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2025  UELAC Conference: National President UELAC Bill Russell to Welcome You
    I want to thank the members of UELAC for electing me to the position of National President for the next two years. This is not just a personal honour, but a responsibility to uphold the legacy of courage, resilience, and unwavering loyalty demonstrated by our Loyalist ancestors.
I look forward to meeting old friends and welcoming new one’s to the Conference in Saint John NB this week. The Conference committee has worked tirelessly over the past year to bring you informative speakers, historical tours, musical entertainment, and a program to honour our Loyalist ancestors.
l envision a future where our organization thrives, attracting new members, engaging our youth, and sharing our rich history of the United Empire Loyalists with the wider community.
I call upon each of you to join me in this endeavor, to contribute to build a stronger more vibrant organisation.
Together, we will ensure that the spirit of the United Empire Loyalists continues to inspire and guide us as we move forward.
…Bill Russell UE, National President, UELAC

The conference has lots to offer: learn from expert speakers, visit Loyalist sites, share your Loyalist story — see Conference 2025 details.

Along with those who have been to many conferences, and those first-timers, we all hope to see you there…

Scholarship Challenge 2025

June 1 to 10, 2025 Donations were $850.00 (Apologies for the dated report. We will try for current information by July 20 once conference is over)

Our fundraising goal is $5,000.00 again this year, so we can do more!

Next year 2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence and the first of many chapters of our Loyalist story. Our current and past Scholarship recipients are joining others now conducting new research and writing innovative history that challenges the mythology of the American Revolution.
We acknowledge that the plight of the Loyalists has been misrepresented or ignored in some education systems and in popular film production.
The UELAC Scholarship is a very important aspect of our organization, which helps to ensure that the story of the Loyalists in the American Revolution and the aftermath of settlement in Canada continue to be researched and interpreted by a new generation of Masters and PhD graduate students who apply and qualify for the scholarship.
Please continue to give generously to the UELAC Scholarship fund because your contributions really do ‘fund future knowledge’.

Donate Now in support of the UELAC Loyalist Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Scholars at Work
Our 2023 Loyalist Scholar, Jake Breadman, PhD Candidate, Faculty of History, Queen’s University will be giving a talk, July 12, 2025, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM, entitled “Whispers in the Halls”. Join Jake, Parks Canada heritage interpreter, to hear stories about the many families that lived at Bellevue House from 1841 to 1964. Discover how these civic-minded Kingstonians – merchants, lawyers, military officers, scientists, and more – shaped and reflected Canada’s broader history. Fee: $7.50 per person – see flyer.

UELAC Scholar recipients in the news – Read what 2008 UELAC Scholarship recipient Catherine Cottreau-Robins is doing this summer in Pre-loyalist archeology:  Digging into history at Fort Saint Louis

