but … chose to give it in an allegory, trusting to the sagacity of his friend … and thus it is:
On the 19th of May… the news arrived of the surrender of Charleston, and though at sunrise the sky was clear, and promised a fine day, … they were till that morning assured Clinton would be defeated, yet this fatal news at once darkened their bright prospect and induced a gloomy horror, so that candles were lighted in their houses, (Adams, Hancock, Dr. Cooper, and other rebel leaders went from house to house to assure the people the news could not be true.) This was the short interval of light, or twilight, that ensued; but soon after, on the same day, or perhaps the next … an express arrived with an official account confirming the dark tale, and then the twilight was succeeded by a tenfold darkness a dark horror and blackness of despair fell on all. This is my interpretation.

It was a clever response to the news of such an extraordinary event. Within two days’ time, Sewall had to revise his theory and shared these lines in another letter to Curwen: “the story of the dark day is literally true; but, as they relate it, the phenomenon was truly wonderful, far beyond my comprehension.
Sewall then recounted what he had been told by Loyalists who had just arrived in Great Britain and had been eyewitnesses to the dark day. The new arrivals spoke of an “uncommon darkness” at nine in the morning and the need to light candles. Grass appeared to be dark blue in colour. On the following day both land and water were covered in a “dark greasy or oily substance”. The darkness extended from the Hudson River in the north and as far west as Lake Champlain. Was it in fact, “the devil spreading his wings over the northern rebellious colonies“?
During the darkness there was not the least appearance of fog, smoke or haziness. Sewall urged Curwen to consult the Royal Society with the details of the event and then report back to him. Said Sewall, “I do not believe all the wise men of Boston will be able to explain it.”
Curwen finally got back to Sewall on November 19, 1780. “My philosophical friend, {the Rev. Joseph} Bretland, of Exeter, has sent the following conjectural account of its cause.” In short, Bretland hypothesized that the New England spring had been dry and warm, causing “extensive stagnation in the air” that resulted in “a copious ascent of vapours” which was “sufficiently dense” to block the sun’s rays.
Bretland’s hypothesis wasn’t far off the mark, and he might have done better with additional data. New England’s dark day actually extended from southern Maine to New Jersey. There was a blood red moon that night. A person could not see her hand in front of her face. Ash and burnt leaves fell from the sky. Birds stopped singing. Thousands thought it was the end of he world. Many thought it was a sign of divine displeasure with people rising up against their king.
By examining the burn damage on trees in what is now Ontario, scientists have determined that there was a major forest fire in what is now Algonquin Provincial Park in early 1780. The smoke combined with thick fog and clouds to produce a barrier that –in Bretland’s words—was “sufficiently dense” to block the sun.
Curwen thanked Bretland for his consideration of the dark day. “Your ingenious accounting for the appearances during and after the darkness is natural, pleasing and intelligible.
The interchange of ideas among Loyalists and their English friends provides an interesting glimpse into how educated men of the era confronted an event that seemed too fantastic to be true. Men with Christian convictions, Curwen and Sewall nevertheless sought out natural causes –rather than spiritual ones– for New England’s dark day.
   To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Joseph Trumbull and the Challenge of Feeding an Army
by David Price 7 Jan 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
The saying that “an army marches on its stomach” has been attributed to both Napolean Bonaparte and Frederick II, King of Prussia, known as “Frederick the Great.”[1] If this observation is correct, it can be argued that nobody did more to keep the Continental Army on the move during perhaps its time of greatest travail, as the disheartening campaign of 1776 unfolded, than the man most responsible for seeing they were fed: Joseph Trumbull.
A Family Affair
It has been said that the stature of the Trumbull family in Connecticut was comparable to that of the Lee family in Virginia, Adams in Massachusetts, or Livingston in New York and New Jersey.[2] The Trumbulls played an important role during the Revolutionary era, led by Jonathan Sr. (1710-1785), the deeply religious and commercially successful father who served as governor from 1776 to 1784 and was the only colonial governor to support the rebellion against Britain, as well as a friend and advisor to Washington…
…The Man Meets the Job
Joseph Trumbull served as the first commissary general of the Continental Army, from July 19, 1775 to August 2, 1777, with the rank of colonel. He secured that congressional appointment through Washington’s influence, coming to the general’s attention after having been named by the Connecticut Assembly as commissary general of the Connecticut troops outside Boston on April 28, 1775. ..
…As Commissary General of Stores and Provisions, he would achieve a considerable degree of success in creating a system by which the states supplied the Continental Army; indeed, Washington reported to the president of Congress, John Hancock, in June 1776 that “few armies, if any, have been better and more plentifully supplied than the troops under Mr. Trumbull’s care.” Read more…


