Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2017 Archive

In this issue:
- Canada 150 Scholarship Project: That's a Wrap
- Loyalists and Their Horses (Part 3 of 3), by Stephen Davidson
- Ontario Licence Plate: Special Savings for Simcoe Day
- Update: Honouring Simon Girty in Pennsylvania
- Revisiting "Turn" and John Graves Simcoe
- Atlantic Loyalist Connections
- JAR: Cornwallis and the autumn campaign of 1780
- The Junto: (Book Review:) Adam Jortner's Blood From the Sky
- Ben Franklin's World: The Common Cause of the American Revolution
- Rev War Talk: Treaty of Paris (1783)
- Penobscot Expedition, Maine
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- Last Post: William Roland Everett, UE

Canada 150 Scholarship Project: That's a Wrap

The time has come for our final thank you to everyone who participated in the 2017 Scholarship Challenge. Sincere thanks to each person who gave a 'toonie' and to those who exceeded our expectations and showed again this year that you are committed to support of academic research in the field of Loyalist studies.

Shout out to the eight branches who met the challenge and received a special Certificate of Appreciation signed by UELAC President Barb Andrew – Assiniboine, Calgary, Governor Simcoe, Kawartha, Kingston, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Vancouver. Again, we have drawn from every region across Canada as members and friends stand in support of UELAC scholarship. Thank you!

With only a few days remaining, our total is $8,945.00 raised for the Scholarship Endowment Fund. Fantastic. Our Donor Appreciation List acknowledges the generous individuals behind the success of the 2017 Scholarship Challenge.

Next year we look forward to adding new scholars to our impressive list of recipients as we celebrate the 20-year anniversary of UELAC Scholarship. Let's 'raise the roof' on scholarship in 2018. The deadline for applications is February 28.

As always, donations to the Scholarship Endowment Fund are welcome throughout the year.

Sincere thanks for your continued support.

...Bonnie Schepers, UE

Loyalists and Their Horses (Part 3 of 3)

© Stephen Davidson, UE

Stephen Jarvis had a number of adventures that involved horses during the American Revolution. Thanks to the memoir that this Connecticut loyalist wrote after settling in Upper Canada, we have an eyewitness account of how integral the horse was in the battles between patriots and British forces.

A farm boy, Jarvis had been riding horses since he was young. At 18, he rode off with his local militia to serve the patriot cause – not out of political belief, but as an act of defiance against his loyalist father.

However, Stephen came to his senses and eventually fought for the British at the Battle of Brandywine in September of 1777. Put in charge of a temporary post known as a picket, Jarvis fended off a patriot dragoon (mounted soldier), taking both the rebel and his horse prisoner. After turning in his captive, Stephen was allowed to keep the man's horse – tantamount to being given a car in the 21st century. However, the young loyalist's joy was short-lived. Captain MacKay, who outranked him, took the horse from Jarvis. He would later recount "This was an act of injustice which I did not much like but thought best to put up with it."

Judging by what stories Jarvis later recounted in his memoir, obtaining a horse and then losing it was a constant theme of his wartime experience.

Jarvis eventually joined the Queen's Rangers, a loyalist regiment – and had his own horse. One day he became part of a group of horsemen ordered to charge the rebels. "In the meantime as the front Division were wheeling up I saw an American Dragoon discharge his pistol; my horse's head at that moment covered my body – the ball entered his nostril, and into his mouth. The blood spouted a stream, and my horse sank upon his haunches."

But apparently the wound was not a serious one. Jarvis continued with the story in his memoir, providing details of how war horses were shipped during the American Revolution.

"On our arrival at the place for embarking we found the boats ready. I was ordered to see all the horses on board, and I did not attempt embarking my own horse until the last boat, when he refused to leap into the boat. I gave the bridle to a sailor and jumped into the water, to urge the horse in. At that moment order was given to push off and wait for no man. The sailor dropped the bridle, took up his oar – the boat rowed away leaving myself and horse standing in the water – the enemy marching down to the shore. I mounted my horse with the intent to swim him after the boat, but I saw one boat yet at the shore. I rode to it, threw my saddle and bridle into the boat, and had the mortification to see the enemy take possession of the animal that had so many times carried me through great dangers and difficulties." And so Jarvis lost yet another horse – one for which he had a great deal of fondness.