The Loyalist Who Fought in Four North American Wars
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
In April of 1876, the Daily News of Saint John, New Brunswick gave an account of a party celebrating a man’s 92nd birthday, noting the guests who were in attendance, the number of the man’s descendants, and how life in New Brunswick had changed over the course of his nine decades.
As so often happened in the reports of birthdays and deaths noted in New Brunswick newspapers of this era, one third of the article went on to give an account of the life of the man’s loyalist ancestor. John S. Brown, the 92 year-old man honoured by his family, was the son of Zachariah Barnard Brown, a Loyalist who fought in four North American wars.
Thanks to the pride that John Brown felt for his father, a number of crucial biographical details of his loyalist ancestor were given in the newspaper account. Research conducted by later historians and genealogists add to those family memories, allowing posterity to learn more about Zachariah Brown.
While some genealogists give England or Staten Island as Zachariah’s birthplace, the best sources indicate that he was born on October 6, 1739 in Leicester, Massachusetts, the son of Zachariah and Patience (Converse) Brown.
By the age of 24, Zachariah had already seen action as a colonial participant in the Seven Years War. He was “attached to the British army” when it conquered New France, thereby adding territory around the Great Lakes and Spanish holdings in Florida to its North American empire.
Jeffrey Amherst, the new governor general of this expanded North American empire, held Indigenous people in contempt, stating that they were “the vilest race of beings that ever infested the earth“. He stopped the practice of giving gifts to various tribal leaders, ending the political alliances Britain had enjoyed with Native Americans.
Influenced by the prophecies of a Delaware holy man, Pontiac –the head of the Ottawa people—felt that the British needed to be driven out of Native land. What became known as Pontiac’s War began in May of 1763, when Indigenous warriors attacked Fort Detroit. Over time, Pontiac’s forces captured eight of the 12 British garrisons on the western frontier, resulting in the deaths of 500 American settlers in addition to the deaths of warriors on both sides.
The war ended in 1765 with British promises to honour their alliances with Indigenous People and to respect First Nations’ sovereignty. However, the settler death toll spawned an ongoing hatred of Indigenous people within the American population. Because Britain defended First Nations’ rights, it became an object of frustration, adding to the discontent that would result in the American Revolution.
Zachariah Brown’s son John knew that his father “was engaged in putting down the Indian troubles in Canada” and that he was a prisoner of war for 8 months.  (Documents of the era do not reveal the regiment in which Zachariah Brown saw action). Zachariah made his escape on a day when he was, hunting with an Indigenous chief. In pursuit of their prey, the two men had to separate and go around a mountain. Once out of sight of the chief, Zachariah made his escape. For the next 8 days he headed east, surviving on the one fish “he found in a stream” and one pint of corn.
Zachariah eventually found sanctuary with Major Robert Roger’s regiment in New Hampshire. As this colonial regiment had fought during the Seven Years War, it may be that Zachariah had once been a member of the corps. Disbanded in the early 1760s, the regiment was revived as a loyalist regiment during the American Revolution, and was eventually merged with Queen’s York Rangers.
After his adventures during the Seven Years’ War and Pontiac’s War, Zachariah returned to New England where he married Annis Skidmore of Newton, Connecticut in 1770. A year later, Joshua Converse Brown was born, bearing his paternal grandmother’s maiden name as his middle name. Two years later, William Chandler Brown was born on March first.
Zachariah Brown fought in his third war when he became a lieutenant of infantry in DeLancey’s 3rd Battalion. This loyalist corps remained on New York’s Long Island for the entire American Revolution. Rather than engaging in battles with Patriot forces, much of the 3rd Battalion’s contribution to the war effort consisted of gathering military intelligence, stealing cattle, and plundering rebel homes.
At some point in the revolution, Zachariah’s wife Annis died. He married a woman named Mary Chase sometime before 1784, probably before being evacuated to modern day New Brunswick. Brown’s brigade was disbanded in 1783 at Woodstock, a loyalist settlement on the St. John River. However, Zachariah and Mary opted to settle in Burton, a village located further down river between Fredericton and Gagetown.
This was the birthplace of John Skidmore Brown. Although the latter was born on April 3, 1784, his daughter always considered him a Loyalist (and, naturally, drew attention to that fact in her 1896 death notice). Two years later, John’s brother Zachariah Barnard Brown II was born on June 14th. Josiah Sawyer Brown was born two years later. All three brothers were born in Burton, married, and had children.
Despite the demands of a growing family, Zachariah Brown went off to war for the fourth time at the age of 52.  In 1791, the British military was helping to put down a slave revolt in what is now known as Haiti. Then called St. Dominique, the colony was a major source of sugar revenues for France. Britain came to the aid of French colonists, hoping to weaken France by cutting off the profits it derived from the sale of sugar. 45,000 British died during the conflict – a fate that Zachariah Barnard Brown of Burton, New Brunswick managed to avoid.
Zachariah returned to his home and was witness to the weddings of two sons. His presence in documents of the era then begins to fade. On December 13, 1816, Zachariah drew up his last will and testament. He was 77 years old. Whether he had become ill or was just being prudent at this stage of life is not known.  Nevertheless, within a matter of weeks, the veteran of four wars breathed his last. Relatives gathered to have his will read in January of 1817.
Sixty years later, Zachariah Barnard Brown’s name appeared in at Saint John newspaper in an article that celebrated the 92nd birthday of his son John. At that time John and his wife, had 8 children, 51 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.  One of their sons was in New Zealand, two were in Australia, three were in New Brunswick’s Sunbury County, and one was a doctor in Fredericton. The Browns only daughter married Captain John Stevens. Given that these are the children of just one of Zachariah Brown’s sons, it is amazing to see how far and wide a Loyalist’s descendants could be scattered in just two generations’ time.
It is not known how many of Zachariah Barnard Brown’s 21st century descendants are aware of the fact that they have a Loyalist ancestor – or that he was the veteran of wars fought at four different locations in North America.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Reclaiming my ancestral home
by Anne Wendel June 2025, message to Stephen Davdison

I would like permission to use your 2017 article on Joseph Durfee.

I now own a 5-acre piece of the property in Shelburne that belonged to Joseph Durfee.  The piece I own is where he built his house.  My family owned this property from the 1940s until the early 2000s, when it passed out of our hands due to a change in inheritance laws.  In 2016, I was able to buy this piece back.  My family lived in the 1783 house for many years and ended up tearing it down, which just rips my heart out.  I would like to restore as much of it as I can.
Meanwhile, I am summering in the small house my cousin built on the property.  I plan to AirBNB it when I am not here,  and I would like to use your article in the information I give guests.
If there is anything else you can tell me about Captain Durfee or his land grant and house, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thank you.

Stephen Davidson UE:
You might also be interested in having Marion Robertson‘s book, King’s Bounty, available for your guests. It tells the stories of Shelburne’s loyalist settlers and (according to its index) has 14 references to Durfee. Stephen Kimber‘s book, Loyalists and Layabouts, has ten references to Durfee.
Congratulations on reclaiming your ancestral home!