Rhode Island Soldiers of Color at Red Bank, Monmouth, and Valley Forge

by Christian McBurney 9 Jan 2025
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, famously known as the “Black Regiment,” is renowned for its key role in helping to repel three enemy charges at the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778. What is not widely appreciated is that Rhode Island’s two Continental Army regiments were multi-racial before the famous “Black Regiment” was formed in 1778. The 1st and 2nd Rhode Island Regiments had more than sixty soldiers of color serving in them, serving in integrated companies for most of 1777.
In February 1778, Rhode Island’s two Continental regiments were reorganized. All of the rank-and-file of color in the 2nd Rhode Island were transferred to the 1st Rhode Island; and all of the White rank-and-file in the 1st Rhode Island were transferred to the 2nd Rhode Island. In addition, enslaved men in Rhode Island could obtain their freedom by enlisting in the 1st Rhode Island for the duration of the war, and their masters would be paid up to £120 for losing their “property.” More than 130 enslaved men enlisted and obtained their freedom.[1] The survivors of the Battle of Red Bank, Valley Forge, and the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse were hardened and battle-tested veterans by the time they joined their newly-freed compatriots recruited in Rhode Island in early August 1778.
The Battle of Red Bank
The Battle of Red Bank was one of the most surprising and one-sided American victories of the war. General Washington was thrilled about it, because it was one of the few American successes in the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777. 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).

October, 1781:  Battle at Yorktown. (page 106)

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

IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER [1781]
page 107

18 October. The entire day was quiet with no cannonading on either side.
Today Private  [Christoph]  Andig,  of  Eyb’s Company of  our regiment,  deserted  from  our line.
At noon two frigates and one schooner from the French fleet entered the harbor.
All troops during the last fourteen days have received much sugar and chocolate, or cocoa, as the English call it, with the daily ration. These were taken from a Dutch merchant ship that the  English  captured  and  divided  among  the  regiments.  We  drank  chocolate  three,  four,  or even  more times  a  day.  Also, we ate  it  with  sugar  on  bread,  but  still  could  not  use  it  all.  It served us well during the present sleepless work and fatigue, which we had day and night with the greatest danger to our lives.
19 October.  The  unfortunate  day  for  England  when  the  otherwise  so  famous  and  brave General Lord Cornwallis, with all  his troops and the ships  in the harbor, had to surrender to the united French and American troops under the command of General Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
On  this  day,  in  the  morning,  I  went  for  the  last  time  on  the  engineer  watch.  At  twelve o’clock noon all watches and posts were cancelled. Only a regimental watch of one sergeant with twelve men remained on duty a few hours more. During the cancellation of the watches, Private  [Georg  Friedrich]  Riedel,  of  Beust’s  Company  of  our  regiment,  deserted.  He  had  a wife and child at New York.
Now the capitulation was final.
The French and Americans immediately occupied our works and the line and all magazines and storehouses.
Nothing of our equipment and uniform items was taken or even touched; instead we were treated according to law and fairness and the customs of war.
We were, on one side, happy that finally this siege was ended, and that it was done with a reasonable  accord,  because  we  always  believed  we  would  be  taken  by  storm.  If  it  had continued only a few more days, it would really have resulted in a  major attack, because the French Grenadiers already had such orders.
For  my  part,  I  also  had  good  reason  to  thank  God  that  He  was  my  Protector,  Powerful Helper, and Savior, who during the siege  had  so  graciously  saved  my  life  and  protected my body and all my limbs  from  illness, wounds, and all enemy shots.  Oh! How many thousand bullets and deathly situations have I encountered face to face!
During this siege the enemy had thrown more than eight thousand bombs of loo, 150, 200, and  even  250  pounds  at  us.  We  had  more  than  seventeen  or  eighteen  thousand  killed  and wounded.  Supposedly,  the  enemy  also  counted  more  than  ten  thousand  men  dead  and wounded.
The troops  under  the command of  the  brave Lord Cornwallis and General [Charles] O’Hara of the English Guard consisted of the following regiments:

  1. The King’s Guard, three regiments.
  2. The Light Infantry, which consisted of three battalions and had men from all regiments. It had lost many good soldiers.
  3. The Forty-third Regiment, also good soldiers.
  4. The Seventeenth Regiment, very weak.
  5. The Twenty-third Regiment, also very weak.
  6. The Eightieth Regiment — still had many men.
  7. The Seventy-sixth Regiment, or the Green Scots — was a strong regiment.
  8. The Seventy-first Regiment, or one regiment of White Scots — was not strong.
  9. One corps of South Carolina militia, called volunteers.
  10. The Royal American Rangers, consisting of six companies.
  11. One  regiment  of  Light  Horse,  or  English  Light  Dragoons,  five  to  six  hundred  men strong.
  12. Two  companies  of  English  Artillery,  or  cannoneers,  each  of  sixty  men  plus  the engineers.
  13. A number of English pontoon and picket workers; that is, carpenters  and  people who construct floating bridges.
  14. The Marines and sailors and all the ships’ crews, amounting to about fourteen hundred men.

The German troops captured were:

  1. The Hessian Hereditary Prince Regiment — was strong but had many killed, wounded, and deserters.
  2. The von Bose Regiment, which was quite weak because it had suffered from the enemy bombs and cannonballs.
  3. The Artillery Corps of both regiments.
  4. The Ansbach Colonel von Voit Regiment [and]
  5. The Bayreuth Colonel von Seybothen Regiment, together nine hundred men, which had about  forty  dead  and  wounded  and  fifty  deserters;  and  the  Artillery  Corps  of  both regiments.

Also, a small Hessian and Ansbach Jaeger Corps, which had been stationed in Gloucester.
(to be continued)

Book Review: Backcountry War, The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter
Author: Andrew Waters (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2024)
by Patrick H. Hannum 6 Jan 2025 Journal of the American Revoltiion
In his Epilogue, Andrew Waters states he wrote the book for himself to better understand his childhood exposure to and fascination with the book’s main characters, Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter. In answering his continued curiosity and as an adult intellectual still attracted to these three characters, he produced a very well written, researched and readable text. Readers will enjoy his narrative.
The title he selected is interesting because the term backcountry is not well defined. If one surmises there is a backcountry, there must be a front country. From a colonial mercantile perspective, the front country represented the coastal and port cities that linked directly to the mother country and therefore were the face of the colony for trade and commerce. In South Carolina, this was the city of Charlestown (today Charleston). The entire British North American colonial system, however, was dependent on raw materials and resources produced by people who lived in the countryside or backcountry and shipped these materials through the front country. The extensive backcountry and its residents were therefore the most important part of Great Britain’s colonial empire in North America and an integral part of the colonial trade network. During the Revolution it was essential for Great Britian to exercise military control of the vast backcountry…
…Pacifying the South Carolina backcountry, as part of the larger British southern strategy, required a tremendous volume of military resources and strategic patience; time was not on the side of the colonial power. Conditions there favored partisan warfare. Waters’ narrative helps to explain why the frequently-employed British fire and sword approach failed in the backcountry. Read more…

Advertised on 10 January 1775: “The Negro Caesar’s Cure for Poison”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Note: January 1, 1775, fell on a Sunday.  Colonial printers distributed newspapers every day except Sunday.  The Adverts 250 Project will commence examining advertisements from 1775 tomorrow.

January 10, 1775

“The Negro Caesar’s Cure for Poison.”

On January 10, 1775, Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, advertised “THE SOUTH-CAROLINA ALMANACK, or Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY for the Year of our Lord Christ 1775.”  Like many other printers who promoted almanacs, he attempted to incite interest by listing the contents, including the usual astronomical calculations, “High Water at Charles-Town,” “Days for holding Courts in South-Carolina and Georgia,” “Lists of Public Officers,” and a “Description of the Roads throughout the Continent.”  This almanac contained all sorts of useful information for readers to reference throughout the year…
…While the poem in Crouch’s advertisement lamented the loss of “Rights and Liberties” for colonizers, the printer simultaneously disseminated two dozen advertisements about enslaved people in that edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal and the supplement that accompanied it.  Yet readers did not need to look beyond the advertisement for the almanac to find references to enslaved people.  The contents included “The Negro Caesar’s Cure for Poison, and the Bite of a Rattle-Snake,” appropriating African knowledge. Read more…