When the Queens Rangers finally arrived in South Carolina, they set up their camp six miles outside of Charleston. "I lost no time in procuring such horses as fell in my way, and had my men mounted and our business was to make patrols into the country ... At one Plantation we took a number of horses, and among the rest a very fine stud horse, which I mounted and rode for a few miles, when he at once halted and I could hardly get him along. He had not been rode for many years, and I foundered him, and was obliged to take to my former horse."

Later, Jarvis found himself in Norfolk, Virginia where his company was preparing to return to Charleston. "We embarked for Charlestown (sic), myself, men, stores and horses in one vessel and the Officers in another. On our leaving Norfolk, Captain Saunders had plundered more horses than he was allowed to put on board. He, therefore, distributed them to his Officers and among the rest, gave me a very fine horse ... At sea we had very boisterous weather, our vessel sprang a leak – never so crazy a vessel went to sea. To save our lives, I threw thirty fine horses overboard, but saved every Officer a horse. ..."

"We arrived safe at Charlestown, when Captain Saunders with what men he had was ordered to Georgetown. ... He also took the horse from me, with a promise to give me another when I joined him again, but as that was not the case, I lost my horse."

However, what one officer took, another one gave. "Major Grant made me a present of a little horse, of little value, which I afterwards exchanged with a Hessian Officer for a very smart white pony. This enabled me to ride about the country and amuse myself."

Later, Jarvis was ordered to lead a patrol of four loyalist dragoons and some militia men outside Charleston. A horse, rather than a pony, was the mount that he was astride when he and his men met eight riders on the road. Discovering that they were on opposite sides of the conflict, "one of them dismounted and placed his rifle across his horse. I charged. his rifle missed fire. He mounted and with his comrades clashed into the woods. I soon came up with him, and by a well directed stroke laid him in the dust. I ordered my man to secure him, and push forward after the rest. I had nearly overtaken another, when my horse, unfortunately, got entangled in a grape vine, and the man escaped; as the day was so far spent, I could not see to pursue the enemy any further."

As these few, brief stories demonstrate, the horse was vital to the loyalist war effort, but acquiring and keeping a horse were not always easy tasks. Stephen Jarvis raided patriot farms to find replacement steeds for the British forces, fought on horseback, and even had to destroy horses all in the effort to maintain a united empire.

By 1823, Jarvis had completed a memoir of his experiences in the American Revolution, but it would not be published until 1907. The horseman-turned-writer died in York, Upper Canada in 1840 at 84 years of age.

His brief obituary that appeared in a New Brunswick newspaper noted that he "took part in the many engagements during the American Rebellion. Emigrated to this Province and subsequently to Upper Canada." Thanks to the memoir that was published sixty-seven after Jarvis' death, we have an appreciation of the relationship between a loyalist soldier and his horse during turbulent times.

To secure permission to reprint this article, email Stephen Davidson.

Ontario Licence Plate: Special Savings for Simcoe Day

Several more orders this week - thank you. One more week + one day until Simcoe Day (Aug 7). Coming down to the wire – act now!

How do you celebrate Ontario's 150th Anniversary as one of the four original members of Canada's Confederation in 1867? If you live in the Greater Toronto Region perhaps you recognize the upcoming Civic Monday as Simcoe Day. You may remember the special centenary Ontario Licence Plate project that kicked off the 2014 celebrations. How many special plates do you recognize in the parking lot when you attend your branch meetings?

With less than 34 plates beginning with 02UE, you still have a chance to get a plate that you will remember and cause comments wherever you drive. SAVE: Until Gov. Simcoe Day you can save 30 dollars when you place your order. That means we will also ship your request FREE!

Take these 2 steps now:

• Email education@uelac.org with your preferred number chosen from the following: 19, 23, 24, 26-28, 32, 34, 36-38, 42, 47, 52-55, 59, 72-73, 90-95, 97, 98.

• Send your cheque for $80.00 with this completed Licence Plates order form to the George Brown House office.

If you have already shown your support of this UELAC Project, thank you. Buy one as a special gift for a family member.

...Fred H. Hayward, UELAC Education Committee, education@uelac.org

Update: Honouring Simon Girty in Pennsylvania

As previously noted, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently approved the nomination for an historical marker to be sited near his Pittsburgh farmstead by the Squirrel Hill Historical Society (see Loyalist Trails" 2017-27: July 2, flyer for the event on Sat. Sept. 30 and photo of the plaque)

Eric Marchbein writes "Thanks for your support of the Girty Project. We now have an online fundraising website to raise the necessary funds for the historical marker.