Fraunces Tavern – The Birthplace of the Book of Negroes
By Brian McConnell UE, June 2025
On May 14, 2025 I visited Fraunces Tavern in New York City where the Book of Negroes was assembled in 1783. The book was a ledger commissioned by Sir Guy Carleton and compiled under the direction of Brigadier General Samuel Birch that documented the names and details of formerly enslaved African people who were evacuating at the end of the American Revolution.
Sir Guy Carleton was the commander–in-chief of British forces in North America, responsible for overseeing the evacuation of British troops and loyalist refugees from New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War. Brigadier General Samuel Birch was the British Commandant of New York City and played a key role in the evacuation process particularly in managing the embarkation of Black Loyalists.
Fraunces Tavern was originally built in 1719 as a residence for Stephen de Lancey. It was purchased in 1762 by Samuel Fraunces and turned into a tavern. In 1775 Fraunces left for New Jersey and his Loyalist son – in- law Charles Campbell operated the Tavern until his return. Read more with photos…

Supplying the Means: The Role of Robert Morris in the Yorktown Campaign
by William W. Reynolds 1 July 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Many descriptions of Gen. George Washington’s crucial decision on August 14, 1781, to turn from an attack on the British in New York to a similar attack in Virginia jump directly from his receipt of Adm. Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse’s July 28 letter describing his intent to take his fleet to Chesapeake Bay to placing the allied armies in motion for Virginia, with no recognition of the huge transportation requirements of that campaign and without mentioning how that move was financed.
At the time Washington decided on the Southern campaign, he and Lt. Gen. Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau had been planning an attack on the British in New York which entailed only local transportation of their forces. The Continental army planned to use heavy ordnance and supplies primarily from the West Point inventory.
French fleet superiority in the area was expected to protect and facilitate movement of men and materiel around the area by water. In contrast, the Yorktown Campaign required transportation of 30 tons of Continental ordnance located at West Point and 490 additional tons located at Philadelphia for 450 and 300 miles, respectively.
(The French siege ordnance was located in Rhode Island and would be transported by water directly to Virginia.) In addition, Washington planned to march between 6,000 and 7,000 Continental and French troops to Virginia, facilitating that movement using ships on the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay. Troops and materiel had to get to Virginia quickly since de Grasse committed to keep his fleet in Chesapeake Bay no later than October 15, which was only sixty-three days after Washington’s receipt of his letter.
All shipping and most of the land transportation had to be obtained from private owners who demanded payment in specie since the Continental Dollar was worthless by this date.  Read more…

Gen. George Washington issued his second general orders as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army
5 July 1775. Head Quarters, Cambridge. Founders Online
The Adjutant of each Regiment is required to take special care, that all general orders are communicated, as well to the private men, as to the officers—that there may be no Plea of Ignorance—they will be deemed answerable for all the consequences which may follow a neglect of this order.
A General Court martial is ordered to sit to morrow at 10 oClock A.M. for the Trial of William Patten charged with “leaving his post on guard.” David Wells and Gideon Cole for “sleeping on their posts as centinels”—John Scott for “insulting the Centry and attempting to pass the guard at Boston” and James Foshe1 for “theft”—When the Witnesses are to attend and the parties charged, are to have notice this day that they may be prepared for their trials.2
The General most earnestly recommends, & requires of all the Officers, that they be exceeding diligent and strict in preventing all Invasions and Abuse of private property in their quarters, or elsewhere[.] he hopes, and indeed flatters himself, that every private soldier will detest, and abhor such practices, when he considers, that it is for the preservaton of his own Rights, Liberty and Property, and those of his Fellow Countrymen, that he is now called into service: that it is unmanly and sully’s the dignity of the great cause, in which we are all engaged, to violate that property, he is called to protect, and especially, that it is most cruel and inconsistant, thus to add to the Distresses of those of their Countrymen, who are suffering under the Iron hand of oppression.
The General again urges, a speedy and exact Return, of the Forces, Stores, Provisions &c.; as desired in the Orders already issued and for the future, these Returns to be made once a week, on saturday Morning regularly. The General is much pleased with the expedition and care which some Officers have already shewn in their obedience to this order.
The Colonel or commanding Officer of each Regiment, is to direct an Officer of each Company, to call over the Rolls of their men, at six oClock every morning, and to make proper Inquiry after the absentees.
Source: Founders Online

Podcast: The Many Declarations of Independence
by Emily Sneff, June 2025 Ben Franklin’s World
During our exploration of the Declaration of Independence, Emily reveals why there isn’t one definitive copy of the Declaration of Independence and why it matters. How people in 1776 engaged with the Declaration, from public readings to personal annotations on copies of the document. And, how generations of Americans—from abolitionists to suffragists—have interpreted the Declaration’s promise of equality and liberty.
Emily Sneff is a historian of early America and a leading expert on the Declaration of Independence. Listen in…