Australia, a Counterrevolutionary Colony
By Freg J. Stokes at Jacobin
With the British settlement of Australia, Europe’s long history of overseas convict transportation entered one of its most bizarre chapters, as an entire continent was excised as an open-air prison for England’s criminalized lower classes.
On November 24, 1792, in the midst of the French Revolution, the curtains rose on a new play in Paris. A motley collection of French princes, barons, priests, and bankers stumbled across the stage, exiles in “an uncultivated country” in the distant south. These remnants of the French upper class had been escorted from “a ship at anchor” by revolutionary “French volunteers.” The local indigenous people, led by a “Chief Oziambo,” joined the volunteers in raising an obelisk to commemorate the occasion.
This play, Les Emigres aux Terres Australes (The Emigrants to the Southern Lands), was the first to be set in colonial Australia. The subtitle was Le Dernier Chapitre d’une Grande Révolution, Comedie (The Last Chapter of a Great Revolution, a Comedy). The playwright, a certain Citizen Gamas, had reimagined the invasion of Australia and flipped it upside down. In place of the English sending their criminalized lower classes to the Antipodes, the French had sent their aristocrats — a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the guillotine.
If Gamas’s satirical inversion was revolutionary, then by implication, Britain’s colonization of the Australian continent was counterrevolutionary. Eric Hobsbawm describes this era as the first global Age of Revolution: in France Louis XVI would be beheaded within two months, in the Caribbean the Black Jacobins of Saint-Domingue had risen up in revolt, and from Connecticut to Cuzco the peoples of the Americas were challenging the divine right of monarchs to rule.
Great Britain may have lost its colonies in North America, but it was rapidly accumulating territory in India, and had no intention of letting its own lower classes sabotage its plans for global hegemony. While the Sans-Cullotes revolted in Paris, many of Britain’s vagrants, petty criminals, and political dissidents were exiled to the far side of the world, put to the service of settler colonialism and capital, which seized Aboriginal land and resources in Australia.
By the time it formally ended in 1868, England’s criminological experiment in the South Pacific had assisted in staving off political revolution at home, while defending the propertied interests behind the industrial revolution. The precise effects of the Australian penal colonies in deterring political dissidence (such as the English Chartist movement) and property crimes (such as the Swing riots) are impossible to quantify, but the intention behind their establishment is clear. Virginia and its neighboring colonies were first established to muscle in on the pillage of the Americas, with the outflow of convicts to these settlements occurring as a handy by-product…
…The British government too had engaged in previous penal transportations, exporting over 50,000 convicts to its North American colonies prior to their independence.  Read more…

The Mystery of Mr. McIntosh’s Apple
In the spring of 1811 John McIntosh was out in the woods of southeastern Ontario, clearing land where the village of Dundela would soon appear. Little did he know that he was about to take his place in history.
by Shane Peacock, 6 May 2016 at Canadaa’s History
McIntosh had come to this cold and unforgiving country in 1796 from the friendly, civilized region of the Mohawk Valley, fleeing family disdain for the unforgivable sin of falling in love with an unacceptable mate.
He had settled on land near the town of Iroquois on the St. Lawrence River, but now the woman who had caused such upheaval in his life was gone and he was several miles further north, married to Hannah Doran and trying to tame the land he had traded with her brother.
Only one-quarter of an acre of this so-called farm had ever been cleared and even that section of the wilderness had grown up again, the young trees towering above his head.
But in amongst them, he kept coming upon little seedlings, strong and youthful, and decidedly unlike the others. Apples, thought John McIntosh, apples growing in the Canadian bush? He spared them.
About a dozen seedlings were soon transplanted to his garden nearby. By the following year all but one had died. He nursed it and it slowly grew. When it bore fruit, red-blushed and round, he tasted it, tart on the tongue.
Today the McIntosh is produced in greater quantities than any other apple in Canada and the north-eastern United States, and is grown in orchards around the world.  Read more…

John McIntosh, in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
farmer; b. 15 Aug. 1777 in New York, son of Alexander McIntosh and Juliet —; m. Hannah Doran (Dorin), and they had six sons and five daughters; d. between 19 Sept. 1845 and 10 Jan. 1846 near McIntosh’s Corners (Dundela), Upper Canada.
John McIntosh has been linked in Canadian legend with an apple, one of Ontario’s, if not Canada’s, agricultural successes in the 20th century. He is said to be the originator of the apple which bears his name.
John’s father was a Scottish immigrant who settled near Harpersfield, N.Y., in 1773 and was a loyalist during the American revolution. According to one account John came to Upper Canada in 1796, another places the date of his arrival at 1801, and yet a third claims he immigrated at age 18. Perhaps the first two versions come together in a chronology suggested by one writer, that he immigrated in 1796 and married in 1801. He apparently bought land in the St Lawrence valley, in Matilda Township, where on 8 March 1813 he purchased the west half of lot 9, concession 5. Read more…

