In this issue:
- UELAC Conference 2025 – Awards will be Presented, but first…Nominations are open
- President’s Notes: UELAC Conference 2025, Board Nominations, AGM, Stored Documents
- Johnny Burgoyne and the Loyalists, Part Three of Six: Phillip Skene – by Stephen Davidson UE
- The Green Mountain Insurgency: New York’s Rebellion Against the Crown
- “Men who Deserve Nothing Better from a Wronged and Insulted Country than Exile”: The Loyalists and Popular American Misunderstanding
- “What Magic There is in Some Words!”: John Fenno’s Private Crusade for an American National Identity
- Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Battle at Yorktown: Surrender. – A Soldier‘s Life October 1781
- Advertised on 28 January 1775: “THE first Number of the PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST”
- Book Review: Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America
- Podcast: From Crisis to Peace: Re-Evaluating the Presidency of John Adams
- Canada’s Pirate Queen
- Events Upcoming
- American Revolution Institute: Benjamin Franklin, Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis and Spain’s Grand Strategy in the American Revolutionary War. Wed 5 Feb 6:30
- QUESCREN: Quebec’s Anglophone Communities and the Legacies of the Quebec Act Thurs 6 Feb noon
- American Revolution Institute: From Trenton to Yorktown Tues 11 Feb @6:30
- From the Social Media and Beyond
Twitter: http:// twitter.com/uelac
Facebook: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/2303178326/?ref=share
UELAC Conference 2025 – Awards will be Presented, but first…Nominations are open
Nominations by members for the 2025 Dorchester Award and the 2025 and the Suzanne Morse-Hines Memorial Genealogy-Family History Award are due 28 February 2025 (midnight EST). Both Awards will be presented in July at the National Conference in Saint John New Brunswick (See .
Recipients of the Dorchester Award are UELAC members who have:
- Made a significant contribution through their volunteerism; and
- Have gone that extra mile with their contribution to the UELAC.
Recipients of the Suzanne Morse-Hines Memorial Award are UELAC members who have:
- Made significant research progress towards family history and genealogy for the purpose of obtaining a UE Certificate.
Details and nomination forms for both awards at available of the members page at uelac.ca/members (login required).
Diane Faris UE, Chair Volunteer Recognition Committee
Learn more about the 2025 UELAC Conference July 10-13, 2025 at Saint John, New Brunswick. Registration and accommodation bookings are ready for you.
President’s Notes: UELAC Conference 2025, Board Nominations, AGM, Stored Documents
I hope you and your families had a fantastic holiday season. As we transition into the winter months, the Board continues to plan:
- the UELAC AGM 2025, scheduled for Saturday, May 24th, 2025, and
- the UELAC 2025 Conference to be held in Saint John, New Brunswick July 10 – 13. All pertinent information is now located on our website at UELAC 2025 Conference
Nominations for UELAC Board of Directors
At a late January meeting, the UELAC Board of Directors approved the UELAC 2025 AGM Nomination Form to be made available to all Branch Executives and the membership.
AGM Nominations – Deadline for ALL – 28 Feb 2025.
The 2025 AGM Nomination Form was discussed, reviewed, and revised. It was agreed that ALL nominees for any UELAC Board of Directors position would include, with their form, a short one-half page biography. These biographies will be included in the Nominations Report within the AGM package that will be available by 15 April 2025 in the Members Section of the UELAC website.
Members can log in and see the nomination form for positions on the Board of Directors in the Members’ Section.
UELAC to move UELAC Documents to UELAC Archives
Following the presentation by the UELAC President, and review by the board regarding the situation and feasibility of keeping banker boxes of the UELAC documents stored at Iron Mountain, (Brampton, Ontario) and the increasing costs (approximately over $6500. annually); and the possible transportation cost of moving back and forth from Iron Mountain to National Head Office and back again,
The UELAC Board of Directors unanimously approved the move of all UELAC boxes presently stored at the Iron Mountain facility to the UELAC Library & Archives storage facility on Augusta St. in Cornwall, effective 30 January 2025. (New costs is approx. $1491. annually)
Information about Preparations for the UELAC 2025 AGM
The UELAC 2025 AGM will be held virtually, Saturday, 24 May 2025.
Members can access this Preparation Document which notes the schedule and deadlines for a number of items required for the AGM, such as nominations for awards, AGM details and registration, etc. It is in the Members Section of uelac.ca under AGM 2025.
Carl Stymiest UE, President, IELAC
Johnny Burgoyne and the Loyalists, Part Three of Six: Phillip Skene
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The orderly book for General Burgoyne’s 1777 campaign into New York contains a puzzling entry in a soldier’s handwriting. In a list of aids-de-camp are found the words “Phillip Skene, a poor follower of the British army.” And yet the only Phillip Skene known to have served under the British general was anything but a “poor follower”.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution Skene was the Lieutenant-Governor of Crown Point and Ticonderoga (New York), and Surveyor of his Majesty’s woods bordering on Lake Champlain. Born in Scotland, he had come to North America as a major in the 52nd Regiment when he was in his thirties. During the Seven Years War, he served under Generals Abercrombie and Amherst when they captured Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1758.