That Audacious Paper: Jonathan Lind and Thomas Hutchinson Answer the Declaration of Independence
by David Otersen 3 July 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence is commonly revered in modern America as the aspirational apotheosis of political and social egalitarianism, although in 1776, among English Tories and American Loyalists, it held no such distinction. Indeed, in 1776, by both Tories and Loyalists, the Declaration was considered vacuous political propaganda and was typically treated with scorn, derision, and contempt. Several months after its publication, those indignant sentiments were given full expression by Jonathan Lind, an English Tory, and Thomas Hutchinson, an American Loyalist.
Jonathan Lind is generally a lesser-known historical figure, but in 1776 he was, nevertheless, an accomplished and influential London barrister. Politically, Lind was a Tory, vehemently opposed to the cause of American independence. In late 1776 he wrote an extensive and especially vituperative refutation of the Declaration. His paper, approximately 132 pages in length, was entitled An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress, and it was published in London with the unofficial encouragement from several prominent Tory Members of Parliament.
In contrast to Lind, Thomas Hutchinson is a familiar figure from the American Revolution. Hutchinson, in fact, was an exceptionally prominent individual in eighteenth-century colonial Massachusetts, and he served terms as both lieutenant governor and royal governor of the colony. Politically, he was a Loyalist. Hutchinson was also a learned historian and author, and in October 1776 he wrote a detailed rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence. His pointed and informed essay, Strictures Upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia in a Letter to a Noble Lord, was published in November.
While there are clear stylistic differences between An Answer and Strictures (both are written with an antagonizing and condescending air, but An Answer is lengthier, more detailed, and far more vitriolic), substantively, both Lind and Hutchinson denounced the obvious hypocrisies of the Declaration’s preamble and introduction, discredited its theory of the British Empire and revolution, and, perhaps more importantly, each offered a comprehensive analysis and systematic deconstruction of its twenty-eight particularized grievances. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: POW: In Camp – A Soldier’s Life. April 1783
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: to Williamsburg
  • January 1782: to Frederick MD (about 40 km west of Baltimore)

1783: Continuation of the Notable Occurences in the North American Field Campaign and Especially In the Captivity at Frederick, In Maryland, in the Seventh and Last Year, Page 134

In the Month of April 1783

2 April.  The  two  Ansbach  regiments  of  Voit  and  Seybothen  received  five  months’  pay. Each  private  received  nine  Spanish  dollars,  four  shillings,  and  seven  half-pennies  in  York money,  which  equals  nineteen  Franconian  florins.  Those  who  had  been  sick  in  the  hospital had a daily deduction of one and one-half pence sterling, or three half-pennies, three English coppers, which have  a  value  of  six  pfennigs  in  our money. I  also  had  to  give  up  seven  and one-half  pence  for  the  five  days  when  I  lay  in  the  hospital.  During  this  night  four  men  of Quesnoy’s  Company,  namely,  Privates  Frank,  Haas,  Wolf,  and  G‡rtner,  left  with  all  their belongings.  It  is  believed  they  were  going  to  Virginia.  They  left  behind  considerable indebtedness to the sutler.
3 April.  Our  regiment  received  shoes,  of  which  I  was  issued  a  pair.  During  the  night another  five  men  of  Quesnoy’s  Company,  Privates  [Johann]  Fuchs,  Neupert,  [Wolfgang] Vogel, [Johann Georg] Schott, and Mittelberger, departed with all their equipment. They too left behind large indebtedness. All the companies of the four regiments lying captive here are experiencing the same situation. Day and night, men leave, showing their backs to the sutler, who is suffering great financial losses.
7 April. During the evening Private Mittelberger rejoined us.
8 April. During the night Corporal Leindecker, of Quesnoy’s Company, Corporals Ullrich and [Gottlieb] Wandersd€rfer, of the Colonel’s Company, Corporal [Johann Salomon] M†ller, of  Major  Beust’s  Company,  and  Private  Rosenbauer,  of  Major  Seitz’s  Company  of  the Ansbach  Regiment,  and  Jaeger  Buttlar,  of  our  Jaeger  Corps,  deserted  together.  Also,  today our  Regimental  Quartermaster  Daig  again  departed  from  Frederick  to  go  to  Lancaster, Philadelphia, and New York.
11 April. Two  privates,  [Georg]  Brendel  and  Kayser,  of  Quesnoy’s  Company,  arrived  at our barracks from Virginia. They had remained behind, on furlough, working in the country.
12 April. We had roll call. This night a Hessian captain of the Hereditary Prince Regiment cut his throat, in his quarters in the city. He lived a few hours afterward and then died. It is not known why he did it.
13 April. At twilight he was quietly buried by his men. 16 April. I was bled.
20 April. The Ansbach Chaplain Wagner held confession and communion for the Bayreuth Regiment. I took communion.
22 April. Chaplain Wagner preached a sermon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the city.
22  [sic] April.  Today  on  orders  of  the  city  commandant,  General  Lincoln,  the  happy restoration  of  peace  between  England  and  America  was  announced,  to  the  joy  of  all  of  the residents of the city.
Thereupon a peace-celebration  bonfire was built by the regular troops and the  militiamen stationed here, and they paraded behind the resounding sounds of fifes and drums through all of the streets and ways of this place with white flags, green caps, and laurel wreaths on their heads, and firing their weapons. With each volley, old and young gave an extraordinarily loud cheer: „Hyroh for peace! Hyroh for the liberty! Hyroh for Washington! Hyroh for Congress! For Hancock! For ourselves! God save the General Washington, our Master!”
An 18-pound cannon was brought here also, and this was fired more than thirty times from a height before the city.
At night a  beautiful  fireworks  display  took  place, which was prepared  for the Americans by our Artillery Captain [Nikolaus Friedrich] Hofmann and his artificers and cannoneers, for pay. It was very beautiful to see.
When this was all finished, a splendid ball was held  in a  large  hall, attended by all of the American officers  and  all  of  the  gentlemen  and  rich  merchants  of  the  city. They ate, drank, and danced the entire night to the music of our and the Hessian hautboists. All the officers of the captive regiments here were invited to this dance of joy and celebration of peace. All the Hessians attended, but from our two regiments, only Lieutenant von Ciriacy participated.
23  April.  At  night  the  celebration  of  Saint  George’s  Day,  which  it  was,  caused  much trouble in our barracks. The American officer of the guard, Captain Bendry Crasse, a native-born  Frenchman,  was  disturbed  by  the  „Hyroh  for  the  King  George!  God  save  the  King George!” raised by the prisoners, and when it did not cease after he sternly forbade it, he sent in a  large patrol and ordered it to beat [the prisoners] and arrest them. He also accompanied the patrol and with his sword fatally wounded four men, namely, a quartermaster sergeant of Bose  Regiment,  a  private  of  the  Hereditary  Prince  Regiment,  and  Quartermaster  Sergeant [Johann Christoph] Ernst and Private [Georg] Essel of the Ansbach Grenadier Company.
28 April.  All  the  captives  here  were  given  liberty,  that  is,  freedom.  Captain  Goedther, of the Americans, brought this order, sent to the guards and to us from General Washington and the Congress.
Now we too believe that peace has been made with England.
29 April. We received shirts, each man one.
30 April. Our two regiments again received pay  for two months. Each  man received  four Spanish dollars, equal to eight Franconian florins. April was mainly pleasant and warm and as nice as in the middle of summer.
(to be continued)