Discovery and Development of the McIntosh Apple:
National Historic Event Plaque – details

John McIntosh 1777 – 1846
Marker by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board – details

Servants wages in the late Georgian Era
by Sarah Murden 6 Jan 2025 at All Things Georgian
I have been trying to find out the average wages of servants in the Georgian era, which has proved more difficult than anticipated. The newspapers of the day carried numerous adverts by employers for potential employees and vice versa. Employers were quite clear about the skill set needed, as were candidates advertising their services, but none stipulated the financial terms upon which they would be employed.
London Lives website provides some clues to the average wages received by employees, but sadly their role within a household rarely appeared,  the majority were simply terms ‘servant’ as we can see with these –

In 1788 we have Ann Owens, aged about 27 years, who was a hired yearly servant with a Mrs. Lambert in Church Row Aldgate in the Parish of Saint Botolph Aldgate in the City of London for 2 years & upwards at the yearly wages of £6. Read more…

The Female Weavers
Documentation of 18th & 19th century double interlocked tapestries
By Viveka Hansen 19 Dec 2013 at ikfoundation.org
Female weavers who produced double interlocked tapestries or “rölakan” as a professional occupation were extremely rare during the 18th and 19th centuries, which also was confirmed during the documentation between 1984-1991 including more than 1.600 examples of these tapestries. Only one woman could be placed in this category with certainty, while other weavers – who built up dowries for their daughters or wove to decorate their homes for festivities – have been found during both my observations and by earlier collectors, researchers and documentations. However, the artists/weavers of the largest part of these beautiful textiles are anonymous today. The illustrations and texts below briefly describe the knowledge, traditions and circumstances surrounding the female weavers of Skåne in southernmost Sweden.
The main part of Bengta Oredsdotter’s production is believed to have consisted of large bedcovers designed with octagons in rows, but the Gärds/Villands districts’ typical stylistic small trees placed in these octagons were by her replaced – as well as by some other weavers in the area – with a myriad of various birds, people, deers, flowers etc. Uncertainties are, on the other hand, not unusual when trying to trace a particular piece of textile’s history. Read more…

Bay of Quinte Branch: Loyal Americans Hall of Honour: Two Inductees
In the “UELAC Honours and Recognition” many awards by UELAC and various Branches are noted.

The “Legacy of Loyal Americans ~ Hall of Honour” was created in 2003 by the Bay of Quinte Branch. It has the following purpose: to identify and celebrate those descendants of the United Empire Loyalists who have made significant achievements, either locally, nationally or internationally.
Recently two individuals were added to the Hall of Honour:

AGNES MCCAUSLAND RICHARDSON ETHERINGTON
During the 1930s and 40s she hired area artists to create a Summer School for the arts, and brought artist Andre Bieler to Kingston. Agnes and Andre established a plan to establish an art gallery for Kingston.
When she died in 1954, her will stipulated that the family home in the centre of Queen’s Campus would be donated along with her property and fund to establish the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.
Agnes McCausland Richardson was a descendant of Loyalists Captain Michael Grass UE, Barnabas Day UE, Peter Wartman UE, and Nazareth Hill UE

GEORGE TAYLOR RICHARDSON, CM, OB, B.Comm, LLD, UE
In 1970, he was appointed Deputy Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company and in 1972 he became its first Canadian-born Governor in the 300-year history of the company. During his tenure, Hudson’s Bay Company moved its headquarters and archives from London, England to Winnipeg, and transferred ownership from Britain to Canada. He made an outstanding contribution to the development of the family firm during his time in office, most notably the expansion of Pioneer Grain, the completion of Lombard Place which included Richardson Centre and The Fairmont Winnipeg, and the growing of Richardson Securities of Canada into an international brokerage firm.
George also contributed greatly to companies outside the HBC and Richardson companies.
George Taylor Richardson had many Bay of Quinte ancestors and was a descendant of loyalists Captain Michael Grass UE, Barnabus Day UE, Peter Wartman UE, Nazareth Hill UE, Paul Huff UE, Peter Stoneburg UE, Harmanus Nix UE.

Read more about the two inductees noted above and see the list of prior inductees.