A year later, Skene was granted a 25,000-acre tract of land that he dubbed Skenesborough. It would eventually grow to include 60,000 acres as the veteran officer built a road to Albany, New York, brought in settlers and enslaved Africans, and constructed a gristmill, sawmills and a foundry. He oversaw the building of ships to sail on Lake Champlain, and served his growing community as a militia leader, judge, and postmaster.
In 1775, Skene went to England to propose the creation of a new colony in New England that would encompass the area around Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain – more or less the “footprint” now occupied by Vermont. However, this dream was never realized.
During Skene’s absence in Britain, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allan raided Skenesborough in May of 1775. On the 9th, men who were only identified as being “armed banditti” seized Skene’s family and estate. He would later recount that “to the unspeakable terror and anxiety of his aged and helpless sister and his daughters {Mary Ann Margaret and Katherine}”, these women were “led under armed escort 200 miles, suffering extreme hardship, sometimes walking through he woods and sometimes on an ox cart, with scarcely a change of clothing and exposed to every insult and mortification from a licentious people“. The rebel assembly of Connecticut later sent the Skene women to Canada “in the same manner“. They “suffered great distress during siege of Quebec“.
Skene’s son Andrew Philip was also arrested at the time of his sisters’ capture. He is known to have later served as a guide to the British forces along with his father. (As she is not mentioned in the accounts of the arrest of Skene’s children, it would seem that the Loyalist’s Irish wife Katherine Heyden must have died by this time.)
Meanwhile, Arnold and Allen confiscated Skene’s ships before capturing Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point for the Patriots. Upon his return from England, rebels arrested Skene for his loyalist convictions and imprisoned him in Connecticut. Writing of the Loyalist, John Adams said that Skene had “been contriving to debauch, seduce, and corrupt New York“.
While in captivity, Skene was – in his own words– “particularly obnoxious, but was not deterred from encouraging and corresponding with loyalists“. Eventually, Skene became “too dangerous to leave at large” and was put in Hartford’s jail for six months, “where his health suffered greatly from the hot climate“.
Skene eventually regained his freedom in a prisoner exchange. Learning of General Burgoyne’s campaign to travel down Lake Champlain and defeat rebel forces in New York, he joined the army “without pay” and was “involved in several actions“. Burgoyne gave Skene the rank of colonel and put him in charge of a loyalist regiment. Skene’s son Andrew Philip became a member of Brigadier General Simon Fraser’s select marksmen company. (Members of this latter group were to be “men of good character, sober, active, robust and healthy“.)
Situated at the head of Lake Champlain, Skene’s home at Wood Creek in Skenesborough became Burgoyne’s headquarters in July of 1777. The Loyalist advised the British general on local conditions and may have been the one who persuaded Burgoyne to cut a road from Skenesborough to Fort Edward.
In August, Skene accompanied Lt. Colonel Friedrich Baum’s expedition to recruit Loyalists. They encountered an “uncouth militia” led by General John Stark. The rebel officer called for additional forces and on August 16th, over a 1,000 rebels attacked Baum’s troops in what is now known as the Battle of Bennington. Skene dashed off to gather reinforcements, and had his horse shot out from under him when he inadvertently encountered rebel scouts.
The much-needed reinforcements did not arrive until after the battle. By that time, Baum was mortally wounded and had 200 of his men killed or wounded. More than 700 were taken prisoner or had gone missing.
The historian Gavin Watt notes that Skene “was responsible for intelligence collection during the Bennington expedition and, it is generally believed, his faulty analysis was a principal cause of the tragedy that followed.”
When the British forces left Skenesborough to continue on their march south, General Frederick Haldimand did not want it to fall into the hands of the Patriots. He ordered it to be burned, an order that must have been devastating to Skene who had to witness all of his financial investments and years of work destroyed by the British.
Following the defeat of Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga, Skene was made a prisoner of war. Expecting to be set free, he wrote a letter to Burgoyne volunteering to guide the army back to Canada. Whether this happened is not known. Skene’s next appearance in the historical record is when he served as a witness for a number of Loyalists as they sought compensation in London, England in 1784. Strangely, for a man who had his property destroyed by both Patriot and British forces, there is no record of Skene seeking compensation from the crown.
While in exile he had written a Patriot friend, “I make no doubt of assuring all my friends through you that it is my first wish to become resident in the United States.”