Books: Colonial Wars Trilogy
King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace continues the contest for North America from the end of Queen Anne’s War in 1713, marking the beginning of the Thirty-Year Peace, through the start of King George’s War in 1744, to its conclusion with the signing of Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle four years later. While there would be little fighting between the French, Spanish, and British colonies in North America during the Thirty-Year Peace—the Franco-Spanish conflict of 1719 being an exception—for the French and British internally it did not prove to be peaceful. Conflicts with former Indigenous allies erupted, including with the Three Years War, the Yamassee War, and the Natchez and Chickasaw Wars. In the south the peace was ruptured by the opening of the War of Jenkin’s Ear in 1739, which led to an attempt by South Carolina and the new colony of Georgia to seize Spanish St. Augustine, and a counter-attack by St. Augustine and Cuba aimed at the destruction of the two British colonies. While this Anglo-Spanish conflict would shift farther south into the Caribbean, to the north, news of another war between France and Britain would arrive in 1744.
King George’s War, the North American component of Europe’s War of Austrian Succession, would start in Nova Scotia with French attacks on the weakly held British colony. This provocation inspired a response in the form of one of the boldest expeditions of the colonial period—Massachusetts Governor William Shirley’s successful campaign against Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. With the French fortress in British hands and the cry of delenda est Canada echoing through the American colonial assemblies, Shirley turned to the conquest of French Canada and convinced London to dispatch a fleet to assist in the capture of Montreal and Quebec. In Paris, news of Louisbourg’s surrender elicited an unexpected reaction in the form of one of the largest French naval expeditions ever sent to North America, with explicit orders to retake Cape Breton and expel the British from Nova Scotia. Thus, by the summer of 1746, both British and French sentries scanned the eastern horizon daily for a fleet that would determine the destiny of the conflict, but neither would be happy with what they found.
The final volume in Michael G. Laramie’s acclaimed histories of the European struggle for North America that set the stage for the French and Indian War, King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace: The Third Contest for North America, 1714–1748, takes the reader along with the combatants into the field and waterways, including Native American, French, Spanish, Provincial, and British. Based on a rich variety of primary sources and fully illustrated with original maps, this volume joins the author’s King William’s War and Queen Anne’s War as the modern history of these lesser-known—but enormously important—conflicts that shaped the political story of North America.
Michael G. Laramie is a military history writer and the author of eight books, including King William’s War: The First Contest for North America, 1689–1697, Queen Anne’s War: The Second Contest for North America, 1702–1713, and most recently The Road to Ticonderoga: The Campaign of 1758 in the Champlain Valley and Gunboats, Muskets, and Torpedoes: Coastal South Carolina, 1861-1865. He resides with his family in the mountains of sunny Arizona.

Advertised on 4 July 1775: ‘SOLOMON, a negro, … will make for Boston to the soldiers.’

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

“SOLOMON, a negro, … will make for Boston to the soldiers.”