We would welcome and appreciate all support and donations from your community of Loyalist supporters and families who would like to participate in this project? Visit the Simon Girty Historical Marker for more details about the project and to donate."

Revisiting "Turn" and John Graves Simcoe

The upcoming Civic Holiday weekend in Canada is named differently by various Ontario municipalities. Some call the Monday of the long weekend "Simcoe Day" after John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, what is now Ontario. He commanded the Queen's Rangers for part of the American Revolution. Some consider the Queen's Rangers as the best fighting unit of that war from either side.

The article Rejuvenating the Revolution? A Historian's Take on AMC's Turn by T. Cole Jones is an interesting description of why film makers are wont to change history as they work to present history.

In telling the story of the American Revolution, academic historians and Hollywood filmmakers have a troubled history. Both parties have attempted to bring the founding of the American republic to life for a contemporary audience, but rarely have they agreed on how best to accomplish this. There has been no shortage of directors who have ignored the advice of their historical consultants or of historians who have criticized a film's most trivial anachronisms. A clever work of satire, the 1986 film Sweet Liberty captured the dynamics of this dysfunctional relationship...

Some of these liberties are harmless, perhaps even necessary. The real Hewlett, for instance, was an American, born and bred on Long Island, not the posh Englishman Burn Gorman personifies. In fact, a regiment of American Loyalists, not British regulars, garrisoned Setauket throughout the war. Green-coated Americans fighting blue-coated Americans might easily confuse the lay viewer, however. The producers' decision to anglicize Hewlett and his troops is justifiable on the grounds of narrative clarity and does little to misrepresent Hewlett, a man who was historically dedicated to the British Empire...

Artistic license, however, is no excuse for the series' portrayal of British Captain John Graves Simcoe (Samuel Roukin). In the show's pilot episode, viewers are introduced to a tall, foppish, effeminate, but unmistakably sinister Englishman destined to be a thorn in the side of the would-be hero Abe...

The real John Graves Simcoe did none of these things. The son of a decorated naval officer who died during the British campaign to capture Canada in 1759, Simcoe was a twenty-three-year-old Eton- and Oxford-educated lieutenant when war erupted in Massachusetts in 1775. Though he lamented "the dreadful scene of civil war" that had engulfed the colonies, the young officer was eager to prove an effective soldier...

The historical Simcoe, despite his firm belief that the stick was a better inducement for loyalty than the carrot, was no murderer. The Duke of Northumberland, who knew him well, claimed that Simcoe was "brave, humane, sensible, and honest." Even Simcoe's arch rival, American cavalry commander Colonel Henry Lee, described Simcoe as "one of the best officers in the British army" who "was a man of letters, and like the Romans and Grecians, cultivated science amid the turmoil of camp." To Lee, Simcoe was "enterprising, resolute, and persevering." It is hard to imagine an American officer endorsing someone who regularly murdered Patriot soldiers and brutalized civilians...

Read the article.

In Ontario on Simcoe Day, we will remember the real John Graves Simcoe.

Atlantic Loyalist Connections

Book review: Time and a Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island, edited by Edward MacDonald, Joshua MacFadyen and Irené Novaczek (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2016). Review by Elizabeth L. Jewett.

As I read Time and a Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island, my mind cast back to a scene from Anne of Green Gables, The Musical as townsfolk discuss the bad weather and the mail boat's inability to reach the Island. One person chimes in humourously that it is a shame that the mainland's been cut off again, shifting the central perspective to that of the island as opposed to the large landmass across the Northumberland Strait. Such commentary reinforces this collection's emphases that the perception of islands as peripheral or marginal is relational, and that it is important to study islands on their own terms because they have deep and complex histories of human/non-human relationships that not only act as warning beacons of our potential environmental futures but also fuel ingenuities.

Read more.

JAR: Cornwallis And The Autumn Campaign Of 1780

By Ian Saberton, July 18, 2017

As events would prove, the autumn campaign was a very risky venture indeed, yet despite the operational difficulties attending it Cornwallis saw no option but to go on to the offensive after his victory at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780. As he had explained to Clinton, "It may be doubted by some whether the invasion of North Carolina may be a prudent measure, but I am convinced it is a necessary one and that, if we do not attack that province, we must give up both South Carolina and Georgia and retire within the walls of Charlestown."

Throughout the campaign a pressing concern would be the sickliness of the troops, whether they were those who marched with Cornwallis or those who were intended to join him later from Camden.