Skene reported that upon his return it would “be an additional pleasure to me, to convince” his friends and hometown into “forgetting every thing disagreeable, which I hope they will have reason to do, nothing shall be wanton on my part to contribute to their welfare and the good of the country.”
Skene returned to New York in the hope of reclaiming his former estate, but he was refused. With his hopes of settling in New York having been dashed, Skene returned to England, acquired Addersery Lodge in West Northamptonshire, and lived there until his death at age 85 in 1810.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.
The Green Mountain Insurgency: New York’s Rebellion Against the Crown
by Robert J. Walworth 28 Jan 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
The pre-Revolutionary War history of Vermont centered on a border dispute between the colonies of New York and New Hampshire. It is a complicated but colorful history, one that has been populated through the years with stories of greedy royal governors, show trials by corrupt provincial officials, land hungry settlers, shady land speculators, lawless vagabonds and bandits, and the birth of a paramilitary militia group the world would come to know as the Green Mountain Boys.
The Crown’s 1764 border ruling set the New York border at the Connecticut River, but failed to address the issue of New Hampshire land titles already issued in the region. New York immediately acted on their perceived authority by invalidating New Hampshire townships and the individual claims of all title holders, and required re-petitioning to New York for confirmation of their claims, including payments for new surveys, patenting fees and higher quit-rents. The settlers in the region initially sought confirmation of their New Hampshire titles and townships with New York, but their perception of inequitable and coercive requirements prompted a direct appeal to the Crown (1766 petition) and resulted in relief from the Crown (instructions and orders in 1767). It is that relief that the settlers rationally relied upon, and that reliance would soon place them in the crosshairs of New York’s provincial government and wealthy, landed elite. The Ejectment Trials represent the moment when New York formally imposed this jurisdictional opposition to the Crown upon eighteen long-time settlers. Read more…
“Men who Deserve Nothing Better from a Wronged and Insulted Country than Exile”: The Loyalists and Popular American Misunderstanding
By G. Patrick O’Brien 22 Jan 2025 at Remembering the Revolution at 250.
Abstract
This article surveys the mutable nature of the loyalist memory throughout US history with specific attention to contemporary Americans’ propensity to invoke the image of the loyalists during times of political polarization. It also makes a few suggestions on how to ensure we as scholars better represent the loyalists to the public during the commemorations and celebrations planned for Semiquincentennial in 2026.
In June 1975, readers of the University of Pennsylvania’s alumni magazine, The Pennsylvania Gazette, were surprised to see a full-page advertisement for the so-called Committee for Reunion with England adorning the back cover. The committee’s spokespeople—identified only as “Messrs. Gambill & Ambrose”—struck a tone distinct from the seemingly ubiquitous patriotism that defined the Bicentennial moment. “As we approach the 200th anniversary of America’s independence,” Gambill and Ambrose informed readers, “we look with dismay and distress upon the many problems facing our country. . . . These innumerable crises are nothing less than the festering of a grievous mistake made 200 years ago: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.” The ad also took aim at the revolution’s leaders by casting those colonists on the other side of the conflict as the true champions of 1776. “The real heroes of that period were the American loyalists,” they claimed, “the Tories who could see what terrible things the Revolution would cause.” The notice, which the authors later revealed to be satire, concluded defiantly, “God save the Queen.”
As the fictional “Committee for Reunion with England” suggests, and much unlike the “marked absence from national memory” that Sophie Jones describes in the United Kingdom, the Loyalists loom large in the imagination of people in the US, especially during times of extreme political polarization. But this does not necessarily translate to a more comprehensive or fair understanding. Most people have only a vague conception of who the Loyalists were. Over the past decade, many historians have turned their attention to these British sympathizers, adding exciting new studies to the wealth of scholarship published around the Bicentennial. Despite this recent increase in scholarly attention, however, the Loyalists remain far less studied than their revolutionary counterparts, and even the work that has been done appears to have little influence on popular opinion. So what has shaped the view of the Loyalists in the United States? How and why has this understanding evolved over time, especially at times when people in the United States felt most divided? To what extent has popular discourse in the United States reflected currents in historical scholarship? How can a more nuanced understanding of the Loyalists inform and complement the commemorations planned for the Semiquincentennial in 2026?