They made their escape together.  Solomon, an enslaved man, and Richard Dawson, a “white servant man” and “an English convict,” ran away from Thomas Cockey, Sr., and Thomas Cockey, Jr., in Baltimore County in the spring of 1775.  Their advertisement describing Solomon and Dawson first appeared in the May 16, 1775, edition of Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette.  The two men apparently eluded capture because the notice ran regularly for the next several months, including in the July 4 edition.
When they departed, both Solomon and Dawson had an “iron collar double rivetted.”  Solomon had also been outfitted with “a darby” or fetters “on each leg with a chain to one of them,” probably because the Cockeys correctly considered him likely to attempt to liberate himself.  He did, after all, have a history of making a break for freedom.  According to the Cockeys, Solomon previously made it to New Castle in Delaware, remaining there for “twelve months and upwards,” but then in July 1774 went to Somerset County, Maryland.  There he was captured, jailed, and “brought home in November.”  Within months, he became a fugitive seeking freedom once again.  The Cockeys believed that Solomon “has been in Philadelphia.”
Solomon was a young man, “about twenty-two years of age,” who had been in the colonies “about four years.”  Dawson, in contrast, was older, “about 55 years of age.”  He had served as a soldier “under the King of Prussia [during the] last war.” Read more…
Note: Has links to other stories of enslaved people liberating themselves originally published on July 4 during the era of the American Revolution each year between 1767 and 1774


Loyalist Quarterly Newsletter June 2025, by Paul J. Bunnell UE
Published since 2004, the June 2025 issue is now available. Twelve pages, it features:

  • Editor’s Comment: “I love New Brunswick very much as much of my heritage lies there, Loyalist, Acadian, and Native American. Happy Canada Day.”
  • Sad News:  BONNELL UE, Paul Ritchie 15 Sept 1927 – 26 Mar 2025
  • 2025 UELAC CONFERENCE
  • Letters to and from Loyalists
    • Timothy Pickering Jr
    • Sir Guy Carleton
  • About the UELAC Certificate of Loyalist Descent (from Bicentennial Branch, UELAC)

Vol. 22 Part 2 June 2025 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. $5 each copy — (March, June, September, December issues)

The Heatwave of July 1808 in England
By Sarah Murden 17 July 2018 in All Things Georgian
July 1808, Britain experienced unusually high temperatures. So, given the British obsession with the weather, I’ve taken a look at how the newspapers reported this unusual weather.
The Scots Magazine confirmed that the previous winter was remarkable for its duration and severity and that the summer

“had made ample amends, not merely its genial warmth, but by maintaining a steady high temperature which we have not for many years been accustomed.

Reports from Brighton confirm that due to the excessive heat more and more people were visiting the resort. Their days seem to be divided into stages – dipping in the morning, sailing at noon, pony trotting and walking in the evening and the theatres and libraries at night.  Read more…


Eighteenth-century bathing machines in England
By Sarah Murden 9 April 2019 in All Things Georgian
During the eighteenth and into the nineteenth-century it became fashionable and beneficial to enjoy the pleasures of swimming in the sea so, in order to preserve modesty, bathing machines were invented. These allowed the swimmer to enter the contraption fully clothed, undress and get into the water virtually unseen; to swim then return to the machine to get dressed again and leave through the entrance they had arrived through – all very discreet.
Scarborough, Yorkshire was reputed to have been an excellent place to swim in the 1730s, but as to whether they had bathing machines we’re really not sure.  Certainly, by the 1770s as you can see above, the bathing machine was very much in evidence. Read more…

Note:     Bathing machines, while popular in Europe, were not widely adopted in the United States. They were used in a few locations, including Newport, Rhode Island, and New York City, but never became a common feature on American beaches. (Google, referencing the New York Times)

Digging into history at Fort Saint Louis in Shelburne County
By Kathy Johnson, 23 Jun 2025 The Tri-County Vanguard
The Fort Saint Louis national historic site in Port LaTour, Shelburne County, is once again the focus of a month-long archaeological investigation by the Nova Scotia Museum and a team of community partners.
“We have a lot planned this year,” says the Curator of Archaeology for the Nova Scotia Museum, Dr. Katie Cottreau-Robins. “We’re able to do a lot because we’ve been successful with funding.”
This is the sixth archaeological investigation at Fort Saint Louis since 2017.
“This year, we’re returning to a couple of areas on site where we dug before and have found a lot of artifacts, structural features so we want to further investigate those,” she says.
“We’re also working into the adjourning property with the landowner’s permission because we some found some earlier artifacts like a late 16th century bead that could indicate that maybe folks were maybe encamping in there or something in the woods, which we always have hypothesized that there were folks outside the fort proper so we’re investigating in there this year,” she adds. “We’re also going to test a cellar feature in there close to the creek. A cellar and a well, we think it’s a well. We want to do a little test in there to date it and try and figure a cultural affiliation, so those are the wonderful archaeological excavation things that we’re doing.” Read more…