An immediate problem, which delayed the march, was the formation of supply trains. Waggons there were aplenty, what with those taken in recent engagements and others pressed from Orangeburg and Ninety Six, but sadly horses, gear, conductors and drivers were wanting.

Read more.

The Junto: (Book Review:) Adam Jortner's Blood From the Sky

By Benjamin Park

The role of religion in the early republic has received a fair amount of attention in the recent decades. And though there are competing narratives concerning how ministers and denominations took advantage of the post-revolutionary era---the "Hatchites" arguing that they embraced the democratization and empowered the common man, while the "Butlerites" and "Porterfieldites" emphasizing how leaders capitalized on the fear of a chaotic society---there has been a general point of agreement: religion and politics now took place within a secularized sphere. Expectations of democratic governance led religionists to frame their arguments in a way to match the new republican age. Politics drove religious belief and practice, and not the other way around.

But Adam Jortner's new book argues that such a narrative overlooks the supernatural arena of the period. "There was a world of miracles and wonders in the early republic," he explains, "perhaps not as wide as among the Puritans, but far broader and more intense then historians had previously imagined, and those miracles were caught up in the ideas about fact, knowledge, Liberty, and masculinity." The "enlightenment," however one defines it, did not obliterate miracles; on the contrary, it only made them more important. Jortner's history is a series of case studies where the realms of natural and supernatural converge.

Read more.

Ben Franklin's World: The Common Cause of the American Revolution

How do you get people living in thirteen different colonies to come together and fight for independence?

What ideas and experiences would even unite them behind the fight?

Patriot leaders asked themselves these very questions, especially as the American Revolution turned from a series of political protests against imperial policies to a bloody war for independence. What's more, Patriot leaders also asked themselves once we find these ideas and experiences, how do we use them to unite the American people?

Robert Parkinson, an Assistant Professor of History at Binghamton University and author of the award-winning book, The Common Cause: Creating Race and Nation in the American Revolution, has some ideas for how patriot leaders answered these questions.

Listen to the podcast.

Rev War Talk: Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire and the United States, on lines "exceedingly generous" to the latter. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.

This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause --- France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic --- are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.

Only Article 1 of the treaty, in which King George III acknowledges the United States' existence as free sovereign and independent states, remains in force.

Listen to the podcast.

Penobscot Expedition, Maine

Last week's Loyalist Trails, in the "Today in History" portion of "From the Twittersphere" noted:

• 19 Jul 1779 Massachusetts launches disastrous attack in modern-day Maine; worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor.

This is called the Penobscot Expedition. May I recommend James S. Leamon's (Professor Emeritus of History, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine) Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine.

Great Britain argued that the boundary should be set at the Penobscot River, rather than the St. Croix. The part of Maine between the two rivers was again conquered by British forces during the War of 1812. Indeed all of this had a major impact on Maine Statehood in 1820.

...Ed Garrett

Where in the World?

Where is Gov. Simcoe Branch member Nancy Conn?

To participate, submit a photo of yourself in UELAC promotional gear at a place of some note and tell us where it is (if you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well). Send your submission to the editor at loyalist.trails@uelac.org.

Region and Branch Bits

From the UELAC branches, news and events of interest to others.

• With Canada celebrating 150 years since Confederation, the United Empire Loyalist Heritage Centre and Park in Adolphustown ON reminds people of the role Loyalists played in getting Canada to that critical moment. The centre is owned and operated by the Bay of Quinte Branch UELAC. Read more...
• Wednesday, August, 2, 2016 starting at 6:00 PM at the Fort Plain Museum located at 389 Canal Street in Fort Plain for a commemoration of the August 2, 1780 raid on Canajohary. Original accounts of the August 2nd raid began appearing in major newspapers about two weeks after the attack. A London newspaper dated October 21, 1780 reprinted an August 17, 1780 article from Pennsylvania Gazette which stated the following: "accounts of the damage done by the motley allies of Great Britain, up the Mohawk River, are very imperfect. It is reported they have burnt the principal part of Canajohary, a fine settlement about 36 miles from Albany." Another accounted dated September 9, 1780 stated the following: "At the fort now called fort Ransalaer (Fort Plain), Sir John Johnson and Captain Brant have burnt 51 houses, 42 barns, 17 killed, and 52 prisoners." Read more... email info@fortplainmuseum.org
• Check out the Fort York Guard practicing the "feu de joie". See it live on Simcoe Day! FREE. Simcoe Day at Fort York. The construction of Fort York was undertaken under orders from Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe in 1793. The Gov. Simcoe Branch UELAC will be there.
• 18th century apparel:
  • 18th Century dress (robe à l'anglaise), about 1785, Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands) - now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
  • 18th Century men's waistcoat, about 1780-90, silk satin coral red, embroidered with sequins, beads and tinsel
  • Extravagant mid-18th century shoes often came with matching clogs to keep the heel from sinking - at the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto..