Answering these questions suggests that US citizens have, across many generations, been eager to portray the Loyalists in myriad ways to imbue the revolution with a specific meaning for contemporary audiences, especially during times of political polarization. They have cared little, however, about fostering a more accurate understanding of who the Loyalists were, what they believed, or how they experienced the revolution. Sampling both scholarly and popular publications reveals that even as historians began to dismantle the widespread hagiography on the American revolutionaries, far less has been done to get people across the US to reconsider those who found themselves—either by choice or by circumstances beyond their control—on the wrong side of the revolution. As William Nelson put it in The American Tory (1961), a failure to foster a more accurate and widespread understanding of the subject means the Loyalists have lost “not only their argument, their war, their place in American society, but even their proper place in history.” If today’s historians hope to promote a more complete and balanced understanding of the causes and consequences of the revolution for the celebrations and commemorations planned for 2026, then it is critical to foster a more comprehensive and prevalent appreciation of the Loyalists, on their own terms. Read more… (download the pdf)
O’Brien, G. P. (2025). “Men who Deserve Nothing Better from a Wronged and Insulted Country than Exile”: The Loyalists and Popular American Misunderstanding. Remembering the American Revolution at 250, 1(1), 35–49. https:// doi.org/10.33823/a250.v1i1.315
“What Magic There is in Some Words!”: John Fenno’s Private Crusade for an American National Identity
by Shawn David McGhee 30 Jan 2025 Journal of the American revolution
Governance under the federal Constitution transformed the nature and style of American politics. The spirit of this transformation revolved broadly around fear of political corruption and the vaguely defined yet delicate balance between national authority and state and local power. And while the new republic’s first elected officials deliberated the nation’s most pressing issues in New York and later at Philadelphia, it was print media that brought these spirited debates into the homes of ordinary Americans. Once divergent republican worldviews found representation in competing gazettes, partisan loyalties quickened the formation of national proto-parties, an alarming development neither foreseen nor desired by the political community. Partisan printers informed readers of the principles behind party positions, joined individuals from disparate geographies in political union, and, ominously, identified domestic opponents as enemies who threatened the liberal bounty of the American Revolution. Yet before the political environment descended into crisis, one inspired editor relocated to the national capitol hoping to serve as a medium between the new government and the reading republic. John Fenno calculated that his support for the new Constitution would help foster a single, national people firmly committed to the federal government and its administrations. His gazette, he expected, would at once speak for the government and to the people, extolling federal virtues while instructing popular deference to national initiatives and statesmen. For John Fenno, nationalizing the public character became his private passionem, his secular crusade.
Boston’s John Fenno was born in 1751, the son of struggling leather dresser Ephraim and dutiful homemaker Mary Chapman. Fenno benefited from a public-supported education at Albiah Holbrook’s Old South Writing School where he, some years later, became a teacher alongside his close friend Joseph Ward Fenno, like his father, found himself chasing an elusive upward social mobility just as the American resistance effort became militarized. Possibly through his friendship with Ward, Fenno joined Gen. Artemas Ward’s staff, serving until the latter’s resignation in 1777. Read more…
Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Yorktown Surrender – 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 – Surrender. (page 112)
Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fifth Year, 1781
IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER [1781]
page 112
19 Oct cont’d
List of the artillery of Cornwallis’s army on land, turned over to the enemy; namely:
27 brass cannon of 2-18 pounds
22 metal cannon of 4-12 pounds
51 iron cannon of 6-24 pounds
15 howitzers of 10-30 pounds
29 mortars of 25-120 pounds
31 large cannon and culverins of 24-48 pounds
6 rotary cannon of 6-8 pounds
191 pieces of all caliber.
Ammunition
23 powder kegs, each keg containing 120 pounds. Most of the powder had exploded in the magazine.
2,749 cannonballs, large and small
693 bombs, grenades, and grape, all of which were filled
Now follows a list of those ships that lay in the York River harbor. They were captured with all their crews, marines, sailors, and cannon, and everything on board, and were made prizes by the commanding admiral of the French fleet, Comte de Rochambeau. Thus:
1 warship of 64 guns
4 frigates, two of 32 and two of 28 guns
3 fireships ready for use
39 transport ships, each with two cannon
6 provisions ships, which were captured American ships
19 rowboats and galleys, each with four cannon
7 private ships with small caliber cannon
2 large Dutch prize, or merchant, ships, each with four cannon
1 captured French privateer with twenty cannon
In all, 82 ships.
The crews captured on these ships, including naval officers, marines, sailors, and other
ships’ personnel, amounted to 1,140 persons.
Many of the cannon from these ships had been taken to the defenses on land. Also, all
munitions and most of the provisions had been unloaded, and many of the large iron cannon
had been sunk in the water before the capitulation. Therefore, the French received only 103
cannon with these ships, and the others, taken on land, fell to the Americans.
Of the Bayreuth Regiment, the following officers went into captivity:
I. From the Grenadier Company
1. First Lieutenant von Reitzenstein
2. Second Lieutenant Lindemeyer, who acted as adjutant
II. From the Colonel’s Company
3. Staff Captain von Metzsch
III. From the Major’s Company
4. Major von Beust, as commandant of us and the Ansbach Regiment
IV. From Eyb’s Company
5. First Lieutenant [Friedrich] von Kruse
6. Second Lieutenant [Heinrich] Weinhardt, and
7. Second Lieutenant Gr?bner
V. From Quesnoy’s Company
8. Captain Georg Heinrich von Quesnoy
9. Second Lieutenant von Ciriacy
These nine officers accompanied us into captivity.