Note 1:  The Fort Saint Louis national historic site is in Port LaTour, Shelburne County NS
Fort St. Louis, a French fort near the south-eastern tip of Nova Scotia, was built in 1623 by Charles de La Tour in connection with the fur trade. By 1629 the fort was the only remaining French fort in Acadia and was threatened by Scottish settlers based at Port Royal. Claude de La Tour, Charles’s father, had allied himself with the English. In 1630, Claude arrived at Fort St. Louis at the head of an Anglo-Scottish expedition aboard two war vessels. After failing to convince his son to surrender this last foothold of France in Acadia he led his forces in an unsuccessful attack on the fort. Having lost his reputation with the English at Port Royal, Claude de la Tour and his English wife were later allowed by Charles to live with on the land surrounding Fort St. Louis. By 1632 Acadia was once again under French control. Archaeological remains at the site reveal material evidence dating from the early French period. Read more at Parks Canada…
Note 2: Catherine Cottreau-Robins is a recipient of a UELAC Scholarship.
The 2008 UELAC Loyalist Scholarship was awarded to Catherine Cottreau-Robins, a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary PhD program at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. In the late 1980s Catherine participated in an archaeological field school at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in rural Virginia. It was there that her interest in the archaeology of slavery began. Read more from UELAC Scholarship…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

    No entries have been added, or revised, this week.

Events in July to Celebrate the Loyalists
Several provinces have noted our Loyalist Heritage with designated days or events. Here are some planned events, most organized by UELAC Branches.

Sun 20 July. Chilliwack and Vancouver Branches Celebrate BC Loyalist Day in New Westminster
The tradition to celebration BC Loyalist Day (officially on July 22nd) continues, but this year it is a reunion picnic with former members invited to join in and renew friendships and hear the latest UELAC news.
Location is Picnic Shelter #2 in Queen’s Park, New Westminster.  Fun begins just before noon.  Bring your own chairs and picnic lunch.  Christine Manzer and Marlene Dance
For more about BC Loyalist Day, see Calendar of provincial Loyalist Days and annual observances, under July 22

More special events are welcome – send to editor.

Events Upcoming
     See above “Events in June to Celebrate the Loyalists”

American Revolution Institute: Author’s Talk—The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution Wed 9 July 6:30

Historian Zara Anishanslin discusses her new book that highlights three remarkable artists devoted to the pursuit of liberty. The American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists armed with paint, canvas, and wax played an integral role in forging revolutionary ideals. Drawing from her new book, Dr. Anishanslin charts the intertwined lives of three such figures. Read more and registration…

Abegweit Branch: PEI Loyalists and the Land Question by Dr. Edward MacDonald Thurs 17 July 6:30 AT

This year’s Public Event will be held at the Rotary Auditorium, Charlottetown Public Library, Charlottetown, PEI. Guest Speaker will be Dr. Edward MacDonald, OC, OPEI, Professor Emeritus UPEI. He will be presenting on “PEI Loyalists and the Land Question”.
To attend in person, register
To attend online, register
See more details.


From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Thanks to reporter Jason Malloy @JasonMa47772994  for visiting Old Holy Trinity Church on Canada Day and this photo in the Annapolis Valley Register. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.    Brian McConnell UE
  • Food and Related : Townsends

