We hope that you have had a chance to stop by and see our holiday decorations and special Christmas Page.
We will leave them in place for another week or so, or until we both get the holiday decorations in our own houses put away, whichever comes first!
What's New
There are probably fewer additions to the site than usual over the last two months, as we were busy gearing up for the holidays just like everyone else. We still have some interesting things to tell you about though.
Here is what is new by section...
History Section:
The war first and foremost was just that - an armed conflict fought between warring factions and nations.
With that in mind, we have had added accounts of several actions, large and small, famous and obscure, in the Battles and Campaigns area.
Letter from Carleton to Howe on the siege of Quebec, 1776. The taking of Quebec by Wolfe in 1759 sealed the fate of the French in Canada. If Quebec had been taken by the Rebels, who knows how modern history might have been altered? The city was preserved though, through no small effort of the Loyalists and Canadians within the garrison.
Account of the Battle of Wyoming, 1778. One of the most lopsided battles of the war. A force of Butler's Rangers and Indians virtually wiped out a Rebel force in northeastern Pennsylvania. This account was most likely written by one of the Rangers' officers, despite the poor spelling.
Account of a Christmas Eve raid to Westchester County, 1778. The area just to the north of New York City proved to be one of the most fought over locations of the war. Westchester was also home to hundreds, if not thousands, of Loyalists, providing recruits to just about every regiment raised in New York.
Letters from Lieut. Wm. Stevenson to Lt. Col. Barton, and to his aunt. An interesting perspective on the 1780 siege of Augusta by a New Jersey Loyalist officer serving under Patrick Ferguson. Augusta had been relieved by a mixed force of Provincials and militia from Ninety Six, scattering the besiegers.
Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, 1781. A neat, although not entirely historically accurate, print of one of the fiercest and most famous battles of the southern campaign, along with our own account of the engagement.
Fall of Black River Fort, 1782. The war was fought well beyond the shores of America, and in this account a number of Loyalists, white and black, with Central American Indians, are victorious well after Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown.
Military Section:
While we have only one totally new regiment in the Regimental History area this time around, we have supplemented a number of the other regiments already online.
New Jersey Volunteers. After repeated requests, we are happy to finish off the histories of all the battalions of New Jersey Volunteers with the addition of the history of the 3rd Battalion. This is a transcript of a previous lecture given in our chat room.
Royal Garrison Battalion. We have added documents for the Royal Garrison Battalion for the first time. This corps' regrettable method of obtaining recruits was primarily from the newly wounded and worn out of the army in its different posts. From time to time these detachments embarked to join the battalion in their various island outposts.
South Carolina Militia. A British officer's fears and concerns were unnecessary in this humorous anecdote of shots being fired by this unit from the old South.
Loyal Refugee Volunteers. Several new documents here describing more doings of this unique specimen of armed capitalism!
We have the musters of five new regiments in the Muster Rolls area of the site to tell you about.
Adams' Corps of Royalists. This was about the smallest of the units raised for the Northern Army. Consisting partly of rangers and partly of batteaumen, many fell under the Convention of Saratoga. The first roll presented shows the company shortly after Burgoyne's defeat while the second lists some of the families on an outpost in 1780.
King's American Dragoons. These rolls are distinctive in that they come from the British Headquarters Papers, a collection not known for containing such things. One of the very best disciplined and uniformed of the Provincial units, the regiment as such never saw combat. This cavalry regiment was also the first unit to be sent to the Saint John River in 1783, paving the way for thousands of Loyalists to follow.
Loyal American Association. Provided here is the only known muster of one of the very first Loyalist corps. Among its ranks were truly the elite of Massachusetts, and Boston in particular. Upon General Howe taking command of the army in the fall of 1775, the corps was reorganized into three companies.
Loyal New Englanders. Sadly, no muster rolls exist for this unit for the first 2+ years of the corps' existence. These three rolls are the unit's first muster after the evacuation of Rhode Island. They do happily list all the casualties of the unit since its formation.
New Hampshire Volunteers. This corps lived a couple lives and incarnations, neither of them terribly successful. Stephen Jervis, whose journal has been twice published, started out in this unit before being drafted to the Queen's American Rangers. The two rolls shown here are from a period when the corps was supposed to have been dead. Shortly after this, these officers and men were drafted to different units. See our document on Drafted Regiments for further information.
In the Courts Martial area, we have added the General Court Martial of Captains Thomas Stephens and Caleb Jones of the United Corps of Pennsylvania & Maryland Loyalists.
This is the only known court martial for this temporarily joined group. What might appear in the proceedings to be trifling offenses ended the career of one officer and nearly that of another.
The celebration the troops were being summoned to was known as the "fire of joy." The troops would form in line and each soldier would fire successively in turn, first right to left, then left to right. The third fire would be one massive volley. This was used in celebrations of holidays, major victories, and other special occasions.