The following officers went to New York on parole:
I. From the Grenadier Company
1. Captain von Molitor
2. Second Lieutenant [Johann Friedrich] Popp, who had been promoted from corporal to officer at Yorktown on 18 October
II. From Colonel von Seybothen’s Company
3. Colonel and Commandant Franz von Seybothen, Chief of the Bayreuth Regiment
4. First Lieutenant and Adjutant Seidel
5. First Lieutenant [Maximilian] von Streit
6. Second Lieutenant [Andreas Karl] von Altenstein
7. Second Lieutenant Hirsch
III. From Major von Beust’s Company
8. First Lieutenant von Weitershausen
9. Second Lieutenant von Tunderfeld
IV. From Captain von Eyb’s Company
10. Captain von Eyb
V. From Captain von Quesnoy’s Company
11. First Lieutenant von Adelsheim
Now to return to our adventure.
(to be continued)
Advertised on 28 January 1775: “Happy Birthday, Mathew Carey!”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
28 Jan 1775
Though Benjamin Franklin is often considered the patron saint of American advertising in the popular press, I believe that his efforts pale in comparison to the contributions made by Mathew Carey (1760-1839) in the final decades of the eighteenth century. Franklin is rightly credited with experimenting with the appearance of newspaper advertising, mixing font styles and sizes in the advertisements that helped to make him a prosperous printer, but Mathew Carey introduced and popularized an even broader assortment of advertising innovations, ranging from inventive appeals that targeted potential consumers to a variety of new media to networks for effectively distributing advertising materials. In the process, his efforts played an important role in the development of American capitalism by enlarging markets for the materials sold by printers, booksellers, and publishers as well as a host of other goods marketed by merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans who eventually adopted many of Carey’s innovative advertising methods. Mathew Carey will probably never displace Benjamin Franklin as the founder of American advertising in the popular imagination, but scholars of early American history and culture should recognize his role as the most important leader in eighteenth-century advertising among the many other activities and accomplishments of his long career in business and public life.
Carey’s efforts as an advertiser were enmeshed within transatlantic networks of print and commerce. Though he did not invent the advertising wrapper printed on blue paper that accompanied magazines in the eighteenth century, he effectively utilized this medium to an extent not previously seen in America, Ireland, or the English provinces outside of London. Read more…
Book Review: Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America
Author: Tyson Reeder (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024)
Review by Timothy Symington 27 January 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Tyson Reeder, James Madison historian and history professor at the University of Virginia, explores the role of foreign empires/confederacies in his excellent book, Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America. The title is perfect: whereas America’s open enemies are known for what they are, the hidden enemies slither duplicitously through the Garden of Eden like the biblical serpent of the Old Testament. The young United States, already a weak union of states after the American Revolution, was preyed upon by Great Britain, France, Spain and indigenous nations, each one hoping that the new country would fall apart. It is a wonder that the United States did not die in its infancy, for “Party strife and foreign meddling left American political institutions in crisis and the republic teetering on the brink of disaster.”
The Introduction, “The Spy and the Con Artist,” briefly describes the embarrassing situation that President Madison found himself in when, in 1811, he paid fifty thousand dollars to British spy John Henry for access to letters that Henry claimed would embarrass Federalists. The content of the letters was useless, but Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe scrambled to justify the huge payment. Foreign issues had torn apart George Washington’s cabinet. Factionalism, once a situation that a naïve Madison had promised would not happen in a republic, created a two-party system and ignored Washington’s advice in his Farewell Address to steer clear of foreign entanglements. Things between the two parties had gotten so bad by Madison’s presidency that underhanded tactics were used to injure the other party. The John Henry scandal was discussed in greater detail in the final chapter, “A Serpent, in the Shape of a Spy.” Read more…
Podcast: From Crisis to Peace: Re-Evaluating the Presidency of John Adams
by Lindsay M. Chervinsky 28 Jan 2025 at Ben Franklin;’s World
During our investigation of John Adams’s presidency, Lindsay reveals precedents that George Washington set for the presidency that John Adams solidified for the future. The political and international crises John Adams inherited, including tensions with Great Britain and France and vicious political discord between the Federalist and Democratic-Republic parties. And, how John Adams navigated these crises to secure peace with France and the peaceful transition of power between political parties in the United States. Listen in…
Canada’s Pirate Queen
by Paul Dalby — 9 Jan 2016 at Canada’s History
Pirate Maria Lindsey Cobham sent waves of fear through sailors in 1700s Canada.