  • This week in History
    • 1 July 1725 Vendome, FR Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur de Rochambeau was born.  A French military officer sent to aid American forces in 1780. Commanded French forces at the Siege of Yorktown  image
    • 29 Jun 1767, London. The Townshend Revenue Act was passed, levying taxes on America and intensifying opposition to British rule. The legislation was spearheaded by Charles Townshend, after whom the act is named.  image
    • 30 Jun 1775, Philadelphia. The Continental Congress drafted its rationale for taking up arms against Great Britain in the Articles of War. Congress attempted to notify the king that American colonists were unhappy with parliamentary policy.  image
    • 1 Jul 1775 Congress resolves to forge Indian alliances, hoping to woo tribes that did not align with the British. American efforts did not serve well, as most Indian nations viewed the colonists as a direct threat, and the British as a distant one.  image
    • On July 3, 1775, Gen  George Washington formally took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, MA. He’d face the challenges of restoring order & discipline, supply issues, instilling esprit de corps, & forging his officers into a cohesive leadership team.  image
    • 3 July 1775, Cambridge, MA. Col Thomas Gardner, a Massachusetts political leader & commander of Gardner’s Regiment, dies after being mortally wounded at Bunker Hill. Gen Washington attended his funeral.  image
    • 5 Jul 1775 Philadelphia, PA The Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition written by John Dickinson and directly addressed to King George III. It expressed a hope for reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain. image
    • 29 Jun 1776, Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, expresses his reluctance to declare independence from Britain in a letter to the like-minded John Jay of New York.  image
    • 29 Jun 1776, Virginia adopted the first permanent written constitution in world history. Other states (South Carolina and New Hampshire) adopted earlier temporary frameworks that were intended to serve only until peace with Great Britain was restored. image
    • 29 June, 1776, at Turtle Gut Inlet, NJ, Capt John Barry’s frigate Lexington, with frigate Wasp, assisted the Nancy, now stuck aground and threatened by the British. He boarded the Nancy, set the powder, blasting the British boarding party. image
    • 1 Jul 1776: Congress again took up the issue of Independence. Deliberations secret & unrecorded. John Adams, MA, and John Dickinson, PA, led the pro and anti-arguments. A preliminary vote found 9 delegations in favor, a majority, but 4 withheld support. image
    • 2 Jul 1776 The 2nd Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, voted for and formally adopted Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote was considered unanimous, 12 for, none against, NY abstaining.  image
    • 4 July 1776  Special Post: Today is Independence Day.
      A group of learned and brave men took the bold step of putting into action the theories of government that had been discussed since at least the time of the Greek philosophers and gained traction during the Reformation and the Enlightenment. God bestows natural rights. Government by and for the people. However, most democracies in the West and worldwide can be traced back to this bold and high-risk action. Each knew signing the Declaration was tantamount to signing their death sentence if they failed. The odds were not in their favor as they were taking on the world’s global power — Great Britain, with no army or navy.
      The Declaration was the North Star for this republic and most democracies that followed. Since every day is Independence Day in the world of the Yankee Doodle Spies, I’ll close here and wish everyone a Happy Independence Day!  image
    • 3 July 1776, Staten Island, NY. Gen William Howe’s force disembarks with some 10,000 troops. The island provided a base for the British & hessian forces to rest and prepare for the invasion of Long Island (Brooklyn), just across the Verrazano Narrows.  image
    • 5 July 1776. The barely dry prints of the Declaration of Independence were delivered to Congress by John Dunlap. image
    • 4 Jul 1777 Ft Ticonderoga, NY British Gen Burgoyne sends Gen William Phillips with a battery of cannons up the steep, wooded slopes of the nearly unclimbable Mount Defiance. The battery would deliver plunging fire into the fort held by American troops.  image
    • 28 June 1778, Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey. The Continental Army had spent months training to European standards under General Steuben at Valley Forge and was now pursuing a British column that had abandoned Philadelphia and was marching toward New York. General Washington ordered an attack on the rear guard of the British Army as it began to leave Monmouth Courthouse. Poor leadership from the American commander, General Charles Lee, resulted in confused movements and inadequate positioning of his forces. Recognizing this, British General Henry Clinton attempted to turn the Continentals back. Under pressure from a British force intent on restoring its honor, Lee’s troops began to retreat. However, General Washington rode forward, took control, and rallied the units. The British reinforced the engagement, but the now highly trained Continentals held their ground and fought the regulars to a standstill on a day marked by bloody exchanges of volley fire mixed with artillery barrages. This was a significant achievement and a turning point, demonstrating that the Continentals had become an effective fighting force. image
    • 4 Jul 1778, Wyoming Valley, PA After accepting the surrender of Forty Fort, Capt. Walter Butler’s Iroquois & Loyalists rampaged through the valley, destroying  8 forts & over 1,000 homes & farms, while also stealing more than 1,000 head of cattle.  image
    • 4 Jul 1778 Brunswick, NJ The court-martial of disgraced Continental General Charles Lee begins with General William Alexander presiding. The charges include disobeying orders, misconduct in the face of the enemy & disrespect toward the Commander-in-Chief.  image
    • 4 Jul 1778 Kaskaskia (today IL) Col George Rogers Clark’s brigade of 175 men surrounds the British fort at the confluence of the Mississippi & Kaskaskia rivers. He then storms the fort through the front gate & forces its surrender. image
    • 2 Jul 1779 British LtCol Banastre Tarleton leads a det of dragoons & infantry in a foray on Pound Ridge, NY. He drives off the 2nd Continental Dragoons. But the dragoons rally when the militia fire pins down the British. Tarleton’s troops withdrew. image
    • 2 Jul 1779 Captain Allan McLane scouts out British defenses at Stony Point, NY, under a flag of truce & his report convinces Gen Washington it was vulnerable to a night attack. Gen Anthony Wayne would lead the assault.  image
  • Clothing and Related:
    • New favourite 18th- century portrait miniature just dropped. Said to be a lampoon of Madame du Barry, former mistress of Louis XV, representing her as a white peacock.
      • Madame du Barry, whose full name was Jeanne Bécu, Countess du Barry, was the last official mistress of King Louis XV of France. She rose from humble beginnings to become a prominent figure at the French court, known for her beauty and influence, but also for the controversy surrounding her rise to power. She was eventually executed by guillotine during the French Revolution.
  • Miscellaneous 

Editor’s Note: We are going to Conference in Saint John NB this week. Conference there for our third time. In 1983 – the Bicentennial of the arrival of the Loyalists – the conference was in three places, Fredericton NB, Saint John NB and Shelburne NS. In 2008, the 225th anniversary, again in Saint John, but we continued on our own trip then to PEI, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, again as far as Shelburne.
A memories way of getting to my point: next week’s issue of Loyalist Trails will undoubtedly be much (maybe even much much) shorter.

 

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