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• 8 Aug 1782: Battles - French Hudson Bay Expedition in Canada. The Hudson Bay expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse was a series of military raids on the lucrative fur trading posts and fortifications of the Hudson's Bay Company on the shores of Hudson Bay by a squadron of the French Royal Navy. Setting sail from Cap-Français in 1782, the expedition was part of a global naval war between France and Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. Read more at RevWarTalk.
• Today in History: Lars D.H. Hedbor @LarsDHHedbor (see his page for associated photos):
  • 29 Jul 1776 Patriot forces invade Cherokee territory at North-Carolina to discourage alliance with British.
  • 28 Jul 1776 Declaration of Independence received with cheers by solders when read at Fort Ticonderoga, New-York.
  • 27 Jul 1777 Marquis de Lafayette & Baron Johann de Kalb arrive in Philadelphia to assist Continental Army.
  • 26 Jul 1775 Continental Congress establishes Constitutional Post, forerunner to the US Postal Service.
  • 25 Jul 1783 Final action of the Revolutionary War, Siege of Cuddalore, Carnatic (India), ended by peace agreement.
  • 24 Jul 1779 Failed Penobscot Expedition began: American force of 700 & 10 ships stopped by a British fleet. Survivors flee on land
  • 24 Jul 1776 President Hancock reprimands General Schuyler over disruptive dissent in his militia ranks.
  • 23 Jul 1776 Congress declines to give Washington direction for defense of NYC, citing confidence in his judgement.
• As we recognize Canada's 150th birthday this year I visited historic Savary House, former home of Alfred William Savary, QC, first MP of Digby in 1867 and descendant of Loyalist Nathan Savary. Watch my video of the visit at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPrIHqOH3I&sns=em Brian McConnell UE, President, NS Branch UELAC
• Whose bones are these? Montreal's mystery of an unknown soldier and abandoned graves. Last year, routine road work dug up parts of a 19th-century burial ground for Montreal's Protestants. Ingrid Peritz looks at how archeologists are piecing together the story of a military man in the hopes that he, and others, can rest in peace again. Read more...
• Townsends: A Basketmaker's Story. Watch...
• 'Soaping' incidents cost thousands at Stoney Creek's Augustus Jones [UEL] Fountain

Last Post: William Roland Everett, UE

Passed away peacefully, with his family by his side, on Friday, July 21, 2017 in his 87th year. Beloved husband of Florence (nee Storm) for 60 years. Loving father of David (Lori), Richard, Lori-Anne Stickland (Phill), Douglas (Denise), Robert (Linda) and Craig (Juanita). Cherished grandfather of David, Sean, Gerry (Emily), James, Erica, Matthew, Ben, William, Ella and Elijah and great grandfather of three. He was predeceased by his daughter Pamela, daughter-in-law Sandra, parents Roland and Violet Everett and brothers Austin "Oscar" and Alan.

He will be sadly missed by his best little buddy Cocoa.

William was a 37 year member of the Fort Erie Fire Department Station 2 and had worked for the CNR in Fort Erie for 33 years. He was an avid woodworker and had a great love of Genealogy and History. He was President of the Bertie Historical Society and spent many hours on the commemorative committee for the War of 1812.

BENNER FUNERAL SERVICES , 1105 Benner Ave., Fort Erie, entrusted with arrangements. The family received their friends at the Funeral Home on Thursday, July 27. A service to celebrate William's life was held in the Benner Chapel on Friday at 11 a.m. As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations may be made to St. Paul's Anglican Church or the Salvation Army. "I'll be in the garage with all the machines turned on for some peace and quiet!"

Members of Col. John Butler (Niagara) Branch UELAC express sincere sympathy to his wife Flo and family. Bill was a proud descendant of Loyalist Adam Burwell and a a faithful member of the Branch. He will be missed.

...Bev Craig, UE