Events Upcoming

Chester County History Center, PA: Doans and the Revolution Tues, 14 Jan. 7:00

    The Doan Gang was a group of British loyalists, the most notorious members being five brothers and one cousin from the Doan family of Plumstead, PA. The gang was composed of around 50 members who were accused murderers, attainted traitors who ferried British prisoners of war to British lines, and horse thieves. They were also guilty of robbing tax collectors; their most famous crime being the theft of the Bucks County treasury in 1781.
This 45-minute lecture focuses on the Doan Gang and their activities in Bucks County during the American Revolution. This lecture is based entirely on contemporary research using historic court documents, eyewitness accounts, and newspaper appearances.
Pay As You Wish!
Reserve Your Spot

American Revoution Institute: Under Alien Skies: Environment, Suffering, and the Defeat of the British Military in Revolutionary America Thurs 16 Jan 6:30

The Revolutionary War is often celebrated as marking the birth of American republicanism, liberty and representative democracy. Yet for the tens of thousands of British and Hessian troops sent three thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean to wage war under alien skies, such a progressive picture could not have been further from the truth. Whether trudging through alligator-infested swamps, nursing a comrade back to health in a rain-sodden tent or digging trenches in a burned-out port city, most who fought in America under the British army’s flag ultimately deemed themselves strangers fighting in a strange land. For them, Revolutionary America looked nothing like the “happy land . . .  Read more and registration…