Not everything fits into neat categories. In adding items for our Christmas page we found several things that more or less stood on their own and have been added into the Other Facts & Records area.
The first is a letter from George Washington to John Hancock on the eve of Trenton in 1776. In it, the Father of the United States relates the dire condition of his army and their cause immediately before their surprise victory over the Hessians.
We also added a letter from Patrick Tonyn of East Florida to Augustine Prevost, dated 1777. The struggle between military and civilian command authority was often on display in this American Colony that remained loyal to the British.
Sailing on the high seas was the only method of mass transportation available in the 18th Century. With it came all the dangers of weather and poor navigation, not to mention the sometimes miserable conditions on board ship. Neptune claimed the British vessel the North (and a companion one) off of Nova Scotia in 1779, along with most of its crew and passengers.
Genealogy Section:
The Post-War Settlement area contains two new memorials/petitions:
Land petition of James Bennet of Upper Canada. This Loyalist married the daughter of a New Jersey Volunteer who was killed in battle at Eutaw Springs.
Memorial of Benning Wentworth of Nova Scotia. Wentworth was one of the prestigious family of this name from New Hampshire. After briefly serving in the corps bearing his name, he went on to become an officer in the Regular Army serving in the West Indies.
Reenacting Section:
We are always pleased to receive submissions from our visitors to the site. Our thanks this month to Sean Otis of the recreated Butler's Rangers for his addition to the Photo Galleryof the Rangers at Fort Ticonderoga.
&c &c &c Section:
Periodically, folks who provide professional services of one kind or another will post a message on our Message Boards. We thought that it might be helpful, both for them and for anyone seeking professional services, to be able to find them without hunting through hundreds of other messages. So we have created a new board specifically for the announcement of Professional Services, whether they be research services or other items for sale.
The word "gorget" has been added to our Glossary of Terms, an entry that was prompted by Nan asking "What the heck is that thing called anyway?"
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Announcements
Historic New Bridge Landing Receives Funding
A project near and dear to Todd's heart was the grateful recipient of $1.1 million in funding from the recently signed federal budget. The money will be put toward the restoration of Historic New Bridge Landing in New Jersey, a site to which George Washington fled from Fort Lee to escape a British offensive.
Long range plans call for the purchase and development of 22 acres of land straddling the Hackensack River in River Edge, New Milford, and Teaneck, complete with tours of the Colonial era homes on the site lead by guides in period clothing, nature walks, educational programs on the Lenape, Tappan, and Hackensack Indians indigenous to the area, and other recreational activities.
Todd is a Trustee of the Bergen County Historical Society, which operates the historic Campbell-Christie house at New Bridge Landing.
Loyalist Institute Featured for Black History Month
Recently, we were contacted by the DB Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario in London about their upcoming February 2001 webpage celebrating Black History month. We are pleased to say that our section on Black Loyalists will be a featured link.
We were also pleased (or at least Nan was!) that the lady who contacted us is acquainted with Nan's cousin, Guy St. Denis, a librarian at the University. The DB Weldon Library website is located at http://www.lib.uwo.ca/weldon/docs/whatsup.shtml.
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News from our Visitors
Oatmeal for the Foxhounds
Marg B. has created a new website called Oatmeal for the Foxhounds devoted, in her own words, "to the memory of General Sir Banastre Tarleton, dashing cavalryman, radical politician, ladies' man, and all-around party animal." The name for the site was inspired by the supply requisition that appears on our site under the Regimental History of the British Legion.
This is an engaging, information filled site that is definitely worth a look. You can find it at http://www.banastretarleton.org/.
Loyalist Children of Upper Canada
Those of you with ancestors from Ontario will be happy to learn of a new publication by Barbara Wright (bwright.ue@sympatico.ca) called The Loyalist Children of Upper Canada.
This publication is an index to the Ontario Archives RG 1, MS-693 Series, which consists of over 6000 Land Warrants, and it lists the child's name, location of application, occupation, Loyalist parent, and land issue if noted.
This resource is especially valuable for the identification of female children in a family, and the documents themselves can serve as your primary documentation of family relationships that can often be difficult to substantiate.
A number of libraries in the U.S. and Canada have purchased copies, or Barbara's publication can be ordered directly from Pathfinder Genealogical Services, 10 Amberwood Court, St. Catherines, ON L2N 7E1, Canada, for $45.00 Canadian (to Canadian addresses) or $45.00 U.S. (to U.S. addresses).
Patrick Ferguson Article
The upcoming issue of the Loyalist Gazette, the magazine of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, will feature an article on Patrick Ferguson written by Dr. Marianne Gilchrist, known to many of you as "Doc M." Be sure to keep an eye out for it!
Until next month.....Happy Hunting!
Your Most Humble & Obedient Servants,
Todd & Nan
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The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies
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