The sleek sailing ship emerged suddenly like an apparition from the shroud of dense fog hanging over the grey waters of St. George’s Bay, on the west coast of Newfoundland. If the effect was eerie, so too was the appearance of the single-masted sloop. Painted jet black from stem to stern, its name obliterated, it sliced through the fog like a sword.
The ship unfurled its flag — a black pennant bearing a skull above a cutlass — and suddenly, the single broad deck of the sloop bristled with activity as the crew of a hundred men prepared for another day’s dishonest work. They rolled out twelve large guns under the watchful eye of their leader, an imposing figure dressed in a stolen British Royal Navy officer’s uniform and armed with two pistols and a short-bladed cutlass.
The captain exuded an air of menace — clearly, Maria Lindsey Cobham, Canada’s only “pirate queen,” was not someone to tangle with. Read more…
Events Upcoming
American Revolution Institute: Benjamin Franklin, Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis and Spain’s Grand Strategy in the American Revolutionary War. Wed 5 Feb 6:30
Historian Thomas E. Chávez focuses our attention on Spanish participation throughout the American Revolution through a discussion of Spain’s grand strategy during the war; the contributions to the Spanish war effort of Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, a Spanish official working for Spain’s Ministry of the Indies; to the Spanish war effort and the interactions of Benjamin Franklin with key Spanish officials—from his early correspondence with the prince of Spain through his election as an honorary member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History. Read more and registration…
QUESCREN: Quebec’s Anglophone Communities and the Legacies of the Quebec Act Thurs 6 Feb noon
Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network (QUESCREN)
Sir Guy Carleton, an Irish Protestant who served as Governor of Quebec, has been celebrated for enacting the Quebec Act in 1774, the first Canadian constitution to enshrine values underlying pluralism, tolerance, and multiculturalism. In this Lunch & Learn, Jane McGaughey will delve into the legacies of the Quebec Act, exploring how this foundational document and its primary author have been remembered, revered, or dismissed by Quebec’s Anglophone communities from the 1770s to the present day.
Dr. Jane McGaughey is the Johnson Chair of Québec and Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia University
Register...
Robert Wilkins UE, President Heritage Branch, comments: “Dr. McGaughey is a very good speaker (and she also has some UEL ancestry).”
American Revolution Institute: From Trenton to Yorktown Tues 11 Feb @6:30
Author’s Talk—From Trenton to Yorktown: Turning Points of the Revolutionary War
For eight grueling years, American and British military forces struggled in a bloody war over colonial independence. This conflict also ensnared Native American warriors and the armies and navies of France, Spain, the Dutch Republic and several German principalities. From frozen Canada to tropical Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River, the Revolutionary War included hundreds of campaigns, battles and skirmishes on land and sea in which soldiers and sailors fought and died for causes, crowns and comrades. Historian John Maass, Ph.D., identifies and highlights six key turning points that were crucial to subsequent American victory. Registration…
From the Social Media and Beyond
- Headstone of Samuel Meek, Jr. (1799 – 1861), son of Ulster Scot Samuel Meek,
- Food and Related
- Townsends: Food That Built New York
New York City originated as a Dutch trading settlement. We explore Dutch food in this video like we never have before on the channel. It was really fun to learn about the early days of NYC and Albany and to explore the journals of Peter Kalm and the writings of Washington Irving.
- Townsends: Food That Built New York
- Event/Resource/Quote of the Day – Revolution 250
- January 23, 1775, 100 soldiers from His Majesty’s 4th Regiment arrived at the estate of Nathaniel Ray Thomas of Marshfield to guard him and other Loyalists, and John Adams’s first “Novanglus” letter appeared in the Boston Gazette.
- January 25, 1775, the Second Provincial Congress of New Hampshire met at Exeter, appointing delegates to the next Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The president was assembly speaker John Wentworth, cousin of royal governor John Wentworth.
- Jan 26, 1775 “The Small-pox is now in several parts of the Town—many persons have been removed to the Hospital—but no Endeavors will be wanting to prevent its spreading.” —Boston printer John Boyle on public-health efforts
- Jan 27, 1775, Lord Dartmouth, the British secretary of state, wrote instructions to Gen. Thomas Gage “to arrest and imprison the principal actors & abettors in the [Massachusetts] Provincial Congress…[for] acts of treason and rebellion.”
- January 28, 1775 “It is and Ever has been my poor Opinion that justice and Liberty will finally Gain a Compleat Victory over Tyrany. What may be the intervening sufferings of the many…, Heaven only knows…” —Mercy Warren to Abigail Adams. Read more…
- January 31, 1775, King George’s speech opening Parliament on December 1 was published in Boston. It dashed any hope that elections or other developments would change the central government’s policies on North America.