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • At the National Australian Maritime Museum I read how an early settlement proposal for the country included Loyalists from Nova Scotia. image   Read more above…
  • This week in History 
    • 8 January 1735  Marlborough Town, MD John Carroll, founder of Georgetown University), is born. Named America’s first bishop by Pope Pious VI on 6 Nov 1789. During #RevWar, he was part of an embassy led by Benjamin Franklin to woo French Canadians to the cause.   image
    • 6 Jan 1759 George Washington married the widow Martha Dandridge Custis on 12th night. The ceremony of the future first couple is believed to have taken place at her home, known as the “White House”.  image
    • 7 Jan 1765 Boston, MA During the Stamp Act protests, shopkeeper Harbottle Dorr took the Boston Evening Post &wrote his comments on the news in the margins. He collected more newspapers every week and expressed his opinions on the events. image
    • 2 Jan 1775 —Boston Evening-Post “Last week the Marines, which lately arrived in the Men of War from England, commanded by Maj. Pitcairn, were landed, and are now in Barracks at the North Part of the Town.” John Pitcairn boarded at Francis Shaw’s.
    • 3 Jan 1775, a crowd in Concord “unloaded Capt. [Duncan] Ingraham’s Bords that were to go to Boston,” Dr. Joseph Lee wrote in his diary. The army might have used that timber to build barracks, and locals didn’t want to see that happen.
    • 4 Jan 1775 “The Discontent of the Soldiers has become so general that they have doubled all the guards and…fix’d a field piece in the Centre of the town to be fir’d in case of a mutiny.” —merchant John Andrews
    • 5 Jan 1775 in a pamphlt “the universal opinion is, that the destroying of the tea at Boston, was a flagrant act of injustice…: and that the refusal of the town to pay for it, is foolish and unjustifiable.” —Rev. Samuel SeaburyJanuary 5, 1775
    • 6 Jan 1775, Adm. Samuel Graves sent HMS Swan from Boston harbor to Rhode Island to help HMS Hope in “preventing the unlawful Introduction of Arms and Ammunition” into New England. He blamed “the rebellious proceedings of the Rhode Islanders.”
    • 8 Jan 1775, the men of West Brookfield, Massachusetts, resolved to equip & train themselves for “resisting any armed force that shall attempt by force to put in execution the late revenue Acts…between this time and the first of July next.”
    • 9 Jan 1775 “Our patriots have been so intent upon building up American rights, that they have overlooked the rights of Great-Britain, and our own interest. . . . they have been arguing away our most essential rights.” —”Massachusettensis”
    • 11 Jan 1775 Woburn assessed its town property taxes for that year. Instead of sending that revenue to the colonial government, however, officials would send it to Henry Gardner, receiver-general of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
    • 5 Jan 1776 Portsmouth NH New Hampshire delegates vote to become the first independent state & replace the colonial charter with a new state constitution with a president and bicameral legislature. image
    • 5 January 1776 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Continental Congress ordered the 1st Continental Navy squadron commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins to sea to seek the British warships off the coasts of the Carolinas, Rhode Island, and the Chesapeake Bay. Congress was concerned with the Royal Navy’s dominance of the American coast and its ability to transport troops, threaten ports, and seize American vessels. Hopkins would disregard his orders and make an excursion to the Bahamas, where the first American naval landing (by Marines) took place. Some prizes were also taken, but the effort provided no strategic advantage.  image
    • 6 Jan 1776 Boston MA Gen Sir Henry Clinton sails from Boston to rendezvous off the Cape Fear River with a flotilla under Commodore Peter Parker & Gen Charles Cornwallis. The combined fleets/forces would join Loyalists in the Carolinas. image
    • 7 Jan 1776 Philadelphia, PA Samuel Adams wrote his friend Col James Warren that the idea of a confederation among the colonies “is not dead, but sleepeth.” “I do not despair of it — since our Enemies themselves are hastening it.” image
    • 8 January 1776 Charlestown, Massachusetts. Major Thomas Knowlton leads a raid that disrupts Gen John Burgoyne’s play, “The Blockade of Boston.” Around 9 pm, Major Thomas Knowlton’s force of 100 men crossed the mill dam between Cobble Hill and Bunker’s Hill and moved swiftly through the streets. Captain Keyes took a small party and set up blocking positions. Many British officers were attending a performance of a specially written play, The Blockade of Boston, which was a satire “aping” the colonial rebels. A group of British officers put on the production. When first Americans entered the theater, many in the audience laughed, thinking it was part of the performance. They soon learned otherwise as Knowlton’s raiders torched some buildings and took several prisoners before returning. Distasteful as it was, the raid was still deemed preferable to a bad New York Times review. image
    • 9 Jan 1776 After a long delay, the Continental Congress promotes Col. Benedict Arnold to brigadier general. The delay in promotion would be one of many grievances he held against the American government. image
    • 10 Jan 1776 On HMS Scorpion in Cape Fear, NC, Royal Gov Josiah Martin issues a proclamation calling on the king’s loyal subjects to combat the rebels & restore the province. He hopes to gather 20K Loyalists at Brunswick, NC. image
    • 6 Jan 1778 Battle of the Kegs explosive mines invented by David Bushnell launched on the Delaware River to take out British ships. There was little damage, but much effort was made to find and disarm them. image
    • 9 Jan 1779 Eastern GA falls under British control when Maj Joseph Lane surrenders Ft Morris to Gen Augustin Prevost when Prevost places artillery in position to pummel the American defenses. A handful of casualties on each side.  image
    • 10 January 1779, Continental Navy Captain John Paul Jones takes command of the Duc de Duras, a French merchant & renames it the Bonhomme Richard. The ship was given to Jones by the King of France, Louis XVI, for use against the British. Jones chose the name Bonhomme Richard to honor Benjamin Franklin, whose famous work, Poor Richard’s Almanac, was a bestseller in France. Jones outfitted the ship for war. The size and armament made her roughly equivalent to half of a 64-gun ship of the line. He left at the head of a 5-ship convoy in August for another raid along the east shores of Britain, spreading fear all along the coast.  image
    • 8 Jan 1780 Cape Finisterre Spain British Adm George Rodney encounters Commodore Don Juandi Yardi’s convoy of 20 vessels. Launching an attack, the British take several vessels including a 64-gun ship of the line.  image
    • 9 & 10 Jan 1781 McAlister’s Plantation, North Carolina. British southern commander General Charles Cornwallis writes Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton about the main army’s movements and correspondence regarding the enemy forces, especially Dan Morgan. In an amended report on January 10th, Cornwallis informs Tarleton he is slowing his marching to keep in contact with General Alexander Leslie. The British would fox hunt-like blow through the Carolinas for the next several months, slowly exhausting their army and supplies. But the Carolinians fiercely resisted the occupation. So Cornwallis could neither pacify the country nor deal General Nathanael Greene’s forces a crushing blow. Instead, Cornwallis’s victories were marginal ones he could not afford, and two of his best subordinates suffered significant defeats. image
    • 5 Jan 1781 Richmond, VA American traitor British Brigadier General Arnold and Col John Graves Simcoe’s 1,600 British & Loyalists disperse 200 Virginia militia and take state capital. Arnold later gave the order to burn the city. image
    • 6 January 1781, State House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Continental Congress reorganizes the Committee of Foreign Affairs (formerly the Committee of Secret Correspondence) and re-brands it as the Executive Secretary of Foreign Affairs. This predecessor to the State Department became extremely important as the War for Independence needed to draw more overt foreign support and engage its new allies. The widening of the war beyond the 13 states would prove a critical factor in causing the British to settle.  image
    • 7 January 1782 at Gholson’s Farm, North Carolina. In retaliation for depredations against Loyalists, Loyalist Colonel David Fanning rode to patriot Captain Gholson’s farm and burned it down. He went on to torch two more nearby homesteads. Fanning executed one prisoner who had proclaimed himself very anxious to have Loyalists executed. The war in the South was a brutal civil war with scores of small-scale actions, ambushes, burnings, hangings, and shootings. An American-on-American struggle swirled around the British attempts to pacify the region, if not conquer. The Mohawk Valley and Upper Hudson in New York saw similar savage fighting. image
    • 9 Jan 1787, James Armistead, America’s slave spy gets his freedom from the Virginia legislature. Armistead was born into slavery in New Kent County, Virginia, in 1748 in the household of William Armistead.  image
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Check out this remarkable detail of material and lacework. It’s from a portrait of Madame de Pompadour, shortly before her early death from TB in 1764 (Francois-Hubert Drouais)
    • ‘A Frosty, Fashionable January, c.1790s.’ The painting is reverse (oil) painted on glass – an oft-encountered example of skilled artists of the Asian Export trade. Made in Canton, it was intended for a Western audience. image; Read more…
    • Cape, American or European, last third 18th century. Cloaks in one form or another were popular items of dress in the American colonies from the time of the early settlers. This particular type of cloak, called a “cardinal” because of its color, is made of a closely woven wool cut on the bias and left with a raw edge along the hem. The hooded cape is a variant of the capuchin, or monk’s habit. It is gathered in a circular shape at the back to stand high without crushing the mobcap or coiffure underneath. The vestee is a practical solution for keeping the upper torso warm while leaving the hands free. By the late eighteenth century cardinals could be bought ready-made in England; thus, it is possible that this cape was imported rather than made in the colonies.
    • A puff of purple stripes emanate from the more controlled bodice of this 1780s gown. It is both exuberant and disciplined at the same time, the uniformity of the stripes and structured fit giving way to ballooning skirts
  • Miscellaneous
    • The telescope was invented in the Netherlands in 1608, drawing on centuries of optical science in Europe and the Middle East.
      When the first expedition left England to come to Jamestown in 1606, the telescope had not yet been invented – John Smith did all his exploration and mapping of Virginia without one! But the early colony included a number of educated and wealthy men.
      Among these men was Thomas Harriot, who in 1585 observed a solar eclipse while sailing to Virginia, and a comet while he lived at the Roanoke colony. He drew the first map of the moon with the aid of a telescope in 1609 and became the first person to observe sunspots in 1610.
      Harriot’s scientific research was partially funded by a 1595 grant of land from the 9th Earl of Northumberland, whose brother George Percy was among the first Englishmen at Jamestown. Throughout his time at Jamestown, Percy received various deliveries.
      He, Sir Thomas Gates, Lord Delaware or Sir Thomas Dale could have been the owner of the telescope whose lens (ca. 1611-17) was found by archaeologists in the Governor’s Row.