- On January 24, 1776, Boston’s Henry Knox informed General George Washington that the ‘Noble Train of Artillery’ had been successfully transported from #FortTiconderoga to the outskirts of Boston. The weapons included 59 cannons used to break the #British #SiegeofBoston from Dorchester Heights in SouthBoston on March 17, 1776. Knox’s parents were Ulster Scots immigrants. He was a member of Charitable Irish + Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia. Knox owned a bookstore in Boston & later retired to Maine. Only 58 artillery pieces (cannons, mortars, and howitzers) completed the trip to Framingham, per John Adams’s diary. Knox’s journal shows that two of the original 59 guns went through the ice of the Hudson River, but only one could be retrieved. images
- This week in History
- 25 January 1770, London. To build support to repeal the Townshend Acts, Benjamin Franklin, the Colonist’s Advocate, wrote a series of eleven articles. The 5th was published in “The Public Advertiser,” a London newspaper in the 18th century, on January 25, 1770. Franklin began his tenure in London as perhaps the greatest proponent of the colonies’ role as part of the “British Empire,” a tremendous global British mercantile enterprise. As time went on, misguided and misconstrued colonial policies and often personal attacks against him turned him toward the need for a complete break with Britain. image
- 31 Jan 1770 Boston, Massachusetts. A proposed boycott of tea receives support from some 500 women. image
- 31 January 1770 London. Lord North became Prime Minister and lent his support to repealing the Townsend Duties on the American colonists. Frederick North, the 2nd Earl of Guilford, was the 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence. He also held several other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Most of North’s administration focused on the mounting problems in the American colonies. Later on, the American War of Independence absorbed most of his attention. When North received the news of General Charles Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown in October 1781, he exclaimed, “Oh God! It is all over!” He became the second PM to get ousted by a vote of no confidence and is remembered chiefly as the British Prime Minister “who lost America.” image
- 29 January 1774, London. Lord Wedderburn accused Benjamin Franklin of leaking letters to provoke colonials against the Crown. In “Star Chamberesque” fashion, Franklin was berated before the Privy Council, throughout which Franklin stood stoically. Wedderburn said Franklin was a “true incendiary” and accused him of being the “prime conductor” in the agitation against the British government largely for illegally obtaining copies of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s letters filled with advice on subduing America by restricting its liberties. This attempt to shame Franklin turned Loyalist Franklin to the rebel cause. He would later write of the affair: “Spots of Dirt thrown upon my Character, I suffered while fresh remain; I . . . rely’d on the vulgar Adage, that they would all rub off when they were dry.” image
- 25 Jan 1776 Continental Congress authorizes establishing the Marine Committee, consisting of one member from each state. The committee was charged with oversight of the American Navy. image
- 25 Jan 1776, Continental Congress authorized the first national #RevWar memorial in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775. image
- 26 Jan 1776 Adm Samuel Graves is replaced as commander of the North American Station from the river St. Lawrence to Cape Florida by Adm Molyneux Shuldham. Shuldham would be replaced by Adm Richard Howe later that year. image
- 27 January 1776 Cambridge, Massachusetts. Colonel Henry Knox transports 44 cannons and 16 mortars from Fort Ticonderoga over 300 miles of frozen mountains and rivers without roads or wagons. The new Continental Army now has the artillery to besiege Boston. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen had seized the guns and the Green Mountain Boys. Without batteries of guns threatening the British garrison, the new commander-in-chief, General William Howe, might have held the city. At some point, the new American army could have dissolved and gone home in frustration. Knox’s heroic feat was, therefore, a key event in the furtherance of the Cause. He would go on command of the Continental Army’s artillery and become the Father of the American Artillery. image
- 25 Jan 1777 Kings Bridge, NY. Gen William Heath attacked Hessians at Ft. Independence. Heath’s attack went poorly, and Hessians sally forth & his troops were routed. Gen Washington reprimanded Heath for the failure image
- 28 January 1777, London. General John Burgoyne submits an ill-fated plan to King George to isolate the New England colonies. His plan revolved around three supporting thrusts: an invasion with 8,000 British troops from Quebec would move southward through New York by way of Lake Champlain. A smaller supporting thrust by Loyalists and Iroquois under Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger from the west along the Mohawk River. The final thrust would come from General William Howe’s large army based in New York City, which would move up the North (Hudson) River. All three would converge on Albany, New York. Time and space issues and poor communications among the generals and Britain’s Minister in London, Lord Sackville (George Germain), would frustrate Burgoyne’s scheme. image
- 29 Jan 1777 Kings Bridge (Bronx) NY Facing a British counterassault in bitter cold & a snowstorm approaching, Gen William Heath and his army of 6K abandoned the 11-day siege of Fort Independence. image