Last Post: MCILREATH UE, Dr. Sean Alexander
Following a two-year battle with cancer, our beloved husband, son, brother, father and uncle, Sean, passed peacefully, on January 1, 2025, in his 55th year. He is survived by his loving wife, Jennifer McIlreath (nee Phelan); children: Phelan and James; parents Ian and Susan McIlreath, Sister Melissa (Terry) Wilcox.
Sean Alexander McIlreath was born on October 25, 1970, in Kingston, Ontario. He was the adored little brother of Melissa until he was 12 and towering over her reaching his 6’3″ height. Before his first birthday the family settled in Calgary, Alberta where he grew up, went to school, excelled in sports, enjoyed hunting and fishing and especially the nearby mountains he so dearly loved.
He had a very fulfilling career after graduating from medical school at University of Alberta in 1996. Following his Residency in General Surgery at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, he joined the General Surgery Department at Quinte Health for his 24-year career serving as Chief of Surgery from 2009 – 2016 and took on numerous leadership roles.
Sean was an Associate Professor at Queens University where he was the education coordinator for the family medicine residents during their surgical rotation in Belleville.  A true innovator, he embraced minimally invasive techniques early on, pioneering their use at Quinte Health.
He was a generous mentor to the entire surgical department, freely sharing his extensive knowledge with both new and experienced colleagues. His unwavering willingness to guide and support others left an indelible mark on everyone he worked with.
As a Father Sean was one of the best and taught us to live big, full lives. We bonded at the cottage as it was our family gathering place for competitive games of Yahtzee and Cranium. Our family vacations were always an adventure leaving us with many fond memories to hold in our hearts. More details…
Sean and his two children Phelan and James, members of Calgary Branch, proved to their Loyalist ancestor David W Babcock UEL in May of 2023.

Published by the UELAC
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