- 29 Jan 1777, Washington placed Gen Israel Putnam in command of all Patriot troops in New York, charging them with covering the city and protecting the Hudson Valley and northern water routes. Of Lake Champlain & Lake George. image
- 1 Feb 1777 Gen Philip Schuyler: writes Washington that a missionary named Mr. Kirkland arrived from Oneida & Ft Schuyler with intelligence indicating a British attack on Ft Ticonderoga across a frozen Lake Champlain was imminent & pleas for reinforcements. image
- 27 Jan 1778 Nassau Bahamas American sloop Providence under Capt John Rathbun captures the city of Providence and raises stars & stripes, a 1st over the foreign stronghold. Drives off a 16-gun warship, seizes five vessels & releases 20 American prisoners. image
- 26 Jan 1779 Savannah, GA After the British captured the city, Patriots met at Burke County Jail to determine how to deal with defections from the cause. They are attacked by Col. Thomas Brown & 230 Loyalists, who are repulsed image
- 29 Jan 1779 Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell advances up Savannah R. toward Augusta, GA, but is ambushed by Gen Samuel Elbert & Col. John Twiggs. British fight through & seize an abandoned city & gain control of the state. Loyalists rally & rebels suppressed. image
- 27 Jan 1780 Morristown NJ To alleviate the suffering of the Continental Army during this harshest winner cantonment, Gen Washington overhauls the supply system, dividing NJ into 11 supply districts with specific food quotas for each. Food supplies improve. image
- 26 Jan 1780 Gen Benedict Arnold court-martialed for financial speculation & malfeasance as commander of Philadelphia & found guilty on 2 minor chargers. Though Gen Washington mildly rebukes him, he fumes indignantly at the new wrong suffered. image
- 1 February 1780, Savannah, Georgia. A British amphibious force of 14,000 men under Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot and General Henry Clinton landed at Tybee Island to rest and refit in preparation for a landing and campaign. After defeating the Allied siege of Savannah, the reinforced British now marshal forces moved on to the Carolinas. The Southern Strategy was playing out favorably following the defeat at Saratoga and the stalemate around New York City. Reports informed the British leadership that Southern sympathies were leaning toward the British and that the Southern colonies could be taken and held. If the northern colonies did manage to break away, holding the south would isolate them, and they would likely seek reconciliation with the Crown one by one. image
- 25 Jan 1781 Ramsour’s Mill, NC. Gen Charles Cornwallis orders his heavy baggage & supplies burned and begins a rapid pursuit of American Gen Nathanael Greene’s army with his “lighter” British force. Race to the Dan River intensifies. image
- 28 Jan 1780 Fort Nashborough (Nashville TN) was established on Cumberland River to protect NC & TN from Indian raids. Fort & settlement named for Gen Francis Nash, commander of NC Continental Line, who was killed by a cannonball at Battle of Germantown. image
- 28 Jan 1781 American spymaster Maj Benjamin Talmadge sent Gen Washington a copy of a letter received from Benedict Arnold 4 months after Arnold turned traitor. He indicates puzzlement & writes he won’t respond unless authorized by Washington. image
- 30 Jan 1781 Gen Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan join forces along the Catawba River with an army of Gen Charles Cornwallis in hot pursuit. image
- 30 January 1797 Marblehead Massachusetts. General John Glover died. This reluctant warrior commanded the Gloucester Regiment, also known as Marblehead Sailors. Glover’s men were rugged fishermen and sailors from the New England coast. The regiment is most famous for saving the Continental Army after the Battle of Long Island in August 1776 & carrying the troops across the Delaware River, enabling General Washington’s miracle victory – capturing the Hessian garrison at Trenton. Between those two achievements, they helped slow the British advance at Pelham, which could have trapped Washington’s army trying to retreat from New York City. Glover resisted promotion to general but finally and reluctantly acceded to the rank and position many other officers coveted and politicked to have. image
- Clothing and Related:
- Miscellaneous
- Happy Sunday. Here are 5 of the beautiful coloured stained glass windows to be featured in my next book about historic Grace United Church at Digby. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the union of Congregational, Methodist & majority of the Presbyterian churches to form the United Church of Canada. Grace was formerly a Methodist Church and was named Grace United Church then. Brian McConnell UE
- Happy Sunday. Here are 5 of the beautiful coloured stained glass windows to be featured in my next book about historic Grace United Church at Digby. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the union of Congregational, Methodist & majority of the Presbyterian churches to form the United Church of Canada. Grace was formerly a Methodist Church and was named Grace United Church then. Brian McConnell UE
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- JYF Museums: Mistress Forrest and her husband were the first English spouses to both reside in James Fort since the only men and boys traveled on the first voyages to Virginia. Unfortunately, Mistress Forrest likely died soon after her arrival. John Smith wrote about a marriage: “Betwixt John Laydon and Anne Burras; which was the first marriage we had in Virginia.” As spouses they supported each other through the tumultuous early years of English settlement in Virginia. They survived the deadly winter 1609-1610 and the Powhatan Attack of 1622
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